A/N: Okay I know a couple of you were confused on how Bella knew about what Jasper said. If you'll look back you see that Jasper said he overheard the girls talking. He said what he had actually heard the girl say in his head. So Bella knows something is up she just doesn't know what.

Okay on with the story!

Chapter 55

"Come on Bella, we're going to be late." Alice urged me knocking on my door.

"I'm coming." I assured her. "I'm putting on my shoes now." I bent down to pull on the flats and grabbed my white jacket. I yanked open the door and came face to face with a very ticked Alice.

"It's about time pokey. Now let's go. We need to get your makeup done and get you dressed." She quickly walked around the apartment and finally grabbed her keys off the inn table. "I still have to get everyone else's makeup on too." She threw her hands above her head.

I couldn't help but giggle. "Don't worry Alice. You'll get it all done. Let's just go."

She took a deep inhale of breath and urged me through the door following behind me. She locked it securely and then all but pushed me down the stairs. "Come on Bella, we're going to be late."

I rolled my eyes and picked up my pace luckily not tripping. The wind was whipped around my head as I ran toward her waiting Porsche. "A storm's coming." Alice pointed out the obvious.

I nodded. "Wow Al, that little talent of yours is really getting better."

She frowned at me. "Shut it Swan. Don't push me." She snapped.

I slid into the passenger's seat of the Porsche and sunk into the seat. I closed my eyes and contemplated on how fast this dreadful week had passed.

Seth's funeral had been Wednesday night. He was a native here in England so most of the school attended the funeral. There had been lots of tears. Kourtney seemed to have changed the past couple of days. Her eyes weren't bright and shining like they usually were and her face started to break out really bad. Alice said it was her nerves. She always looked sickly pail and I couldn't get her to smile.

I asked Edward about her constantly and he just said it was her way of dealing. Then he said something about how he didn't understand girls. I just rolled my eyes because I knew how she felt. Of course I couldn't tell her this, but I knew exactly how it felt to lose someone you love. I had lost Edward and I had excluded myself. I understood not completely, but in a way. The difference was that Seth would never come back.

"Bella." Alice called me.

"Huh?" I asked coming out of my thoughts.

"We're here." She stated tapping her foot impatiently.

It wasn't Alice's fault she was so agitated. Edward didn't like me being outside for too long. A part of me didn't want to know why, yet the other part still wondered.

Alice pulled me through the doors of the auditorium. I still couldn't believe this was the night of our play. Alice continued hauling me through the halls until we got to the girl's dressing room.

"Where's Edward?" I asked turning back toward the dressing room door to escape.

"He's busy. Come on Bella we have to get you dressed." Just then a crowd of girls flooded through the dressing room door almost knocking me over.

"Alice, Alice." They all called crowding around her.

I used this to my advantage and stepped out of the noisy dressing room and into the backstage area. I searched for Edward but he was no where to be found within my sight range.

"Edward?" I called out in a whisper knowing that if he were around he would hear me.

Within two seconds cold arms were around my waist. "What is it? Are you hurt?" He frantically ran his hands over my body to see if anything was broken.

I shook my head and looked into his golden eyes silently wishing they were still emerald green. "I just wanted to see you."

He buried his head in my hair. "I'm here love."

I pushed myself closer to him. "So have you figured out what happened?" I asked a little breathless.

Edward had taken the day off to get the rest of the family from the airport. He had taken Emmett and Carlisle around the woods to see if they could figure out exactly what had happened to Seth and to see if James was anywhere near. I knew that he was near though Alice had seen it.

He sighed. "Well kind of. He followed a girl into the woods."

I swallowed hard. "What girl?"

He frowned. "The girl who caused all that trouble for you. Her name is Leslie."

I scrunched my nose. "Okay so he followed her in the woods and James attacked him but not her?"

Edward nodded. "That's what it looks like." He paused. "She tried to get Kourtney to follow her but Kourtney hates her so she didn't do it."

I sighed with relief. "That's good."

He nodded. "She's a bright girl."

"And James?" I asked the most important question.

Edward seemed to tighten his grip on me. "He's here."

"There you are Bella!" Alice pulled me from Edward's arms.

"But Alice, what about James?" I asked a little peeved at her.

She rolled her eyes. "James or no James we still have a play to put on." She glanced back at Edward. "Go get dressed please. We only have two hours before it starts!" She flipped. "I'll be there to do the guy's makeup in a little while."

Alice pushed me into one of the chairs lined up behind the mirrored table. She started to rub different creams and foundations on my face when a chorus of "Alice" filled the air. She groaned and turned to face them.

"There are too many of you. This calls for back up." She whipped open her cell phone and speed dialed a number.

"Hello?" Alice asked into the phone. "Yeah could you come up here, I need back up." She closed the door and got back to work on my makeup.

A couple minutes later there was a soft knock on the dressing room door. "Come in." Everyone seemed to call at the same time.

Mouths and self-esteem dropped through out the room when Rosalie walked through the door. "Where do you need me Alice?" She smiled weakly.

I found this reaction very weird coming from Rosalie. Usually she acted all high and mighty to anyone, especially humans. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I had just lost a friend and that three sadistic vampires were on my trail. Yeah, that could soften the hardest rock.

"Anywhere really. I need to get the guy's stuff done as soon as I finish Bella's make up." She paused. "Can you do her hair and then get started on Mariah's hair?"

Rose nodded. "Sure."

Rose started to move toward me and the shock seemed to wear off from the room. Girls got back to chatting about the play and other trivial things. Rose's hands were quick but gentle as she moved them through my wind blown hair. She pulled out a flatiron and smoothed my hair down.

"Okay I'm going to help the guys get ready." She turned back to Rose. "Oh and remember to do their make up a little darker since the stage will make them look super pale."

Rose nodded whiles still focusing on my intricate hair style. "So Bella, are you nervous?" She asked making small talk.

I shrugged. "Not so much about the play."

EPOV

"I think she's in on it. She has to be. He's using her to get to Bella." I ran my fingers frantically through my hair while Carlisle, Emmett, and I rationally discussed what was going on.

Carlisle nodded. "I see your point. It's dangerous for the human girl."

I frowned. "She caused the death of Seth and almost Kourtney."

Carlisle frowned. "But what can we do?" He asked. "We can't intimidate her and we can't kill her."

I grinned. "I wouldn't be opposed to the second one."

Esme and Rosalie came up on our little talk and stopped next to Emmett. "He's close." Esme stated. "His scent is fresh."

I frowned. "That's what I was afraid of."

"Dude, it isn't safe for Bella here. Maybe we should hide her again." Emmett suggested.

I shook my head. "No, this has to end now. If we keep Bella running he'll just follow."

"So his targets are Bella and this Kourtney girl?" Rosalie spoke for the first time.

I nodded. "Yes, I think he was only going to use Kourtney for his advantage though. I've been keeping tabs on her and Jasper's been watching from a far."

Rose nodded. "Well I'm fine with taking them out."

Four heads whipped toward Rosalie with disbelief. "What's gotten into you Rose?" Emmett asked baffled like us all.

Rose shrugged. "I figured I might as well protect my future sister-in-law."

I shot her another glance. "Huh?"

She shrugged. "Alice."

We agreed that after the play we would work on finding James and taking him out. I glanced at my watch. It wasn't time to go back to school so I decided to go hunting and the rest of the family agreed. I took off in the trees to find something that would sooth my burning throat.

A/N: Okay I'm going to tell you now that the next chapter is going to be extremely exciting. There will be a lot of suspense. I was going to put it in this chapter, and not finish it, but that would be mean.

This story won't be much longer which is sad. On the chipper side though, I'll have more time to write starting tomorrow after exams. This chapter was a quick update for me. I'm rather proud of myself!

Review!

Kayla