BELLA'S POV

I had slept the entire flight back. Luckily Alice had booked First Class, or else I wouldn't have slept so peacefully. And yes, I had no nightmares. Surprisingly enough.

The entire Cullen family had been at the airport waiting for our return. The first to reach me had been Emmett, who had crushed me in a massive hug and twirled me around, screaming in my ear how much he had missed me. Then had come Carlisle, Esme—who had been on the verge of tears—, Jasper and, last but not least, Rosalie. The blonde vampire had awkwardly hugged me and thanked me for saving her brother, then she had returned to her husband's side, smiling softly at me. Needless to say, her actions left me speechless. We had never gotten quite along, but my courage had impressed her. After returning home—and getting a mild but heartfelt earful from Charlie—we had become best friends.

The same friendship had led me to the situation I was at the moment, which was me, standing in the middle of a very big, very expensive dress shop, with Rose and Alice. The girls were searching for a dress suitable for my 'homecoming party'. It had been three days since I had returned with Edward and Alice from Volterra, and the family had agreed that a party was necessary to celebrate our survival.

"Bells, look at this!" Alice called, holding in one hand a light pink satin dress. I shook my head, "I would look like a candy dressed like that. I want nothing pink."

She pouted, and Rose laughed, "As you wish, Bella." Luckily she was more accommodating with me than Alice was, or else I wouldn't have been able to survive any shopping session. The sisters' styles were clashing—Alice was more for elegance, Rose favoured sexiness—but it seemed that they managed to mix them perfectly while dressing me.

"This?" Rose asked, holding up a dark blue, long-sleeved dress. I actually liked it… or, at least, I did before she turned it and revealed the non-existent back. My eyes widened and she immediately put it back, understanding my reaction. Rose was really great, she read me like none other could. It seemed as if we had been friends for ages and not mere days.

Alice sighed dramatically. "Bella, this search would be more fruitful if you, too, looked at the dresses, instead of letting us do all the work."

"But you were the one who told me to sit here and—oh, whatever!" I complained, rising to my feet and starting to wander between the rows of dresses.

In that shop there were a lot of beautiful dresses, but the ones in this private section—the Cullen's private section—there were the most stunning creations I had ever seen. I walked leisurely and looked at every dress, hoping to find the one right for me. The criteria were: comfortable, not too flashy, not too revealing, not pink (or any other colour that would make me look like a sweet). I had clarified this much when we had entered the shop.

"Bells!" Rose called, and I looked back to see her holding a dark orange dress. I pursed my mouth, "The model seems fine but the colour…" I left he sentence unfinished and she nodded.

"You are right, this colour would diminish your beauty" she stated, and laughed when I blushed bright red. "Yeah, yeah. As if I was beautiful" I muttered.

"You are! And we will find a dress that will make you even more stunning. Every male will drool" Alice stated firmly, and Rose nodded her agreement. I sighed, returning to my search.

Two hours and seventeen dresses later, something caught my eye. "Girls!" I called. They were immediately by my side. I pointed to the dress and Rosalie went to get it. "Wow…" she breathed, eyes sparkling.

Alice squealed excitedly. "This. Is. Perfect! I have already a look planned in my mind, you will be gorgeous! Let's go!" She didn't give us a chance to object before she stormed to pay the dresses. She also arranged to have them delivered to the Cullen mansion in two hours, along with accessories and shoes she chose on the way.

We were back at the home in an hour, thanks to Alice's crazy driving. Rose grabbed me and ran at top speed to her room, where Alice was already taking out cosmetics and other things. The entire family was set on not letting me see the decoration for the party, which was due this evening, and that was why Rose even locked the door. "Is this really necessary? I mean, it's my party, after all" I said.

"Yes, it is. We want it to be a surprise!" Alice answered, before clapping her hands. End of discussion. "So" she started, "Now it's three pm, the dresses will arrive in an hour and the party will start at seven. We need to hurry."

"Am I so hideous that you need six hours to make me look presentable?" I asked, frowning.

"How many times do we have to say it, Bells? You are not ugly, and we only need six hours to complete our looks. We want to look breath-taking, don't we?" Rose massaged my shoulders, while simultaneously talking and pushing me on a chair.

I sat, sighing in defeat. I knew what was coming. I closed my eyes as my sisters worked their magic on me. Regardless of what they claimed, I was not beautiful. I was pretty, at most. And only in rare occasions. I could never compare to their beauty, or even the one of some humans. I was plain, and they were simply trying to make me feel less self-conscious.

An hour later I heard the doorbell ring, and Rose breezed out the room to retrieve our dresses and other things. She set them all on her bed and said "We will look beautiful!"

"Yeah! Our looks seem matched!" Alice added excitedly.

I will be the ugly one of the trio, then, I thought.

I didn't open my eyes to see their looks, or the accessories Alice had bought. I simply sat there, eyes closed, letting them style my hair and put make-up on my face (they didn't put as much as I thought, tho).

An eternity later, the hands stopped and I heard a light squeal. I tentatively opened an eye, and saw both Rosalie and Alice standing in front of me, grinning like idiots. "What?" I asked.

They didn't answer, but simply shared a conspirator look. Only then did I notice that the mirror dominating the left side of the room was gone. "Oh, come on! I can't even see my own look?" I asked, disbelieving. The shook their heads, those shit-eating grins still on their faces. I noticed that they, too, had put on make-up and fixed their hair.

"On with the clothes, then!" Alice commanded.

We all turned to the bed, and picked up our respective dresses. We helped each other with putting them on and then proceeded to put on accessories and shoes.

I glared evilly at Alice when she handed me a pair of white, pointy stilettos. Very high stilettos. "You will not stumble, fall or trip once. I swear" Alice assured me. I was still pissed, but I knew to trust her visions.

When we were done, Rosalie took out the massive, now covered-in-cloth mirror from under the bed. I snorted and she grinned. "Couldn't think of any other place to hide it?" I joked, and she winked at me.

"Ready for the reveal?" she asked, and I nodded, pretty nervous. The girls looked flawless, as always, but what about me?

"Alright" Rose announced, "Three, two, one… ta-da!"

The cloth fell from the mirror. Three goddesses looked back at us.

The one on the left, the smallest, pixie-like one, was wearing an off-the-shoulder pastel blue dress. The layered skirt had a small train, which was embroidered with white pearls. The vine-like motif reached the half of the skirt, while the neckline was lined with white fur. Her dark hair had been neatly brushed and looked shiny and smooth. A single diamond decorated her neck, and three silver bracelets were on her left wrist. Her lips were painted light pink and her eyelids sported a blue eyeshadow.

The goddess on the right, with the golden mane, looked statuesque. Her velvet dress was dark blue, with long sleeves, a neckline that covered even her collarbones and an asymmetrical skirt, which showed a bit of the white skin of her ankles, but it left her back completely bare, only covered by her long curls. Her lips were glossy and glittery, while her golden eyes were simply outlined by a dark blue eyeliner. No jewellery except for a silver hairpin, which kept her long hair back from her face, and a necklace of diamonds around her slender neck.

And then, the goddess in the middle. Her skin was as flawless as her sisters' one, pale and perfect. She was wearing a pure white dress, with a high neck and long sleeves. The mermaid dress clung perfectly to her lush curves. It had a small train that trailed behind her hourglass figure. If you looked closely, you could see that her dress had a million ice-blue little crystals on it. The dress seemed completely white when the goddess was still, but when she moved, it sparkled like a thousand water drops. She had no jewellery, not that she needed it. Her face was painted with black and purple colours: her lips were an opaque dark purple, her eyelids were lined with black eyeliner and some black eyeshadow.

The three goddesses were beautiful.

"Bella? Are you ok?" Rosalie asked worriedly, and I tore my gaze away from the mirror.

"Those goddesses are us?" I asked in return, gaping.

The two vampires giggled. "Yup, those are us" Alice said; "We look good, don't we" Rose added. I nodded absentmindedly.

Alice opened her mouth to say something but, before she could breathe a word, her eyes glazed over. It lasted only a couple of seconds, but when she gasped in horror I knew something bad was coming.

My assumption was revealed correct by the growl that came from downstairs. Edward.

A knock at the door, and Rose flew to open it. Jasper came in, looking handsome in his black tuxedo. "What is it" he said, not really making it sound like a question. I looked at the scene like a fly on the wall would.

A second, and then—

"Two Volturi guards are coming here. They will take Bella to Volterra" Alice breathed.

Oh shit.