It took me a few beats more than a moment before I could reply, and even once I could the only thing immediate I could muster was a weak "Sure."
"Can you slide down, Mike? There's lots of room here," Angela said to my left, nudging him farther down the table. His mouth was agape at Alice, but he moved all the same, and she followed, leaving an empty space beside me.
Alice slid into the void like it was made for her, and tabled her tray (which I'd noticed was untouched), before turning back towards me. "You're Bella, right?" she asked, smiling at me with those golden eyes.
"I, uh, yeah." I stammered back, surprised she hadn't hit me with Isabella like everyone else seemed to, and captivated in the fact that this beautiful girl was right in my face.
"I'm Alice, Cullen. We're going to be best friends, so I thought I'd come introduce myself and get it out of the way."
Coming from someone else, I probably would've scoffed, or evaded the statement, but there was just something about Alice – something ephemeral, and yet tangible - that told me she meant it. Something that told me that her words were the most sincere words I'd ever heard. Goosebumps trickled up my arms, and I shivered ever so slightly. Alice simply put her arm around me, which was oddly comforting.
"I'd like that." I managed, unable to look away from her. She smiled back at me even wider, and turned towards the table she'd been sitting at, raising ever-so-slightly out of her seat to see over Eric.
"C'mon, you guys. We're just going to end up over here anyways!" she called to her brothers and sisters, who simply ignored her aside from the smaller boy on the end, Edward. He shook his head loosely, laughing like she'd just dropped a punchline.
"Am I on Punk'd or something?" Jessica asked from my right, whispering it a little too loudly in my ear.
I turned, the scent of Alice's perfume radiating softly from the hand still in place on my right shoulder. I almost crumbled at how sweet she smelled, but I cleared my throat softly, stifling the feeling. "No, though I think I might be dreaming," I replied softly.
Jessica laughed, leaning around me to get a look at Alice, who was sitting once again, before slipping back out of her view. "No, Alice Cullen is definitely beside you, and if this was a dream Mike would be topless. At least if it was my dream," she noted, giggling softly.
"Well if it was mine, by now I'd be getting chased by a monster, so it seems a bit out of the norm on that front as well," I retorted, smiling coyly.
"Don't be so sure I'm not a monster, just because I'm friendly," Alice purred in my left ear without skipping a beat, so my heart skipped one instead. When I turned towards her, she had the proudest look on her face. Almost as if she could read me like a book. I crinkled my nose in defiance.
"How did you even hear that?" I hissed at her playfully. She just winked at me, and poked my apple with her fork, picking it up. It looked like it weighed nothing to her, given the grace with which she swung it towards me on the end of the utensil.
"Eat up little human, you're going to need your strength," she said, and I took the apple from the end of the tines, taking a bite.
As I did, she bit the other end, and someone on the other side of the table (probably Eric given the tone) whooped in response. I simply finished my bite, and then turned the apple around to admire hers. There were teeth marks, but no apple missing - so I bit into her teeth marks, and stole her piece too. She smiled at me over the apple.
"So, Alice;" I began, licking my lips, "What made you come over here?" I asked, a gut feeling making me choose a more direct approach to the maze in front of me before it had a chance to dazzle me yet again.
"Why you did, of course," she replied in a sing-song voice. "I'm here because we're going to be—" I felt her hand lay on my thigh, under the table. "—friends."
I swallowed, taking another bite of the apple to buy time where I could come up with an appropriate response. Words attempted to elude me once again, but I managed to concoct some anyways. "Friends are good," I blurted. When I realized what I'd said, I almost smacked myself. Friends are good, what a stupid response!
"So," Alice started, cracking the Sprite on her tray, "We're hanging out after school then, right?" She asked, giving my thigh a small squeeze.
"Sounds like fun," I squeaked, unable to temper my voice under her touch.
The rest of the short lunch went by like a blur. Alice kept her arm around me, and I spent most of the remaining minutes trying to eat an apple with everyone looking at me. Jessica, on the other hand, just kept mentioning how weird it was that Alice was sitting with us, and me specifically. Thankfully, nobody seemed to want to comment on that farther. Angela, on Alice's other side, was so soft and polite to Alice the entire time that I couldn't help but like her even more. I made a mental note to get closer to Angela when I could, she seemed like a really good person to be friends with.
When the bell rang, signaling that lunch was over, the crowd dispersed – but Alice stayed with me. In fact, she walked me to my next class. While we moved she explained that she was a senior, so we didn't have anything together, but she wanted to tell me to meet her outside after fourth period, and I found myself looking forward to it the rest of the day.
Unfortunately, the rest of the day wasn't super cooperative in making time go by quickly. Biology had me sat next to Edward, Alice's younger brother, who didn't say a word. Mike and Eric shared that class with us, along with Angela, so I still had some people to talk to - but it seemed overly awkward. He smiled at me when I looked over, but he acted like he had a stomach ache when I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, and bailed on the class after just fifteen minutes, walking out without a word.
I wondered vaguely if he didn't approve of Alice trying to be my friend, but didn't understand how I'd get that reaction after the laughter he was displaying in the cafeteria. I resigned to drop it, making a mental note to ask Alice what his deal was later.
My last class of the day was phys-ed, and I wasn't prepared in the least. The teacher, Mrs. Vandervoort, said I could just watch for the day if I promised to have the correct clothing tomorrow, and I took the offer immediately to save myself the injury.
The classes were playing volleyball, and it was boys against girls, so I kept score to help. The boys won every match aside from the one where Jessica and Lauren were on the same team, and it was obvious they were on a whole 'nother level so I don't think they took the loss too hard. Jessica tried to play it off once she saw Mike's face, but I heard him say he was just mad he hadn't gotten any points as he left the gym for the locker rooms.
As for me, I was in and out of the locker room quicker than anyone thanks to not having to change, but even so Alice was already in-place, waiting for me out front. She'd pulled up to the curb in a sleek black sports car, and the door was already open for me. I saw her smile light up as I got close, and once I reached the car I slipped inside and pulled the door shut gently.
"Are you ready to go?" Alice asked, and rolling down the windows.
"Actually," I began, biting my lip, "I drove too, do you want me to follow you instead? That way you won't have to drop me off later so I can drive home?" I felt silly asking, but I needed my truck to get around. I couldn't go without it in Forks, there was just no way.
"Don't worry, Bella. It's taken care of," Alice said, putting an anchor hand on my lap and reaching across me to pull my keys out of my backpack, nestled against the door.
"Hey!" I started, but she'd already tossed them out the window.
"Get Emmett to drop it at the address I texted you," Alice said across me, still leaning with her hand on my lap.
"Yeah, yeah, I said I would," the blonde replied, glowering at me from atop her gold Lou Boutin heels. "You just be careful not to do anything that might... look bad."
Alice raised an eyebrow, and then leaned in and kissed my neck softly, just once. At the cool touch of her lips I jumped slightly in my seat, but didn't shy away from her - and when she pulled back, meeting the blonde's eyes, she had a serious look on her face. "I know what I'm doing, Rosalie, nothing bad is going to happen here."
Rosalie, the blonde, nodded once; not taking her eyes off of me. After a bit longer than a moment, she turned and walked off towards the Volvo parked a few cars around the bend.
"It'll be alright, won't it? I just got that truck," I started to explain, but Alice simply put a finger to my lips to quiet me. It was cold, like her lips, but felt good against my skin.
"It'll be just as you left it, only in your driveway in the morning instead of here."
"How do you even know where I live?" I asked, barely letting her get the words out. And then, "And what do you mean in the morning?" I still wasn't sure what the hell was going on, though I didn't feel like leaving one bit. There was something intoxicating about Alice, and she hadn't even done anything too risqué yet. I wondered if she really kissed me whether I could resist.
From beside me, Alice just laughed – a melodic, beautiful sound. "Oh, Bella. I've been waiting for you a long time," she said, reaching across to open the glove box, and then letting it fall open.
As it did, dozens of pictures of me spilled out in every single medium I could think of. There were charcoals, and pastels, and paintings, and sketches, and inked pages as if out of a comic book... the types went on, and I found myself flipping through them with fervor, gathering them back up neatly as I tried not to destroy the beautiful work Alice had done. It must've taken her hours if not days.
"What the..." I trailed off, unable to even compose a question.
"This might sound kind of strange, but bear with me – okay? I've been waiting for you for over a hundred years," she said as she moved around the other cars in the parking lot, accelerating onto the highway at a speed that would've made Charlie flip on the cherries. "I'm a vampire – one who will never hurt you, and we're going to go somewhere I can prove it."