Chapter 9
I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT OR CHARACTERS
Bella was running through the hall when everyone else was walking, spilling out of the classrooms and chattering loudly considering it was the end of the day. She bumped into more than a few and darted between the rest, eyes streaming and head down, ignoring the angry muttering whenever she ran into someone.
She hit the parking lot before anyone else and finally slowed to a fast walk, breathing hard. She sped over to her truck, eager to get away, out of this damned school, away from the fact that she had been outed to her classmates and knowing that soon it would be everyone that knew.
That bastard Mr. Gordon. Damn him. Damn it!
Bella reached her beat up truck, vaguely catching the sound of people exiting the school with their friends, filling the parking lot. Anxiously she swung her bag around higher on her shoulder, having a little trouble seeing because her stupid eyes were overflowing and her breathing was ragged from running. She shoved her hand frantically into her pocket to get her keys, feeling as if everyone was looking at her even though that could not possibly be true.
Bella knew logically that they could in no way all know so fast, though surely it would already be spreading like wildfire from anyone who had been in History with her, the way all news in boring ass Forks did. Angela and Jessica knew already, that was just fucking perfect. Already she had two friends she would lose over this. She had heard the way they talked about Coach Basselor, and she wasn't even really gay. Eric, Angela's boyfriend knew, too, and if he was anything like his Church bound father, that was another friend gone too.
"God damn it!" Bella shrieked as she yanked her hand too quickly out of her pocket and her keys slipped out of her hand. They skittered under her truck and she swore so loudly that several heads turned towards her.
Blushing and half hysterical, she turned away from them, pressed her side against her truck and her face into her hands. She fought the sobs beginning to build in her chest. Why is everything going so wrong? She asked herself morosely, miserably pressing the heels of her hands into her eyeballs to press back the tears lest she break down right there in front of everybody.
Realizing that standing there like this was making everything worse, she took a ragged breath and dropped to her knees, ignoring the nasty concrete as she lurched under her truck, fumbling for her keys in the darkness beneath it. She found them beneath the front left wheel, grabbed them, and scrambled back up.
She quickly unlocked the driver's side and jumped in. She wanted to sob, and actually did a little as she saw her passenger side door swaying open in the breeze. She couldn't drive with her door swinging around everywhere.
"God damn it, God damn it, God damn it!" Bella cried, slamming her hand into the steering wheel.
She could not even properly flee from her issues. God, why was this happening to her?
"Bella! Bells! Bella!"
She shuddered and glanced up to the window, knowing that it could only be Alice calling out to her. It seemed her friend had finally caught up to her. Moments later the pixie appeared at her door side and gave her a plaintive look through the window.
Tears running down her face, Bella opened the door and stepped back out, shutting it behind her as Alice stood back to give her room and looked at her with her big beautiful amber eyes wide and her lovely face filled with an expression that tore Bella apart.
"Oh, Bells," she breathed and that was that.
Bella flung herself at her, sobbing as Alice arm's came around her waist and held her steady. She wrapped her arms around the pixie's neck and cried into it, burying her face into the spot where her shoulder sloped into it to hide away from all the prying eyes. Alice did not flinch or shy, just squeezed her close and murmured soothingly into her ear.
"Shh, Bells, it's okay, it's okay sweetie…It's okay, Bella, I'm right here…"
Bella shuddered again and inhaled the soothing pheromones Alice's body began to produce then. The fact that they were generally enacted to keep prey docile to stop them from running was irrelevant, because that white chocolate and berries scent was the only thing keeping her together.
Only Alice.
Bella peered uncertainly over the rim of her shoulder, feeling all the eyes burning into them. Sensing that they were being watched, Alice's arms around her tightened marginally and she rubbed at her back, hissing, "Ignore them. Ignore them, Bella."
But she couldn't. Not even Alice's hand sweeping over her back could distract her.
She felt like everyone in the world knew. Her eyes caught a boy's across the lot, and she recognized Kent from her History class. He was staring blatantly at them with a group of his guy friends surrounding them, gesturing at them. What he was talking about could easily be discerned. When he noticed Bella's eyes on him, he smirked at her in a lewd sort of way that curdled her insides like spoiled milk.
God damn it, she thought again, taking such a shaky breath that her lungs rattled in her chest.
Bella ducked her head again and trembled, her sobs dying out as Alice's pheromones did their work. She made a pitiful sort of whimpering sound and Alice hushed her softly again, but already her breakdown was easing up thanks to her friend.
Maybe it wasn't her pheromones then. Maybe it was just Alice herself, being there for her.
Alice seemed to catch onto the fact that she was calming, and she eased her away slowly, hands on Bella's arms. Part of Bella rebelled at being pushed away from the safe haven Alice's arms provided, but it was countered by the other part of her that was still writhing in embarrassment.
"Honey," Alice said gently as Bella sniffled and rubbed furiously at her eyes, embarrassed at how she was acting but unable to help it.
Normally, she didn't believe she would be reacting this way. She would have freaked, yeah, but it all would have been internal and only the people that knew her would have been able to tell. However, all the events that had occurred over the past couple of weeks had built up and finally exploded with that jerk teacher, so her high wired emotions had reached a peak that became too much.
"God," she huffed and wiped at her face, her eyes swollen and undoubtedly red rimmed. "I'm being ridiculous," she mumbled, but Alice shook her head.
"No, you're not, Bella. That was so-so-That was crap. He should never have done that," Alice dissented, refusing to let the brunette belittle herself.
"I just-" Bella groaned and hugged herself, arms squeezing at her middle. Part of her really wanted to fall back into Alice's arms and bask in her comfort, but she was desperate to get control of herself so she did not make things worse than they already were, or make herself look any more pathetic than she already felt. "I just-I didn't even get to be gay for a day and now everyone knows. Everyone's gonna know now, and I-"
"It'll be okay," Alice told her kindly, squeezing her biceps lightly.
"No it won't," Bella shook her head, eyes watering again as she saw all the people looking at them and muttering.
No place could ever spread news so quickly but a high school. Surely the people in her History class were already telling everyone they could, and it was honestly terrifying how many people kept glancing at her in the parking lot. Sure, she had been acting kind of crazy and she had been crying hard, but still…
"Bella, listen," Alice redirected her attention and rubbed gently at her naked arms. Bella was clad in only a short sleeved band tee, having left her jacket in History in her haste, and even though Alice's hands were as chilly as the weather, somehow, they still seemed to warm her.
It might have had something to do with the electricity racing up and down them from her touch, but Bella only ignored that, too needful of comfort to resist it.
"I won't lie to you. Forks is the kind of place where yeah, people are going to find out quickly, but you are not alone. Whatever happens, I'm here for you, and so is the rest of my family."
She doubted Rosalie really gave a shit, and Edward had up and left her without so much as a goodbye, but she chose not to point that out. No use making herself feel even worse.
"People might be shitty to you…In fact, I know some will. A lot, really," Alice informed her and Bella's eyebrows rose, a cringe on her face when Alice winced at her mild lack of tact. "Sorry, I just don't want to sugarcoat this…But even if they are, we'll be right there with you. You know I've always got your back, and not everyone in this tiny town is a bigot. There are plenty of good people in this town who won't care, I promise. And I really doubt you can have friends like Angela and Jessica turn on you for something like this…"
The fact remained that she was now officially out, and not quite proud, in Forks, Washington, a rural, religious town known for gossiping like hissing snakes and judging quickly anything new. And Alice had not heard the way Jessica squeaked in disgust when Angela started talking about Coach Basselor, or the way Angela had made faces just talking about it.
Not to mention…
"Alice, what about my dad?" she gasped, hands going to her head in distress. "He'll definitely find out when it really gets out!"
She was halfway to panicking again when Alice's cool hands cupped her face and redirected her eyes straight back to her own.
Oh.
Oh.
Bella froze, cheeks heating against Alice's cool palms.
Ah…What was she flipping out about again?
"Easy, Bella. It's going to be fine. Nobody loves you more than Charlie. He's your father. I've seen the way that man looks at you. He may not show it much, but you're his little girl, and he's not going to be reciting bible passages at you, he's going to be cocking his shotgun at anyone who tries to hurt you. No one will be there for you like Charlie, I guarantee you that."
"How can you know that?" Bella whispered, eyes filling up again, her voice breaking.
Charlie can't hate me. Anyone but Charlie, I don't care what anyone says. I can't have my father, my dad…My daddy hating me. I won't be able to stand it, she thought miserably, but Alice's thumbs swiped at the tears tracking down her face and she smiled reassuringly at her. Something about the white of her teeth and the sincerity in her eyes reached inside Bella and just…Relaxed her.
Everything will be okay, it said. Everything will be okay, Alice was saying, and Bella's shoulders lowered with a sigh.
"I can see the future, remember?" Alice wrinkled her nose at her in the way that she did, and Bella snorted, a weak grin pulling at her mouth to match Alice's ever contagious one. But then she furrowed her brow, realizing something.
"Hey, how come you didn't see Mr. Gordon taking my phone up, then?" she cocked her head and Alice let go of her face, looking immensely guilty.
It was astonishingly easier to think when Alice wasn't cradling her cheeks like that.
"Um…I don't have an excuse for that. I usually look out for it, but I got too preoccupied with messing with you and…Forgot?" Alice grimaced as she said it and Bella pouted at her. "Shit, Bella, I know I'm an awful friend. I'm so sorry. I should have been watching, and then this never would have happened…"
There was some truth to that, but it technically wasn't even Alice's responsibility to make sure Bella kept from getting caught. It was her own fault she supposed for being so obvious, dropping her phone and making so much noise about it. She did not blame Alice any more than she blamed herself.
"It's fine. I was being obvious, anyway. It's no wonder he caught me," Bella shrugged off the apology, but Alice still looked ashamed.
"I still should have paid attention," Alice said sadly, fiddling with her hands and eyeing Bella miserably. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "Way to screw up when it really counts, huh?"
Bella rolled her eyes at her, trying to get across that the last thing she was doing right now was judging Alice for what had happened.
"Dude, it's okay. Not everyone's perfect, not even you," she smirked, if a bit feebly and Alice scoffed at her. She was trying hard to pretend like her world wasn't crashing down on her. Alice certainly helped with that, mostly because she had put her hands up and caught the weight of it before it could crush her.
"Pfft, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm flawless," Alice said in an exaggerated flamboyant, preppy voice and flipped her short locks with one hand, which made them both giggle.
Only Alice could make her laugh at a time like this, when her world felt like it was coming down.
Only Alice…
So okay, yes, she was still anxious as all hell that she had just been outed, and Alice may have been able to see the future, but that was always changing, and she was sure it was going to be mostly bleak anyway, but…
Alice always had that way of making everything okay again.
She watched her best friend soften as they looked at each other, really looked at each other then, Bella miserable and Alice so empathetic that she might as well have Jasper's powers, too.
"It'll be alright," Alice vowed and Bella took a ragged breath that made her heart ache. "It will, I promise. You're not alone in this. I'm going to be with you every step of the way. I'm always here for you, Bells, and I won't let anyone hurt you."
Alice's undying support lifted a lot of the weight off of her chest, along with how convinced she seemed to be that it would all work out. She nodded and rubbed at her arms again, shivering a bit, but despite all of Alice's efforts to make her feel better despite the gravity of the situation, she still felt a creeping, foreboding depression coming on.
Alice, of course, noticed.
"Hey, look Bella, why don't you come spend the weekend at my house? Emmett and Jasper are going out of town, and Carlisle, Esme, and Rose always keep to themselves. We can make a girl's thing out of it. I'm sure Charlie won't mind having the house to himself for a few days," Alice offered cheerily, her attempt at making Bella feel better as transparent as it was heartwarming.
Bella opened her mouth to say no instinctively, already succumbing to the urge to go home, lock herself in her room, and never leave it again, but then she stopped. Actually…That sounds like a great idea, she thought. If I go home and sit and think about it I'll probably be dead come Monday from dehydration, because I'll be crying my eyes out like a baby. But if I go with Alice, she'll keep my mind off of it like nobody else can…
"Sure," she agreed and Alice beamed, which only further indicated to Bella that that was a much better idea than going home to sulk and pout. God forbid she did that and Charlie asked what was wrong. She didn't know if she could lie to him in this state.
"Okay, cool. Do you want to spend the night tonight too, or go home, or-"
"Tonight, too. Friday nights are always when I hang with Angela and Jess but I…I really can't face them right now," Bella said regretfully and Alice nodded in understanding.
"That's great but um. I don't know if you want to spend like all weekend at my house…I would love for you too, but I was kinda hoping you might-er…Ask Charlie if you can stay home Monday? So if you spend tonight there too that'll be like four days which might be a bit much but…" Alice needled, trying to push Bella towards something she wasn't quite getting.
What? Bella tilted her head, confused. "And why would I do that?" she probed curiously.
"Well…" Alice drawled, avoiding her eyes and shifting on her feet. "I may or may not be suspended for a day-And that may or may not be because I called Mr. Gordon an asshole after you left…And a dickhead," Alice admitted, adorably drawing it out as she scrunched up her face.
Bella's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? Mary Alice Brandon called someone an asshole and a dickhead? She called a teacher an asshole and a dickhead?" she gawked, torn between shock and amusement.
Sweet, sweet Alice flinging insults like that? No way. The worst she had ever heard from Alice had been when she called Victoria a bitch, but that was merely an accepted fact. But to go off on a teacher like that?
"I also called him a prick," Alice mumbled, sounding both proud and shameful, to which Bella only threw back her head and really, truly laughed. Alice grinned at her for that, and Bella matched her smile much easier now, affection for her friend taking over the anxiety of her outing.
"Don't laugh, I was defending your honor!" Alice giggled. "He deserved it anyway."
Alice, Alice, Alice…
She truly was the best.
"I love you, Alice," Bella chuckled, and then her smile froze in place.
The same way Alice had never said 'I love you' to Bella before, Bella had never said it to her either. It had only slipped out, but for some reason when it slid off her tongue so naturally she felt as if she had done something wrong. She knew it was dumb to think that way, but could not seem to help it.
"Aw, I love you too, Bells. Now, I think you'll be needing a ride back to your place?" Alice said matter-of-factly, clearly not experiencing anything like what Bella was.
The brunette blushed but nodded and Alice motioned for her to follow, beginning to babble about how she would make sure Emmett got her truck all fixed up as fast as possible and apologizing profusely for having messed it up in the first place. Bella let her ramble because it didn't matter how many times she told her it was fine, that she was grateful it was the truck that got fucked up and not one of them, that it had been necessary. Alice would still feel bad for it, so oh well. She sounded cute when she ranted anyway.
Bella sighed.
Well, what? There's nothing wrong with thinking your best friend is cute, is there? She could acknowledge that. Alice had said so herself. She needed to stop acting like Alice having attractive qualities meant she wanted to jump the girl or something, damn. (She could tell herself that as much as she could tell Alice she did not mind her truck being trashed, but it did even less good there.)
Thankfully the parking lot was almost empty at this point so no one was really looking anymore. The vampire led her to the family Cadillac and graciously opened the passenger side door for her. Bella felt a weird flutter in her tummy at that, but she squashed it and muttered, "Thanks."
"No problem," Alice replied loftily as she got in on the other side a moment later, then promptly cranked the heat as Bella continued to shiver, chilled from being outside so long without a jacket. Warm air blasted her soothingly and a few minutes later Alice was driving them down the road and towards the weekend, which would hopefully be better than her absolutely shitty week.
And as long as Alice had a say so in it, she was completely hopeful it would be.
Charlie was, indeed, fine with her spending the whole weekend at Alice's house, only after she told him that Edward was gone and all the boys would be gone too.
He was not fine when she told him why Edward was gone, and had up and left her for his ex. Charlie cursed the Cullen vampire, asked Bella if she wanted him to beat Edward up when he came back. She rushed to assure him that it wasn't a big deal; that she had planned on breaking up with him anyway. It was a half truth, but Charlie eventually relented, promising if he ever saw Edward again he would give him a piece of his mind.
It wouldn't do much more than embarrass the hell out of Bella, but the thought was what counted, and she appreciated his fatherly grumbling more than he could know. She wanted his love more than anything at this point, so she gave him an extra long hug before leaving with Alice.
And Alice had not disappointed her hopes that her weekend would be better than her week.
All weekend the tiny vampire had kept her from thinking about anything other than the fun they were having. It helped that after the fourth text from Jessica and the third phone call from Angela that she turned off her phone to block them out, as bad as she felt for it. She couldn't bear to face them yet.
Friday Alice took her to a movie and by the time they got home, Bella wasn't even thinking about how she had been outed by her jackass History teacher because she was giggling her way through Alice's ridiculous impression of the French guy that had starred in it. She laughed so hard she snorted the first time Alice screwed up her face dramatically and said, "Sacre bleu!" in an exaggerated version of the actor's already flamboyant accent.
Saturday they spent all day hanging out at the local park feeding the ducks, only going home when it began to drizzle rain, then all night Alice and Esme kept her distracted as they made her a fantastic steak dinner. Watching Esme and Alice go back and forth about the semantics of modern day rap was almost as fun as participating in the conversation. Alice swore up and down that bass lines made up for the trashy lyrics, but Esme argued that even a good bass line was no excuse for misogyny. Alice told her she was reading too much into it, and Esme told her she was brainwashed by the media, to which Alice gave her such a look of offense that Bella broke down giggling. She was delighted to find that Esme was as witty as she was hospitable, and snickered every time the auburn haired vampire outsmarted her daughter or made a better comeback…Until Alice gave her a mock look of betrayal and flicked flour at her, coating her in white dust.
Which, naturally, started a flour flinging war that even Esme got dragged into, which only ended when the oven dinged loudly and interrupted Bella in the middle of dumping a whole bag of flour on Alice's head.
Esme noticed the mess they made and called a stop to it, but she was smiling like crazy as she did. Thankfully while she went upstairs to clean up and shower the two vampires handled the mess with godly speed, and by the time she came back down, dinner was ready and somehow both of them were neat and clean again.
It was a great time, and it was incredible how she forgot all of her problems chilling with Alice and occasionally Esme. She did not see Rosalie around, and Alice told her the blond tended to stick to her own room. Carlisle was constantly working, so she did not see much of him either.
Alas, even Alice could not keep her attention forever, and by the time Sunday evening rolled around, they found a genuinely silent stretch of down time, just quietly chilling together in Alice's room. Bella was working on spare bits of homework, sprawled belly down on the girl's bed and Alice was reading a book on Feng Shui , perched on her computer chair (on one foot) as she readjusted the dream catcher hanging from her ceiling fan.
Bella got sidetracked watching her do all of this at the same time, amazed when Alice balanced effortlessly, ran her eyes over the pages and untied the dream catcher without looking at it.
"I don't know whether to be impressed or jealous," she said, breaking the comfortable silence they had lapsed into almost an hour ago.
It was cool how they could talk for hours, but be dead silent with each other for just as long and
still be comfortable with it. Sure, they loved to talk to each other, but sometimes they also wanted to simply hang out and enjoy each other's company instead of constantly babbling. They did not have to talk to enjoy each other, and it was one of the things Bella loved best about their friendship.
"A bit of both, I would say," Alice chuckled, glancing at Bella out of the corner of her eye. She went up on the tiptoes of the one foot she was using to balance on the back of the chair and swiftly re-tied the dream catcher, having un-knotted the strings because the book claimed tangled cords and ropes were bad juju or something.
Sometimes Alice was pretty weird, but Bella only appreciated her more for it.
Alice hopped down and snapped the book shut, tossing it haphazardly at the bed, where it barely missed Bella's head. Bella gave her the stink eye, but grinned at the twinkle in Alice's eye.
"How's that Algebra coming?" Alice asked amiably, floating over.
"It's not," Bella groaned and gestured at the mass of scratch paper and balled up wads of failed attempts littering Alice's queen sized mattress.
"I told you, Algebra's for weenies," Alice said sagely and Bella stuck her tongue out at her.
"Then you must be an uber-weenie. You've been doing Algebra for years," Bella countered, to which Alice only scoffed.
"Please, I am the epitome of awesome. I am in no way a weenie. You, on the other hand, should be the mascot for Oscar Meyer or something," she retorted to which Bella gasped.
"You ass!" she giggled and sat up, shutting her textbook heavily. She held it up threateningly and Alice put her up her hands.
"Whoa there, Tiger. Careful, you might put an eye out with that," she snickered and when Bella opened her mouth to reply, she snatched the book right out of her hands.
"Hey!" she protested, but Alice only tossed it away where it thumped loudly across the room and against Bella's backpack.
"You're a bully," Bella pouted as Alice leapt onto the bed next to her, beaming innocently.
"No, you're just too easy to mess with," Alice pointed out superiorly, and Bella's bottom lip jutted out.
"Oh my god, don't," Alice grinned. "That is too cute."
Bella glared at her, but Alice only reached over and began pinching her cheeks, cooing at the brunette like one might coo at a baby. Bella growled and swatted her hands away, huffing irately, which only made Alice giggle.
When Alice noticed her scowling, she wiped her face smooth and replaced her smile with a faux contrite look. They stared at each other for a minute, Bella with arms crossed and Alice sitting cross legged, trying to look as apologetic as possible, but the way the corners of her lips quivered gave her away.
"Jerk," Bella finally gave in to the heavy silence first, and Alice laughed, eyes lighting up.
"Aw, don't be that way, Bells. You know I just like to pick on you," she said. Then she leaned over and poked her in the side playfully.
"Hey!" Bella yelped, flinching and instinctively covering her sensitive side, her glare giving way to a laugh.
Sensing weakness, Alice did not respond other than to quirk an eyebrow at her, lean forward, and poke her other side. Bella yelped again and slapped at her hands, but Alice was not deterred.
"Oh, is that a grin I see?" she teased, poking at all the areas Bella could not cover with her arms, giggling when Bella swore at her.
"No," she resisted, but she was smiling like an idiot, fighting Alice's quick hands as best as she could. "Knock it off!"
As if to punctuate her playful demand, her stomach gave a forceful, plaintive gurgle, rumbling embarrassingly loud and making Alice halt her attack. Blushing, Bella put one hand on her belly, startled at how hungry she actually was now that her stomach had let her know that it wanted feeding. She could not remember the last time she had eaten.
"Okay, fine, jeez, you don't have to growl at me," Alice joked. "C'mon, let's go get the human some food."
"That sounds awesome," Bella agreed gratefully.
Alice slid off the bed as simple as that and gracefully floated towards the door. Bella followed after her, but Alice was already disappearing into the hallway, moving unnaturally fast.
"Hey, what's the rush?" she called, jogging to catch up. Surely Alice did not like to scrounge up food for her that much. Yeah, the vampires in the house generally had fun trying to get Bella suitable sustenance, having a weird curiosity for getting her food and watching her eat because they were unable to do so themselves, but still.
She quickly rounded the corner, and honestly, she really should have seen it coming.
"Boo!" Alice barked right in her face, having camped right outside her door and waited for Bella to walk out.
"Shit!" Bella cried and lurched back as Alice's chiming laugh rang out.
"Language!" Esme's voice called faintly from somewhere in the house and Bella turned crimson.
"Sorry, Esme!" Bella replied in a loud voice and then immediately scowled at her snickering friend.
"Ooh, Bella got in trooouble," Alice taunted in the tone of a small child, eyes twinkling.
She may have been a hundred and eight years old, but maturity wise, when Alice got in a goofy mood, she could be ridiculous.
Ridiculously and adorably maddening, that is.
"You're so dead," Bella grit out and Alice's face screwed up in mock fear.
"Only if you can catch me," Alice winked, then turned and bolted down the hallway for the stairs at a slightly faster than human speed. Bella sprinted after her, yelling the most unrealistic death threats she could come up with while Alice squealed. They pounded down the staircase with Alice just of reach, pleading for mercy.
They skidded into the kitchen a moment later and Alice ran around the table, avoiding Bella's snatching hands. They ended up on either side of it, and every time Bella moved to go one way, Alice would go the other.
"Oh my, I am in a pickle, aren't I?" the vampire grinned, amber eyes glittering.
"Yep. You're mine now," Bella smirked, slightly out of breath.
She was still painfully out of shape, of course. It was odd that she was though, considering how much Alice ran her around all the time.
"Am I?" Alice's eyebrow rose challengingly. "Because I seem to be over here…And you seem to be over there…You can't very well-what was it you said? Stab me with a wooden stake? Or no, was it make me eat garlic?" she cocked her head as if thinking about it and Bella snorted at her.
"It was both, and I can," Bella declared, feigning left before jerking back right. Alice followed her movements easily, and they stayed on opposite ends of the table.
Damn, she thought, mouth trembling as she tried not to grin at the haughty smirk on Alice's face.
This was quite possibly the dumbest thing, but Bella was having way too much fun. Her heart was racing and she was trying to keep up her murderous front, but with Alice, it was always hard not to burst out laughing.
"Well…What if I told you I have a hostage?" Alice drawled, and not taking her eyes off of Bella, she took a step back, reached behind her, and grabbed something off the counter. "The last pack of Ramen noodles, huh? It's chicken flavored. Your favorite…"
Bella blinked as her stomach grumbled again, which made Alice snicker. Blushing and blinking, she shook her head.
"Sorry, even tempting me with food won't save you this time," she sighed in an exaggerated manner as Alice dangled the package of noodles teasingly in one hand. Actually, it might. She was really kinda starving at this point. "You've scared me one too many times, my friend, and now you have to pay."
"I told you, you'll have to catch me first," Alice stared at her in total disregard, looking entirely comfortable as she swayed back and forth, taunting Bella. "And sweetie, you never will."
"Oh yeah?" Bella boasted, hands tightening on the edge of the table.
"Yeah," Alice grinned.
And so Bella launched over the table to prove her wrong.
Alice actually shrieked as she did it, apparently surprised. Stunned by her unforeseen shock value, Bella clambered over the top of the table swiftly and Alice got cornered where the stove top counter and sink counter met up.
"How did you not see that coming Ms. Clairvoyance?" Bella guffawed as Alice made a noise and immediately shoved the Ramen noodles behind her back to defend them from Bella's grabbing hands.
"I was giving you a fair shot!" Alice crowed back, giggling like mad as Bella pressed her back into the counter and scrambled at her hands. Alice kept the Ramen noodles just out of her reach, Bella reaching around her desperately, her laugh stuttering out of her as she tried not to let it out, but when Alice was howling in her ear like that, it was impossible.
Alice stuck the hand with the package straight up in the air and Bella lunged for it, but it was a feint. Suddenly she found herself spinning and then she was the one pinned to the counter, Alice's free hand pressing strongly against her chest. She gasped when her back thudded into it and her elbows sprawled out on each of the perpendicular counters, panting and smiling up a storm. Alice tossed the pack out of reach and it landed with a clatter on the table, and then she grabbed Bella's wrists and pinned her hands down on the counter, craning forward on her tiptoes to do so.
"Who's got who now, huh?" Alice murmured triumphantly with twinkling eyes and her nose all wrinkled up and-
And their faces were right next to each other.
Bella froze up, swallowing hard as she tensed, startled still by how close they were. She could feel Alice's breath on her, and…Christ, her hands were a pair of handcuffs keeping her locked tight. Their bodies were brushing gently every time Bella inhaled or exhaled heavily. She found it hard to swallow, their eyes impossibly close as they stared deeply at each other.
Alice seemed to realize their position at the same time that she did, because she fell statue still a moment later, her smile slipping away into an unreadable expression, as did Bella's.
What…How did we get like this…Bella wondered anxiously and…Excitedly? She felt Alice's vampiric aura slowly slip over her like an old familiar friend. Pheromones dipped curiously into her pores, flicking on nerves like light switches. Her core tightened and she breathed in Alice's intoxicating scent without meaning too, gnawing the inside of her lip. The kitchen had gone uncomfortably, tantalizingly silent.
Alice did not move.
Bella did not move.
What are we doing? Why is she looking at me like that? Why am I looking at her like that? Bella mentally freaked, her body beginning to stir in a frightening way.
Electricity crackled along her skin and between them, the tension became tangible when neither of them made a sound, made a single movement, only watched each other, so close, too close, not close enough…
"Bella…" Alice broke the silence with the softest of whispers, her voice a coaxing murmur on Bella's wanting ear drums.
Bella's knees almost buckled when Alice's head tilted just so and so did hers, but in the opposite way, without her permission, mindlessly, instinctively mimicking the movement. Her chin dipped at the same time that Alice sort of swayed on the tips of her toes, and suddenly their fronts melded together, and Bella sank down an inch as the pixie kind of dipped forward the tiniest bit, and Bella mimicked that too without meaning too, having no idea what the hell was going on or what she was doing.
Is she going to kiss me? She internally screamed. She's going to kiss me! Holy shit, Alice is going to kiss me!
"Alice?" she squeaked as the vampire's lips parted and Bella trembled, dying at the way Alice felt against her and the way her wrists stayed trapped in a much gentler, cool grip, the way Alice's eyes pierced her to her very soul, like the way they had in Biology, only now her eyes were not furious but soft in such an intimate way that she was tingling from the back of her skull down to the tips of her toes with anticipation and want and need…
Alice is going to kiss me, and I'm going to let her…Fuck, I think I'm going to kiss her, too! What is happening? What should I do? What should I do! Bella thought frantically, and they both moved together, eyes still open though lidded, and then their lips were a centimeter a way, a millimeter away, a micrometer, a goddamn nano meter-
"Hey, Alice, I know you're having just so much fun with your pal Bella acting like a bunch of psychopathic screaming little children down here but-Oh."
Bella jumped so hard that her left elbow swung back and smacked the dish rack as Alice drew back vampirically fast, a foot away in the blink of an eye. She yelped in pain and cradled her stinging funny bone as Rosalie came to a halt at the entrance to the kitchen, eyebrows high and lips pressed together in a line.
"Huh. Well don't you two look cozy," she drawled, slinking into the kitchen like a mischievous house cat. The amusement in her voice had Bella's face skipping straight through red towards a pale white and she stared down at the floor tiles, breathing hard.
Shit. Shitty shit shit, she thought vulgarly, beyond mortified and confused. What the hell just happened?
She chanced a glance up and grimaced at the cat-that-ate-the-canary look on Rosalie's face, the sneer adorning her pretty features. Alice's arms were crossed over her chest and she was watching Rosalie warily, her posture tight.
"Did you want something?" she inquired, voice just bordering on rude as Rosalie continued to look at them like that.
"Yes. But so did you," Rosalie replied mockingly and Bella averted her eyes, preferring to study the floor some more.
"What is it?" Alice snapped, unusually hostile. Bella glanced up again, gazing at her friend in bewilderment and with a quiet hint of desperation.
She would give anything to know what was going through Alice's mind right then, but Rosalie only gave a derisive laugh.
"Don't get pissy with me because I ruined your sordid little game with the human. Carlisle just got home, and he wants to get started now," the blond groused, cocking one hip out as she crossed her arms as well, not appreciating Alice's tone.
"We were just talking," Alice lied. "There's nothing sordid about that. And not right now, Bella was just about to eat."
What the bloody mess were they talking about?
"Do what?" Bella said, her voice so husky that she coughed to hide it, cheeks searing red when Rosalie's judging gaze flickered over to her.
"Oh, you'll find out. And no, it has to be now. Carlisle's running a double shift tonight and he has to go back to work in an hour. You can finish playing pet the kitty with Bella when we're done, don't worry," Rosalie sneered.
Motherfucker.
Bella's ears and neck flushed such a brilliant red it was a wonder she did not blind them all. Alice stiffened and shot Rosalie a glare that could rival even the blonde's.
"Rose-"
But Rosalie only blew them a kiss and stalked back out, ignoring the warning in Alice's tone.
And then there was silence.
Bella hugged herself uncertainly as Alice shuffled her feet and sighed, ran a hand through her black locks. When she finally turned back to the brunette, Bella was warring with the profound urge to run for it.
"Come on, Bella. Carlisle wants to talk to you," Alice informed her, sounding normal but unusually restrained.
What?
Was that it?
They weren't even going to talk about what had just happened?
Bella stared at her uncomprehendingly, still remembering the way they had stood so close and…And nearly kissed. But Alice only gestured for her to follow, and Bella knew that yes, Alice was literally going to pretend as if nothing had happened.
She supposed she understood the reasoning behind that, and most of her wholeheartedly agreed with that because she was seconds away from freaking the fuck out, but another tiny part of her protested ignoring it, pleaded with Alice not to do this…
The bigger part won out and when Alice walked out of the kitchen to follow after Rosalie without another word, Bella could only helplessly follow, mind going a thousand miles a minute. She found it hard to think when experiencing such a serious case of what-the-actual-fuck, so she remained as silent as her friend.
Did that really just happen? Seriously? I can't believe…I mean surely we weren't going to…Were we? Alice sure looked like she wanted to…Or am I just hoping she did? Did I even want to kiss her? Was I just caught up in the moment? I couldn't have wanted to kiss my best friend…What the hell was that?
When she entered the living room, Alice stood next to her adoptive father, conversing quietly with him. Rosalie was perched on the arm of the loveseat while Esme hovered next to her, pulling back her sheet of blond hair into a tight ponytail.
Further confused, Bella stood there awkwardly, rubbing the back of her still hot neck.
"Hello, Bella," Carlisle greeted her genially. "Come in, I'd like to talk with you for a moment, if you don't mind."
Bella obliged, mostly because she had no idea what else to do, and walked over to him. Alice stood by him, and when she approached, the pixie did not meet her eyes. Something about that gave her a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, but Bella fought it off, turning instead to Carlisle.
"Bella, I apologize to interrupt your night like this, but I have a favor to request of you, should you be willing to participate. It is perfectly fine if you wish to reject, but I strongly suggest you give the matter ample consideration," Carlisle said to her in his doctor's voice, which only bewildered her even more.
"Um…Okay," she said, brow furrowing.
Alice still wouldn't look at her, and it was distracting her.
"Do you remember the effects your bite had on our Alice, Bella?" Carlisle asked her.
"Yeah," she responded skeptically, desperate to know what the hell was going on.
Of course she remembered that. How could she not? It was part of what had been stressing her lately, the way she had nearly turned Alice human, and all that had followed after she had bitten her friend.
"Well, then you will remember we never really came to a conclusive theory about the full effects your peculiar bite employs. Of course we have ideas, but I am extremely curious to know the full extent it can reach. I believe it would be safer to know the effect you can have on our species as well, because if you can do this, you may be capable of certain other abilities," Carlisle explained and Bella cocked her head at him.
"Uh…Okay," she said, blindsided by what she had been brought in for. "Why? And…You want to do this how?"
"That's where Rosalie comes in," Esme caught her attention and she turned to her and Rose. Astonished, Bella swiftly connected the dots, and when realization dawned on her face, Rosalie gave her a sickly sweet smile and a mocking wave from the love seat, hair tied up and porcelain neck exposed. She wore a white cami that bore her smooth shoulders completely.
What.
The.
Fuck.
Were they being for real? They wanted her to bite Rosalie?
"Are you serious?" she gawked, eyes flicking back and forth between Rosalie, Esme, Alice, and Carlisle.
"Completely, sadly," Rosalie affirmed in her scornful way.
Bella realized another thing as she stood there, blinking rapidly. She rounded on Alice and barely kept from glaring at her.
"Is that the only reason you asked me to hang out this weekend?" she demanded. She felt set up all of the sudden, having this sprung on her so fast. Alice immediately drew up in offense, staring back defensively.
"No," she denied, a little heat in her voice at the betrayed expression on Bella's face. "No, I asked you to hang out because I wanted to hang out with you. I didn't even know Carlisle wanted to do this until Friday night. He wanted to tell you himself, which is why I haven't brought it up."
Bella was not entirely sure she believed her at first, the hurt feeling in her chest blinding her, but Carlisle confirmed it by nodding.
"You have weird ways of 'hanging out'," Rosalie scoffed from the love seat, and Esme hushed her as Alice gave her a scathing look and Bella blushed again.
Don't think about it, she warned herself. Just don't.
"Bella, Alice is being honest. I did want to talk to you about it personally," Carlisle said sincerely.
Relief that she had not spent this so far great weekend with Alice for an ulterior motive relaxed Bella a bit, but not much. What they were asking of her…
"Why, though? What's the point? We know nothing good comes from me biting vampires. What does it matter?" she inquired.
At this, Alice and Carlisle shared a look that Bella had come to find out means that they were keeping something from her. They were doing that a lot lately, and it was starting to annoy her. She wasn't really keen on this. The last time she had bitten a vampire shit had gotten out of hand faster than she could close her fingers around it, and she was not anxious to have a repeat fiasco. Especially not with Rosalie of all people. And why the hell was Rosalie going to be the guinea pig here, anyway? Rosalie hated her.
"Like I said, for safety purposes. And out of purely scientific curiosity, as well. Truly, your bite is a remarkable thing, Bella. I'm anxious to know if it is only Alice that you affect so, or all vampires, and how many bites it takes to gain those effects, the duration of the bite needed, how hard it is…" Carlisle ticked things off on his fingers, talking matter-of-factly.
"Why do I have to bite Rosalie though?" she questioned warily, trying not to frame the question in an offensive way, though that was impossible.
"Because I volunteered, human. No way would you be putting your mouth on me if I wasn't letting you. You should be overjoyed. This is a once in a lifetime chance for you to act out even a little of your brand new Sapphic fantasies on me," Rosalie snarked from her seated position, folding one leg over the other and sneering at her.
"Rosalie," Esme snapped at her, and Rosalie grimaced at the motherly tone. "Be nice."
Bella was fuming at that, but she ignored the anger Rosalie was beginning to invoke in her like she always did. Asking Rosalie to be nice was like asking a rabid dog to stop snarling at you, so whatever.
"Why would you volunteer for this? You hate me," she pointed out needlessly.
She was aware that she was nitpicking now, trying to find any reason not to do this.
"Yes. But believe it or not, most vampires like being vampires. Save for Eddie boy who's up in Denali making whoopee with his ex, I'm the only one who actually misses being human. Alice didn't like it and didn't want to do it, and Carlisle and Esme have no interest in reverting to their old selves. Neither did Jasper and Emmett, so I'm the best we've got," Rosalie informed her, treading the line between civil and scornful. Her mention of Edward was a clear jab that Bella ignored.
This was all too much. Bella looked around the room, taking in all the vampires standing before her. Esme looked at her encouragingly, as did Carlisle, though he looked more pensive than his wife. Alice was still barely meeting her eyes and it was starting to give her a heartache as well as a stomachache, and she had no idea what to do.
You should say no, she told herself. This has 'bad idea' written all over it. There are so many things that can go wrong here…
"What if she gets stuck that way?" she turned to Carlisle.
"Rosalie is prepared to accept those consequences. She may even look forward to the opportunity," Carlisle replied simply. "Bella, rest assured, this decision was not made lightly. I have been discussing this with the family almost since it happened, and Rosalie knows what she is getting into. I only ask that you give the choice as much consideration, but believe me when I say you will not be to blame for anything that happens. I just think it prudent we know the full extent of the mechanism you hold dormant in your bite. Not knowing what you're capable of seems much more dangerous than knowing to me."
Bella closed her eyes and rubbed at her forehead unsure. She waffled back and forth as she contemplated it, opening her eyes to gaze over at Rosalie, who stared passively back, golden eyes glinting coolly in the light.
So she wouldn't even care if she got stuck being human…She probably actually wants to do this more than anyone else. Funny, I would have pinned her for the total opposite. Who would have thought Rosalie would be the one who'd want to be weaker and less pretty, basically inferior in every way? What's her angle, here? Well…If she doesn't mind, I guess I don't…I just don't want to hurt her. I may not like her, but still…Carlisle can say what he wants, it's my choice, and if I choose to do it, the responsibility is on my shoulders…But I also really want to know what is up with my mouth doing that shit to Alice…
Bella struggled to decide and wished they had not asked her to do it so soon because she did not have really any time to think about it. Yet like Rosalie said, there was nothing else for it. Carlisle worked too much for them to find opportunities like this for Bella to bite anyone in a controlled setting, and she realized then why Jasper and Emmett had dipped out for the weekend. Neither boy had very secure control, though Jasper's was notably weaker. If anything went wrong, only Esme, Carlisle, and Alice had the ability to get it back under control.
Carlisle sure was one sneaky son of a bitch, she noted, eyeing him warily out of the corner of her eye. He had planned this well, and if Alice was telling the truth, Bella surmised that he had done it so that she would be put on the spot and have to make a snap decision under their pressure.
What was he playing at?
Unable to decide, Bella looked as she always did to Alice for help, and when the pixie stoically met her eyes, she saw something there that seemed to push her into saying yes. Whether it was in the steadiness of her gaze or the way she tilted her head down slightly, she did not know.
…Whatever it was, it worked. Bella caved under the pressure and shrugged her shoulders with more apathy than she really felt.
"Okay, if this is what you think is best," she agreed reluctantly, not knowing what else to do.
Saying no was one option, probably the smart one, but she could literally feel everyone in the room sending out mental frequencies all tuned to the sound of Yes. Carlisle beamed at her and Rosalie made an indiscernible noise as Alice gave her an equally indiscernible smile.
Well, one good thing she knew she would be taking from this was being distracted from how weird Alice was being after their almost kiss, which pretty much made it worth it. (She did not even notice how she had not thought about being outed to her classmates even once in the past hour.)
"Great," Carlisle clapped his hands together and motioned to Rosalie. "If you would, Bella. I don't mean to rush you, but the hospital is in great need of me tonight and I have to go soon. I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible."
Dragging her feet, Bella walked over to Rosalie and her stomach writhed at the listless look she received, Rosalie's haughty face regarding her almost as if she were not even there. Carlisle moved to Rosalie's right as the blond slid into the actual seat of the love seat, and wordlessly she laid her arms across the arms of the plush chair. Esme and Carlisle immediately placed their hands on them and pinned them there, which made Bella extremely uneasy.
Carlisle noticed.
"It's alright, Bella. It's just a precaution. We won't let anything get out of hand," he promised but she still had the urge to back out while she still could.
"It's okay, Bells. Go ahead. Rose isn't the one biting this time, you are. You should really dig your teeth in. You've got quite the PSI in those jaws. I'm sure you won't hurt her, but even if you do…" Alice was standing next to her, and she smiled her own too-sweet smile when Rosalie scowled at her.
"Alice, when is Jasper coming home again? Maybe this time when you try and play pet the kitty with Bella, he can join in," Rosalie replied and Bella blanched for Alice at that.
The pixie didn't make a sound, but her face did go impossibly cold. So much for being distracted about that confusing as fuck almost kiss.
"Girls," Esme warned, and Bella decided that Alice was right.
Fucking fine, Rosalie wanted to be the one getting bitten?
Then Bella would bite her. Hard.
"Do I just…Go for it?" she gestured at Rosalie's neck and grew irritable at the way Rosalie rolled her eyes.
"Yes," Carlisle nodded. "I'm going to ask you to bite her three times, five seconds each, Bella. Two stretched out over a week was enough to make Alice have starkly human qualities, and I believe three in quick succession should be sufficient to reveal the true nature of your bite. Preferably on her shoulders, so that the marks can be hidden."
Three times? Nobody said anything about biting her more than once! Bella blushed, but Rosalie huffed impatiently.
"Will you hurry up? We may live forever, but you're making it really boring to do so," she taunted.
Irate now at how relentlessly and unfathomably bitchy Rosalie was, Bella scowled at her, and before she could hesitate and back out like a chicken, she leaned in. She did so quickly, because going slow would make it even more awkward knowing Rosalie. She halted an inch away from the length of her gracefully sloping shoulders, inhaling the lovely scent of pine and sunshine. How Rosalie could smell so warm and cold at the same time was confusing, but she chose not to dwell on that.
She did smell good, despite her bitchy personality, but Bella had had quite enough of the vampire being so shitty to both her and Alice, and so without warning, she took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and bit the fuck out of her.
"Easy, you brat!" Rosalie hissed as Bella's teeth sank into the middle of the fleshy part of her shoulder, digging in cruelly. Her shoulder dipped down ever so slightly, but otherwise she stayed stone still, the way Alice had reacted the second time Bella had bitten her.
That's what she gets for being a cunt, she thought, but her tongue brushed skin and then all she could taste was crisp apples and fresh coconut. She salivated without meaning to at the taste, but her head count reached five and she drew back quickly.
"Bite me that hard again and I might bite you back," Rosalie threatened, but Esme pinched her arm and she fell silent.
Bella was starting to feel a little dizzy, and she wasn't sure why. She could feel pheromones emanating from everyone in the room, but they were all at a low level. She could not quite place her issue, so she hurriedly picked a spot an inch to the right of the first one, and bit down again, refusing to think about how ludicrous this all was.
She bit down softer that time, mindful of Rosalie's warning, continued to ignore how good she smelled and tasted, and after she reached five, pulled back again.
"Good, Bella," Carlisle said. "One more and we're done."
This isn't as bad as I thought it would be, she mused.
"I don't see why you made such a big deal about it," Rosalie said to Alice, rolling her shoulder once before settling it back into position.
"The circumstances are a little different," Alice snapped back from somewhere behind Bella.
"Sorry, I forgot I'm not as close to sweet Bella as you are," Rosalie sneered, and Esme barked at her again.
"Rosalie, knock it off. You are being insufferable," she chastised, and Rosalie heeded her mother's warning again, though she still looked at Bella like a cockroach.
She always did that though, so it was losing some of its effect.
The effect of her scent and pheromones, however, seemed to be getting decidedly worse. She was starting to get a phenomenally bad feeling about all of this, but voicing that feeling now would be useless. Bella swallowed uncomfortably and lowered her mouth back to Rosalie's exposed shoulder, for some reason embarrassed by the two rings of angry red teeth imprints she had already left.
She felt bad for a brief instant, seeing them there, and so before she bit down this time she asked Rosalie, "Ready?"
"Yes," Rosalie snarled. "Hurry up."
Well.
Fine then.
She should have known better than to be considerate of the girl, and so she just leaned forward and did it. She bit Rosalie for the third and last time, teeth scraping icy cold skin. Rosalie shivered but did not otherwise react, and when Bella counted to five and pulled away, it was over.
"That was great, Bella," Carlisle praised her, but he and Esme did not let go of the blond when she straightened back up, wiping her mouth awkwardly.
She wondered vaguely if they felt the way the air had thickened. Alice moved around her and stood next to Esme, watching Rosalie with wary eyes. Rosalie stared at her with an eyebrow cocked and her shoulder lined with three rugged bite marks that still made Bella feel uncomfortable.
"Enjoy yourself?" Rosalie hummed.
"About as much as I would drinking rotten milk," Bella retorted, having lost her patience and becoming increasingly aware of the way the air she was breathing was starting to taste a little sweeter with every breath…Like pine trees and sunshine, like apples and coconut…
Seriously, were they noticing that at all? Rosalie's pheromones were getting stronger, and Bella had to pick absentmindedly at her nails to distract herself from them.
"I don't feel any different," Rosalie ignored her and spoke to her adoptive parents, who still held her arms securely to the love seat. "My shoulder is throbbing, but that's it."
"It can take a minute to kick in," Alice said and Rosalie rolled her eyes arrogantly, but thankfully did not let out yet another stinging insult.
One day, Bella was going to get up the nerve to ask Rosalie why she hated her so much. She was certain she would rather know the answer to that at this point than the meaning of the existence of life on earth.
"Alice is right. We've got to make sure nothing goes wrong," Carlisle told her, and so they sat…Waiting.
Bella wasn't waiting for anything. She could already feel it, but she figured it must not be that big of a deal if no one else was saying anything. Her nervous system twittered nervously as more pheromones pumped in, all feeling distinctly of Rosalie.
This was fucking awkward.
Feeling Rosalie of all people swirl inside her like that was making her decidedly uneasy.
About a minute and a half later of tense silence where Rosalie looked superior and unaffected compared to all their anxious, curious faces, something finally happened.
"Look at her eyes!" Esme gasped and Alice let out a low whistle.
"Wow," Bella breathed as she followed their line of sight and saw the cause for the excitement.
Because Rosalie Lillian Hale's eyes had transformed from a stark gold to a brilliant shade of hazel.
As Alice's eyes had gone blue, Rosalie's eyes had gone a lovely blend of green and caramel.
"What?" Rosalie frowned, squinting said eyes.
"Your eyes changed color like Alice's did," Carlisle said, examining them closely.
"Oh," Rosalie said, unsquinting them, but making no further comment. She was taking this all very well.
"That happened a lot faster than mine did," Alice declared, staring at her adopted sister in contemplation.
"That it did," Carlisle replied. "It would seem more bites in faster time enact the effect quicker…And the bite clearly works on others as well…"
That, however, was the only exciting thing that happened in the next five minutes, where they all watched Rosalie closely, awaiting something, anything to happen, awaited her to have the vicious reaction Alice did.
All that happened is that Bella's stomach met up with her feet in a puddle because the pheromones Rosalie was emitting continued to increase in volume, and she found herself holding her breath for unusually long periods of time. It was worsening her bad feeling.
Seriously, why was no one saying anything about that? Did they really not notice, or did they just not care?
"Okay, this is getting kind of ridiculous. I feel fine. I'm not going to pull an Alice and go for her jugular or anything, so can you guys please let me go?" Rosalie complained after the long period of silence.
Bella thought that to be a distinctly stupid idea, but Carlisle, Esme, and Alice all shared a long look, silently communicating about it.
"Well…" Esme hesitated. "She sounds fine, at least…"
Alice made a noncommittal noise, and Carlisle gazed at his blonde daughter.
"Do you feel in control, Rosalie? Be honest," he asked her seriously.
"Completely," she grumbled back.
"You don't feel agitated, or hungry?"
"Nope. I hunted tonight like you told me to. I'm fine," she huffed. "Can you please let me up, Carlisle? Pretty please?"
Slowly, ever so slowly, Esme and Carlisle drew their hands back, and Bella flinched when Rosalie automatically rolled both of her shoulders, grumbling about how dramatic they were all being.
"Seriously, stop looking at me like I'm a time bomb. I feel fine, nothing even happened besides my eyes changing color. Whoopty fucking doo, I still feel like a vampire, not a hum-"
Rosalie's rant suddenly cut off as her face spasmed. She made a noise of pain and one hand came up to the shoulder Bella had bitten, grasping at the afflicted area. She hunched over as Esme gasped in concern and put a hand on her back.
"Rose? Rose?" Carlisle called out to her, but Rosalie yelped and fell to her knees on the floor, body curling up in what seemed to be agony.
Bella's bad feeling blasted through the roof and warning sirens flooded her head, but it was overridden by the terror that filled her.
Oh shit, oh no! she thought, one hand going to her mouth as Alice crouched by her sister, their squabbling immediately forgotten in her worry for her adopted sister. No, no, no…I've killed her, oh god, I've killed Rosalie!
But she hadn't, because when Rosalie's head lifted up just enough for those wicked hazel eyes to lock onto Bella's across the room and her upper lip curled back to reveal fangs as sharp as they day she'd grown them, she was all too alive.
She was even more alive, however, when she lit up off the floor and shot across the room before anyone could stop her with an unreal speed even for a vampire, grabbed Bella's face in her hands, and kissed her.