Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, just my original characters and the Fey Plot

AN: Debbie Hick's based on your ridiculous reviews, I feel sorry for people around you. I don't know who you are or what your game is but your reviews are like the babbling of an angry toddler. I can only imagine what kind of twisted joy you get out of posting such stupid reviews. Try and learn some manners, or at least some grammar and spelling knowledge before you review again.

Chapter Thirty-Eight – Video Shopping

Sophie, Marco and I had been given leave from the camp to go shopping for accessories for our music video. There were three other groups out with us as well as a handful of chaperones. It was weird being out in Port Angeles and be treated like a kid that needed to be watched. The camp had given each group a voucher card but other than that, we had to fund what we bought ourselves. My group was lucky in that we knew what theme we were doing and it was a relatively cheap one.

Sophie and I spent the first ten minutes out of camp waiting for Marco to appear until Sophie got a message that had her seething with rage. It was the most emotion I'd seen her display since I met her. Apparently, Marco had 'more important things to do' than shop for accessories for the video and what I wanted to know was how he got that fact past the teachers at camp. Surely, they didn't condone him slacking off on this group project. I could tell the Sophie was bummed by his disappearance and so I could tell it was up to me to make it better.

It was one of those trips where I knew what we needed, as did Sophie, but we just couldn't find it. The poxy twenty-dollar voucher wasn't going to get us very far and I could see Sophie's shoulders sagging with each store we left empty handed. I decided to call for reinforcements, no one knew shopping better than Rose, well Alice did but she wasn't here.

The arrival of Rose's red convertible sent a couple of tongues wagging but she ignored the stares and the calls of the others from camp and made a bee line towards Sophie and me.

"What's the emergency?" she asked.

"We need to shop for accessories for our beach themed music video but we can't find anything suitable."

"Ok, that's easily solvable," she paused, "wasn't there a third to your group?"

"Marco couldn't make it, apparently, he has more important things to do. Honestly that's such a guy answer, just because he didn't want to shop," moaned Sophie.

I rolled my eyes not so subtly at Rose hoping she'd get the message and not talk about Marco in front of Sophie. She nodded her head slightly to show me that she understood. I wasn't sure that I liked this fiery version of Sophie. Perhaps it was just because I'd marked her down at being a soft spoken non-confrontational person, but this new persona of hers was unnerving.

"What kind of things are you looking for?" asked Rose.

"Oh, you know, beach stuff," replied Sophie.

Lord have mercy.

"Things like, beach balls, hula skirts, leys, flowers, blow-up beach themed items. I reckon the crazier the better, if it looks cheesy then we're doing something right," I said.

Rose nodded as she practically dragged us into a store that neither of us had noticed before. It was like a cross between a party store and one of those shops that sells everything, I loved it. Rose was like a man woman as she wandered around the store, I'd never seen this side to her but it was amusing to watch. I could tell that she was reminding herself to act human because every so often she'd see something she wanted and almost speed over to it before remembering that the shop had witnesses to her behaviour.

I helped a little but mostly I just watched Sophie and Rose. I knew it had been the right decision to ask Rose for help for she was succeeding where I would have failed. Sophie seemed to have her own notion of what accessories we should have but I'd never realised how bizarre her tastes were and how un-beach like they were. I knew I'd have to find a way to make sure most of what she'd picked up never saw the light of day again.

I have never been more grateful for the Cullen's vast fortune. I didn't expect it and I wasn't taking advantage of Rose but I was forever grateful when she insisted on paying for the two trolly loads of stuff we'd accumulated. If it was down to the voucher and money Sophie and I could spare we would have only ended up with an armful of stuff. It wouldn't have been enough to create a good video.

I'd been trying to think of ways to make the video really pop. Our teachers had advised us to use everything at our disposal and I intended to make this project the biggest I'd ever done. Of course, it wasn't my ideal project, that would have involved both Alice and Jasper but as I reminded myself, they weren't here and I had to make do with what I had. I hadn't been dealt a bad camp hand so I really had nothing to complain about.

"I have an idea I want to run by you," I said, pausing for both girls to look at me.

I knew it didn't really matter what Rose thought because she wasn't part of my group or camp but I valued her opinion.

"What is it?" asked Sophie.

"It's just with all these accessories, which are fabulous by the way, the video is going to look really empty with just you, Marco and me. We should find some extras for the video, you know people who can jump around and have a party. I could probably rope some of my friend's in so that we aren't just reliant on people at camp."

"You know that's actually not a bad idea, I don't think Marco will go for it though."

"It's a good thing he's not here then. The way I see it, he lost right to deciding anything the moment he opted out of today."

I could see Sophie wavering.

"She's right you know. If you aren't going to be a team player, then why should you get to make decisions?" asked Rose.

"I guess you're right."

"Great! Do you think we could film the extras today? It would be super to get it out of the way."

"I don't know. I guess we'd have to ask one of the chaperones. It would be a lot of work, I mean are your friends even free? We'd have to see if anyone from camp has time to participate, and then there's the location. I mean is there a beach near here? Or sand? Or something that resembles a beach?"

"There's a sand dune near my house, you're welcome to use that," said Rose.

"I'm not sure," replied Sophie.

"Really Rose? That would be fantastic. Oh, come on Sophie, please! It'll be super fun and we'll get to direct. Then when Marco come out from where he'd hidden we can show him what we've got and it'll be too late for him to complain about it."

"I guess if we get permission then we'll do it."

Not wanting to give Sophie ANY time to change her mind, I left the two of them to charge over to one of the chaperones and ask them. I was told that it would be fine if two chaperones and a teacher joined us. Not wanting to delay further, I ran back to Rose and Sophie and practically dragged them over to Rose's car. I insisted she drive us back to the camp so we could ask a teacher and gather chaperones and people to be extras. I decided to leave Sophie in charge of choosing the extras from camp because I hoped it would perk her up a little.

I didn't know why she was so annoyed over Marco's disappearance when she seemed the most un-confrontational person ever. Did she have feelings for Marco or something?

I had asked Rose to contact Bella and the others to ask for their involvement while I took the high road and searched for Marco. I was confused to find that none of his roommates had seen him and neither had any others from red group. Though I didn't particularly like Marco, I was worried for his safety. I took my complains to one of the Head Chaperones who assured me that he was fine and had just taken a 'leave of absence'.

It was enough to get my hackles up because the woman looked ready to drop with a clearly bemused and glazed expression on her face. She was swaying in an invisible breeze and reminded me of a victim of cupids bow and arrow. My gut was telling me that this had something to do with Marco but my brain argued that it could be something else.

When I get my hands-on Marco, he is going to be dead shit.

On one hand, I was super excited that our request to film extras got approved so quickly yet on the other hand I was in disbelief that it was approved so quickly. For me, it was a little like a television flash forward to cut out the boring bits but it did all seem to be legit. One of the art teachers – but not one I had – called Mrs. April accompanied us with another chaperone while a third chaperone drove the bus that would take us to Rose's house. Sophie had picked out eight extra volunteers, four boys and four girls. True to my word I didn't interfere with her selection process but I did find it a little funny how insistent she was that everything be equal. She didn't want an odd number of boy and girl extras. She was going to be so unhappy to find that I had four male friends joining and only three female friends.

I could tell how awed everyone was at the Cullen's home, that Rose had come out to greet everyone was a bonus. She chatted briefly to the teacher about how she knew me and was happy to help before leading everyone down a well mapped path to the sand dune. I couldn't believe I hadn't known this was here beforehand, it was perfectly situated between the Cullen's house and the beach, nestled in the middle of the forest. It looked like an exotic retreat. I could tell how much Rose wanted this to be a success for me, from the way she smiled, to the way she kept staring at me and the buffet food table she'd set up off to the side. She'd also blown up all the items we'd bought earlier and set all the accessories up on another table for us.

Emmett insisted on putting the video equipment up for us once he realised that Sophie was serious about the numbers being even, which left us with another 3 boys and girls to add to the eight. In honesty, I was quite grateful that Sophie was busy calling all the shots. It wasn't exactly fun to stand up all day with a foot in plaster. I was forever grateful when Bella appeared by my side with a chair.

"Sophie isn't what I expected."

"To be perfectly honest, when I described her to you I hadn't seen this side of her yet."

"You don't mind that she's basically become a dictator over this? I thought it was supposed to be a team effort."

"Not at all. I basically wrote the song and most of the lyrics so it's good that Sophie has chosen a part of the project to lead herself."

"What about Marco? He is the third person in your group, right? I was expecting to meet him."

"I don't know why you want to meet him, he's an arsehole."

"Exactly why I want to meet him. I have to make sure he's treating you well."

"He's probably still bitter about our song being a girly song, with him being male and all. His 'disappearance' is probably him having a tantrum."

"What is your song about?"

"Getting over an ex and earning back your independence and showing how much you've grown."

Rose sent me a confused and worried glance.

"It's not about Edward…I haven't given him up nor do I intend to end things with him despite how he's been behaving. Love songs and breakup songs sell; I'm just trying a new angle on an old favourite."

"Edward loves you."

I sighed, "I'm sure he does but our opinions on love differ."

"How so?"

"Edward left to protect me and hunt down the one who wishes to kill me. In his eyes, he loves me enough to leave and protect me."

"And?"

"And, he never asked for my opinion. If he had, I would have told him that leaving me was the worst possible thing he could have done. You're a big family and I would have been safer had you all remained here. Better to fight him as a team than split off and fight him alone. I love Edward and he left me, regardless of why, the fact still stands."

"Why are you dallying over there Ella?! I need you here," cried Sophie.

I glanced once more at Rose's face and was concerned by the blank expression on her face. I worried whether I had said the wrong thing. My view on Edward leaving were constantly changing though the feeling of love I had for him didn't. I was trying to reassure myself that Edward would return but at the same time I was readying myself for if he didn't.

All I knew for certain was what I wouldn't do and that was become a miserable mess and close myself off from the world. I knew my bouts of depression in the past had not only hurt me but hurt others I was closed to and I didn't want anyone to experience that again.

I ran over to Sophie's side and ignored the glare that was present on her face. It was clear she was annoyed with everything going on for one reason or another. I didn't want to anger her further because quite frankly I was concerned for what she'd do.

It was funny to watch the scenes be filmed because everyone was completely silent. Later we'd be adding the song in which would add context but for now seeing people smile, laugh or chat without sound was bizarre. I was glad that we had gotten so many accessories in the end because we used every one of them. I'd commandeered an inflatable parrot when Sophie wasn't looking and had attached it to my shoulder. Secretly I was pretending to be a pirate but outwardly I was just trying to add humour to the serious Sophie who was present.

"That's it," she cried.

I turned to look at Sophie sharply and saw her storming over to Bella and Adrian. It was obvious to everyone that trouble was brewing and I quickly made my way over to them.

"What's wrong Sophie?" I asked.

"These two," she spat as she pointed towards Bella and Adrian, "are messing everything up. It's a song about sticking it to your ex and she's here making gooey eyes at him."

I frowned, I wouldn't have said the song's message was that.

"I don't think it really matter."

"REALLY MATTERS?"

I was concerned by her outburst in shouting and took a step back from her.

"You don't understand, this has to be perfect and they're ruining it. You stay here," she pointed to Bella, "and you come all the way over here," she said, dragging Adrian behind her.

I sent a look of apology to Bella which she seemed to get. I'd started off feeling so jolly about the day's events but now I just wanted everything to be over. Between Sophie and Marco's behaviour I wondered whether I would survive till the end of camp.

An hour and a half into the filming I excused myself under the pretence of needing the toilet but I just wanted a few minutes to myself. Emmett was going a stellar job as camera man and I couldn't believe I hadn't thought to ask him in advance about his skill. It never occurred to me that he would be proficient in it. That he even put up with Sophie's shrill commands was a bonus to me and I was quite surprised that Rose had managed not to snap at her yet. I felt like we had most of the extras scenes filmed to perfection but Sophie seems to be intent on finding something only she knew about. Though we'd stopped for food, everyone was tired and running out of steam. The teacher with us had even started to clock watch and I knew we'd be finishing up soon. Hopefully we'd get what we needed before Sophie had a meltdown.

There was a soft breeze flowing through the Cullen's house. Though vampires didn't smell, I always thought each individual Cullen had their own scent. I wandered aimlessly around the house, my feet taking me places before my brain could catch up. It was how I found myself standing outside of Edward's room. It was so barren but still managed to fill my soul. It was as if I could sense him in the room even though he was gone. If I closed my eyes I could almost see him flitting around in here and when he turned to smile at me I felt weak in my knees. I opened my eyes then to the emptiness of the room and the reminder that he wasn't here. I felt a lone tear trickle down my cheek before I wiped it away. I'd been gone long enough and should re-join the others now.

"Where is everybody?" I asked as I only spotted Rose, Emmett, Sophie and Bella.

"Where did you go? Never mind, we got everything we needed. The other campers have left and so did your friend's. The teacher said we had to be back as soon as we'd finished packing up."

I nodded, Emmett had finished packing up the camera equipment for us and I knew Rose would shoo us away without tiding up the rest of the stuff.

I was surprised when Bella leapt forward to hug me as I remained unaware for her reason why. She tried to squeeze the life out of me though and I hugged her back just a fiercely.

Too soon, Rose was driving Sophie and I back to camp, our camera equipment in tow. As camp was nearing the end of the day, Rose informed me she had some shopping in Port Angeles to do and would hang around for me to be finished. I felt a little guilty for making her stay but she assured me she was fine.

Sophie up and left me as soon as I'd deposited the camera back in the video room and removed out recordings for safe keeping. Usually I'd follow her to see what was up but I'd had enough of her behaviour today and couldn't be bothered for a repeat.

Imagine my surprise, as I walked across the campus to see Marco appear before me. I scowled at him as I came to a stop and crossed my arms over my chest in an annoyed manner.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"I was excused."

"Bull. This trip has been planned for a week and at the last minute you suddenly can't come."

"Something personal with my family came up."

"You know that excuse doesn't work when you've already told me your family live on the opposite side of America. It's not like you could visit them."

"Fine, it was something personal then."

"Oh, so quick to change your story. That just proves that you lied."

"Whatever, it doesn't matter."

"Well maybe not to you but there are two others in the group. Sophie and I picked up all the accessories and filmed scenes with a choice group of extras for the video."

"You did what? Why would you do that without my permission?"

"I'm sorry, you lost your right to that when you disappeared for unknown reasons."

"You'll pay for that remark."

"I'm sorry, did you just threaten me?" I asked outraged.

"Ella, Ella…Ella."

"Stop saying me name and stop moving towards me."

He did neither. He stalked towards me like I was his prey and though I looked for help around me none came. He continued to call my name and my body shivered violently. His hands were caressing my arms and though I was repulsed by the action I couldn't remove myself from his embrace.

"Ella…you don't really care where I was…all that matters now is that I'm back. Remember how much you feel for me…you find me attractive remember…you gaze at me with lust filled eyes…we belong remember."

I'd never felt so relaxed before, Marco was here keeping me safe. He'd been somewhere but that didn't matter because he was back with me now. He'd chase all the darkness away for he was my light. He was so strong and handsome, his lips looked so kissable and I longed to touch them.

"I have to go."

"Go my sweet and come back to me soon."

I walked dazed and happy from the camp to the street outside. The further I moved the more confused I became. I didn't even register Rose as she whizzed out of her car and began sniffing me till she took my face in her hands.

"What happened?"

"I don't remember…"

"What?"

"I don't…nothing? What happened?"

"There is just a smell on you that reeks of darkness."

"I don't understand."

"Do not worry Ella, I will work it out."

I nodded as I got into the car. I tried to trace my steps back as I thought of what happened. I'd found Marco, we argued and then there was just white nothing in my mind. What was I going to do?