Chapter 7

Alice pulled into my driveway around four and I could make out the dancing figures of Jessica and Angela in the backseat. We had agreed she would drive because she had the nicest car of all of us. I geared myself up for the long hours of girl time to come.

Why couldn't all my friends just be guys here? I was so much better at talking to guys than girls. A comment was never as straightforward as it sounded in a carful of females. God only knew what they'd say about me after the trip, because of course there would be after-hanging-out gossip.

I yanked my purse over my shoulder and managed to make it out the door. Immediately the trembling of my driveway from the intense dance music audible from outside the car overtook me. Jessica climbed out of the passenger seat and held it down as I crawled into the back praying my eardrums wouldn't burst. How embarrassing would that be?

Alice shouted something as she took off down my street, not even focusing on the road, but it was lost in the semi electronic shouts from her stereo. I nodded hoping that would cover whatever she'd said and then Jessica shouted something that seemed to be "I love this part!" because it was followed by an extremely crazy hair flipping move that I probably would have broken my neck doing. Angela cheered as I sunk deeper into my seat trying so badly not to imagine what a trip like this would have been like with my real friends.

Juliet would have driven, because she always insisted, and we would have sat through the latest hits turned down low for half the trip because she knew that's all Ally listened to. But by the time the windows had all been rolled down and Ally had unwound enough to keep her phone in her purse, she would have popped in some horribly perfect CD from the 90's. Maybe it would be Brittany Spears or Madonna or N'Sync but my favorite was the days it would be Eminem. She'd blast it loud enough to show she was the whitest white girl in the world and then try to scream out the lyrics even though the only part I think she actually knew was the "Nana, nana, nana, nana, nana" part in Without Me.

But it was okay, because we knew the only way to save ourselves from the terrifying sight of her car dancing (something that should be illegal) was to sing along too. We'd pick out our dresses, quickly because we were all quick shoppers, and then drive over to the nearest Dairy Queen where Alex would be waiting with the rest of the guys in a pervy back spot in the lot to honk at us and whistle as we walked in to get our ice cream. We would all know Sky had told him to come but it would all be forgotten as we crowded into the back of his pickup truck on the skunky old mattress he threw in the back only for drive-in movies and nights like those.

"Bella!" Alice shouted. I started, I hadn't realized she'd parked the car. "C'mon, let's go check out these dresses!"

I slid out from the car, still a little lost in my daydream. It had just occurred to me that I would never have a night like that again. Not with the group all broken as it currently was.

Alice quickly yanked me onto the sideway and into the waiting smiles of at least three thirty-year-old women. My struggles to sit down and zone out were ripped to shreds by Jessica's shouts that just because I already had a dress didn't mean I couldn't try some on. I weaved through rack after rack of long, floor-length dresses trying to pinpoint the moment when prom dresses became gaudy.

Why was it so unacceptable to wear a straight dress in one non-blinding color with straps of some kind? Everything around me was strapless, low backed, skin-tight or unbearably poufy, covered in sequins and rhinestones, and so brightly colored I had to shield my face.

What woman in the entire world can pull off a neon orange ball gown with a peekaboo front and aqua petticoats layers?

Seriously, I'm asking. Because if you can I swear you deserve the Miss Universe award or something.

I was busy stuffing a hot pink number back into the rack when Alice came up behind me. "Here," she thrust an armload of dresses at me.

I tried to move some taffeta out of my face with no hands. "What are these?"

She smirked and then snorted. "Oh, give it up already," she whispered. "I know the real reason you wanted me here and it wasn't so we could try on dresses together."

I blushed. "I-"

She flapped her hands. "I don't care, I just thought I ought to give you some dresses to try on to make the other girls happy. After all, it's not like you were picking anything up for yourself."

"It's not that I don't want to," I started, although that was kind of a reason.

"It's just that these dresses are completely hideous," she finished, nodding. "I know, I thought the same thing. Good thing I already have mine."

I nodded as if I was lucky I had mine as well.

She sighed, fingering a lime green one with a tie-dyed bottom. "They just don't make dresses like the used to." She said it so quietly I barely even heard her. I debated whether I should say something or not. She seemed so lost in her thoughts. "Well then," she went back to her regular volume. "Let's go try these on."

Jessica and Angela were waiting for us and we all entered into the dressing rooms together. I unloaded my burden onto the rack and stepped back to see what Alice had chosen for me. I stopped myself from laughing.

They were by far the most hideous dresses this store had to offer.

We stayed in there for an hour showing each other our dresses in bursts of laughter and praise and I began to feel happy, almost excited to be there, right then, with the girls who could someday be my friends. I just had to let them be.

Finally, I ran out of dresses but managed to stand with Alice by my side as we critiqued Jessica and Angela's choices with the sharpness of trained personal shoppers. Some were too short or too bright, not the right fit or the right color. It was exhausting as I put everything I had into every comment, every judgement, trying to the best of my ability to give these girls a prom dress they could feel proud to wear.

Finally, sitting down in the fated boyfriend chair, I placed a hand to my head as subtly as possible, trying to shove my pulsing brain back into place. Alice glanced over and caught the movement.

"Hey guys," she called. Immediately, two heads poked out of two separate rooms. "I think Bella could use a pick-me-up, do you want anything?"

Angela blushed, glancing down at herself. "No, but I think I'm ready to get that pink one you liked. It's really pretty."

"And it makes you look hot," Jessica added and we all laughed. "Seriously, I'm almost decided too, we'll meet you guys at Shoe Gallery, okay?"

Alice nodded and I stood, stretching stiff muscles. The fresh air was complete bliss, a slight mist coating my skin within minutes. I stretched my arms out to collect it, answering Alice's smile with my own.

"So I think there's a Starbucks a few blocks down." She nodded to our right and we turned the corner, dodging the occasional shopper. There weren't many do to it being the middle of the week and the rain threatening to fall at any moment.

I shoved my hands into my coat pockets, my headache long forgotten in the freedom of the city streets. We crossed to the perpendicular street and turned the corner, trying to keep towards our right. A few shops in, Alice threw out a hand stopping me like a mommy seatbelt. She grabbed my arm.

"C'mon, let's go a different way." I turned around with her just as the shrill sound of a whistle and some catcalls assaulted my ears. Apparently we were in the bar district.

"Hey, where you going beautiful?" One shouted. Alice picked up her pace and I followed, ready to turn the corner and enter normalcy again.

But the corner was blocked. The sidewalk a moving wall of greasy haired men approaching swiftly.

I immediately took a step back but Alice kept gripping my arm, standing perfectly still. I twisted, glancing around and realized what she must have already seen coming. We were being blocked into the building to our left. Corralled like animals. Ready for slaughter.

I tugged at Alice, forcing her to turn so our backs were to the brick wall. The building was abandoned, so there'd be no hope there. What had at one point had been refreshing mist had become a low hanging shield of fog, blocking the perpetuating assault from any passersby that might stumble on us on accident and making the men appear as if they were slowly forming out of the darkest of cloud, growing clearer and clearer with each carefully placed step.

I dug into my coat pocket, intensely grateful that Charlie had instilled self-defense into me at a young age. I pulled out a can of pepper spray, struggling to reach my boot despite Alice's death grip, and pulled out my pocket knife.

In a millisecond I tried to determine which means of defense would help us the most with me jumping from adrenaline and Alice still as stone. I grabbed Alice's limp left hand and closed her fingers around the can of pepper spray. She hadn't blinked once since we stopped and I desperately wanted to shake her out of the shock. Without her help, we had no hope. Maybe even with her help.

"What'cha doin' around here, girls?" A man called.

"You lost?" Another asked, laughing at his own question, short and raspy.

"Alice," I croaked (I always lose the ability to speak in moments of terror). "Try and hit as many in the eyes as you can, if we can stop them for just a second we have a chance of getting out."

I pulled out my blade and tested the grip. Dammit if I wasn't going to make it hell for them. Places to stab scrolled through my head, already I could visualize throats, eyes, wrists, backs of knees and ankles. I would make them wish for death.

They were mere feet away as I shifted my stance. Alice still held my arm, I only hoped she'd move once I did. They were near enough to spray but her arm didn't lift.

"Ali-" I started, ready to break through her trance with any means necessary but I stopped.

In a trance of their own, the men had all stopped as well. Far beyond the point of alcohol, their eyes were unfocused, their expressions slack.

I took a step, jumping on what could only be an act of God telling me to get my ass out of there.

First one and then the others, all like puppets with their strings snapped, fell. A semicircle of men surrounded us, all incapacitated with the magical swiftness of a candle snuffing out. My mouth hung slack, my eyes burning from lack of blinking.

"Are they-" I tried to kneel but Alice suddenly gave a tug on my arm, handing me my pepper spray with her other hand.

"Let's go," she said conversely.

I shoved my knife back into my boot and my pepper spray into my pocket and stepped over the men with her. I followed her faithfully, mutely, back down the path we had come. Mind blank, we approached the doors to Shoe Gallery only to find Jessica and Angela waiting outside, shopping bags dangling from their arms.

"Where were you guys?" Jessica demanded, angry but still managing to smile.

I blinked. "I-"

And suddenly I felt sick. The image of the men had resurfaced in my mind and I felt weak with fear. Why hadn't we called the police? We should have called the police. But as much as I wanted to, as much as I knew I had to, I couldn't bring myself to reach into my purse to grab my phone and make the call. My mind filled with regret that I hadn't made the right choice, regret that could vanish with just a call. But it already seemed too long ago, like I was looking back and knowing nothing could change.

"We got lost," Alice said lightly, shrugging. "Are you guys ready to eat?"

My eyes widened. I felt full to bursting of fear and regret and I would now have to sit through an entire dinner pretending all was okay.

"Umm-"

"Actually," Angela said, unaware of my silent struggle. "I think I'd rather just go home if it's okay with you guys, I'm pretty tired."

"I'll d-" Alice started, but I cut her off.

"I'm really tired too, let's just call it a night."

Alice stared at me a second longer than normal, sending me shifting subtly away.

"Okay," she agreed.

We trudged back to her car just as the sky sparked and broke, coating me in seconds. Squeaking and shifting, we took our places in the vehicle and sat in silence as Alice pulled into the rain spattered streets. The ride back was no party. Alice's nails clicked on the wheel as expressions passed on her face faster than I could catch. Angela seemed to be drifting off in her seat, a slight smile on her face, and Jessica was gazing dazedly out the window where the world became a watercolor.

"Hey, you know what we should do?" Alice suddenly piped up. Jessica and I glanced into her excitement blankly. "Let's all go to my house, we could have a sleepover!"

"I can't, it's a school night," I said, though Charlie had no such rules.

"We can-"

"This is my street." I pointed out, gripping the door handle.

She seemed reluctant to pull over but finally she slowed enough that I could get the door open.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," I said quickly, shoving the door and practically sprinting to my porch.

The key turned the lock in record time and I locked the deadbolt as soon as it had closed.

"Did you girls have a nice time?" Charlie called from the living room.

"I feel sick," I whimpered dramatically, approaching the stairs at a brisk pace.

"Probably not a good idea to go out into the rain after you just had the flu," Charlie sighed. "Do you need me to do anything?"

I paused at the middle step. "No, I'm just going to go lay down."

Feet whispering across the carpet, I crashed into my room and managed to control myself enough to close my door with only the slightest of clicks.

OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod. What had happened out there? How did men just drop like that?

I paced my room for a couple of minutes and finally dove for my phone. There was only one person who I could have this discussion with.

Jack's phone rang, and rang, and rang.

I tried it again.

A third time.

A fourth.

Angry tears burst out of my eyes. WHAT could he possibly be doing that he couldn't answer his phone in such an emergency?

All of it unsettled me, the men dropping, my lack of readiness, the blank stare and steady grip of Alice. I stopped pacing.

What had been up with Alice? Why was she so calm afterwards?

Even thinking of her sent chills up my spine. With sudden surety I realized I was scared of Alice.

Had she-

I stopped the thought as the doorbell rang. I ran to listen, opening my door a crack.

"Oh," Charlie seemed surprised. "Edward, is it? What do you need?"

"Is Bella home?" I shook my head praying Charlie would somehow respond correctly.

"She's upstairs trying to sleep off the flu." I sighed in relief.

"Could I see her, it's something really impor-"

"I'm sure you can just ask her in school tomorrow, she's really not feeling too good right now." And with that the door closed.

I slumped to the floor, closing my eyes. Edward. Why did Edward suddenly make me feel like I was forgetting something?

My eyes opened wide. The ice. The mysterious avoidance in the car crash. And now his sister had stared down a group of grown men and made them fall like toys.

Holy shit.