A/N: Hey, guys, here's the second chap. Thank you for reviewing/putting on your favorite/alerts lists! Hope you enjoy! :)

2 – My heart is like an open highway

I was relieved when I woke up the next day only after Mom had left for work. I wandered into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and then pulled on a blue t-shirt and a pair of shorts. The day was just as beautiful as yesterday had been, the sun rising to the cloudless sky, so unfamiliar to the cloudy and rainy Forks. Better enjoy it while it lasts, I thought as I carried my cereal bowl outside to the terrace. I knew that soon it would be all rainy and cloudy again.

"Hey, Bella!" I heard someone call when I was finishing my cereal, and when I turned my head I saw Alice walking towards me with our friend, Angela.

"Hi," I said, setting the bowl on the table beside me. "What are you doing here?"

"Alice said she wanted to plan your road trip and I wanted to see you two. Hang out for a while, if we're not going to see each other for a while," Angela said. "Great thing, by the way. I'm so jealous of you."

"You could come with us," Alice suggested, sitting on the terrace and leaning against the wall.

Angela shook her head. "Not going to happen. I'm stuck here for the whole summer, working at that dumb supermarket. But oh well, what can I do, I need to earn some money before college."

"And at least you've got Ben to entertain you," Alice said.

"Gosh, I don't want to know how he's entertaining her," I muttered. Alice grinned and Angela punched me on the arm.

I went inside to pick up a map and then came back out. "Here, we can plan our route," I said spreading the map in front of us.

"Boring," said Alice who had laid down on the wooden terrace and closed her eyes. "I thought that was the whole point of the trip, to not plan. Just go where the road takes us."

"We're not even going to plan our route?" I looked at Alice, amazed. We had been friends all though high school, but still her daringness sometimes amazed me.

"Nope. I'd say we just head south and decide where we're going on the way."

"When are we leaving, by the way?" I asked.

"I don't know – tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Are you crazy?" We couldn't possibly leave that soon.

"Nope," Alice answered simply.

"Tell her that she's crazy," I said to Angela.

She just grinned at me. "I think it's actually a good idea. It's great that you're being so spontaneous about this. You know, if I didn't have Ben and the job, maybe I would have actually come with you."

"Honestly, tomorrow," I muttered, shaking my head. "So how long is it going to be? I'd say two weeks, tops."

Alice sighed, sat up and turned to look at me with an exaggeratedly pained expression on her face. "No way. I think you've got wrong idea about this whole thing. It's not your regular summer vacation. This is about being spontaneous. Doing something extreme. Taking a timeout. Enjoying life."

"So how long do you want it to be then?" I asked, giving up. There was no way of negotiating with Alice when she was in that mood.

Alice shrugged cheerfully. "I don't know. As long as feels good."

"So we're not even going to discuss it?" I asked. "Just tell me, what did you come to plan, if there's absolutely nothing in this crazy idea you actually want to plan? And how can we know how much clothes do we take with us, if we don't know how long we're going to stay?"

"There are things called coin laundries, darling."

Alice and Angela stayed for a couple of hours more, then Angela had to get to work and Alice said she wanted to start packing. By that time we had planned everything that Alice had agreed to plan. Tomorrow at noon. Alice would pick me up and we'd leave. I had some savings and Alice had been working at a clothing store this spring, so at least we would have money for a while.

The only problem was my parents.

As the hours ticked by I became more and more nervous. There was no way Mom would let me go. And Dad wouldn't be happy about this either, even though he usually left the arguing to Mom. If I wanted to go to that road trip, I would have to basically run away.

Somehow I still found myself packing, throwing t-shirts and shorts and pants and even few dresses – even though I wasn't a dress person like Alice – into my bag.

The dinner was quiet. Mom and I weren't speaking with each other; a couple of times it looked like Mom would have wanted to start fighting again but Dad silenced her with a glare. I was thinking that it was a good thing Alice had convinced me to leave tomorrow. This was certainly not the way I wanted to spend the summer. Maybe this insane, reckless road trip was going to be a disaster but there was nothing for me in Forks either. After all, I had been dying to get out. That was maybe the only reason I had been so upset about not getting into university – I wasn't even sure what I wanted to study yet.

After dinner I decided that I would just have to do it now.

"I'm going on a road trip with Alice," I said as Mom was cleaning the table and Dad was reading the paper.

"What?" They both turned to look at me at the same time.

"So, um… we're leaving tomorrow and – "

"Hold on a second, young lady," Mom said in a tense voice. "What makes you think that you are going anywhere?"

"I know it's kind of abrupt, but we only just came up with the idea," I said.

Mom looked completely astonished. "You want to go on a road trip."

"I'm going on a road trip. Tomorrow," I said, hoping to let them know that this wasn't something we were discussing.

"You are not going anywhere," Mom snapped. "You can't just decide something like that without asking us first and you are certainly not leaving tomorrow – "

"Really?" It was me who interrupted Mom this time. "Last time I checked I was legally an adult, which, if you don't remember, happens to mean that I can do what I want and you can't stop me."

"Charlie, say something to your daughter," Mom said, looking like she was just about to lose her temper.

"Let's think about this, Bella." Dad sighed, looking uncomfortable that he had been pulled into this. "How would you even get the money to go on a vacation?"

"I've got some money," I said defiantly. "There is nothing to discuss. I am going, whether you like it or not."

"For God's sake!" mom yelled. "What has happened to you? When did you become so… self-centered?"

"You have some nerve to call me self-centered. You're the one who only ever cares about yourself and what you want. You want me to get good grades. You want me to go to some top university. You want me to get a job. You want me to stay here," I shouted. "And I'm sick of it! Can't you see? I can't stand being here."

I turned around and stormed out of the room. "Isabella Marie Swan, you get back here now!" Mom shouted after me, but I didn't listen.

Up in my room I felt exhausted. That had been the second fight in two days, and all this fighting made me feel anxious and worn out. I sighed and shoved some underwear, pair of shoes and a couple more shirts into my bag and then went to bed. Even though I was feeling pretty low, I couldn't stop the sudden surge of excitement. I didn't have any idea what tomorrow had in store for me and it had been a long time since I had felt that my life was that unpredictable. Maybe this was just what I needed.

xxx

"Are you ready?" Alice leaned against her red Chevy and looked bright. She was wearing a pink sundress that was so short I would never have had the confidence to wear it, but somehow it looked both cute and sexy on Alice.

"I don't know." I smiled, brimming with excitement and threw my big sports bag and backpack to the backseat. "My parents won't be happy about this."

I thought about the note I had left on the kitchen table. "I left for the road trip. I wasn't kidding. Call me if you need anything. Remember, I'm a big girl now and can take care of myself. Bella." I was certain mom would never have guessed that I would just leave like that. The thought made me grin; I wouldn't have thought that I would either.

"What did they say?" Alice asked.

"Nevermind about that now. They'll kill me later," I said.

"True," Alice agreed and sat down on the driver's seat. I sat beside her on the passenger's seat. "So I've got everything we need. I've got the money, the tent, the booze – "

"Alice!" I interrupted her.

She looked at me sheepishly. "What? We aren't driving all the time."

"Guess that's true." I gave up.

"And I've got this amazing road trip CD I made." Alice handed me a CD case and I looked at it smiling. Alice had drawn a picture of the two of us and on top of it were the words "Alice and Bella's big adventure".

"Awesome," I said. "Looks like we're ready to go."

Alice started the engine and I took the CD from the case and put it in the player. This was really it. I couldn't cancel it anymore; I couldn't back down even if I wanted to. Alice and Bella's big adventure had begun.

I grinned as I recognized the first song on the CD. It was U2's Beautiful Day, Mine and Alice's summer song; we had this habit of dancing and singing along to it when we got drunk. Soon we were both singing along as we drove past the center of Forks.

"You're on the road

But you've got no destination

You're in the mud

In the maze of her imagination"

I looked at Alice who was laughing and singing at the same time, her short dark hair a mess as always and couldn't help feeling far more excited than I had felt in ages.

"Maybe this is a good idea," I said as the song was ending.

"I know this is a good idea," Alice said, rolling her eyes like I was being stupid. "Mine usually are."

I punched her on the shoulder and shook my head.

"Ouch. No need the get violent if you don't want me to crash the car before we even get out of Forks," Alice snorted and pretended to look offended.

"Seriously, though," I said. "I have a suggestion."

"Yeah?"

"Let's end this trip in California. We could visit Laurent," I said.

"Sure," Alice said. "It's been a while since we've been there anyway. He'd better have some pretty hot new rock stars to introduce us to."

Alice had been with me to visit him a couple of times, and she liked my godfather just as much as I did. I didn't know if it was his charming personality or merely the fact that he knew so many celebrities. Alice almost hooked up with one of the Jonas Brothers the last time we were there.

It was a wonderful afternoon. We just kept driving and singing along to the songs. After a while I rolled my window open and let the wind mess up my hair. I felt alive.

"I'm hungry," Alice announced after two hours. "I'd say let's try to find an almost decent looking café and get something to eat."

"Sounds good," I mumbled. Now that she'd mentioned it, I felt a bit hungry too.

We drove on for a while, but all that we saw on the side of the road was couple of gas stations that looked so shady that we decided to skip those.

"Hey, wait!" Alice cried out suddenly and slowed down so fast my seatbelt almost choked me.

"As if I was going somewhere," I muttered and turned to see what Alice was looking at. I thought she'd found a nice looking restaurant, but all I saw was another one of those gas stations and some hitchhiker, with a huge backpack. Then I suddenly understood why she had stopped so abruptly. I turned to look at Alice with astonishment as the hitchhiker walked towards us.

"You gotta be kidding me." I shook my head.

"What? He's good looking, don't you think?" Alice said innocently and bent over to open my door.

"Where are you going?" Alice asked from the guy who was now standing beside our car with his hands in his pockets. He was about our age, with a messy bronze hair that fell partly over his eyes and a crooked grin.

The guy shrugged and lifted one hand to ruffle his hair. "I don't know. Where are you going?"

"Um, Seattle, I think," Alice glanced at me quickly and I gave her a murderous look she pretended to ignore. "Hop in."

"Thanks," the guy said in a husky voice, opening the back door and climbing in.

Alice started the engine and started driving again like nothing had happened. I gave her furious looks but she refused to even look at my direction. What was she thinking? Picking up some random guy at the side of the road. He could be some psychopathic killer or whatever and now he was sitting on our back seat. I mean, we didn't even know his name.

"I'm Edward, by the way," said the stranger on the backseat, as if he had read my thoughts. "You?"

"I'm Alice," Alice said and smiled at Edward via rearview mirror. "And my cranky friend here is Bella. We were just going to stop for some lunch, by the way. If that's fine?"

"Cool," Edward said. "Nice to meet you, Bella."

I rolled my eyes at his obviously sarcastic tone of voice. I just mumbled a response, not bothering to hide the fact that I wasn't overly enthusiastic about him joining our company.

After few minutes we passed by a halfway decent looking place and Alice pulled into the parking lot. We stepped inside the small coffee shop that was actually quite comfy inside and each of us ordered sandwiches and coffee.

"Alice?" I said, in a tense voice. "A word, please?" Before she had time to answer, I dragged her to the women's toilets and then turned to look at her.

"Okay, what the hell was that?"

"What do you mean?" Alice asked innocently. Well, she wasn't fooling me.

"You know very well what! You don't just get to take some random hitchhiker with us without first asking me," I snapped.

"The only reason why I didn't ask you was because you would have said no," Alice explained.

I walked back and forth in the small room, trying to gather my thoughts. "Yes, of course. Alice, we don't know anything about that guy. He could be like some… criminal, or something."

Alice didn't look worried. Actually to me it looked like she was quite excited. "Aren't you just a bit curious? Besides, he's hot, haven't you noticed?"

I sighed. It was pointless, trying to talk some sense to Alice. And yes, I had sort of noticed that he looked good, but it didn't mean he couldn't be a serial killer. "This is not about his looks, Alice," I said.

"Isn't everything about looks these days?" Alice asked. "Superficial 21st century society, you know."

"Not funny!" I turned to face Alice so fiercely that she had to take a step back.

"It's a bit," Alice said and a giggle escaped her mouth.

I couldn't help chuckling just a bit myself, even though I tried to disguise it as a cough. I had to agree that the two of us fighting in some coffee shop's toilet about some weird guy named Edward was just a bit funny.

"Wasn't this all about being adventurous?" Alice asked. "I was bored. You were bored. It's no big deal."

"Yeah, right."

"Look, if he turns out to be awful, we'll get rid of him anyway in Seattle," Alice said.

"If he's some kind of nutter and ends up killing us both, you are so dead!" I snapped.

Alice snorted. "Obviously."

"You know what I meant," I said.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Alice said. "By the way, he is just your type. That sexy hair and did you see those muscular arms?"

I smacked Alice. "He is not my type!"

"Sure, sure," Alice said. "That's what you always say."

"Don't push it, Alice. I'm still mad at you," I said but I knew that Alice didn't believe that. I didn't even believe that myself. I could never be mad at Alice for that long.

"Now let's go find out what that Edward's all about," Alice said and pulled me out of the ladies room.