Chapter 8

I stared at Emmett, frozen in fear. I shut my eyes and heard rapid steps approach me.

"FURBIE!"

I opened one eye to see Emmett holding my kitty Simba-style. He was gazing up at her, his eyes full of happiness. He looked like a small child that just received a present. Wait… 'Furbie'? He just called my kitty Furbie.

I tilted my head to the side and eyed him questioningly. He caught my stare and smiled even wider.

"I named the kitty. She is such a little fur ball, but I didn't want to call her that. That name is to long for her so I cut it short to Furbie!" he explained proudly.

He looked at me worried. "Is that okay, Bella?"

I nodded my head and gave a tiny smile. Emmett smiled at me and walked upstairs to his room probably, Rosalie trailing behind him. She shot me a small glare before disappearing. The others had been standing in the background watching Emmett. Edward was staring at me the whole time with that feeling that I couldn't place yet. He snapped out of it, nodded at me as he left upstairs. I was a little hurt he hadn't said anything. Weird; it's not like I like him or anything. He wouldn't like me regardless. ANYWAY, Jasper was nowhere in sight, but, Alice was looking at me disapprovingly. Did I do something?

"We have to go shopping. I am obliged to do so. (1) You don't have any other clothes, and (2) they are old. So go prep up and I'll buy you a new wardrobe!" Alice blurted at me. Her look told me to get my stuff and quickly. I mumbled a little okay, causing Alice to release a glittering smile. I went upstairs.

Shopping. I haven't gone shopping with another person since... never. I've never done this before. I think I could handle it. I only said yes because I didn't want to upset her. I have a feeling she has a lot of strength and energy so I didn't want to take my chances. Alice seemed just as welcoming as Esme and I don't want to wreck it.

I grabbed my Ipod and some money. I wouldn't be able to buy much with this amount. I don't have a purse so I was already 'prepped' up. I jogged to the stairs and, me being me, tripped on the first step. I prepared for the long tumble down the very long staircase, but two cold muscular arms wrapped my waist, saving me. I was pulled up against a hard yet comfortable chest. The mystery person gazed down at me when he placed me on the ground.

"Are you okay, Bella?" Edward asked, worry clouding his eyes.

"I'm sorry." I said automatically. Edward's eyes were then occupied with confusion.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I can be very clumsy sometimes. You didn't have to do that, E-Edward." I loved saying his name.

"You could've hurt yourself further than you already are. Don't apologize. " He smiled crookedly and it was just gorgeous. Then, Edward let go of my waist sharply and stepped away. His smile disappeared. "I have to go."

Edward turned around and walked agilely up the other set of stairs. Yeah, he really hates me. He didn't want me to get hurt because he wants me to leave as soon as I possibly can. And he left as suddenly as he did because he doesn't want to be near me when I doesn't need to. Hurt, I walked down the rest of the stairs to see Alice tapping her foot impatiently.

"Come on. We are burning shopping time!" Alice said as she pranced outside. "Carlisle and Esme said we could go, but I have to try not to go overboard and I have you back in four hours. Carlisle needs to change your bandages. That means we have around three hours of shopping."

This girl was talking at 100 mile per hour. We reached the garage and she unlocked her yellow Porsche. I gawked at the vehicle before me. These people were really rich.

"Let's go, get inside, Bella", she ordered.

I climbed into the car and rested on the leather passenger's seat. Alice revved the engine and backed out. She accelerated rapidly, going 85mph through the curvy road. I clung onto the armrest for dear life. Is she crazy or have some sort of death wish? I just knew we were going to crash, but we never did. Once we had reached the highway, she gassed down to 100mph and weaved easily through traffic. Alice kept talking animatedly about where we were going to shop at and what would look good on me. I nodded and said words of agreement at the correct times. I never knew someone so small could talk so much. What was supposed to be an hour ride was a 30-minute one to Port Angeles. I had considered running away there, to Port Angeles, but I wanted something more secluded. Alice quickly found a parking spot in the crowded lot. We got out and started our little mission.

We entered the first store, Abercrombie and Fitch. Alice found about 8 shirts and 4 pairs of jeans for me. I was forced to try all of them. When one didn't work she'd go fetch something that would. We ended up purchasing 7 blouses and 3 jeans all for me. I know that I don't have enough money for all of this. Before I could tell the cashier to take away some clothes, Alice passed her credit card to the cashier and paid for everything.

"You didn't think I would let you buy everything. This is my treat. No buts." Alice stopped me before I could object. I was really beginning to like her. Not because she paid, but because she didn't hate me. She was not mean as far as I knew.

We continued shopping and eventually it changed to absolute torture. We would roam through the same store and be able to leave with 3 more bags. She dragged me to 9 stores. Lucky for me, Alice didn't have me wear anything that would show my bruises or scars. We ended up with about 20 bags and I am not exaggerating. How could such a small body contain so much energy? I was beginning to get dizzy and tired. Alice finally decided that I had enough clothes.

I was completely spent, but Alice, on the other hand, was babbling on about how successful we were. She sped back to Forks and, before I knew it, we were at the Cullen's house. I was already half asleep when I got out of the car. Alice and I carried the outrageous amount of bags to the guest room. We had purchased blouses, jeans, capris, pajamas, shoes of every type, and undergarments. In short, we had bought every sort of clothing in 3 hours. It had sure felt like twice as much time. Now we had to put everything away. Ugh, this really sucks. You know, I've changed my mind. Alice really hates. I bet she had dragged me around the mall for three hours and wanted to torture me in her own special way.

Alice took in my tired face.

"We'll put this away tomorrow, Bella." Alice searched in the bags for something. She found whatever it was and handed me one of the pajamas outfits. "Here, change into these. Make sure to go to Carlisle to change those bandages. His office is on the third floor, first room on the left."

Alice embraced me and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. She smiled and left. I was completely shocked. No one has done that to me before. When she had approached me, I went completely rigid. That was totally unexpected, what she did.

I locked the door and changed into the new, comfy pajamas. I left the room still befuddled and robotically walked to Dr. Cullen's office. I softly knocked on the door and heard someone tell me to enter. I opened the door slightly and edged into the room.

"Hi, Bella. How are you doing?" He looked up from his papers to study me.

"I'm fine. Alice said to come here…"

"Yes. I need to change your bandages. Please sit here."

I sat down on the table he motioned to. Dr. Cullen put on his white jacket and got the material to change the dressings. He came towards me and set the stuff down.

"This might hurt a little." He warned as he stripped the bandages off. I winced slightly and stayed stiff out of habit.

"So you went shopping with Alice, right?" he asked once he finished taking them off.

"Yes, I did. She bought more than I needed."

"Alice loves to shop. It's like a hobby to her. Oh, this is going to sting." Dr. Cullen got a cloth that smelled of alcohol. I grimaced when he wiped the gash carefully

"I can tell. She has a lot of um… energy." Dr. Cullen then started wrapping the new bandages on top.

"Out of all of us, she has the most. There. That should do it, Bella."

"Thank you Dr. Cullen."

"Please, call me Carlisle, Bella." Carlisle smiled and gently patted me on the shoulder. Unlucky for me, I had a large bruise there. I hissed in pain making Carlisle look at me in concern.

"Are you all right?"

"No, no. Um… I'm fine."

"May I?" He wanted to check what was there. I'll let him look. Everyone was going to find out one way or another.

I nodded reluctantly, looking away from him. He moved the collar of my shirt and moved it to reveal the large bruise. I remember that one. Charlie had grabbed me there and threw me at the wall. The bruise was from the shoulder blade down to the middle of my back. Carlisle frowned deeply and studied the mark. He knew that I couldn't have gotten it when I had fled from the Cullens.

"Bella, what happened?"

"I um… fell." My voice sounded unsure and the statement came out as a question. I suck at lying, but it was worth a shot.

I let Carlisle look at my back and lower stomach. He spoke, trying a different approach. "Bella, what was the 'trouble' you had when you were at your home…really?"

I bit the inside of my cheek and then bit my bottom lip. I cleared my throat and rubbed my arm. Well, here goes.

"When I was little girl, I had lived with my dad, Charlie, and my mom, Renee. My dad was the chief of police and my mom stayed home. My mom and I were really close. She had even taught me how to play piano. My dad and I were close too. We loved each other dearly. We were like the perfect family. We had a house, money, good education… happiness. Then, when I was nine or ten years old, we had gone out for dinner. It was just a random thing. We were kind of celebrating how well we were doing until then. Anyway that night it had been raining… really hard. Charlie was driving, but he could barely see the road. My mom was in the passenger's seat and I was in the second row. He took a blind curve and in the middle of the road was a deer. My dad avoided hitting it, but he lost control of the car. We swerved off road and crashed into a tree. God, it was horrible. All of us were screaming so hard, so loud. It was absolutely bloodcurdling. I hit my head against the side window and woke up a couple days later with a concussion and broken leg. Dad was hurt too. My mom, she… had died instantly."

Tears started running down my cheek, but I tried to stop them. It was a futile attempt.

"So my dad and I lived by ourselves. Charlie barely spoke; he was an empty shell. He would go to work sometimes, come back, eat, then go to sleep. He had also started drinking, a lot. Charlie would drink more and more with each day. One day he came home completely drunk. I was around eleven years old. He was mad. I don't know why; maybe the day was worse than others or he was fed up with life. I don't know. He came towards me. I guess he wanted to let his anger out on something. I was the only something around in his eyes. So he st-started to…" I let out a shuddered breath.

"He hit me and he didn't stop." I sobbed and covered my face with my hands. "I lived there for four more years and that's how it has been all that time." I heard the door open and once again, felt the familiar arms hold me. I know I cried yesterday, but this one wasn't out of fear. It was for the many years of abuse and I really let it out.

I pressed myself against Edward's chest. I felt Edward's cheek against mine and his hand caressed my cheek. I heard through my sobs the soothing words Edward whispered.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so sorry that that happened to you."

Why is he apologizing? It's not his fault; I don't even know whose fault it is. I began to lose energy. I was completely exhausted. I had gardened for two hours and then gone torture shopping with Alice for three hours in one day. I stopped crying and took deep breaths. Edward began rubbing my arm and petting my hair. My eyes drooped and closed. Edward stood up and took me to a room. I was too tired to open my eyes. He gently lay me down on something. It didn't feel like the guest room bed. My hands were still gripping his shirt so his cold hands tried to have me let go.

"No" I mumbled. I don't want to be alone tonight, not after what I just said. He sighed faintly.

Edward lay down beside me. I edged closer to him and molded myself against his hard body. I sighed very content with the position that I was in. Edward's arm snaked around my waist and pulled me closer to him. He started to hum a beautiful melody. I felt the subtle vibrations as he hummed. His other hand cupped my cheek and his thumb stroked against my skin. My breathing grew even and Edward stopped humming. Before I fell asleep I felt Edward's nose brush against the back of my neck and heard him say again softly in my ear:

"Good night, my Bella."

Bella finally told someone about her past! I thought Edward was acting really sweet at the end. I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. The first week of high school wasn't all that great. I've got cool teachers and I'm finally in regular Spanish. Good and Bad. Good cause I don't have to take it with grades lower than me; bad because I'm with my classmates and I might not do so well. But that's my problem! XD

I'll work on the next chapter and try to update next week. Maybe it'll be in EPOV maybe not. I haven't made up my mind. Oh, I have one more thing to say:

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