"Alice, I will use force if I have to, you know that, right?" Bella hissed as quietly as possible at Alice. They had made it a full thirteen steps out of Alice's room before she froze in place, terrified of what she was supposed to do.
"Bella, I can't," Alice said, sounding like a lost three year old. Fear and panic crept into her eyes when she realized when she sounded that way, and that in three years, she would have a three year old that would sound that way after getting lost from her. That is, if Alice kept... she didn't know if she should say he or she. She didn't want to call her girl a boy or the other way around , but an it wasn't right either. It sounded like her baby was an animal or some thing. Alice's baby was no where near an animal.
"Alice Brandon, yes you can." Bella insisted, "I've known you long enough to say that you can do this, I know it. You are strong, all you have to do is walk down those steps and say a few words."
"What am I going to tell them?" Alice snapped. Any control she had, any lose grip on her emotions was totally lost. She had only found out not two hours ago that she was pregnant, even though she had an idea before she took the test, it was still up in the air if she was or not. It was hard for her just to tell Bella, who was so go with the flow about things that Alice didn't think she would stay mad with Alice - if she got mad at all - for very long at all. Her parents were a different story.
"Just go up to them and just say it! Two words: I'm pregnant. It's that easy Alice, you can do this." Bella soothed her, trying to keep her best friend out of the fire as best she could. The fire that raged within her own self, the sheer strength of her powerful emotions. Knowing that she had very likely turned her entire life into a train wreck. Bella suddenly felt bad about coaxing Alice into this so soon: she needed time to cope before she went off and told some one else. At the same time, she knew it was for the best. There was no way she would be able to get to a doctor without parents to sign the consent forms, and at eight weeks, the baby would need some form of check-up, right?
"Easy for you to say, you're not the one with an infant in you!" Alice hissed, sounding like she was ready to spit venom. Bella had faced her friend's fury a couple of times - but this had to be the darkest moment. There was nothing worse than the situation Alice was in right now, and Bella wasn't about to kid herself into trying to make this out to be a good thing. It wasn't.
"I know I'm not, but just do this. Please?" Bella said, wondering how much longer it would take before Alice either ran back to her room and locked Bella out, Bella picked Alice up and carried her to her parents, or Mr. and Mrs. Brandon heard all the hissing and came to see what was going on. Only one of those would have an end scenario with Alice getting her way, which meant she was by far out numbered here.
Alice looked like she had aged fifty years in the last few minutes. Who wouldn't, with the news she had just been given - or, well, given herself. Bella didn't think this was fair, one night, one mistake, and her whole life was changed forever. Whatever happened to a do-over, like every one insisted on in the good old days? The do-over made fouls in baseball go away, gained a turn in a board game, and gave you an extra day to turn in a permission slip. The only way Alice would be getting a do-over was for her to allow some one to kill her baby, her own flesh and blood. Jasper's own flesh and blood.
Bella liked Jasper enough, considering she had only just met him a few years ago when middle school started and five elementary schools were merged into one sixth grade class. She had talked to him a few times - even worked on an English project with him last year for a good two weeks - but they were never close. Not close enough for her to be okay with him impregnating her best friend. Jacob always did say that if any guy gave her trouble, all she had to do was call... this counted as trouble, right? No, no, Bella told herself, she was sure it was equally both their faults. Both of them had been drinking that night, for sure; Bella had seen Jasper's sister struggling to keep him upright when the party ended, and Bella had to help Alice get inside her house. Of course, it became clear that night that a bit much alcohol for Alice was two beers and a few sips of wine.
"Okay, let's just do this." Alice mumbled, but stayed rooted in her spot for a few seconds after the words were uttered.
"Alice! Come!" Bella said, getting ready to use the force she had promised. Bella was so close to getting her through this, they were not going to backtrack right to where they started.
"Bella, seriously, you need to chill out." Alice whined at her, taking a few step forward, looking as if the floor would be pulled out from under her any second, sending her falling, falling, falling, right through to the center of the earth. Or was that what she wanted? Any thing to keep from telling?
"You know I'm only doing this because I love you." Bella reasoned in an even voice, trying to get Alice into as deep as a calm state as she could. The last thing she needed was for Alice to snap again. One more outburst, and Bella knew that would be the end of her patience. She knew her best friend well.
They walked at a slow pace, every fifteen steps or so Alice swearing she couldn't do it, pausing for a few seconds before Bella got her moving again. It took more than ten minutes from the time they left her room to the time they were at the mouth of the living room, where both of Alice's parents were sitting.
Bella looked over at Alice, seeing her pale and breathing at unusual times. Red blotches were on her neck and collarbones, grown from stress like flowers. Red roses in the snow. Bella was proud of her for making it this far, but she knew they were far from done; they had just begun.
Alice cleared her throat, and took a few shaking steps forward. Bella was amazed that Alice was still standing in fact, she was trembling so hard.
"What's the matter Alice? When did Bella get here?" Mr. Brandon asked, sounding confused and surprised all at the same time. The look on his face was priceless, but neither girl could enjoy it at this time.
"She came in my window." Alice muttered, not sounding too clear, like if her words were obscured, so would their meaning. Maybe obscuring the meaning would make this go away.
"Why did she come in your window?" Her mother asked then, "And why do you look like you've just seen your grandfather's ghost?" Bella almost smiled at that. She had met Grampy Brandon only one time before he died, and even that had been long enough to know he wasn't a very great person to be around. Seeing his ghost was some thing most people probably had nightmares about. Bella knew for a fact that the old man had haunted more than one of her night time dreams.
"Well, I sorta have seen some thing kind of unpleasant." Alice stuttered out, even quieter than the sentence before that.
"What?" Mrs. Brandon inquired, wondering what could scare her daughter so badly.
"Just promise you won't do any thing drastic... please?" Alice begged, her voice becoming more and more clear now as she got used to the idea that she ws here, telling her parents. There was no going back now without them knowing some thing was up.
"Just tell us what happened," Her father demanded, sitting up straighter, as if he was getting ready to tear apart whoever had upset his daughter.
"Okay, I'm not going to jerk you around, I'm just going to say it: I'm pregnant." Alice said, then braced herself for the attack. The yells, the screams, whatever else they had planned for her. Alice wanted to take back her words so badly, so, so badly. she should have waited, gained an extra few weeks to wallow.
Nothing. Not one word.
Alice looked up at her parents to see their faces full of shock, disbelief, but no anger.
The first sound: a laugh.
The small giggle came from her mother, sounding almost like she was forcing it, when really she was scared out of her mind.
"You're kidding, right?" She asked, trying to sound like it was some thing she was sure of, a statement, not a question.
Alice could only nod her head, a silent tribuet that she was truly pregnant. The seriousness on her face was not some thing that could be acted out.
"How could you be pregnant?" Her mother's voice was pitched higher than usual, shock wavering in it like a white flag.
"We have a lot to talk about," Alice sighed, then said, "Don't worry, I know who the father is."
Alice figured that might comfort them as she sat down to talk, about every thing. Bella stood in the doorway, silently watching the lowest point of the Brandon family play out in front of her.