Bree's Story
6. Best Friend
Bree's POV
Spending time with Alice was amazing. It didn't feel like I actually lived with her and her extraordinary family; it was more like I was a part of an incredible television show. The show about the family that is perfect in every possible way. But I wasn't acting and neither were the Cullen's. They actually existed – and I had to constantly remind myself that this was real. I had to repeatedly tell myself that I was a part of this picture-perfect family now.
After that first night at the Cullen's house I was expecting reality to set in and the absolute otherworldly feeling I was experiencing to fade away. It never did. Alice made sure of that. The next two weeks continued as one huge slumber party, trying on every dress Alice owned and having more makeovers than I'd had in my entire existence. But that wasn't even the best part.
In the two weeks that I had known Alice, she had truly become my best friend. It was almost impossible to separate us now. Emmett called us the 'Siamese Pixie Twins' and we couldn't even deny it. We did look very alike and that made me think about the advantages of our similarity and some future possibilities.
Having absolutely nothing at all to do with our time, the Cullen's had explained a lot about every insignificant detail of how they lived, including going to school. They told me about how Jasper and Rosalie often pretended to be twins. I mentioned the possibility of Alice and I doing the same when I started school. Carlisle had said that it was a good idea, but it wasn't something we had to worry about yet.
The Cullen's were due to move on soon and none of them would go back to Forks High School. Carlisle and Jasper were constantly on the computers researching sunless towns for us to call our new home.
Alice had clarified that Edward was the hold up. "We probably would have left by now if Edward didn't want to stay with Bella," she'd explained. "But he can't leave her. She is everything to him…" she had drifted off. "And it's not like Bella is going to be here much longer, anyway."
Alice was right. With Edward and Bella's wedding readily approaching, the date set for just three weeks from now, we could be organized to move in about a month. I would normally be excited about a wedding, but knowing that I would not be allowed to go drained all of the excitement from my body. Even if I could manage to control my thirst around the unsuspecting townsfolk of Forks, it would still leave the Cullen's in the difficult position of explaining my sudden appearance in their town. Nobody in Forks, besides Bella, knew that I existed and it had to stay that way.
I helped Alice plan for the wedding, of course. There wasn't much else I could do. I was prohibited from leaving the house unaccompanied and I could only go to places where no one would see me. It wasn't my ideal living conditions, but I'd only have the restrictions until we left Forks. And it was better than being destroyed be the Volturi. Much, much better. I shuddered at the disturbing memory.
"Bree! Where are you?" Alice yelled out to me as she walked up the stairs.
I'm in your… our wardrobe," I answered, correcting myself when I spoke 'incorrectly'. Alice had been very pushy about the 'what's mine is your' policy. She usually even seemed to get a little offended when I slipped up like this, but she had other things on her mind today.
"Guess where we're going tomorrow," she had that pearl bell squeal of delight in her voice. I screwed up my mouth contemplating. As I wasn't allowed to be seen by the public in Forks, I guessed it would be a hunting trip. It seemed a little strange, though. Alice and I had gone hunting just a few days ago and I was in no hurry to go again.
"Alice, I'm not thirsty," I assured her, "and neither are you." My eyes narrowed suspiciously as I stared into her golden topaz eyes.
"No. We are not going hunting tomorrow…" she paused. "We are going tonight."
"Alice, I…" I tried to but in, but she silenced me by raising her index finger and glaring icily at me.
"We are going hunting tonight, so we can go shopping tomorrow," she finished, showing her gleaming white teeth in a mischievous smile.
"How?" I wondered.
"Bree, you are great at this life," she told me. "Bella's scent saturates this house and you smell that continuously. It doesn't even bother you anymore. And nothing bad will happen tomorrow, trust me," she said over-confidently. Of course Alice would know exactly what would happen tomorrow.
"Where?" I was still slightly stunned - unable to structure a sentence that was more than one word long.
"Well, obviously we can't go anywhere with a risk of somebody from Forks seeing us," she pondered. "So, how about…
New York!" she squealed. "Just let me check the weather."
She closed her eyes briefly, before reopening them with an enormous smile. "New York it is," she beamed.
"Alice, have you lost your mind! Have you asked Carlisle about this? I mean, are we even allowed to go?" I questioned her.
"No, I haven't asked Carlisle," she responded, her mood saddening falsely. "But he'll be fine with it," she added with a smirk.
I sighed quietly. "Alice, your talent can get so annoying sometimes," I told her honestly.
"You won't be saying that when Edward, Jasper and I teach you how to use your gift."
"True," I agreed. I wondered when that would be. When would I learn how to use my talent? The talent so powerful it made the Volturi afraid of me. I smirked a little, remembering the look on Jane's face when Edward told her what I would be able to do when I learnt to control my ability.
My mind was drifting, think about many things, until a blue piece of fabric flew across the room and into my face. I picked it up quickly to look at it properly. I knew this dress. I had tried it on several times before. It was strapless, tight at the waist, with a ruffled skirt. It had a sequined pattern on the top third, from the waist up, making it glimmer in the light.
"Put it on," Alice ordered me.
I did as she said without questioning her suddenly frantic demeanour, dressing in four seconds. I glanced at the shoe cabinet, scanning the shelves, looking for a pair of heels that would go with my dress. Alice darted in front of me, swung the glass door open, picked up a pair of heels and shoved them into my arms.
As I ran over to the loveseat, I studied the shoes Alice had picked out for me. The heels were four inches high and very thin. They were silver – exactly the same shade as the sequins on my dress – and each had a pretty bow in an identical colour to the rest of the shoe. They matched the dress perfectly, of course. You could always trust Alice to put together an outfit that looked as if it belonged on the runway.
I stood up once I had both shoes strapped securely on and saw what Alice was wearing. She had a violet dress – in almost the same cut as mine – but it wasn't strapless and it had a white bow at the waist. She wore white heels and carried a matching bag – which she had already filled with various items.
She grabbed my hand and we ran downstairs and out the back door, into the forest. We leapt over the river and although I was concerned about my outfit's condition, a quick glance downward told me nothing had been ripped or broken.
We only hunted locally, within a few miles of the Cullen's house. Alice said we didn't have time to go any further. I also worried that if we got too carried away hunting, our designer outfits would get destroyed.
After completely draining one deer, I decided I was done hunting and got up off the damp ground. Alarmed that my dress might now be in tatters, I spun in a quick circle, looking over myself. I brushed off a little dirt, but I gave up promptly after realising that I still looked decent.
"Where to now?" I asked. Alice was already done, sitting on the branch of a fallen tree, not a hair out of place. She was talking to someone on her phone.
"…thank you, bye," she finished and hung up.
"Who was that?" I demanded.
"I was talking to the manager of the airport in Seattle. We are catching a plane out of here tonight," Alice answered both of my questions. "Come on, let's go! We'll take my Porsche."