A/N: Okay, so here's chapter three. Again, I just want to say that if you read this, please please review! Like I said, even if you just write 'horrible' or 'good' or whatever, that still helps me and will make my day so please, to all of you who have favorited this and have alerts, help me out here.
Finally it was Friday. The week had continued as much the same as it had on the first day of school, except that Alice was now picking me up and driving me there everyday. I'd get to school, go to my classes, meet Alice in between, and, occasionally, when I wasn't paying attention, I'd steal quick glances at a certain bronze-haired Cullen. More than once when I looked over at him had I caught him looking at me. But, when he saw me staring back at him, a light blush tinted his cheeks and he'd look away to his previous post of looking out of the window.
It was the last class period of the day—thank god!—and the bell was just about to ring. Unfortunately, Eric also happened to have this class with me and was sitting on the edge of my desk chatting away. I was beginning to get desperate. Almost desperate enough to go and talk to Edward, who was sitting in the very back scribbling absentmindedly on a piece of paper.
RING.
Ahhh. Saved by the bell. How cliché. I grabbed my stuff and rushed out of the class, Eric calling out my name as I ran down the hall to Alice's locker to wait for her.
"Bella! Hey, Bella! Over here!" I heard Alice call from down the hallway.
I looked over to where she was standing, and headed in her direction.
"I already got my stuff, so we can just head straight out" she said.
"Okay." Then I realized that she wasn't carrying her backpack, just a purse and her car keys.
"Hey, Alice, where's your stuff?" I asked her, curious.
"Oh, yea, I forgot to tell you! Leave your stuff in your locker, and we'll get it later when we get back. I don't want to leave it in the car," she said, jumping up and down excitedly.
"Alice, what are you talking about? Where are we going?"
"Silly Bella! How could you forget! We're going shopping!!!!" she squealed. A couple freshmen girls turned around to look at us.
"What? I—Oh! You mean Port Angeles? I thought you were kidding!" I screamed. I hated to shop. Well, I didn't hate it, but I didn't go often enough to take a liking to it.
"Bells, do I look like one to kid?"
I gave her a quizzical look.
"Exactly!"
"Aliccccee, why can't you just take Rose!"
"Becauuuuuse, Rose has cheerleading tryouts to manage today! Duh!" she answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Well, I guess it was. Beautiful, Rich and Blonde=Cheerleader. Or, at least, in Rose's case it did.
"Fine. But, I want to get back before the sun goes down at least!"
"Oh come on Bella, that's not adequate time to shop!"
"Fine. Whatever. Let's just get this over with."
We headed out to her shiny yellow Porsche, and before I knew it we were speeding off down the highway towards civilization. Alice turned on the radio and let me plug my ipod into it. I turned it on and hit shuffle, and "The Trickster" started playing.
I wanted you so bad
And I couldn't say
All things fall apart
We wanted out so bad
We couldn't say
These things fall apart
We both sang along to the music, laughing at how tone deaf we both were. It was almost good how bad we sounded. But, eventually the song ended and we were no longer able to smear its good name.
After about 40 minutes, we got to Port Angeles. We started off down the block, Alice dragging me to a small, eloquent looking shop where she said she could find some designer dresses. We walked into the shop, and after 2 hours of trying on dress after dress, Alice finally settled on a strapless, hot pink bubble dress, and I had found a dress also. It was a dark, navy blue; it came to about mid-thigh with a sweetheart neckline. It was safe to say it was gorgeous, but when I looked at the price—big mistake by the way—I saw it was $1000 dollars!
"Alice! This dress cost more than I could make in 3 months!" I yelled at her.
"Ugh, Bella, it's so gorgeous on you! It has to be bought!" she whined.
"I don't have the money Alice," I said, downcast.
"I never said you would be the one buying it," she said with an evil smirk.
Before I could realize what she was doing, she had run up to the snobby looking woman at the register and proceeded to pay for both of our dresses for the dance I wasn't even sure if I was going to go to.
"Okay Bells, time for some accessories!" Alice squealed, upon returning from making our purchases.
"Umm, Alice, can I go and find a book store maybe? And you can pick out all of my accessories?" I said before she could interrupt me.
"Uh, I guess. Jeez Bella, sometimes you are so boring!" she said before walking off and up the stairs in the store.
"Oh, meet me back here at 6 so we can go eat, okay!?" Alice yelled at me.
"Okay, Alice."
I started walking down the street, passing all the shops as I went by. Wow, I've barely been here a week and already I have a crazy almost best friend dragging me around shopping, I thought.
I wasn't really paying attention to the shops at this point, until I saw a blur of bronze through one of the shop windows. I started to walk backwards, and sure enough, there was Edward Cullen. Coincidently enough, he was inside the bookstore I had barley noticed. I opened the door and a little bell chimed to announce my entrance. The woman at the counter greeted me, and Edward never even looked up.
"Umm, do you know where I can find any classic literature?" I asked the kind-eyed gray haired woman minding the register.
"Yes, right over there, third row to the left, and one back" she said, pointing to the exact row Edward stood in, pondering over two books.
"Thank you" I replied quietly, walking over to him. He looked up at my approach and when he recognized me, he smiled a small, crooked smile. It was breathtaking.
"Hey Edward" I greeted him.
He nodded at me. I took that as a silent hello.
"Umm, are you trying to decide which of those to buy?" I asked him.
He nodded again.
"Hmmmmm." I looked between his two choices. One was Wuthering Heights, a great favorite of mine, and the other was The Tempest, one which I had also read, but the first was my favorite of the two.
"If I were you, I'd go with Wuthering Heights because it's plot is just so eloquent and it's magically written, and Cathy and Heathcliff's love isn't the usual. It's just a better story, if you're into those types of things" I said, trailing off.
He smiled a warm smile at me and set down The Tempest and went up to the register with his copy of Wuthering Heights.
I smiled at myself before searching the shelves for myself, finally settling on a copy of Pride and Prejudice, one I had also read, so many times in fact the spine ripped in half and I had to throw it away. I walked up to the woman at the register and paid for my book. Then I check my cell phone. It was only 5:30. I decided to settle down on the comfortable looking chairs by one of the shelves to read before returning to Alice. After what felt like not long at all, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I took it out and opened up the text I had received.
Bella! Where the hell are you!? It's 6:15! I have all your accessories picked out! Get your butt over here now! Or face my wrath! ;)
It was from Alice. I gasped, the time had gone by so fast. Well, I thought looking down, I guess that explains how I am already on page 95.
I closed my new book, stuffed it inside the bag and started to head out of the store. It was already very dark outside, even though it was only about 6:20. Kind of creepy if you ask me.
I started to walk along the path I took to get here, and it didn't take long before I realized I was sort of lost. I was going to ask someone, when it dawned on me that no one else was around. Maybe I should call Alice and tell her to pick me up here instead…….But then my thoughts were interrupted.
"Hey baby! Watcha doin over there all by yourself!" slurred a man somewhere in the distance.
I looked over my shoulder and saw three men standing on the opposite side of the street from me, one of them swaying under the light of the lamp on the sidewalk. I could tell from here that they were all drunk. I started to quickly walk away, almost jogging, and when I looked over my shoulder again, I breathed a sigh of relief. They were gone. They weren't following me.
I rounded the corner of the end of the street I was on, and it took me to another street, and I ended up having to cross the road. When I was on the other side, I continued up the walk and I decided to turn right, and loop back around and see if that led me to the shops. As soon as I turned the corner, my breath caught in my throat. It was a dead end. It looked like an alley, with a dingy trash can in the very back corner, and two of the drunken men from earlier leaned casually against it.
"I knew you'd come back for more" cooed one of the men.
"Yep. Just couldn't leave without saying hi first," another one said.
"Bout time Felix, what took you so damn long?" the tallest of the trio said. I spun around. There was the third man, apparently named "Felix" blocking off my exit of the alley.
"She's a slow one. Trips over her own two feet more times than you cuss in a day," he replied to the two men by the trashcan.
"Huh, klutzy are you? All the easier to catch if you try to run," the tall one said evilly, and advanced towards me.
I couldn't breathe. A thousand thoughts were racing through my head, and I couldn't think clearly. What could I do? I couldn't run! I'd kill myself! But I couldn't fight them either. Clearly I had no options here. I started to panic, and like an idiot, I started to run.
"Felix" caught me, and spun me around, shoving me into the alley wall.
"Now now, don't try to run away from us. We don't bite. Much." He said, smirking at me. I let out a small whimper. Felix started to laugh at me. Then, he started to slowly trail his hand up and down my arm, and I shivered at his rough touch. Abruptly, he grabbed the tops of both of my arms and pressed his hard lips to mine. I tried to push him away by turning my head, but that made him become even more rough.
"Hey! I called first dibs last time, asshole!" the shorter of the two men shouted.
Felix pulled away from me, still keeping me pinned into the wall, leaving bruises where his hands were holding me.
"Shut the hell up James, you got the last pretty one first. It's my turn this time."
I let out another whimper at his words, and James cussed under his breath.
Mike turned back to me then, and his rough hands started creeping down, hovering at the hem of my shirt. He was just starting to pull up on it, when I heard James cuss again.
"Shit Felix! You said she was alone!"
Just then, I heard the most beautiful sound. An angel calling my name.
"Bella!" he breathed, a mixture of pure rage and shock.
A/N: Cliffhanger. Payback. Hah. Okay, well, don't make me beg……and if I get enough reviews, maybe I'll post another chapter tomorrow. Since, you know, I already have the first eight done and all………..
Oh, and if your wondering, the song Bella and Alice were listening to was "The Trickster" by Radiohead. Awesome song, you should check it out. It also sort of fits my story, or at least that's how I interpreted the lyrics. Okay, bye!
-thedisquietingmuse