Author's Note

Hi guys. Thank you for being patient with me. I have now revised the five chapters and will upload them by this weekend. The next chapter has been written and is currently over at PTB to check for my grammatical mistakes and other things.

This is an excerpt of Chapter 6: Glorious. The final version of the chapter may alter slightly but anyway, there it is.

Bella

They say time flies when you're having fun.

I stared at the birthday cake in front of me. Happy 13th Birthday Bella! was written in blue icing across the rich chocolate topping. Counting the many layers of the sponge, I wondered idly when it was going to be finished.

"Whoo hoo!" Emmett boomed. "Bella's thirteen now!"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Everyone here already is. It's not such a big deal."

"Angela's still twelve" Edward pointed out quietly, smiling crookedly at me.

I looked over at her, who was now blushing so furiously she would put a tomato to shame.

Even though I was thirteen, I felt like there was no difference. My feet still dangled from being too short to reach the floor. My hair was still the same old boring brown. Nothing was different from my birthday last year, except for the stupid blonde who is currently sitting next to Edward – his girlfriend Tanya. She stared at me with a look of contempt; her electric blue eyes felt like there were piercing into the back of my head. Her clothes were so obviously designer that even I, who according to Alice, had to sense of style, would know in an instant. And holy crap the makeup! Her lips were cherry red and her lids a light violet shade. I've never worn makeup. My lips were chapped and my fingernails were dirty with mud. Lipstick seemed like such a stupid choice for her, especially when it ends up on someone else's face.

"Whatcha lookin' at, Bells?" Emmett asked, grinning at me, while stuffing a huge chunk of cake in his mouth. He munched with his mouth opened wide and swallowed loudly. "My hot new girlfriend?"

He laughed loudly and put his arms around Tanya.

I cringed back in my chair. "That's just so disgusting, Em!"

"Hey!" Edward cautioned.

"Guys, seriously. It's supposed to be a party," Alice chimed in.

"It's not going to be a party unless we're going diving at the beach," Rose said.

I stiffened. I hated how Rose always thought she was too good to be my friend. After all, when did I ever do something to provoke her?

"What?" she continued, taunting me. "Too scary for little Bella?"

I smiled at her as sweetly as I could and stood up. "You and me. Right now. Water bombing off the sixty feet ridge."

Edward gasped out loud. "Bella!" He looked at me in astonishment. "You can't do that! Only Sam Uley and his group can, and they're sixteen!"

"Rose?" I turned to her. "What do you think?"

Rose stared at me like I was crazy. Suddenly, everyone went silent. You could've heard a pin drop.

"What?" I asked. "Too scary for you?"

Her chair scraped against the wooden floor and she stood up. "Nope. I would've done it before if Emmett didn't stop me. It's nothing."

I shrugged. "Whatever you say."

I wasn't in the mood to be defeated. I wasn't in the mood to be the weak link in my friendship circle.

I wasn't weak. Or intimidated by waves. Well, I was going to prove just that whether I was scared or not. But to be honest to myself, I was shaking on the inside. I have never even jumped off the twelve feet ridge. I was a strong swimmer. And I didn't believe anything was going to stop me right now.

Please tell me what you think and if you are still interested in the story, even after such a long wait. Thank you.