Hey! Thanks so much for those of you who reviewed, I love reviews! They just give me and extra incentive to update my story. So, the plot line is starting to come out in this chapter, but not fully yet so there is still a lot to look forward to so please stick with me. Well, I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please remember to review and if you have any questions just message me!
-Violet
And no, I don't own Twilight or Save the Last Dance
The first week of school went by pretty quickly for me. My newfound friendship with Rosalie and Alice really helped me get through all the things I hated about Forks, like the rain and the snow, but there was just something about them that didn't just feel right to me, like the fact that they were both gorgeous, smart, and extremely nice, but I was the only one they seemed to talk to at school besides each other. It made no since that people wouldn't be paying them as much attention as they paid me. They dressed in designer clothes, drove extremely nice cars, and lived in a huge house. It was obvious they had loads of money, but apparently, that didn't mean much to the people of Forks. Nobody seemed to especially like that I had started hanging out with Alice and Rosalie. While all the guys thought they were hot, they all looked as if they were kind of scared of them. All the girls were just jealous. Of their clothes, their looks, you name it, but they all tried to warn me to stay away from them, particularly Jessica and Mike.
"Bella, I don't know if it's the best idea for you to be hanging out with the Cullens," They confronted me one morning at school, before Alice and Rosalie arrived.
"Why is that?" I asked defensively. I had always been very protective of the people I was close to, and so far, Alice and Rosalie had been the only people to try to get close to me with no ulterior motive.
"Don't you think that they're a little strange?" Jessica chimed in. "Don't you just feel weird around them?"
Jessica had a point. I did feel weird around the Cullens, but not the way that the others seemed to feel. I felt safe, like I really belonged, a way I had never felt around any group friends before. "No, besides have you ever given them a chance? Have you ever tried to talk to Alice and Rosalie?"
"Us give them a chance?" Jessica said incredulously. "Ever since they moved here from Alaska two years ago, they have sat by themselves, talked to no one, and acted like their money makes them better than everyone else. Just because my dad's not a doctor doesn't mean that I am white trash."
I just stared at Jessica for a minute. Her eyes burned with rage, clearly from the jealously she possessed. The reason she and the other girls at school hated them so much was because they were withdrawn from everyone else, which made them seem stuck up; they kept to themselves and didn't go out of their way to become friends when they moved here. It made me angry that Jessica had jumped to conclusions and just assumed that the Cullens thought that they were better than everyone else.
"Listen, Bella, we are just trying to watch out for you," Mike grabbed me by the shoulders gently and looked into my eyes.
"Well, I can look out for myself just fine, thank you very much," I said coolly before walking away to join Alice and Rosalie who had just pulled up in the parking lot moments before.
Charlie felt completely different about my newfound friendship. He was extremely happy that I had started to become friends with the Cullen family. He surprised me one night while we were eating dinner by telling me that he had heard that I had been hanging around with Alice and Rosalie.
"Yeah, they're both really nice," I smiled mostly to myself. "But they're a little…different. They don't seem to fit in well at school with the other kids."
"People in this town," Charlie sighed. " Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work at any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here. We're lucky to have him-- lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts when they first moved here with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature-- I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together they way a family should-- camping trips every other weekend…. Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."
That was the most I had every heard Charlie talk, and it was obvious that he felt very strongly about this. "I am just glad you just found some nice girls to hang out with, Bella."
That was sweet, coming from Charlie, but when things started getting sentimental between the two of us, I knew it was time for me to exit the conversation. I quickly got up and put my plate in the sink and walked upstairs to finish my homework.
While I sat on my bed finishing the Trig homework my teacher, Mr. Varner, had assigned, my phone started ringing.
"Hello," I answered.
"Hey, Bella, it's Alice."
"Oh, hey, Alice, what's up?"
"Nothing just wondering what you were up to this weekend, specifically tomorrow night."
"Nothing that I know of. Why?"
"Well, Rose and I were thinking that it was time to have a girls night. You know, mani-pedis, movies, sleepover, etc. What do you think?"
"Sounds fun."
"Okay, then, it's settled. You can go home with Rose and me tomorrow after school," Alice giggled into the phone. I could tell by her voice that she was getting really excited. "Bella, we're going to have so much fun!"
"I'm sure we will," I smiled. "But I have to finish my Trig homework so I will talk to you tomorrow."
"Bye, Bella," Alice sang, then, hung up the phone.
After I got off the phone, I went downstairs to check with Charlie to make sure that it would be okay.
"Hey, Ch-um Dad," I said as I walked over to the couch where he sat watching basketball.
"Yeah?" He asked. He was barely there, engrossed into all that was college basketball.
"Is it okay if I spend the night at the Cullen's house tomorrow night? "
He turned and looked at me strangely, "Yeah, have fun, Bells."
The next day on our way to the Cullen's place all Alice could talk about was our girls night. She had all these plans, and it sounded like it would take more than one night to everything that she wanted us to do.
"We're going to get mani-pedis, watch sappy chick flicks-- I'm definitely thinking Titanic, guys, and ooh! We have to play truth or dare," Alice blabbed on and on, not stopping to let Rosalie or me get a word in. "Guess what, Bella? You can finally meet Jasper, Emmett, and Carlisle."
"Alice, calm down. You're going to scare the poor girl," Rosalie laughed as she turned off into the drive way. "What do you want for dinner tonight, Bella?"
"Oh, I don't care," I shrugged my shoulders. "You two pick."
"I have an idea!" Alice exclaimed while the car pulled into the garage next to a silver Volvo. "We can get dressed up and go to that really great Italian restaurant in Port Angeles, La Bella Italia."
"That sounds great, Alice," Rosalie agreed. "Maybe we can even convince the guys to go with us."
"Hello, girls," Esme Cullen greeted us as we entered the kitchen. She was separating cookie dough batter onto a pan. "Your father is upstairs in his study, girls, if you want to introduce Bella to him."
"Come on, Bella," Alice pulled me upstairs. "You can put your stuff in my room and then we can go talk to Carlisle."
Alice barely opened the door to her room and threw my stuff in before she was dragging me down the hallway again and suddenly stopped in front of a room near the end of the hallway that I assumed must have been her father's study. She knocked quietly and once again, did not wait for a reply before she went inside with Rosalie following.
"Carlisle," Alice said joyfully, "this is our friend, Bella."
"Hi, Bella, I am Carlisle Cullen," He smiled at me warmly. He, like all the other Cullens, was inhumanely handsome with movie star good looks, pale blonde hair, and the same porcelain skin and topaz eyes that they all seemed to posses. "Alice and Rosalie have told me so much about you, I feel like I know you already."
"Likewise," I smiled. At lunch earlier that day, Rose and Alice had filled me in on their family, where they were from, how they had moved from Alaska two years earlier, and other things like that. Carlisle was one of their favorite subjects to talk about and I could tell that they both loved him dearly.
"What have you girls planned for tonight?" He asked while he leaned on his desk in the study. The study was exactly how I had imagined a college dean or professor's office to be. Large bookshelves towered high over our heads and I was sure that there were more books in here than in a library.
"We're about to go get ready to go out to eat in Port Angeles, but we're also going to do our nails and watch movies," Alice bubbled as she explained our plans to her father. "Do you think Emmett, Jasper, and Edward will want to come with us to Port Angeles?"
"I don't see why not," Carlisle said. "Why don't you go ask them? I think they might being in Emmett's room playing video games."
Alice just smiled before leading the way down the hallway to another room I had never been in before. She didn't even knock this time, but just walked into the room. Emmett's room was a dark navy blue with a bed pressed up against the back wall and posters of sports superstars hung all over the walls. On the wall opposite of the bed, a large flat screen TV hung and in front of it, sat two men playing Xbox and really getting into it. One of the men was lean and honey-blonde. He looked tall, but I couldn't really tell because he was sitting down. The other guy was huge looking. He had brown curly hair and serious muscles, like he lifted weights. Both of them, like the rest of the Cullens, had the same pale, perfect skin and the same topaz eyes. Behind them in a comfortable looking chair lounged Edward, who was absorbed in a different book than I had seen him reading last time, but it looked just as thick and just as old. He, of course, was looking as beautiful, maybe even more, as the last time I had seen him.
"Hello, boys," Rosalie smiled as they were too occupied by their video game to notice that I was in the room. "Emmett, Jasper, this is Bella."
"Hey, Bella," Emmett said looking up at me while he was still playing the game. How he could do that was beyond me.
Jasper just politely nodded and smiled at me before turning back to the game. Alice had told me he tended to be a little shy so it didn't bother me. Edward, on the other hand, had dragged his attention away from his book and now was sending me a look that made feel a little uncomfortable. He looked like he was trying to figure me out, like he was trying to understand me fully, but he couldn't. I tried not to pay any mind to him, but it was unnerving. I didn't like it at all.
"Well, what do you guys think about coming to Port Angeles with us for the night?" Alice asked.
Edward looked at Jasper and Emmett for no less than a second before replying for the three of them. "Sounds great."
"Okay," Alice clapped her hands together ecstatically. "Be ready to leave in an hour and a half."
"Come on, Bella, please!" Alice pleaded with me. She was trying to convince me to let her do my make up, but she wasn't doing a very good job even if her puppy dog pout was so adorable.
"No, Alice," I said for the millionth time that night. "I told you already."
"Just given in, Bella. It's the easiest way," Rose called as she stood curling her hair into perfect ringlets in Alice's bathroom.
I contemplated for a moment. "Fine. Just do it."
"Aw, you're the best," Alice exclaimed as she started to go to town on my make up. "What color do you think for her eye shadow, Rose?"
"Hmm," Rosalie looked at all the many colors Alice had to offer, and believe me, she had a lot, before she pointed to a silvery gray color. "I am thinking….a soft silver, like that one, with little hints of blue. It will go great with that dress you have picked out."
"Dress?" I asked suspiciously.
"Now, don't get mad, Bella," Alice tried to calm me down. "I've just always wanted someone to let me dress them up and do their make up and hair, but Rosalie has never let me touch her hair or her face and I have three brothers. Please, just this once."
Once again, I had to give in to her because, well, it was Alice and it's hard not to give in to someone as cute as her. "If you must."
"Oh, you won't regret this, Bella. You are going to be the best looking girl in Port Angeles tonight, thanks to me."
Alice continued to do wonders with my make up while Rosalie, who I learned had also always wanted a human Barbie doll, started working with my hair. She put some stuff into it that I had no idea what it was and then took her curling iron and proceeded to curl it into soft, big curls. When they were both done, the shoved a dark blue item of clothing into my hand and left the bathroom for me to change in private.
The dress Alice had picked out for me was very pretty. It was a simple, long sleeved knit dress with a deep, round neckline and an empire waist. The best thing about the dress was not the style, thought. It was the beautiful color; a rich, warm royal blue color that contrasted nicely with my pale skin and really brought out the natural blush of my cheeks. To complement it, I wore a pair of silver flats.
"Aw, Alice," Rosalie sighed as I stepped out of the bathroom. I had to admit that they had done a good job tonight and that now I wouldn't mind them dressing me and doing my hair and make up every other night. "Just wait till Edward sees her."
"What?" Did I just hear that correctly? Just wait till Edward sees her? What could Rosalie possible mean by that?
"What, what, Bella?" Alice feigned confusion. She knew what I meant, I was sure of it.
"Never mind," I shook my head. I would figure it all out sooner or later.
After Rose and Alice finished getting ready, we walked downstairs just in time to meet the deadline we set to leave. Edward, Emmet, and Jasper were already gathered in the living room by the couch, each having a jacket in their hand and were quietly conversing, so quietly I couldn't even make out what they were saying.
"Hem, hem," Rosalie alerted them to our presence as we made our way over to them. They quickly turned around and dropped their conversation.
"Well, don't you ladies look awfully nice tonight," Emmett said. I could tell that he was a real charmer, and according to the girls, he was also a big goofball.
Edward stood a little ways off from the rest of us. He was dressed nicely in a dark blue, button down shirt with a pair of black slacks, and they looked very good on him. He was looking at me strangely once again, but not the same as before. He looked a little uncomfortable, like something was bothering him. He didn't say much the whole trip to Port Angeles (we all rode in Emmett's Jeep with me squished in between Alice and Rosalie in the back seat), but he did comment every so often if the conversation was directed at him. I wondered why he was so out of it. It appeared that he was not fully there to the rest of us, making him look some what pensive as if he had a lot on his mind.
We arrived in Port Angeles soon, thanks to Emmett's crazy driving, and Alice led us all to a quaint, little restaurant, called La Bella Italia, down in the main part of town.
"Look, Bella, it has your name in it," Emmett said goofily. He was really a sweet guy, despite the exterior. He might look like a big tough guy, but on the inside he was as soft as a teddy bear.
"Wow, Emmett, nice observation. I am sure Bella would have never known," Rosalie said bitingly as the waitress lead us to our table that was nestled in the very back of the crowded, yet small restaurant.
I took my seat in between Emmett, who had insisted that I sit beside him for God knows why, and Alice. Alice then proceeded to tell me every single item on the menu that she heard was good.
"The newspaper said that the spaghetti was really good, oh! and the lasagna, too," Alice examined the menu closely commenting on everything that she saw. "But I heard that the Gnocchi was the best. You would probably like that, Bella."
"Alice, just let the poor girl order for herself," Jasper said exasperatedly before prying the menu out of her tiny hands.
"The Gnocchi does sound good," I read the description on the menu. "I think that's what I am going to get."
"See, Jasper? I just helped her. She could have been sitting here for hours trying to find something to eat," Alice stuck out her tongue.
The waitress came and took our order and we sat around and waited for our food. During this time, we mostly talked about school and Jasper's trip to Asia that he had just recently returned from. Edward also pitched in by talking a little about his work at the hospital.
"I don't think I could work at a hospital," I laughed after he finished telling a story about a little boy who had accidentally swallowed a spoon. I had always been that little girl, the one who always had something strange stuck up her nose or had swallowed loose change which meant that I had spent plenty of time at the hospital in Phoenix when I was a little girl.
"Why not?" Edward looked at me curiously. His topaz eyes bored into mine deeply, searching for more than just then answer to his question.
"There's just too much blood," I shuddered just thinking about it; I hated the smell of blood. It smelt like copper and salt. "I am so squeamish. I almost passed out the last time they pricked my finger at the doctor's office."
Everyone laughed, but there was something weird about the way they all looked at each other after I made that comment, Edward looked especially peculiar. They looked like Alice had the first time I met her in English class. So I came to a definite conclusion right then and there. The Cullens all knew something that I didn't, and it had something to do with me.
As I looked around the table, I noticed something that also kept me guessing about them. While my plate was almost empty, every other plate at the table looked like it had barely been touched. Alice, who had ended up getting the spaghetti she had been raving about earlier, had barely touched her food except to occasionally pick up a noodle or two with her fork. Everyone else's plate, minus mine, seemed to be exactly like that, too. I didn't say anything, but I just stored that little piece of information away in my mind with the rest of the strange things I had picked up about the Cullen family, like the fact that they all had topaz eyes and pale skin even though they weren't really related. It wasn't that I didn't like the Cullens, in fact, I liked them a lot. It was just that there was something that was not quite right about them and I was determined to find out.
We walked back to Emmett's Jeep slowly, with Rose, Alice, and I linking arms and talking about the latest news going around school and the three guys walking a little way behind us. Suddenly, a sharp pain in my foot took me off guard. Not again, I thought to myself. It had happened before, the sharp pain that was now overtaking my right foot, but it had been a while and I thought it might have gone away. The pain progressed and after a while, Jasper began to sense it, how I'm not sure but when he came up behind me and grabbed my elbow softly, I could tell that he see that I was in pain.
"Bella, are you all right?" He asked me with concern coloring his voice. As soon as he said it, everyone whipped their heads around to look at me. Everyone had stopped walking and now, all eyes were focused on me.
"Yeah, um, I'm-- oww," I groaned, the pain in my foot was just to great to keep going on.
"What's the matter?" Edward immediately rushed to my side with worry clear in his beautiful eyes.
"My right foot is killing me," I whispered. This was just too embarrassing. I thought I had left all of this behind when I left Phoenix, but obviously not.
"Where does it hurt?" Edward said, sitting me down on a wooden bench close to us. The doctor side of him was taking over. He slowly and carefully removed the silver flat from my right foot, and took a close look at it.
"In the back, my Achilles tendon," I answered. I hated this. Here I was, just making new friends, starting over with a clean slate in Forks, when this has to pop up again.
"Have you hurt it before? What would set it off again?" Like a good doctor, Edward questioned me as he quickly observed my foot.
"Yeah, I hurt it about a year and a half ago," I said purposefully avoiding his last question. I knew that if I answered it I would suffer an onslaught of new questions from everyone.
"What did you do to it?" Emmett asked me inquiringly. He was, apparently, utterly fascinated in learning about my hurt foot. Emmett was normally very comical, but he had instantaneously sobered up.
"Oh, I, uh, took a bad fall," The words came out of my mouth all jumbled. It wasn't really a lie, I just wasn't telling the whole truth. For some reason, Jasper looked at me when I said this and I knew that he recognized that I was not telling the complete truth.
"Really, Bella?" Jasper looked at me questioningly. Well, they would find out sooner or later, so I guess it was now or never. I sucked in a deep breath before just spouting it out.
"I used to dance, ballet," I admitted. Edward's eyebrows shot up and he paused for a moment before he continued to examine my foot, his cold hands prodding gently at certain areas on my foot. Everyone else also wore shocked expressions, except for Alice although I am not sure why she didn't. It wasn't like I had ever told her. As far as I knew, Charlie was the only one in Forks who ever knew that I used to take ballet, besides Edward, Jasper, Emmett, Alice, and Rosalie, now.
"Used to?" Rosalie asked curiously. That was not a question I was ready to answer.
"Listen, It's not a big deal, you guys," I replied and gave them the best smile I could muster. "So what's the diagnosis on my foot, Dr. Cullen? Will I live?"
Edward's smile took my breath away. There were no words to describe just how gorgeous he looked. For a moment, I thought I had actually died sitting there on that bench and I would have been happy in that moment if I had, "I think you will, Miss Swan. You just need to stay off this foot for a little while and take it easy."
"Come on, Bella, my muscles and I will carry you the rest of the way to the car," Emmett joked as he picked me up in his arms and took off with me leaving everyone still hovering over the bench behind us.
I looked back over his shoulder and I saw Edward looking at me and our eyes met; I didn't look away.
The foot condition that Bella has is Achilles Tendinitis if anyone wants to look it up.
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