"Ugggg," I groaned, and rolled over on my side. I cracked open one eye to peer at the person who had been poking me to wake me from my slumber.
"What?" I demanded in a raspy, I-just-woke-up voice.
"It's past 10 o'clock in the morning, Bella. Are you ever going to get out of bed?" Mark questioned.
"No," I answered. I closed my eye, rolled over again, and pulled the covers over my head.
"I'm going to call Angela and see if she can come over, then," Mark threatened.
"Go ahead," I croaked. "I'll just stay here while you two talk."
"You really don't mind?" Mark asked.
"I'm going back to bed," I groaned. "Go call her and don't make noise."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Mark answered teasingly. I grabbed my pillow and swung it at him, but he just ducked out of the way and laughed. His footsteps leaving the room were my only indication that I was alone again.
It had been almost a week since Christmas. Victoria seemed to be doing okay with her new diet, family, lifestyle, etc. Mark and Angela were hanging out every day under the pretence of Angela coming to hang out with me. I was spending a lot of time with Edward. Alice and Rose would come rescue me every once and a while, only their form of rescue was almost worse than trying to deal with Edward's overly exuberant attempts to regain my trust.
It had been a long week.
It was New Year's Eve Day, though, so I was sleeping in as long as possible. For once we weren't going to the Cullen's house for a party- they were coming here. They were going to include Charlie in the festivities, granted that he was home. Work had been rather demanding lately, and it wasn't because of vampire attacks. Victoria had yet to slip. They made sure that at least two people went with her every time she hunted. But due to all the little things adding up, work was keeping Charlie at the station later and later each night. I only hoped that he would come home in time to bring in the new year.
I must have drifted back to sleep, because I was jolted back into the land of the living by the doorbell. Seconds later Mark called up the stairs, "Bella, you have company!"
"Who is it?" I asked.
"Alice!" he called. I groaned.
"I'm here to decorate the house!" she yelled up the stairs.
"Nothing too fancy!" I called back.
"Don't worry!" Alice called with a giggle. I groaned, but didn't get up.
I knew the next doorbell was Angela. I heard her talking with Mark and Alice. She seemed to be doing better with accepting the Cullens for what they were. I think she just needed some sleep and some time on her own to think about it.
"Bella?" Angela called up the stairs.
"What?" I asked.
"Come help us decorate!" she commanded me. "It's your house!"
"Give me 15 minutes," I groaned. I rolled out of bed and grabbed my shower bag.
Twenty minutes later (what can I say, I didn't want to get out of the shower.) I walked downstairs with a hairbrush in my hand. I started brushing my hair as soon as I was off the steps.
"Alice, come help me move this couch," Mark said. Angela laughed.
"If I didn't know that she was infinitely stronger than I am, I'd wonder why you asked the pixie girl to help you move the couch," Angela giggled. Alice and Mark both laughed, and I walked in the living room.
"Are we having fun in here?" I asked.
"We are," Angela answered with a grin. He held out the end of a banner reading, "Happy New Year!" and I took it. She stepped up on a chair on her end of the room, I stepped up on the chair next to me, and Alice came over to hand me a tack. I stuck it in the banner and stepped down.
"Now for the confetti!" Alice exclaimed.
"Keep in mind that I have to clean all of this up," I reminded Alice.
"Not once your Dad goes to sleep," Alice corrected me. "Then you have eight willing vampires to help."
"Eight?" I asked skeptically.
"Well, Rosalie may not want to help," Alice admitted, "But she will anyway, because she loves you so much."
"And Emmett and Jasper are willing to help too?" I questioned.
"Emmett thinks it will be a fun challenge to see how quickly we can get done," Alice said, "And I know how to convince Jasper of most anything." She winked, and I rolled my eyes.
"Ok, on with the confetti."
A few hours later the house was decked out to the max. Charlie would have a heart attack when he came home.
"Are you coming over tonight?" Mark asked Angela as she got ready to go home.
"I don't know," she said uncertainly. "Am I invited?"
"Of course," I answered. "You can bring your parents too, if you want to. We'll have enough room and food."
"Would that be wise?" Angela asked. She glanced at Mark.
"I don't know, can you two act like you don't like each other?" I asked teasingly.
"Can you and Edward act like you two hate each other?" Angela returned.
"Bring your parents," I concluded. "It'll be great. They can hang out with Carlisle, Esme, and Charlie in one room and we'll be loud and act like the college students we are in the living room."
"What time should we come over?" Angela asked.
"Around 6:30," I answered. "We're having supper. The Cullens are going to stay home until around 8. They don't want to eat with us, for some reason." I grinned at Alice.
"If you would have to cough it all back up once you were done, you wouldn't want to eat it either," Alice said defensively. "I hear it tastes like dirt, and it's horrible going down." She thought for a second, then added, "And coming back up. It's just an unpleasant experience all around."
Angela gave her an odd look, but didn't comment on it. "I'll see you tonight," she promised before leaving.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Alice asked.
"I'm going to start cooking," I answered. "And Mark's going to help. But we don't want Emmett's help."
"No, you really don't," Alice agreed. "I'll go home. I think we were planning a last minute hunting trip so that we could all spend the evening with you guys."
"You think?" I asked.
"Okay, so I know, but nobody else knows for sure," Alice said. "I'll go home now. I'll see you around eight."
She was gone in the blink of an eye. Mark turned to me.
"Cooking?" he asked warily.
"Cooking," I confirmed.
"Hey Bella?" Mark asked as we cooked.
"Yes?" I asked absently. I was trying to pour the water off of the noodles I had just been boiling.
"What was that box that you got for Christmas?" He asked. I heard him stop chopping the vegetables.
"I don't know," I answered. "They said Edward had to find his gift first."
"Has he found his gift?"
"No," I answered.
"Do you know what his gift is?"
"No," I answered. "Keep chopping that stuff."
He sighed and started chopping again. "Did he figure out the first clue yet?"
I laughed. "No. He's still frustrated by it."
"It was rather unhelpful," Mark mused.
"He said he's going to try to pry it out of his family tonight," I said. "He and I are going to tag team on them."
"It's not fair to make you wait for Edward to find his gift so that you can figure out what yours is."
"Tell me about it," I muttered.
"Oh, do you know how our car's coming along?" Mark asked.
"Rosalie supposedly has it done," I answered. "But she won't give it back yet. She said we still need to drive the truck because it never gets driven otherwise."
"How does she know so much about cars?" Mark asked.
"Perfect memories," I reminded him. "Immortal. The ability to take whatever classes they want to because on infinite funding."
"Oh yeah," Mark said. "I'd forgotten about that."
Charlie came home around 5:30 that night. He didn't say anything about the decorations, but he gave me a questioning look.
"Alice came to help," I answered.
"Ah," he said, as if that explained it all. "Supper smells good, Bells. What is it?"
"Pasta and all the usual sides," I answered. "By the way, Angela and her parents are coming over to eat with us, and then they're staying for the party. I figured that you could use some more adult company while the rowdy college students party the night away."
"Thanks, Bells," Charlie said. He smiled sincerely, and I smiled back. I gave him a hug, and he hugged me awkwardly back.
"I'm going to go get cleaned up," he announced when we pulled apart. "I'll be back down in time for supper."
Sure enough, he came back down just as the doorbell rang. Mark went to make sure everything was set up in the kitchen while I went to answer the door.
"Hello!" greeted them when I answered the door. I ushered Angela and her parents inside, took their coats, and pointed them in the direction of the kitchen.
Supper was an interesting experience. Angela and Mark kept making jokes that I would pretend to get, the parents looked at us like we were all insane, everyone was trying to act like we were having fun… yeah, it was great. It was nice when we finally finished and I could start with the dishes. Angela and Mark helped, and my Dad and Angela's parents escaped to the overly decorated living room.
"Well, that was awkward," Mark commented under his breath.
"You think?" Angela muttered back. I made a face at them, nodded towards the living room, and then put a finger to my lips.
"What?" Mark asked quietly.
"Don't let them hear," I said quietly.
"What can we do to help?" Angela asked loud enough for our parents to hear.
"You two can fight over who gets to rinse and who gets to dry," I answered. They started staring each other down.
"Don't take too long to decide," I commanded with a smirk.
Promptly at 8:00 the doorbell rang again. Alice didn't even bother waiting for us to answer though, she just waltzed right in with her family on her heels.
"The party is officially here!" she called. She gave Angela and I a hug before going in the living room. "Hello Chief Swan! Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Weber! How are you?"
"Hello Children," Esme said quietly as she passed. Carlisle nodded to us with a smile, Emmett ruffled my hair, Rosalie smiled, Jasper nodded, and Edward stayed in the kitchen with us.
"Where's Victoria?" I asked quietly.
"We decided that she should stay at the house tonight," Edward answered just as quietly. "She wasn't sure she could handle being in a house full of humans for the entire night. Plus, it's better to avoid the questions she would raise."
"That's true," I admitted. "Well, shall we go join the party since the dishes are done?"
"Hey Bells?" Charlie asked. He walked in the kitchen before we could go to the living room.
"Yeah Dad?" I asked.
"We're going to head over to the Weber's for a little while," Charlie told me. "We'll be back before midnight. We just think it will be more fun for you kids if we're out of the house."
"Okay, Dad," I answered. "Have fun." I smiled, and he smiled back.
"We will," he promised. He and the other adults, including Carlisle and Esme, filed out the door.
The house was silent for a whole three seconds after the cars left the driveway. But it didn't last long when all of the Cullen children screamed,
"PARTY!!!!"