"All, right!" Alice exclaimed. After hours, no exaggeration, of pulling, tugging, whining, complaining, and threatening (most of the last came from Alice about what exactly she would do to me in the mall if I refused to cooperate) I was deemed satisfactory. Good gosh, I was ready to fall asleep right then and there. All I wanted was Edward and his cold, hard arms around me.

"Alice, I want Edward," I begged, just as she had predicted before we began the torture process, "I'm tired, my feet are the size of bread loaves, and my legs are about ready to give out. Not to mention I can barely breathe."

"That's why you need new clothes. Come on Bella, let's go!" When I didn't move, she replied dangerously, "Bella, this can be hard or easy, but it's happening."

"Ugh…"

"You can sleep in the car. Hurry up!"

"OK…" I started for the door before I was swept off my feet.

"Sorry, I'm under threat of death (she giggled there) not to let you walk. You can fight it out with Edward when you come back." Soon about 2 seconds really, I found myself in the passenger seat of an Audi Coupe.

"Buckle up!" I groaned I saw how far the seatbelt had to go to get past my humongous stomach.

"All right, I'm ready," and I immediately fell asleep. I woke up in front of the mall with Alice shaking me.

"Wake up, sleepy head! Here's the list of stores we'll be visiting." I groaned when I saw the list. Visit? I thought to myself she must have meant ransack. If we even buy only one inexpensive thing from each of these stores, it'll cost a fortune! The list included:

Baby's Beginnings

Buy Buy Baby

Stationary World First stop for ALL your needs!

Baby's book store for Mommy & Daddy

Ect.

It went on and on. Only one store confused me.

"Stationary?" I questioned.

"For your announcements, of course!" came the reply. Of course, how stupid of me I thought sarcastically. I was about to complain, but then I realized something.

"If I pick the stationary, Edward has to fill them out. Besides, he can bang them out in 10 minutes. Less if he forgets the calligraphy." This comment made Alice laugh.

"He's not likely to write them in regular handwriting. Though you're probably right about him writing them quickly. Now, stop stalling and get out of the car." Oh dear, I had to think of something fast. I got it!

"My seatbelt's stuck," I lied lamely. Alice looked at me disbelievingly.

"Bella, you're an awful liar. Another thing, you haven't even tried the buckle yet." Oops. Sigh, I was out of ideas.

Our first stop was Baby's Beginnings, a maternity cloths store. I got some very dirty looks in there. It was obvious I was pregnant, and they thought I was too young. Oh, well. Alice was holding a very cute top-and-bottom set. The top was a deep blue with pink and white flowers. The bottoms were elastic-banded jean-like pants. It was a winner, though Alice still thought she had to get me to cooperate.

"Now, Bella, you were just saying how your clothes no longer fit. Just cooperate and it will be fun. How do you like this outfit?"

"Alice, you don't need to convince me! I love it!"

"Oh, good," Alice replied, startled. After much more shopping, I found something I really wanted, a black sweatshirt with red writing that appeared to be dripping. Spelled out were the words I love baby, I'm moody, Bite me.

"I love it!" Alice came over to look.

"No, Bella. What would Edward think?"

"He'll love it."

"No, he won't and you know it."

"I don't care!

"No, Bella."

"Yes!"

"NO!" Alice shoved it back on the rack. Little did she know the fight was merely a diversion while I snuck one into the cart. I hid it under the mountain of clothes. I'm not sure if Alice saw it when we were checking out, but if she did, she didn't say anything. I suppose she figured if I could sneak it in without her noticing, I deserved to keep it.