Author's note: Sorry for the lack of updates lately. You may have seen on the news that my hometown Christchurch, New Zealand was hit by a devastating earthquake last week. We had no power for a week and I have been unable to update my story. Thankfully we now have power, yay! But updates may be less frequent at the moment. My thoughts are with all of my fellow Cantabrians who lost loved ones last Tuesday.
Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight not me!
Chapter Songs: The Violet Hour - Sea Wolf, Party in the U.S.A - Miley Cyrus
Before I knew it the weekend was over and my birthday had arrived.
I headed downstairs to find everyone already up and Jasper cooking breakfast
"Happy birthday Bella!" they cried.
"Thanks guys!" I answered smiling.
We sat down to eat and Alice announced I had to open presents first.
Rosalie gave me a necklace of my name in fancy script and some freesia scented bath products, my favourite.
From Alice I got a designer handbag and a huge photo frame with photos of the three of us dating back as far as high school, as well as some new ones of the six of us.
Jasper gave me some books I had been looking at buying, Emmett some gift cards for my Ipod and a t-shirt with a picture of himself and I heart Emmett on it, we all laughed when I opened that one and Emmett made me promise to wear it. I assured him I would.
Edward handed me his gift last, I was intrigued by the small flat box he handed me. I ripped off the ribbon and the paper and lifted the lid picking up the piece of paper inside.
"You got me a ticket to Florida, flying first class?" I gasped.
He grinned at me, "The other day you were saying how much you missed your Mom so I thought maybe you would want to go and visit her" he replied, "I hope you like it" he said nervously his grin vanishing as he saw I was still staring at him in shock.
I threw myself at him, with a huge smile on my face. "Oh Edward!" I cried into his neck, "It's perfect, thank you!"
He chuckled, "Your welcome Bella."
The rest of my day was great, Renee and Phil called me to wish me a happy birthday, with Renee saying how much she wished she could be there and asking me if I liked the sapphire earrings they sent me along with other assorted gifts.
Charlie and Sue also called with birthday greetings and said that they would see me on Saturday for the party and I got calls and messages from the rest of my friends and family throughout the day finished with the six of us heading out for dinner to the best Italian restaurant I had ever been to.
All in all I decided it was the best birthday I had had in a long time.
Saturday rolled around faster than I had expected. I still didn't know what my big surprise was; Alice still wasn't giving me any clues.
I did attempt to trick Emmett into telling me but even he wasn't budging.
I lay in bed a little longer than I usually would, knowing that today would be hectic. Eventually I dragged myself out of bed and to the shower.
When I was ready I headed down stairs and was surprised to find that everyone else was already up. Alice was sitting at the head of the table with a clipboard frantically scribbling things down. Edward caught my gaze and rolled his eyes, I suppressed a giggle. Alice liked to be organised and took party planning very seriously, we had learnt that it was safest to do whatever job she asked you to no matter how ridiculous.
I sat down grabbing a bowl and pouring myself some cereal. "What can I do to help?" I asked Alice, she looked at me as though I was crazy.
"Silly Bella! Nothing at all, this is your party! We have it all taken care of" she told me smiling.
Emmett groaned and Alice shot him a look silencing him quickly.
Poor Emmett I thought, no doubt he would be running all over town today frantically trying to complete all the tasks he had been set.
After eating Alice stood up and told the table "Right team, you all know your jobs. Lets do this"
Emmett saluted her and yelled "Sir, yes sir."
We all laughed, even Alice had to suppress a smile. They all headed off to their cars and I was left sitting at the table with Edward, "I'm guessing you're supposed to take me out today so Alice can finish organising my surprise?" I asked him.
He touched his nose and said "Correct, Let's go"
Later that day
Finally Alice had given us the okay to return home and get ready for tonight. But she had given me strict instructions to come straight home and not set foot in the boys place, I figured she must be hiding my surprise there and contemplated going and taking a peek. I decided not to since Alice and Rose had gone to so much trouble to keep it a secret from me.
We got ready together excitedly talking about the party. Rose and Alice had decided that cocktail wear was essential so Alice was wearing a metallic bronze dress with a sweetheart neckline and spaghetti straps and matching heels. She had braided her hair across the front so it looked like a headband and Rose had on a black all over beaded and sequinned dress with a V strap and a scalloped hemline and had pulled her long hair into an up do. They both looked amazing.
Rose announced she was finished with my hair and that I was now allowed to look in the mirror.
The person staring back at me was beautiful, that couldn't be me I thought examining myself more closely.
I was wearing a midnight blue dress, strapless with a sweetheart neckline and a ruffled skirt and strappy black heels. Rose had left my hair out and flowing in gentle waves. I thanked them and Alice said we should head downstairs for part one of my surprise.
We entered the living room to find Charlie, Sue, Seth and Leah standing with Edward, Emmett and Jasper, who all looked great in dress shirts and pants. Especially Edward, I struggled to keep my mouth from falling open and drooling.
"Happy birthday Bella" said Charlie enveloping me in a hug.
"Thanks Dad, I'm glad you could be here" he kissed the top of my head and I turned to greet the rest of my family.
"Okay Bella!" said Alice raising her voice "Are you ready for part one of your surprise?" I nodded enthusiastically.
Alice nodded at Rose who slipped out of the room returning quickly followed by Renee and Phil!
"Mom!" I cried running over to hug her.
"Happy birthday honey!" she replied.
"Happy birthday Bells" Phil said giving me a one armed hug.
"Do you like your surprise?" Renee asked.
"Very much, thank you!" I told the group.
"We better get going" Jasper announced "Our ride is here" he informed us.
We headed outside to find a stretch limo big enough to fit all of us, organised for me by Emmett and Edward. Tonight was shaping up to be one of the best nights of my life!
Alice had hired a room at a function centre as the party venue it was elaborately decorated in true Alice Brandon style. She has gone for a blue and silver theme, and had decorated the place like a night club complete with a light up dance floor.
It was small just as she had promised with all my closest friends and family in attendance. I made my way around the room greeting old friends, delighted they all came.
Mike, Tyler, Eric, Ben and Angela were by the drinks table along with a few other people I went to school with, Alice's parents and her sister Cynthia and Rose's parents and her brother Henry had also made the trip from Forks to be here. As I was taking it all in someone tackled me and spun me around in the air.
"Bella! How have you been? Happy birthday!" exclaimed a husky voice I would know anywhere.
"Jake!" I cried once he set me down grinning at him.
"Bells Dad and the rest of the gang are here, come say hi!" he said pulling me across the room where Billy Black, Paul, Jared and Kim, Sam and Emily, Quil and Embry were.
"You all came!" I exclaimed hugging each one in turn.
"Of course!" Paul replied, "How could we miss you turning the big two one!"
I was so overwhelmed by all the attention I didn't hear Alice calling for me, "Bella!" she shouted making her way towards me "Part two of your surprise is waiting!"
My second surprise was Chelsea and Tara, I was thrilled! All of my family and friends were here to celebrate with me, and I couldn't have been happier.
I spent a while catching up with the girls and filling them in on how I was settling in.
After food, drinks and dancing I was led to a table covered in gifts to open.
The best gift was from Charlie, he and Sue found a sapphire and diamond hairpin of Grandma Swan's when clearing out some of her things and had it made into a ring engraved with my birth date and the number twenty one. I cried when I put it on and thanked them profusely.
The rest of the evening was a blast. As we headed home later on I thought of how lucky I was to have such an amazing group of friends.
A week later we were all sitting in the boy's living room while they played Xbox.
It was the day before the new semester started, which would be my first semester at the University of Washington.
To my surprise I was actually looking forward to it, normally I felt a little depressed at the thought of the summer break coming to an end but I had a feeling this semester was going to be a lot different to the last.
We girls were chatting about the week ahead while watching the boys play Halo. They took the game very seriously and were incredibly competitive. Emmett was losing and in his frustration was yelling obscene words at his character on the screen while Jasper and Edward ganged up on him and shot his character repeatedly laughing.
I shook my head; only boys could get so worked up over a video game. I went back to checking my timetable and book lists for the week making sure I had everything I needed, on Friday we had all gone to campus to collect my orientation information and other paperwork we needed.
Rosalie and Alice had their first class at then same time as me tomorrow and had said we would all drive together in the morning. I was grateful, knowing my luck I would get lost on the way there and end up on the other side of town; it wouldn't be the first time that had happened either. I could get lost in the most helpful of surroundings.
The last time I had gotten lost Alice and Rose had teased me about it for weeks, and sometimes they still did. I glanced down at my course description for one of my third year English classes and was pleased to see that the authors we were covering this year were come of my favourites and that I had already read some of their works.
I was interrupted from my thoughts by Emmett yelling "Suck on that Jasper!"
I looked up to see Emmett doing a victory dance in his seat while Jasper looked at him venomously.
"That was blatant cheating Emmett!" he roared "Edward did you see what he did? I was about to kill him and he used a cheat code to escape!"
I watched the game carry on amused by Jasper's sudden outburst; he was usually rather reserved unless he had been drinking. "Ha!" he yelled cornering Emmett's character "Revenge is sweet my friend!"
"Who's the cheater now?" huffed Emmett.
"The last time they got into a fight over Halo they wouldn't talk to each other for a week" Rosalie whispered as we watched the scene unfold.
Edward put down his controller and with a smirk on his face watched Jasper and Emmett who were now only shooting each other.
"Yessssss!" cried Jasper as he succeeding in his mission to destroy Emmett's player.
Emmett threw down his controller in frustration. He must have used a little more force than necessary because it proceeded to bounce off the sofa and hit Jasper in the middle of his forehead.
"Ow shit Emmett!" he cried, a red lump already appearing on his forehead.
We all cracked up laughing; tears were rolling down my face. "We should have filmed that! That was totally an America's Funniest Home Video's moment!" Emmett exclaimed.
In the morning I got up early, unable to sleep. It was overcast but not raining so I pulled on my running clothes, grabbed my Ipod and headed out.
Running was one of the only physical activities that I managed to participate in without doing myself a serious injury. When I first started I used to fall over, a lot. But over the past few years the more I ran the better I became and now I rather enjoyed it.
As I ran down the still quiet streets I thought of the events of the past few weeks.
Much to my irritation I found myself thinking about my run in with Lauren, as much as I wanted to not let her get to me, what she had said to me at the party had really gotten under my skin. I wasn't sure why it was bothering me, in the past I was able to ignore her snide remarks but this time was different. I tried to pinpoint what it was that she had said that annoyed me the most but I was unsuccessful.
I returned home and got in the shower feeling frustrated. The familiar smell of my strawberry shampoo helped me feel a little calmer. After dressing I headed downstairs, grabbed a quick breakfast and headed off for my first day at UW.
I paid close attention to the streets Rosalie took on our way to campus determined to remember them for tomorrow when I would drive myself. Luckily for me Rose took mostly main roads on the way there, I felt confident that I wouldn't get lost tomorrow.
Angela who was also majoring in English met us in the car park and walked with me to our first class, it was relatively small but we still managed to get a seat together.
The morning went quickly and I was easily able to navigate my way between classes with Ange's help. We walked to the cafeteria together chatting comfortably; we spotted Alice, Rose, Edward and Jasper easily and joined them after grabbing some lunch.
"How was your morning Bells" Rose asked before taking a bite out of her sandwich.
"Good, classes were fairly easy this morning and I didn't get lost once" I replied feeling proud of myself.
After lunch I headed off to English Literature with Jasper who was taking a few English classes this year.
The lecture was basic, just an introduction on what we would be covering this semester and important exam dates. Once class was over Jasper pointed me in the direction of my next lecture and I headed off.
As I was walking I noticed a blonde girl with a gaggle of look-alike friends glaring daggers at me, what the hell is her problem I don't even know who she is! I snuck a second glance at her and realisation washed over me.
Tanya, Edwards ex, it had to be. I had only seen her from a distance at Alex's party but I was certain it was her. I carried on walking uncomfortable as I could feel her stare on my back. I had no idea why she had looked at me the way she had but I was certain of one thing, that wouldn't be the last I would see of Tanya.