Chapter 9- Assumptions

Disclaimer: You all know that I don't own Twilight, right?

A/N: Thanks, everyone, for reading and reviewing this!

Emmett wanted to know which TV News Channel would break the story of what Carlisle had done to Lonnie—the serial rapist and murderer—first. I was betting it was CNN, and only Emmett was stupid enough to bet against me. I won, in the end, of course. Not that he cared. Money didn't mean anything to him anyway, after all.

Edward was probably worried about how much attention the news would gather, so he watched CNN anxiously. Luckily, today was a heavy news day. There just happened to be an earthquake in South America and a political kidnapping in the Middle East. So the story actually was only a few seconds, a few sentences, and a picture. At that time, Alonzo Calderas Wallace had a beard, so Bella wouldn't recognize him either.

What on earth was Edward worried about now?

"The coverage here in town will be light. It's too far away to be considered of local interest," I reminded him gently. "It was a good call to have Carlisle to take him out of state."

He thought about it for a while, and then nodded. "Alice, do you mind—"

I didn't even have to refer to my visions to see what he was going to ask, so I cut him off. "Rosalie will drive. She'll act pissed, but you know she'll enjoy the excuse to show off her car." I laughed.

Edward grinned at me. "See you at school," he said.

I sighed, thinking of the friendship with Bella I still did not have yet.

His grin slowly faded into a grimace.

I know, I know, I thought. Not yet. I'll wait until you're ready for Bella to know me. You should know, though, that this isn't just me being selfish. Bella's going to like me, too.

Edward didn't answer me as he hurried out the door.

I didn't want to be the one to tell Rosalie that Edward had left again, to see Bella, but who else would? At least I looked forward to telling her that she'd have to drive. And I was looking forward to seeing the changes she'd made to her car.

We'd arrived at school. Telling Rosalie hadn't been that bad, because she'd already guessed, and ranted for a while until she cooled down. Her car was a little ostentatious. After all, we were supposed to blend in, weren't we?

Jasper and I hadn't even stepped out of the car when a bunch of lustful boys crowded around it. They examined its every detail. But when they started to touch it, Rosalie lost her temper. That frightened them away very quickly.

I glanced at Jasper, and he glanced at me. Then we both looked away, and started to chuckle lightly.

As we walked across the parking lot to enter the school, Edward's Volvo parked right next to Rosalie's car. He and Bella got out. They were talking happily, and once in a while Bella laughed. When that happened, Edward looked happier than he had ever been.

Rosalie's eyes narrowed and she started to walk faster and faster until she stalked towards the school. Emmett kept up with her, managing not to look like he was also stalking. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I'd never have believed that Rosalie was now squirming in obvious mortification.

I watched them disappear into the building.

During gym, I moved apathetically through class with Edward. I hated gym…I was his teammate, naturally. It was the first day of badminton. I heard Edward sigh in boredom as he moved his racket in slow motion towards the birdie, tapping it to the other side. Lauren Mallory was on the other team. She missed.

I was twirling my racket around like a baton, feeling like I was going crazy with boredom. Luckily, Coach Clapp let us out early. My head was just about to explode. I was also feeling a little sluggish.

Edward would hurry to the math building and catch Bella before her class ended. I sighed. Enjoy yourself, I thought as I headed off to meet Jasper. Just a few days more to be patient. I suppose you won't say hi to Bella for me, will you?

He shook his head, exasperated.

FYI, it's going to be sunny on both sides of the sound this weekend. You might want to rearrange your plans. His plans for Bella, of course.

I skipped towards Jasper, delighted that I would be able to form the friendship that I had been craving soon.

He moaned and continued in the opposite direction.

It was lunchtime now, and I didn't bother to even order. I was too absorbed in my thoughts of friendship. Then I noticed that Rosalie was paying close attention to what Bella and Edward were talking seriously about.

Suddenly, her knuckles turned white. I tuned in to their conversation as well, listening for what had ticked Rosalie off. I found out soon enough. It was obvious, from their conversation, that Bella knew we were vampires.

Her eyes flashed in fury and then I knew that she was shouting insults at Edward at the top of her mental lungs. I hoped that Bella wasn't frightened by the murderous glares Rosalie shot her.

"Easy, Rose," Emmett whispered, his arm around her shoulders, holding her tight—restraining her.

Sorry, Edward, I thought guiltily. She could tell Bella knew too much from your conversation…And, well, it would have been worse if I hadn't told her the truth right away. Trust me on that. I sent him a mental picture of my most recent vision— Edward's favorite car, his Aston Martin, mangled and burning.

Then I was launched into another vision. Edward, I thought warningly.

I was stared into a bright circle of sunlight. It was in a small, pretty little meadow. I recognized it, because it was one of my hazy, unfocused visions I showed Edward after he'd saved Bella from the van.

It's the same place, I thought with horror.

It was the same place where I saw Bella, her skin stone-cold and her red eyes.

Edward! I protested shrilly. I love her, too!

He shut me out viciously, and turned back to Bella.

I sniffed, suddenly depressed. Jasper put his arm around me and asked me what was wrong. My eyes were downcast as I said I was fine. He didn't believe me, so I smiled weakly. That didn't help either.

Finally, I gave in. "Fine. Edward isn't listening to reason…"

Jasper glared at Edward, clearly pissed off. He had been infuriated when I told him and Rosalie that Bella knew our secret. "I'll deal with it later, Alice."

I sighed. "No, Jasper, I'd like to do that myself. But still, what if he does kill her? I won't ever know Bella that way."

"He won't," Jasper said flatly.

Why wouldn't Edward just listen?

I sat there idly, my eyes trailed off into space, when I had a vision which ensured me that in a few seconds, Edward would turn around and scowl and me. I spun around and met his scowl with a warning glance. Jasper turned around too. The words that he muttered under his breath weren't much different from Rosalie's well chosen swear words.

After we turned back around, to watch Rosalie's fiery hot expression, I had a vision. In twenty-four seconds, she would look at our table and shudder. That was because Edward was telling her about how Emmett hunted grizzlies.

What kind of human wouldn't shudder?

Seeing that Rosalie was already mad enough, she probably wouldn't mind this much.

"Hey Em, Bella's going to look at you and shudder in nine seconds." I looked up finally, chuckling to myself.

Emmett let out a booming laugh and presumably started to count down in his mind. When Bella did look, he returned her gaze, and hid his expression from Rosalie. "Look at that blush…" he whispered to me.

Rosalie didn't hear.

I shoved all those worries and visions into a mental shelf, which I would shuffle through later. I had to keep up a façade here. I laughed and chattered with Jasper, though he knew I was pretending.

I gave up later. Emmett was trying to comfort Rosalie, Rosalie was shaking furiously, and Jasper kept on shooting murderous glances at Edward while I was trying to talk to him.

Eternity wasn't all that appealing when you didn't have Jasper.

A/N: This is a nice practice for my writing skills (maybe I'll get a book published one day), so thanks for supporting my story! Also, thanks to my beta, lolafalana, before I forget.