Chapter Ten

Shortly after Alice's abrupt departure from their table, Rosalie had followed her distraught sister out of the building. They stood outside in the woods nearest the school where Alice was pacing to and fro along a dirt path, running her fingers through her short raven hair. She looked furious and still in shock.

"Look Alice, I don't like that either of you are chasing after a human girl, much less the same one. But if it bothers you so much, why didn't you try to stop Edward?"

"I thought I was in a way.. I thought Bella would turn him down! I mean she did, didn't she...when she first answered him?"

"Regardless of how Bella answered do you think he would just sit back and let anyone take someone he wants for himself without a fight?"

"No, I knew it wouldn't be that simple. I wanted to tear his head off the whole time, but I was so sure...I saw her turning him down...and she did...I just didn't see her changing her mind. That wasn't supposed to happen! And once she's told him no, then nothing would stop me from keeping Edward away. But no! That ass just had to keep pushing it!"

"She's not a mind reader like Edward. Remember, Bella is not only human, but also a teenage girl. They're so full of insecurities and confusion at times, especially if they're different from others. How do you think she felt when Edward told her that it was fine with you with him asking her out?"

"I know, I know... she must have felt terrible. I would have cleared it up later on. Damn! I am such an idiot!"

"Not usually. But this time I'm inclined to agree with you."

Alice spun her head towards Rosalie and glared at her in anger. Aside from a slight twitch on the corner of the blonde's lips, she gave no expression as she returned Alice's stare.

"Shit!" Alice turned and screamed at no one in particular. "Damn it Bella! How could she say yes to him? I know she doesn't feel even comfortable around him, what was she thinking? There's no way in hell she'd rather go with him than me!"

Alice paused at this. "Oh god...do I sound as arrogant as Edward now?

Rosalie rolled her eyes. She spoke in her usual cool and steady manner. "I don't know about that. But since this means that much to you, then you'd better have a talk with her. This has already gotten way out of hand."

"You're right. I'm going to talk with her now!"

Her short legs began running back towards school and Rosalie grabbed a slender arm as she passed by.

"I don't mean right now this very minute! Don't go in there half-cocked while you're liable to do something reckless Alice!

The smaller vampire spun her head with a snarl as she tried to wrench herself from Rosalie's grasp. Rosalie held her grip tight on Alice, quirking an eyebrow when she saw Alice's fangs flashing at her. Alice had reacted instinctively and it was only the look she saw in Rosalie's eyes, seeing their focus shift down when she realized how much of her inner beast had suddenly taken over. They looked intently at each other, long enough for Alice to realize that she was fortunate to have Rosalie stop her when she did. She was fueled with enough adrenaline a moment ago she was about to tear through the whole school, along with any innocent bystander who got in her way of reaching Bella.

Having regained control of her beast Alice steadied herself a moment and retracted her fangs. "O-okay...I'm sorry Rose..I'm fine now." Her small face held a pained expression as she looked down remorsefully.

The taller vampire relaxed her grip on Alice and her face softened as she looked into the pixie's face. Seeing Alice go from furious to looking so sad and dejected made her own heart break a little. Though she rarely showed it and many dubbed her the ice queen, she in fact felt strongly and deeply for those she loved. She rarely saw Alice other than airy and cheerful, the most life-like in their adoptive family of vampires. After watching Edward's display in the cafeteria she also more than a little angry at him. In fact she was now entertaining thoughts of confronting the smug bastard herself. She was tempted to storm back inside, find him and drag him out of class by the ear and promptly kick his pale ass across the football field in front of the whole school. But it would only make a bad situation worse.

"Alice...", the blonde vampire cupped her hand under Alice's chin to gently lift it. When she beheld the smaller vampire's face looking back at her she stared with a surprised expression.

"How...?" Rosalie reached out and touched the smaller woman's face and felt the wetness on her long fingers.

Alice felt the wetness on her own face and reached up with a small hand to wipe away a tear. She looked down at her slender fingertips holding the single droplet in wonderment. She wasn't sure herself how tears flowed from her eyes. Vampires were not known to shed human tears.

"I'm not sure...I took in some water recently...maybe..."

"You've been drinking water?", Rosalie asked curiously.

"I've had a few sips since last Friday."

Rosalie wiped a the remaining tear from the other side of Alice's perfectly proportioned face. She took the smaller figure into her arms and Alice accepted the comforting hug.

"I don't like seeing you so sad. Is this girl really worth all this heartache?"

Alice pulled back to look into similar colored eyes before she responded. "She's the one I want Rose. I saw her in a vision months before she arrived. There was a part of me that always knew that it was her, but there's no doubt how I feel now."

"You never told me about that."

"Well I was alone at the moment and wasn't sure what to make of it then. It's been driving me insane, all those times I saw Eddie sneaking into her room while she slept and not knowing what to say or do. I can't remember feeling as alive as I've felt since being around her. And when I thought she wanted me, only to have her say she'll go out with him...", she faltered as she felt more tears start to fall.

Rosalie drew Alice back into her arms and made soothing circular motions against her back. "Shh...it'll be all right..I've been scared about you getting so involved with this human, being what we are and all...but it looks like you already are. It's pretty obvious that Edward has her confused with all his bullshit. Once you've talked with her you'll clear up this misunderstanding."

Alice felt greatly comforted by her words. She's been privately holding in many intense emotions for the past few weeks, uncertain what to make of them, fearing what the consequences would bring once she fully acknowledged them. It meant so much to her to have Rosalie offer some comfort and surprisingly, even some degree of support. She felt much lighter, as though a great weight had been lifted.

Once she felt calmer she was pulled into a vision, and was determined to see it through.

"You're right. I just need to talk with her."

Since the period after lunch was now nearly over, they didn't bother going into class. Alice went inside to find a restroom, to splash some water on her face and make herself look more presentable.

Feeling more confident now, Alice strode into the room where she shared English Lit with Bella. She found the brunette sitting there looking somewhat morose with her arms crossed and leaning heavily back in her chair, legs crossed at her ankles. She seemed to be staring at a fixed place somewhere in space.

She looked up in surprise when she saw Alice standing beside her.

"Will you come with me please?", Alice asked calmly.

Bella blinked a few times and furrowed her brow looking perplexed.

"Come with you where?"

"Outside. Grab your things and just come with me please. I need to talk with you."

"Class is about to start in case you haven't noticed", Bella responded looking a bit irritated.

Alice huffed then abruptly gathered the girl's things in her bag before clasping a small hand around her arm, pulling a dazed looking Bella out of her seat and quickly out of the classroom. A few other students in the room watched them leave and their teacher was just about to walk into class as they headed down the hallway.

"Alice...Bella where are you going? Class is abo-"

"Sorry Mr. Mason, but Bella's feeling sick and I need to take her home", Alice quickly spoke, not waiting for the teachers response.

As the stunned teacher turned to head back into class and they were further down the hallway, Bella spoke, "Alice! What are you doing?"

"I'm taking you with me outside where we can talk in privacy. We'll go inside my car."

Bella was too astonished by all that was happening to respond as she continued to be led by Alice until they reached her car in the parking lot. She stumbled a few times as she tried to keep pace with the smaller girl.

Alice opened the door, dropped Bella's bag behind the seat and motioned her to get in. Bella stood there looking at Alice, who with a nod of her head again motioned her inside. Bella relented and sat inside the car before Alice closed the door and quickly went around and slipped inside the driver's seat.

They both turned simultaneously to face on another. Alice looking determined and Bella looking slightly perturbed.

"Okay Alice...you've pulled me out of class and dragged me out here. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"I want you to know that I never wanted Edward to ask you out."

"So you knew he was going to?"

"Yes but.."

"And you just sat there and did nothing."

"I didn't think you'd say yes!"

"He said he discussed it with you and you were okay with it."

"Well he was lying. I'm not okay with it."

"Why didn't you say or do anything? I looked at you and you acted like you didn't care!"

"It's not like that all. You don't understand Bella.."

"Well then explain it to me!"

Alice took in a deep breath before continuing. "Edward and I have been fighting ever since I asked you out last week. He's been interested in you for some time..and well so have I. He's angry at me for approaching you and for going out with you. It's been the cause of some tension at home. He says that I interfered and that you should know what your options were. I didn't like it, but I thought if I let him have the one chance to ask you out that you would turn him down. I thought maybe then it would be a little easier to continue going out with you. I hoped that maybe he would eventually give up...but I should have known better."

"Don't you think that you should have told me this before? Like this morning when we were sitting here talking?"

"Well I...yes, I should have. I just wanted him to know that it's what you also wanted, without any question of interference on my part."

"Do you have any idea how it made me feel to think you didn't care if your brother asked me out right in front of you?"

"I know it must have been very confusing and.."

"It hurt me Alice!" Bella blurted out, surprising herself with her own confession.

Alice felt a deep ache of regret as she could see the pain she had caused the one person in the world who she least wanted to hurt.

"I'm sorry Bella. Believe me, it hurt me as well when you said yes to him..."

Bella was silent for a moment as she took all this in. Hearing her say this was like a balm over the pain she felt in her heart since the whole cafeteria incident.

"I didn't want to...agree to go out with him. I don't know why I did. I think I was just so angry...a-and...yes I was confused as hell."

Alice reached out and took her hand in her own.

"I'm so sorry Bella. This confusion is all my fault. I made a mistake. A very stupid mistake. Please forgive me."

Her beseeching words sounded full of remorse, spoken softly with her lovely bell-like voice. The effect it had on Bella was intensified when she saw the sorrowful look upon her delicate elfin face. She gazed into Alice's somber eyes and felt her anger begin to dissolve. It was too difficult to try to fight it, although a part of her still felt wary. Despite feeling that there was something more going on she wasn't yet privy to, she didn't want to stay angry at Alice. Without fully understanding why, she couldn't bear the thought of not continuing to see this curiously odd, breathtakingly beautiful girl.

"Okay Alice...I-I do... I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have told him yes...I guess I just don't do well with surprises like that. And now I have to talk with him..and tell him the date's off." Bella looked sick at the prospect of having this awkward conversation with him.

"He's not going to be happy about it..but don't worry. It'll be all right", Alice spoke reassuringly. In truth though she was more than a little concerned with Edward's reaction. She didn't feel like she should leave Bella alone with him when he told her. To hell with him if he didn't like it. She didn't trust him to be alone with her for a second. He wasn't above lying to Bella to get his way with her. He's been acting irrationally for weeks in regards to Bella, it was difficult to know for certain exactly what he was capable of.

Since school was due out shortly, they decided to wait in the car until then. Bella thought it best to talk with Edward before he left school grounds that same day. During their discussion Alice tried to convince Bella to allow her to be with her when she talked with Edward, but Bella went against that idea. It just didn't seem right to her. She wanted him to know that it was her own decision to cancel their date. Eventually it was agreed that she was going to do this on her own and they made plans to talk later that evening on the phone. This didn't sit well with Alice but she wanted to respect her wishes. However, it didn't mean she wasn't going make sure she was close enough in case things got out of hand. For the moment she didn't see anything of the sort happening but she wasn't taking any more chances. She's already had one vision surrounding Bella play out differently in reality, and it rattled her more than she cared to admit.

As soon as the final bell sounded alerting the end of the school day Alice left her car to go stand by the Jeep while Rosalie waited with her. They were joined by Emmett a few seconds later as the students started to rush out of the building. They were far enough from where Bella waited for Edward in her truck to give some semblance of proper distance, but near enough where all three vampires could see and hear everything that happened.

Edward strolled out of the building not very long afterward and saw Bella step out of her truck as he approached. Though he still couldn't hear her thoughts, her expression told him that she was about to tell him something he knew he did not want to hear.

"Hi Edward. I need to talk with you for a minute", Bella looked slightly embarrassed but determined to get this over with.

"Yes Bella?", his tone was passive but when he noticed his siblings in the same parking lot by their jeep his eyes darkened.

Bella got straight to the point, "I'm sorry, but I have to cancel our date for Friday. I shouldn't have told you yes, but I wasn't thinking very clearly at the moment".

"I see..", he glanced over at Alice as Emmett and Rosalie stood on either side of her.

"Did Alice say something to you, for you to so quickly change your mind?"

"I...I have spoken with her, but she's not making this decision, I am. There's really only one person I'm interested in seeing right now...and...it's Alice."

He seemed to regard her for a moment, looking into her eyes as if searching for any sign of hesitation in them. Something in the way he looked at her made her feel a little queasy. She didn't know why.

He finally spoke, "I am disappointed to hear you say that...but if that is what you want then...but I want you to know that if you ever change your mind...well then, just let me know."

Bella bit her lip as she considered her response. "Look Edward...I know I've only gone out with Alice once...but even if I was interested... it just doesn't seem right you asking me out only a few days later. I mean she is your sister and all."

"Alice is no sister of mine!", he spat out.

Bella jumped back startled at the nasty tone in his voice. The angry scowl on his usually handsome face made him look quite frightening at that moment.

Alice rumbled out a growl in warning, loud enough for Edward to hear. She didn't like seeing Edward scare Bella like that. Emmett put an arm around her slender shoulders to try to calm her.

Seeing the look of shock cross Bella's face made Edward pause and try to regain composure.

"I'm sorry for raising my voice like that to you Bella. I understand what you are saying. Forgive me if I am more than a little disappointed."

Bella was still taken aback by his outburst and only managed to nod her head before they both said their goodbyes and she walked back to her truck. Her legs felt a little shaky after that encounter but she was relieved that it was over.