DISCLAIMER: Nope… still don't own anything. That's just my luck. *Snaps fingers and sighs* dang!

(AN: Alice is at it again! Heehee. I love Alice!! Hope you enjoy it. I'm trying to get some more fun stuff out because the next chapter is going to be more serious… Read and review please. I had some trouble uploading this chapter but I finally figured it out. So here it is…)

(The Weepies/Plain White Tees)

BPOV

When I got out of gym that day Alice was standing across the parking lot jumping up and down next to a shiny silver Volvo, waving me over frantically. I smiled a little to myself. I had been prepared to live a life of solitude when I moved here from Arizona and now, with only my first week gone I was becoming fast friends with three of the best people I had ever met.

I waved back and she smiled her thousand watt smile. Her enthusiasm was more than evident. She swept me into a bone crushing hug and squealed.

"I can't wait! This is going to be a blast!"

Edward chuckled and we both looked up at him. He was resting his arms on top of the Volvo watching the exchange with an amused expression on his face.

"Shall we have her sign the waver now then?" he asked.

Alice rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand, dragging me into the car after her.

"It's going to be a blast." She reassured me.

I smiled back at her but I was far from convinced. Edward got in the drivers seat still chuckling and Emmett was smirking.

"Wanna bet on how long she'll last?" Emmett pondered aloud.

Yep… definitely worried.

---

Edward had threatened to back up on the whole shopping trip if he didn't get to drive so Alice sat in front pouting the whole ride to Seattle. Rosalie sat in the back with me and with every huff from the front passenger seat she would exchange a bemused smile with me. She still wasn't conversing with me and I could already tell we weren't going to be the bestest best friends for ever and ever but she seemed pleasant enough if you staid out of her way.

Alice's pout dissipated as we pulled into the parking lot of a high class mall in the richer district of Seattle. The place was positively huge! But Alice's eyes twinkled and she pulled me out of the car and started leading me to one of the many entrances.

"Marathon shopping…" Edward whispered from behind me and I shot a worried look back at him. He just grinned.

"we need a game plan!" announced Alice as soon as we were standing inside the main entrance.

"I suppose we can hit all of the stores on this level before heading up to the third floor."

I just looked at her and Rosalie smirked. There was a third floor? And we were going to every store? I gulped. She had to be kidding! Right?

"The third floor is the BEST!" she told me and I nodded uncertainly as she linked her arm in mine and lead me to the first store on the main level, which just so happened to be bigger than my entire house.

As soon as we entered the store Alice skipped to the back and started going through a rack of sweaters. Rosalie went off on her own to look at jeans and Edward slid into the chair by the dressing rooms and shook his head. He didn't look mad. Maybe morbidly amused? He let his head rest against the wall and his eyes closed. I wished I could nap through all of this. I settled on watching Edward.

"Bella!"

I snapped my attention back to the shopaholic beside me and she gave me a knowing smirk.

"Well. Aren't we distracted today."

I felt my ever present blush betray me and I looked down at my feet. Alice laughed and handed me a pile of sweaters. Had I really been watching Edward for that long! There must have been thirty sweaters here.

"Go try those on and then we'll move onto jeans."

I looked from the pile in my arms and back to Alice slowly with an incredulous look.

"There's not as many there as it seems." She told me and I scoffed.

I could hardly see over the pile. She crossed her arms over her chest and her lower lip jutted out.

"Please Bella!" She wined.

I rolled my eyes but non the less walked dutifully to the dressing room. As I waited for the saleslady to unlock the door I watched the chair sitting beside us. Well, I watched the occupant of said chair. He still had his arms crossed, eyes closed. I wondered if he really was asleep.

"Let me know if you need anything else." The saleslady said politely and I nodded.

As she walked away she mumbled under her breath, "Not that we can fit anything else in the dressing room…"

I heard a chuckle from Edward even though he hadn't moved an inch. I narrowed my eyes at him and kicked the chair while closing the door behind me.

"Faker…"I whispered.

I hadn't even gotten through half the monstrous pile before Alice knocked on the door.

"Bella! Let me in!"

I looked at my bare chest and back to the door.

"I don't think so Alice."

I heard her foot taping impatiently.

"I have some jeans for you to try on!" She informed me.

"I'm not even half way through this pile yet!" I yelped.

She sighed and I heard her say something too low for me to hear.

"Absolutely not Alice!" Edward indignity scoffed and I hurriedly pulled the sweater over my head while shooting worried glances at the door. What was that little pixie up to now?

"Bella! I only have a few pairs for you to try on! Don't be difficult!"

I shrieked because right at the top of the door, in the space between the door and the ceiling bobbed Alice's head. She rolled her eyes at me and threw the jeans through.

"Alice!" I recognized Edward's voice. "Give me my chair back!"

"Fine Edward! But it needed to be done! There are some really cute jeans in there!"

"Alice!" I reprimanded, flinging the door open.

Edward was glaring at his cousin and Alice had her hands at her hips rebelliously, facing him. They both turned to me and Edward shot me an apologetic smile. Alice just held out her hand for the sweaters that hadn't worked.

Alice didn't even say anything after I came out of the dressing room. She just collected the few sweaters I had allowed her to talk me into buying and headed for the cashiers station. I shot an incredulous look at Edward and he just shrugged.

"Alice will be Alice." He said simply as if that explained everything.

I followed her to the cashiers station and she smiled at me excitedly.

"I'll get them!' She announced.

I stared at her in disbelief for a moment.

"It's really okay Alice."

She rolled her eyes at me and Edward chuckled. We both glared at him and he bit his lip and took a step back.

"You wouldn't deprive me of buying a gift for my newest friend would you?" she pouted and I sighed.

There really was no way to say no to that pout!

I almost had a stroke when I saw the total but Alice didn't even bat an eye. She just smiled sweetly at the cashier, who between her and Rosalie was drooling all over himself. She wiped out her credit card and threw an expensive pair of sunglasses from the display nearby onto the colossal pile.

"Really Alice? Sunglasses?"

I looked over to see Edward staring at Alice with one eyebrow raised.

"We live in Forks." he reminded her.

Alice was hardly bothered.

"You never know when it's going to be sunny and you have to be prepared." she smiled at the guy ringing up our items and he sighed blissfully. "I'm very sensitive to the sun." She told him.

We had finally gotten through all of the stores on the first floor and we were headed up to the third. Edward was holding most of the bags we had accumulated. I had tried to object but he said he didn't mind and Alice had taken it a step further by winking and saying, "That's why we brought him."

As we stepped onto the escalator Alice bounced back and forth on her feet. I just stood still watching her in awe. I had no idea where she stored all of that energy. I had lost all of my enthusiasm by the second store… not that there was that much of it to begin with. I was also impressed with how she could move around like that on the escalator. If I tried to even chew gum while standing on a moving surface I would end up on my face. Actually I had trouble walking when the ground wasn't moving.

We had just entered the first store on the third floor, our eleventh store total and I was about to go a-wall when Alice's cell phone rang.

She had it to her ear before I even noticed it had rang.

"Hey Jazz!"

There was a nanosecond of silence as she listened to what he was saying.

"Really?!" She shrieked and smiled radiantly us. "Sounds like fun! No. I'm sure they won't mind!"

She winked and Edward and I looked at each other briefly before turning our attention back to Alice. What wouldn't we mind?

"Okay. Love you!"

She flipped the phone shut and dropped it in her purse before turning to us.

"The boys are here and they want to take us to dinner Rose!"

Rosalie laughed.

"They came all the way to Seattle to take us to dinner?"

Alice huffed and shot her a look that clearly meant "Shut it."

"Yes they did! So I told them to pick us up now and Edward and Bella could hang out."

Edward shot her a look and she smiled devilishly.

"That's okay with you right Bella?" she asked as she gathered up her bags from Edward.

"I… guess…"

I looked from Alice to Edward. Edward was glaring at her and Alice was pointedly avoiding his gaze.

"Great!"

"We could always join you." Edward said through clenched teeth.

She sighed and shot daggers at him.

"Don't be difficult Edward!" She whispered to him with as she handed Rosalie her own bags.

It wouldn't bother me in the least to be left alone with Edward but he didn't look quite so happy with the obvious set up.

"Actually Alice… I am kind of hungry." I said awkwardly.

I felt bad about butting into their plans, even if it was just a ploy but I could tell this was making Edward uncomfortable so…

"Great!"

She bounced over to me and gave me a hug.

"You and Edward will have a blast at dinner!"

With that she grabbed Rosalie's hand and started walking towards the exit without another word.

"Take her somewhere nice!" She hollered over her shoulder.

Edward sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Then he turned to give me a sheepish smile.

"Shall we?"

EPOV

I cannot believe Alice! Well, I suppose it wasn't especially out of character but still. Doesn't she realize how much harder she was making this? I do not want to like Bella! I cannot like Bella!

And yet… I do. But I will not act on it. If I act on my feelings I know I will get attached and then I will never be able to bring myself to leave when I graduate. And then Alice does this….

Bella had been quiet sense we got into the car when we left the mall. I looked over and she was staring straight ahead with a hurt look on her face. I immediately felt horrible. Here we were supposed to be friends and I say I don't want to eat with her. Some gentleman I turned out to be.

"Where would you like to eat?" I asked her, trying to break the silence and hopefully correct her wrong assumptions about my earlier behavior.

She shrugged and glanced over. When she saw me staring at her she blushed a delicious crimson. (AN: Delicious? Yeah. I went .)

"I don't really know any of the places here yet."

I nodded and automatically turned towards my favorite Italian restaurant but her reply made me feel even worse. She didn't know any of the places here yet because she was new here. I remember how hard that is. I wasn't doing a very good job at watching over her and befriending her yet.

I sighed and took another shot at conversation.

"I know an Italian place that's good. It's called La Bella Italia."

She looked over and smiled. She really did have a beautiful smile when it was real. Not those fake smiles she had been offering Alice all day during the murderous shopping trip. No, when it was a real smile her whole face lit up and her chocolate orbs burned with twice their normal intensity.

"Sounds good." She responded and I grinned.

"Good."

She had opened her door before I could make it around the car and I frowned slightly to myself. I do try to be a gentleman. I wish she would have let me do that. But then I realized she had no way of knowing I was a gentleman as I had spent the great majority of our friendship avoiding her so I wouldn't have to come to terms with my feelings for her.

I made sure to open the door to the restaurant though.

"Lady's first." I said and grinned at her.

She blushed again and I wondered idly if I had done something else wrong or if this was a permanent feature.

After we were seated she ordered the mushroom ravioli and I ordered the same. Truth be told I wasn't especially hungry but I knew eating by herself would make her feel awkward and I didn't want to make her feel bad. My whole purpose sense the van had almost crushed her was to make her happy and watch over her.

I couldn't help watching her expression somewhat intently. It was the only way to know what she was thinking. I wish she would just voice her thoughts so I could be saved from future insanity. Because that was surly where this was leading. It frustrated me to no end when I didn't know what she was thinking… especially times such as these when she seemed to be inwardly debating if she should say something aloud.

Thankfully she decided to take a chance and she did voice her thoughts. I was surprisingly disappointed when they revolved around Alice and not me. But then I had no right to wish her think of me.

"So Alice left in a rush didn't she?"

She smiled timidly and I rolled my eyes at the memory of the obvious setup.

"She will not be recruited by the FBI any time soon for her subtly. That is for sure."

She giggled.

"It was pretty obvious, wasn't it?"

I chuckled. I had feared we were going to dance around what Alice had done. I liked this much better. We could get it out in to the open; acknowledge the awkwardness of the current situation and attempt to enjoy the rest of our evening.

I watched her as she ate even though I had a plate of my own in front of me. She was very interesting to watch no matter what she was doing it seemed.

When she shifted in her seat I saw a locket shift and it drew my notice. It was very pretty, delicate and silver with emerald hearts. It fit her well.

"That's beautiful." I commented and she looked up, eyebrows furrowed.

I chuckled. Who would have thought confusion could look so adorable? I nodded my head in the direction of the locket and when she still didn't get it I reached across the table and traced one side of the delicate silver chain.

"Your locket." I explained. "It's beautiful."

She didn't say anything for a moment and then she shifted her gaze to my finger tips that were still resting on the top of her collar bone. I pulled my hand back, somewhat reluctantly.

"I…uhm…" I looked intently into her eyes, waiting for her answer and her breathing hitched. "My brother gave it to me."

I was too busy thinking of her reaction for me to realize what she had just said.

"Wait. I didn't know you had a brother."

She broke eye contact and looked down at her plate. She shuffled the remainder of her food around her plate and cleared her throat.

"Zach." She whispered.

She sounded so sad, so desolate that I reached my hand back across the table and tilted her chin so she had to look at me.

"Do not feel obligated to tell me simply because I asked." I told her and I hoped she could see the sincerity in my eyes. "But if you would like to talk about it I'm here."

A single tear slipped down her cheek and I felt my heart break into a thousand pieces. I was shocked by the shear power of the pain I felt by simply seeing her in pain. I wiped the tear off of her cheek with my thumb and without saying a word went and sat in the chair beside her.

"Shhh…" I tuned her chair so she was facing me and hugged her tight. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me."

She buried her head in my chest and whispered almost inaudibly soft, "He's gone."

I didn't say anything, not wanting to make this harder for her than it already was. I just sat there comforting her and listened to the story she had to tell.

(AN: *Wipes tear away* I'm not going to lie to you guys. I got a little teary writing the last part. But a lot of things happened in this chapter…Edward realizes he has feelings for Bella(Finally!!) and Bella decides to finally tell someone about Zach. She needed to get that off her chest and who better to spill your guts to than Eddie huh? ;)

I was going to hold the next chapter hostage until I got more reviews but I'll post it today and you guys can just review anyways??? I hope so.

And don't forget to review the authors note. I need your help guys! Thanks!

Who thinks Edward's going to get even more protective when he finds out Bella has had to go through that? Hmmm? Protective Edward is good. Lol

---PREVIEW OF NEXT CHAPTER---

"If I had gone…"

I felt the sharpest pain yet course through me and I shook my head fervently. If she had gone instead of her brother she would have been the one to never come home. I could not, would not imagine the world without her.

"There was nothing." I said. "Nothing you could have done."