"Alice, you know I can't do that" I whined to my short, pixie-like friend, hating that she was making me stand here and talk about this. She already knew the answer as well as I did, maybe even better than I really did.
"You will never get over him until you throw away that stupid picture. And besides, it's blurry. Why would you want to look at that?" She cocked her head sideways at me, trying to understand my motives.
"Alice, I don't want to get over him." I stared at the picture of my dad, sitting in a plain black photo frame on my bedside table. His head was thrown back, and he was laughing. His eyes were crinkled and he had no mustache; he had shaven it off days before.
"Bella, I will never understand you" She sighed dramatically.
"Okay with me" I muttered. "So we going to do this thing and get it over with?" I nodded towards the giant pile of floor length dresses taking residence on my bed. Her face lit up with the mention of the dresses, taking this as a surrender from me.
Our high school prom was in 3 weeks, and Alice was insisting I go. I figured I could show up in jeans for a moment to make her happy, and then go straight home. But with Alice, as I should know, nothing is ever done half way. When she showed up at my door this morning with a pile of dresses in her arms, and several more in the car, I knew that no amount of complaining would get me out of this one.
I tried, nonetheless, to convince her that this wasn't necessary. When she insisted it was, I tried to play the resistance card. Now, after she ragged on my picture of my dad, I was more than happy to cooperate and do what she wanted.
"Come on Bella, cheer up!" She smiled big at me, and then pulled out a red dress from the middle of the stack. It was strapless, with ruffles at the bottom and a fitted middle. "Imagine yourself in this" She held up the dress to emphasize her point. "In the middle of the ballroom with your hair in curls, and your lips red, dancing to a sweet song as the clock striked midnight"
I smirked, knowing high school proms were never that way. "Okay Alice, I'll play along with this for a moment. Who would I be dancing with exactly?" I knew she had no answer to this one.
"Details, details, they don't matter. Right now we need to find the perfect dress for you. So go try this on!" She shoved the dress into my arms and pointed towards my bathroom. "I'll be downstairs when you get the dress on; come and show me it"
I bit back my grumbles, knowing they were useless, and obediently went to try it on. As I slipped into the satin dress and then struggled with the zipper in the back, I started mentally cursing my mother for ever mentioning to Alice that I didn't have a dress.
After an ample amount of struggle, several muttered profanities, and one bruised knee, I was ready to show Alice the dress. I did bother with looking at myself in the mirror; I just headed out the door and down the stairs.
Alice and Sarah sat in the kitchen, discussing me over a bowl of popcorn when I came in. "There she is!" Sarah gushed when she saw me. Sarah wasn't really my mom, not in my mind at least. She had married Charlie, my dad, over a year ago, before he got banished. I still refused to think of her as anything besides 'Sarah'. No way in hell would I ever call her my mother; that title belonged to Rennee, my true mother.
"There I am" I muttered, and then looked to Alice for her opinion. "Not bad" She commented, and my face lit up in a smile, thinking we were done. "But we can do better" The smile fell from my face. "Go and try on the orange one"
I grudgingly headed back upstairs, found the orange on, and struggled out of the red on and into it. The same process continued as I was told my Alice that we could do better, and then sent back upstairs to try on another one. I was nearing the end of the pile, but I was worried that there could be more in Alice's car.
"Oh, look at you!" Sarah openly stared at me as I entered the kitchen with the last dress in the pile on. It was a floor length, lime green number. I smiled politely, then turned to Alice. She was staring at me, speechless for the first time tonight.
"That's the one" She said, shaking her head in amazement. "I can't believe it!" She got up to hug me. I stood there patiently; glad to know that it was over. "You look amazing!" She gushed.
"Honey, you look very good. That dress suits you" Sarah complemented me. "Why don't I take you girls out for dinner in celebration of Bella's new dress?"
"That would be great Sarah" Alice eagerly agreed.
"Bella?" She turned towards me.
"Okay" I grumbled.
"Great" Her eyes lit up. "Bella, honey, why don't you go change, and then we can head out." I nodded, then grabbed Alice's arm and dragged her up the stairs toward my bedroom.
"I hate her" I muttered when we entered my room. Alice looked over at me in shock.
"Why? All she did was offer to take us out to dinner. It's a free meal, Bella. Gosh" She looked over at me.
"She's trying to replace mom" I answered, and then headed over towards to my closet to pick out some clothes for the evening. "She knows what I'm going through, but all she can do is try to make me like her. I hate it! She doesn't like me or Charlie, she likes our money"
"You don't know that" Alice said soothingly. "Maybe she really does love Charlie, and wants to show you that she can be a good mom."
"I know she hates me! She thinks I'm a stupid little brat that gets in the way of her spending all our money" I raised my voice slightly.
"What?" Alice asked, clearly confused.
"Last week, she wanted to go shopping again. So I hid Charlie's credit cards. Then she called me a brat" I explained as I held up a shirt. "What do you think of this?"
"It's good, but pair it with those black boots" She pointed at some black boots of mine in the back of my closet. "And why would you hide the credit cards?"
"Did you see her last time she went shopping? She came home with so many bags, and spent three thousand bucks!" I pulled the shirt over my head after slipping off the dress. Then I pulled out a pair of jeans and stuck them on.
"So?" Alice said.
"Alice, were not your family. We don't have that kind of money. And she knows it! She just wants to take advantage of us! Did you know she has had seven other husbands before Charlie? Does that sound like someone who knows what commitment is? I just want someone who can help our family. She is doing the opposite of that!" I swallowed back tears, reminding myself that I wasn't that weak.
"Oh, Bella, It will all be okay" She came over and pulled me into a hug. I squeezed her tight, and a single tear rolled down my cheek.
"I hope your right, Alice. I hope your right" I muttered, pulling back. "Now help me with my makeup and we can go"
Alice applied some quick makeup to me, I grabbed my purse, and we headed downstairs to meet Sarah. "Were ready to go Sarah" I sighed.
"Bella, honey, you can call me mom" She pressed and I shook my head.
"Rennee is my mom" I was firm on this one; we had had this conversation many times before.
"Okay sweetie, let's go" She surrendered and put her arm around me and lead me out the door.
Dinner was painless. She brought us to a nice restaurant and ordered us the most expensive food on the menu. Of course, she paid with Charlie's credit card. I sighed when she handed it over. I knew that something had to be done to stop her; I just didn't know what.
Later that night, after we got home, Alice left, and I took a shower, I curled up on my bed with my picture of my dad. I reflected on everything that had happened today, the countless dresses, the whining to Alice, the dinner. I wanted to so badly to have my dad with me; he always was able to get me through anything.
"Dad" I whispered. "I wish you could have been here today. Sarah is just getting worse" I stared at his unmoving picture, imagining what he would say to me now if he was here. He would smile, and tell me that tomorrow would all be better.
"I promise I will get you out of there" I whispered, and then I set down the picture and dozed off into sleep, silent tears falling from my cheek.
Like it? Why don't you let me know in a review. Next chapter coming up soon. Oh, and if you didn't notice in the summary, this isn't a EdxB story. They will, though, meet and become friends. But you may also have noticed the fact that this will be a trilogy. Hence my pen name. I have some more stuff in store for those two in later stories. Don't let the no EdxB thing get you down, there will be other romances, trust me!