Suddenly, Sam came running back into the house. I panicked. I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed the nearest pool noodle and beat him to death with it. What can I say? Pool noodles are dangerous things.
A/N: lol, that was dedicated to Kolored and her pool noodle of doom :)
O my gosh. 45 reviews ;)
How can you ask for forgiveness,
So now you think that your crimes are victim less?
I know you and your sins,
Your retributions,
So how will you lay your penance down?
We all pay in time,
So how will you clear your conscience when your clock unwinds?
- Little Bombs by Dashboard Confessional.
"We're going to Italy!"
I sighed as I reluctantly sat down in my seat. Plane seat, I should say. I'd told them repeatedly that I did not like surprises, that I hated them spending money on me and how they could return the tickets and get a refund. But did they listen to me? Of course not. They made sure the tickets (first class, the usual for the family and apparently, the Morgans, also) were nonrefundable. They threatened to drag me if necessary, since I was so reluctant to go. Liz and Alex practically begged for me to accept – they went on and on about how they'd planned this exactly so that it would work. The next few days would be perfect in Italy – cloudy, barely any sun at all.
It seemed utterly silly that I'd forgotten my own birthday. September 13. I had been too preoccupied with everything else to even notice. I thought maybe somehow, in the middle of all the chaos, they'd too forget and we'd avoid my intolerance of gifts and surprises. But none of that happened.
"Hey, Bella." Natalie's high soprano voice didn't quite startle me – but I was surprised. Natalie and I barely talked – I got the feeling she was shy and kept to herself most of the time. "Mind if I sit here?"
"Go ahead" I smiled. I thought we'd all sit with our respective mates, but I was sure Edward wouldn't mind – and we could always switch I guess. I didn't know what I would do for the next 10 hours – since none of us would be sleeping. I saw as Edward sat right in front of me, next to Jason.
"Are you excited?" She asked suddenly. "I mean, I know you're kind of against going to Italy, but you have to be excited." She grinned.
"I guess." I bit my lips. "Okay, fine. I'm really excited" I admitted and laughed freely.
"You haven't been there before, right?"
"Nope. Can you believe the farthest east I've been is Albuquerque?" I tucked my hair behind my ear. I had to constantly remind myself to move – humans didn't stay still for too long. "Have you ever been to Italy?"
I watched curiously, as a guilty look rearranged her expression for half a second. Afraid of hitting a soft spot – I didn't ask what that was about.
"Yes" That was all she said – and that part of our conversation was over. Instead of forcing a conversation, I settled in my seat and picked up my book – the Merchant of Venice. Even though I'd read it countless times during my human life – it was the first time reading it as a vampire. Maybe I'd be able to get better perspective on it. I loved the intensity of it, the way it all seems inevitable yet in the end, everything goes right and they have a happy ending.
"That's a really good book," Natalie noted, again, her expression turned into a grimace – reacting to something I said – or maybe the book. I agreed and went back to reading.
We barely talked after that – but it was a comfortable silence, not at all awkward. After an hour – 53 minutes and 2 seconds, to be exact – she got up at the same time as Edward and they silently switched seats. The wonders of mind reading.
He winked at me and I unhooked by belt and got onto his lap, resting my head on his chest. Every so often, I'd play with his hair or trace to contours of his face and chest. Then the little sign that told us to buckle our belts came on – time flies when you're having fun (or when you're with Edward) - and I reluctantly got on my own seat. We landed shortly after that – we were now in the Eternal City, Rome. We made our way through the crowd – not needing to stop at the baggage claim area, since Alice had insisted she would just go shopping here.
Alice's eyes widened as a car passed by on the near highway. She usually only did that when shopping, she wasn't as interested in cars as Edward or Rosalie. It was a bright yellow, fast – it was obvious as it made its way around the other cars, it said turbo on the back. I didn't know much about cars, but I knew this one had to be expensive.
"It's a Porsche. 911 turbo. Very fast, about 193 mph, about $130,000." Rosalie said nonchalantly.
Alice kept staring after it, and then she had that look in her eye. When she wanted something, she usually got it.
"I'll get it for you as soon as we're home." Jasper promised. Alice's wide eyes brightened noticeably.
"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She said it so fast, her words blurring as she threw her arms around Jasper.
"Enough car talk, let's explore!" Emmett beamed.
And we did. The phrase shop till you drop crossed my mind. If only. I sighed, we would never drop, but I had had enough. We'd been to Piazza di Spagna and just when I thought she'd had enough, we headed over to Via Borgognona where she got her filling of Prada, Gucci, Fendi and Valentino. I didn't even want to think about the enormous amount of money she'd spent – not only on herself but on us, too. Especially on me.
Every time I'd complain, she'd shush me and use my birthday as an excuse.
We were looking around at the Colosseum when Alice gasped.
It was the first time since the werewolves that she'd had a vision. Her face turned into that familiar expression – eyes wide and unfocused, face blank.
She snapped out of it quickly, and squealed. "Oh. My. Gosh. We have to hurry! There's a pair of shoes with my name on them at Versace!" When she saw us simply stare back, not moving, she dragged Jasper. "Come on! There's only one pair in my size." She pouted. As always, we gave in. It was hard to say no when she pouted – even harder when she 'cried'.
We went in a hurry, but unfortunately, the lady told us they had just sold their last pair. Alice was devastated, but as soon as Jasper reminded her of the 911 Turbo, she perked up a bit.
By the 5 p.m., we'd seen all of Rome and we weren't even tired.
"What now?" I asked. Would we go to hotel? That would be a waste of money. But what else could we do?
"We could…go to Milan?" Liz suggested.
"It's about an hour away…" Alex added.
"And we could find those shoes you were looking for…" Liz tried to persuade us. Why were they so hell bent on going to Milan? Sigh. I scolded myself mentally. Jeez, paranoid enough?
Alice agreed almost immediately and so did Rose. So Milan it was.
We set off running, at our speed, instead of taking the 6 hours to get there; we'd be there in less than an hour.
25 minutes and 17 seconds later, Liz stopped suddenly – the rest of us stopped too, to see what was with her.
"I was thinking… we could go see Volterra first. I mean, it's in the way, right? The Piazza dei Priori is beautiful! You'd love it, Bells!" Elizabeth said with a little too much enthusiasm.
The Cullens stiffened a bit. "I'm not sure that'd be such a good idea…" Jasper said. I didn't understand why, but I didn't want to interrupt. Or maybe I was afraid to know.
"Hold on," Alice whispered. Her eyes went black as she looked into our futures. I quickly grabbed Edward's hand, wanting to see her vision.
We were in a beautiful city, a perfect sunless sky over us.
"See, I told you it'd be fine." Alice laughed as we made our way towards a fountain.
And then we were back to reality.
"It'll be fine – we can go." She winked.
"You'll absolutely love it, Bella." Alex said.
:):):):):)
"Whoa." I smiled as we walked around Volterra. It was beautiful, just like Alice's vision. It had an old feeling to it – antique – and I loved it.
We were at the Piazza dei Priori, walking around the huge fountain in the middle. The clock on the right told us it was 6:12. The view was amazing. Breath-taking.
"It's beautiful." I whispered.
"It's nothing in comparison to someone I know." Edward wrapped his arms around me from behind.
"You're right; nothing's more beautiful than you." I said, turning my head a bit to place a sweet kiss on his neck.
"Silly Bella, I meant you." He whispered.
Like we'd seen, the sky was grey, sunless – it reminded me of Forks. We were able to go out without worrying about suddenly sparkling and dazzling thousands of people. I was actually starting to enjoy myself.
Of course, usually, when everything was finally okay, something bad happened.
This time, something really bad happened.
"Well, well, well, look who's back." A high, reedy voice came from behind us.
REVIEW=PREVIEW!
CLIFFIES ARE BACK! Haha you missed them?
I did my research on the 911 turbo! Yay! I have to say, I'm in love with it :) If only :P
And I also did my research about Italy, *tear* I'm so proud of myself. Lol
So who do think it is/ what will happen?
a) it's a little girl who has a crush on Edward.
b) it's ME! hey, it could happen:)
c) Sam really does come back and is beaten to death (with a pool noodle, preferably)
d) It's Victoria!
e) The Morgans die
f) The Cullens die
g) It's Jane – the Volturi make their way into the story