*Disclaimer* Yello, everyone!
I AM SOOOOO UBER EXCITED!!! You know why?? The ECLIPSE TRAILER CAME OUT YESTERDAY AND IT LOOKED AWESOME!!! I'm already working on ideas for the next book, but i'm not so sure about a name yet...any ideas??
tell me in your review! hope you like this chapter...it's a bit of a filler (without any edward...sorrry don't hurt me) but one that is essential!
sooooooooo w/o further adieu, here's the new chapter!! :)
I So Do Not Like This Race!
Alice started calling people as soon as we were in the air on our way to Italy from Phoenix. She had had to shake me awake when we landed in Phoenix because I took two of my pills for the pain in my ankle as soon as we took off out of Seattle. There was just no earthly way I could watch New Moon without having an episode like I did in the movie theater when Alice and Ava took me to see it.
But I did catch a glimpse of it as we were landing. The part where Kristen Stewart is running through Volterra like a madwoman trying to get to Edward, no less. I swear, I think the universe is trying to taunt me until I end up in a Psych Ward. But thankfully the movie on our flight to Italy was something I could actually stomach.
Ha, just kidding. The universe hates me, remember?
I had to sit through Valentine's Day with Taylor Lautner flashing on the screen every once in a while, which just made me feel even guiltier about everything with Jacob. Eventually, I just took the complementary earbuds out and listened to Alice talk on the phone. "I can't be sure, he keeps changing his mind about what he wants to do…No, he's not quite there yet, but he's a lot closer than we are…Oh, never mind, he just landed…now? Now it looks like a killing spree though the city, attacking the guard, and lifting a car over his head in the main square…mostly things that would expose them—he knows that's the fastest way to force a reaction…"
Now I may love Edward, but he is just not very theatric. I mean, if he died and I had to go to Italy to piss the Volturi off enough to kill me I would do something really big! Mainly putting up drawings of Aro, Marcus, and Caius in various odd positions that would make fun of their creepy personalities, and probably a couple of things about Demetri and Felix's relationship.
Alice was sticking pretty hard core to the book's words, but since Jasper didn't know anything about the other ones, I guess she would have to. "No, you can't! Tell Emmett no…well, go after him and Rosalie then! Think about it, Jazz, if he sees any of us, what do you think he'll do?" She rolled her eyes at me, but broke out into a smile as she kept on with her conversation with Jasper. I wonder how he's doing now that it's been months since he forced Edward's mind when he tried to kill me! "I've thought of that…Yes, I promise, Jasper. One way or another, I'll get out…and I love you."
"He give you a hard time?" I flipped the movie screen up so Jacob-slash-Taylor's face couldn't bother me anymore.
"You know it. He wanted to bring the rest of the family to Italy too, and you know what would happen if a fight broke out with the Volturi. Maybe Ava could hold a couple of them off, or even get a few on our side, but it would be too close for any of us. You're pretty much the only hope we've got to save Edward, not to sound melodramatic or anything." I frowned at her and acted like I was going to fall asleep again, but she kept talking to me. "Come on, Bella, you know I'm not trying to add to the pressure, but it really is true. I mean, we don't really have any other choice. Ava would have worked, but with the sun being the way it's going to be would make using her impossible too!"
"God, why did I have to be so stupid? I should have just stayed in your house screaming for a couple of hours and none of this would have happened!"
"Oh, yeah, that would have been great for Edward to find you like that. I could see what you were doing in there, and actually Edward would have probably scooped you up in his arms," oh, great talk like you're reading out of a romance novel, "taken you to your meadow, and told you how he couldn't live without you anymore and kiss you like no tomorrow!"
"Thanks, Alice. That helped feel so much better!" I glanced around at the other passengers to make sure they weren't paying attention to Alice and my odd conversation, especially since I was almost screeching at her. There were only a few people on the flight, thank God. There was a business-type man typing vigorously on his laptop, but who I could tell was sneaking glances at Alice and me. I glared at him until he stopped eavesdropping.
Nice to know my glare still has some kick to it. Maybe it'll work on the Volturi!
Someone else was openly staring at us a few rows in front of us. She couldn't have been older than twelve, at most. She looked back when we were arguing, then she caught a glimpse of Alice and her mouth popped open into a little 'o'. Then she stared me down. I felt like I was under a microscope!
"Alice, that girl knows." I whispered over to her without taking my eyes off the little pre-teen. Why is she looking at me so intently? No, that's not an intent look, that little girl is giving me the evil eye! She's probably thinking Edward couldn't possibly want anyone like me. God, if she comes over here to give me a lecture I just might snap and feed her to the Volturi.
Okay, maybe that was a little harsh.
"What girl?" Alice didn't sound that interested. She didn't even look up! She's seen all sorts of people that are obsessed with Twilight, so someone who knows doesn't sound like a big deal. I nodded towards the girl who was full-on glaring at me now. "Oh, that one…she probably just thinks that you aren't going to save Edward or something on time."
"Alice! Shut up, she's coming over here." She really was. She randomly gets up and sits in the seat across from us. Oh, God! Is someone else going to give me a guilt trip?
She gripped the New Moon book in her arms with surprising strength. Maybe she's going to give me a black eye! "Hi! I'm Britney!" Okay, maybe not so threatening. "I'm really sorry, but are you guys going to Italy for a specific reason? See I'm doing this paper and I—" I think Alice and I just sort of stared. We were both thinking 'Is she serious? Just ask us!' "Okay, I'm not doing a paper. Are you guys really Alice Cullen and Bella Swan?" Britney started bouncing up and down in her seat like Alice did when she first watched Twilight.
I looked over at Alice and sort of shrugged. "Well…that depends…are you going to Volterra any time soon? We wouldn't want you to get into any trouble with the Volturi, you know." God, I sound like an idiot! Just trying to make my voice sound all conspiratorially while thinking about Edward in Volterra right now made me sound like I was drunk or something.
"No, no, no! I'm not worried about them! We aren't even going anywhere close to Volterra! You just looked a little worried about getting to Edward on time because your foot keeps bouncing up and down and I think you broke the armrest by gripping it so tightly. I don't know if you know, but Twilight and New Moon are books and everything turns out okay!" Insert a brace-filled smile. "So, you should stop worrying so much."
Oh, if I weren't so practiced about not screaming when I lose my temper… "Really? That's…okay, I can't lie, I already know about that. But, thank you anyway! But I'm actually quite nervous about finding Edward and I need to talk to Alice here and make up a plan, okay? So, why don't you just go back over to your mother over there and…um…keep reading the Twilight series." Truth be told, I was a little scared of this girl. She looks like one of those kinds of fans who might kill me to get a chance at Edward. So, just to be on the safe side, I want her away from me before another one of my essential body parts gets injured.
"Oh, okay! Well, if you need any help with your plan…"
"We don't!" Alice and I both said at the same time. I think Alice was thinking along the same lines I was with the fact that she might attack us. Crazy fangirls…
"Because actually," she opened up her notebook that seemed to be full of scribbles about Edward and maps of a bunch of different places, "I've been looking at maps of Volterra and I was just thinking that Alice could have done something better in the books than what she did with just sending Bella in there without any sort of exit strategy." I started giggling when Alice glared at the unsuspecting girl. It really was vastly entertaining plus she hadn't become hostile yet, so I guess we were going to be alright.
She pointed at a side street that she had marked right next to a highlighted building. "Okay, see? If she could just get the Porshe down that side street, she could park it there and Bella could get Edward to follow her to the car. Once they get in, they just need to get out of there fast enough before Felix and Demetri come and then nothing will happen with the Volturi!" Holy Crap, this girl has had too much time on her hands, but it was time well spent.
"Alice, this girl is a genius!" I whispered to her, but Alice still was glaring at Britney.
"Yeah, but she implied that I was inadequate in helping my own brother!"
I rolled my eyes, but gave her a comforting hug anyway. "Jeez, you're perfectly capable! Just shut up and listen! This plan of hers might actually work." Come on! If we could get out of Volterra without having to talk to the Volturi, I would be the happiest being in this entire universe.
Apparently she overheard me, because she started squealing up and down in her seat. Even the flight attendants looked pretty freaked out. "Really? You think it'll work?"
"That is way better than anything I would have come up with." It really was…I was coming up completely blank before on how to get out of the city without facing the Volturi. I'd just sort of resigned myself to face them when I got Edward, but maybe I won't now!
I was about to claim that this girl was my hero, but then she had to start talking again. "Yeah, well, your character is pretty prone to not thinking things through when you're in a difficult situation."
I'm pretty sure that everyone on the plane stopped talking, and that it got quiet enough to hear a pen drop. "I. Don't. Think. Things. Through?" I repeated through clenched teeth. Okay, that's it! She's going to the Volturi!
She didn't even look up from the path she was drawing on her already colorful map. "Well, maybe not exactly think things through, you just sort of react. It's pretty helpful unless you're in a situation like this." By this point I was close to strangling her, and Alice was about to burst out laughing. "And Alice has that problem too, so maybe that's why you guys are such great friends."
Alice stopped laughing. Now both of us were getting extremely close to killing her! Luckily for her though, Alice suddenly gasped and went into vision mode. Okay, now I'm as polite as the next person, but this girl needed to get away from us so we could talk about more pressing details. "Alright, thanks a lot Britney, but you really should go sit down now. We still have to work out a couple of things." Hey, would you look at that? I really can tell a person to go away without making them mad. Werewolves are just a lot harder to tell nicely, I suppose.
"Oh, okay. It was so freaking amazing to meet you. I would ask for your autograph but I'm guessing you're a little too shaken up for anything like that now, huh?"
"Yeah, sorta, bye!" I turned away quickly to make Alice snap out of whatever she was looking at. "Come on, Alice, she's gone. You do have to admit that despite her harsh character analysis, she did give us a good plan for Volterra."
Alice shook her head and focused back on me. "Yeah, she did."
"Okay, what did you see?" Most of the other people on the plane were falling asleep now. We still had too many hours to go before we land. It is going to drive me insane! "Are they telling him no yet?"
"They're still deliberating, but they've decided to tell him no. They want his talent, of course. Could you even imagine if Edward joined the Volturi? Working alongside all those brainless idiots that Aro has on a leash?" She let out a tiny shudder, while I think I broke the armrest again by squeezing it too hard.
"Thanks for that stimulating visual, Alice."
"Can I get you ladies a pillow?" Nice distraction, flight attendant man!
"No, thank you." Alice beamed up at him, instantly stunning him. I love watching people get dazzled, it's my only form of entertainment these days, aside from taunting my hallucinations.
"So, is Edward going to give them some sort of loud and colorful language-d response?"
Alice was still laughing from the flight attendant's reaction to her, but she nodded at me. "Oh, yeah…God only knows what he's going to say to that and I'm certain it'll be better than just walking in there and saying 'You know what will happen anyway'. Ugh, that screen writer has no imagination! I mean, really, Edward might be a little depressed, but he would still have something interesting to tell the Volturi off if they asked him to join them!"
"Alice, a little depressed is when you get a bad grade on a test…Edward's probably past a little depressed. He's suicidal for God's sake! Ugh, I hate him! I hate him! I hate him!"
"Bella, you don't hate Edward. You're just angry because he didn't wait around after you got pushed off the cliff."
"He didn't even come to my house or anything to see if I was okay! He just called! What the hell kind of good is it to call?" Okay, now I'm going into hysterics. And I've woken pretty much every person who was asleep up and they're watching me. Jeez, I'm a traveling freak show!
"Calm down, Bella, people are staring. He only called because I told him to. We didn't think you would be back anytime soon, but then again, I didn't consider how much of a hold you had on Jacob. I mean, he must have pulled you out and taken you to your truck within five minutes."
Was that only yesterday? I wonder if Jake's read the book yet. Probably not…"Well, I sort of yelled and kicked until he would take me to my truck. I was very persuasive."
"You make it sound like you've harnessed Ava's powers. I can only picture you trying to beat up a werewolf since I can't see them! It's not fair! Those stinking mutts are just so darn annoying!"
Ha, now Alice is the one people are staring at. "Calm down, Alice, people are staring." I mimicked her tone, but being human does have its drawbacks, especially when you try to sound like someone else. Maybe I should bring up the whole issue about turning me. I mean, that's what Alice and Bella talked about in the book, so I guess I really should…
Alice sighed, which was definitely better than her freaking out. "Do we really have to get into that? You already know pretty much the entire family besides Edward and Rosalie are willing to turn you at pretty much any time. So, once we get back from this excursion, we'll have the vote, which you will obviously win, and you'll be a vampire after you get married and do my brother. How's that sound?"
I slumped down in my seat since my cheeks were already turning a deep red color. "I never should have let you read Eclipse." I mumbled. Darn my stupid cheeks' ability to completely turn red at the mention of anything remotely embarrassing! Even something that is slightly pleasurable, like the idea of doing It with Edward...
"You really shouldn't have. I'll never let you live it down, even if the whole sex incident does or doesn't happen."
"Shut up, Alice." I mumbled again. Why was I such a mumbler?
She giggled again, but shut up. I glanced back at the movie screen, which finally had stopped playing Valentine's Day. Thank goodness…oh great, for our viewing pleasure, they are now going to feature Remember Me for all of us still awake.
"Oh, come on!" I grumbled, instead of mumbled, before I fell asleep. I seriously doubt the universe hates me this freaking much! But, hey, if it liked me at all, I don't think Jacob and Edward would both be haunting me on a plane ride where I now might not have to face the Volturi. Darn karma and all its trappings!
I fell asleep for a little while without any dreams thankfully, and the next thing I saw was Alice slamming her window down. "They told him no. I'm not sure if that's good news for you or not."
"I suppose it is…he's having all sorts of ideas about what he's going to do, right?"
"Yep! You should see some of the things he's come up with. He's actually being quite creative with some of them and…" She stopped when she saw me glaring at her, "and you don't really want to hear about that, do you?"
"Very good, Alice." That foot bouncing thing has sped up to astounding speeds, and I'm definitely going to have to pay the airline for breaking their seat. "How much longer until we land? I think I'm going to have a heart attack if we don't land soon!"
"Attention passengers, we are making our final decent into the city. Thank you very much for flying with us, and Benvenuto a Italia!"
Oh, thank you God! Okay, now all I have to do is to think of a way to get Edward into the car fast enough to miss the Volturi. That should be easy enough, right? "Oh, Bella, before we land you need to go change." Alice ripped me away from my thoughts.
"Change?" I looked down at my jeans, chucks, and green polo thinking that it was exactly like what Kristen Stewart wore in the movie to Italy. Alice smiled wickedly and handed me a small bag and pointed towards the restroom. "Now I'm scared…"
"You should be…"
"Alice, damn it! Why the hell did I let you bring me an outfit back? Ugh, this is not going to work! How the heck am I supposed to run in this?!?" Not kidding, I think she brought a shirt and lied about it being a dress. Sure, it was an empire waist dress, but it barely covered the most important areas, and I was going to fly up as soon as I take off running.
"I think it looks quite fetching, Bella. And you'll be able to run just fine. I'm more surprised you're not upset about the whole grand theft auto thing." Fetching, my butt!
"Why would I be upset about you stealing a canary yellow porshe? I like the porshe. Love it, even. Just give me a pair of gloves just in case when they find it they use finger-print analysis to figure out who stole it." I dug through her duffel bag to find the second pair of her tan gloves that she had brought along. "You could have picked a less conspicuous car to steal, despite the fact that you knew this one would be available and you like it and all. I don't want to go to an Italian jail!"
We were already speeding towards Volterra and, for some inexplicable reason, I was more nervous than I've ever been before in my life. Like, I was about to vomit all over the interior of this stolen car, nervous. "It's going to be okay, Bella. Just breathe, alright? I don't want you spewing all over the black leather seats."
"Thanks for that." I rolled down the window just in case normal breathing wouldn't work. I dared to glance at the clock. "Alice, do we still have until noon to make it to him?" There was only about ten minutes left until noon. Okay, my stomach has to start rolling now!
"Yes, he's made up his mind. He's going to wait until noon to step out into the light at the Palazzo dei Priori, and the Volturi are definitely waiting for him because of the whole St. Marcus Day parade. Okay, so I'm going to let you out when we reach the point in the city when the guards won't let me through, and I'll whip back around and get back into the street that the little kid told us to go. Bella, breathe!"
What? Oh, oh yeah, breathing is a necessary thing to keep me alive. I really need to remember to do that! "Right, breathe, in and out…oh, God! Alice, hurry up! Don't the Volturi have a phone number or something that we can call?"
Alice suddenly sounded more like me than I've ever heard before. "Oh, yeah, here let me call them right now. Hello, Aro? Hi, this is Alice Cullen, I was wondering if you could possibly hold onto my brother, Edward, for me until I get there with his girlfriend, Bella Swan. He's considering exposing you so that you'll kill him. What? Why would he do such a thing? Well, that's a funny story Aro, see Bella had sort of a breakdown and decided that she would go jump off a cliff, and then my brother found out and he went all sorts of insane and ran away to Italy to ask you guys to kill him. So, if you could just not kill him that would be totally great and maybe even put him in a vampire prison somewhere—"
"Alright, alright, I get it. No phone number…bitch…" I only mumbled the last word, but she heard me of course. I could see her glaring at me, so I held up my hands in mock protest."Please don't hit me, I might need this arm later!" I sort of didn't mention to Alice, mainly because I thought she'd bring it up, that the little fangirl from the plane grabbed the very arm that Alice was about to hit as I was getting out of the plane. Alice had already taken off to go steal a car at the first second the plane let people off.
"Hey, wait!" Ow, I am definitely going to have a bruise on that arm. Oh, it's our little planner. Crap it, she looks upset. "I need to talk to you. And I didn't wanna say this around Alice because she's the nice one, but if you don't save Edward, you will be on the receiving end of an angry and totally negative blog about you!" She looked a little like Alice when she was backing Jake into a corner in my house, except this girl back me right into a seat.
"Okay, just calm down. I totally plan on saving Edward—"
"Good! Because if you don't, we'll all kill you too!" I didn't dare ask who she meant by 'we'll all kill you' but there was no way in heck I was going to ask. "Oh, and if you don't mind, would you please tell one of the Cullens about my superior planning skills? I'd really like to become a vampire before I get to my prime age, you know, like what you're about to hit."
"Okay, enough. You are like, what, twelve years old? I'm only eighteen! I'm still extremely young, and if you want to be a vampire so gosh darn bad, why don't you just find your own vampire to fall in love with? Or, better yet, why don't you go ask Aro to turn you yourself? " Okay, this little girl better get out of my way before I kill her! I huffed my way past her, since she sort of went catatonic on me once I gave her some other plans.
After that, I stomped my way outside until I saw the yellow porshe pull up to the curb and Alice yelled for me to get in. I'm actually really surprised that Alice didn't bring up the fact that that child had somehow managed to push me back into a sitting position. I guess she didn't want me to feel worse about this situation.
I mean, not only do I have to worry about my own feelings if I don't make it to Edward in time. I have to think about all of the Cullens, plus the Denalis and that someon-thing annoying Tanya, but now all of the Team Edward girls across the world. I had no idea I was going to be under this much pressure when I moved to Forks!
"Don't call me a bitch. I am nofemale dog, thank you very much!"
"Good one…" I kept glancing at the clock, which was now taunting me by changing the minute every time I looked. Gosh darn you, clock! "Alice, please go faster!"
"I am going faster!"
"THAN GO FASTEST!"
"BELLA! Cool it or get out and run from here!" Shutting up, you got it. We sat in silence for a little while further, but finally Alice broke it. "Sorry about that, but you do need to calm down just a little."
"No, you're right. I do need to breathe just a little more. I'm just a little…well, you know…scared? I mean, what if I run up to find him and some other Bella is already there with him? Or, if that doesn't happen, what if I don't make it in time or I trip and get all bloody?"
Alice started to roll her eyes, but once she saw that I was actually legitimately freaking out, she just smiled and reassured as best she could. "There won't be any other Bellas there because you are the only Bella. At least the only Bella for my brother, that is." Okay, feeling a little better. "And as for tripping or not making on time," okay, this is exactly what I need reassurance on, "well, we'll just play that one by ear, okay?"
Oh, dear God, I'm screwed.
"Alice, don't take this the wrong way, but we've only got five minutes!" And now I'm really freaking. And I think I might hurl. Holy Crow, I'm going to see Edward again in five minutes!
Even Alice wouldn't laugh at my crappy joke. Darn this stupid dramatic tension! Where's the stupid werewolf to cut the tension with your over-strung vampire best friend? "Ugh! Happy St. Marcus Day, there's Volterra."
Okay, I was wrong, I'm not going to be sick. In the words of Stephanie Meyer, "I suppose the city was very beautiful. It absolutely terrified me."
Oh, yeah, Ms. Meyer, that would be called an understatement. A major one.
Ahh!!! I'm beyond pumped for the next chapter! It's one of my favorites in New Moon! We're almost to the end! AHH!!!
okay, now go review....and tell me if you have any ideas for an Eclipse title...:)
Preview for the next chapter:
"No, damn it Edward, don't! Please!" Come on, listen to me! "Move it, people!" This is totally worse than all of my nightmares combined. "Edward, look at me!" Oh, good the fountain!
I was only a fountain and a short sprint away from him. Holy moley, he took off his shirt…and I thought Jacob had some impressive abs, but he doesn't have anything on my gorgeous man…Oh, sweet Jesus, I think I'm drooling…No, Bella, it is not the time for that! Your man might be dead in a few seconds if you don't stop staring at his amazing non-hairy, sparkly chest!
I climbed up to get into the fountain, and, of course, as soon as I tried to run through it in this stupid tiny dress that Alice gave me I tripped. And did a face plant right in the middle of the fountain.
