Chapter 8

As the sun went down over Forks, I got more and more excited. After Edward and I ate dinner, we got down to real business: changing into our costumes. Edward stayed in his room, I went into the bathroom.

First the dress. Then the pendant. Then eye makeup and lipstick. Then the fangs. Then curl the ends of my hair. Then heels. In the middle of applying my eyeliner, Edward knocked on the door. "Bella? Are you still getting dressed?"

"Yep!" I replied with a smile.

When I opened the door after I was finished, Edward was sitting on a chair across the hall, facing the door. When I walked out in my costume, a smile broke out onto his face. I blushed immediately. "You look beautiful." He stood up and took my hand. I didn't really think of my costume as necessarily "beautiful," but I took it as a good thing. Edward liked it, and that's all that mattered.

He peered out the large bay window at the end of the hallway to measure the light behind the clouds. After you live in Forks for a few years, you learn to be able to read the time based on the shade of the clouds. The sky was pretty dusky, so trick-or-treat was going to start in about a half hour, I estimated.

"So…" I rocked on my feet. "What are we doing until trick-or-treat?"

"We can sit outside. The rain is supposed to hold out until midnight."

I smiled, exposing my fangs.

"I like the fangs," Edward commented. "Might be a new look for you."

I laughed. "You look vary dawshing, Count Cullun," I said with a British accent.

"As do you, Countess Swun." He played along. Then he took my hand, and we started dancing. All of a sudden, "River Flows In You" by Yiruma started playing from his bedroom. I laughed.

Esme walked up the steps, and smiled at us. I blushed and looked down.

"What are you doing, Edward?" Her velvet voice calmed me down a little.

"Dawncing, ma lady," he answered, still in British accent mode.

Esme laughed. I've always loved Esme's laugh. It always seemed magical, like the bells of an angel. "Trick-or-treaters are starting to show up," she informed us.

"Already?" I asked as Edward dipped me.

"You should start trick-or-treating if you want to be back in time to go to Twilight." Esme stood perfectly straight in an almost statue-like position, her hands clasped in front of her.

"I suppose we shall begin ah quest for candy, Countess Swun." Edward paused to kiss my hand. "It has been a great pleasar dawncing with you."

"As you, Count Cullun."

Esme laughed again. "Have you ever considered a career in the theatre?"

"I can't sing," I informed my (practically) second mother.

"I believe they would overlook that," Edward said, back to normal voice. He handed me a black velvet tote to carry my candy in. "You're certainly beautiful enough to play any role ever imagined. I blushed more out of joy than anything.

"Oh, you two," Esme rolled her eyes with a smile. "Get along." She tossed her head gracefully towards the front door.

Edward grabbed my hand and led the way to the door. My body was tingling from my eyelashes to the tips of my black-painted toes. Right there, I decided that if I was going to make my dreams of tonight a reality, I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.

"Have fun!" Esme said after we walked outside. I was surprised to see that it wasn't raining, although it was cloudy.

Edward and I started walking up the street, away from my house. I sensed Edward was about to say something. But before he could, I hip-checked him into the darkness beside his house. Or… I tried. When I hit him, I swore my hip cracked. I immediately fell to the ground with a cry of pain.

"Bella! Bella! What's wrong?" Edward frantically crouched down beside me.

Tears involuntarily flowed from my eyes, and I cursed myself for not wearing waterproof makeup. "I tried pushing you with my hip," I gasped, my hands pressed tightly against it.

"Let me see." Edward took away my hand, and pressed softly on the bone. It hurt almost as bad as the time I broke my leg falling down stairs. I screamed. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Edward backed up a little. "We have to take you back."

"No!" I insisted. "I'm fine. See?" I tried sitting up, but it hurt too much.

Edward immediately scooped me up in his arms, honeymoon-style. "I'm taking you to Esme."

"Edward… no…" I tried to protest, but he wouldn't listen. So much for trick-or-treating.