A/N: Chapter Two! I know I'm a bit eager... but I can't help myself. Once again tons of love to my beta MsWDarcy. You are my muse.

Warning: potential for difficult adult themes and violence.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and character names. All plot lines, backgrounds, characterizations, and details belong to ElspethGordie.

Chapter Two: Charity

The grocery store was huge. There was a Starbucks in the grocery store. Now I've been to a super Wal-mart in my day, but this was even bigger. Did you know that an aisle can be completely devoted to cereal, not shared with the oatmeal or random breakfast bars? No, in Phoenix, they get their own aisle. In Forks, they got a shelf.

I wandered quietly, and tried to contain my impish glee at the variety. Emmett, my personal man servant, as he dubbed himself, pushed a cart behind me. I had grabbed all the mixings for my favorite recipes, hopefully enough meals to last a whole week. But somehow a box of donut holes, three tubes of sour cream and onion Pringles, and enough fruit snacks to feed a preschool ended up in the cart as well. If I was feeding Emmett too I would be spending most of my life at the grocery store. Not that I minded.

"Bellasaurus, what do you need three blocks of cheese for? Are you secretly a mouse?"

I dropped another item in the cart. "Homemade baked mac'n'cheese." His eyes lit up. "Be nice if you want some."

He instantly attempted to look innocent, making a halo over his head with his finger. I returned to my shopping, hearing a faint "squeak, squeak," behind me.

I whipped around giving him my best you-better-not-mess-with-me-mister-or-no-food-for-you glare. But I couldn't hold it long, Emmett looked shocked like he never expected me to have so much ire. I laughed. Don't mess with Bella Swan. Giant silencer.

Grabbing the last few things on my list, I ended up in the cake aisle. Yes, a whole aisle devoted to cake. I was so going to buy all the best ingredients for chocolate cake from scratch, and eat it all myself. I'd been craving chocolate cake with homemade cream cheese chocolate icing for days.

While I debated the pros and cons of the using dark chocolate powder versus melting semi-sweet and dark chocolate discs, Emmett's phone rang. His ring tone was "Baby" by Justin Beiber.

"Wow Emmett, I didn't know you were a middle school girl." Double wow.

He rolled his eyes. "Hey Ali. What's up?" I went back to my internal chocolate debate.

"Sure, yea… Yeah, I can help. Do you mind if I bring a friend along?" He grinned at me. "It's Bella. Ya know Charlie's daughter." Pointing at the chocolate discs, he asked me, "Do you mind if we stop by my house before we head back? I need to help my neighbor with some junk."

I could hear a high pitch squeal on the line, which made Emmett crack up. I shrugged. Sure, whatever. What else was there for me to do except follow Emmett around?

"Okay Alice, we're gonna check out and then we'll be over." Alice… hmm. I wonder if that's his girlfriend. Her squeal sounded exceptionally girly.

After fighting over who paid (I won) and seeing who could bag the groceries faster (he won), we loaded up the car. Emmett placed all the cold stuff in a cooler he had in the back. Who keeps coolers in their trunk? Well, I guess that's Phoenix for ya.

I didn't realize how late it was getting until we got in the car. It was already six and I had been in Phoenix for three hours.

It felt much longer.

I rolled down the window to let the wind blow into my face. The nausea from earlier had resurfaced and I had no desire to hurl on the side of the road. Nausea had been my constant companion for the last few weeks. I had begun to hate the inside of a bathroom, especially the porcelain throne that held my reflection much more than a mirror.

I took in the scents of the city. A strong musty odor swirled around my face, and stuck in the back of my throat. The dusky scent in the air created an aroma much different from home, like the land was glad it had rained.

"—You know Bells, I think you're really gonna like it here." Emmett had been rattling along for a while; but barely required a response.

Emmett kept fiddling with the radio dial, finally settling on what seemed to be his favorite—Lady Gaga. At least it wasn't teenie bopper boys singing in falsetto…or what I hope was falsetto.

"So." I looked at him through my hair. Uh, something to say? Something to say? I'm terrible at small talk. I'm never witty when I want to be.

His eyes crinkled up. "So?"

"Uh, I guess it's your turn to tell me about yourself. Other than you have super bizarre taste in music, and you skip around like a girl, and can eat enough fruit snacks that a whole elementary school must go without." I was rambling. I could feel my ears begin to burn. At first I don't know what to say, and then I can't stop talking nonsense. Yeaaa, it's one of my better qualities.

But he was laughing, that great booming laugh. Maybe I wasn't a total loss after all. He sure found me funny.

"Oh, just wait until you meet Ali. She is going to looove you." He coughed a little catching his breath.

"She's partial to music ignorant newbies, with a tendency to ramble?" I fiddled with my raggedy sweat shirt.

"Naw, she's just gonna like you. Did you know she helped Charlie pick out your bedroom stuff?" I shook my head. "Yea she loves that crap. I think she dragged him around Ikea for an entire day making sure that everything was just right."

I didn't know what to say. Charlie in Ikea? Alice shopping for my room? My friends at home would never have done that for me.

"Really? Why would she do that for me? She doesn't know me from a hole in the wall."

He grinned. "Sure we do, Charlie couldn't shut up about you. He was so excited when you decided to move here." I raised my eyebrows. He didn't seem that excited to me.

"Anyway, Alice's gonna have you turned topsy-turvy before the end of the month. She's a force of nature. As soon as she over heard Charlie telling Dad that he didn't know what to do about furniture, she wore him down until he let her help." He chuckled. "Don't worry Bella-bean. I'll protect you."

Looking at him skeptically, I pursed my mouth. "Force of nature?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself." I winked.

"I'm sure you can. With those guns, I obviously have no chance." Taking a hand off the steering wheel he pointed at my bony arms obviously engulfed in my huge hoodie.

"You know it. I have a black belt, but I hide my lethal ninja skills under a guise being terminally clumsy." I dusted off an invisible speck of dirt from my shoulder, letting a smirk sneak onto my face. "Any other crazy friends I should know about before I let loose the inner master?"

"Oh, not too many. Only Alice's brother, Edward, and the Hale twins."

I raised my eyebrows. "Are they all crazy?"

He turned into his driveway. "You'll see."

He lived in a house much like my dad's—white and stucco—but with more cacti and actual grass instead of pebbles. Real grass! I wondered if they had to water the lawn a lot because of the heat. Gosh, Bella. What are you, a 45 year old woman? Who thinks about these things?

Before I even got out of the car, a tiny girl with shoulder length dark brown hair came frolicking out of the house next door. Literally, frolicking. I though only fluffy baby sheep could do that crap.

Beaming, she hurried to the car. She was wearing a yellow lacy sundress and little white ballet flats. I am so underdressed.

"Hey Bella! I'm Alice." She hopped up to car, bouncing, and looked expectantly at me. Emmett shook his head and got of the car.

I panicked for a second. What was she expecting?

I guess I'd find out.

I carefully opened the door, smiled cemented in place, unsure as to what she'd do next. I hopped down from the jeep.

Immediately she wrapped me up in what can only be described as a bear hug. How this girl, inches shorter than my 5'4" frame, bear hugged me? I have no idea. It felt wonderful. I melted into her arms.

I looked up into Emmett's surprised face. He looked back and forth between Alice and I, her hug and my easy acceptance. His eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

I looked away. .

Alice finally released me. I sighed deeply and brushed my hair away from my face, smiling sheepishly at Emmett and then Alice.

Alice gushed. "Bella, I'm so glad to finally meet you! I've heard so much about you from Charlie. We are going to be the best of friends." She linked our arms and pulled me towards her house, yelling back to Emmett. "Come on you big oaf. I know you think this was a fake errand just to meet Bella, but I really do have some really big boxes I need you to carry."

I could practically hear Emmett's eyes roll at that. "Where's your good for nothing brother?"

She shrugged pulling me inside. "You know him. Probably running or studying."

I raised my eyebrows. "In this heat?"

She smiled conspiratorially. "Sexual frustration. Plus, he'll probably just jump in the pool afterward."

Sexual frustration? Fascinating.

She pulled me down the hall, barely giving me a glimpse of the house. I vaguely saw a lovely woman with caramel hair in the kitchen cooking what looked like a quiche. Alice yelled, "Hey mom, we'll be in my room. Emmett's gonna carry the boxes out!"

I scrambled after her, but the smell of burnt bacon followed us from the kitchen.

Crap.

All the self control I had been using since my last visit to the bowl of shame flew out the window.

Holding a hand to my mouth I forced out, "bathroom." Alice grabbed my free hand and ran the rest of the way down the hall. I made it just in time to toss the snack and juice I had before we left for the grocery store. I didn't stop until I was dry heaving into what was rapidly becoming my closest companion.

Catching my breath, I found that Alice was still at my side, and had held my hair the whole time. She gave me a look of sympathy, and handed me a cold cloth for my mouth.

"Sorry." Wow, what a first impression I made. I barely say two words before I begin up-chucking the entire contents of my stomach. Awesome way to make friends Bella.

"No biggie. I'm surprised that I haven't thrown up from that myself. You think it smells bad, imagine having to eat it."

I went green.

"Or maybe you shouldn't," she giggled.

I laughed with her. It was a rather ridiculous. And it did smell horrid. I'm actually proud I made it all the way to the bathroom.

There was a knock on the bathroom door, and I picked myself off the floor, the giggles dwindling as we composed our selves.

Alice's mom peeked in her head. "Are you girls okay?"

"Yeah mom, we're good. But I think you should lay off the bacon vegetable medley casserole." She smirked.

"Mom, this is Charlie Swan's daughter, Bella. Bella, this is my mom, Esme Cullen."

I nodded politely, "Nice to meet you Mrs. Cullen. I'm so sorry. I guess I still haven't recovered from my flight yet." Yeah, right.

She nodded in understanding, "Please call me Esme, Mrs. Cullen is my mother-in-law." She then looked from me to Alice and back to me again. With a hand on her hip, she scolded Alice. "Alice Elizabeth Cullen, what are you doing dragging this poor girl over here on her first day in town? She must be exhausted from such a trip!"

Alice looked chastened. Busying her hands, she straightened her dress, and set the wash cloth in the sink.

I did something I rarely did anymore. I reached out and patted her arm.

"It's alright Mrs. Cullen." She gave me a pointed look. "… Esme—I was actually already out at the grocery store with Emmett, and I'd much rather meet Alice than sit at my dad's waiting for him to get home."

"Bella," Mrs. Cullen drew my attention back to her. "I just want to prepare you before you are pulled into Ali's shenanigans. But you are welcome anytime. Anytime." She smiled at me, tapping the door frame on the way out.

Alice let me wash out my mouth with Listerine, before she began bouncing from foot to foot. I have no idea how I'll ever keep up with her.

"Okay. I think you are my new favorite person." I raised an eyebrow. "We're never going to have to eat that awful casserole again." I smiled in amusement. Glad to be of service.

"Let's find Emmett, we have lots for him to do."

"Please tell me its manual labor, because I'm pretty sure that pushing around a shopping cart does not fulfill Emmett's promise of indentured servitude to me."

She cackled, and pulled me into her room. "How did you manage that?"

"Wicked charm and wit."

"Now Bella, if you keep saying such nice things about me, you're gonna make me blush!" We found Emmett. He was lounging in the middle of a frilly pink bed with his arms behind his head, feet crossed, and eyes closed. Where is my camera when I need it?

"Oh, Princess Emmett. We wouldn't want you're head to get too big. You look so pretty in pink." His eyes popped open, as Alice and I giggled uncontrollably. He pushed himself up into a sitting position on the side of the bed, and tried to look intimidating and macho. He failed.

Alice immediately went into 'force-of-nature' mode. Emmett hadn't been kidding. She immediately put him to work taking the numerous boxes that were stacked around the room and in the hall into the garage. She talked a million miles a minute. All the boxes were filled with old clothes, and other reusable items she had been collecting all summer and were now being donated to a homeless shelter. This was her third collection this year, and she had grand plans for the next one. She could give Renee a run for her money. I wonder if she had any plans for the redwoods.

I sat quietly on her bed, interjecting questions once in a while—which was completely unnecessary. It was almost relaxing to watch her busyness. So much had been swirling inside of me for the past month that it was nice to focus on something completely separate from me.

My arms unconsciously wrapped themselves around my middle. It was my fault. I accept the responsibility.

Alice called my name, and my head jerked up in response. "Bella, I'm boring you aren't I. Sometimes I just get carried away."

"No, no," I shook my head. "You aren't boring me at all, and I'd love to help with the next collection. But I guess the jet lag is really getting to me."

She bounced to my side, and hopped onto the bed next to me. "Of course it is. Silly me." She put her arm around me, as if she knew everything about me.

But she couldn't. And she wouldn't.

I extricated myself from her arm, slowly enough as to not hurt her feelings.

Unwilling to leave yet, I asked. "What do you do for fun around here? Other than clothe the city's homeless?"

She scrunched her nose at me, leaning back on her fifteen pillows. "The usual, shopping, food, parties. Rose and Jazz are going to have a pool party next Friday."

"Emmett mentioned the Hale twins earlier, is that them?"

She nodded. "They live down the street. They're seniors. Emmett and Rosalie have been flirting for years, but neither of them ever make a move." She rolled her eyes.

"Ahh, I see." She gave me a pointed look wanting me to explain. I blushed. She threw a pillow at me. I dodged it. I gave in. "It's just that Emmett has been in big brother mode all day, and I was wondering if he was dating you."

Her eyes bugged out, and she made a gagging face. "Eww, that'd be like dating my brother!" I giggled.

"So what else? Anything I should know before Monday? Any faux paws I should know to protect me from social suicide?"

She leaned forward eager to share her infinite knowledge. "Watch out for Banner, he's the vice principle. He snorts, and looks up unsuspecting girl's skirts. Avoid the bathroom near the language hallway. The third stall has been clogged since the first day of school, and over flows all the time. And Jasper Hale is mine." A smile broke out onto her face. "He doesn't know it yet. But he is."

My eyes crinkled as I tried to keep from laughing. "No worries. I've washed my hands of boys." Alice bounced up on her knees moving the bed. She looked… like she was plotting. "No Alice. When I say no boys, I mean no boys. Really."

She pouted, and threw another pillow at me. This time she hit me.

I yawned. "Do you think Emmett is done yet? Because I think I had best get back. I'm sure my dad will be home soon, and I haven't even seen him yet."

She flounced off the bed. "Oh yea, he's probably lounging by the pool now with Edward."

I followed her out of her room.

We walked through the living room to the sliding glass door, to where Emmett was lying like a cat in the sun. He wasn't alone. A boy was leaning next to him, with wild bronze hair. He was tall, lean, and obviously built. He was definitely Alice's brother; aside from being tall, the resemblance was obvious.

And he was hot.

No, more than hot. He was smoldering. The heat must be getting to me.

Laughing uproariously at something my friend had just said, the boy leaned his head forward elbows on knees, trying to catch his breath.

Alice skipped over to the boys, dragging me with her.

Emmett started to get up. "Ready to go, Bells?

Edward was still snickering at whatever Emmett had murmured. He smiled at Alice then looked my way, giving a quick perusal.

And then it happened.

He looked at me. Really looked at me.

His eyes were the clearest green I'd ever seen. Like absinthe, sea glass, or emeralds. I wanted to ask if he wore colored contacts.

But it was what was behind those eyes. They pierced me.

My mask, my walls. Into my very core. They knew me like I had never been known.

They knew. Everything.

Immediately I wrapped my arms around my tummy.

I panicked.

I ripped myself from those eyes. The ones that could see into my soul.

I bolted.

Reviews are better than Princess Emmett is all his pretty pink glory.