Chapter 11

Renesmee

We arrived at the mall bright and early—Alice said that it would take awhile to get an entire school wardrobe for both Alec and Lexi. And me, but I wasn't going to need a large amount of new clothing. We walked into Macy*s and Alice decided that Lexi would be her first victim.

"Alice—do I really have to? Isn't what I'm wearing fine?" Lexi whined.

"Of course not!" Alice replied. "Now stay here—I'll be back with plenty of things for you to try on."

Alec chuckled, but Lexi shot him a dagger look and muttered "you just wait until it's your turn." Alec just smiled as Alice came dancing back with an arm full of clothes.

"Come on Lexi, let's go to the dressing room," Alice smiled and Lexi rolled her eyes and allowed herself to be dragged to the dressing room.

"Oh, Nessie!" Alice called over her shoulder as she dragged Lexi away, "look for some more things, ok? Use what I've taught you and come to the dressing room."

"Kay Alice," I replied. I walked over to a rack of clothes and started picking out things that looked cute. I was picking out a pink satin top in Lexi's size when Alec came over to me. To tell you the truth, I hadn't even noticed he was gone.

"Here," he said as he held up a few tops and a pair of jeans. I inspected them. The jeans were a dark navy blue. I supposed they would be alright. I then looked at the few tops he brought over. The first was a very causal brown top with a star in gold rhinestones. The second and third were more dressy; a blue three-quarter sleeve shirt with the top of the shoulders cut out, and a deep purple top. The purple one was beautiful— it looked like a tube-top, but to go around the neck were black stone, similar to those you would find one a necklace. I would look great on Lexi.

"Wow Alec, I'm impressed," I told him.

"Yea, well, I know that she prefers darker colors. Her favorites are blue and purple," Alec said it quietly, "And she hates the color pink. But Lucy loved that color." He paused, then cleared his throat, "She hasn't changed much."

I was stunned. Was this the same Alec who had tried to kill me nearly four years ago? I was concentrating so hard of that faint picture in my mind—the confrontation in the field. I intently focused on Alec's face and the larger picture as I absently took the clothes from him. Our hands touched. Suddenly Alec had a look of horror on his face and he stared at me with his beautiful eyes. He practically threw the clothes at me and ran off.

"What the…." I said as I watched him leave. I sigh, dropped the clothes off with Alice, minus the pink satin top, and went to find Alec. It wasn't too hard— all I needed to do was look at where all the teenage girls were staring. He was sitting on a chair in the shoe department.

"Um….Alec?" I said timidly sitting down next to him.

"I'm not like that you know. Not all the time anyway," he said huskily while I just sat there. "You have no idea how it is to be a part of the Volturi—it is the reason of our existence to enforce the laws. If we didn't, the world would be in chaos. We live by the rules. When Irina came to Aro with news of an immortal child, we knew what we had to do. Immortal children are way to powerful and unpredictable—they need to be gotten rid of. Even though Carlisle was an old friend, we could not show favoritism. We set out. I won't lie to you—Aro did want to see Edward and Alice as part of the guard members. But when we came to the field and saw that you weren't an immortal child, well….. no one knew what to do. Aro shouldn't have killed Irina, but truthfully, he was so confused, he did the only thing he could think of. Then, when Aro, Marcus, and Caius had their counsel, I did what was expected, what was procedure. My job was to make sure the ones on trial did not run away. That is pretty much the only thing I do—cut off all your senses. So I attempted to do that for those gathered in the field. But it didn't work. And then you weren't considered a danger and Carlisle was mad at us and then we left. And I bet when Alice saw Lexi and I arriving the whole house panicked, thinking I came to kill you all. I know you hate me, and I wish that you and your family could see that I am not a cruel and sadistic, and most of the time, neither is Jane, but you don't. I mean, most of the Volturi don't even know the real me. Really, only Jane, Felix, Lexi, and Lucy do."

I sat there, dumbfounded. Alec just divulged his inner feelings. The one who I had been told felt nothing looked as if he wanted to cry. I wanted to say something to make him feel better, but at that moment my cell phone buzzed. I looked at it and it was a text from Alice asking us where the heck we were. I sighed and went to turn back to Alec, but he was already walking back to Alice and Lexi.

"About time you got here!" Lexi said as Alec and I came back. "It was a nightmare! I was stuck in a dressing room for what felt like FOREVER trying on a million different clothes!"

"Alice does it to us all," I told her, to which she rolled her eyes.

"Alec," Alice called, dancing over to him, her arms already laden with clothes, "let's go. We don't have all day, and you need a bit of work." He followed her without a word leaving me standing there without the chance to tell him that I didn't hate him, but considered him a friend.