I couldn't restrain myself...I ended up writing more than one chapter in a day again. And sorry about the details on the shopping, but it was needed so we could find out about Bella's injuries...er...just read about it. And I almost split this one in half, after realizing it was almost twice as long as any of my other chapters. I fixed the multiple mistakes in the last chapter, but couldn't wait to write this chapter. And sorry about the name, I couldn't think of anything better.

Disclaimer: I ran away from the Cullens, and I'm hiding in this tree. Emmett laughed like a clown the whole time he was chasing me, while Jasper had this idiotic grin on his face, and Edward's eyes had turned into stars. Oh, and Alice turned into Tinkerbell and ended up flying after me. What else is new?

I woke up in the morning, wondering where I was, and who was yelling at me. Damien, I thought. But it couldn't be. I was lying in an almost overly comfortable bed, under blankets that I was sure had not been covering me last night. Then I remembered the acceptance and hospitality of my new family, and blew out a sigh.

Suddenly, the blanket was in the floor, and Alice was in my face, telling me it was time to get up. I sat up, and looked around her at the clock. Almost noon. I had slept longer than was normal for me. Before, I had always woken up around nine or ten, so I could be awake for as long as possible before Damien got home, while still getting just enough sleep. Lately I hadn't been getting enough, with the beatings becoming more frequent each day.

"Come on, Bella! You need to get ready, so we can go!"

I swung my legs over the side of the bed in defeat, and stood up quickly. My vision got fuzzy and turned black around the edges, and my head spun, forcing me to sit on the edge of the bed again. I was holding my head in my hands, waiting for my vision to clear, when a musical voice penetrated the haze. "Bella, are you alright?"

I looked up, seeing Edward standing in the doorway, and Alice looking at me with concern. Edward saw my expression, and took a step forward. "Just a second," I croaked.

After a few seconds more I could see clearly again, and the room had stopped spinning, so I stoop up, more slowly this time. Edward was looking at me with an unfathomable expression, and Alice looked relieved but confused. This was a somewhat regular occurrence for me, ever since I was put under Damien's care. "I must have low blood pressure. I just need to eat something. This happens to me all the time." I explained carefully.

I must not have explained carefully enough, because Edward's eyes narrowed and he frowned. Alice had a grim set to her face, and the air was almost thick enough with tension that I could choke on it. I decided to break the silence by saying, "So, about shopping..." Alice's eyes lit up again.

"You can take a shower and change into some of the clothes you brought with you, and Rosalie and I will do your hair and makeup. There's shampoo and conditioner already in there." she said, pointing to the unidentified door I had seen last night. Edward was still standing in the doorway, eyes narrowed. I picked one of the two outfits I had, and stood there for a minute with Alice, watching him. Abruptly, he turned around and turned left down the hallway, and Alice turned to me and shrugged.

I took that as a sign, and went into the bathroom to shower. There was a bathtub in one corner with jets, and a mirror stretched along the wall opposite the door, with a marble counter and two sinks under it. A shower with a frosted glass door stood in another corner. I merely shook my head, grinning. I was going to have to get used to the extravagance.

I turned the water up too hot for most people's liking, and stepped in, careful to keep my arm out of the scalding water. It burned and stung my skin where the bruises were, but it unknotted my tense muscles.

After I got out, I dressed in a long-sleeved, dark blue scoop neck, with skinny jeans and my ratty old sneakers that were a size too small for my feet. I walked downstairs, where I could hear everyone talking, and they all looked up when I walked in.

"You ready for hair and makeup?" Alice asked, handing me a sandwich and a glass of water.

"Yeah."

Alice went upstairs with Rosalie following her. By the time I got up there, Alice and Rosalie were walking into my room, arms full of makeup, hairspray, bobby pins, a straightening iron, and other things that looked dangerous. I walked in behind them, looking into the bathroom where Alice had dragged a rolling chair in front of the mirror, facing away. I sat in the chair cautiously, as if it could blow up any second.

My sitting in the chair caused many things to happen at once. While Rose yelled that she forgot something, Alice was opening all of her eyeshadows and setting them out on the counter behind me. Rose was there one second and gone the next, reappearing just as suddenly. Alice glared at her, and Rose rolled her eyes, plugging in the straightener.

They lathered, straightened, brushed and styled for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a couple minutes. By the time they were done, I was done with my sandwich. Alice and Rosalie stood back for a moment in the stereotypical thinking pose, one hand holding the other elbow, while the other hand had two fingers crooked underneath the chin. Alice reached out, spinning the chair around so I could see myself. "Voila!" she proclaimed.

I stared at myself in the mirror. Alice had used all natural colors, but I still looked beautiful. I had been plain my whole life, and I had never really found the time or motivation to wear makeup, so this was a new development. When I turned back around, Alice and Rosalie were sitting on the edge of the bathtub.

"Do you like it?" Alice asked, shooting up and clapping her hands excitedly.

"I love it!" I said, smiling. "Is Rose coming with us?"

This time, Rosalie spoke, standing up next to Alice. "Yeah. You didn't think I would let Alice have all the fun, did you?"

It was comical how much taller Rosalie was than Alice. She was slightly taller than me, while Alice looked like a midget next to her. The top of her spiky black hair only came up to Rose's shoulder.

I smiled as Alice led the way out of the house and to Rose's bright red BMW. "We would take my car, but it's mostly for show. I don't actually drive it all that much." Alice told me, pointing to a yellow Porsche. Another expensive car? Did they ever run out of money?

We piled into Rose's car, except this time I ended up in the passenger seat and Alice sat in the back.

"So Bella, what's your favorite color? Mine's pink," Alice asked, leaning forward to place her chin on the back of my seat.

"Mine is red," Rosalie stated.

I thought about it for a minute, but realized I didn't have a favorite color. I liked them all, depending on how I felt at the moment. "I don't know. I guess it's depends on my mood."

Alice's eyes widened in disbelief. "What do you mean, you don't have a favorite color? Everybody has a favorite color! Even boys!"

"Well, I have a favorite color, it just changes a lot. Like right now, my favorite color is dark blue, like my shirt."

Alice considered me for a moment. "It looks good on you."

"What?"

"That color, I like it on you. We need to fill your wardrobe with it." she said, a mischievous glint in her eyes. Abruptly, she changed the subject, as if she had known I was going to protest.

"You're going to love shopping with us, Bella! We'll get you clothes, accessories, some stuff for your room, a bag for school..."

I hadn't been to school for so long, I didn't even realize this would mean I was going back. Of course, I would probably be somewhat behind on the subject matter since I was going into school halfway through the year, but last year before I had lived with Damien, I had been in advanced classes. So, either I would be slightly behind, or I would already know everything the teachers were trying to teach, and be bored as hell.

I looked out the front window, surprised to see that we were already driving through the parking lot, looking for a space to wedge the car. Rosalie found a space halfway down in the second row from the nearest entrance, and turned in quickly.

She shut the car off, locking the doors. We trooped to the nearest entrance, in Macy's, and walked through the door.

Alice went right through, heading for the door out to the hallway where we could get to the rest of the stores. We scrambled after her, rushing to keep up. She was a woman on a mission, walking right past the mall directory.

"Wait for us!" I yelled, and she seemed to break out of a trance, turning around with her arms crossed and her foot tapping impatiently.

"Shouldn't we check the directory?" I asked, panting from exertion.

"Please, Bella," Alice replied, grinning. "I know this mall like the back of my own hand."

She turned around, heading into a store to her left, and Rosalie, who seemed just fine, followed. I followed after her, curious as to why Alice was going into a random store. But she knew exactly what she was doing.

Alice picked something off the rack closest to her, and held it up to my chest. "What do you think?" she asked Rosalie.

"I think she needs to try it on. I might look way different on her than on the hanger."

So I was ushered into a dressing room. She had picked a navy and gray-striped casual dress with long sleeves, but it stopped just above the knee. I couldn't wear this. It would show the marks on my legs. I opened the door to my dressing room and looked out. "Alice, I can't wear this! It's not long enough!" I hissed.

She suddenly remembered, as she smiled apologetically at her mistake. "That's okay, Bella, we can buy it for later. For stuff like that, just try it on and see if it looks okay. You don't have to show us."

I walked back into the dressing room and closed the door, debating whether or not to try on the dress or just tell Alice it looked good on me. Deciding I might as well get used to it, I stepped into the dress. Surprisingly, it looked good on me. And the bruises on my legs were almost gone! I rolled up the sleeves on the dress, and found that most of my bruises were already fading, except for the fresh injuries from my latest encounter with Damien. I quickly changed back into my regular clothes and stepped out, smiling.

Alice noticed my change in attitude, and was immediately suspicious. "What?"

"The bruises are almost gone!" I whispered, not wanting to alarm anybody in the store.

"You have to show us later, you know. We still need to know what that monster did to you." Rosalie said, suddenly serious.

"I know," I said, handing Alice back the dress. "It looks good. I think we should get it."

TRTRTRTRTRTR

We had been in the mall for hours now, and I swore my feet were going to fall off if I didn't get to rest soon.

As if on cue, Alice looked at her watch, and announced that it was six o' clock, and we had to go home. I assumed she didn't want to eat in the food court or the Arby's drive-thru.

We walked back to the car, stuffed everything into the trunk and the backseat, and climbed into the spots we had occupied on the trip there. There was just enough room for Alice, and the bags were all piled on top of each other next to her. Neither Rose nor I would have fit back there, but Alice was doing just fine.

When Rosalie pulled up to the house, I opened the door, intent on getting out of the car right away. Those damn bags were making me claustrophobic, and Alice had been chatting with no one in particular the whole way, complaining about low-quality eyeshadow, and boys-the 'bane of her existence, except for Jasper, of course'. She especially complained about Emmett and Edward, who always grumbled when she asked them to get the bags from the car, although they knew it was coming every time.

But as I was getting out, the toe of my shoe caught on a ridge used for stepping on when getting into the car, and I promptly fell out, expecting to hit the ground. As a second passed, and nothing happened, I opened my eyes, to see that Edward was holding me in his arms bridal-style. I blushed, and he set me on my feet, chuckling.

"Clumsy, are we?" he asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Shut up," I retorted grudgingly, while he laughed.

Alice, Rosalie, Jasper, and Emmett had gathered, watching our camaraderie. Alice had her arms crossed, while Rose looked amused. Emmett and Jasper looked like they were going to hold this over our heads for the rest of our lives.

I stalked over to the trunk, which Rose had popped open, and loaded bags onto my arms, trying to carry as many as possible on my right arm, while carrying lighter things on my left, where I had been burned. Soon everyone else was helping, and Rosalie, Alice, and I carried the bags we had inside, leaving the guys to bring in the rest.

"By the way, Bella, you're going to start school again next week, Monday." Alice said, reminding me that we had to pick out an outfit for my first day.

So I had tomorrow, and then the weekend left. I wondered briefly what my family did on normal days, and wandered off to the kitchen, to see if there would be any oranges.