Remembering Jaspers mate had yet to "become" we now meet Bella as she moves to Forks and find out what Alice is doing.

Chapter Seven

The first time I saw the Cullens I was taken by their grace and beauty which was almost other worldly. Rosalie and Alice were so breathtaking and I found it odd that none of the boys in the cafeteria ogled them. Emmett was intimidating but not because he looked aggressive or even belligerent, it was purely his size, he towered over all the other boys and his muscles could have belonged to a body builder. Again he was ignored by the girls although he was handsome and had the most impish grin as if he found everything around him amusing. Alice was different again, pixie like and very pretty, she almost skipped along with a smile for everyone but no one seemed happy to return it. They sat together isolated from the other students as if by an invisible wall, talking among themselves seemingly unaware of the strange atmosphere around them.

Then I saw him, Edward Cullen, tall, bronze haired, and so handsome it took my breath away. All it took was one look and I was captured, his honey coloured eyes met mine and my brain stopped functioning. The room went silent or I stopped hearing the chatter, and my lungs seemed to find the air suddenly thick and heavy, my heart beating faster as I tried to drag my gaze away. When he turned his head at a word from one of the others it was as if an electromagnet had been switched off, sounds came crashing into my ears again and I took deep breaths to fill my starved lungs. Angela and Jessica filled me in about them, strange and decidedly odd was the impression they gave. I gathered that all the girls had made eyes at Edward but he'd shown no interest in any of them. The boys were confused by Alice's seemingly boundless energy and no one in their right mind would approach Rosalie the Ice Maiden once they registered the fact she was involved with the man mountain that was Emmett.

Within weeks Edward and I had started a relationship much to the amazement of all the other students, the girls were in awe and some of the boys jealous. It wasn't long before I discovered why the Cullens were held at arm's length by the rest of Forks High School. Unconsciously all the Humans knew these beings were different, dangerous even, it turned out that my boyfriend and his family were Vampires. Not the turn into bats and fly through your window sucking your blood as you slept unless you hung garlic round your neck or sprinkled Holy Water around your room kind. That was the Bram Stoker and Hollywood invention that made girls scream at the cinema. No, these were the real thing, blood drinkers, amazingly strong and fast, very old yet eternally youthful, and extremely gifted.

The crazy thing was that they didn't scare me, even before I found out they limited themselves to drinking animal blood. As a family they were close, even though none of them was related by blood, only venom, the only one not turned by Carlisle Cullen, the father figure, was Alice. She had appeared one day out of nowhere with her partner Garrett and attached herself to the rest, so she was seen as a daughter too while her partner was slightly removed from them, not really a son but a friend of Carlisle. Carlisle was not only handsome, clever, strong, and youthful, but a Doctor, which had to be some kind of a miracle for a blood drinker whose proper diet should have been human blood. He worked in the Emergency Room of the local Hospital amid blood and gore every day without once feeling the need to taste the goods on offer. I met him a few times in the ER before being invited to the house to meet the family properly. His wife, Esme, was so kind and sweet and they made me feel right at home, all except Rosalie and for some reason she seemed to detest me. Edward and I were so close I couldn't bear to be away from him and he spent every night in my room unknown to my dad obviously, having a vampire for a boyfriend came in handy sometimes!

It had its drawbacks too when a nomad took a liking to me and the Cullens were forced to protect me from him. It was then that I became close to Alice, she and Garrett took me South while the rest of the family tracked him and looked out for Charlie. It would have ended badly all round except the Cullens found me in time. I'd been bitten by James the nomad but Edward sucked the venom out unfortunately that was when it all started to go wrong. I pleaded with him to change me into a Vampire so we could be together for eternity but he refused. He told me he loved me and would until the day I died but he wouldn't change me, it was wrong, it would be a crime, a tragedy, he came out with a thousand excuses and nothing would change his decision. I began to wonder if he did indeed love me, or if I were a mere plaything. I tried talking to Carlisle but he stood by Edwards decision, they all did, although Emmett couldn't see why. I think he liked having me around, I made him laugh!

At the same time Edward started to become very controlling, for my own good he said, but it felt claustrophobic. I couldn't go to see my Quileute friend Jake on the Reservation, he was "dangerous", or spend time with my friends without him hovering. He picked me up from home and took me back after school, picked me up for work and again was there waiting at the end of the day. In the evenings he was either here or on the odd occasion I was over at his place. Usually here because Charlie wasn't a great fan of Edward' especially after I ran away and almost got killed. He blamed Edward for what happened with James and we couldn't tell him the truth so we just had to deal with it, my one saviour was Alice.

Alice was real friend and where Charlie hated Edward he liked Alice so I was allowed out of house arrest if I was with her and Garrett who was also excluded from the ban although Charlie was wary of him. We went on shopping trips, which I hated, and drives which I enjoyed because we always ended up somewhere interesting like a book store or museum and had time to chat as we went. She was well read and interested in literature like me while Garrett was red hot on American history, after all he'd lived through a lot of it! She helped me with English papers much to Edward's disgust, he wanted to do it, but Alice had a way of handling him, she always seemed to win and I loved her all the more for that.

Her cheeky smile and quick-witted quips were an integral part of her make up so it was with shock I found her sitting in the car outside my house one evening when we were supposed to be going to the movies looking really upset.

"Do you mind if we give the movie a miss Bella. I really don't feel like going"

"Sure Alice what's wrong? Can I help?"

She smiled at me and patted my shoulder,

"Not really Bella but it would be nice to have someone to confide in, would you mind? Only if I tell anyone else Edward will find out and I'd rather he didn't know, he has a way of using information to further his own ends."

So it wasn't just me being paranoid!

"Sure Alice. Its nice that he can't read my thoughts so go ahead."

That was the start of it all, Alice's story.