A/N: Another update, yay! It only took like forever but hey- it's finally there and hopefully not the last of this year. It would be a shame for the world to end without you knowing how this story continues :D
Special thanks to justareaderfan, who works at high speed- quite the contrary to me- and makes reading this a lot more bearable for you :)
So here is the next chapter for you:
Bella Pov
I ran a hand through my hair one last time and grinned slightly at my reflection.
I was all ready to go and party it up. My friends were kind of missing in this scenario and I really wished I could just call Zafrina and Felix to tag along.
Instead, Leah had just called a few minutes prior to let me know that she and Sam would come to pick us up. At least I had them around, because I couldn't quite imagine being at a party with Rose and Alice.
Now all that was left to do was wait. In that exact moment the door to my bedroom opened.
Alice ran right in, looking a bit overworked.
"I don't know what to wear," she whined loudly.
Her sudden appearance startled me a bit. When I had pushed her into her room to get ready, I didn't expect her to come to my room and cry how she couldn't do it.
"Umm..." was all I managed to say, because Alice had taken just mere seconds to scan my outfit and then grab my arm to pull me along.
"Come on, you'll help me find something to wear," she insisted and dragged me out of the room.
"What the-"
"You look really gorgeous, by the way. And you just gave me an idea of what to wear at this party. Oh gosh, I'm so excited."
She didn't even take a breath while talking.
While I was thinking about the existence of mutant lungs, Alice had successfully dragged me to her room.
Inside we found Rosalie in front of the dresser.
"All done," Rose announced and turned around for us to see.
I took her in with raised brows.
She wore one of those impossibly short mini-skirts with a white and a red halter top. That combined with the big backcombed mess of hair and the insane amount of make-up did make her look good, but...
"You kinda look like a hooker," Alice and I remarked at the same time.
At least I wasn't the only one who thought that.
"Jinx," Alice squealed, punching my arm slightly.
I looked down on the little pixie and shook my head slowly.
"No, Alice. Just...no. If you ever intend to speak to me again, don't do that kind of shit."
Alice shrugged, but nodded anyway.
"So, I don't look good?" Rose asked, actually sounding kind of heartbroken.
I briefly wondered how the fuck I got stuck with those two, but dismissed it quickly.
"You do, but you also look like twenty bucks a fuck. No offense," I assured her. Although, I didn't think that it was very reassuring.
"But Jane said that dressing like this would get the most male attention. I learned this stupid hair thing from her."
"Who is Jane?"
"Jane is her cousin," Alice replied, who was now half-way in her closet.
"Well," I started slowly, "Your cousin does have a point, but just look at yourself. Your outfit doesn't provide any space to stash your dignity in. Move a little too much and anyone can just dip their fingers in that Honey Pot of yours."
"Eww, gross," Alice remarked from somewhere in the pile of clothes she has created.
Rose sighed and took me in properly.
"You look good, so I'm right to assume I should go with a more casual look?"
"I highly advise it."
Seeing that we were not going to some club and I intended to be able to move, I just chose my favourite halter top and a pair of jeans shorts.
The only thing I didn't get to choose yet was the shoes. Mainly because Alice just randomly appeared and made me go with her.
"You can leave that top on though. I like it," I added.
Rose nodded and went over to the pile of clothes Alice had created.
The little pixie was now all the way in the closet, throwing things out like a teen girl on a fashion rampage.
Searching through the pile quickly, Rose found a pair of black pants and put them on without hesitation.
Seeing her underwear really relieved me that she chose to take my advice and not wear that poor excuse of a skirt.
That nearly non-existent piece of lace would have made every male – and a few females – want to go on a free ride.
I wasn't sure if those tight pants changed anything about that effect, but at least it was now due to the curves she was rocking and not the easily granted entrance.
I helped Rose get her hair back in shape while she wiped off most of her make-up.
In the end we had created a monster. A hot and not so slutty-looking monster.
I was pretty impressed with my hair-styling skills, seeing how that wasn't really my thing.
Meanwhile, Alice had stepped out of the depths of her closet – which shouldn't even have that much space in it seeing that it was the same as the one that stood in my room – and looked quite impressive for someone who had never attended a decent party in her life.
She wore a cute and short green dress with a top-layer of lace and a black band beneath her bust line that formed a little bow on her back.
Both Rose and I applauded her when she showed her dress of, which made her grin happily.
"Err...Bella, shouldn't you be wearing shoes?" Rose asked me when Alice started to get her make-up done.
I looked down at my feet.
"Umm yes, I should," I agreed.
"Just hold on a second," she said and opened the other side of the closet that had been closed thus far.
It was completely stacked with shoes.
She grabbed two pairs and closed it again.
"There you go," she beamed, handing me a pair of blue flats.
Thanking her, I put them on while she quickly slipped on the pumps she had chosen for herself.
I was quite happy she hadn't expected me to run about the place in something like that.
Settling ourselves down on one of the beds, we both waited for Alice.
"Why don't you guys have a third roommate?" I asked then, after noticing that there were only two beds in this room.
"Oh, I begged my mom to get me a room for myself when I decided to stay at the Academy. She said she couldn't do that and we had a very long discussion about it. In the end we made a compromise, which resulted in me just having one roommate. End of story," Alice explained swiftly.
For some reason that story didn't really surprise me.
Just then my phone started ringing, so I fished it out of my pocket.
"We'll be there in five minutes, so get ready and come out," Leah yelled on the other end, not even letting me say anything.
"Err..."
"See ya in a few."
With that she ended the call, leaving me a bit stunned.
"That was not weird at all," I mumbled to myself and shoved the phone back into my pocket.
"What was that?" Rose asked, looking a bit confused.
"That was Leah telling us to be ready and out in five minutes – which basically means that you need to hurry up, Alice."
"Almost done, almost done," Alice muttered, too concentrated on painting her face.
I sighed and leaned back, praying for those five minutes to end quickly.
"All done," Alice eventually announced, earning relieved sounds from both Rose and I.
"Well then, we better go and rock this party," I announced more excitedly than I would have expected from myself.
"Yay," Alice cheered in response, while she slipped on a pair of flats as well.
All done and ready to party, we left the room to get to the parking lot.
Walking through the corridors, we earned a couple of appreciative gazes – although I was pretty sure that most of them were directed at Rose.
"Damn," I heard a booming voice exclaim, just before we reached the front door.
I didn't really need to turn around to know that it was Emmett. No one else was this loud... apart from Alice.
"You guys look hot – even you don't look like an Ice Queen, Rose," he continued, studying our appearances with a satisfied nod.
Jasper stood next to him, smiling at all of us.
"Hmpf," was Rose's response to Emmett's remark, while Alice and I showed some manners and thanked him.
"Think of us when you're tearing down that place, okay?" Emmett joked.
"Will do," I promised. "If you get really lucky, one of us will drunk dial you."
"Drunk? There is going to be alcohol?" Alice screeched at the top of her lungs.
A few people passing through the main hall looked up at that.
"Not if you keep screaming like that," I sighed.
"Jeez, Alice. Get a grip," Rose added and shook her head.
"But – none of us is legal yet. And didn't you know that alcohol-"
The blaring sound of a car honk cut her off before I got around to it.
"That'll be our ride," I told them and made a move for the door.
Alice caught my hand and pulled me back.
"What?"
"I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with-"
"For Christ's sake, nobody will force you to do anything. If you want to drink water or coke, just do it. It's not going to be the end of the world," I complained.
The evening hadn't even really begun and I was already starting to regret taking those two clowns with me.
"Stop nagging, Alice. Keep going like this and Bella will never take us anywhere again," Rose remarked.
"Wow, the love between the three of you is just astonishing. Have fun, girls."
Emmett and Jasper were walking up the stairs, waving and smiling.
Shaking my head, I opened the door and stepped outside.
"Bella!" I heard Leah shout.
I quickly scanned the parking lot and found the car – mainly because Leah was sitting on top of it.
"Ready to get your funk on?" she asked as we approached the car.
"Why are you up there?" Rose asked her with raised eye brows.
"Can't smoke in the car," she replied, waving the lit cigarette at her.
"Hey Bella. Who are your friends?"
The window on the passenger's side came down and Emily stuck her head out, smiling gently at us.
"Err..." I started but was cut off by Leah.
"Those are Rosalinda and Alicia, Emily. You gotta listen more carefully when I tell you things. I told you Bella is taking them along."
"You're the one who needs to listen better," I sighed. "Their names are Rosalie and Alice."
"Well, that's what I said."
"Just a random question, but how are we all going to fit into that car?" Rose piped up.
Seeing that Emily was in the car as well, her concerns were validated.
"Alice is so tiny, she'll barely take up any space," I told her jokingly.
Leah snorted at that and even Alice let out a little giggle.
Rose on the other hand looked at Alice with a dark expression.
Luckily, the little pixie didn't notice. That look would have given her nightmares for days. What was that about?
"I'll just take the little thing on my lap," Leah volunteered and hopped down from the car, as graceful as you would expect from a ballerina.
"Let's go then," Alice cheered.
Both she and Leah scrambled into the car immediately.
I cast another look at Rose, who as now busily staring at the ground.
"Are you alright, Rose?" I asked her, starting to get concerned about her sudden attitude change.
Apparently, I pulled her out of her though, because she suddenly looked up at me with a startled expression.
"Come on, we don't wanna stay here all night," I encouraged her. Maybe I should ask her what was bothering her at some other time. It wasn't like I could solve any problems right now and even so...why do I even care about her problems?
"Right," Rose agreed and forced a smile on her face.
Casting another worried look at her, I climbed into the car as well.
A few seconds later, we all sat comfortably in the car.
Sam turned around in the driver's seat looking a tiny bit troubled.
"What's wrong with you, Sam?" I asked him.
"Nothing. I'm just wondering how I got stuck with a car full of girls."
"Lots of guys would love to be in your place right now," Leah remarked.
"Not with you in the car," Sam mumbled in response and turned the key in the ignition.
Leah kicked against his seat with a scowl, which only made him chuckle lightly.
The drive to the party wasn't really all that interesting.
Emily turned up the radio and sang along to each song that was played.
Leah and Alice got along surprisingly well, although I was pretty sure that Leah was just using this as an opportunity to corrupt someone.
Rose was gradually coming out of her momentarily bad mood and when we finally arrived she was just as spirited as the rest of us.
Sam's car got waved through the great entrance gates and he parked it right in front of the door.
"Just what exactly do Chris' parents do for living" I asked as I took in the mansion.
It was definitely big, although relatively small if you compared it to the surrounding compound. Still, it was impressive nonetheless.
"Umm...Her dad does something with movies and her mother runs a modelling agency," Emily told me.
"Then why do they live in Forks?" Rose wondered out loud.
"To have some peace and quiet. They have a few more houses around the country, but this is their main estate. Chris' father used to live up in Port Angeles so I suppose he wanted to stick close to home. They haven't been here for long though – they only moved here last year."
"To think that Chris is one of those people who called us stuck up," Alice muttered.
I chuckled at that. She had a point there.
As if speaking about her had summoned her, the front door opened and Chris stepped out.
"Come in, come in. People will be let in soon and you don't want to be caught in that chaos," she said and waved us in.
"We're the firsts?" I asked her as we stepped into the main hall.
It seemed like the main point of the party was going to be out here.
"Not exactly. Paul and the rest of them are already here too. You're all something like a VIP circle, because everyone else is still waiting outside."
Coming to think of it there had been a row forming when we arrived.
"If you already have this many people invited why couldn't Bella bring more friends?" Rose asked, as we followed Chris.
She led us into the living room where a familiar group of people sat.
Those were the exact same people that Leah introduced us to after the Talent Show.
"Yo Leah," one of them called. "Help me finish the playlist."
Leah just walked over to Paul, who was sitting on the couch, and made a bored face.
"If you don't want any classical music in it, you shouldn't ask me. Bella can help you," she replied.
The boy looked at Alice, Rose and me, as if trying to find out which one of us was Bella.
I just shrugged. "Sure, I'll help," I said and went over to him where he was sitting with a laptop.
"Cool," he grinned, "I'm Embry, by the way."
While setting up a playlist that would satisfy everyone, we talked a little about other random things.
I found him to be a pretty funny guy and actually enjoyed his company.
It wasn't too long after, that Chris announced that the entire load of guests would be let in, so we quickly connected the laptop with the stereo and turned up the music.
Looking around, I didn't see Alice and Rosalie anywhere.
I was just about to ask Chris where they were, when she already answered, "Your friends are both in the kitchen with Leah. You should get them out of there, because I have a feeling that they are drinking the entire supply in there."
She rolled her eyes in a dramatic manner and then left the room, probably to go out and let her guests in.
Despite the fact that I had no idea where the kitchen was, it was pretty easy to find, thanks to Leah and Alice laughing loudly.
I went into the kitchen and found Leah, Emily, Alice and Rose standing around the kitchen isle – each of them with a red plastic cup in their hands.
Leah and Alice were holding unto one another, laughing hysterically while Rose made a disgusted face and gazed into her cup.
Emily just shook her head slightly but smiled as well.
"Oh my gosh, I just can't believe that happened," Alice gasped.
"Umm...what is going on in here?" I asked no one in particular.
Everyone turned to look at me.
"Bella," Alice greeted me enthusiastically.
I had a suspicion that she had been drinking, judging by her flushed face and the carefree behaviour.
So much for her being a goody two-shoes.
"Heya Bella, wanna drink my special creation as well?" Leah sang.
I raised my eyebrows at her.
"Don't drink it, it's disgusting," Rose advised me, setting down her cup and pushing it away.
Everyone else nodded in agreement.
"It really tastes horrible," Emily agreed.
"Then why are you drinking it?" I asked, mainly looking at Alice and Leah, who continued sipping their drinks.
"It's disgusting, but it's good," they both told me.
"They are already halfway into drunken land," Emily explained and grabbed one of the bottles on the isle. "Do you want to drink something?"
"As long as it's not Leah's special creation," I replied.
"No worries, it's my special creation. Although not really all that special or my creation for that matter," she grinned and filled three cups with the liquor she was holding and then went over to the fridge to pull out a soda.
When all three cups were filled she handed me one and the other Rose.
Rose eyed it warily.
"You can drink it, Rose. It's not nearly as deadly as Leah's 'Universal Mix'."
She smiled at Emily and took a sip before turning around to look at the door.
"So when is the party supposed to start? If it keeps going like this, we'll be drunk before it even starts," she asked.
Her question was answered by a roar of a crowd entering the house.
"I guess the party just started," I remarked. The music was turned up louder so that it reached the kitchen now as well.
"Alright chicas," Leah shouted and raised her cup. "Let's get this party started!"
We all grinned and raised our cups as well. Now that the crowd was here, it was finally time to let loose.
"Come on, let's leave it up to the guys to keep up the heat on the dance floor," Chris shouted in my ear.
I nodded in agreement and we both danced our way out of the crowd and into the living room.
We spotted Sam sitting on the couch and Chris dragged me over to him. She sat down in the only empty space on the couch – which was luckily right next to Sam – and pulled me on her lap.
"Already done with dancing?" Sam asked us with a grin.
"Far from it, we just felt bad stealing everyone else's show," I told him.
"Why are you just sitting around?" Chris inquired, swaying us both to the music.
"Waiting for Emily. She went to go to the bathroom."
"Jeez, Sam. You're so whipped," Chris chuckled and I giggled along with her.
"Look what we found," I heard Emily cheer just then.
She entered the room together with Rose.
Everyone in the room looked into their direction.
They held up three bottles of vodka, one empty water bottle and a stack of little shot cups.
I was very impressed with their skill to hold all of that at once.
"We're going to play 'Spin the bottle' in hard-core party-style," Emily announced and the two of them placed their stuff on the coffee table.
A few people immediately settled themselves around the table on the floor, while others just ignored them.
"And how exactly does that work?" some girl asked.
"It's simple. You spin a bottle and whoever it lands on has to drink as many shots as the number of the month the person, who spun the bottle, was born in."
"So if someone, who is born in December, spins the bottle and it lands on me, I have to take twelve shots?"
"Yup," Emily grinned. "Now who wants to play?"
A round of cheers was the answer and Rose and Emily immediately started setting up the game.
"Should we play as well?" Sam asked Chris and me.
I frowned at him.
"Don't you have to drive us home later?"
Chris nudged me a laughed. "You're my VIPs; you get to stay the night."
"What? Why didn't you say so before? Then there is absolutely no reason for me to hold back."
"You were holding back? Doing flips, turns and splits are what you call holding back?" Chris asked in disbelief.
"I only meant in the alcohol department. I figured that I had to babysit Alice and Rose all night and get them into their room later," I answered and slid down from her lap to join the group around the coffee table.
"You playing too, Bella?" Rose asked me.
I nodded eagerly.
"I just want to die," Rose groaned, leaning her head against the tiles.
"You wouldn't be in such a bad shape if you had eaten something," I told her as I went over to the bathtub and sat down on its edge.
"Or I just shouldn't have participated in the second drinking game. Who knew there were so many songs with the words 'money' in it," she said, frowning slightly.
I laughed lightly. "I knew, that's why I suggested the game."
"How come you are still so sober? You even started a third game. You should have alcohol poisoning by now."
"I had to make a quick prayer to the porcelain god afterward as well and I always make sure to drink water every now and then."
Rose nodded.
"You should go and check up on Alice. I think she has been getting a bit too cosy with this Jackson character," she then said after a moment of silence.
"Are you sure you don't want me to continue holding your hair up?" I asked her, although I was not particularly keen on watching her wretch away again.
But I also didn't want to walk downstairs again, because I felt like walking anywhere that was not a flat surface was not advisable at the moment.
"I'll be fine. I think it's all out anyway; I just wanna stay here and enjoy the quiet. I'll have to thank Chris for letting me use her private bathroom."
It really had been a nice gesture of Chris to unlock her bedroom and grant us entrance to her bathroom, considering that Rose would have to spend quite some time in there and it would probably make the other guests unhappy.
I got up again and made a face at the moving floor. I really had to concentrate in order to walk properly instead of tumbling all over the place.
"Alright, I'll come and check on you again later," I told Rose, who only waved in response when I left the bathroom.
Walking back downstairs was surprisingly easy, thanks to all the people along the way that I just used as support.
Most of them were probably wondering why some random chick held on to them for dear life, but I didn't cling to anyone long enough for them to even say anything.
Back downstairs I went into the living room again and found Alice and Leah there.
Alice was sitting on the lap of some guy that she had introduced to us earlier as Jackson.
I plopped down on the couch next to Leah, who was sitting on the floor, creating another deadly beverage mix for some poor unsuspecting girl.
"Heya Bella," she greeted me. "Want one as well? I think you are still too sober."
"You can never be too sober," I grumbled and leaned back to let my head rest a little. "Just tell me how Alice is doing; I'm not in the condition to turn my head in her direction right now."
"There you go," Leah said to the girl and then sat down on the couch as well. "Well, they haven't made out yet – which is pretty lame if you ask me. She just keeps on talking and the poor guy is probably just waiting for her to fall asleep."
Leah giggled. I couldn't help but grin as well.
"Who is he anyway?"
"He's one of Chris' Port Angeles friends, I think," Leah told me. "Jeez, is it just me or is the room spinning?"
Staring up at the ceiling, I said, "The room is definitely spinning."
"Good, no party without a spinning room."
"We are so going to regret this in the morning," I mumbled. The massive hangover that I was sure to face when I woke up was already making my stomach rumble.
"But it was worth it."
"Not so sure about this anymore."
Leah nudged me lightly. "What kind of party attitude is that? You should enjoy your buzz and do all the crazy things you wouldn't do when you're not drunk. You need to have good stories to tell later on in life."
"Why do people always have to be drunk to create good stories?"
"Because no good story starts with 'That one time when I ate salad'. It's sad but true," Leah remarked. "Oh, look at that. Jackson has finally made his escape."
I reluctantly lifted my head and found Alice sitting alone. She attempted to get up but somehow ended up on the floor.
"We should not let her drink anymore," I advised.
Leah hummed her agreement.
I watched how Alice got up with her phone pressed to her ear and she squealed happily when she caught sight of me.
Oh boy.
She started to walk but stopped, looking surprised.
"Edward," she screamed happily, "Why did you call?"
I eyed her with narrowed eyes. The chances that Edward would call her when he knew fully well that we were at a party were pretty slim – except if he wanted to inform her that it was bed time for her already.
"Oh, nothing. I'm having a lot of fun and I think I might be in love," she slurred into the phone.
Leah and I snorted at that.
It was really not all that surprising that she had a drunken crush on Jackson, because he looked oddly similar to Jasper, who was her object of desire in sober state.
Alice now stumbled toward us.
"There is Bella. Edward, I need to hang up. I want to dance with her."
She handed me the phone and started to pull me off the couch at the same time.
"Leah, you should watch her before she does something stupid. Don't let her out of your sight" I said, before I lifted the phone to my ear.
"Edward, is that you?" I asked unnecessarily. Why I even took the call was unbeknownst to me.
"Yes, would you mind explaining to me what is going on?" he asked, sounding irritated and confused.
I started to pace around, like I always did when I was on the phone and concentrated on pronouncing my words properly.
"Umm...Alice apparently drunk dialled you," I told him.
"She's not even supposed to be drunk," he snapped right away, "None of you are. You are all under-"
"Yeah, yeah. Could you save that speech for some time later, please? I have bigger problems right now than dealing with your parental antics," I cut him off. After all, I was busy appearing less drunk then I was and now I had to keep an eye on Alice as well before she went and started to go wild.
Thinking of Alice, I looked back at Leah. Leah still sat on the couch – sans Alice.
"Where the fuck is Alice? I told you not to let her out of your sight," I hissed at her.
With Alice on a drunken rampage and Rose puking out everything she's got inside, this was not going as well as I wanted it to. Although, I shouldn't be feeling responsible at all, I couldn't help it.
"I didn't let her out of my sight. She went into the kitchen," Leah told me and got up, presumably to join Alice.
Those two were just going to continue pouring liquor down their throats and this should be the last thing they should be doing. Letting out a scream of rage, I felt how my alcohol-induced fuzziness was fading. Nothing like taking care of other people to bring you back to soberness.
"Well, I have to stop your cousin from poisoning herself and then I need to check up on Rose, who was puking her guts out a few minutes ago. I have a lot of shit to deal with right now, so bye," I said swiftly and already made my way toward the kitchen through the load of people that just seemed to be everywhere.
I was about to hang up when I heard Edward's voice yell, "Wait!"
"What?" I snapped at him. My mood was drastically changing now that I did not feel blissfully drunk anymore. "I don't have time for you right now."
"I'm coming to pick you up; I'll be there in five minutes."
This stunned me into silence. When had I ever indicated that I wanted him to pick us up? I wanted to tell him that we didn't need him here, but then I thought better of it. Edward picking us up was probably the best thing that could happen right now.
"Okay," I replied, "I'll get the girls."
I ended the call quickly so that I could collect Alice and Rose.
Entering the kitchen, I found Alice standing on the isle together with Leah, dancing and screaming along to the music.
Leah was not the person to put your trust in when you wanted someone to keep people from doing stupid things.
I reconsidered the thought though when I saw that Leah filled Alice's cup with water when the little one demanded a refill.
She handed Alice the cup and then caught sight of me.
"I'm not sure how long I can keep doing this," she said to me.
Shaking my head, I told her, "Don't worry about it. We're going."
"What? But I don't want you to go," Leah protested right away.
I threw a pointed look at Alice and Leah's face was pulled into a grimace.
"Right. I'll get her down from here, you go and get Blondie."
Thankful for her help I sent her a quick smile, before I quickly rushed back upstairs.
Rose was now lying on the ground, looking like shit.
"Hey Rose," I said gently, feeling sympathetic. "Edward is coming to pick us up, so I need you to get up and come down with me."
Rose stirred and then looked at me in disbelief.
I snickered.
"Don't give me that look. I can't tell you how this new revelation came around."
"To think that Edward of all people does something that doesn't revolve around him."
"Oh come on, he can't be that self-absorbed. He volunteered to pick us up."
Rose slowly started to get up and I rushed to her side, making sure that she wouldn't slump down again.
"Please, you should be the first to agree to my statement. He's been a selfish prick ever since he first became the school's top dancer."
"Selfish or not, he's coming to get us right now and we should be somewhat grateful for that."
Rose nodded and leaned against me.
Apparently, she expected me to help her walk out of here.
With her arm around my shoulder, we stumbled back into the madness downstairs and toward the front door, where Leah and Alice were already waiting.
"I don't wanna go home," Alice whined when we stepped into the cool night air.
Breathing actual air was like heaven in that moment.
Leah just told Alice to shut up and the four of us stumbled down toward the gate.
Once we reached the gate, Leah handed Alice over to me and opened it for us.
"I'll call you later," she said and waved us all good-bye.
I grunted my response, too busy balancing both Rose and Alice.
We merely took a few steps when I saw Edward talking to one of the security guys. Quickly clarifying that he was only there to pick us up, I continued my way toward him and was very relieved when Alice stumbled into his arms.
"Whoops, I'm so clumsy," she slurred. "I love you, Eddie."
Edward looked a bit lost at that. Not that I could blame him.
It was quite the fight to get these two girls into the car and I was ready to fall asleep as soon as I got settled on the passenger's seat. The only thing that kept me from doing so was Edward.
Letting him deal with three drunk girl on his own hardly seemed fair.
"How come you are not in such a bad shape?" Edward asked me then.
Turning back to look at the two messes in the back seat, I was really impressed with my self-control.
"I'm not sober either if that is what you are asking. I'm just better at handling my liquor, which is not that hard. Alice was a first timer and Rose didn't eat. Anyone at that party is in better shape than those two."
That was probably not true, but he didn't need to know that. He would probably just start telling me how irresponsible all of us were being.
He voiced his disapproval anyway and instead of ignoring it like I usually would have done, I voiced my opinions freely as well.
That was probably the only problem I ever had after drinking – I always tended to give my thoughts away to just about anyone.
It wasn't as bad as Alice's blabbering, but since I normally didn't actually talk to Edward it was already a big deal.
Upon hearing that his only fun activity in life was dancing, I looked up at him. For some reason he had already been looking at me and even in the semi-dark I could detect a slight twinkle in his eyes.
"Aren't you worried that you are a little too obsessed with dancing?" I asked him. The question was out before I thought about it.
"I'm not obsessed; I'm disciplined. The chances of becoming a professional dancer after our education at the Academy are very slim, so I have to make sure to spend as much time as possible with dancing. I want to be able to dance for living," he told me in a calm manner.
I knew this way of thinking. Before my mother died I was probably thinking in the exact same way.
There hadn't been anything other than Ballet on my mind and my whole world just seemed to be made of dancing, breathing and spending time with my mom.
Even back then I had always felt like there was something missing in my life, but I only realized what it was when I met my friends in Phoenix.
And still, until this day, I had been wondering why – why I ever let Ballet play such a major role in my life.
"Why?"
Just like before the word left my mouth without me realizing it.
"Why what?"
I had almost forgotten about having a conversation with Edward.
I quickly formulated a question in my head.
"Why do you want to be able to dance for living?"
That was actually something that I had been asking myself as well. I couldn't really remember why I was so keen on becoming a professional dancer.
There wasn't an adequate reason I could think of that made all the dancers in the academy go all crazy just because of Ballet.
Each of them could just pursue a different career and keep the dancing as a hobby, so why was it that everyone was willing to make such big sacrifices for it?
Just take Rosalie for example. I was fairly certain that the girl was slowly developing an eating disorder. The thought had been in the back of my mind ever since I had to hold her hair while she emptied her stomach.
Only that her stomach had apparently already been empty. Not that I want to go into details, but she didn't spit anything more than liquid.
Thankfully, Edward's voice pulled me out of those very graphic memories.
"I've been training for it my entire life, that's why."
I frowned slightly at that revelation and shook my head.
This was hardly a good reason to be a moody and self-centred person like he was.
Edward pulled the car into a drive way and we came to a halt.
"What? Did you never hear of dedication?" he mocked.
Dedication, discipline and success. It sounded all too familiar to me and I quickly came to the conclusion that those shouldn't be the only things that made you want to reach higher goals.
I remembered how I desperately wanted to master everything that Demetri taught me, merely because I was having so much fun with it.
I turned to look at Edward, deciding to share my sudden (and slightly drunken) wisdom with him.
"It's not that. I just think that you shouldn't lose the love for dance on the way to becoming a professional. What's the use of reaching your goal if you don't have any real passion for it?"
During my short speech I realized that I was not only speaking to him but to myself as well.
It was like an epiphany of sorts, only I was fatigued and it was starting to wear me down so I couldn't really get into it.
I decided to dwell on that later and maybe I would even share that wisdom with Edward as well.
Then again, we might go back to our usual non-existent relationship when we woke up.
Might as well go back to it now.
"Besides, the Ballet business is a bitch. They'll try to break you even before you step foot in it," I informed him with a smirk, ending the deep conversation. This was definitely true, but I didn't give Edward the chance to respond as I got out of the car and opened the back door to get Rose out of the car.
She was sleeping soundly, which made it a lot more difficult to get her out of the car.
I managed to shake her semi-awake and she was cooperating a little, but it seemed like she had gotten heavier during the drive.
Edward had scooped Alice up in his arms and waited for me to get a proper hold of Rose, before he led the way toward the front door.
It was only then that I realized that we were not anywhere close to the Academy. I came to the quick assumption that this was the Cullen's house.
With Rose hanging off my arms and my eyes starting to hurt, I couldn't see much of the house, but even in that state I could tell that it was quite beautiful.
Edward somehow managed to open the front door and close it again as soon as I stepped through it.
"Come on, I'll take you to Alice's room."
With Alice dangling off his arms, he went ahead and I followed as well and quietly as I could with Rose. The entire house was dark and Edward made no attempt to turn on the lights.
I vaguely made out the living room as we went through it and had to bite back a curse when I stumbled over the first step of the stairs.
"Careful," Edward whispered – a bit too late.
He was already half-way upstairs, while I grabbed a better hold of Rose and carefully took one step after the other.
As soon as we reached the upper level, Edward continued and opened a door that most likely led to Alice's room.
He switched on the light and put Alice down on her bed.
I was momentarily stunned by the amount of pink in this room.
It wasn't completely bad, but still not my taste at all. Still it suited Alice perfectly – a girly room in pink and white fluff.
"I'm just gonna leave the rest to you," Edward said, standing in the room a bit awkwardly.
"Uh...yeah, sure," I responded.
Edward nodded and brushed past me to leave.
"Good night, then – or rather, good morning."
Not waiting for a response he left swiftly and I was alone with Alice and Rose.
Setting Rose down on the bed as well, I sat there for a moment and let out a long sigh.
For some reason I felt intensely relieved – as if an unbearable tension had just vanished.
Fearing that I might fall asleep any minute, I quickly took off Alice's and Rose's shoes and laid them properly on the huge bed.
Kicking off my shoes as well, I fell back into the fuzzy pillows and was instantly gone.
"I'm dying," I heard a voice whine.
I stirred slightly, but wasn't ready to open my eyes.
Someone else was laughing and the bed shook slightly.
The dull pain in my head was not agreeing with this kind of movement, but I ignored it.
"Why didn't anyone tell me that it would end like this?" The whine continued.
The voice sounded further away, like the person was just in the next room.
"It's common knowledge, Al. I told you not to drink Leah's mixtures."
What the hell were Rose and Alice doing here? As soon as I asked myself that the memories came back to me.
I grimaced at that.
"Do you mind explaining to me why you are not dying as well?" Alice demanded.
I gave up on sleeping in that moment and opened my eyes.
"I already died," Rose answered, sitting on the bed next to me. She was filing her nails and looked too damn chipper for her own good.
"Could you be any louder?" I grumbled and sat up.
"Oh, Morning Bella."
I just grunted in response.
"Bella," I heard Alice's whine again. "Do something about this headache of mine."
I turned toward the sound of her voice just as she stepped out of what I assumed to be the bathroom.
Her hair was a crazy mess and she looked a little pale.
"Just drink water and get yourself some painkillers."
"Already did."
"Then wait until they start doing their magic and get me some as well."
"Next to you on the bedside table," Alice pointed out.
Sure enough, there stood a glass of water with the painkillers next to it.
I practically inhaled them, hopefully avoiding the full-blown headache that might have come a bit later.
"We should go downstairs and get something to eat," Rose suddenly proposed.
"Are you crazy? Anything I eat will be resurfacing right away," Alice complained. She was massaging her temples furiously as if that would make the pain go away any faster.
"Then drink tea or coffee, but I am starving and-"
"Lunch time!" I heard a voice call from somewhere downstairs.
Alice winced at the sound and Rose clapped her hands together loudly, making Alice flinch once more.
"Shit, I don't know what I should tell Aunt Esme," Alice groaned. "She'll notice that something is up when I refuse to eat."
"Just try to eat some. It might even soothe your stomach," I advised. "By the way, what time is it?"
"Half past twelve and time for lunch as you just heard. You two should make yourselves look presentable," Rose said and hopped off the bed.
Only now I noticed that she was dressed neatly in a pair of striped leggings and a long pink shirt, which was held in place by a black belt around her waist.
As far as I was concerned she could have stepped out of a fashion magazine just a few moments ago. Even her hair was looking perfectly straight and shiny.
How is it that she looks so brilliant after being a complete mess the night before?
I didn't get to ask her that question though, because she was already out of the room.
"Alright, I'll find something for you to wear as well," Alice sighed. "You should wash your face and do something with your hair. The bathroom's over there."
She gestured toward what I had assumed to be the bathroom before and then vanished behind the door on the opposite wall.
Slowly, I dragged myself out of the bed and toward the bathroom.
I looked into the mirror below the bright shining lights and almost let out a scream.
Ever woke up the morning after a party and found yourself looking like fucking Ke$ha? It was definitely a first time for me.
Actually, I would have been happy if I had looked like Ke$ha, but I took the entire 'I'm-just-as-drunk-as-my-make up-artist' look to a whole new level.
I t was understandable that my mascara and the little eyeliner I wore were smudged, but I didn't get why it looked like I had been crying and then smeared the snot all over my face.
I definitely hadn't looked this bad when I left the party.
Alice stepped into the bathroom behind me and stared at my reflection as well.
"I woke up very early in the morning, because I heard you crying. You were dreaming about your mother, I think," Alice told me, her voice so low that it was almost a whisper.
I frowned at her through the mirror, mainly because I couldn't remember that I had dreamed anything at all.
"Anyway, just wash your face. I guess I can make us both look like humans again."
She gestured toward the big amount of cosmetics on the counter.
Wordlessly I followed her directions and scrubbed my face as good as I could, while Alice was applying mysterious pastes to her face.
She managed to hand me a towel in between, without taking her eyes off of her reflection.
"I laid out clothes for you on the bed."
Looking at her, I saw that she had changed as well.
She wore some kind of high fashion sweat pants, a tank top and a loose net shirt over it. Upon examination of her outfit, a thought crossed my mind.
"Umm...Alice, I don't think that your clothes will fit me," I told her.
Just looking at her tiny and slender frame suddenly made me feel a few pounds heavier.
"My mom always sends me clothes to wear, but she tends to forget my size every now and then or she just assumes that I might have grown a bit – either way, I got a lot of things in my closet that I can't wear so you don't have to worry about that," Alice monotoned, her whole focus on accentuating her left eye.
Shrugging, I went back to her bedroom and changed quickly.
"Just what exactly where you thinking when you picked out these clothes?" I complained, staring down at the off-shoulder shirt I had put on.
Alice came out of the bathroom only to go back in with me in tow.
"It suits you and there is nothing wrong with showing off your patriotism every now and then," she responded and immediately started pasting my face as well.
Rolling my eyes, I just accepted that I was going to wear a shirt with the American flag on it for the remainder of the day. Paired with a pair of dark jeans shorts, I looked like I just finished starring in some old American High School movie.
"Boys and girls in this house, if you do not come down here immediately the food will go cold and I will be forced to steal a couple of points away from your weekly score."
I was a bit surprised to hear Madam Esme's voice again.
"Okay, better make this fast," Alice hastily shoved a brush full of powder in my face, filling my airways with it.
Before I even managed to sneeze it all out, Alice was already yanking a brush through my hair.
I heard someone thundering down the stairs and judging by the amount of noise that was made, I would have guessed that at least five boys were racing down – but I knew better than to assume that.
After all, Emmett was capable of making enough noise for a whole football team.
Come to think of it, he would make a pretty damn fine quarterback or line-backer or whatever else there is. He was perfectly built to be shoving a bunch of guys around, but instead he was a Ballet dancer.
I sighed. What a waste.
I felt how Alice pulled my hair into a high pony tail, but leaving a few strands to fall in my face.
This was way too much effort just for going downstairs to eat.
"All done, you look like the perfect American girl next door," she announced.
Up until that moment I hadn't even noticed that Alice was keeping her voice down. Not so much that any other person would have noticed, more like she was actually speaking at normal volumes.
I guess, I'd have to thank her hangover for that.
I threw a quick glance in the mirror and was astonished that Alice not only made me look human, but also made me look like I was glowing.
Seriously, I had to take a second look to make sure that it was me that I was looking at.
Whatever she did, she just made me look flawless.
There were some pretty awesome skills resting in this girl.
She herself looked like she had been up and ready to conquer the world since early in the morning.
I was pretty impressed, but had no time to voice any of my thoughts because Alice already dragged me along to go and eat as well.
Even though she was hung over and her energy levels might have dropped a little, there was still more than enough to spare.
I barely even managed to cast a look into the light living room that I had only seen in the dark before.
She let go of me though when we were in the big kitchen/dining room that seemed to have windows everywhere, just flooding the entire room in light.
Alice immediately went for cover at the dining table, where the light was a bit more dimmed, since it didn't stand right next to window.
Rose sat at the kitchen counter and chatted with Madam Esme, who just pulled a large dish out of the oven.
The boys all sat at the table as well, talking to a man that I had never seen before.
But it didn't take me a lot of time to figure out who this man was. His striking resemblance to Edward and the fact that this is the house of Edward's parents had to lead to the conclusion that this was Edward's dad.
It seemed like Edward had gotten a pretty mean set of genetic pools.
With those two as his parents there would have been no way for him to turn out ugly even if he tried.
Madam Esme spotted me as she moved to set down the dish on the table and smiled warmly at me.
"Come on, sit down. You can make yourself at home here," she said when Emmett started lunge toward what looked to be a meat loaf.
She smacked the back of his head. "I merely said 'make yourself at home' and not 'forget all your manners and behave like a caveman'," she scolded.
Emmett made a face and sat back, pouting.
"Such a moronic idiot," Rose grumbled, now settling down on a chair beside Mr. Cullen.
I moved to sit between her and Alice.
"Who lit the fuse on your tampon?" Emmett asked her amusedly.
Jasper snorted at that, but had to regain himself when he caught Rose's glare.
"Seriously Emmett, why don't you just slip into something comfortable... like a coma? It would do all of us a huge favour," she snapped back at him.
The good mood that she seemed to have had earlier was completely vanished.
Emmett opened his mouth to retort something to that but was stopped by Madam Esme who smacked him again.
"Behave," she warned as she sat down on her husband's right.
"But Rose sta-"
"I don't wanna hear it," Madam Esme sighed and gestured toward the various dishes on the table.
"Let's just eat."
As if that had been some kind of signal, Emmett instantly started to fill his plate.
I saw Edward lean back in his chair and shake his head slightly. He looked perfectly relaxed and the small smile on his face actually made him look even more handsome than normal.
"But there is something I do want to hear," Madam Esme's voice piped up again. "What where you doing driving around town in the middle of the night, Edward?"
His smiled dropped and his eyes immediately went over to me. The frown that he gave me told me that the two of us definitely did not make an improvement with our interaction last night.
He would probably just tell his mom everything and she would probably call my dad to let him know that his underage daughter has not changed her ways even the slightest bit.
I should have thought about this a bit earlier – especially since there was still the threat of going to juvi somewhere in the back of my mind.
Death, come and get me.
A/N: All done... Let's see what the next chapter brings us. I already have some veeeery good plans, but you can always throw in ideas that you might have- I'm pretty open-minded when it comes to that.
I'd love to ramble on and on about random things right now, but I got it all out earlier and now I'm just really tired and can't do any more rambling. Please just leave a review and let me know what you think. I always love to hear from you guys :D