Disclaimer: Same as chapter 1.

Chapter 19

Rian spent the morning trying to force herself to down the glass of dark red liquid. The blood had been cold when Emmett gave it to her, and while the taste wasn't too bad, it did seem odd. The thick liquid seemed to have the taste similar to that of cold hot chocolate, as in it tasted as if he were supposed to be warm. Maybe that was because when she thought of blood it was warm inside her body and should stay that way. She found that she had a harder time coming to terms with drinking the liquid than if she had not liked the taste at all.

By the time the lunch bell rang, she had finally finished the cup and was thankful she had. But now she felt sick to her stomach as she walked towards the cafeteria, and not because of all the blood she drawn nor morning sickness (she has yet to actually experience any side effects of being pregnant), but because she was about to tell three vampires her insane plan that she was beginning to worry more and more would fail. Too many things could go wrong and she still hadn't figured out how her plan was going to end. And Alice could no longer see how things would turn out for her because of some hybrid blind spot (as Emmett had called it when referring to his niece).

She turned a corner when she almost ran directly into the bimbo twins. Rian inwardly rolled her eyes as the girls blocked her path with their hands on their hips as if they had the high ground. Boy, did Rian ever hate them as much as she hated them right now. "You know, you two just aren't as thin as you like to think you are. People can't get by." She hadn't meant to say it, she had been very good at keeping her insults to herself until that moment. But she guess since she wasn't going to make up with Winter before she'd either die or become a vampire, then what was the point in being friendly to the very aggravating duo?

The twin's faces held anger and slight shock at her remark. "Well, you don't have fashion sense." The shorter bimbo retorted pathetically.

"Yeah, what's up with the baggy shirt?" The first bimbo, who was usually good at insults, or at least subtle ones, added.

Rian just laughed, "There's method to my madness." She said as she finally decided to push through the twins and continue on her way. That wasn't the best choice of words, 'madness', what if Winter had told them all of her problems.

"Yeah, we did hear about your madness issues."

"Didn't think you wanted to point it out, though."

Rian stopped in her tracks, so Winter had told them. She turned toward the girls, smile on her face. "Do you want to see how crazy I can be?" She took a few steps closer to the girls, "Cause, I'm pretty sure I am smart enough to get away with it." Yep, she just threatened them, their satisfied expressions instantly faded. Once again, Rian turned on her heels and continued to the cafeteria.

When Rian finally made it to the small, crowded cafeteria the Cullen family was already waiting for her. They seemed to be engaged in a private conversation, they're lips were moving quickly, so fast that you had to actually be looking for it to notice it. But as Rian approached them, and sat down, they halted their conversation. Once again her nerves were shooting through the roof. If this pregnancy didn't kill her, her blood pressure sure would.

"So what is this 'crazy plan'?" Alice asked cheerfully, as if she actually had hope in Rian's plan.

"Um…" Rian decided to distract herself for a few minutes as she grabbed the lunch she had taken from home out of her backpack. "Well, first I think we should somehow leak it that I am pregnant."

Alice hadn't see that one coming, that's for sure. All three vampires were taken aback. "We can't, someone will figure it out sooner or later that you are growing far to quickly.

"That's why I want to leak it soon. Of course we would lie about how long I've been pregnant, it's been almost four months since Emmett and I met. Maybe have the bimbo twins over hear us talking about it or something. After what I just said to them, I think they'll jump on the news and spread it around the school. The sooner we leak it the sooner we can go to the next phase."

"There's a phase two to this … your right, insane plan." Emmett said half amused, half shocked.

Rian smiled, her confidence in the plan growing again. "Yeah, the next part, Carlisle will have to be ready. I will fake an episode of some kind, a seizure or maybe just black out or if the baby does break one of my ribs or something I can just let myself scream out in pain. When this happens, you'll have to let Carlisle know so he can be ready to make sure he gets my case when I arrive at the hospital."

"Okay, then they'll be a record." Alice said calmly. Rian really did connect with her, they had so much in common. Though, she hadn't spent much time with the other girls of Emmett's family, she felt she and Alice were going to have the strongest friendship that is if Rian lived long enough.

"I kinda want there to be a record, it doesn't matter really. My mom died when Casey was born so my dad will probably freak out when he hears of this. Carlisle will have to put me on 'bedrest' and I'm kinda stuck at this part, how to get me away from my family."

"Don't worry, we have that covered." Alice smiled as she apparently thought of the rest of the plan. "But we should get started on the rumor, like you said the sooner we can get you to our house, the better."

Friday; Day 5

Between Alice and Rian, the plan was hammered out during the 40 minutes they have for lunch. By the next morning, they were ready to execute phase 1. Alice had somehow obtained one of those fake stomachs that make someone look around 4 months pregnant (Alice's idea), Rian was going to have to wear it until phase 2 started or she was actually showing.

When Rian had the thing on and her clothes over it, she examined herself in the mirror. The fake stomach was slightly uncomfortable to wear, she could only image what it would be like when she was that far along. She had another baggy t-shirt and pants on, it didn't look all that different than the day before, just the tiniest bit tighter. She hoped since she had all but skipped the first three days back after thanksgiving break that people wouldn't question her sudden 'weight gain'.

Once again, Emmett picked her up for school that morning. Her siblings hadn't even questioned her when she handed the keys over to Bryan that morning before she ran out the front door as the massive Jeep pulled into the drive way.

Emmett handed her another similar cup to the day before, she assumed full of blood, as she buckled her seatbelt. Rian sighed as she thought about having to gulp at least one glass of the thick substance a day until the baby was born. She took a small sip to test it, it was warm today and tasted slightly better.

Rian had down the blood by the time they arrived at school, she hadn't even realized she drank it so fast until she hear the slurping that indicated there wasn't enough left in the cup anymore. She checked herself in the mirror, making sure there was no blood showing on her mouth or teeth.

As the couple exited the car, Emmett pointed out the bimbo twins on the other side of the parking lot. Only a few other students were around, this was the perfect time to set part one of the plan into motion. Rian knew they would be starting on that in the next couple of days, but she didn't expect it to happen so soon. She took a deep breath, before they launched into the plan.

When she turned back at Emmett, he was glaring at her. The look cut her to her bones that is until she realized he was already working on the plan. Still it was hard looking at his expression right then. He was a good actor, this would go according to plan if he had anything to say about it. Rian quickly spun on her heels, throwing her backpack on her shoulder, "I don't want to talk about this right now." She said in her best upset voice.

"When will you feel like talking about it? You told me about it when it is to late to do something about it!" His voice was slightly louder than hers, but still hushed as if they wanted to keep their conversation between them. In reality they didn't of course, but they did want to appear to want it a secret.

Rian stopped in her tracks momentarily, looked at Emmett as if he had just said the most repulsive thing, before she turned back towards the Twins (who were conveniently located near the school entrance. "Like I said, Emmett, I do not want to talk about this at school."

"We need to talk about this, Rian." He said her name in the same almost sarcastic tone she had used with his. "You're pregnant!" He said loud enough for the twins to hear, but still keeping the appearance that he didn't want anyone to know.

"Not here." Rian said with as much anger as she could muster, which was easier than she had imagined would be. As the couple passed the twins, they eyed Rian suspiously. Rian only hoped that they took the bait, or someone in the parking lot had.