Chapter 18

Preparations

We planned the whole night. Since I had slept during the day, I didn't need any more sleep for now.

Around 8:00 a.m., I called Charlie and told him about our plan. He promised to call the school and have me call in sick for the rest of the week. He had already excused me on Monday until Wednesday. But since I wasn't planning on going to school today, he had no choice.

Edward tried to keep me out of our plan as best he could. It was an open secret that he would have preferred to ship me off to the moon so that I was safe. But since Victoria had it in for either me or Jo, he had to put up with me being involved, willy-nilly.

When we had planned everything, Alice quickly looked into the future.

"I can't see the direct exit, but I can see that we're all still happy together - with Jo and Bella," she reported.

Edward had tensed up during her vision.

What was wrong with him?

I looked at him questioningly, but he just shook his head.

"Bella, if something were to go wrong - which, of course, won't happen - but surely this question should be settled beforehand. How should we act then? Do you want us to turn you in case of emergency or would you rather die?", Carlisle broke the silence.

"Nothing will happen to her," Edward growled. "If she wants to be turned, let her decide independently to do so, not because she has no other choice!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

I put my hand reassuringly on his shoulder and looked deep into his eyes.

"Edward, I already can't imagine my life without you. Please, do me a favor and transform me if something should happen to me."

He just looked deep into my eyes, but said nothing.

"Nothing will happen to you!" he repeated, but I saw the answer in his eyes.

He could not and did not want to lose me any more than I wanted to lose him. Not when we had just found each other.

Victoria had given Jonath until the end of the week to decide. Since it was Friday by now, we still had two days.

I did my best to stay calm, with Edward's closeness really helping me. He almost didn't let me out of his sight for a second and I was really grateful to him for that.

Jo and I had a conversation yesterday. We had clarified everything.

I couldn't trust him as much as I did a week ago, but he understood that and really tried hard to rebuild the trust.

Edward wanted to go hunting briefly this morning, so he joined Emmett and Rose, who were about to leave.

Alice and I were sitting on the bed talking when Jasper walked into the room.

"One of you two is missing strong arms around you! Which one of you do you think it is?" he grinned at us.

Alice and I looked at each other questioningly!

"Strong arms. Jasper. So you know, Emmett's actually still out and about and Bella's human, so Edwards arms are completely enough!"

She winked at me.

Jasper's smile disappeared.

Suddenly I felt as if I were being tickled. My whole body seemed to itch. I couldn't help laughing, and from the fact that Alice also laughed and fell into the bed like me and rolled over, I realized that it was probably thanks to Jasper.

He sat down on the bed with us.

"Well girls, I hope this was a lesson to you. You shouldn't try to pull my leg!"

Alice and I stopped rolling around in bed laughing at the same time and looked at each other.

We were probably both thinking the same thing, because when Alice yelled "Attack!" we both pounced on Jasper and began to now tickle him.

Jasper begged who-knows-how-long for mercy and at some point we let him go. He looked completely exhausted. His hair was sticking out in all directions, his clothes were wrinkled, and he looked at us completely befuddled.

Alice and I began to laugh uproariously at the sight.

However, when the door flew open, we abruptly stopped.

Edward was back and his expression this time made Alice, Jasper and me laugh.

He looked so confused, as if he had never seen me laugh! Wait a minute, he had not yet!

I fell silent.

Edward grinned mischievously at me and walked elegantly towards his bed.

"Are you making fun of me?" he asked, playfully horrified.

"About you? Never ...", Alice and Jasper chortled around.

Edward looked at both of them briefly and they left the room with an excuse that I didn't catch as Edward wrapped his arms around me and put his lips on mine.

"You have a beautiful laugh, you know that?"

I blushed and looked down in shame.

"Alice and Jasper think so too, by the way, my little tomato," he added with a laugh. "Hmm ... I love it when you blush," he growled in my ear and began to explore my neck with his lips.

Everyone was in an uproar when Edward and I entered the kitchen later because I was hungry.

There were two days for preparation, but since they had nothing else to do, as Edward explained to me, they were already doing it all now.

Alice and Jasper had probably left for the little clearing where Jo and I would meet Victoria on Sunday.

I got scared again when I thought of her name and the sight of her and clung to Edward.

He understood immediately and stroked my back soothingly.

Soon the time would come. Soon this horrible woman would hopefully disappear from this world. I was afraid that something would happen to Jo, to my dad, to the Cullens or - what I didn't even dare to think about - to Edward! I trusted everyone, I would trust everyone here with my life and it really amazed me that I could say that after such a short time.