Chapter 10:

Disclaimer: It's in the Prologue.

"A bird is not a mammal, Kate, for the last time!" Irina called, swerving the car slightly when she made a sharp turn.

"They so are," she snipped back at the dirty blonde irritably. She turned towards Tanya and me in the backseat. "What do you guys think? Is a bird a mammal or not?"

I shook my head negatively with a small smile. "Nope, the classifications are mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds," I said.

Kate frowned. "But-!"

"They are not mammals, Kate," Tanya said, rolling her eyes at her sister. Her arm moved back to be draped behind my head on the top of the seat and headrest behind me. It took everything I had not to stiffen as soon as I saw her arm moving my way like a freaking scary snake.

Kate pouted and crossed her arms over her chest with a huff like a small child. It was-though I hated to admit it-actually kind of adorable to look at even if she hated the idea of being cute.

I chuckled as Irina rolled her eyes at her sister, glancing at Tanya and me in the backseat. She looked away quickly to pretend like she hadn't been watching us when she saw I was looking and snatched up her iPod from the compartment. She tossed it back to me, "Choose something good for us to listen too, Bella. I don't want to hear anymore of Kate's theories."

"Birds are mammals!"

I smiled and began to scroll through the song list while Irina groaned. As I went through it, I noticed that there were songs from almost every era on here and was pretty pleased with it…until I realized they were the most popular ones and nothing else from this century that hadn't been played on the radio.

I shook my head. "Irina," I called.

"Yeah?"

"Please tell me that you and your family are not one of the unfortunate victims of the thing that is called radio and popular songs?" I asked, looking up at her in the mirror.

Irina paused for a moment, looking up at me in the mirror while Kate turned to raise a brow at me. "Uh…maybe?"

I sighed and shook my head. "This will not do," I said. I handed her iPod back to her and took out my phone that (luckily) had the most recently bought songs I had. "I am going to have to educate you guys on amazing artists that have yet to be discovered and yet make some of the best music you will ever hear in your life."

Kate handed me the auxiliary cord from the front of the car as Tanya hummed and cocked her head to the side. "And how is it you know about these artists, Bella?" she asked, her fingers curled to brush a few strands of hair on the back of my head.

I swallowed to keep my composure. "I have spare time to search for more artists, I guess, I don't know," I shrugged as I plugged in my iPhone. "A'ight, so I'll ease you into this new world and play a guy who does really cool covers of rap songs and other stuff like that."

"Ease us into it?" Irina asked from the front.

I set my hand on her shoulder and patted it. "You'll understand after the music starts to play, Irina," I promised.

She rolled her eyes at me while Kate grinned and Tanya chuckled. I leaned back into my seat and started the song Hello by William Singe. Well, it was the cover by William Singe, but it was originally by Adele.

"Is this Hello?" Kate asked.

I nodded. "You bet your ass it is," I grinned.

"It's…actually pretty good."

"I told you."

"Whatever…"

After the Bella's Basic Education of Artists Lesson No. 1 to the Denali sisters, we arrived in the city and parked in a garage with Carmen and Eleazer right beside us. I unplugged my phone and climbed out of the car before Tanya could. I held the door open for her this time to be polite.

I swore I received the brightest smile that made my heart flutter. For a moment I felt like I was a regular teenager again. I felt like I was back in high school and for a split second, the Denalis were the ones I met there instead of the Cullens. It was a quick, fast moment that vanished as soon as it came.

I berated myself for thinking in a way-even for a split second. I was just here to be friends with the Denalis and nothing more. I was going to get my treatment and get better and then go home. The Denalis were just going to be a group of friends that I would know here.

I closed the door behind Tanya when she finally climbed out and Irina locked the car doors with her keys. She stuffed them into her purse and zipped it shut as Kate suddenly looped her arm through mine. "Alright, Miss DJ, let's go." She then-reminding me a lot of Alice-drug me away from the car towards the garage entrance.

"Kate, don't get ahead of yourself," Carmen called from behind.

Kate waved Carmen's shout off over her shoulder and drag me towards the stairs. "Okay, we have a lot to do today. First off, we need to go get clothes for you and me and Tanya and Irina. Then, we have to make a few errands around town and finally go back home and possibly eat something in the middle of it."

I raised a brow. "Buy me clothes?" I asked. There was no way in hell I would be able to survive a vampire's day of shopping for clothes if she was even half as bad as Alice.

Kate nodded enthusiastically. "Well, of course. Isn't that how you bond after all? Buying lots of clothes together?" she asked with a wicked grin.

I felt my eyes widen into saucers. "I have a phobia of shopping."

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "What? No you don't. That kind of thing doesn't even exist. You just made that-"

"AHH!" Kate jumped next to me. I shrugged. "See?"

"You-"

"AHH!"

"But-"

"AHH!"

"Oh come-"

"AAAHHH!"

Behind me, I heard the vampires chuckle. A body slid in on my other side and took my hand in theirs, effortlessly twining our fingers together. As soon as I felt the sparks traveling up my skin and muscles, I knew it was Tanya next to me.

Instantly-and subtly-I tried to release my hand as she spoke, "Perhaps Bella went through a traumatic shopping experience, Kate. You never know, Black Fridays are insane."

I nodded. "Oh yes, this old lady attacked me when I was a kid because I had a sweater." I tugged on Kate. "First it was me." I pushed on her, making her lean the other way. "Then it was her…Then it was me…Then it was her…Then it was me…Then it was her…Then it was me…"

When I was about to push Kate again she waved me off. "Okay, okay, we get it. You had an intense tug-o'-war with an old lady as a child. Stop pushing and tugging on me."

I gave her an innocent smile, not arguing since I had freed my hand from Tanya's during the demonstration. She had kept a tight grip for a while when I tried to pull away, but she finally released my hand when she started to get tugged around too. "Sorry."

"No you aren't."

"Maybe."

"Do it."

"No."

"Bella."

"Kate."

"Do it."

"No."

"Oh my god," Irina growled, rubbing her temples. "You two together are like children." She grabbed the dress that Kate kept shoving towards me and shoved it into my hands. She then grabbed my shoulders, turned me around and shoved me towards the dressing room. "Go try it on, Bella. You'll look amazing and you will thank us for it."

Kate gave me a triumphant grin as Tanya merely chuckled from the bench she had perched herself on, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched us. She had been mostly silent through the whole exchange and seemed to enjoy the show we put on.

I-reluctantly of course-walked down to a changing room and closed the door behind me grumbling under my breath. I turned to look at myself in the mirror before I took in a deep breath and then began to take off my clothes. The dress wasn't a flashy dress, but it was a simple, cute dress that would flatter my figure.

It was off white-almost cream-with intricate patterns of small purple/pink roses connected by their green vines reaching out of them. The straps were about three fingers thick and sloped down in a U formation just above my cleavage as it hugged my chest and covered my port. There was a triangle in the back where the fabric didn't cover my skin and my bra didn't show-luckily. The figure hugging dress complimented my body well and I liked that it didn't puff out at all. It just kind of laid there in the cute flowy material. The outer layer of the dress was see through, making the almost slip like material underneath cover the rest as it came to rest just above my knees.

And, it really didn't go that badly with my navy blue converse. Then again, I said it wasn't too bad.

I looked at myself in the mirror and took in a breath before I turned and grabbed the handle of the dressing room door. I pulled it open and walked out into the hall, coming into view of the three sisters waiting for me outside.

As soon as I walked out, their golden eyes snapped up to me and Irina smiled. Kate gave me a wicked grin as Tanya took in my figure, smiling as she looked from my head to my toes in the dress.

"You look great in that, Bella," Kate complimented. She then smirked. "How do you not have a boyfriend already?"

It was meant as a joke, but I could feel my face fall a little, just a little. The biggest reason I hadn't come into a relationship was because of the cancer. I was so caught up in my treatment that the only time I had for boys at all were the Pack or my dad. The boys at school were too scared of my dad to even ask me out with friends unless a girl did it, and even then it was hard to find someone to talk to.

Edward had only ever been the only guy-or person, really-that I had connected with on a romantic and intimate level. Besides that, my romantic life was nonexistent and never to be heard of.

I shrugged. "Too good for any, I guess," I said with a smile, trying to cover the small fall in my face.

I didn't do it fast enough, apparently as Irina narrowed her eyes slightly. Tanya was too busy taking in my outfit still to notice the change in my expression before she smiled up at me in approval. Kate was just waiting for me to have a witty come back, and if she did notice it she didn't show any signs of it.

Tanya chuckled at my remark. "That is probably truer than you will ever know," she said. While, from anyone else, I would've thought they were just trying to be nice or agree with me, but the emotion that Tanya had in her voice made me do a double take before I shoved the thought from my mind.

I needed to stop focusing on Tanya so much today. The only way I needed to see her was as a friend and nothing more. I needed to stop thinking that every time she spoke to me or touched me-no matter what it did to me-that she was trying to get with me.

I just smiled at her when Irina asked, "Are you gonna get it?"

I shrugged. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" Kate snorted. She waved her hand. "Bella, if you don't buy that dress for yourself, I will take it and steal it from this store and then stash it in your house."

"Uh…I'll get it?"

"Hell yeah you will."

I smiled at Kate a little before I disappeared back into the dressing room again. I took in a deep breath as I stood at the door for a moment, thinking about Tanya's bright and approving smile one last time before I shut it out of my mind for the rest of the day.

I let out the breath and pushed off the door, undoing the zipper on the side of the dress and stepped out of it to get my clothes back on. When I had pulled on all of my clothes, I draped the dress over my arm and walked out of the dressing room to meet the Denali sisters.

Kate jerked her head towards the register as a sign to go check-out. The rest of us followed the blonde who was ready to move onto the next store. This was our second one and I was practically forced to buy a shirt and a matching pair of jeans at our first. It wasn't much or anything like shopping with Alice, yeah, but it was kind of a little bit of a weird thing to feel. It was like the Denalis were already thinking of me as the new best friend or someone they wanted as their sister.

Well, Kate and Irina did anyway. I didn't know about Tanya, but she was mostly making friendly conversation and sticking close to us as we moved around the stores.

As we got to the register, the young man working there just finished checking-out an older man. He as around my age-maybe a little older-with a cute face and good sense of style. As soon as we walked up, he seemed a little taken aback by the Denalis, but held his tongue and proceeded with his duties.

When Tanya tried to pay for my dress, I-literally-flicked her on the nose and told her to back up, because I had my own money and I was a grown woman, dammit. Kate was laughing her ass off at her sister's bewildered look on her face.

The guy behind the register, however, was eyeing me. It wasn't in a way like a guy seeing how much I compared to the gorgeous vampires next to me. Oh no, this was the look of a guy fishing for some new catch-most likely seeing me as the approachable one. I pretended not to notice as he looked up from my chest-which I wore a V neck today so it was slightly exposed-and smiled.

"Hello, did you find everything alright?" he asked as I set the dress up on the counter.

I nodded politely. "Yes, thank you," I said.

He smiled at me and looked at the dress and then back at me. He seemed to have something in his head click, because the next thing I knew his smile turned flirtatious with a slight smirk. "You know, I've seen a lot of women in this dress, but not even half of them had the body that you do. I'm sure you looked wonderful in this."

I blinked, shocked at his sudden come on. I noticed Kate shift a little behind me and I felt a body stiffen as the guy-Mark as his nametag read-winked at me and began to ring up the dress. Deciding to answer him to be polite I shrugged, making him smile.

He looked up at me. "Your total is twenty dollars and seventeen cents, but I'll make it ten dollars if I can get your number," he said, giving me a wicked wink.

Irina scowled with Kate as Tanya narrowed her eyes dangerously. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides while Mark stayed completely oblivious to the vampires he was angering just a few feet away.

I handed him $21. "I'm afraid I don't give my number out," I said, still trying to be polite even though he was beginning to get on my nerves. He might have been a cute guy, but I wasn't about to hand myself over to him.

I didn't let his fingers brush mine as he intended and I could see the slight disappointment. But he apparently wasn't done as he handed me the dress in a bag and handed me not $0.83, but $10.83. "Here's your discount and here's a pen."

By now, I could feel the anger washing off the vampires next to me as Mark stayed oblivious. Still, I took the money and placed it in my pocket and took the pen. From the corner of my eye, I could see the vampires' jaws drop as I took the paper he slid over with the pen and began to write.

Mark was smirking triumphantly before I put down the pen and slid the paper back over to him. I turned on my heel and walked over to the vampires who were just gaping at me. I slipped my arm through Tanya's and lent up to kiss her cheek as Mark spluttered at the counter. "Also," I said to him, "I'm afraid you're a pale comparison to her."

Mark completely gaped at me as I pulled on Tanya-who was smirking at the store clerk-and guided the vampires out of the store. When we were out of his sight, I felt Kate come to my other side.

"What did you write on the note if it wasn't your phone number before you pretended to be a lesbian?" she asked. Irina walked up to join her on her side.

I smiled. "I said thank you for the discount, and told him to find out if someone actually liked dick first." The three women immediately burst into laughter around me.

"Bella, are you hungry?" Carmen asked once we had met up with her and Eleazer again. They had split away from us to go shop at some other stores before we met back in the parking garage.

I shrugged. "I could eat, I suppose," I said. "However, it doesn't really matter to me. I could just wait till I got home."

Tanya scowled at me. "Why do I doubt you could make it all the way back to your house without getting into a Snickers commercial?" she asked.

I snorted, hitting her granite arm that really only hurt me. "I am perfectly capable of managing my temper, thank you. Unless, however, you missed my whole show with the clerk?"

Her eyes narrowed at the thought. "Like I could've," she grumbled.

"What clerk?" Eleazer asked his voice lined with slight concern that we had been given some trouble during our shopping spree. He was probably used to it by now, though.

Kate smirked. "We'll tell you the story when we take Bella someplace to eat," she said.

"Hey, I never heard anything about-"

"Too late, we're taking you. Now, where do you want to go? Some expensive, high-end place or a cheap, greasy and horribly unhealthy place like McDonald's?"

"Kate," Irina said with a scowl, "there is no way I am ever letting anyone I know eat somewhere like McDonald's in my presence."

"I know."

Irina gave a soft growl that could pass as human and I shrugged, knowing I had no way out. "There is a small place that Charlie and I go to all the time. It's called Maria's, have you ever seen it before?" I asked.

"Maria's?" Eleazer asked. He tilted his head in consideration. "Isn't it that small place that's kind of a hole in the wall?"

I nodded with a smile. "Yep, that's the place."

"Does it at least have non-greasy food?"

I laughed, shaking my head at Irina. "Maria's is where all the cancer patients go or any other smart person in Alaska. It's all natural food that's actually really good for you."

Kate scowled. "Cancer patients?" she asked.

I resisted the urge to bite my lip as I mentally cursed at myself in my head. I nodded. "Frank was sent there with his wife when she got cancer and took Charlie and me with him." I grinned. "Once we tried it, there was no going back. It is the best food I have ever had in my life." Besides Esme's.

I mentally slapped myself for the afterthought. This was not the time to start thinking about Esme and her cooking.

"Okay, we'll go to Maria's, then," Tanya declared. She pulled open the car door for me and let me slide in before she followed soon after. As she closed the door, once again pressing herself against me with all her might, she said, "I didn't know Frank's wife had cancer."

I nodded. "Stage four uterine cancer. She lived with it for a while until she passed. Now he goes to the cancer room to visit the patience," I said, smiling a little as I pictured Frank and how he always made everyone laugh. I hoped I could in the future.

We walked through the front door to Maria's and the vampires looked around. They seemed to realize what I meant about cancer patients, because they raised their brows a little when they saw the massive amount of headscarves around the place or ball caps. Some didn't even cover it-as I had come used to.

There were a few people who were just here because they knew of how good the place was and they liked to eat here. Really, if the hospital didn't refer patients here, I didn't know if Maria's would still run fully.

Sylvia saw us from the counter and beamed at me. She quickly walked over and wrapped me in a hug. "Bella!" she called. "How're you doing, sugar? I see you brought some new people with you."

I nodded as she jerked her head to the Denalis. "Yep. Just out in town and you know how I get when I'm hungry," I said, smiling at her.

Sylvia laughed. "I sure do." She jerked her head. "Just come this way." She led the group towards the back of the room and in the corner, sitting us in a corner booth to fit all of us in one. I was seated on the end with Tanya as Sylvia looked at me. "V8 as usual or one of your sometimes protein shakes?"

I nodded. "Protein. I need to get just a little more this week. I've been falling behind with the diet Charlie and I have been having," I said, giving her a small smile.

She nodded and wrote it down before she turned to the others. "What about ya'll?" she asked.

The word "water" was said at once by the vampires. Sylvia didn't question it as she wrote down the order and nodded. "I'll be right back with your drinks."

We nodded as she walked off. I leaned back in the booth when I felt the stares. I turned my head to find the five Denalis studying me. "What?"

"Protein shake? V8? Are you some kind of health obsessive or something, Bella?" Irina asked. She was being blunt about what they were all thinking, but she had a small joking tone to it.

I shook my head, feeling my thumbs begin to fiddle with each other on the table. "No," I said. "I've been struggling with my weight over the past two years. I have to be at least a hundred and five pounds at minimum."

"Why? If I may ask?" Carmen asked carefully. It was clear the vampires were getting curious about the few oddities I had thrown out there. First off with who came to this place the most followed by the drinks and my weight. They must have been connecting the dots with how skinny I was and how cold I was.

I prepared myself to reply when Sylvia and Steve came over. They set our drinks in front of us with extra water for me after my protein shake. I gave her a smile of thanks that she nodded to before asking, "And what to eat?"

"Just Bella will be eating, actually," Kate supplied from the other side of the booth. She gave Sylvia a small smile when the owner looked at her a little confused, but Sylvia just shrugged.

She turned to me. "Want to try another one?" she asked.

I nodded. "Sure," I replied with a smile. "I need to make sure I keep my range of food here wide so I don't get tired of it and quit coming."

She scoffed and-gently-slapped my shoulder. "Oh, you would never miss out on our cooking, hon. You, Frank and Charlie are already hooked on it."

I chuckled. "That's true," I agreed. I let a sly grin pull onto the corners of my mouths. "However, Stella's Café is getting really close in the competition to give you fair warning."

She snorted. "I eat cafés for breakfast," she said. She snapped her little notebook shut and poked me in the arm with the eraser of her pencil. "Don't think I'll let a tiny café run me out of your diet."

I raised my hands in mock surrender. "Alright, alright," I said.

Sylvia gave me a triumphant smirk before she nodded, turned on her heel and headed for the kitchen to place my order. As she walked off, I grabbed the shake off the table and began to shake it in my hand.

"You seem to have a knack of making friends everywhere we go, Bella," Irina said with a raised brow.

I shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a people person-kind of a lesser version of what Frank is," I said. I glanced at the clock on the wall to see how long I had been shaking the shake and almost groaned.

Ten seconds.

Really?

Kate smirked. "I don't know," she said. "You had that boy practically drooling all over you in the store."

Tanya chuckled, setting her hand on my thigh. "At least, he was drooling before she pretended to be a lesbian, then he just passed out."

I couldn't help it as I laughed with the Denali sisters. I gently pulled my leg out from under Tanya's hand and crossed my legs. The blonde didn't seem to mind, but then again she was a vampire and could've just been great at hiding it.

Carmen raised a brow. "Is this the one you were talking about earlier?" she asked. She set her hand on Eleazer's on top of the table.

Irina nodded with a hum. "Yes, this guy was completely hitting on Bella non-stop. She tried to let him down easy no matter what he threw at her, but the cocky son of a bitch decided to discount her bill if he could get her number," she said.

Kate smirked. "And Bella," she said, motioning towards me with her hand, "took the discount and the pen and the paper he gave her. Now, of course we thought she was actually falling for it until she walked away with her discount and bag, grabbed Tanya and practically made the douche faint when she compared him to Tanya."

Tanya grinned. "And, after he read what she wrote on the paper, he was practically jerking off to us walking away as a lesbian couple."

I forced myself not to blush then, and I would have, had I not had the excuse to open my shake and take a large gulp of the disgusting liquid. But, right before I had the potent thing to my lips, Eleazer asked, "What did you say, Bella?"

I practically sighed in relief. Thank you, Eleazer. I put down the shake and shrugged. "I just thanked him for the discount and said to find out if someone was interested in penises first."

Carmen and Eleazer chuckled. "I suppose taking the discount was a good move," Carmen said with a wink.

"More like a brilliant move," Tanya replied for me.

I then, without any distraction now, looked back at the protein shake in my hand. I could feel my hatred for the potent thing immediately glisten through my skin and eyes.

"Bella, are you going to drink that or glare at it like it just murdered your whole family?" Irina asked from the other side of the table. She raised her brow at me as her chin rested on the backs of her hands from being propped up by her elbows on the table.

I narrowed my eyes at the thing. "I'd like to murder it," I grumbled. I, quickly, brought it to my mouth and tossed it back. I swallowed the drink as fast as I could without tasting it. I slammed the empty bottle down onto the table as I stuck out my tongue. "Blah…"

Tanya nudged my water over to me and I scooped it up, swallowing the liquid to get the aftertaste off my tongue. "Why do you drink that if it's so terrible?" she asked.

I shrugged after I put my water down. "I have to every once in a while. I'm kind of on a healthy amount of each nutritious part of the food plate diet," I said with a scowl.

Eleazer cocked his head. "You said something about a weight issue a few moments ago? Is it some kind of eating disorder, or some other kind of thing?" he asked.

I shrugged. "I got sick and my eating habits got all screwed up. I'm trying to get back on track about it and to do so I need to gain more weight since I lost so much when it was first screwed up," I said. The lie was easy as it wasn't a complete lie. While I didn't say exactly what had happened and that I was still sick, it was a good enough explanation to get them off my back about it.

Tanya nodded in understanding. "Oh, I see," she said. "Was it-?"

She was cut off by Sylvia walking over with a plate and I instantly felt my mouth water at the sight of the delicious (medium sized) club she brought with her. There was no bacon on this club, just a lot of meat like turkey, ham and beef with lettuce, tomatoes, a lot of cheese and what looked like mayonnaise. Now, while the mayonnaise may not have been that healthy, they didn't put a lot on so it was fine.

She set it down in front of me and winked. "We can get you some box for the leftovers…if there are any."

"Thanks, Sylvia," I said.

She nodded and walked back towards the kitchen. I turned back to the sandwich and was about to pick up one of the two halves, but stopped and turned to Kate. "You wanted to make a bet, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, since Frank and I both need to eat more efficiently, we have this bet. The first one finished with everything on their plate gets ten or twenty bucks depending on how lucky we feel along with bragging rights. However, as Frank is not here and you want to make another bet, why don't we sub you in for him, hmm?"

Kate thought for a moment, humming as she tapped her chin with her forefinger. "Alright," she agreed with a nod. "But, this bet is the same as last time with the stakes. And, you have to eat all of your food in under…Oh, let's say about twenty minutes."

I nodded, holding my hand out towards her. "Deal," I said.

She took it, giving it a firm shake over the table with a nod of her head. "Deal." She smirked as we dropped hands. "Don't worry, Bella, I probably have a mint for you for afterwards. I don't want to be kissing any sandwich breath even if you would enjoy it."

"Kissing?" Carmen asked, her brows shooting upwards.

Kate nodded. "That was the stake on the last bet. If she lost she had to kiss me and be embarrassed. If I lost I had to do something embarrassing of her choice," she said with a smirk. "And I'm going to win this time, so you better get ready to pucker up, Bella."

"You will be when you kiss my ass."

She snorted and took out her phone. She moved through it until she arrived at the timer and set it for twenty minutes. "Right," she drawled. I grabbed my food and she said, "Go."

I took a large bite out of the club and chewed. Kate sat back, watching me with a satisfied smirk. Tanya, however, seemed confident enough in me not to worry this time about having to watch me kiss her sister.

I swallowed the chunk and took a second bite. When I swallowed that one, I asked, "Are you guys just going to stare at me or talk?"

"To me, this is entertaining. It's like watching those eating shows on TV. You know the ones were they eat as much as they can in fifteen minutes and stuff?" Kate asked.

I shrugged as I took another bite. As I chewed, Tanya began to start a conversation with the group. I jumped in here and there, but I was mostly focused on eating. I was practically inhaling the food to make sure I didn't have to kiss Kate.

By the time I was halfway through, I could feel myself starting to slow down a little. I pushed forward, though, and gobbled down the rest of my sandwich as fast as I could.

Kate groaned as I swallowed my last bite. I had three minutes left on the clock. I gave her a wicked smirk as I wiped my mouth clean. "And that is why you don't bet against me."

Kate grumbled something under her breath as Tanya grinned. She bumped my shoulder. "So, what will Kate have to do this time?" she asked.

I thought, cocking my head to the side for a moment. "Hmm…" I tapped my chin, thinking before a wicked thought came to my mind. A grin pulled on my lips. "How about I'm allowed to egg you along with dumping any other kind of food I can find on you?"

Kate's eyes widened at the thought of being covered in human food. I knew she'd hate that-all vampires did. "No way," she said, shaking her head. "No way in hell."

"Yes way in hell," Irina smirked. She began to push against us to get us out of the booth. "Come on, guys, let's go get Kate ready for her food make over."

Kate groaned as she grabbed her phone, stopping the timer. When she did, I caught a glimpse of the screen. It said there were 25 minutes on the timer.

I hit Kate right on top of her head with an egg to add onto the pile of goop that was forming all over her body. She growled, squeezing her eyes shut from the slime that ran through her hair.

She was covered in flour, eggs, brown sugar, sugar, syrup, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and more. We had made a stop at the grocery store to buy everything needed for Kate's loss at our bet and she took it all head-high on the far side of town.

There were little people then.

"I think her face needs some more brown sugar, Bella," Irina hummed from behind, assessing my work on her sister.

Kate glared at her. A large portion of the stuff had been stuck onto her face by my hand and stayed there mixed with some egg and syrup. "Shut up, Irina," she hissed.

Irina grinned as I flicked my food covered hands. I had just used the last egg on Kate's head and now all that was left was some brown sugar and ketchup. I walked over to Tanya who was holding the ketchup and took the bottle from her.

"Might as well use all of it," I said with a devilish smirk.

Kate gulped and closed her eyes, hoping to keep at least something on her clean. I uncapped the bottle and shot the rest of it onto her. The ketchup joined the rest on her shirt, pants, arms and neck. It slithered down after it made contact and I could see Kate's face twist in disgust.

I smiled, tossed the empty bottle over my shoulder where Carmen caught it to set it down with the rest. The impish grin on her and her mate's faces were enough to show how much they were enjoying this. I then took the sugar from Irina.

"I do think you're right, Irina. She probably could use more on her face…" I trailed off suggestively.

Kate looked at me. "Bella…"

I held up the bag. "You may want to cover your eyes." I began to swing it back and forth dramatically and her eyes widened before she snapped them shut just in time as I slung it forward, tossing the remaining sugar into the air and onto her body as the bag fell limp in my hands.

Kate was completely covered now.

I smiled at my creation and tossed the bag over my shoulder pleased with myself. Tanya hummed. "I think you did an excellent job, Bella," she complimented. "Kate looks stunning like that."

I nodded in agreement as Kate rubbed at her eyes. It didn't help her much as her hands were covered in the stuff as well. She finally got herself able to shake her hands and wipe away the gunk surrounding her eyes. She snorted. "Very funny," she grumbled.

I smiled at her and Carmen said, "We better get a towel. She'll ruin her car if she steps into it like that."

I shook my head. I still had one more thing to do before we got Kate cleaned up. "Not yet," I said. I walked towards Kate who groaned.

"Now what?" she asked.

I smiled as I came to a stop in front of her. I swept forward and gave her a chaste kiss. The kiss wasn't long, just a peck really, but I knew it was a good way of paying her back. Plus, I had managed to keep her mouth from being covered in something bad for me, so why not?

Kate blinked at me shocked. "What was that for?" she asked.

I shrugged. "I saw what you did with the timer, so I thought it was a good way to let you in on winning the bet," I said.

She gave me a small smile, but it quickly turned into a smirk. "Well, you could've kissed me longer, you know. How about we go again?" She moved forward to kiss me when I put my palm in her face.

"I'm good."