Hey everyone! This is it - this is the thing that's been taking up so much of my time. I won't waffle on for too long... but yeah. Please review!!

Chapter One: Crowd

"Alice, seriously, this is stupid."

My protests were falling on deaf ears, obviously, because she was still wrenching me through the crowd of people towards the school notice board.

"Don't be such a sook Bella; this is going to be good!"

I just rolled my eyes. Since when did writing to someone you've never met before count in the "good" books?

She finally let go of my arm. There were little red marks where her fingers had been, and I rubbed them sorely with my good hand. I knew better than to make for a get away. Alice may have been small, but she was quicker than I'd ever be.

Alice knocked someone out of the way with a sharp jab of her elbow to clear her path. I stepped in to catch her wake before someone else got in the way. When we were finally in front of the notice board, she grabbed the pen that was swinging on a piece of string and started scribbling her name down.

She then turned and seized my wrist, pulling me forward a metre so I could write my own name down. I sighed, seeing that there weren't very many other names to compete with, and then signed messily on one of the lines.

Forks - Port Angeles High School Pen Pal Program

I was smacked in the shin by someone's foot then, and I looked around to see who it was. There were so many people that I was having difficulty turning at all. Why they all were crowded around the board, I couldn't tell. There were all of eight or so people on that pen pal list, including my own and Alice's; and it didn't seem very intriguing to me.

Suddenly, right in my ear, Alice squealed. She started bulldozing through people, using her sharp little elbows and quick little feet to move her competition out of the way.

I didn't realise she was moving so fast out of fury rather than excitement until I saw what the main part of the crowd had gathered around.

There, right on the far right side of the noticeboard near the corner of the room was a very large picture which had been badly photo-shopped. It was a rather obese woman sitting on a park bench with a bucket of chicken on her knee and one of the chicken wings half-raised to her mouth.

On the head of this bizarre image was the smiling face of little Alice Brandon, and underneath in bold, graffiti-style writing were the words 'BEFORE SURGERY?!'

Alice screamed with fury as she finally reached the humiliating poster. The crowd around her shrunk back; its jeering laughs falling silent in her presence. She reached up and swiftly ripped down the piece of paper, scattering adjoined notices and pins all over the floor around her.

She crumpled it up in her delicate hands, and then ditched it as hard as she could at the nearest bin, into which it neatly fell. Then she spun on her shiny stiletto heel to face the crowd, her hands balled into fists at her sides.

The crowd shrunk back further from her.

"Who was it?!" she snarled, eyeballing each of the unfortunate victims closest to her. It was perfectly silent for three seconds, before a drawling laugh came from the side wall.

Some people turned their heads to see where it had come from, but none were faster than Alice. Her head turned so quickly I was surprised she hadn't hurt her neck.

Then, emerging through the tightly packed crowd of people was someone who was often responsible for stupid acts such as this. Jasper Whitlock stepped forward into the empty band of space between Alice and the onlookers, a smug smile on his would-be handsome face.

"You." Alice said quietly, barely loud enough for me to hear, let alone Jasper.

Amazingly, Jasper wasn't scared of Alice, who was now shaking so badly that the hand I had on her shoulder to prevent her from attacking him was nearly being shaken off. Alice made to step towards him, but I tightened my grip and she seemed to gain some control.

Jasper laughed when he saw this, he thought that the lengthy muscles all over his body were enough to stop anyone from even touching him. I knew better; Alice had one hell of an aim with those stilettos when given the opportunity.

Jasper came closer, leaning against the space of now-blank wall which had previously housed the poster. He crossed his arms and looked Alice up and down, which made her even angrier. I was tempted to just let her get her heels into him.

"What's the matter?" he said, daring to provoke her further. "Didn't you like my artwork?"

Alice answered with a growl. Someone in the still-looming crowd coughed and Alice rounded on them all.

"Are you waiting for something?!' she screeched, taking out part of her anger on the unlucky audience. They immediately scattered, many falling over in the haste to escape.

Jasper laughed again. I dropped my hand from Alice's shoulder, knowing that whatever he got now was completely his fault; and that he deserved it.

She didn't growl or scream or advance on him in any way. She simply glared from her position one metre away from him, willing him to burn under her gaze.

"I'll have to make another one now, thanks a lot Anna, and don't you worry your pretty little head because I'll make sure you see it before anyone else." He stepped towards her, and put his face very close to hers. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides again, and the veins on her forearms were standing out against the caramel of her skin. "Don't forget to throw up your breakfast, Anna."

Jasper then straightened up, turned and walked away. I leapt forward and linked my arm around Alice's waist before she could leap onto his back and start pulling his hair out or something. She didn't move though, she just took a big breath and closed her eyes, controlling her expression.

When she turned to face me, she had tears prickling her lashes. I grabbed her hand and led her into the empty bathroom.

Neither of us said a word as she snapped open her handbag, pulled out some tissues and cleaned up her mascara. Alice spun around and hugged me around the middle for a long moment before she snapped her bag shut and composed herself in front of the mirror.

We left the bathroom and headed for the cafeteria doors, which was where our friends tended to congeal in the mornings.

On our way there, I decided to give Alice something else to think about.

"Alice?" I said tenderly, turning my face to hers as we walked.

She turned her head to me and smiled, but I could tell it was a forced smile. "Yeah?"

"So, why did you want me to sign up for this pen pal project?"

I knew this was a good opener for a lengthy explanation, and Alice didn't disappoint. She wasn't even into the finer details of her dastardly plans to enslave Port Angeles High before we'd rounded the corner and seen our friends chatting happily in front of the cafeteria.

There, leaning against the locked cafeteria doors, was Emmett Brandon, Alice's older brother. He was looking overly-muscly and taking up way too much room for a regular eighteen year old guy to be taking up, but he was smiling and laughing at some unheard joke so the laugh lines on his face took away the menacing edge.

He had his arm wound around a beautiful blonde's waist; her name was Rosalie. I didn't actually know her last name, she'd only begun to hang around with us when she and Emmett had started going out a few months back.

Standing with her back to us and gesturing wildly with her hands as she spoke was Angela Weber. Angela was really good friends with Alice and I, and it was common knowledge that the sweetest of honeys had nothing on her angelic personality.

Ben and Tyler Cheney were wrestling stupidly; they were twins and so were constantly trying to get one-up on each other. Alice and I laughed as we watched them overbalance and hit the floor, rolling around in the fight for victory.

Then, the last person in the group stepped forward from behind Emmett. Mike Newton's face lit up when he heard Alice and I, probably more-so because of me. I skipped forward and threw myself into a hug with him, happy to see my boyfriend on an overly-eventful Monday morning.

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-Shaps