A/N: I'm finally back! For those of you who are not familiar with FASGS... you should go and read the first part Forks Academy for Special Gifted students
Okay... that's that. Now... I'm sorry for taking so long, but I had a few inspirational problems -.-
But now I'm back and somewhat motivated to continue with this story :)
So, Bella and Chris are back at home and on vacation while the rest of the clique is scattered all over the country, enjoying their free time as well.
Just read and enjoy, I'll be at the bottom
Chris POV
The sun rays warmed my exposed belly and I smiled quietly to myself, listening to the sound of waves as they filled my ears along with the mindless chatter and laughter of the people who spent their time at the beach as well.
"Life can't get any better than this," I sighed and heaved myself into a seating position.
"Oh yes, it can," Raven disagreed and pointed over to the left. "Unless you've already seen this little hottie."
I followed her gaze and pushed my sunglasses up to inspect the guy more carefully. Life had officially just gotten better.
"Hey Bella, look at—"
"Wow, that's quite impressive," Bella giggled to my left.
My gaze landed on her, only to see her with her cell phone attached to her ear.
"Is she on the phone again?" Raven asked, not even surprised.
"Not again," I mumbled. "Still."
In the past two weeks since our vacation started, Bella had constantly been on the phone. Or the Medeis mirror when the two of us were alone. She spent hours and hours just talking to... Edward. I should have known that this was how our vacation was going to be. At least he wasn't here with us - although sometimes it really felt like he was.
"Jesus, who would have thought that Bella would ever turn into one of those girls?" Raven sighed.
"What girls?"
"Well, those girls. You know... The ones who always hang on their phones to talk to their boyfriends and if they don't talk to him, they'll text him and if he doesn't reply they'll be watching their phone very closely while talking about how great their boyfriends are," Raven explained.
"She's not that bad...yet," I defended her weakly.
"Thank God for that."
"No, thank God for that," I corrected and pointed to where our hot man candy was now talking to an equally hot friend.
Raven started drooling but still managed to talk normally. "Hey Chris, I thought you also had a boyfriend?" she asked.
I stayed quiet for a moment, thinking about Dylan. I was having some trouble with seeing him as my boyfriend and the fact that we hadn't really gotten to spend much time together only added to that.
"Yes, but he's not here so I just have to pass my time with other hot guys," I replied lightly.
"Gosh, I wish I could meet those boyfriends of yours," Raven sighed.
"Be careful what you wish for," I warned her.
"What? Don't you want to see your boo?"
"He's not 'my boo'. And I'm actually enjoying my vacation right now, so there is no need for him to be appearing here. Although, it would be a wonderful opportunity to talk to him."
"What was his name again"
"Dylan."
"And he's the older brother of Edward, right?"
"Yes."
"How old was Edward again?"
"18, I think."
"Wow."
"What?"
"Nothing really," Raven replied lightly and leaned back.
I knew for sure that something was going on in Raven's head, but I wasn't going to ask her what she was thinking. She wouldn't tell me anyway.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Did you girls have a nice day?" Mom asked when we were all seated around the table.
"Oh, it was nothing special really," I answered.
"Raven tripped over some guy's bag and twisted her ankle," Bella informed her.
I was surprised that she even noticed that. I had thought she had been too busy on her phone.
"Oh dear, did she hurt herself?"
"Yes."
"She's really unlucky sometimes," Mom muttered.
"Not really. She got the guy's phone number," I threw in. Bella and I both giggled at that.
Raven's plans were always the most idiotic, but for some reason they seemed to work for her.
"You mean she hurt herself on purpose?"
"Yeah," Bella and I chorused.
Mom shook her head, while Dad looked displeased.
"Isn't she too young for that kind of thing?" he asked.
I raised my eyebrows. "Dad, she is the same age as we are."
"Exactly."
I sighed. Here we go again...
"You are only sixteen years old, you shouldn't be wasting your time with boys. You need to study and concentrate on school," he rambled.
"Dad, we're on vacation," Bella noted.
"So? You can still study. It will ensure you a spot at a good college," he retorted.
"Dad, we already have scholarships for college," I replied.
"Charlie, stop being so close-minded. Both of our girls have a boyfriend and you remember that their teacher assured us that they were doing just fine," Mom chided.
"Yes, but I want my girls to be the best and not just fine," Dad grumbled.
Bella and I exchanged looks but didn't say anything. Instead, I inspected the food that my mother had put on the table for us.
"What in the world is this?" I asked her, looking at the gray mass on my plate.
"It's...uh...something new. Just try it, it's good. Your father likes it," she replied.
I threw a doubting look in my father's direction, who suddenly seemed to be occupied with enjoying his food.
I think we're just about the only teenagers in the world who miss the food at school, Bella's voice rang in my head.
I chuckled at that, nodding my agreement.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"Alice, do you think your mom can teach our mom how to cook?" I asked the image of the little pixie in the mirror.
"Come on, her cooking skills can't be that horrible," Alice replied.
"Of course not. They're worse," Bella chimed in. She had just gotten out of the shower and sat down on my bed beside me.
"Well, I would ask my mom to rescue you guys, but she and Dad are pretty busy at the school right now."
"Is the IDM still there?" I asked.
Alice shrugged. "All I know is that something is going on there, but not even I know what. We left just a day after you guys did, remember?"
"Right."
The fact that we were all put on vacation all of the sudden was a bit more unsettling than relieving. Especially if you take into account how the last days at the academy had been for us.
"Maybe you should ask Laurent," Alice suggested.
"He's not telling us anything and Delphine is in France right now," Bella told her with a sigh.
Both Bella and I had come to the realization that Delphine was not as good at keeping secrets as her brother was. That was probably the reason why he send her on a vacation to France and stayed here by himself.
I didn't even know why any of them had to be here in the first place. It wasn't like we needed some kind of babysitters. But of course, when I had mentioned that Laurent had just ignored me and informed us that he would be staying in a little hotel only five minutes away from our home.
I really wondered sometimes if he even knew the meaning of the word 'vacation'.
"Hey Alice, I was just wondering... What exactly are guys going to be doing for Edward's birthday?" Bella randomly asked.
I groaned. Of course there couldn't be a single conversation without Edward being mentioned. Clearly, this separation was not healthy for them.
"Um, I'm not sure yet. Edward said that I could not throw him a party, so that option is out. Both he and Dylan are currently at Emmett's, so I'm not sure what they have planned to do," Alice replied thoughtfully.
"How is the farm life, by the way?" I asked Alice, remembering that she had been complaining a few days ago.
Sure enough, her expression changed into one of disgust.
"It's dirty, it's smelly and it's disgusting. Today, Jasper tried to teach me how to ride a horse and now my back hurts like hell. Those beasts are not comfortable at all. I don't know how Jazzy does it."
I laughed, imagining Alice on a horse.
"It would all be easier for me if you guys were here as well. I love Jasper and Rose, of course, and their dad is super nice, but the three of them are just too Southern for me," Alice whined.
"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."
"It's not bad at all, but I don't want to be the only one embarrassing herself."
I shook my head at Alice.
"Sorry Alice, but we're not exchanging the beach for cows and pigs," Bella told her.
Alice sighed. "I know, I wouldn't do that either. I'll just have to come up with a plan to make my vacation more bearable."
"You do that."
"Alright guys, I'm gonna go and sleep now. Rose promised me to drive to town with me tomorrow morning and do some shopping."
"I hope you're getting something for us," I said to her.
"I'll think about it. Goodnight."
"Night," Bella and I chorused just before Alice's image vanished.
Bella went over to her own bed and crawled under the covers, while I did the same.
"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, Raven asked if we wanted to watch the surf competition tomorrow afternoon," I informed Bella once I was settled between my pillows.
"What surf competition?"
"Her school apparently hosts it. There is gonna be food, hot surfers and a lot of squealing girls."
"Sounds wonderful. I guess we should be there as well."
"The hot surfers convinced you, didn't they?"
"Most definitely."
We both giggled quietly and then wished each other a good night.
The next day we were at the beach, playing audience at the so-called surf competition.
I gave up acting as if it interested me as soon as I realized that the people participating couldn't even surf properly.
It was quite sad to watch, really.
"Do you think that Raven will notice if we just leave?" Bella asked, obviously also unimpressed by the surfing skills - or lack of - of Raven's classmates.
"I don't think so," I replied. "She's coming over to us."
She followed my gaze and we both watched Raven approaching with another girl by her side.
The girl was pretty small, reminding me a little of Alice. As they came closer, I got to examine her appearance better. She had long pale brown hair, which she wore in big curls, letting them frame her face beautifully. Her make-up seemed to be perfectly matched with her clothing and her overall appearance just kind of reminded me of a doll.
"Guys, meet Jane. Jane, this is Bella and Chris. You'll never meet anyone like them," Raven introduced us as soon as she had reached us.
Jane's clear blue eyes were inspecting us with a look that I found slightly unsettling. "I'd say," she mumbled, probably in response to Raven's introduction.
"Um... nice to meet you, Jane," Bella said carefully, looking first at me and then at Raven.
"Jane just transferred to my school. I think her parents are pretty lame for making her attend school for the last few days, but at least that way she won't be bored to death over the holidays."
"Right. And how do we fit into that equation?" I asked with raised eyebrows.
Bella elbowed me into the side. It actually hurt.
I glared at her in return as I rubbed the spot she had hit.
Don't always be so rude, she mentally hissed.
Rolling my eyes at her, I turned back to Raven and Jane.
I really had to wonder why in the world Raven hung out with someone like Jane. Raven wasn't really into dolls; she didn't even like them when we were kids.
"Oh and you guys totally have to meet Jane's twin brother. His name is Alec and—oh, that's him righ there." Raven pointed at one of the surfers and I had to admit that this one didn't suck as much as some of the others did.
Unlike his sister, he was dark-haired, but that was all I could see in the distance. Somehow I still had the feeling that the brother was the only reason Raven chose to associate with Jane.
That, and maybe she had some kind of twin fetish. Who knows?
"He's good," Bella commented.
"He's a showoff," muttered Jane.
"He's hot."
We all turned to look at Raven, who started fanning herself. I guess that explained why she was hanging out with Jane.
"You think my brother is hot?" Jane inquired and pulled a grimace. "Ew, that is just gross."
Raven broke out of her daze and stared at Jane. She opened her mouth, but closed it again.
An uncomfortable silence followed.
"So," Bella started slowly, "Raven, could it be that you have a thing for twins?"
Raven smiled. "Don't worry, you'll always be my favourite twins."
"You're twins?" Jane asked in disbelief.
Both Bella and I looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Um, yeah..." we answered in unison.
She eyed us for a little while. Then she shrugged and redirected her gaze.
I sent a pointed look in Raven's direction. What the hell had she been thinking when she brought this doll along with her? Hopefully the guy was worth it.
"Are we just going to sit here, or do you guys ever do anything fun?" Jane asked, obviously bored.
"Bella! Chris!"
Bella and I turned at the sound of our names. A group of girls that I recognized as our old classmates walked up to us.
"Hey, I didn't know that you guys were here," Mia greeted. "I thought you were at that private academy." She was with two other former classmates of ours – Ruby and Tyra.
"They let us out a bit earlier than expected," I told them with a wide grin. Meeting my old friends again had a strange sense of normalty.
"Private academy?" Jane sounded impressed or something along the lines.
Ruby twirled her red hair into a bun and inspected Jane with raised brows. "Yes. Bella and Chris left us last year because they'd gotten a scholarship for some elite school."
I didn't like the look on Jane's face that followed these words.
"Anyway, we were just going to find some guys who could teach us how to surf. Wanna join?" Tyra asked.
Bella smiled widely. "I haven't been on a surfboard in years!" She jumped up enthusiastically and wiggled out of her beach dress, revealing hte blue bikini that Alice made her buy months ago. "Come on, Chris," she encouraged.
With a sigh, I pulled my own dress over my head.
"Since when do you have a tattoo? And how come I haven't seen it before?" Raven questioned immediately.
I looked down at myself and realized that I'd forgotten to cover it up. Alice had bought us some special kind of makeup a while ago to cover the seals.
I glanced at Bella, who seemed to realize just then that she hadn't covered hers, either. Damn it.
Bella POV
"It's henna. Mom tried it out on us yesterday," I explained swiftly and turned around to show them my seal as well.
"Wow, that looks so cool," Tyra complimented.
"Thanks."
"Alright, let's go and find someone who can actually surf," Chris called and jumped up.
"Hey Jane, do you think your brother will teach us?" Raven asked excitedly.
Jane looked at each of us with an unreadable expression, before she suddenly smiled brightly. "I'm sure that he will," she answered and got up. She too was wearing a swimsuit underneath her clothes. It was light pink, making her look even more like a doll.
"Are you sure he's patient enough to deal with seven girls at once?" Chris asked skeptically.
"I already know how to surf, but the two of them insisted on finding a guy to teach them," Ruby informed me.
I giggled at that. Of course they would.
As soon as Jane's brother was out of the water, we all marched up to him. I'm pretty sure that he was kind of confused as to why a bunch of girls were coming up to him and demanding he teach them to surf.
But Jane was suddenly being all pleasant and made the introductions, so he volunteered to teach us all.
After five minutes that consisted of each of us calling Alec's name as if we were going to drown – which was not possible, since we weren't in the water then – he gave up and called a few other boys to join us.
We definitely all had fun, despite the fact that most of us didn't get the hang of the whole thing at all.
To my utter surprise, I managed to stay on the board longer than all of the other girls. Just when I was starting to feel safe on it, however, I slipped and crashed into the water. At some point I just gave up surfing and stayed in the water to watch the others. My swimming skills had drastically improved and I guessed that it had to do with the fact hat I felt a lot different in the water now than I used to.
At the end of the day we were all beyond exhausted, so we agreed that we'd meet again the next day.
Mia walked home with us, since she only lived at the end of the street, and insisted on asking our mother to make her a henna tattoo as well.
Thankfully, our mom was not at home.
Realizing that I hadn't talked to Edward all day, I immediately ran up to my room and grabbed the Medeis Mirror to talk to him.
I told him about my day and in turn he told me what he'd been up to all day. Apparently Emmett's entire family had been there to celebrate some family anniversary. From what I could gather, it had been a complete mess, since Emmett's family was huge and almost every one of them was as loud as he was.
It was a great mixture of American sport fanatics and a big wave of Hungarian relatives. Not only were there quite a few misunderstandings, but also a colorful mix of languages. Apparently, Emmett was able to communicate in both languages, much to the surprise of Edward and Dylan.
Edward assured me, though, that he had fun.
I talked to Emmett real quick as well, who told me how Edward and his grandmother had gotten into a disagreement over a football match that had been on.
After a while, Chris came to join me and we both talked to Edward and Emmett about random things. When Chris casually asked about Dylan, both boys shrugged and told her that he was being a bit moody these days and didn't really like talking to anyone.
Chris frowned thoughtfully in return and I briefly wondered if something had happened between them.
We ended our conversation with Edward and Emmett when we heard some werird noise coming from the kitchen, and both of us raced down the stairs to see what happened.
It shouldn't have surprised us that Mom was attempting to cook again and had made something in the microwave explode.
"Seriously, Mom? Even I know that you aren't supposed to boil eggs in the microwave," Chris exclaimed when she examined the mess in the microwave.
Mom huffed and rolled her eyes.
"What were you trying to do anyway?" I asked her.
"I'm currently working on writing a recipe book. I was going to experiment a little."
Chris sighed and went to the phone. "What pizza do you guys want?"
xXxXxXxXxXx
Apart from the little catastrophes every now and then, we managed to have a rather peaceful vacation.
We hung out mostly with our old friends, although Alec and Jane tagged along as well. Sometimes Alec brought some friends along so that he wouldn't be alone with us girls, though he didn't seem to mind, which was no surprise really. Raven, Tyra and Ruby were all constantly flirting with him. Mia was mostly fixated on his one friend, Matt, and Chris and I found the whole thing amusing.
Although Chris' attitude changed a little over the course of the vacation and she started to fall back into her flirtatious tendencies. Seeing that she was being a bit grumpy every time I talked to Edward, I really started to think that something must have happened between her and Dylan. When I asked Edward about it, he couldn't tell me anything.
Then there was also Edward's birthday coming up. Since there was nothing really that I could do, I just settled for sending him something nice. The whole group went tot he mall for that, and once Mia had discovered that I had a boyfriend, there was no other topic throughout the day.
Chris kept quiet most of the time, but was still helpful when it came to pickig out something for Edward. She even helped arrange the package later on and put in a present herself. We printed out a picture of the two of us for the blank card that we'd gotten him, and I wrote an incredibly long birthday greeting in it, which Chris merely signed.
Dad took the package with him the next day, but didn't look too pleased that I'd gotten my boyfriend something for his birthday.
"Dad, could you please send it off for me?" I asked him for the third time already.
"I said I'd do," he grumbled in response. He didn't look at me while saying this.
Chris chose that moment to appear in the dining room as well. She was still dressed in her pyjamas, looking ruffled and only half awake.
"Good morning, sweetie," Mom greeted her.
Chris didn't reply and just walked passed Dad, hitting him on the back of is head.
"Ow," he complained. "What is wrong with you?"
"Just send off the damn package, Dad," she muttered and sat down next to me.
"I said that I would do it, jeez."
"Baby, you can't lie to three women at once," Mom interfered.
Dad rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath.
"Daaaad?" I whined.
"What?"
"Stop being so stubborn."
"I'm not being stubborn."
"Dad, if I find out that you didn't send it off I will never talk to you again."
We all laughed when we saw Dad's shoulders slump down.
"You know what happens when you blackmail a cop, right?" Dad asked slowly.
"Um...no."
"You get punished." He suddenly jumped up and launched himself at me.
I didn't react until he started tickling me.
I heard Mom and Chris chuckle in the background while I almost fell off my chair with laughter.
"D-dad...s-stop—" I leaned away from him and suddenly felt myself falling.
Luckily, Dad caught me before I could hit my head or something. He pulled me up and caught my gaze. "I hope you told this Edwin that I want to meet him, otherwise the package will land in the nearest dumpster," he said in a serious voice.
I bobbed my head fiercely. "Of course I told him. But you can't expect him to fly across the country right away just because you want to make him uncomfortable," I lied swiftly, amazed how I was not blushing.
"Of course I can expect that. I can expect even more – he is dating my precious daughter after all."
Chris cleared he throat.
"Don't think that your boy is kept out of this, either. They both better make an appearance at some point and be on their best behaviour."
"I'll make sure to tell him that as soon as he talks to me again," Chris muttered bitterly.
The muttering was actually too low to make out, but since I was sitting next to her I heard it. And despite the fact that Dad usually has trouble hearing us when we speak too quietly, his ears twitched and he turned his attention to Chris.
"What was that?" he questioned politely, which was of course a farce.
Chris looked up in surprise. "What was what?"
"He's not talking to you?"
"Err..."
"How dare he treat my daughter like that?" he roared and went to grab the phone. "What's his phone number? I'm gonna call him right now!"
"I'm not giving you his phone number," Chris scoffed in response, getting up and walking into the kitchen.
"Oh yes, you are."
"No way. Knowing you, you'll probably threaten to put him in jail or something."
"Damn right I will. No body on this earth is allowed to ignore my daughters like that. Not even her boyfriend. What the hell is this boy thinking? Does he think that he's too good for you? I'm gonna pull his arrogant ass back to the ground of reality. If anything should b—"
"Dad!" Chris yelled, returning with a sandwich in her hand. "Just drop it already."
Dad looked at her for a moment and then nodded. "Don't think I'm done with this. You will tell me all about this Dustin when I get back from work, and then you will give me his phone number so I can—"
"Sweetie, you are going to be late," Mom piped in.
I just watched the whole thing, not sure if I should be amused by Dad's outburst or worried about Chris' seemingly irritated mood.
Dad left, grumbling something under his breath.
As soon as he was out the door, Mom turned her attention to Chris, who had gone into the kitchen once more to get herself a bowl of cereal. She balanced the bowl in her right hand, her other hand holding two chocolate bars.
"Chris, why don't you tell us what's bothering you?" Mom asked her gently.
"Nothing's bothering me."
"Is that why you're burying yourself underneath all that food?" I asked her dryly.
"What? I'm hungry." She shoved a spoonful into her mouth as if to prove her point.
"Sure you are. I'm surprised you haven't gone for ice cream."
"Shut up."
"Not until you tell me what's wrong with you; you've been kind of gloomy lately."
"I don't see how that is any of your business."
"Apart from the fact that I have to endure you and your moodiness?"
"You don't have you. You can just go and do whatever you want to do, and leave me alone."
I opened my mouth to snap something back at her, but Mom chose that moment to interfere.
"That's enough, girls," she sighed and shook her head at us. "You two shouldn't be snapping at each other like that. You are twins, you have a special bond between you and that should make you more considerate of your sister's feelings."
I turned to look at my mother in surprise. What did she know about the bond?
Chris stopped scowling as well and stared at Mom with wide eyes.
"Mom, what are you talking about?" I asked carefully.
"Hmm?" she looked up at me. "Oh, I once read an article about twins who could always feel when their siblings was near. They said they shared emotions as well and that nothing could ever separate them. When I found out that I would be having twin girls, I had been so happy because no matter what happened, I knew that you two would always be there for each other," she sighed dreamily and folded her hands, looking up dramatically.
Sometimes I had to wonder if she thought that this was all just a movie. Obviously she was having one of her antics again.
I let out a breath of relief and heard Chris do the same, before she went back to her earlier sour mood.
"Seriously Chris, what's wrong?" I asked my sister gently.
"Nothing."
"Oh no. I know that look," Mom whispered and hurried to Chris' side. "Chris, what did you do?" she asked calmly.
Chris immediately flinched back from her. "I didn't do anything," she snapped and bit forcefully into her chocolate bar.
"Well, then what did Dylan do? Something must have happened."
Chris just turned her face in the other direction and didn't reply.
Mom grabbed her arms and shook her gently. "Chris, what did he do?" The way she kept pressing made it seem as if she already had an answer and just wanted to hear it from Chris.
"Jesus, stop bothering me. He didn't do anything. Well, he did, but—ugh. There is no way I'm talking to you about this." She just pushed Mom's hands away and crossed her arms.
"Sweetie, if something happened—"
"Why can't you just leave it alone? It's not like anything bad happened. We didn't get into a fight or whatever." Chris' voice was a bit strained now and I could feel her resolve crumbling. "Yes, there was something. A big something. But I didn't know that it would cause him to stop talking to me. It just happened and I didn't want to tell you at first because I just wanted to keep it between us, and then when more time passed I just felt stupid and didn't tell you because I didn't want you to tell me how stupid I was." Chris was now pacing around.
"I wouldn't do that, you know that," I told her gently.
"Well, in this case you would. Especially since you seem to be doing everything right. I don't see any flaw in your relationship with Edward."
I honestly had no idea where she was going with this.
"You two just make it look so easy. When you're together, it just looks right and as far as I know, you two never really had any serious issues. The only fights you have are about who loves the other more."
"Chris, I don't think I follow," Mom remarked quietly.
"Neither do I," I added.
Chris sighed in exasperation. "I tried it with Dylan a thousand different ways and each one ended in disaster. I just wanted to be at ease like you are with Edward, but no matter what I did, I just created more trouble. So I decided that maybe I tried too hard and just gave up, but now I think I just gave up too much." She sat back down, tugging on her hair.
Apparently these words made perfect sense to Mom because she made a sound that told me that she'd just had an epiphany. "I knew that I knew that look!" she said smugly, before turning serious again. "Honey, did you and Dylan...?"
Chris just nodded, blushing slightly and looking away.
Meanwhile, I was still in the dark.
"Oh, bum-bum!" Mom squealed. "I can't believe that you've grown up so fast." And just like that, my mother turned into a teenage girl. "How was it? Did he treat you okay? 'Cause if he didn't—"
"Mom!" Chris shouted in mortification. "Stop that already."
"But I wanna know all about my little girl's first time."
And just like that, a light was switched on and I was no longer in the dark.
I pointed a finger at Chris. "That's why you were so chipper that morning!" I accused.
Chris blushed even more.
"Aw, she's blushing. It must have been good then, otherwise she'd cry," Mom noted.
"Mother!"
"Was it really?" I asked, curious to hear.
"You guys are horrible," Chris said, getting up at the sound of the doorbell.
"Good morning, beautiful Swan," I heard Raven's voice greet.
Mom's eyes twinkled and I knew that this wouldn't end well. At least not for Chris.
"We are so going to make this a girls' day," Mom announced and pranced into the kitchen.
"Girls' day?" Raven asked, entering the room. "What's the occasion? Did someone get dumped?"
"No, even better," Mom shouted and returned from the kitchen. "Chris is now a woman."
"Would you cut that out?" Chris snapped, grabbing a spoon from the table and throwing it in Mom's direction.
Of course, she missed, but I had a feeling that she hadn't even planned on hitting Mom.
"Wha—oh." Raven's face took on an entirely new expression. It was the strangest mixture of smugness, curiosity and more smugness. She followed our mother into the kitchen and I knew then for sure that we were doomed.
XxxXxXxXxXx
"Are we finally done now?" I asked, hanging upside down from the armchair.
"I guess so. We did the manis and the pedis, and I have no more sex talk left," Mom noted.
"Good," Chris grunted and shoved more ice cream into her mouth.
"Stop that," Raven scolded. "Only frustrated girls get wasted on ice cream."
"I am frustrated."
"You have no reason to be. From what you have told us, you must be floating on clouds right now."
"I didn't tell you anything," Chris barked.
"No, but your blush gave you away, sweetie," Mom told her.
"Whatever." She continued with the ice cream.
"Stop it already," Raven instructed and took the carton away from her.
"Hey, give it back. I have every right to be frustrated. For once in my life I'm just being completely nice to that guy, not pushing him away or giving him a hard time, and all I get in return is big fat silence. Now give me that ice cream because I need it."
"Oh right, he doesn't talk to you."
Only now Mom and Raven came out of their teenage girl bliss. I still didn't get what got them all excited. It should be Chris who's jumping up and down the walls, not them.
"Maybe he feels awkward about it," I offered, wanting to make Chris feel better.
"He's the one making it awkward. Besides, it's not like I was his first victim. I bet he just moved on since he now got what he wanted," Chris muttered.
"What?" Mom and Rave shrieked at the same time.
Both Chris and I looked at them with raised eyebrows.
"Just what kind of guy is this Dylan?"
"He's an arrogant prick who loves to go through girls just to boost his ego," Chris replied instantly.
"Come on, don't be so mean. You know that he has his good side, too."
"Yes, I know."
"Maybe, you should call him," Rave suggested.
"You could even invite him to come visit us. And Edward, of course."
I jumped up at that. "I'll get the phone."
"Seriously, Bella? Obsessed much?" Chris asked with raised eyebrows.
"What? You are the one making the call... I already invited Edward like a thousand times but he won't appear until you agree as well and also, this is not even about me and Edward, but you and Dylan. I really don't want to see you sulking everyday."
"I'm not going to call him," Chris protested. "He can stay wherever he is – I don't want him here." With these words she stomped out of the room and upstairs.
"Just like her father... Always stubborn," Mom said absentmindedly.
I rolled my eyes at her. As if she wasn't stubborn herself... And weird.
"So is Chris just going to stay upstairs all day?" Raven asked.
I shrugged.
"How lame. I was going to ask you guys to go to the beach with me."
I stared at Raven, wondering where she had left her brain today. "Have you looked at the time? The day is almost over, seeing that you crazy people insisted on a girls' day."
"Oh well." Raven shrugged.
"Let's get started with dinner. Your father should be home soon," Mom suggested and got up.
"Sure."
The three of us went into the kitchen and decided to make pizza. It wasn't all that hard and even my mother couldn't mess that up.
Just when we pulled our pizza out of the oven, Dad came back home, happy to see that today's dinner would not be lethal.
I went upstairs to call Chris down for dinner as well, but when I entered our room I saw that she was fast asleep and didn't want to wake her.
The following days passed painfully slow. It was raining a lot and so we stayed in most of the time.
Mom had started a new painting project in the garage and forced us to take part.
It wasn't all that bad, seeing that I actually enjoyed painting even if I wasn't all that good at it. Chris on the other hand didn't see the point of drawing flowers and butterflies on the walls.
Raven told her not to be so negative and continued painting. A bleeding heart with a dagger pierced through it. What a positive attitude she had.
As soon as the sun reappeared a couple of days later, my phone rang showing that it was Mia calling.
"Hey, where are you?" she asked right away.
"At home, just getting ready. Why?"
"Common thing to ask. What are you and Chris up to, today?"
I stopped rummaging through the closet and looked over at Chris, who was standing in front of the mirror fussing over her hair. She was still not completely over the fact that it was shorter now. It suited her though, especially since it was getting thicker now.
Even Mom had told her that it was 'totally chic' but apparently she didn't care.
"Hey Chris, are we doing something today?" I asked her.
"I don't know or care as long as I don't have to paint another damn flower."
"I guess, we're still planning," I told Mia.
"Oh goody," she squeaked, "You are so going to hang with us today."
"What do you guys have in mind?"
"I don't want to hear anything about the beach today. I don't care if the sun is out, the beach's getting kinda lame," Chris muttered in the background, highly concentrated on lining her eyes. She usually didn't even wear make up just like me, so I guessed that she was bored.
"Jane invited us over to her place. They have a swimming pool and Alec is inviting some guys as well."
"Where does she live?"
I went over to the desk to find something to write, while Mia told me the address.
"No drive to the beach today?" Chris asked in a hopeful voice.
"No drive to the beach. We're apparently going to a pool party at Jane's."
"Seriously? I'm not sure if that is any better."
I shrugged. "We don't have anything better to do. Do you want to drive?"
"Hell yeah," Chris cheered.
"Well, then you ask Mom is she's giving out the car today."
Chris immediately darted out of the room, while I searched for something appropriate to wear.
An hour later we were sitting in Mom's red coupe. We didn't even get to drive much since we've gotten our licenses since most of the time we either were dropped off or walked.
To be actually driving ourselves around was kind of exciting even if I wasn't the one in the driver's seat.
We had the top down and enjoyed the sense of freedom.
My phone rang once again only that it was not Mia this time. "Hello?"
"Where are you two going right now?" The harsh sound in Mr. Decour's voice kind of caught me off guard. More than the fact that he was calling me. I didn't even know that he had my phone number.
"Uh...we're going to visit a friend. Why?"
"Because you just disappeared out of my range and didn't even think to inform me. I thought something happened for a moment."
"I'm sorry?"
Chris looked at me in question, wanting to know who I was talking to. I mouthed to her that it was Mr. Decour. "What does Napoleon want?" she wondered.
"When are you going to be back?" Mr. Decour asked at the same time.
"I don't know," I answered both of them.
Both of them sighed. The line went dead and I guessed that Mr. Decour had just hung up.
"How weird."
"He's French. What do you expect?" was Chris' reasoning.
We arrived at Jane's house a few minutes later. Well, maybe the term 'house' wasn't exactly right. It was more like a mansion.
"I'm so glad you could make it. I really hate it when Alec invites his friends over. I don't even know how he knows so many people already," Jane greeted when she opened the door. She led us through the giant entrance hall, chatting happily without a break and pointing out a few rooms that she deemed important. "So, I guess you wanna get changed," she said, opening the door to her bedroom.
Or bed apartment. Depends on how you see it. It was definitely huge and it was pink. And fluffy.
Well, she had combined pink and light blue but I saw so many fluffy pillows and the carpet was fluffy, too.
Chris and I exchanged a look but didn't say anything else.
"Just follow the noise, then you'll most likely find us," Jane said and sauntered from the room.
"Do you know what Jane's parents do for a living?" I questioned Chris.
"Assassinate important personalities."
"Do you really think the pay is that good?"
"You can see the house, can't you?"
I shook my head at Chris, snickering.
Both of us got changed quickly and walked out of the giant bedroom. We followed the noise just as Jane had instructed, which was not hard to do since we could hear girly squealing, music and the roaring laughter of guys.
Just what a pool party should sound like.
Walking through the halls, we somehow made it downstairs and to the backyard.
The girls were all gathered around or in the pool and a few guys – some I recognized, others not so much – were all over the place as well.
There were cocktails, too, and I briefly wondered if the general good mood came from alcohol or if they were all totally sober and just acting drunk.
"Hey, there are our Swans. What did I say, guys? I told you they were hot," Alec boomed, gesturing toward me and Chris.
Jane was occupying one of the deck chairs, looking like a model in the sun as she shook her hands slightly at the guys, who all turned their attention to us.
"I thought they were twins?" one of them said, while I tried to ignore the scanning eyes as I made my way over to Jane.
"They are... You'll see once they are closer to us."
"Is there alcohol in those cocktails?" Chris asked, eyeing the colorful drink in Jane's hand.
"My parents left us alone with our butler, so what do you think?" Jane asked her in return.
"Is that a yes?" The impatience in her voice was not hard to detect. She was a bit too irritable these days.
Jane smiled kindly at her. "Yep."
Chris smiled back at her and without any kind of warning, she snatched the glass right out of Jane's hand and sauntered off toward Alec and two other guys, who had turned their attention toward Tyra and Mia next to them.
Jane just looked a bit confused, before she let out a soft laugh and shook her head. "Have a seat, Bella," she said and gestured toward the deck chair next to her.
Seeing no harm in that, I sat down. "Do you wanna drink anything? Matthew makes wonderful fruit cocktails."
"Um..."
"Matthew," Jane called in a shrill voice, causing everyone to flinch. Matthew, the butler, appeared a few moments later and Jane ticked off an entire list of things she wanted and that others might want.
Jane kept up a conversation with me, although it was more like an interrogation. She asked me millions of questions about school, my friends, things I liked to do, things I wished for, Edward, my relationship with my sister, and she never really revealed much about herself. Sometimes she would mention one of her likes and dislikes, but I had a feeling that she only did that so that I wouldn't feel like I was the only one doing the talking.
I kept my answers as short as possible, whilst sipping on my cocktail. I had forgotten all about asking Jane whether or not there was any alcohol in it. Apparently there was, because after a while I started to feel slightly dizzy and had some kind of warm fuzzy feeling in my tummy.
I started giving Jane more detailed answers and turned into a real talkative girl, occasionally giggling at the antics of the others.
"Bella, we should totally spend the night here. There is no way I'm gonna be able to drive us home," Chris' voice was suddenly right beside my ear and even if she wasn't slurring her words, I could tell that she was drunk.
I furrowed my brows. "How much did you drink?"
Chris shrugged casually and looked over her shoulder. "I don't remember, but I know that I had quite a few drinks. Jane, your butler is the best cocktail mixer ever."
"Yeah, I know," Jane replied with a small smile. "Oh and I don't mind if you guys spend the night. Seeing how everyone is enjoying these cocktails, I guess everybody is gonna be joining in on our sleepover party."
"Oh, that's my first sleepover with boys," Chris cheered and clapped her hands together. She looked back over her shoulder once more.
"No, it's not. Remember the Christmas party at Al—"
"Yeah but we were in separate rooms and parents were present. Doesn't count." Chris rolled her eyes.
Jane got up from her deckchair. Only now I noticed that the sun was slowly starting to set.
"Alec," Jane called over to the pool. "My room or yours?"
"What for?" Alec asked, looking a bit confused.
"We're having a sleepover."
"Your carpet is a lot more comfortable."
Jane grinned and strut off whilst calling for Matthew to go and meet her in her room.
"Come on, Bells. You should join us in the pool. The water is totally warm." Chris tugged on my arm and helped me get on my feet.
I had never really been tipsy, except this one time on New Years when Raven, Chris and I had all sneaked some champagne and thought it wouldn't matter if we just used regular glasses and downed the bubbly liquid.
Before we knew it we had all been rocking out to the Spice Girls, singing along loudly whilst our parents were downstairs in the living room, oblivious to what was going on upstairs.
The crazy high that came with the champagne didn't stay for long though and so I'd never really gotten to enjoy the state of mild drunkenness.
Despite the fact that I was a bit buzzed, I was able to walk perfectly straight. It surprised me more than it probably should have.
Chris was definitely beyond being buzzed at this moment, judging by the way she once stumbled quickly – although she managed to walk rather straight for a drunk person – and her giggling.
"Finally joining us, Bella?" Mia asked me loudly.
Apparently, she had finally gotten somewhere with Matt, because the two of them were sitting at the rim with their legs in the water, Matt's arm around her waist, nuzzling her neck.
"Yeah, I thought you could use something hot in this pool," I retorted casually.
Chris chuckled at that and let go of me. I slowly stepped into the pool, grinning at the cheers of the others.
Ruby came over to my side and engulfed me into a tight, wet hug. At least that was what I thought at first. She put her arms around my neck, but then locked her arms around my waist, pulling me into the water with her weight.
We were both under the water for a moment, but Ruby let go of me quickly, allowing me to get back up and breathe.
The others all found that entertaining 'cause they cheered happily when Ruby and I resurfaced.
Drunk people were definitely easy to entertain.
"Coming back in," Chris called from somewhere behind me.
I turned just in time to see Chris at the other end of the pool, jumping in head first.
Again, cheering followed.
I just rolled my eyes, but smiled slightly to myself, although that had more to do with the comfort I felt in the water.
"Bella, you didn't have enough to drink yet," Alec called to me. Chris was now next to him with his arm around her shoulder. I looked at her with raised eyebrows, but she didn't really notice.
Through the bond, I felt nothing concrete. Everything was blurred and a bit too spiked. All I could make out was that her feelings were overall positive.
Maybe it was the alcohol that made everything so vague.
"Matthew," Tyra practically screamed, sounding like a kid calling for their mommy.
She just continued to call the name until the two guys next to her joined in.
A few minutes later the whole group was yell-singing, "Matthew, get our drinks done, we want our drinks, so get them done."
I just clapped along, refraining from joining in completely.
After about ten minutes of singing, Matthew did appear with a huge tray, earning a round of applause and cheers, while Jane joined all of us in the pool.
We had all enjoyed our pretty, mixed beverages and soon, I was just as drunk as the rest of them.
In my mind I vaguely registered that I couldn't call our parents in this state to tell them that we were staying at Jane's.
The thought just came to me all of the sudden, so I stopped laughing with Ruby and Alec's friend, Keith and turned around to look for my sister.
"Hey, where is Chris?" I asked in confusion, not seeing her. It was already dark and the pool was illuminated by little spotlights inside. I had no idea what time it was and if our parents were already worried about our whereabouts.
"Who's Chris?" Keith asked in confusion.
"My twin sister," I laughed.
"You have a sister?"
"Yup, she's really pretty," I informed him, slurring just a tiny bit.
"I bet she's not prettier than you are."
"Wanna bet money on it? I'll gladly earn some."
Keith might have replied something to that but Tyra interrupted. "Chris is right over there. In that corner with Alec. She's so lucky." Tyra sighed.
I turned to where Tyra had pointed. Sure enough, she was with Alec. The two of them were on the deeper end, pressed into a corner. The only thing I actually saw of Chris were her arms around Alec's neck, one hand occasionally wandering down.
I swam over to them, not really sure how to interrupt them. It also crossed my mind that I had never seen my sister making out with anyone.
"Hey Chris," I called when I was close enough to be sure that she heard me.
In my drunken state, I felt heavier in the water, no longer connected to it and feeling a slight bit empty. I didn't even have a proper connection to Chris, which was really unsettling but not too much since I was easily distracted.
"Hmm," she managed to let out, not loosening herself from Alec.
Alec didn't seem to care about anything at that moment. He had Chris securely caged in the corner and it seemed like that was all he cared about.
"I forgot to call Mom and Dad earlier when we decided to stay here overnight," I said.
The sight of Chris and Alec in their lip-locked state made me feel a bit uneasy as well as jealous. I missed this kind of physical contact.
Chris broke away from Alec, which didn't even deter him in the slightest. Since she turned her head in my direction, he just attacked her neck, not caring if she was really participating or not.
Under the water I could see how he pressed their bodies closer together and I wasn't sure whether or not I should stop this whole thing and remind Chris that she had a boyfriend or if I should just let her go on. After all, it didn't really seem like there was anything happening against her will, but she was also very drunk so who knew what exactly her will was?
When she spoke, though, I wasn't too sure about her drunken state anymore.
"I could call them if you want. I need to go to the bathroom anyway," she proposed.
"Are you sure, you're going to manage that? I don't want Dad to be waiting for us tomorrow with handcuffs ready," I hiccupped.
"No worries, I can totally do this. I haven't had a drink in quite some time, so I guess I'm a bit sobered up."
"Sure you're not on some other kind of high?" My eyes flitted toward Alec, who had relocated his kisses to a place a little bit lower.
She bit her lip and let her hands trail over Alec's upper body again. I realized that this moment was not actually supposed to be for my eyes, but I was too far gone to turn my head in a polite manner.
She pushed Alec away from her and placed a few soft kisses on his lips.
"I don't really think it's a high. It's a bit more of a low," Chris said, kissing him one more time, before she wiggled out of the small space and heaved herself out of the pool.
Alec looked at her with hungry eyes and the excited look on Chris' face told me that those two were up two nothing good.
"I think I'm gonna go with you," I said and was already halfway out of the water. Behind me I heard the others laughing and hollering.
Judging by their calls, someone was emptying their stomach in the bushes.
Chris didn't wait for me, so I had to quickly stumble after her. After being in the water the whole time it was a bit disorientating to feel actual ground beneath my feet again.
In my current state, the giant mansion seemed even more like a maze than before.
Chris didn't really seem to have a clue where we were going, judging by the way she opened every second door in hopes of finding a bathroom.
"Finally," she sighed when she found a bathroom and quickly waved me in. "Way too many rooms," Chris mumbled.
I made an agreeing sound and closed the door behind me.
While Chris made a run toward the toilet, I went over to the mirror and inspected my reflection.
I didn't look nearly as bad as I had feared. My hands were of course soft and crinkled but that was to be expected, since I had spent more than enough time in the water.
"Hey Daddy," I heard Chris say.
I turned around to see my twin sister sitting in the bathtub with her phone pressed to her ear. She looked like a drunk party guest that had just spent the night in the tub, only less messed up.
"Dad, it's not past curfew yet. You and Mom allowed us to stay out until twelve when we don't have school, and it's just after ten."
I heard the low rumble of my father's voice.
"You should be happy that you have two daughters that always come home on time, you know," Chris mumbled.
Again, I heard my father speaking.
"Yeah, yeah. Sorry about that. We just kinda forgot all about that and only just remembered."
Chris rolled her eyes at whatever Dad was saying next.
"Anyway, I was actually just calling to let you know that Bella and I are going to spend the night at Jane's."
Whatever Dad was saying next, Chris wasn't listening to it. She just held the phone away from her ear for a moment, readjusted her bikini top, and then interrupted him.
"We left Mom the address before we left and we'll leave our phones on. Mia, Tyra and Ruby are here as well, and there is a grown-up supervisor. There are no boys and we'll be back before tomorrow night. Love you, Dad. Sleep well and see you tomorrow." She ended the call and looked up at me with a grin.
I just looked back at her with raised eyebrows and gestured toward the toilet. "Waiting for it to flush itself?"
"Nothing is impossible in this house," Chris grinned as she heaved herself out of the tub.
"So..." I started and let my voice trail off.
"So?" Chris looked questioningly at me.
"You and Alec?"
Chris rolled her eyes and gently pushed me away from the mirror to check her own reflection. "What about it?"
"You do remember that you have a boyfriend, right?"
Chris sighed. "I'm not too sure about that."
"What? I thought the two of you were together?"
Chris looked at me through the mirror. "We kind of are...or were. I'm not sure. It never felt like an actual relationship—more like we were casually dating or something. And now he's not even talking to me, so I guess it's safe to assume that Dylan and I are not something permanent."
I looked at my sister, searching for any sign of sadness, but I didn't find anything.
"Don't you think you should talk to Dylan before you do something stupid that might affect...whatever you have in any way?"
Chris huffed. "No way. I don't want to spend my holiday plaguing myself with thoughts of what ifs and so on, when I can simply enjoy my free time and get back to worrying about it once the kid decides that I'm worth his time again. I'm not particularly fond of being treated like a toy."
I guess I saw Chris' point. Although I would definitely deal with things differently than she did, I knew that I couldn't exactly interfere. Seeing her expression and having watched her behavior earlier made me realize that the whole situation with Dylan was taking it's toll on her — she just didn't notice, since she was too busy throwing herself into crazy activities.
When we left the bathroom, we promptly walked into the others, who were all wrapped in towels and announced that we were headed for the movie theater. At first I was a bit confused by that, but I quickly understood that they actually had a movie theater in this house.
The room was actually big enough to look like they had stolen it out of a real theater.
I didn't even know what the movie was about that we were watching, because once I was back in the group, I got back to my crazy-happy mood from earlier and laughed senselessly about lots of stuff.
As far as I remembered there were a few more drink consumed and I was kind of impressed with myself that I didn't puke or even feel sick. My head had just started to spin a bit more than it should.
The night continued in a crazy haze. We were all a bit too hyped up and when the movie was over Keith, Matt and the two other friends of Alec's – Jack and Adrian – decided that it would be "the most awesome thing ever" if we did some mattress surfing on the giant stairwell in the entrance hall.
As soon as this idea was out, everybody was up for it.
We squealed, we laughed and occasionally someone cried. It was lots of fun and since the whole group seemed to get along so well, Mia and Jane decided that we'd have to meet again the next day.
Matt offered to let us all in at his parents' country club. Everyone agreed and even Chris and Alec got their hands off of each other to join in on the enthusiasm.
The next morning I woke up by a deep groan rumbling through my entire body.
I slowly opened my eyes and attempted to stretch, but my body was pressed against someone else's, not giving me enough space to move.
Not only that, but my head was definitely not resting on a pillow.
I craned my neck as much as I could, only to see that I had used one of the boys as a pillow, while another one must have mistaken me with a stuffed animal.
"I think they are finally waking up," I heard someone giggle.
I wiggled out of the person's grasp and slowly sat up. I noticed that I had been sleeping on the floor.
Looking around, I recognized my pillow and the one who had cuddled me fiercely in his sleep.
"Was there something going on between you and Keith last night?" Tyra asked me in a suggestive tone.
I didn't look at her as I pried Keith's hands off of me. "Not as far as I know," I answered and cringed at the sound of my voice. Also, I was becoming oddly aware of a headache that was slowly starting to build.
"I can't believe that you were lucky enough to get Keith and Adrian to cuddle up with you. I'm definitely jealous right now," Ruby sighed. She and Tyra were sitting on the floor wrapped in blankets with their hair in a crazy mess.
"Could you people keep it down?" a voice complained from the other side of the room.
We all turned to look at a bundle of sheets that was moving a bit and a small pale hand came to view.
"Come on, Mia. It's already past ten; you might as well get up," Ruby encouraged.
"No way, I'm tired." Mia mumbled.
Looking at the the bundle that she was in, I noticed that she was not sleeping alone either.
"That's what you get for screwing around all night with Matt," Tyra snickered.
Mia's hand flipped her off before it vanished again.
"Where are the others?" I asked in confusion.
"Jane is up on her bed and she actually allowed Jack to join, but kicked him out in the middle of the night. He's somewhere on the other side of the bed," Ruby replied, pointing over to the giant bed, where the whole group could have easily slept on. "Before you even say anything. You and Keith insisted on sleeping on the floor. Nobody knows why."
I just nodded slowly, trying to wake up properly. "Where's Chris?" I yawned casually.
Both Tyra and Ruby giggled like little girls.
Behind me Adrian let out a weird sound before he spoke, "Chris and Alec vanished a long time before we all decided to go to sleep."
"You're awake?"
"Not really."
I laughed quietly until his words had actually sunk in and I felt my face drop.
"She's with Alec?"
"Don't act all surprised; we all saw the two of them. They were practically eating each other," Ruby said.
I shook my head fiercely.
Surely Chris wouldn't have done anything stupid. But remembering the way she had been all over Alec last night, I couldn't be too sure.
I grimaced at the thought. As much as I loved my sister, sometimes she was just plain stupid.
Normally, she had the most fun when she played hard to get, and now she was changing her tactics and settling for being an easy girl?
She could have at least waited one more year to do idiotic stuff like that. Nothing screamed 'slut' more than a sixteen-year old who just got it on with a somewhat stranger after having too much to drink.
At least not in my eyes.
Slowly but surely, each person in the room woke up and we all made our way downstairs to the dining room, where breakfast was already served.
We were like an army of zombies, groaning and moaning whilst staring blankly ahead.
I couldn't even really eat much, so I just settled for water.
The others all drank coffee like there was no tomorrow, but I'd never liked it and I was so thirsty that I could have gone out and drank the pool empty.
Alec and Chris also joined at some point, not looking anymore awake than the rest of us.
Chris carefully avoided my gaze and didn't talk much, which didn't really bother anyone, since we were all half dead anyway.
"Okay, so we'll meet each other at five in front of the club okay?" Matt confirmed once more, after having given us the exact address.
We all mumbled our agreement and each of us took off to our respective cars.
All the water had woken me from my zombie state a bit, so I waltzed off toward the car with Chris stumbling behind me.
My headache was luckily gone after taking Aspirin, but I still felt kind of crappy.
I slid into the driver's seat and waited for Chris to get in the car as well.
It took her forever to finally reach the car and get in, and once she did, she leaned back lazily and didn't say anything.
She only put her sunglasses on in silence, waiting for me to start the car.
I did exactly that and started our way back home.
"So are you ever going to tell me what went on between you and Alec?" I asked casually when the silence started to get on my nerves.
Chris only grunted in response.
"Was that an answer?"
"Just leave me alone."
"Don't you want to tell me?"
"Quiet!"
"You usually tell me everything."
"Come on, I don't wanna talk about it."
"Don't tell me that you have begun to enjoy having sex so much that you are willing to just give it out to every guy that crosses your path."
"Bella!"
"I guess this ends your relationship with Dylan."
"Jesus, I didn't even do...much with Alec," Chris groaned.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"That we didn't do...it, okay? He wanted to, but I do have a few boundaries left, surprisingly."
I stayed quiet. The blurriness in the bond was slowly starting to fade, so I could somewhat make out that she was not lying.
I relaxed at that.
Chris looked at me. "What, were you worried about me?"
"A bit," I admitted.
"You shouldn't be. It's a waste of your time to be worried about the stuff I do."
I pulled into our driveway. "Easier said than done."
Getting out of the car, I felt a bit wobbly on my feet.
"Whose car is this?" Chris asked.
I turned around and saw a silver Volvo parked on the street, next to our driveway.
"I don't know," I replied slowly.
Both Chris and I shrugged and walked up to the front door.
Inside the house were more voices than usual, which made Chris slow in her movements as she opened the door.
Hopefully we could sneak off into our room before anyone saw us, because in our current state, it was not advisable to let any visitors see us.
We quietly tiptoed into the house, me closing the door almost silently, and sneaked over to the stairs.
That was until I suddenly froze.
This couldn't be true.
I must have still been dreaming.
"Bella," Chris hissed quietly, while I turned in the direction of the living room.
I was almost standing in the door frame when Chris yanked me back.
"Do you want them to see us like this?" she whispered.
The talking in the living room stopped and now Chris froze as well, before she quickly went back into motion and tried to force me along.
When I didn't budge, she just huffed, turned and attempted to flee on her own, until Mom's voice made her turn back around slowly.
"Good morning, puppies. Are you trying to hide, Chris?"
"No," Chris replied slowly, "Why would I do that?"
Mom looked us up and down quickly and raised her eyebrows before her nose wrinkled up. She looked over her shoulders real quick, no doubt throwing a quick look in Dad's direction. "Did you have fun at Jane's?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but a head appeared behind my mother, cutting off any sound that might have left my mouth.
He looked at me and his eyes widened before he started grinning and shook his head in mock-disapproval.
I was busily staring at the freckles on his nose that had never been there before, when my mind finally started working again and I realized something.
What was Edward doing here in my living room?
A/N:An easy and carefree start, don't you think? The whole complex thinking made it difficult for me to just write some fun stuff... ah well, I tried my best :P Right now I'm kinda sleepy so I'm gonna keep my speech short.
What do you think of Jane and Alec? Should Edward endure a talk with Chief Swan?
Tell me what you think and how you feel :)
Special thanks goes as always to my friend and beta- Lish the fish! Love you more than I can tell ya ;)
Also, I'm just gonna mention justareaderfan :) She might not beta this story for me, but she does it for others and is a faithful reader of my work ( yes, I know there are more of those and I'll get around to mentioning you, but right now I thought of her) justy, you're amazing and funny... though I'm still upset that yu won't marry me :P
Oh yes, one more thing: StarStrellaStar is now on Twitter! I'm gonna be sharing my progress with whatever chapter I'm typing, post senseless thoughts that cross my mind and of course I'll put in a little Sneak Peak here and there ;) I just randomly decided that it would be a good idea, just in case it's taking me too long to update again... So now I'm done with talking, I'll see some of you on Twitter others will have long conversations with me through PMs and whatever else there is. Review, favorite and Alert- I'll be waiting for all of those and once I'm motivated enough by my reviews, I'll continue typing. Aloha for now and lots of love to all of you
xoxo *Star*