I walked into English. Alice and I were in this class together, but I always sat next to Angela. We sat together in biology and I'd made a point of not sitting next to her, when I was avoiding her. We didn't want to change that now. Angela had asked Bret out, and was excited. Alice was going to come over that night, my dad was happy I was spending time with someone other than Angela and Seth.

I sat next to Angela, smiling at her.

"Hey, you nervous?"

Angela nodded, looking at me.

"Yeah. I really like her Bella."

I knew Alice could hear us, but Angela didn't know that.

"I know you do, Angela. But, I can see she likes you to. Just relax, and have a good time."

"I'll try, I'm just nervous. What about you and this whole crush on Alice?"

I blushed. I may have forgotten to tell Alice that I spoke to Angela about that.

"I like her, Angela. I just need to work out how I want to tell her. I mean, I'm nothing special.............. And she's ............ Alice."

"I'm not blind, Bella. She's pretty. But, if you just talk to her, it could work out. She knows you're ........ Different. She doesn't care, about that. She walked away from Jessica, Bella. Someone else would just believe her."

I knew I'd pay for that later, but I didn't care. Angela turned to get something out of her bag, and I wrote something down. I looked at Alice, who was glaring at me. Yeah, I'm going to pay for that. I smiled at her, and turned back to Angela.

"I'll think about it."

Angela was pleased that she had gotten me to agree. Or at least, she thought she did. The class ended, and I grabbed my stuff, standing up.

"Good. Thanks for pushing this thing with Bret. I really like her."

I shook my head, smiling. I could see that.

"I can see that, you'll have a great time, don't worry."

The rest of the class was quiet. Until I went into biology. I sat next to Alice, taking out my stuff. The teacher was out, so everyone was talking.

"So, is Angela excited?"

The class was fairly noisy, so we didn't have to worry about people over-hearing.

"Yeah, she is. She's nervous though. I tried to talk sense into her, though."

Alice smiled, but I knew she wouldn't mention anything else. I remembered that I had a little bit of work to do and started it. It meant I wouldn't have to do this later. Alice noticed me looking for my stuff and frowned. I explained that I had stuff to do.

"I have a bit to do, no point leaving it until later."

Alice nodded, and I started working.

"Emmett was asking about you."

I looked at her, I liked him, he seemed really nice.

"Yeah? I like him."

"Yeah, he likes you to."

I nodded, looking at my stuff. I was a little confused, and couldn't see where I was going wrong. Alice pointed to where I was going wrong.

"Here. That's wrong."

I checked it, and changed it, finishing everything. I put my stuff way and turned to her.

"Thanks."

Alice shook her head, looking around. People had tried to tell her not to be friends with me, but she ignored them. I was happy she was ignoring them.

The class ended and we went back to my house. Alice had no work to do, and we went up to my room. I sat on the bed, throwing my bag in the corner. Alice sat next to me, looking at me.

"So, you're nothing special, are you?"

I blushed. I knew she was going to mention that.

"Well, I'm not. I'm just me, everyone else thinks I'm a freak. And you're, well............... You."

"And what's what supposed to mean?"

I just looked at her, shaking my head.

"Alice, I'm not blind."

Alice shook her head, looking away.

"Bella, do you remember what I said when I told you everything? From the first time I saw you, I liked you and I knew you were different. But, I don't care. You're still Bella. I think you're beautiful, Bella."

That I didn't believe. Everyday, I'm told that I'm a freak and don't belong. So, that was a little hard for me to believe.

When I didn't answer her, Alice grabbed my hand.

I looked at her, thinking. I'm told I'm a freak and that I don't belong on a daily basis, so hearing her say that meant a lot.

"Ignore what everyone else says, I know that's not easy. But, I care about you."

I squeezed her hand, and she could see that I was thinking about it.

"I know you do, and I care about you. I really do. It's just ............... You saying stuff like that, makes me think about what everyone else says. You're right, I need to ignore them."

"I know it's hard, but I care about you Bella."

I was getting more comfortable about being around her, which I was happy about.

"I care about you to."

We spent the evening talking about Alice asked if I wanted to go out the next day. We agreed that she would pick me up at 9:30, the next morning. Apparently, she knew the perfect place and knew I'd love it. She left, after saying good bye to my dad, who was quickly starting to like her.

I went to bed, thinking about where she could have come up with.

I got up and got ready the next morning. Hopefully jeans would be OK, for what she had planned. My dad was working, and was gone by the time Alice arrived. She was pretty happy to see me.

"Hey, you're dad here?"

"No, he's at work. Is this OK for where we're going?"

Alice nodded, and I grabbed my jacket, locking the door.

"Yeah, come on."

I turned around to look at her, and she was standing in front of me, holding a basket. She grabbed my hand, leading me towards the tree line at the back of the house.

"Alice, where-"

"You'll see. Come on."

She led me through the forest, I followed her confused.

"I found somewhere that I wanted to show you. It's not to far, if you go the right way. I made sure that it wasn't that far from your house if..... Careful, Bella."

Alice looked down, and I could see that my foot was caught in something. Another step and I would have fallen and hurt myself. I walked over to her, smiling. She had walked ahead of me. I grabbed her hand, and we kept walking.

A little while later, she stopped. She led me into a beautiful meadow. I looked at her, and she looked nervous.

"Alice, this is beautiful."

I sat next to her, seeing that she was relieved.

"I knew you'd like it."

That made me laugh.

"Yeah, thanks for earlier though."

Alice shook her head, and I moved a little closer to her. I really like her, and I know both of us need to adjust but didn't think this was to much.

"Is this OK?"

Alice nodded, smiling.

"It's fine. I like being close to you. I'm around you a lot. So, that helps. And I wasn't going to let you fall, silly."

So, she was OK with being close to me, that was good. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. She opened the basket, and took a few things out. I took something, and started eating.

Once I was done, I thanked her. I picked up my drink, and drank some. I looked at Alice, who was watching me.

"You're not making me uncomfortable, Bella."

She shook her head, moving a little closer.

"See? I-"

Her eyes glazed over, and she stopped. I waited, and she blinked, looking at me. She seemed flustered, but I didn't say anything. She had told me about her gift, so I knew what happened.

"That's what I was telling you about. Bret is trying to decide what to wear."

I nodded, thinking about Angela, getting ready.

"Angela is probably doing the same thing."

I smiled, and noticed Alice was staring at me.

"Doesn't that bother you?"

Now, I'm confused. Why would it bother me? She can't control it, so why would it?

"Why would it? You can't control it."

Alice seemed surprised, but I didn't ask.

"I thought you would freak out the first time you saw that."

I shook my head, thinking.

"Of course not. Alice, it doesn't bother me."

She seemed happy about that. Apparently Bret couldn't decide on what to wear and was worried about looking good. I was pretty sure Angela was doing the same thing.

"Angela is probably the same. She was pretty nervous, yesterday. Other than, pestering me about you."

Alice looked at me, as I said that. Something in her behaviour was different. We were sitting really close now. Alice moved a little closer.

Is she going to kiss me?

Alice was watching me, she leaned forward, and ....... Yeah, she wants to kiss me. She gave me enough time to back out, but I wanted to kiss her. I leaned forward, kissing her.

She pulled away, smiling.

"Bella, I-"

"Ssh. I know."

I wanted to kiss her, I just didn't want to push it. She said she'd never dated a human and I didn't want to push it.

She must have seen me consider that because she took my hand.

"Don't worry about that, Bella. I wouldn't have minded you doing that. You really don't need to worry about that."

I shook my head, she wasn't getting it.

"You're not getting it. I don't want to make you uncomfortable, that's all."

"Bella, you don't. I was worried about you. I know you don't like a lot of close contact."

Oh, so that's what this was about.

"Alice, I'm fine with being this close to you. I said when I thought you didn't know. But, this is fine."

Alice nodded, and I thought about something.

"Alice, can I ask you something?"

"Bella, I'll tell you'd whatever you want to know. You haven't decided what to ask yet, that much I can see."

She was right. I was wondering if she would tell me more about everything.

"I was .......... I was wondering if you would tell me more about everything. It fine, if you don't....."

"Bella, it's fine. Well, what do you want to know?"

I asked a few questions. Alice told me about a few things, like Edwards ability to read minds, except mine apparently. Jasper could control emotions. And ........... They don't sleep.

"At all?"

"No."

I nodded, surprised. I was OK with all of this, just surprised. Alice smiled at me, watching me.

"I still can't believe you're actually OK with all of this!"

I shook my head, and I thought of something to ask. Alice looked at me, she clearly wasn't expecting this.

"Um....... Alice, I was wondering ............... If you could tell me how-"

"This happened to me? Are you sure you want to know, Bella?"

I nodded, looking at her.

"I'm sure."