11Chapter 9
"What's a believable place you'll have to leave for tonight?" Edward stood, shuffling over to join us in the kitchen. "Somewhere you'd have to go in an emergency."
"Her mother's?" Alice suggested at the same time I said, "A friend's."
I was still grasping at all the new information I had just been presented with. My hands were shaking as I shook my head at Alice. "My mom wouldn't remember to tell me if something happened to her. She'd just deal with it and then I'd get a call after it was over. My dad knows that too."
"So a friend's house then?" Edward asked, leaning against the counter as if he were testing the idea.
"Yeah," I answered but it came out faint. I cleared my throat. "Yeah, just give me a second."
My phone was still in the pocket of the coat I had been putting on when Edward ambushed me. I fished it out and hung the jacket back up as I slowly scrolled through my contacts until I found the number I was looking for. The phone rang several times before my mom picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Mom, are you and Phil still in Phoenix?" I had my fingers that weren't gripping the phone crossed.
"What?" She asked. I could hear music in the background along with the droning noise of a large crowd of people all talking at once. "No, sweetie, we're in Florida this week. Didn't I tell you?"
I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. "No, that's okay though, I was thinking about coming down to Phoenix to see my old friends during break."
"Oh, well you know where I hide the key. Just make sure to lock up when you leave." I heard a male voice, probably Phil, laughing. "I have to go now, be careful!"
She hung up before I could answer but it didn't really matter, she also wouldn't know if something bad happened to me until it was too late.
I shoved my phone into my pocket as I stepped back into the kitchen. "Alright, so I have somewhere to stay."
Edward didn't glance up from a laptop he must have brought with him but Alice smiled encouragingly. "I'm getting the plane tickets now," he said. "When does Charlie usually get home from work? We'll have to leave right after you tell him."
"Isn't that cutting it too close?" Alice asked.
"Well she can't tell her dad she's leaving for a week over the phone." Edward snapped.
"He'll be home by 5:30," I answered. "And why'd you say 'we'? Aren't I the only one who has to go?"
"We have to make it look believable," Edward turned to look at me. "If we were going to kill you, we wouldn't do it here for obvious reasons. We would have to take you somewhere else where we would be less of suspects."
I raised unimpressed eyebrows. "And all of us taking a trip to Phoenix together that I don't come home from isn't suspicious?"
Edward smiled. "I don't know what you're talking about. Alice and I are going together to visit our Grandmother. It's totally a coincidence that you decided to purchase the seat next to us on the plane."
"And the fact that you purchased all of our tickets together doesn't ruin that?"
Something blue flew from Edwards hand and smacked me in the chest before I could raise my arms. I reached to pick it up from the floor and stopped. "You stole my wallet?"
"Your credit card to be exact."
"I-"
"Don't worry about it. We're not going to kill you so I'll just pay you back after this is all over."
I pursed my lips.
"Alright," Edward clicked a few more things and then closed the laptop. "I've got the tickets."
Alice slinked around the counter and slid an arm through mine. "C'mon, you need to pack."
I glanced at Edward and then back to her. "Don't you need to pack too?"
She shook her head, already dragging me towards the stairs. "Already done."
I let her pull me up the stairs, surprised to find a stoic Edward trailing behind us into my room. I scrambled into my closet and tugged out the small suitcase I had used as a carry-on when I moved to Forks. When I finally got it out, Alice was already elbow deep in one of my dresser drawers and Edward was sprawled on my bed, watching me struggle to lift the suitcase out of the mess in the closet.
"You could help, you know." I tucked a loose piece of hair behind my ear but it just slipped back into my face.
"I'm supervising." He defended, sounding wounded. Alice was piling clothes on my bed at an alarming rate, forcing him to sit up or avoid being buried.
I kneeled down and unzipped the suitcase, going through the motions and trying to avoid the big picture.
"Wait," the sounds of flapping fabric halted from Alice's corner. "Do you have a pool?"
I nodded. "I probably hasn't been cleaned in forever, though. And it tends to evaporate pretty quickly so it might need to be filled."
A drawer closed with a roll and a snap and then opened again. "I'm going to pack some swimsuits anyway, just in case."
I twisted to look at her. "What have you packed so far?"
She stepped towards the bed and scooped up a pile of clothes, tossing it in my general direction. I flinched back when a pair of jeans hit me in the face. I picked them up, took one look at them, and then threw them back towards Alice. "These are too small for me."
Alice picked them up and went to go put them back when Edward interrupted. "If they're too small for you why do you still have them?"
I picked up a blousy t-shirt and pretended to be considering it. "Because I might fit in them again someday."
I could feel Edward's gaze at the back of my head for several moments. The silky t-shirt slid through my fingers as I carefully rolled it to put in the suitcase.
"So what's the plan when we get there?" I asked, turning to Alice.
She jiggled the shirt in her hands, thinking. "I'm not sure. What's there to see?"
I glanced at Edward. "We don't have to stay inside, out of sight, or anything?"
"You're as good as dead when we get there," he answered. "We just have to kill a few days until they leave Forks, no pun intended."
I turned back to packing. Things had been so much easier before I moved to Forks and now I was bringing all the crazy down to my friends. Was it horrible that I wanted to take the chance to hang out with them even if it meant leaving them prey to the headache-inducing vampires even I couldn't handle for very long?
"Could I go see my friends?" I didn't know why I was asking them. I wanted to go and they weren't about to stop me. Maybe it was the lingering fear of possibly dying that had not yet left my system. It was definitely that.
"I don't think we should split up," Alice said in a small voice which I knew was meant for Edward. "Just as a precaution."
"But I wouldn't be doing anything dangerous-"
Edward shook his head. "We're getting you out, Bella, but that doesn't mean you're perfectly safe. These things have gone wrong before."
I gazed up at him. "How have they gone wrong?"
Edward shrugged. "Sometimes a vampire friend is in the same city and wants to help or someone in town mentions talking to the person who knew about us after we've already reported they were dead. Small things. We can't control them."
"So that could all happen to me still?"
Edward shrugged and nodded but Alice crossed her arms. "No, Bella, we have it all planned out. And if any of that does happen we'll figure out some other way to keep you alive."
I turned my back and pretended to readjust the packed clothes. I didn't have any other options, I knew that, I just never expected the only option to have so many holes.
If only I had just let myself fail biology, then none of this would be happening.
Charlie arrived shortly after we finished packing. And by 'we' I mean me. Conversation had turned ragged after our talk, Alice's innocent queries into my old house clouded with slithering fear. The pair left with the excuse of getting ready for their trip to "Grandma's," but I think they were just as happy not to bear any more bad news as I was not to have to hear it.
As he shut the door, I bounded down the stairs, following him into the kitchen.
"Hey, Dad," I started but he cut me off.
"Did you have anything planned for dinner? I was thinking we could go out for pizza."
"Well, actually, Dad, I have something I need to ask you before dinner."
He turned to look at me, laying his coat across the back of the sofa.
"Okay, umm, one of my friends back in Phoenix, Kim, I don't know if I ever told you about her. Anyway, she just broke up with her boyfriend and she's not doing very well so she asked me to come down and see her."
Charlie didn't speak for a few moments and then he frowned. "What about school, Bells?"
I smiled and shook my head. "I'm on spring break now, I won't miss anything."
He was prepared for this. "What about money then? Plane tickets aren't cheap last minute."
"She's already gotten me one, it's all covered, Dad. I'll even be staying with Mom the whole time."
He shook his head. "I don't know about this."
My imminent death wavered closer, giving me a much needed jolt of fear. "Dad, please, I flew all the way here on my own and I'm not going anywhere strange, just to my old neighborhood."
The seconds ticked faster and faster with every wasted second. Were the vampires already here? Had I taken too long? Finally, he sighed and I knew I had won. "I want this girl's full name and her phone number in case I can't get a hold of you."
I nodded reaching for a pad of paper, this would complicate things. I'd have to make sure she was all set up to lie for me.
"When does your plane leave?"
"8."
He sighed. "Do you need me to drop you off?"
This, luckily, was part of the plan. "Yes, that would be great."
Finished writing, I dropped the pen and raced to the stairs where I had left my suitcase. I wasn't going to stay here any longer than it took to get my coat on.
The airport was all bright lights and rushing figures when we arrived. Charlie said goodbye to me in the car and promised to pick me up from the airport when I returned. I wheeled my tiny bag through the doors and passed baggage check-in on my way to security.
As always, security moved no faster than the lines at Disney world. My heart rate was ratcheting higher with each slow step forward. What if we had waited too long to leave? What if my dad blabbed to someone about talking to me in front of the vampires? What if Edward and Alice really were planning on killing me? What if I got to Phoenix and all of my friends didn't recognize the new me?
The panic that had started like a lightning strike at my house was now a raging full inferno. I couldn't focus on any one thought for longer than a second. I mechanically set my bag and shoes on the line to be scanned but it felt like someone else stepped forward through the metal detector. I was no more substantial at the moment that my rushing concerns.
I made my way quickly through the airport after I had my shoes on. Alice and Edward were going to meet me by the gate announcement TVs and I practically had a heart attack when I got there and saw no sign of them.
The seconds felt like physical gusts rushing past me. I wasn't going to make it. I was going to die.
I tapped my nails against my suitcase, stamping out another rhythm with the toe of my gym shoe. It was unbelievably lucky that I had thought ahead and worn shorts and a t-shirt for the Arizona heat. It was currently helping to abate the massive amount of stress sweats threatening to roast me from the inside out.
With a huff, I finally turned and looked at the boards, trying to find my gate. If they weren't going to help me, I could get myself out of Forks.
"Bella!" The shout came from behind me.
I turned and there was Alice, all the way at the beginning of the moving walkway filled hallway, sprinting towards me dragging a dented purple suitcase and a frustrated looking Edward.
Immediately I felt a rush of "thankgodthankgodthankgod." With dog-like intensity, I grabbed the handle on my suitcase and made to sprint toward the only two people who could help me.
It was because of this intense focus that I didn't see the man leaving the hallway I was running past. In one second I had a shoulder digging into my face and both of my shins grating across his suitcase. I crashed to ground, bruising my shoulder in the process, but the man managed to stay upright.
"Oh, jeez, are you alright?" He reached out a hand to me and I pulled myself back up.
"I'm soo sorry," I babbled. "I didn't see you. Are you okay? Did I hurt you? I'm really really sorry." It was at this point that I began to take in who I was talking to. The man was really only about in his mid-twenties. He looked like your stereotypical California surfer boy, all tanned skin and long, sun-bleached hair. His clothes didn't really match him, I realized, seeing as he was covered from neck to ankle in heavy, winter-prepared clothing. "I'm sorry." I repeated.
He rubbed his shoulder but smiled slightly. "I've seen worse. Are you sure you're fine?"
I nodded.
He smiled, slightly bigger this time, and pulled out his phone to look at the screen. "Try to watch your step." And then he turned around and walked back the way he had come, back towards the gates.
I didn't waste a second on his weirdness when Alice was now halfway to me.
"Alice!" I waved, making my way towards her, more carefully this time.
"Bella," She started, panting slightly, "I'm so sorry, we had a little bit of trouble and-"
I waved my hands. "I don't care what happened. Can we just go to the gate? It's making me nervous standing here for so long."
She nodded and started steering our group towards the same hallway the man had gone down. "You're bleeding you know. I saw you trip into that guy. Are you okay?"
I glanced down and sure enough, the man's suitcase had rubbed off a patch of skin on my left shin. It wasn't bleeding badly, it short of resembled a rug burn, but it was stinging slightly.
"No, I'm fine. I just want to leave."
We were early getting to the gate which did nothing to make me feel comfortable. Alice took the extra time to get a wet paper towel from the bathroom and make me clean my scrape mark before sticking a huge, palm-sized bandage over it.
When we finally did board the plane and I felt the wind guiding us higher and higher into the sky, only then did I finally let my anxiety leak out. I was out. I was as safe as I could get. Alice and Edward were with me. I would live.