CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Allegations with Alice Cullen

***

"What are you doing here?"

 Yes, you may take this moment to judge me. I was back in Forks for the third time in two years... This time with my sister. Alyssa was sweeping her eyes over all of the cars, and the people, with her nose scrunched up in disgust. Lyssa hates Forks, but let's be real, don't we all? 

 I was here to see Bella. I had to ask her what she was planning to do during the battle, which was less than a week away according to the predictions made by Alice Cullen.

 Speaking of which...

 I raised my eyebrows at the girl, at the same time Alyssa looked, over, her lips parting slightly. "We're here to see Bella." 

 Alice narrowed her eyes, crossing her tiny arms. She seemed like she desperately wanted to smile, so she did, so the onlookers didn't stick around. I could still hear their comments as they passed. 

 "Isn't that the kid who almost beat up Cullen?" 

 "Yeah, I still think he would win that fight." 

 "Who's the girl with him?" 

 "Yeah she's hot." 

 "Is that Alice Cullen?" 

 Alice, obviously hearing their muses, rolled her golden eyes, and I smiled back, tilting my head to the side as Alyssa tried to figure out what the hell was going on. "Why do you want to see Bella?"

 "I need to talk to her," was the response, because I already knew Alice knew why. She sent me a look. "Is that against the rules, now?" 

 "You're so annoying," she mumbled, although her face wasn't scrunched up in disgust like it usually was when we spoke. Instead, she just had a look of very mild annoyance on her face. "I presume you guys are preparing for the battle." 

 "Yeah, we don't exactly have a Jasper, but we have a Paul, and he can get very aggressive when he gets angry." 

 Alice giggled slightly, the sound musical and oddly calming. Calming, 'make (someone) tranquil and quiet; soothe.' 

 Shit, why am I nervous? 

"Paul seems fun." 

 "He's a handful." 

 "The battle will be tough," Alice finally decided, crossing her pale arms and jutting her chin out confidentially. It was funny, speaking to Alice Cullen, even simply seeing Alice Cullen... with her  tiny arms, and her quaint features, knowing that she could kill anyone in this school without the smallest thought. She looks so innocent.

 None of the bloodsuckers are innocent... none of us are innocent. 

 "But we can win it." 

 "Do you see us winning it?" I had to ask, curiosity building in the middle of my stomach. I had to know if she knew the outcome, because if not, there will be room for imagination, and God knows what my imagination would think up of. 

 Actually: I know exactly what my imagination would think up of. 

 A fight, as there is no victory without a fight, but with the flaws of the newborns obvious. They may be fast, but their agility is off balance. The human blood in their new bodies doesn't react well to the venom, making them groggy; their heightened senses making our new smell too much for them, things like that. Things that make sense. 

 I mean, come on! After being transformed into an entirely new species, I am sure your genes would be all over the place, (I know my nerves were all over the place) so there has to be those small little inconsistencies with how they react to it. They may be like rock,  but even immortal beings that thrive off of blood and fear have to have weaknesses. 

 "I can't see anything about the fight, because you guys are in it." Alice said, although her tone wasn't disgruntled in the slightest. "I'll admit, I wasn't that excited that your pack had to fight with us... but without you, it is a guaranteed failure." 

"Yeah, we weren't too pleased at first either." I said, and I am sure we were both remembering the time at the party, when Alice explained everything to us. 

 Jacob had agreed, as long as Bella was safe. I was the one who actually had to ask if we would be okay. Quil asked if we would die, and responded to Jasper's "maybe' with a rushed amount of 'cools.' 

 Alyssa crossed her arms and glared at Edward, obviously not to fond of him. She was intimidating enough to make up for her dorky mate. I knew that she was nervous though, you could tell by the way she kept twirling her hair over her finger. 

Embry held on tight to my hand, and when I looked over at him, we came to a silent agreement. Protect the other as we knew we had too. 

 So we made a deal with the bloodsuckers, after Alyssa told Jacob to, and I quote, "shut his dramatic ass up."

 "But it's not like we could say no." I gave Alice a lopsided grin, "what kind of person would I be if we left you guys with no protection?" 

 Alice scoffed, our small moment of peace evaporating. She un-crossed her arms so she could lightly shove mine. Her freezing cold skin touching my boiling hot skin, making it tingle. "You ruined it." 

 "Sorry." 

 I heard a loud laugh, and turned around just in time to see Alyssa and Bella hug. Alice and I bore an almost identical expression of confusion as my sister brushed a piece of hair from her face and said something that made Bella laugh so hard her cheeks flushed with color. 

 I'm sorry... I must have missed the part when Alyssa and Isabella became friends. 

 "Tony!" Bella grinned, running over to hug me. I think it is so funny how far I have to bend down to hug Bella. I always tease Embry that I have to kneel to hug him, and it always makes him hit me. 

 I love being taller than my boyfriend, it helps me tease him... like he did when I was the short one. 

"Hola!" I grinned, ruffling her hair and making her swat my hand away and rapidly straighten it. "How's my favorite little human doing today?"

 "No need to rub it in," she grumbled. "I was just in Spanish, and I told my teacher I had two Spanish friends... now she wants to meet you." 

 I laughed, "because Forks lacks diversity?"

 "Yes." 

 "Tony needs to ask you a question." Alice said, her eyebrows cocked, and her pretty face twisted up in amusement. "Apparently it's very important." 

 "Thanks, Allie." I stuck my tongue out, earning a "don't call me that" in response before she turned and danced away, probably to rant to Jasper. 

 "What's up?" Bella asked, adjusted her backpack that seemed to be weighing her down. I held out my hand and shot her a look, and she begrudgingly handed me the bag. I wondered how that was heavy to her, and Alyssa bounded over so we could walk Bella to her worn-down truck.

 "I want to know what you plan on doing during the battle." 

 "Oh," something flashed in Bella's eyes, but she shrugged and it disappeared. "Jake is carrying me to somewhere safe in the woods. Edward is gonna be there with me." 

 Alyssa seemed pleased that Edward wouldn't be participating, but it confused me. We need all of the help we can get. Even if it is from Mr. Posh, Probably a One-Hundred Year Old Virgin Edward Cullen. 

 Bella, as if reading my face, turned and gave me a fierce look. "Do you want Embry to fight? If you were a human, would you like just sitting there, knowing he could be hurt, or dead?" 

 Okay... that is a very valid argument. If I couldn't fight, there was no way in hell I would want Embry too. I would force myself to realize he didn't have a choice, and would have hid under a blanket in my bedroom, allowing myself my two guilty pleasures of chocolate ice-cream and stupid Youtube compilations until he got home. The best thing to distract me is either a very long math equation, or something that I can just watch and slowly melt my brain. 

 I didn't say any of that though, instead, I just gave Bella a small, lopsided grin as she opened the door to her truck, and I swung her bag inside. Alyssa and I shared a look behind her back, before I offered the Swan girl one more sentence.

 "You have a point, have fun with Edward, Isabella." 

A/N: Yay! An update! 

 Do you guys like Tony and Alice or Tony and Bella better? I am literally just in love with Alice Cullen, so my opinion is biased. 

 Also, We reached 500 votes! Thank you guys so much, and in honor of that, I was wondering f you guys had any conversations in mind you'd want me to incorporate in future chapters? 

 Also, also: if you guys have any questions for me as a person, me as an author, or me regarding this story, or any of the characters, now is your time to ask! So if you guys are curious about my writing, or just my (slightly crazy) life, you can get to know me better! 

 Thank you all so much for reading, and I wanted to let you know that a meet my O.C book will be out soon! I hope you guys enjoyed this update, and I love you all!