I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Sorry if you feel the DDR last part is useless or off-topic - but really, doesn't it happen at every arcade visit with friends? "LEFT! LEFT!" "I KNOWWW!" And you get those weird looks when you're screaming your head off along to the songs. Or maybe that's just us, heh.
Anyways - I hope you like this.

How had they gotten her into this?

Bella held onto the railing at the side, staring at the ice with wide eyes as Alice jumped into the air and spun, Jasper skating over to her. Nearly everyone at the rink was an expert, and everybody over 12 had their eyes glued to the Cullens with envy and lust.

Edward came to a halt beside her and smiled. "I thought you'd ice skated before."

"Does falling down repeatedly while happening to be in ice skates on a rink count?"

He chuckled, and took her gloved hands, skating backwards with the grace only a vampire could ever hope to have, and then some. "I won't let you fall."

Does that mean all of them are paired up?

She better be his sister.

How did she ever get him?!

Thoughts drifted into Edward's mind and he frowned for a second, before steadying Bella. "Have you ever rollerbladed?"

"I can barely walk in regular shoes, why would I attach wheels to them?" Bella replied distractedly, staring at her feet with fierce concentration.

"Well, if you can blade one way you can blade the other...with wheels or on ice. It's the same thing you do to move forward." he explained. "You move your feet out a little, and push."

He caught her as she fell forward clumsily. "Oops."

Bella groaned. "I'm going to kill Alice."

"Catch me first." Alice blurred by elegantly. Jasper followed after, laughing.

"You just need to practice." Edward reassured her.

"Did you need to practice?" Bella raised an eyebrow.

"Of course. I didn't start when I was a vampire, you know." he continued skating, pulling Bella along as carefully as if she were glass.

"I didn't think of that. Did you like it?"

"Oh, sure. My friends and I would go to the pond and throw rocks to make sure it was thick enough every winter."

Bella blinked. She rarely got to hear about Edward's human life only because he remembered little of it, so it was a treat so learn something about him. "How old were you?"

"Maybe ten or eleven. I haven't remembered that for a while." he replied thoughtfully.

Trying to picture a ten year old Edward proved difficult. Carlisle had once said that his eyes had been green, but how green? Was he pale? Tall? Short? Childish? Mature?

"What are you thinking about?" Edward sprang the question on her.
"What did you look like then?"

He looked slightly confused as he struggled to remember. "When I was ten?"

Bella nodded, trying to move her skates for herself while listening. Alice passed them again, obviously interested in the conversation.

"All I know is that you had green eyes."

"Did Carlisle tell you that?"

She nodded again. "What kind of green?"

"I really don't know. I was average, I suppose."

Bella raised an eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe. Edward Cullen, average?"

He laughed. "I always liked skating. I'd never gone on a plane, so I imagined it was the closest I'd ever get to flying. Of course, now I fly all the time."

"You do travel a lot more." Bella agreed.

"Hm? Oh, no – I'm flying with you. Doesn't it seem that way?"

She smiled. "I guess it does."

Edward worked on slowly loosening his hands while Bella was mimicking his movements. That was how he'd learned to skate, he remembered; only realizing he was doing it alone when he was told. The best way, he decided.

"What about you?" he asked. "There aren't any photos of you as a child."

"There are – mostly in Charlie's room and old albums nobody's looked at for years."

"I'll have to look sometime."

She shook her head. "Definitely not. I wasn't a cute kid."

"I find that hard to believe." Edward rolled his eyes.

"It's true." Bella insisted.

"Guess what, Bella?"

"What?"

"You've been skating on your own for 20 seconds." Edward held up his hands and grinned crookedly.

Bella cried out and immediately started to fall forwards, but was put upright by the vampire skating in front of her. He put his hands on her shoulders. "You did it before, just do what you were doing."

Edward cautiously backed up, arms out just in case. The rest of the Cullens watched with interest as Bella glided – no, skidded would be the better word – the few meters to him.

"That must be what it feels like to take your first steps." she mumbled, rosy-cheeked.

Edward kissed her on the cheek proudly. "See? You did manage it."

"With all the grace of a drunken penguin."

"Yes, but my drunken penguin. That's what matters."

"I thought I was a lamb." Bella teased, then squeaked as Alice whizzed past, grabbing her by the wrists and tugging her along.

"I knew you'd do it!" the pixie girl squealed with delight, letting go of her for a second to spin several times. "Next you should learn how to snowboard."

"Why do you keep doing this to me?" Bella groaned. "Just leave my non-existent balance skills alone, and everyone is happy."

"Except me." Alice replied instantly. "And Edward likes ice skating. Wasn't this better than staying at home and watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas again?"

"You were torn between that and skating, may I remind you. It's hard to resist the Grinch's green-haired charm."

"Well, yes." Alice giggled. "Wouldn't it be fun to speak in rhyme for a whole day? That should be a national holiday!"

"It probably is, somewhere."

"There's National Talk-Like-A-Pirate-Day."

Edward and Emmett both burst out laughing at this on the other side of the rink. Alice smiled at some memory.

"You want to go get a slushie?" Alice suggested. "There's an arcade we could hang out at while the guys finish off."

"Did someone say ARCADE?!" Emmett was there in flash, eyes wide. "CAN I COME?"

Later

"Right! RIGHT FOOT!"

"I KNOW!" Alice's feet were blurring as she stared at the screen.

"LEFT AND RIGHT!"

"I KNOW!"

"UP!"

"I SEE THAT!"

"UP AND LEFT!"

"SHUT THE H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS UP, EMMETT!"

Her hands gripped the railings at the side so hard, Bella was pretty sure there would be marks left.

"HURRY!"

"EMMETT, YOU MADE ME MISS IT!"

Their yells were attracting annoyed glances from other people both in the arcade and at the rink a dozen meters away. Ah, the stress and thrill of Dance Dance Revolution.

"YOU MISSED IT!"

"IF YOU HADN'T YELLED, I WOULDN'T HAVE!"

"NUH-UH!"

Game over. Alice swore loudly and started yelling at Emmett again.

Edward appeared beside the machine, looking irritated. "Would you guys keep it down? My head is ringing."

"BUT I ALMOST GOT A HIGHSCORE – "

"YOU WERE GONNA MISS IT! YOU WERE GONNA MISS IT ANYWAY!"

"Why are they getting so worked up about a little game like that?" Edward asked Bella, bewildered. "It looks easy."

"Fine! Fine, you think so? You try it, and I'll yell and make you miss the few points that would have SET A HIGH SCORE!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, MIDGET GIRL – "

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING MIDGET?!"

"YOU!"

"OH YEAH? YOUR MAMA'S A MIDGET!" Alice shouted.

"Alice, your mother is his mother." Edward sighed.

They ignored him totally, shouting at the top of their lungs while Edward dropped a coin into the slot and looked dully at the screen. "Let's see what's so great about this."

Bella leaned on the bar beside him. "Okay, pick boy or girl. Now pick a difficulty."

Edward chose the advanced level confidently.

"Now pick a song."

"Does it matter which one I pick?"

"I don't think so."
Emmett pushed Edward off of the board and quickly selected one, grinning.

"Hey! Pay for your own game." Edward shoved him back off with a laugh. It stopped when he heard the first few notes.

"Come on, bro, you'll miss the first few steps."

Edward growled at him, but there was a glimmer of amusement as he easily stepped on the arrows at his feet. "I guess this is more difficult for humans."

Bella gasped with laughter at the song.

Oh, girls just wanna have fun...

They just wanna, they just wanna...

Carlisle and Esme walked into the arcade, obviously looking for them and accompanied by Jasper and Rosalie. Jasper hooted with laughter and ran over to watch, Esme rolled her eyes fondly and followed, while Carlisle backed away and sprinted to the parking lot. Rosalie just stood and stared, mouth slightly open.

"Ha. That was easy." Edward smirked, hopping off the machine with a new highscore.

"Wait, you have to enter your name before it counts." Alice pointed at the screen.

"There are only three letters. Edward has seven."

"Easy." Emmett put in E-D-D and snickered. "DDR masters will wish they were Edd."

"Hilarious." Edward said dryly. "It's Edward. Unless I'm allowed to call you Em."

Emmett shut up instantly.

"Hey, isn't it Bella's turn?" Alice broke the silence, looking cheerfully at the human.

"Um, no. I already had a turn. In...my head."

Emmett quickly lifted her and put her firmly on the machine. "Play." he ordered, inserting a coin into the slot.

Bella groaned. She selected the girl on the screen and went for easy before Emmett put a foot out and changed it to advanced, grinning.

"Pick a song." the voice boomed.

"I don't know any of these..." Bella mumbled, cycling through them once and picking "Butterfly",

A girly, Chinese-sounding tune came through the speakers and Bella cried out, jumping and almost tripping over herself in an effort to obey the mad rush of arrows on-screen.

Ai ai ai

I'm your little butterfly

Green black and blue

All the colors of the sky

Alice giggled, putting her hands over her mouth, and Edward bit his lip to stop smiling as the ungraceful and un-butterfly like Bella struggled madly.

By the end of the song she was panting, with a score that belonged in a soccer match. She laughed when it came onscreen. "Ouch."

"Some butterflies aren't great fliers." Edward muttered into her ear, smiling her favorite smile. "They still have beautiful wings, though."

Aw, Edward...I wish he were mine. Don't we all?
These might come out a little slower because I'm also working on a full story on Twilight! Yaysums. I did try to do a snowboarding one...but it turned into a kind of T because Emmett gets the wrong impression. Maybe I'll put it into a separate story or something. Anyway, ideas are luffed! Arigatou gozaimasu, konban wa!