Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

Okay, guys. Fan Fiction was being a little difficult last chapter, so unfortunately, I didn't get as many reviews as usual. ): But… Here's the next chapter!

Thank you, thank you, and thank you to all who reviewed! And an extra thank you to all who wished me a happy birthday! (: Anyway, enjoy!

Then, Alice turned the doorknob and pushed open our bedroom door. Suddenly, I saw her freeze, one foot mid-step, halfway into the room.

I opened my mouth, about to ask her what was wrong when I looked over her shoulder and saw it for myself.

Affinity

My mouth dropped open. I couldn't seem to form words. Even if I had been able to, however, they wouldn't have been heard over Alice's furious screams.

"I swear. He is dead!" she shrieked after she finished her incoherent screaming.

Our entire room was empty. All that was left were thick, red lines painted into the carpet to resemble the outline of all the furniture that used to be in there. Even our beds were missing! The closet door was ajar, allowing us to see that it, too, was completely vacant.

I started taking long, angry strides toward Edward's bedroom door. Alice was only a half step behind me. I threw open the door without caring enough to knock. Just when I was going to tell him off, my words got stuck in my throat at the sight before me.

Edward was standing with his back towards us with only a towel around his waist, his hair dripping wet and back to its regular bronze color. There were drops of water sliding smoothly down his perfect chest. He was rifling through his drawers looking for something to wear. His grip started loosening on his towel…

"Edward!" Alice's yell snapped me out of the shameless ogling. Edward jumped a foot high and spun around in surprise.

"Alice? What are you doing here?" he asked in shock. His eyes flashed to mine and then his gaze dropped as he looked at the state of my clothes. I blushed and tightened my own towel around myself.

It's only physical attraction… I thought to myself.

"You guys! Stop undressing each other with your eyes!" Alice demanded, making me blush even harder.

"Thanks, Alice," I mumbled bitterly, though she didn't hear me.

"Right, so, um… What brings you here again? I was kind of in the middle of dressing," Edward inquired, his face much too innocent.

With some effort, I forced myself to glare at him and act as though the sight of him didn't make me breathless. "You know very well what! You completely emptied our room!"

Edward dropped the innocent act immediately. "Well, you turned my hair pink! I was scrubbing my hair for an hour!"

"Edward, give us our stuff now! We have nothing to change into and nowhere to sleep!" Alice said. Her glare was much more terrifying than mine.

"That's hardly my problem!"

"Hell it is!" I screamed at him.

"You're the one that started this whole ridiculous thing!"

"I beg to differ!"

"Who's the one who put pink hair dye in my shampoo?"

"Who's the one who acted like a—?"

"Stop it!" Alice screamed at a volume I wouldn't have thought possible. Edward and I both froze. I hadn't noticed, but at every comment we both unconsciously took a step closer. We were only about a foot apart from each other now. I took a step back, blushing about twenty different shades of red at our sudden proximity.

"Just tell us where all of our stuff is for goodness sakes!" Alice continued, angrily.

"Why should I?" Edward asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, real mature, Edward… Where do you expect us to sleep?" Alice hissed.

"I don't know! Go jump in bed with Jasper or something!" Edward cried, sarcastically.

"Fine," she shrugged. I looked at her in disbelief. "And Bella can sleep here with you!"

"What?" I cried, but Alice was already skipping out of the room. I grabbed her arm.

"Very funny, Alice. Nice try, but we aren't going anywhere until you tell us where our stuff is!"

"Alright, have it your way. Your stuff is parked in a truck down the street," he said nonchalantly. "Now leave."

His sudden cold tone surprised me. For some reason, it hurt a lot more than when he was yelling at me.

"Hilarious, Edward," Alice sneered. I doubt she even noticed the change in his tone. "Now seriously, give us our stuff back!"

"I'm dead serious. Go drive down there and get it yourself," he said, turning away from us and focusing his attention on what he was going to wear for the night, instead.

Sensing that this conversation was over, I grabbed Alice arm and tugged her out of the room, having more difficulty than I expected I would due to the fact that she was still so angry.

"Ugh! The things I wish I could do to that boy," Alice hissed as we walked down the hall. "I swear if I had a flamethrower…"

There are a few things I wish I could do to him too, I thought, tuning Alice out completely. I immediately blushed, however, due to the fact that not all of those things were exactly forms of torture. I mentally pinched myself, telling myself to get my head out of the clouds. As it turns out, I actually had pinched myself.

"Ow!" I protested.

Alice stopped mid-rant to look at me strangely. Not having an appropriate excuse as to why I was suddenly in pain, I just smiled at her apologetically. By then, we were by the front door, so Alice didn't question me. I paused once we had stepped outside, shivering when I felt the cold against my bare skin.

"Alice, are we seriously going to go looking for some truck in the dead of night in bathing suits?" I asked her incredulously.

"Well, we don't exactly have much of a choice, now do we?"

I had nothing to say to that. She led me over to her Porsche and I got in after her.

When we were both seated and she was starting the car, she asked, "Okay, so which way did he say the truck was?" She seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"He didn't say," I muttered.

For a moment she just sat there in her seat, dumbfounded. Then, to my utter surprise, she grabbed hold of the steering wheel and knocked her head into it repeatedly, shrieking a colorful string of profanities as loud as she possibly could. Her screams shook the car, rebounding across the walls. I put my hands over my ears instinctively, her yells becoming muffled and slightly more distant. From the corner of my eye, I could see the poor, unsuspecting watchman at the gate awakening with a jolt at the sudden noise, wildly flashing his flashlight around, still half asleep.

When she was done, she lifted her head and started the car as if nothing happened. Part of me wanted to lay a comforting hand on her back to show her that she wasn't alone in this mess, but there was a bigger part of me that was much too scared to touch her at a moment like this.

She started driving. Once she got past the gate, she made a right turn.

It didn't take long for us to find a large moving truck pulled up along the sidewalk. Alice parallel parked behind it.

"Something tells me this isn't going to be easy," I heard her murmur.

I followed her out of the car and was right behind her as she walked up to the driver seat window. I could barely make out the outline of a red trucker hat hovering above the edge of the window. By the uncomfortable angle the driver's head was tilted, I assumed he was sleeping. Alice extended the entire length of her arm to knock on the window.

There was no response, only the stillness of the night. Alice tapped her foot impatiently.

"Hey!" she yelled, while she rapped on the window again with more force than I thought was necessary.

The truck driver seemed to wake up from his deep sleep. He looked around frantically, seeming rather frightened. At the height that he was at, he saw right through the space above our heads.

"Down here!" Alice informed him, waving her hands up and down.

He leaned over to the window and lowered it all the way.

"What do you want?" he grumbled groggily, his voice rough. After glancing our way, he did a double-take. It was probably due to the fact that we were still in our bathing suits. Now that I could see him more clearly, I saw that he was wearing a plain white T-shirt with a horrible grease stain just below the collar.

"We want our stuff back, duh. Why else would we be knocking at the window of a truck filled with stolen furniture at the dead of night?" Alice replied, skipping the pleasantries.

"Well, you'd be surprised at how many girls want some of the L-man," he chuckled. As he laughed, his protruding belly bounced up and down. He looked as though he had been eating fast food for ever meal of the day for the last thirty years.

"Hey, Dave, there are two lovely ladies here, begging for our services," the man chortled, leaning over to somebody in the passenger seat and shaking him until he was awake.

Alice and I exchanged a disgusted glance and a shudder at the double meaning in his words.

From what I could see, the guy in the passenger seat was nothing like his partner. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and he had a set of toned muscles along with a great tan. After he gathered his surroundings, he glanced at Alice and me and shrugged apologetically for his partner's behavior.

Alice and I shared an approving glance at the new addition to this mess. Alice got straight back to business, however, not letting the cute, new guy distract her.

"As I was saying, we need the furniture loaded up in this truck back, so if you could so kindly drive back to the Cullen manor and help us move the furniture back where you got it, we would greatly appreciate that," Alice said, much more sweetly than she had before.

"Sorry, but we have very specific orders from a Mr. Edward Cullen to keep everything in this truck," the old, greasy guy explained rather smugly.

Alice dropped the sweet façade immediately, her expression suddenly becoming murderous. She began in a soft, deadly voice, "I don't care if it was your mother's dying wish. Give us our stuff back."

I saw the poor man pale drastically. "R-right away, ma'am," he stuttered.

Alice smiled victoriously and then skipped back to her car. I followed her into the car, a little frightened myself. I would have to remember never to go against her…

She started her car and proceeded to drive back to the Cullen household, never once doubting that the truck would be following. I didn't have as much certainty as she did. Every now and then I would glance back to make sure that the truck wasn't taking off in the opposite direction with all of our stuff. Sure enough, the truck was still following us, close on our tail.

A few of hours later, the two of them were moving in the last of the stuff. I was about ready to sleep on the floor if I had to, but Alice was as energetic as a jumping bean.

"Oh, and move the couch closer to that wall over there. Yeah, that's it!" Alice directed.

Our stuff had been moved into our room a while ago, but Alice decided to 'seize the opportunity' and remodel our entire room. I tried to talk her out of it, but as usual, she couldn't be convinced otherwise.

I'd told her, "Alice, the room looks fine as it is. This is completely unnecessary."

"Bella, you've only been here for two days. However, I've been here for almost a year. This room is getting kind of old," Alice had argued.

I still thought that she was being ridiculous. I'd lived in my old bedroom back at home for years without remodeling it and I'd lived just fine.

Eventually, they were getting ready to leave. Before they left, however, Alice grabbed me by the arm and danced over to Dave.

"Hey… Dave, is it?" Alice inquired 'innocently.'

He turned, setting down the last of it, and smiled brilliantly at her. "Yeah, listen, I'm sorry for my uncle's behavior. He just can't help it sometimes."

"Don't worry. We won't hold a grudge," Alice said, flirting shamelessly. "I'm Alice, by the way, and this beauty would be Bella."

"Nice to meet you," Dave smiled, showing off his perfect white teeth, and turned to me with his hand out.

"Likewise," I replied, shaking his hand politely.

"So, anyway," Alice continued, "you really did us a huge favor tonight."

I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at her in suspicion. She was definitely up to something.

"It was my pleasure," Dave answered, not knowing what he was up against.

"I really think we should thank you somehow," Alice insisted, flirtatiously. I could see that Dave was about to protest, but Alice cut him off before he could get a single word in. "So here's our number. Don't hesitate to call."

Dave's smile widened as Alice pulled out a pen and neatly scribbled a number on the back of his hand in a shimmering pink color.

"I won't," he promised.

Then, he and his uncle walked out of the room. With one last wave, and a wink—which was directed towards me, surprisingly—Dave was gone.

I turned to Alice immediately after they were both gone.

"Alice! What were you doing? I thought you liked Jasper!" I scolded.

She just rolled her eyes at me. "I do like Jasper!" she assured me. "I wasn't ever planning to go out with Dave, although, he's totally cute. Don't you think so?"

"Well, yeah, but you can't just lead him on like that! And I really don't understand the point of giving him your number just to tell him that you're unavailable."

"I didn't give him my number," Alice said simply. I stared at her in confusion. She looked away and quickly explained, "I gave him yours."

"You what?"

She smiled sheepishly at me.

"I… you… but… ugh!" I sputtered. When I was confident I could open my mouth and not sound like a babbling idiot, I started interrogating her. "How did you get my number anyway?"

"I got it while we were unpacking. Your phone was in one of the front pockets of your luggage. I entered my number in there too while I was at it."

I shook my head at her. Dave was cute and he seemed sweet, but I wasn't interested in going out with him.

"Alice, I didn't come here for some kind of summer fling."

"Live a little, Bella," Alice said, rolling her eyes at me.

"Can we just go to sleep?" I asked, dropping the subject. I figured that he probably wouldn't call, so there was no reason to argue about something that was a moot point anyway. "It's getting really late and we still have to work tomorrow."

As if on cue, I yawned hugely.

"You're right. We better go change out of these bathing suits," Alice agreed, easily.

I could barely hold my eyes open while I was changing. If I thought I was tired now, how was I going to feel in the morning?

--

"Bella…"

I groaned at the sound of my name being called. There was no way it could be time to get up already. Oddly enough, I felt even more tired than I had yesterday night—or technically, earlier today.

"Bella!" Alice's ever-persistent voice nagged.

I opened an eye and sure enough, there was a stream of sunlight dancing into the room from the window. I rolled over, hiding my face in my pillow to block out the sunlight. Out of sight, out of mind.

"What time is it?" My voice was muffled by my pillow.

"Seven fifty! Which means you only have ten minutes to get showered and dressed!"

That certainly got me up. I shot out of bed and ran into the bathroom, slamming the door closed behind me. I took one of the quickest showers I'd ever taken in my life and had my teeth brushed. Alice threw me a set of clothes the second she heard the water shut off and I put them on hastily without really looking them. I was out of the bathroom with two minutes to spare. That had to be a new personal record.

There wasn't a second to spare for me to think about how tired I was or how little sleep I had gotten. At least the shower had me woken up temporarily.

Alice was checking her outfit in the mirror when I came outside. Upon hearing my arrival, she spun around and we both ran down the stairs. Fortunately, there was no time to waste on a makeover this morning, although the heels that Alice handed me were very uncomfortable for running down stairs. In fact, they were very uncomfortable period.

Once again, we found ourselves stumbling into the dining room with only seconds to spare. It appeared as though we interrupted a conversation between the Rosalie, Emmett, and Esme. When we made our entrance, the three of them leaned back further in their seats and turned to us as if nothing had been going on.

I turned to Alice and questioned her with my eyes, but she just shrugged and proceeded to walk towards her seat. I followed her, taking the same seat that I had taken yesterday.

"Good morning, Esme. Good morning, Rosalie, Emmett," I recited politely, nodding at each of them as if I wasn't about to die of exhaustion.

"Good morning, Bella. Good morning, Alice," Esme smiled warmly at each of us.

I collapsed in my chair and saw Alice do the same. She waved casually, her movements slow and weary. I saw her eyes begin to droop close. Much to my dismay, my eyes began to droop as well. They were so heavy; they might as well have been made of lead.

We were momentarily saved from having to keep up a conversation with everyone because at that moment, Jasper walked in with Edward not very far behind him. Emmett seemed a little disappointed that Edward's hair was back to normal.

"Jasper, Edward! It's nice to see the two of you this morning. Are you joining us again, Edward? That's unusual. To what do we owe this pleasure?" Esme said, looking pleased with the sudden change.

"Yes, Mr. High and Mighty, why have you graced us with your presence this fine morning?" Rosalie mumbled, sarcastically.

If I hadn't been so tired, I might've laughed. Edward made no move to comment as he and Jasper sat down. Although, I could've sworn that he flushed a little at the question.

Before I could confirm anything, I yawned, tears springing into my eyes and blurring my vision temporarily. Apparently, my yawn was contagious because Alice began to yawn as well. Alice put her elbow on the table and propped her head up on her arm, her eyes drifting close. I felt my head becoming limp and I had to make an effort to keep from falling face-first into my breakfast.

"You two seem rather tired today," Esme noted, curiously.

"We had a long night," Alice admitted, rubbing her eyes as if she was trying to rub the sleep away.

"I saw these two strange men leaving the house at almost four o' clock last night," Emmett commented.

I knew what that sounded like, but before I could explain, Esme was already scolding us.

"Alice, Bella," she began, her tone very disapproving. "I realize you both are very young and you may very well have active relationships, but I don't want either of you inviting any friends over here, and especially not at night. It's hardly appropriate and I won't tolerate that under my roof."

I didn't miss that Edward and Jasper both tensed up simultaneously.

Not wanting to interrupt, I waited until she was finished speaking before I began to defend Alice and myself. "Esme, we weren't—"

"—aware that it wasn't allowed. We've never touched upon those details before. I can promise you it won't happen again," Alice interjected smoothly, shooting me a 'shut up and I'll explain later' look.

Edward and Jasper's mouths fell open in surprise. Jasper got a pleading look on his face, like he was begging Alice to tell him that it wasn't true. Alice purposely ignored him.

"That's all I ask," Esme said, her tone softening immediately.

I was touched by how forgiving she was—although there was nothing to forgive in actuality. She really was an amazing mother.

"So, I noticed you two didn't join us for dinner last night. Why is that?" Esme inquired.

"We had a rather large lunch that afternoon and we weren't hungry. We decided to go for a dip in the hot tub instead. I hope you don't mind, Esme," I explained.

"Nonsense, of course I don't mind. You can use whatever you'd like during your stay here," Esme replied kindly. "I already feel as though you are part of the family."

"Thank you. That's very kind of you."

"It's the least we can do. You're being a huge help to all of us by watching after Rosalie and Emmett. I hope they didn't cause too much trouble yesterday."

"They were perfect angels," I told Esme. It wasn't entirely true, but according to Alice, it could've been worse and apparently, they liked me. Therefore, I didn't want to give them a reason to hate me. Who knows what they would do?

"Really? Well, that's a pleasant surprise. I must say, you certainly bring out the best in everybody, Bella," Esme said. She wasn't looking at me, though. She was staring straight at Edward with a smile on her face. Edward just continued picking at his food, refusing to look up.

"Anyway," Esme continued, looking away from Edward as she addressed Alice and me, "I have to go soon. I'm meeting with the Newtons for brunch."

It was then that I noticed that Esme hadn't so much as touched her food.

"The Newtons? Mom, we hate them, remember?" Emmett whined.

"Emmett! Don't say such a thing. The Newtons are fine people," Esme reprimanded. "As I was saying, I'll be back earlier than I did yesterday. Rosalie has a slumber party to go to, so I need you two to help her pack up all her stuff and make sure she doesn't forget anything."

"Mother, I can pack by myself," Rosalie informed her, rolling her eyes.

"And Emmett has a football game to go to. Our driver will pick them up at 3 o' clock sharp, so make sure that they aren't late. I'll need them to be waiting outside the front gate before I get there. It'll save us some time," she continued, ignoring Rosalie's comment entirely.

"You're coming to watch me aren't you," Emmett asked her with wide eyes.

"Of course, Emmett," she responded, smiling at him. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Yippee!" Emmett cheered, pumping his fist in the air.

"A football game during the summer?" I wondered aloud. "Hasn't the school year ended, though?"

"Yes, but this isn't a school sponsored thing, so his football team plays year round," Esme explained.

I nodded in understanding.

"Mom, don't forget we're going to have an after-party after the game so that we can celebrate our win," Emmett reminded, confidently.

Esme laughed. "Of course, Emmett."

Suddenly, a butler walked into the room with a wireless telephone in one of his hands while the other covered the mouthpiece. "Mrs. Cullen, I'm sorry to bother you, but there is a phone call for you from the Newtons. Should I tell Mrs. Newton that you cannot come to the phone at this moment?"

"Ew, the Newtons!" Emmett complained, sticking his tongue out at the phone. Esme sent him a reproachful glance before returning her attention to the butler.

"No, no. I'll take the call now, thank you," Esme said, standing up and taking the phone from his hand. She walked a fair distance away from the table before she began talking to Mrs. Newton. I guessed that it was so that she didn't hear any of the nasty comments Emmett was bound to say if he overheard their conversation.

There was an awkward silence that filled the atmosphere without Esme to keep the conversation going. I focused my full attention on the breakfast in front of me to avoid looking at Edward. The last thing I needed was to get lost in those striking eyes of his…

Mercifully, Esme finished up her conversation rather quickly. She ended the call and handed the phone back to the butler, who walked out of the room to return the phone to its rightful post. "That was Mrs. Newton, children. It appears I need to get going. Alice, Bella, you two can have the majority of the day off after I pick up Emmett and Rosalie at 3. All I need you to do after that is put Emmett to bed at 10 o' clock. Oh, and before I forget, tomorrow I'll be leaving very early in the morning, so I probably won't see you. Jeffrey, the butler that came in just a second ago, will tell you tomorrow's schedule," she told us as she grabbed her coat from a coat rack in the far corner. "Bye, kids! Behave."

Goodbyes were exchanged and then Esme walked hastily out the door. When she was out of hearing range, I turned to Alice.

"Hey, Alice?"

She looked up at me.

"How come Esme gives us so many nights off? Is she always this kind to the help?" I asked.

She laughed at my naivety. "Of course not! She usually does that in the beginning, so that she can have more time to interrogate Emmett and Rosalie to make sure we're doing a good job."

I bit my lip nervously as I thought about what Emmett and Rosalie were going to say. It didn't help that Emmett and Rosalie exchanged a brief glance and turned away from each other with identical smirks on their faces.

Jasper seemed to sense my nervousness. "Don't worry, Bella. Esme's very kind and understand and I'm sure you've given her no reason to fire you, so you have no reason to worry," he assured me.

At his words I relaxed immediately. It felt like a wave of calm had suddenly washed over me.

"What are we doing just sitting here? Let's play!" Emmett yelled suddenly, jumping up onto the dining table and managing to kick over his glass of orange juice in the process. The glass knocked over the glass of water next to it, causing water to spill all over Rosalie's plate of unfinished food.

Well, the calm was nice while it lasted, I thought to myself, sullenly.

"Emmett, you idiot, get off the table!" Rosalie seethed.

"Make me," Emmett taunted, turning around and bending over to shake his behind in Rosalie's face. Then, he started singing show tunes at the top of his lungs.

Rosalie slammed her hands on the table furiously before getting up and stomping over to the head of the table where Esme had been previously sitting. She grabbed the edge of the table cloth, her teeth clenched in anger. I opened my mouth and held up a cautioning hand to stop her, but I was too late. Before I could get a word out, she had already pulled the table cloth with more force than I thought possible.

The cloth slid out from under Emmett's feet, causing him to lose his balance and fall with a loud 'oomph' as he hit the floor. It continued its rampage as it overturned all the dishes, glasses, silverware, and the five centerpieces that used to be spread out along the long, rectangular table. I cringed as most of the lot fell to the floor with a huge crash. The dishes that hadn't been dragged far enough were scattered along the middle of the table in an enormous, colorful mess.

Emmett jumped up from his place on the floor and began to take in the situation. "Wow…" he mumbled. "Awesome!"

I slapped a hand over my eyes. It was much too painful to watch.

"Wait, Rosalie, don't move!" Emmett exclaimed suddenly.

At first I expected it to be another one of his gags, but then I took my hand away from my eyes and realized that Rosalie was still standing at the head of the table, but now I saw that she was bare foot and had thousands of tiny, glass shards surrounding her on all sides.

Edward, Jasper, and Alice seemed to grasp this at the same moment that I did. We all jumped up to help, but Emmett was two steps ahead of all of us. He was already walking towards her with strong, deliberate strides.

I was about to tell him to stop when I realized that he was wearing a pair of thick, pink bunny slippers—possibly more pink than Edward's hair had been a day ago.

He stopped in front of Rosalie and paused for a moment. Then, he grabbed her by her legs and slung her over his shoulder.

"Emmett, what the—! Put me down," Rosalie shrieked from her upside-down position.

He carried her safely over to her original seat. Then, he gently flipped her over and set her down in one swift movement. Everybody stared at him, dumbfounded for a good five seconds. Rosalie staggered a little as she regained her footing. When she had her balance again, she turned to Emmett, who was beaming proudly at her, with an awed expression of her own.

He scoffed smugly. "And you said these pink bunny slippers were dumb."

--

"Bye! Have fun!" Alice called out to Rosalie and Emmett, who were already in the limousine, backing out of the driveway. I waved along with her. Esme gave us a parting smile before the limo started its way down the road.

Once they were out of sight, Alice whipped out her phone and started dialing numbers rapidly.

"Alice, what are you doing?" I asked, suspiciously.

She held up a finger towards me to motion me to wait.

"Hello, Leo? … Hi, this is Alice! … Yeah … I was wondering if you could come on over … Yeah, no later than 3 hours from now … No, it'll only take a second … Okay, thank you! … See you soon!" she said, snapping the phone shut.

"Come on, Bella! We have stuff to do!" Alice called out to me as she danced over to her car.

"Alice," I whined. "Can't we just spend the day here? Sleeping, maybe?"

She sighed. "This is better than sleeping!"

"At this point, nothing sounds better than sleeping."

"Not even getting back at Edward?"

"I'm in!" I called, running over to the passenger side of her car and getting in.

She got in as well, laughing. "That's the spirit!"

--

Esme and Emmett still hadn't come home. The butler had told us an hour ago that they called and said that Emmett's team had indeed won the game and they were going out to celebrate. They should be home any second now, though.

Alice had dragged me to buy a bucket of purple paint and a couple of rubber bands. When I asked her what she was doing she just told me that she was putting her original plan into action. She wouldn't tell me more than that, so I guess I just had to wait and find out for myself.

Now, Alice and I were standing in Edward's bathroom at six o' clock in the evening while the plumber that Alice had called earlier was working under the sink. When he came in, his overalls were already covered in grime.

"Alright, now hand me the bucket of paint," the plumber instructed.

Alice skipped over there with the bucket of paint in one hand. The plumber placed it somewhere under the sink and then started fixing a few more things. He was so huge I couldn't see what was going on in front of him. I probably wouldn't have understood even if I could see, though.

Alice pulled her phone out suddenly and flipped it open. "I just got a text from Jasper. He says that he's driving home right now with Edward! That means we only have twenty minutes until they get home!" she gasped, pulling on my arm frantically as if she expected me to stop time or something.

"You brought Jasper into this too now?" I asked her in disbelief.

"How else was I supposed to make sure Edward stays out long enough? Although, Jasper didn't do too hot of a job considering we might not even have enough time to finish!" she accused, tapping her foot impatiently while she pierced holes into the plumber's back, willing him to speed it up a little.

Luckily, the plumber stood up at that moment and said, "Alright. That should do it."

"Thanks, Leo! I can always count on you," Alice squealed, all worry disappearing. She handed him a wad of cash, which he gladly took.

"Always happy to be of service," he replied, his eyes glued to the money.

He left the room and Alice turned to me with a huge grin on her face. Honestly, I was a little scared.

"Well?" she asked me, looking expectant. When I just stared at her, uncomprehending, she motioned towards the sink. "Aren't you going to try it out?"

I glared at her warily before stepping up to the sink. I flipped one of the switches. Thick, purple paint flowed through the faucet. I turned to her doubtfully after I turned the faucet off again.

"How is this going to fool him, Alice? When purple stuff comes out of your sink, you're bound to know something's wrong."

She sighed at me. Then, she walked over to the sink and placed a rubber band around the rim, twisting it so it was a tighter fit.

"There!" she said, looking pleased.

"What's that supposed to do?" I asked, still confused.

"You'll see," she sang. "Okay, what I need you to wait out of sight in the shower over there with this camcorder. If you don't want to be covered in paint, close the glass door behind you. I'm going to make sure that Emmett's home. We're going to need him to smear chocolate pudding over one of Edward's hands so that he comes in here to wash it off."

I nodded. She handed me a camcorder, which was no doubt very expensive, and started walking out the door, but then paused and turned to me again.

"Oh, and keep recording at all times. We don't want to miss a second of it," she added, smiling at me mischievously. I had a feeling she knew something I didn't, but I decided it might be better to not question her.

I wasn't sure how long she was gone, but out of nowhere, she ran back into the bathroom. She threw a wet sponge at me head.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Use that to get rid of all traces of paint in the sink," she told me, throwing me a dry towel too.

"Hurry! We only have about five minutes before he comes up here!" she said when I made no move to do anything.

Then, she ran out of the room once again. I scrubbed furiously at the sink, trying to get off all the signs of paint before it dried. When I was confident it wasn't terribly noticeable, I threw the sponge and towel into the trashcan, both covered in purple.

I froze when I heard a door open. I grabbed the camcorder from the counter and jumped into the shower, closing the glass door behind me. The glass was slightly frosted, but it would have to do.

I heard him shuffling around in his bedroom. Then, I distinctly heard a second pair of footsteps entering the room. I could imagine Emmett walking in there with an innocent expression on his face and his hands behind his back.

"Hey, Edward," I heard Emmett say, trying to sound casual.

"Hey, Emmett," I heard Edward say. He sounded kind of distracted.

"I have a surprise for you!" Emmett said.

"What kind of surprise?" Edward asked warily.

"Why don't you close your eyes, hold out one hand, and find out?"

There was a moment of silence, so I suspected that Edward did as he was told.

"Emmett! What the—" Edward yelled.

I heard Emmett's footsteps as he ran out of the room. Edward muttered curses under his breath. The curses got louder as he got closer to the bathroom. I held my breath.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as he walked to the sink and flicked the faucet on. Purple paint spewed from the faucet flying in all directions, rather than coming out in a steady stream like it had before.

Edward reflexively cringed away from the assault. I couldn't help but start cracking up over the sight of Edward covered in purple paint. Unfortunately, my laughing tipped him off to my presence. He turned around to look at me accusingly.

Suddenly, he got a mischievous smirk on his face. He opened the shower door and pulled me out by my arm. Then, he pushed me toward the sink, using me as some kind of human shield. I shrieked through my giggles and raised both of my hands over my face to shield myself, accidentally dropping the camcorder in the process.

We wrestled with each other for a while, each trying to hide behind the other, before I gave up and ran towards the shower again, taking cover. Edward was right behind me. He shut the door after himself and we both collapsed onto the tile floor, exhausted. In the confined space, it was a pretty tight fit. If the shower was any smaller, we'd almost be pressed up against each other.

I threw my head back and laughed at our predicament and the outrageous way we looked. Edward joined in my laughter, his soft melodic laugh accompanying mine and blending it into a song.

Soon enough, our laughter died down and was replaced with a whole different mood. Edward stared at me with an expression that I didn't quite recognize. Then, he raised his one, clean hand to wipe a blob of paint from my cheekbone, but he only succeeded in smearing it.

I smiled at him and he smiled back at me with that stunning, crooked smile. Then suddenly, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. I froze for a second before kissing him back tentatively.

All too soon, he pulled back with a sheepish expression.

"Sorry, that was out of line," he apologized.

I wanted to tell him that he didn't have to be sorry, but I couldn't find the words, so instead I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him to me for another kiss. I had no idea what came over me, but he happily complied anyway.

When we pulled away, we were both out of breath.

"Does this mean you forfeit?" I joked as I caught my breath.

He chuckled. "If I'd known that this was what forfeiting entailed, I would've forfeited a long time ago."

His words made my heart flutter. "Truce?" I offered.

"Truce," he agreed, sticking one of his hands out for me to take.

As if on cue, the sink sputtered to a stop at our agreement.

I took his hand without looking away from his amazing eyes. I gasped when I felt a cool coat of pudding on his hands. That's when I remembered that Emmett had thrown pudding over one of his hands in order to lure him in here.

"Ew!" I squealed playfully, trying to pull my hand away. But before I could get my hand out of his grasp, he tightened his grip and pulled me on top of him, his lips locking with mine, moving in complete harmony.

In that instant, there in his arms, I was in heaven.

However, somewhere in the back of my mind I could hear catcalls. That was strange. Weren't you supposed to hear fireworks? Or something of the sort…

Suddenly, there were tons of icy cold, wet pellets soaking me from head to toe. I pulled away from Edward with a gasp. I turned my attention to the little audience gathered around the shower. Our little gathering consisted of Jasper, who looked like he was fighting hard to keep from laughing; Emmett, who was—no doubt—the source of the catcalls; and Alice, who was—no doubt—the source of the… wet.

Alice beamed knowingly at me. She leaned in towards the shower and, with a click, turned the water off again. It was much too late, though. I was already completely soaked, as was Edward.

I noticed, to my deep embarrassment, that Alice had the camcorder, which I'd dropped in my haste, in her hand and was recording every second of this moment.

At this point, I probably looked like a drowned cat. I turned to look at Edward and gauge his reaction, only to discover that he was looking solely at me, as if I were a goddess from one of his wildest dreams, with a soft smile that said it all.

My mouth twisted into a smile on its own accord. But there were still so many unanswered questions running wildly through my head. One of the most important ones: Where did this leave us?

Another chapter done! I'm starting school tomorrow, so I wanted to get this out before then. I really hope that you guys like it because I was kind of stressing over getting this done, so it's a little messy in places. I've been a little indecisive lately, so I kept changing things.

The basic idea of Edward stealing all of Alice and Bella's furniture and leaving a chalk outline of the décor belongs to You-Dazzle-Me-1901. I merely expatiated and modified it to fit my storyline.

There were other wonderful ideas submitted, but I didn't want to drag the whole 'prank war' thing on for too long, so I wasn't able to use them. The people who submitted other hilarious ideas include: xxCottenCandyxx, LaTuACanTantE00mySinGer, xSugarxHighx. If I forgot anybody, please tell me and I'll make sure to include you. Thank you once again for the fabulous ideas. I apologize for not being able to put them to good use.

Anyway, I'm no longer offering a quote for reviews. ): I'm sorry guys, but I really don't have a quote to give you. I wish I did, but I don't. I hope you guys can find another reason to review (maybe such as just to make me happy? or maybe because it motivates me to update?). So I hope to hear from you guys! I want to know what you thought!