𝐑𝐄𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍 ➻ 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧

𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻

IT WAS BELLA'S BIRTHDAY. Anastasia had been searching for a gift to get for her ever since she came back to Forks, but Bella wasn't exactly the easiest to buy for. In fact, she insisted nobody should buy for her, but Anastasia wasn't going to let that slide on her birthday, so she'd sprung for a dress for her to wear for a party that Alice was planning for Bella at the Cullen house, a party that Carlisle was insisting she should come to.

She knew Bella wasn't in love with the idea of dresses, but she wanted to get her something that she could wear for this special occasion, she knew what the girl's closet contained, and it wasn't exactly 18th birthday party attire.

Carlisle had been continuously driving her to school recently, it had become a habit she was quite fond of. She gingerly placed the wrapped parcel into her backpack before saying goodbye to her grandmother.

Carlisle and Anastasia had been growing much closer since the whole James ordeal, but they just chose to try and ignore the strange events that had happened, to try and possibly introduce a sense of normalcy into her life again.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the high school, Bella was immediately in sight, swarmed by all of her friends who were having their picture taken by a camera Anastasia concluded must've been given to Bella for her birthday...

Then Jacob had appeared, Anastasia didn't like the whole love triangle situation between Edward, Bella, and Jacob, so she tried to stay out of it as much as possible. She ended up begging Carlisle to wait for him to leave so that she didn't walk into awkward tension on Bella's birthday.

"Hey, happy birthday Bells." she grinned as she pulled the present out of her bag and presented it to her. "Thought you might appreciate it for... Fun times."

Bella made a noise of annoyance for a moment. "Anastasia, I told you like, so many times... I don't need presents!" Edward, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, smirked at that one.

"Just accept the gifts you get, Bella" the bronze-haired boy quipped as he pulled her toward the school building. Anastasia trailed behind slightly, not wanting to third-wheel the whole scenario, she'd learnt her lesson in the past with Alice and Jasper one time. 

The walk to English so far consisted of Edward and Bella bickering over Jacob being able to give her a birthday present but he couldn't do anything for her special day, that was until Alice flung herself over a handrail, a gift already in her small arms.

"Bella!" she called out. "Happy birthday!" Bella began shushing her almost immediately, as though she was trying to warn off bad omens. It was too late for her to push the present away, Alice had practically shoved it into her hands.

"I thought I said no presents?" Bella said.

"I've already seen you open it, and guess what?" Alice prompted her, a keen smile upon her lips. "You love it." Bella chuckled awkwardly, not knowing what to do. "You're gonna wear it tonight. Our place."

Anastasia felt her heart sink a little in her chest as she heard Alice's words from her place on the side-lines.

Alice had bought Bella a dress, for the birthday party.

"Come on. Please? It'll be fun." Alice practically begged her when Bella made a face of disapproval. From where Anastasia stood, she noticed Jasper's demeanour shift slightly, his eyes narrowing slightly were the most noticeable thing.

"Okay. All right." Bella agreed finally, Anastasia frowned, knowing Jasper probably had something to do with this, though she didn't exactly know what yet, she hadn't asked about any abilities he might've had.