FOREVER

Apparition

Apparition

Alice didn't return for the rest of the day. I knew that because I'd spent any spare time I had searching for her. But she was nowhere to be found and neither were her siblings. All of them had just disappeared from sight. They were so mysterious. And I'd be a liar if I said it didn't intrigue the hell out of me. They were all gorgeous, pale and just from my experiences from Alice I'd be willing to bet that they were cold and hard as well. Hard, cold, pale, hot. Kate Moss. In spite of myself, I snickered out loud in my last class. A few people glanced over but I quickly went back to my work and they thought nothing of it. I always liked art. I wasn't very good at but I always enjoyed it. We were working with clay now. The one good thing about a small school is that they pack everything they can into classes. So this art class was also ceramics and jewelry. I couldn't complain; I liked ceramics.

My hands were running smoothly over the clay on my pottery wheel. I wasn't really making anything, just toying with the shapes my hands created. Up and down, smooth and ridged, it was so calming. Smiling to myself I imagined that scene from the movie Ghost with that song. God, what was that song? I hummed it softly as I tried to remember while the scenes from the movie replayed in my head. I loved that movie. And it was for damn certain that that scene was hot. In spite of myself, I closed my eyes and thought about someone coming up behind me, threading their fingers through mine and helping me with my project. I looked down and pictured white, petit fingers surrounding mine. They were only slightly cold due to the warmness of the clay. The hands were travelling up my wrists now, leaving trails along the way. The bell rang to dismiss my last class and I sighed as my imagination faded. And the song still had not come to me. I sighed again, feeling overall disappointed with this ceramics class, and lazily washed my hands. I didn't even have the will to get all of the clay off. I still enjoyed the texture on my hands so I left a little there and headed out to my truck.

The halls were empty quickly as I didn't have a last period and most people were still in their classes. I smiled softly as I travelled through the quiet school. It was refreshing, calming. I looked over at the cafeteria as I passed and thought about Alice...again. Why she looked so uncomfortable when she left, why Rosalie was looking oh so pissed, why Edward just sat there and glared at me. As if it weren't obvious I wasn't feeling very welcomed by the Cullens. They might as well kill me now. However, on the bright side, Alice appeared to want a friendship from me and I couldn't deny that idea was reciprocated by me.

As I headed to my car I dug into my book bag for my keys. Of course, my book bag was a bottomless pit and my keys were deciding to hide from me. I groaned to myself as I kept walking and digging. When I'd finally found them and wrapped my hand around them, I felt a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. Looking up, I realized that I was one step away from slamming into my own car. Smooth. I looked down at the pale fingers on my shoulder and smiled. "Hi, Alice,"

"Good afternoon, Bella. You really should watch where you're going. Don't want you getting hurt." She smiled softly at me and I couldn't help but return it. She was so cute. Alice gave a short exhale of a laugh and then became serious. "Listen, Bella, I wanted to apologize for my sister's and my behavior at lunch. It was quite inexcusable. She was very rude and I shouldn't have gone with her. Do you forgive me?" Her eyes widened with hope as she waited for my answer. Like I wasn't going to forgive her. It wasn't even her fault that her sister had done that at lunch. She was so compassionate, this girl.

"Oh sure, Alice, no problem. Don't blame yourself. There's nothing to be sorry for."

"Great, thanks!" she said as she enveloped me in a hug. A tight hug. In fact, it was hurting a little. Alice sighed softly into my shoulder as she hugged me and while I tried to remain quiet about it, my breathing hitched with pain. Alice released me instantly, her eyes widened in horror. Then she gasped and hung her head. If I hadn't been intently focusing on her, I wouldn't have heard her whisper, "I...hurt you. I'm so sorry." Honestly it felt like a little bit of me was dying inside. Alice looked like she was about to cry and I'd caused that torment in her. Stupid me for being weak. I shouldn't have made a sound. I didn't mind the pain, I just wanted the hug. I placed my hand on Alice's shoulder and she raised her head.