What If?

The next morning, I woke up to my phone beeping, the alarm that I had set on it going off, and I was quick to turn it off before moaning softly and sitting up, stretching my arms high above me before standing and getting ready to hang out with Alice.

It didn't take me long to get dressed, as I had showered the night before, and then I quickly headed out of my room and down towards the kitchen to get something to eat. I went to walk through the living room, which was a quicker way to the kitchen, only for me to stop dead in my tracks as I saw Bella sitting on the couch with Jacob, their lips pressed together in a soft kiss.

This wasn't the first time I'd walked in on them, but it still felt awkward, so I quickly coughed to make them aware of my presence. Jacob pulled away and looked at me, raising his eyebrows when he saw I was up.

"Your up early," was his next comment, of which I had expected, as I normally slept in on Saturdays.

"Yea, so are you," I shot back, sticking out my tongue playfully before heading to the kitchen. "Isn't Bella supposed to be with Edward today?"

I didn't have to be looking at my brother to know that he was scowling at that point and I heard Bella as well sigh, before I heard her say to Jacob, "Yea... I forgot that I had made plans with him today."

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed a pack of poptarts out of the cupboard and then walked into the living room, stating, "You should just break up with him. I mean, it's not fair to him or my brother... Now, if you all don't mind, I'm going to go shopping with a friend from school. I'll talk to you later."

"Wait, you made a friend, who is it?" Jake asked and I looked back at him and Bella, pursing my lips.

"Alic-Ali," I stated abruptly and then nodded softly before looking away. "Her name is Ali. She's really nice and now I have to go, or I'll be late."

"Are you sure she's real?" he asked, sounding unsure, as though it was such a surprise that I had a friend. I pursed my lips and glared at him, my brown eyes flaring and I picked up the closest thing to me, a remote, and chucked it at him.

"Shut up! I have a friend, get over it!" I said and then turned and stormed from the room, ignoring his laughter at the fact that I had gotten so defensive. I knew I would hear more about this when I got home. Letting out a frustrated sigh, I made it a point to slam the door before walking down the steps and smiling as I saw Quil was already sitting in front of our house in his car.

"Hey, shorty," he said as I got in the passenger seat. He took one look at me and raised his eyes with an amused smirk. "Why are you so 'grrr' looking this morning?"

"Jacob thinks I made my friend up..." I muttered and he burst out laughing, causing me to sigh/growl. This seemed to amused him more and he laughed more and more. "It's not funny!"

"Yes, yes it is..." he said with a big grin on his face before letting out a breath and then taking a deep breath, as the laughing had made him lose his breath momentarily. I crossed my arms, glaring out the window. "Oh come on... You aren't that... friendly...."

The last few words out of his mouth made him sound as though he were afraid of how I would reply to that. My eyes slipped over to him, my brown eyes holding a fiery glare as I looked at him. He kept side glancing at me, a slight fear on his face, causing me to smirk and sit back in my seat, opening my poptarts and taking a bite as we continued to drive along.

"Alright, here we are, shorty," he said and I rolled my eyes at the nickname, but continued to smile non the less as I looked over at him.

"Thanks again, Quil," I said with a small smile. He really was my favorite from the pack, other than Jacob, of course. But he was the one I knew I could always go to if I felt I couldn't go to Jacob about something.

"I hope you know that her scent will rub off on you, being in her car... I suggest you do something to get it off before you come home..."

"Erm... I'll go cliff diving and then put on some of my new clothes that I plan to buy today," I said with a nod. He gave me a speculative look before sighing and nodding, casting his eyes out the windshield and looking across the boarder at the nice yellow porsche, where we could distinctly make out the small form of Alice Cullen.

"Be careful." was all he said before I got out of the car, causing me to sigh. I didn't reply, just shut the door and headed over to Alice's car, smiling upon seeing her eyes in my direction, a smile on her face.

"You trusted a wolf to bring you?" she asked as she looked at me and I looked at her, but she had a smile on her face so I could tell it didn't mean that much to her. I nodded softly and she chuckled a little.

"I can trust Quil," I stated as she began to drive away from the boarder, nodding softly and casting my eyes out the passenger window, watching as the scenery zoomed past. After fully comprehending out quickly it was passing, my eyes slipped to the speedometer, where I saw that she was going over 100 miles per hour. "Don't you think your driving a little fast?"

"Nope," she said and her eyes peeked over at me, a mischievous look in here eyes, causing me to raise my eyebrow, acting as though it did nothing to effect me, even though it did scare me quite a bit.

"As long as you don't kill me," I said after looking at her a few moments, shrugging as I looked out the window, hiding all signs of fear, quite well, though I did grip the arm-rest between us a little bit as she continued down the road.

/♥\

"Oh come on!" Alice yelled excitedly as we passed yet another store that sparked her interest, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward it with a child-like happiness that caused me to smile. Shopping with Alice was definitely my new favorite thing, not because of the clothes, but because of her reaction.

She was a really fun person to be around and I felt myself able to talk to her about anything. Just, something about her made it easy to be comfortable around her and to trust her. I couldn't explain it, it was just something that was.

I walked around the small store, looking through all of the clothes. Well, I more of walked around, letting my fingers trail over the different fabrics until I ran into something that caught my interest. I stopped and griped it in my hands, examining it.

I smiled softly at the soft light blue and white material as it passed across my fingers and all but jumped when I heard Alice's voice say, "You should try it on."

I looked at her, taking a deep breath and sighed softly, letting out a breath and then shaking my head as I looked back at it, biting my lip as I said, "I couldn't ever wear anything like this..."

She chuckled as though she knew something that I didn't, which she most likely did knowing her powers, before pulling the dress off of the rack and shoving it into my hands and literally pushing me to the dressing room. It still amazed me how someone so small could be so strong.

I bit my lip once I was in there and looked at the dress again. I didn't think this was going to be a good idea, but I let out a breath and decided to try it on anyway. I quickly slipped it on and walked out of the dressing room, feeling more self-conscious than I had in a very long while.

"Amazing," she stated, a smile on her face and I bit my lip, looking in the mirror. "I'm buying that for you."

"But I don't have anything to wear it for," I argued, biting my lip as I looked down at it, running my hands over it. I really didn't think I would ever have anything I could wear this for. It just wasn't me, I didn't buy dresses and I never had a reason to... Why start now?

"Oh come on, I'm sure you'll find something later on, I promise," she stated before pushing me back in so that I could change out of the dress. Once I walked out, before I could protest, she grabbed the dress from me, a determined look on her face. I sighed and rolled my eyes, but a soft smile graced my lips despite that.

Wow, this girl was one crazy chick.

/♥\

Me and Alice walked into her house a few hours later, smiling and laughing at what we had been talking about. That was the most amazing day I had ever had and I was glad that it was continuing, as I as able to talk my dad into letting me stay out later than what he had originally said.

We walked into the living room where we saw Edward and Bella on the couch... Kissing...

I stopped in my tracks as an image of her kissing Jacob from this morning passed through my mind, causing Edward to pull from the kiss and his eyes snapped in my direction. An instant glare filled his eyes as he saw me and I smiled innocently, quickly changing the image in my mind to memories of the day that I had just spent with Alice.

"Hello, Edward, Bella," I greeted, nodding and Alice giggled, greeting them as well.

"Hello, you must be Dakotah," said a voice and I jumped a little, turning and looking to see a kind looking lady walking in the room. She had carmel-colored hair and her eyes were the golden color I had become used to seeing in Edward and Alice's eyes. I nodded softly, smiling at her and waving kindly and she came over. I expected it had been to shake my hand so it surprised me greatly when she pulled me into a hug. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Esme."

I chuckled softly and awkwardly, shifting slightly, and saying, "Yea, nice to meet you, too..."

She smiled and pulled away, looking at me with light eyes, nothing but pure motherly sincerity about her.

"Your freaking her out," Edward said, his voice tight and quiet, slightly a growl. He was obviously not happy I was here, much like he wasn't happy I was near him anywhere else. I looked at him, meeting his glare with an equally unafraid look and we stared at each other for a moment. Esme giggled and completely released me from her grasp.

"I'm so sorry, I've just heard so much about you from Alice..."

I looked at Alice, seeing that she was smiling sheepishly and she coughed, looking at Esme and saying, "Yea, but she doesn't know a lot of what I've told you, yet, Esme..."

"Can you te-"

"No," her and Edward said at the same time, her voice soft and amused, his defensive and hateful. I looked in his direction again, sighing softly. That was really getting old, his rude side.

"Come on, Bella, let's go somewhere else," Edward said with a growl, still glaring at me before standing and holding his hand out to Bella, who took it without hesitation and allowed him to take her somewhere else in the house.

I sighed and looked at Alice, who was watching where her adopted brother had just left through, a disappointed look on her face. I coughed after a few more seconds and her eyes looked in my direction and a smile crossed her face instantly.

"Come on, let's go to my room," and suddenly she was pulling me behind her and up the stairs to her room.

I let out a soft chuckle and smiled softly, following willingly, but my mind kept going back to Edward, no matter how much I wanted it not to.