BPOV
As my eighteenth birthday grew closer Alice became more excited every day, bouncing her way through school and turning up in the middle of the night to run a new idea past me. Edward often had to scold her for waking me up, and was growing concerned that I wasn't getting enough sleep at night. Eventually, I gave up on trying to curb Alice's enthusiasm, and I agreed to forgo my vetos and let Alice do whatever she wanted for my party so that I could get a good night's sleep and Edward could stop worrying.
School had stayed relatively monotonous- just as I had predicted. Without Emmett to laugh at it was just boring, although Alice and Edward made school bearable. The work was ridiculously easy- something I was often grateful for since having Edward in all of my classes was a major distraction. Sometimes I spent the whole lessen ogling my personal Greek god and wondering at my good fortune. Of course Edward often caught me, and his crooked grin would set my heart ablaze, giving away my adoration by its audibly unsteady beat. I managed to make it through the monotonous school days by daydreaming about Edward and our life together, and all the possibilities our future held- many of which Edward would never have dreamed of.
Emmett and Rose arrived back from their trip to Africa a few days before my birthday, and my prank was put into action perfectly. We were all waiting impatiently in the house for them to arrive, and at my feet lay a huge bag. Edward had been wondering what was in it since I arrived a few hours earlier, but I had refused to tell him, and Alice had obviously blocked him- the mischievous grin on her face letting me know that she knew my plan.
Finally we heard Rose's car pull up in front of the house and two car doors open and close. I started smiling and used a shield to hold my bag up in the air where I could reach it. I unzipped the bag as I heard them reach the front steps.
Sure enough, as I had planned, Rosalie came in first and I quickly wrapped a shield around her and moved her a few metres inside and to the left. I ignored her surprised squeaks and protests as I focussed on my prey. Emmett stepped through the door, and stopped in surprise as he watched his wife fly quickly through the air. I grabbed one of the items in my bag, and threw it hard at Emmett. The water balloon filled with a sludgy mixture of flour, water and my own personal favourite addition- garlic powder, splattered all over Emmett's hair and face. The shocked and disgusted look on his face was comical as I continued to pelt him with the sludge filled water balloons.
Alice quickly stepped up beside me and joined in, and once they processed what was happening, Jasper and Edward joined in too; matching smiles adorning our faces. Rose took a little longer to get over her surprise, but by the time I had thrown my fifth balloon she had also started pelting her husband.
Emmett stood there silently, taking all the shots with a disgusted look on his face, and when we were finally out of ammo he stalked towards me, dripping all over with the strong smelling sludge. I grinned at him, "Just had to make sure that vampires being allergic to garlic was a myth," I smirked. I knew how bad it would smell to Emmett since I had done the same thing to Felix and Demetri years ago. Apparently the horrible smell would take about a week to fully dissipate from Emmett.
He gave me a menacing glare, "I will get you back for this squirt," he threatened. Unfortunately for him, he didn't look remotely scary as sludge dripped down his face and we all laughed as he stomped upstairs to take a shower.
"Don't worry Emmett!" I called up the stairs, "The smell will be out in about a week." I burst out laughing and everyone downstairs joined in as Emmett grumbled to himself.
Alice snickered, "He's going to hate the smell of garlic for the next century now." I grinned in triumph and we all chuckled.
He reappeared after a long, and very thorough, shower, within amused smile on his face, and while I knew he was already planning retribution, I also knew that he could see the funny side of my little prank. He and Rose told us about their trip, and Emmett even gave me a thin braid of hair that he had plucked from the mane of a lion he had fought- he proudly assured me that he hadn't hurt or killed it.
For the rest of the week I spent every spare second at the Cullen's house eagerly gleaning every detail of the places Emmett and Rose had travelled to out of the pair. Edward noticed my interest and sweetly promised to take me on our own trip in the future.
The day of my eighteenth birthday quickly arrived. I happily woke up in Edward's arms and claimed my first birthday kiss for the day before getting ready for school. At school everyone wished me a happy birthday- some more genuine than others, and Angela and Ben even gave me a lovely card.
Alice had managed to go with my wishes, and had left her present for me at home for me to see when I came over that evening for my party, although I had strong suspicions that the only reason she hadn't brought my present to school was because it wouldn't fit- Alice wasn't the type to buy small presents.
The day passed quickly and I found myself quite excited, knowing that I would soon see Alice's handiwork. Edward came back to my house for a few hours after school so that Alice could finish preparing everything. We killed some time by emailing my mum. I thanked her for the camera that she, Charlie and Phil all chipped in to buy me, and I rang my Volturi family to chat to them so that they could give me my customary birthday greetings.
Once Charlie had arrived home with pizza and we had eaten dinner he cheerfully waved Edward and I out the door and settled down to watch some sports.
We arrived at the Cullen house to find it brightly lit up. All along the porch and the front steps were littered with beautiful flower arrangements and the front door had a huge sign saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELLA! on it. Alice had clearly had the time of her life preparing for my party.
Edward and I slowly approached the house and as we reached the front door I could feel the waves of excitement, happiness and enthusiasm that Jasper was throwing around- probably excess from Alice and Emmett. We opened the door to find Emmett and Alice rushing towards me.
Just before they reached me Emmett managed to shove Alice away and he scooped me up into an exuberant hug. "Happy Birthday Bella!" he said exuberantly, spinning me in a circle before placing me back on the ground.
I laughed, "Thanks Em."
Alice quickly elbowed him out of the way, irritation at Emmett beating her clear in her expression. As she put her arms around me though, her scowl faded and was replaced by a beautiful smile, "So what do you think Bella? Do you like the decorations? Did you see the cake Emmett got for you?"
At the mention of cake I turned to look at the room. We were surrounded by flowers and balloons, and sitting on a side table was a monstrosity of a cake. It was a three tiered cake with blue icing. The top tier had 18 candles, and the bottom tier had the words "Happy Birthday Bella," written across it. It was a large enough cake to feed 50 guests, and since I was the only one who ate I was overwhelmed, although it did look delicious. Not wanting to hurt Emmett's feelings as I suspected that he had put a great deal of thought into my birthday cake, I turned and smiled at Alice and Emmett. "Thanks, guys, you're the best. That's the most awesome birthday cake I've ever had, and I love the balloons and flowers."
The faces of the entire family split into joyous grins. Of course, Alice couldn't stay quiet for too long, and she soon grabbed me, leading me further into the room. "We'll open your presents first, and you can have your cake after," she exclaimed happily.
Emmett immediately picked up a large wrapped box which was waist high on me and placed it down in front of me. "This one's from Rose and I." I smiled and tore into the wrapping. I opened the box eagerly, wondering what they had gotten me, but my smile soon turned to a frown as I saw that inside the box was another box. I took it out, and opened it, sure enough; there was another box inside this one too. I sent a glare towards Emmett, who was grinning gleefully, and continued to open the boxes, all of which had been stacked one inside another.
After 25 boxes I finally reached the last one and opened it, only to find that it was empty. I gritted my teeth in irritation as Emmett snickered. The others were all trying to hold in their laughter. "Thank you for the present Emmett," I said politely, "It's certainly one of the most interesting ones I've ever gotten." I pasted a pleased expression on my face.
That did it; they all stated roaring with laughter. I chuckled too; able to see the humour in this situation. When they finally calmed down Rose explained that she and Emmett had gotten sound systems for my two cars. "I've already installed one in your Maserati, and I'll put the other one in your 370z on the weekend," she assured me.
I hugged them both tight, "Thanks guys, that's an awesome present!" They looked pleased.
Esme and Carlisle came next, and handed me a deceptively simple envelope. I opened it and pulled out some paper. I quickly scanned it, and when it registered that I was holding plane tickets to Phoenix, I squealed in a very Alice-like manner and threw my arms around them. "Thank you so much! I can't wait to visit my mum again and let her meet Edward." They smiled happily at me and returned my hugs.
I turned to Edward, and smiled brightly at him, eagerly anticipating taking Edward to meet my vivacious mother; he smiled back, obviously happy that I was so excited.
Alice and Jasper were next, Alice dancing up to me and holding out a plain white envelope. I looked at it and curiously raised an eyebrow at Alice. "I've gotta say Alice, I'm surprised, I was sure you were going to get me a much larger gift than something that would fit in an envelope," I teased her. All seven Cullens smirked at me, making me even more curious about what was in the envelope.
I slid one finger the opening and lifted. My finger sliced against the paper and it stung, leaving a small paper cut on my finger. A drop of blood surfaced. And then it happened; the defence mechanism part of my shield instinctively activated itself. It was a feature that I hadn't used in nearly ten years and had all but forgotten about.
My shield instinctively threw itself out, surrounding me in a ten foot radius bubble and slamming the vampires into walls. It took me a few seconds to process what had instantaneously happened. The vampires in the room were all staring at me in shock- again, evidently they hadn't realised that I had one last trick up my sleeves.
Emmett was now standing in the middle of a wall, and Jasper was sliding down from the top of the bubble. The real surprise though was Edward. He was still standing beside me, inside my shield. This had never happened before, but it seemed that even my subconscious didn't register Edward as dangerous. When Jasper reached the ground I retracted the shield, and noted with satisfaction that none of the vampires were having trouble handling the small amount of blood from my papercut, which I was now nursing in my mouth. They were still all looking at me for an explanation.
I sighed, "I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that particular feature of my gift because it doesn't happen very often- the last time was nearly ten years ago." They were still looking at me with confusion on their faces. "My shield seems to have an inbuilt defence mechanism against vampires which automatically throws out a shield if there are vampires around when I draw blood." They all looked surprised, and Carlisle looked intrigued. "When I cut myself or graze something, if vampires are near me I seem to throw an automatic shield around myself that pushes vampires away from me and keeps me safe. Unfortunately, it can also be a bit of a problem." They now looked confused. "You see, the last time something happened was when I was seven and with the Volturi of course. We were out for a hike when I brushed my arm up against a sharp branch and cut myself. It bled quite a bit and my shield ended up throwing Felix, Demetri, Jane and Alec away from me. But then I fainted from the smell of the blood and nobody could get to me to stop the bleeding or wake me up. Apparently it took me ten minutes to wake up and all they could do was watch anxiously from ten feet away."
They all frowned at this revelation and looked worried, but I quickly put them at ease, "Of course, it seems that Edward has become an exception," I gestured to him, still standing behind me and understanding and relief dawned in their eyes as they realised that my shield had not pushed him away.
Emmett broke the serious mood for us with a chuckle. "See Edward, you aren't scary at all, even Bella's subconscious can distinguish between me- a big strong scary vampire, and you- a scrawny little weakling." We all chuckled softly at that and Edward snarled playfully.
Carlisle disappeared for a second, and then reappeared with a bandaid for me, which I quickly put on.
"Well," Esme observed, noting the broken walls, "You are certainly very effective at demolishing walls; your gift will be very handy for future renovations, and you've just given me a reason to redecorate this room," she smiled as her eyes critically assessed the demolition areas.
Jasper snickered, "Looks like you're out of a job Emmett."
Emmett pouted, "But Esme, I can destroy a house just as fast as Bella!"
I smirked, "No you can't Emmett."
He glared at me playfully, "We might have to test that theory sometime on the future Bells," I could see the spark of competition lit in his eyes and I grinned at him.
The mood was sufficiently restored and I handed Edward the envelope to open; not wanting a repeat performance of my earlier injury. He opened it and pulled out a photo. He handed it to me and I flipped it over. It was a picture of a Ducati- the same as Jasper's but dark blue in colour. I raised my eyebrows at Alice, "Really?" I asked excitedly.
She nodded, "It's in the garage, Esme wouldn't let us bring it into the house."
I beamed and hugged her, "Thank you! I can't wait to try it!"
Emmett grinned, "We can't wait either, the rest of us," he indicated everyone except Carlisle and Esme, "all bought bikes too so that we could ride with you and Jasper." I grinned as I envisioned all the fun we could have together.
Edward was the last to give me birthday gifts. He handed me a wrapped thin square present and slightly larger box. Neither of them were the right size nor shape to be an engagement ring. I stamped out my disappointment before Jasper could register it and smiled at him, waiting patiently for him to unwrap the smaller present for me. Inside was a clear CD case with a CD inside. The cover art on the disk was swirls of blue and white, with the words, 'Edward's Compositions,' on it. I grinned at him in delight and threw myself into his arms. He caught me and I leaned in for a quick, but passionate kiss. "Thank you Edward, I love it," I murmured.
"I'm glad you like it," he placed me back on the ground and opened his second gift to me. Inside was a large jewellery case in which a platinum chain with a glittering diamond heart sat.
I stared at it in awe, "It's beautiful," I whispered, reaching out to caress it softly.
"It was my mother's," he explained, "I wanted you to have it."
He took it out of the box and carefully placed it around my neck. My hand reached up to touch it as I reached up onto my toes and poured my thanks, appreciation and love into a kiss.
My last presents were a combined gift from the Volturi, including a priceless watercolour painting that I had been after for years, however the previous owner had not wanted to part with it for any sum of money. I wondered which member of my family had scared him into finally selling it. They had also sent a beautiful set of 1st edition Sherlock Holmes books and some more beautiful jewellery, all of which I loved.
Once the presents were out of the way I made a quick detour to the garage to see my new, gorgeous motorbike before Esme lit the candles on my cake. They sang happy birthday to me in perfect harmony; their musical voices in perfect pitch. I happily blew out the candles after making a wish- that Edward and I would get engaged very soon.
They all looked on in mild fascination as I took the first bite of cake. It was delicious; rich and decadent, with the light icing providing the perfect contrast. I moaned in ecstasy. "Emmett, you picked an awesome cake- this is divine." The whole family grinned at me. I had to have another piece before I felt overly full and was forced to stop.
We continued the celebration with a piñata- which Emmett felled with one hit, and a movie- where I happily curled up on Edward's lap with a bowl of popcorn, another slice of cake, and candy from the piñata. It was the best birthday party I had ever had, and when I told Alice that she squealed with joy.