I surprised myself after I posted the last update. I'm beginning to find myself in this story again, so I decided another update was in order. I'm sure many of you have been waiting for the moment that will soon be revealed in this chapter... A meeting with one of my favorite characters in all of Twilight. Enjoy!

I do not own Twilight, nor do I have a feisty little sister, but someone does... ;)

Before I could think about my next move, Edward had rearranged his desk and quickly made his way out the door. All of my hopes of approaching him vanished, but considering the fact that I had no idea what I would have said if given the chance, I decided I was probably better off taking some time to think. In order to do that, I would have to be out of his vicinity; there's no way I could think clearly while being in his presence today.

My classmates were out the door along with me, neither of them having the nerve to ask about the exchange between Edward and I. Once again, I was thankful to be invisible. Besides, if they had enough patience, it would all be revealed eventually. I had no doubt in my mind that Edward had the attention of every girl in class though I hadn't been able to look away from him myself long enough to know for sure. If he was still the Edward I knew, he was going to be very tired of all the eyes by the end of the day. Then again, who knows? Maybe the past couple weeks had changed him, but I didn't let myself consider that for long.

My next class was sewing, something I had absolutely no interest in whatsoever, but it was a better option than team sports. I figured it would be filled with a bunch of girls who were fashion-obsessed, just dying to make their own clothes. I would be lucky to make it out of class without a puncture wound from a needle on my first day. Thankfully, I had lunch during the middle of the period so I would at least be a little relieved halfway through.

I walked into the classroom and found that I was right. The estrogen level was mighty high with no boys in sight. As glad as I was to not see Edward or the suddenly-interested-in-my-life Mike, a class with only females wasn't very appealing either. It would have to do. The class was set up with tables instead of desks so I took a seat at the only one that was empty, at least for the time being. About a minute before the bell rang, a dark-haired girl practically bounced into the room and sat in a chair on the other side of my table. Not being one for conversation, I kept my head down until our teacher, Mrs. Wilson started calling roll.

I said "Here," when she called my name, and I swear I heard a snap as the girl who chose to sit with me jerked her head in my direction. As we made eye contact for the first time, I noticed that she looked familiar, but I couldn't place where I knew her from. She was blatantly staring at me while I watched a mix of emotions flash across her face: disbelief, curiosity, and I'd swear a trace of annoyance. I looked away from her to avoid the awkwardness and started listening to Mrs. Wilson finish calling the roll.

"Well, it looks like we have a new student added to the bottom of the list. Do we have an Alice Cullen in the room?" Mrs. Wilson asked. Oh no. It couldn't be.

The girl who was seated across from me looked right into my eyes as she said, "Why, yes you do! Here I am!" She smiled in a way that I was absolutely positive was not meant to be friendly. In fact, I'd say it was downright evil.

"Welcome to the class, Alice! We are beyond happy to have you," Mrs. Wilson exclaimed. Speak for yourself, I thought. What are the odds that I would leave one class in hopes to think clearly about one Cullen, only to go to my next class and run into another? This school year was going to be the death of me.

"Okay, everyone! Listen up. I'm not going to go through the whole boring syllabus thing because I know you've already heard it twice and will probably hear it again when you leave for your next class. Instead, I'm going to talk to you about your final project for this course that you will be responsible for working on throughout the semester so it will be completed and ready to present to the class at the end. Each of you will be assigned a partner which, looking around the room makes sense to be who you are sitting with since you are already separated into pairs. Consider these your assigned seats from now on. You and your partner will be required to make two outfits that you will both model or display, whatever the two of you choose, for the rest of the class. Be wary that this project is a big percentage of your grade, fifty percent to be exact, so maintaining a healthy relationship with your partner is crucial. If any of you have any problems or concerns that you can't seem to work out amongst yourselves, feel free to come talk to me, and I will do my best to mediate. However, you are all seniors in high school, so I expect that to be a last resort. I will pass out guidelines toward the end of class, but for the rest of the period, you are welcome to talk with your partners, maybe bounce around some ideas and get to know one another if you don't already."

Before I could internally whine about anything Mrs. Wilson had to say, my newfound partner started in on me.

"So, you're Bella. I'm Alice. I've been dying to meet you, but you already knew that, right?" She sneered.

"Look, Alice-" I tried.

"Don't 'Look, Alice' me," she interrupted. "I have spent the last however many weeks it has been watching my brother mope around, and do you know why? Hmm? I think you do. Because of you. He just wanted you to know him, Bella. That was all, and you didn't give it a chance," she half-whispered, half-yelled. Any louder and we would have the attention of the rest of the class.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what else you want me to tell you," I said. This girl was an absolute firecracker, and I was in no way prepared for this sort of ambush.

"Tell me why you did it. You know, what surprises me most is that he has made every excuse in the world for you. He seems to think it's not your fault, that you can't help who you are. He has covered for you in every possible way, but I won't settle for it. He won't explain why he's just letting you go, why he's let you ruin him regardless of his own feelings," she exclaimed. I felt my eyes go big at the mention of feelings. She noticed immediately. I swear, the girl didn't miss a thing.

"You're surprised I said 'feelings?' Really? You guys spent almost the entire summer together. He was with you everyday, and when he wasn't, he was talking about you. It was sweet but absolutely disgusting at times. He never came out and said it, but Bella, my brother likes you whether you want to hear that or not. Or at least, he used to. I'm not so sure you deserve it now," she uttered. I thought about her words for a moment and replied with the only thing I could think of.

"I'm not sure I do either," I admitted. "That's the whole reason we got into this mess in the first place. It's much deeper than you think, Alice. I never intended to hurt Edward. I just didn't want to bring him down with me, but I guess I did anyway," I confessed.

"Well, it doesn't have to be like this, Bella. I know Edward, and I've never seen him so caught up in anything before. He's a very passionate guy, poor thing, and he doesn't give up easily. I'm sure you are still somewhere roaming around in his mind. I think it would be worth it for you to find out, that is, if you want to," she challenged. I looked at her and by the forgiving look on her face, I knew she could tell how torn I was. I mean, would it be worth it? Would risking my quiet, invisible life alone be worth giving up to be with Edward? I couldn't even think about being with Edward yet, no matter how much either of us likes one another. We would have to repair our friendship first, if that were possible. I thought about how miserable I had been over the last couple weeks in comparison to how I felt when Edward and I were together, and I knew I was done questioning it. I would have to take the chance.

"Okay, Alice. You've said enough. What do you suppose I do?" I asked. This time, she gave me a smile that was still quite sinister looking, but I could tell she was on my side.

"I thought you'd never ask," she replied, wicked smile still in place.

Thanks for reading.

-sally