Chapter 18

Edward POV

I half listened as the teacher droned on and on and on about Marine Biology. It sucked that I had been forced to take this class, since the music class was filled up. Jessica was sitting next to me, and I could tell that she kept staring at me. Another reason I hated having to take this class. The only good thing was that the teacher had sat Bella on the other side of me. I glanced over at her briefly to see her taking notes and listening intently. I sighed softly and leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest and started randomly thinking. Of course, it ended up being about Bella, since she seemed to be the only thing I could think about.

In home room, she seemed to have been pissed about something. I would've asked, if I hadn't found out a couple minutes later.

"I'm so sorry you have to be stuck in the same home room as Bella." Jessica said, coming to stand by me, Jasper, Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie. Lauren stood behind her.

"Excuse me?" I asked, barely glancing at her.

"Well, I mean, after she yelled at you like that. Don't worry, we'll make sure school sucks for her." She smiled brightly, and then walked away before any of us could say anything to stop her. We watched as she walked by Bella, obviously saying something to Bella, who then glared at her and Lauren's retreating back. She turned back to Jacob, and I let out a sigh.

"Poor Bella." Alice said, shaking her head. "You should tell Jessica to leave her alone."

I nodded in agreement. The bell signaling the end of home room rang, and everyone got up to gather there things. From the corner of my eye, I saw Bella follow Jacob out of the room, laughing about something.

Minutes later, I was in my Marine Biology class, taking a seat next to Jessica.

"Hi Edward." She said, smiling widely at me.

"Jessica, leave Bella alone." I said, sitting down next to her. Unfortunately the teacher had decided to make a seating plan and I was now stuck next to this dimwit. She made a face at me, which quickly turned to a glare. She turned and whispered something to Lauren, who was on her other side. I groaned and stared at the blackboard.

A minute later, Bella walked up to the teacher.

"Ah. Ms. Swan. You will be sitting next to Mr. Cullen." He motioned to the empty seat on the other side of me. Immediately, Jessica's hand shot up in the air.

"Mr. Compten. I really don't think it is fair to force poor Edward to sit next to that…That thing." She said, scowling over to Bella, who returned the scowl. I heard other people mumble something in agreement. Mr. Compten glanced at me.

"Mr. Cullen?"

"I am perfectly fine with it."

"Then take your seat, Ms. Swan. And I don't want to hear another word from you, Ms. Stanely. Or you and anyone else who says anything about it can have a detention Friday night." And then he turned and started class.

Bella took the seat next to me, and gave me a slight, tired looking smile. I leaned over in my chair slightly.

"You ok?"

"Yeah. Just…My meds making me tired again." She smiled again, and then pulled her notebook out and turned her attention to Mr. Compten.

I was still not paying attention when the bell finally rang. The sound of chairs scraping the floor as students stood up, filled the area. I stretched and glanced over at Bella, who was putting her stuff back in her backpack. I picked up mine and stood up, standing next to her desk.

"What do you have next?" I asked curiously. She opened her mouth to answer, but Jessica was suddenly standing in front of me.

"Walk me to my next class, Edward." She said, flashing me what she must've thought was a seductive smile. I frowned.

"I think I'll walk Bella to her next class instead." I stepped around Jessica and picked up Bella's text book for her. "C'mon."

I headed out of the room. A minute later, Bella fell into stride next to me, smirking about something.

"What?" I cocked a brow as I looked down at her.

"Look on Jessica's face is priceless." She laughed and shook her head, pulling her book from my grasp. "But you don't have to walk me to my next class."

"No, I'm fine with it. What do you have next anyways?"

"Art, thank god. I need a good class right now." Bella reached her cast-covered arm up to brush her bangs from her beautiful face.

"Really? I have that class. Actually, we all do. You'll have to sit with us." I said, smiling down at her.

"Er…Well…Jacob and Leah have that class, and I was thinking of sitting with them." She shrugged, winced slightly, and then gave me an apologetic smile.

"Ah, well. What ever you want." By then, we had made it to the Art room. I held the door open for her.

"Thank you." She gave me one last small smile before heading over to where Jacob and Leah were already sitting. I took my seat with the rest of my friends/family.

"Bella isn't sitting with us?" Alice asked, a pout pulling at her lips. I shrugged.

"She has her other friends to sit with." I shrugged again, glancing up at the teacher as she handed out the pictures we had been working on. She then made her way over to Bella and I watched as she explained what was going on. I saw Bella nod, and then turn back to Jacob and Leah. Her laugh mingled with her friend's laughs.

It was getting close to the end of the class when the teacher decided it would be fun for everyone one to show what they were drawing. Jasper and Emmett both groaned, and I couldn't help but laugh. They both sucked at drawing. I was ok at it, but Rosalie and Alice were definitely the best.

Of course, the teacher called Emmett up first. He made a face at the teacher and then held up his poorly drawn picture. We were suppose to have enlarged a picture of our choice. His had been of some videogame character. But there really was no way to tell which it was. The class snickered softly.

Next was Jasper. The same thing went for him. He had attempted to draw one of his favorite football players, but again it was pretty hard to tell. After him was Alice, followed by Rosalie. They had both done fashion models, and it they had come out pretty good. A few more people went before I got called up. Mine was a picture of Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett and I at the beach when we were younger. Everyone was piled on top of each other, wide smiles spreading across all of our faces.

Bella was the last person to show her picture. She had some how managed to get it almost finished in her first art class. And boy was is beautiful. It was a picture that must've been taken when she was visiting her mom. But the contents of it sent a twinge of jealousy through me. A boy, probably a year or two older then her, was giving her a piggy back ride, and they were both looking incredibly happy. They were looking like a perfect couple. The teacher let out a gasp.

"Oh, Bella! That is absolutely beautiful. Has to be one of the best I've ever seen!" The teacher cooed, getting up and taking the picture from Bella. She examined it carefully, admiring the perfect sketch. A light blush decorated Bella's cheeks.

"Thank you." She smiled slightly, heading back towards her seat. The bell ran through the room and the sound of chairs pushing away from desks filled the area. People hurriedly gathered there things and dashed out of the room. By the time Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and I exited the room, Bella was saying good bye to her friends and heading in the opposite direction from them.

"Hey Bells! What do you have next?" Alice called, waving her over to us. Bella glanced down at her schedule.

"Um…Ugh. Algebra." She made a face as she shoved the piece of paper back into her bag.

"Me and Eddie have that class also! C'mon." Alice excitedly grabbed Bella's hand and started dragging her towards our Algebra room. I rolled my eyes slightly at my siblings/friends before following after them.

All too long later, though I wouldn't really complain much because so far I had Bella in all my classes, it was time for lunch.

"You gonna sit with us at lunch?" I asked Bella as I followed her to her locker. Alice had ran off to meet up with Jasper. She shrugged slightly, shuffling things around in her locker.

"Eh…I dunno. I was planning on sitting with my usual group…But if Lauren and Jessica are there then I might sit with you guys." Again, she shrugged, shoving books in her locker and other books into her bag. She grabbed her wallet from her coat before shutting her locker. She smiled at me slightly as we started walking. We remained silent for a few moments before I decided to speak up.

"Hey. Have you heard about the semi-formal dance coming up?" I asked curiously. She nodded.

"Yeah, I have. But seriously. What is 'semi-formal' suppose to mean? I would think is should either be formal or…Not formal." She shook her head, sighing softly. "If I was going, I'd really have no idea what to wear."

"Alice and Rosalie have been complaining about that also." I chuckled lightly. "So…No one asked you?"

"No. Plenty of people have asked me. Dances just aren't really my thing. I mean, it is one thing I guess when I'm going with friends. But I wouldn't want to be third wheel for Jacob and Leah. I figured it would be best to just stay home." She shrugged slightly, fixing her backpack strap on her shoulder.

"Oh…" Well, there went the idea of asking her.

"Why did you ask so suddenly?" She asked, looking up at me. I felt that very rare, faint blush spread across my cheeks.

"No reason. I still need a date for it…Maybe I'll suck it up and ask Jessica." I shrugged, glancing down at her. I saw what looked like disappointment in her eyes for the briefest second, before it was gone.

"Well, I'm sure she'd like that." Bella chuckled lightly. We entered the cafeteria and she glanced towards the table where her friends were sitting. Jessica and Lauren were sitting there. I reached out to start leading her towards our table, but she just smiled up at me and waved good bye before walking away. I sighed softly and made my way over to where the others were sitting.

"Bella isn't joining us?" Emmett asked, and arm hooked around Rosalie's waist.

"Nah. She's sitting with her other friends again." I took my seat, dropping my bag next to me on the floor.

"So, did you ask Bella to the dance?" Alice asked, her arms wrapped around the arm that Jasper wasn't using to eat with.

"I was going to. But she said she didn't want to go. I figure at this point I'm just going to go ask Jessica." I snatched an apple off of Emmett's plate. He scowled slightly at me. "What? It's not like you were going to eat." I took a big bite from it, and then glanced over at Alice who was glaring at me.

"You should've asked her anyways." She muttered. She glanced over at Rosalie for support, but she just shrugged.

"I didn't feel like getting rejected." I bit into the apple again and then immediately changed the conversation.