This is my first one-shot, and it's kind of like a mini-Twilight for the baseball scene if Twilight were all human. Bella, Rosalie, Alice, Emmett, Jasper, and Edward are all in the summer before their senior year. I don't think it's my best work, it seemed a little stiff, but let me know. I just needed an instant gratification-type story to help get it out of my system before I write the chapters for all my updates. Oh, and Rosalie is friends with Bella because with them both human, there's no reason for her to resent Bella.

"Come ON Bella!" Alice cried as she tugged my arm. "It's not even a full make-over! I'm asking you to change shirts and put on a hat!"

"Alice, it's not the make-over. I'm just not really a sports person." I sighed as she shoved said baseball shirt and hat into my arms. It was the first Friday night of the summer, and as usual, Forks baseball team was playing against the Wolves, our rival team from La Push. Alice's two brothers were playing, and she was forcing us to attend because her brother's best friend was her boyfriend.

"Well, we are. It's in our blood." She explained as she roughly shoved me into the bathroom.

"Alice, you, Emmett and Edward are adopted." I reminded her. "None of you have the same blood."

"Like that matters." She said, effectively closing the matter. Five minutes later, I was being pushed into a chair so that Alice could braid it.

"Besides," she continued as her hands nimbly twisted my hair. "Rose'll be there too."

"Yes, and she'll have her eyes glued to Emmett." I reminded her. Rose, Alice, and I have been best friends since we were, as my dad put it, "knee high to a grasshopper", but I moved away with my mom when she and my dad got divorced. When Renee got remarried, I moved back in with Charlie to give her and Phil some time alone. In junior year, we met again and instantly clicked. We didn't find out until later that we had known each other before.

"Maybe this is just fate telling you to get a boyfriend." She suggested with a sly look on her face as she tied a blue ribbon to the end of my hair. It matched our team colors and the one that was currently tied in Alice's short black being used as a headband.

"Alice!" I groaned. "You know as well as I do that I don't like Mike, or Tyler, or Eric, or any of the other guys who have asked me out."

"Bella, I was just teasing!" she giggled as she grabbed my hand and helped me up. "Now come on, we've gotta go pick up Rose."

Twenty minutes later, we arrived at the field. As we got out of the car, I noticed that we were all wearing that same Lions baseball shirt and hat, all with a blue ribbon in our hair. Rosalie's was tying up her long golden hair into a ponytail. I felt slightly upset when I noticed Rosalie's obvious breath-taking beauty and recognized Alice's unconventional beauty. I was no match for them, with my plain brown hair and eyes. Sighing, I linked my arms through theirs and told them to lead the way.

"Is it my Friday?" Rose asked nonchalantly. To try and stay in touch over our crazy summer breaks, we would have a sleep-over at one of our houses every Friday night. The rotating schedule could be kind of crazy, so we learned to just deal and double-check.

"I don't know. Alice, how bout you?" I asked. But as soon as I looked at her, I knew that it was a lost cause. Her eyes had fallen on Jasper, her boyfriend. I could tell she was melting inside at his golden eyes, and he looked easily as lost in hers. Emmett, Alice's brother, walked over to him and said something, his voice not quite reaching our opposite end of the parking lot. Emmett muffled his Jasper's honey blonde hair when he didn't respond. When he still didn't get a response, Emmett looked over in our direction. As soon as his eyes met Rosalie's, he smiled softly and winked at her.

When we finally reached them, Emmett grabbed Rosalie's arm and pulled her into a passionate kiss. Blushing at the PDA, I looked away and over at Alice and Jasper. They were looking into each other's eyes so fervently and love filled that I felt like I was intruding on a moment just as private. My blush deepened as I looked at the baseball field for a distraction. I could hear all of the guys joking around with each other as they warmed up, and I could just make out Edward, Alice's other brother, pitching at the mound.

"CULLEN AND WHITLOCK! GET YOUR LIPS OFFA THEM AND COME WARM UP!" I could vaguely hear the coach yelling at them from the dugout. Emmett and Rosalie broke apart, and with one last love-struck look at Alice, Jasper and Emmett jogged over to the dugout to grab their gloves.

"Aren't they amazing?" Rosalie breathed as she pretended to fan herself.

"Yeah," Alice assented softly, not taking her eyes off of Jasper's retreating figure.

"Uh, guys? Still here!" I said impatiently, waving a hand in front of each of their faces. They jumped as if they were just realizing I was there.

"Oh, right. Let's go find a seat." Alice chirped brightly, bouncing back 110 percent from her little love-bug.

We laughed and talked our way up until we got to the bleachers.

"Excuse me?" a nasally voice asked impatiently from behind me.

"Yes?" I asked, turning around and coming face to face with Lauren, a girl in our grade who had hated me ever since the guy she liked asked me out. It didn't matter to her that I said no, it only mattered that I was asked and was now on her hit list.

"Can you move over? I need a good view of Hot Edward." She said, her eyes brightening at the mention of "Hot" Edward.

"We were just sitting down, over there." I explained, blushing for some reason. Rose scowled at her, and Alice looked like she was going to vomit.

"Hot Edward? I'm gonna have to tell him that. And Jasper." Alice mused, giggling evilly as a thought came to her mind. "And Emmett."

"Do you really hate your brother that much?" I asked as we all laughed. Knowing Emmett, Edward would never live it down.

"What'd he do this time, suck your blood while you were asleep?" Rosalie choked out, barely comprehensible from lack of air.

"Well, technically he hasn't done anything. Yet." She added the last part on ominously. Rose and I looked at each other skeptically and quickly moved past it. Alice was convinced that she was psychic. In a way, she was. Always ahead of the trends, starting new ones, knowing when a relationship is sure to bloom. But anything else…lets just say that Alice just has a vivid imagination.

Finally, after ground rules and the national anthem, the game had started. Charlie's best friend Billy had a son who played on this team, and I thought I could tell which one was him. It was obvious, though, when a girl screamed, "Just whack it Jakey!" I saw him roll his eyes and I smiled. I could feel his pain.

I noticed a new face on the Forks team, which struck me as odd. I didn't think that anyone new was coming to Forks, or else everyone would have heard of it already. Nonetheless, it didn't stop him from eyeing me all game. Any time I moved, his eyes would follow me. It was getting creepy, so I pointed it out to Alice and Rosalie. They laughed and decided that it was a harmless crush, though after five minutes, they decided that it was getting weird. By the end of the game, I was weirded out and ready to go chill out and have a girls night at Rosalie's.

"What'd you think?" Emmett asked as he bounded over to us, Edward and Jasper following not too far behind.

"That new guy is creepy." Rosalie said bluntly. Ah, Rosalie. When she got her mind set on something, watch out, cause no matter what, it's going to happen.

"How so?" Jasper asked as he arrived at our informal circle and wrapped his arm around Alice's tiny waist. And when I say tiny, I mean tiny. Alice is only like 4'10. Jasper calls her his little pixie, which always makes her giggle.

"He wouldn't stop staring at Bella. I even saw him wink once." She insisted, cuddling into Emmett as he wrapped his massive arm around her shoulder.

"What do you mean, staring?" Edward asked curiously as he wormed his way into the circle. I was already blushing; I hated being talked about. I shifted my weight, feeling awkward being the fifth wheel. Technically, Edward was the fifth wheel too, but he and I didn't really talk much. I was always too nervous that I'd say something embarrassing around such an amazing person. He looked like Adonis, with his lanky, muscular form and his unruly hair, not to mention those perfect green eyes. But I didn't stand a chance.

"It was like he was undressing her with his eyes." Alice piped in.

"Guys, you're exaggerating." I mumbled as I crossed my arms. Edward was starting to look angry, and Emmett and Jasper looked like they were trying to decide whether to be angry or concerned. In the end, I guess they settled for angry. I guess it didn't help that the new guy and some red-head walked over to us just then.

"Hello, I'm James." He introduced himself, a creepy grin on his face as he stared only at me. I shifted uncomfortably. "And this is my sister, Victoria."

"Hey." She said in a child-like voice. It was almost like she was whining even in her greeting.

"Hey beautiful, what's your name?" he cooed slimily at me. I grimaced, and Emmett and Jasper held Rosalie and Alice a little closer.

"Bella." I said quietly, my face flushing at all the sudden attention. He reached out a hand to stroke my cheek, and I flinched away from his touch. His fingers were cold, and the pressure he put on my face from that touch was uncomfortable and slightly painful.

"Fits. Bella means beautiful in Italian." He said, his grin never dropping and his eyes never leaving me. I crossed my arms tighter, wishing that I could be anywhere but there.

"James! I'm cold!" Victoria whined, interrupting any chance I had at telling him to please remove his finger. "Let's go, I'm tired too!"

"Until later." He promised as he removed his hand from my face and left. As he turned to walk into the parking lot, I could hear him chewing out Victoria for interrupting.

"SEE!" Rosalie said as soon as he was out of earshot. Emmett and Jasper both looked plenty angry, but neither of them could do anything, for fear of upsetting or endangering Alice or Rose. Edward, on the other hand, looked furious. And he had nothing to restrain him from doing something stupid.

"Let's go. Now." Edward hissed, his eyes flashing. I knew from Alice that he could have quite a temper, so we all followed quickly. As we were walking into the dark parking lot, I realized that I had taken off my hat in the stands after I had run into someone and got ketchup on it. I turned around, yelling for Rosalie and Alice to wait for me in the car.

Shivering in the cold and drizzly night air, I crossed my arms and huddled into myself. I sighed in relief as I saw my hat sitting on the stands right where I had left it. I put it on immediately, using it to shield my head and eyes from the rain. I was just about to climb down when I heard a noise from behind me. I jumped and turned around, tensing up as I saw that it was James.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" he contemplated out loud, a malicious smile on his face. "Poor Bella forgot her hat. But how on earth did she fall down the stands?"

I frowned, confused. "But I didn't-"

He didn't let me finish, interrupting me as his cold, strong hands found themselves at my shoulders and pushed hard. I tumbled down the 10 rows, crying out in pain as I hit my head on an edge. Woozily, I looked up to see James standing above me. I could tell that my head was bleeding, because I could smell the revolting rusty salt smell. My leg hurt too, and I could tell that it was at a funny angle.

"I'm so sorry, my beautiful. But I can't have you running away, can I?" he asked, speaking as if I was a toddler. I would have responded, but his lips crashed down onto mine.

I tried weakly to shove him off, but I wouldn't have been strong enough even before that fall. I tried biting him, but that only made him more excited. Finally, he broke away for air. I gasped in relief, thinking that the worst was over, that he had had his fun and I could go in peace. But he simply moved his lips down to my neck. I took the opportunity I had ad tried to scream, but it came out as more of a strange gurgling noise. My mouth was dry with fear, and I doubt I could have had much lung power either.

"Get your hands off of her!" A deep, familiar voice yelled angrily. All of a sudden, James' mouth had left my neck, and his hands were no longer pinning me down. I looked up, anxious to place the voice and decide if I needed to be scared.

A livid Edward had shoved James up against the fence and asked him a question. I couldn't hear it, or the answer, but I did see Edward's pale strong hand whip out, as if to throw a pitch, and punch James in the face. I think that he would have continued, if it hadn't been for Emmett and Jasper sprinting over to take over. I could hear Emmett's booming voice ask him what the hell he thought he was doing throwing a girl down the stairs. Again, I didn't hear the answer, only the crunch of bones as Emmett punched his other side in with his massive hand. I could hear Jasper reluctantly telling him to stop and making him calm down, trying to prevent something really bad from happening. I wondered where Edward was and was just starting to begin the process of trying to get up when I heard an angel.

"Oh god, Bella. Can you hear me?" Edward frantically called. I saw him sprint over and crouch down next to me. He gently brushed the remaining hair out of my face so he could see my head wound, I assumed. He gasped and swore under his breath.

"Bella? What hurts the most?" he asked. You could see how concerned he was, and I also thought that I could see the vague shadow of a brand-new black eye over his left eye.

"Why do you have a black eye?" I asked, blurting out the first thing that popped into my head.

"That's not answering my question." He reminded me anxiously, though I could tell that my response had cheered him a bit.

"I'm fine." I said, wincing as I tried to get up and felt a sharp pain shoot down my leg.

He shifted slightly so that he could see it, and I could feel his fingers gently brush up against my jeans. He swore again and turned his head to look at me again.

"You're not fine." He told me fiercely, his eyes still furiously mad. I could tell he was trying to calm himself down, though, because his fists would clench and unclench and he would try and relax his mouth from its hard line. It wasn't really working that well. "What happened?"

"I fell?" I answered him uncertainly. If he thought I just fell, then this whole episode could be over faster and I wouldn't have to be stared at any longer.

"Bella, you didn't fall." He told me, his eyes darkening in anger at my denial. "What really happened?"

I sighed, flinching as the simple movement caused my side to hurt. I must have bruised it in my fall. "I walked over here to get my hat, James found me at the top, he pushed me-"

"He threw you all the way from the top?" he all but shouted in anger.

"He didn't throw me, he pushed me. And yes. Then he kissed me, you came, and here we are." I corrected him as I finished my story quickly.

I could tell that this new information all but pushed him over the edge, because his furiously dark eyes would dart between Emmett, Jasper, and James and me, obviously trying to decide which one was the more important thing. He decided quickly, and his eyes soon came to rest on me again. Only, his constant stare made me anxious in a different way then James' had. His soft gaze made me want to push that lock of hair out of his eyes, or stroke the bruise on his eye gently, or just smooth that worried line from his forehead.

"Bella?" he asked softly. "I'm going to have to pick you up now, and we'll get you over Carlisle. Unless, of course, you'd rather go to the hospital?"

"NO!"He smiled at my quick refusal of the second option. Carlisle was the head doctor at the Forks hospital and Alice, Emmett, and Edward's adoptive father, and I was a frequent visitor due to my inability to walk on a flat surface without falling. Thankfully, if I hurt myself around my friends, they would just take me over to Carlisle's and skip the embarrassing hospital procedure. Unfortunately, my father was a bit more adamant about going to the hospital just to make sure.

"Alright then. Just tell me if I'm hurting you." He instructed as he gently slid one arm underneath my waist. He hesitantly slid his other one underneath my legs, making sure that he was not jerking the injured one around. After looking at me once more to make sure I was fine with it, he gently hoisted me up off the ground and started carrying me to the parking lot.

He carried me as if I was a feather light child rather than a teenage girl, and his look of concern never left as he glanced down at my face often. When we finally reached a frantic Rosalie and Alice, he shouted to them that I was fine and to go get Jasper and Emmett and return to the Cullen's house afterwards. He came over to a silver Volvo, where he hesitated for a second.

"Bella?" he asked uncertainly. "Do you think you could reach in my jacket pocket for my keys?"

I nodded, and slid my hand down into his warm pocket. When I didn't find it in that one, I moved my hand to the other side, accidently brushing his stomach. I could feel him shudder, which made me blush. I mumbled an apology and my hand quickly grasped the keys.

"Here," I offered them, raising my arm to his level. He thanked me and quickly unlocked the car. He gently set me down in the passenger's seat and quick as a flash he was sitting in the driver's seat and starting the car.

"Oh, Bella. What are we going to do with you?" he asked wryly when he glanced over. I'm sure that I looked like a mess, and I could still smell blood, which meant I was still bleeding. I leaned over to ensure that any blood spilled would not land on his pristine Volvo, but on me instead.

"Clair de Lune?" I asked ten minutes later. I had spent those minutes looking anywhere but Edward or the outside, seeing as we must have been going at least ninety miles an hour. He had just switched on the radio, and I made the mistake of looking outside and seeing a sign blur that was a normal person's ten minute marker to the Cullen's long driveway.

"You know Debussy?" he asked incredulously.

"Only my favorites. My mom used to play this all the time." I explained meekly, feeling ten times dumber than I usually did. Edward had me tongue-tied, and I felt like a fool every time I opened my mouth.

"Edward?" I asked hesitantly, not sure if I really wanted to broach this subject so soon. Forcing myself to continue, I blurted out the rest of my question. "What about James?"

I could barely make out his eyes darkening in the dark car, and I regretted it instantly. But he answered in a low, calm voice, which almost made him seem more sinister.

"Your father's taking care of him." He promised darkly.

"Aw crap! Charlie knows?" I complained. My father was the Police Chief of the tiny town of Forks, and he could be rather…stubborn…at times. I had been planning on using my age old "I tripped. Yes, again." excuse, which most of the time wasn't an excuse. Actually, this was the first time I would be lying about how I got hurt.

"Bella, we couldn't just let that monster get away with what he did!" he told me, glancing over at me with an incredulous look, as if to check my sanity.

I sighed in response, and I thought I could hear him chuckle at my comical response.

As we pulled into his driveway, I groaned again. His parents, Carlisle and Esme, were waiting anxiously in the driveway. They were like my second set of parents, and I didn't want to make them anxious.

"What hurts?" Edward asked quickly in response to my groan. His eyes flashed over to mine to see if there was any additional pain. In truth, I was in the most pain I had ever been in before, but Edward was distracting me. I pointed to his parents, and he chuckled again.

"You didn't think that we wouldn't tell Esme, did you?" he asked again, the humor evident in his voice. I shrugged, and winced as the movement caused more pain.

Immediately after he shut off the car, Esme was at my door, Carlisle quickly following behind. "Oh, Bella! Are you alright? You poor thing!"

"I'm fine Esme." I assured her calmly. I think that it might've worked if I hadn't tried to take a deep breath and winced.

Edward ran around the car and picked me up again. "Come on, Bella; let's go get you fixed up."

"Let me take her." Carlisle offered as Edward walked past him.

"I've got her." He said as he held me a bit tighter, almost possessively. I could see Carlisle and Esme sharing a confused look, but they shrugged and hurried into the house.

An hour later, my head was covered in gauze, my leg was in a cast, and I was drugged up with plenty of medicine. Edward held my hand the whole time, rubbing soothing circles wit his thumb whenever I would wince. Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, and Emmett had shown up when I was getting my leg twisted into the proper shape. I had yelped, and they had all come running in with stricken looks on their faces. Charlie had shown up five minutes later with a mug shot of James and a court date in Port Angeles.

"Come on Alice, just give me the damn marker!" Emmett whined. Currently, the four of them were crowding around my cast and fighting over who got to sign it next. Edward had signed his name first, and Charlie called dibs next, where he wrote about it being my first time in a cast not from a self-injury.

"Emmett Cullen, language!" Esme scolded as she walked into the room with a glass of water. It was currently 3 in the morning, and it appeared that we would be pulling an all-nighter. I yawned involuntarily, and they all looked up, even Carlisle and Charlie, who were conferencing about my "condition".

"Guys, let's let the patient rest. She's had a long day." Carlisle suggested kindly. I smiled at him gratefully from my position on the Cullen's living room couch. Apologizing, all but Edward left.

"No offence, Edward, but why are you still here?" I yawned mid-sentence. The drugs must have been making me bolder, because I know that I never would have said something like that before.

"None taken." He assured me, looking up for a moment where he was doodling on my cast. "And I'm still here because…"

"Because…" I urged him softly, curiously. He looked up at me, and I blushed from the intensity of his gaze. It seemed like he was staring into my soul, and his green eyes smoldered.

"Because I'm tired of staying away from you." He whispered as he gently set my leg back down onto the pillow.

"Staying away from me?" I asked, confused.

"I liked you from the moment I met you. But you know how Alice is." He admitted.

"What does Alice have to do with anything?"

"Do you remember what she did when she found out about Rosalie and Emmett?" he asked with a sad smile on his face.

"Do I ever." I said, shuddering at the memory. Alice had blown a gasket when she found out about a month after I got here. Then again, I might be mad too, if I walked in on my best friend and my brother making out on my bed.

"Well, I liked you too much to have us be simply friends, but I couldn't let what happened to Rosalie and Emmett happen to you. And, I have to admit, a bit of it was self-preservation." He said, smiling a bit at the last part. I was too lost in my thoughts to really care. Edward Cullen liked me. Edward Cullen had feelings for me. He wanted me. Plain, simple, clumsy me.

"Well?" he asked, pulling me out of my reverie.

"Hmm?" I asked, still a bit dazed, though I couldn't figure out which was the drugs or the disbelief.

"I asked you if you wanted to try actually getting to know each other as friends, rather than jumping the gun." He repeated. I could tell that he was a bit nervous. That thought thrilled me. I made Edward Cullen nervous! Mr. Cool, Suave, and Sophisticated was thrown for a loop by me!

"I'd love that." I said shyly, yawning as I finished.

"Ok. But for now, why don't you get some sleep?" he suggested as he got up from his position on the coffee table.

I closed my eyes and was almost completely asleep when I heard him whisper softly, "Sweet dreams, my beautiful Bella."

Three weeks later

"Edward, I have crutches for a reason, you know." I told him, poking him in the back. He was currently giving me a piggyback ride to the bleachers before another baseball game. I could see Rosalie kissing Emmett and Alice telling Jasper to look over at us from the bleachers, and I smiled.

"But where's the fun in that?" he asked. I laughed, and he joined in. "Besides, you get this thing off tomorrow. I won't have a reason anymore."

I blushed, and I could see Alice whacking Jasper for not looking at the right time. I giggled, and told Edward to look over at them. He chuckled when he saw Jasper rubbing his arm and Alice whacking it again.

"…such babies." I could hear her say as we got closer. We stopped suddenly, and Edward set me down on the bleachers farthest away from anyone else.

"I was thinking…" he began as he knelt down, looking into my eyes.

"Well, that's a start." I said sarcastically. He smiled.

"Let me finish." He chided me before he continued. "And there's something I want to try."

He leaned in towards me, stopping an inch before his lips met mine, locking eyes with me as if to gain my consent. I stared back at him, trying to convey that it was alright. Half a second later, his lips finally met mine.

It was like heaven. The electricity was practically palpable, and I lost all meaning of time. One of his hands brought itself up to cup my cheek gently, and the other was on the back of my neck. My hands slid into his soft hair, and I ran my fingers through it. We broke apart as Emmett let out a loud catcall, though his hand never left my face.

"Well." He breathed, his sweet breath fanning itself on my face. "So I'm guessing you'll be fine if I called you my girlfriend?"

I nodded meekly, and opened my mouth to answer him.

"I-"

"CULLEN! GET YOUR SKINNY BUTT OVER HERE AND START PITCHING!" Coach Clapp yelled from the mound.

"Go team?" I said weakly. He laughed at my half-hearted cheerleading attempt and ruffled my hair as he stood up. He cradled me in his arms as he took me over to the bleachers, kissing my head as he set me down.

"So Bella," Alice said with a look on her face as Edward walked off. "Something you want to tell me?"

Crap.