A/N: I'm not dead! I'm so sorry. *Cry*.This story will continue as planned now. I was just having such a hard time writing this b/c I felt like the story as a whole wasn't good enough. Anyway, I sucked it up and decided that if people are still reading it, that it must be worth something. so whatever...I'll stop my perfectionistic (is that a word?) moping now.
Disclaimer- Steph Meyer, Kelly Clarkson, blah blah blah own this.
Boyfriend.
I'd never realized the peculiarity of the word until now. Yes, Edward could still technically pass for a boy at seventeen. And yes, I could never deny a friendship with him. But the word itself just seemed…lacking to me.
As pathetic as it made me feel, Edward was my everything. Not a minute could pass that I wouldn't think about him, or talk about him. Not a day could go by without my seeing him and kissing him.
And it was never enough either. I was convinced that I'd never be truly satisfied unless I could spend every minute of everyday, simply cuddling in his strong arms. The arms I fit perfectly into, I might add…Yes, I was indeed pathetic.
"Are you ready?" Edward asked me sweetly, as he kissed my forehead.
In order to make up for his stupidity last week, Edward was making all my favorite dinners for the rest of the week. I'd tried my hardest to convince him that it was unnecessary -that I couldn't stay mad at him- but he wasn't buying it. He wouldn't even let me help. Not that I was a great cook anyway.
But it was a nice break from eating out every night. And since students hardly ever used the communal kitchenettes on every other floor of the dormitories, it was a quiet place to eat together.
"Yes, baby," I cooed back, staring dreamily at him.
Then my cheeks heated heavily at realization of what I'd just said. Wow. That even disgusted me. I sound like an idiot around him now! Alice would vomit if she ever heard that.
"Way to make me vomit in my mouth, guys," Alice whined, as she entered the kitchen and opened the freezer. She pulled out an frosty Asian-style lean cuisine and removed a pink post-it note from the box stating 'Property of Alice Cullen'.
"As opposed to what, Alice? Vomiting out your ear?" Edward replied coolly, crossing his arms.
Alice chuckled as she popped her dish into the microwave. I heard a few faint beep-beeps as she set it on high. She then spun lithely around and stuck her 'Property of Alice Cullen' post-it to his forehead.
"I don't know, baby. You tell me. You're so smart and cute and dreamy. Your mommy must have dipped you in sugar when you were born!" Alice mocked in the baby voice I'd used, as she pinched his cheek and kissed his nose. He still had the post-it on his forehead and was trying to act angry, but was blushing heavily from embarrassment. It was so cute I had to laugh, even though Alice was making fun of us and our 'Honeymoon Phase', as she referred to it.
"So…Whatcha' doin'?" Alice asked, as she made herself comfortable at the small table. She kicked her feet up and leaned back, taking a raucous slurp out her cherry coke.
"I'm making Bella dinner." Edward glared at Alice, who smirked back. Alice was fully aware that she was interrupting our dinner and thought it dreadfully hilarious. Demon pixies and their pastimes…
"Aww…Nerd food!" Alice teased.
Suddenly, some kind of loud crash pulled us all out of our own little world. Our heads simultaneously snapped over to the microwave where Alice's lean cuisine had, quite obviously, exploded.
"Gah!" Alice squeaked as she ran over to her smoking meal that now coated the inside of the microwave. Yummy.
"Ugh! Cooking is so hard! No wonder no one cooks at this school," Alice ranted angrily as she plopped what was left of her meal into the trash and started to clean out the inside of the microwave. Edward and I chuckled at her.
"Hey, what's so funny?" Alice growled.
"Sorry, babe. It's just that I think Lean Cuisine hardly constitutes as 'cooking'," I said as I stifled as laugh. Alice simply glared at me and sat down with a huff.
"Well, what are you losers eating?" Alice spat. She gets more charming by the day.
"Edward's making me macaroni and cheese with cut up hotdogs," I said slightly embarrassed.
"That's actually her second favorite food too. Tomorrow I'm making her favorite; grilled cheese and tomato soup with goldfish crackers." Edward smiled at me.
"No peanut butter and jelly, Bells?" Alice teased with giggle.
"Oh no. That was Monday," Edward chuckled as he stirred in the cheese.
"Well, at least I'm not insisting on the rainbow goldfish!" I tried to defend myself, though I hoped we'd have them anyway.
"That is true," Alice said pointing her finger. "Edward, give me some of that macaroni before you put dead animal on it."
"Why should I?" Edward whined. Aw, my poor baby…Dammit, Bella.
"Bella…" Alice nudged my ankle with her perfectly pedicured foot. I sighed.
"Edward, give her some food please." He sighed dramatically, but slammed a bowl of macaroni on table for her anyway.
"Thank you." Alice smirked.
"I would've spit in it if Bella wasn't here, you know," Edward replied as he joined us at the table with two more bowls.
"Yeah, I'd just spit in your pudding cup when you're not looking," Alice coughed and whispered. "Again…"
"What did you say?" Edward asked confused, his mouth full.
"Nothing! Crazy boy!" Alice blurted. "So…official now, are we?"
"Since Monday, Al. And don't act like you don't already know." I blushed and couldn't stop smiling. I looked over to Edward who smirked back at me knowingly. I felt my blush deepen.
It was so strange, being this open about my feelings for him. I was constantly doused with comfortable awkwardness that tickled my ribcage and warmed my cheeks.
"I know. I'm just so happy for you guys. Even if you are sickening…" She smirked.
"Oh my heavens! What a surprise, Rosalie. Our dear friends Edward, Bella, and Alice." Emmett walked in, feigning surprise. Rosalie just rolled her eyes.
"Emmett, what are you doing here?" Edward shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Ah, Alice invited us over to annoy-" Rosalie nudged him. "I mean enjoy the new couple!" Emmett smirked, making himself comfortable. He popped a hotdog chunk in his mouth and licked the grease off his thumb and index finger.
"Where's Jazz?" I asked, accepting that my romantic dinner was never meant to be.
"Practice. They just got another gig down at the Panic Room for sometime later this month. I can't go though. We have a game that night." Alice sighed.
I was instantly relieved that I'd be able to avoid returning to the club for now. Especially if it was another 'vampire night'.
"Speaking of games…" Emmett's eyes sparkled mischievously like those a naughty child.
"Here it comes…" Edward chuckled.
"Sharks Shave Game!" Emmett sang.
Rosalie bit her lip.
"Shave?" I asked confused.
"Yes, Sharks-Shave-Game-virgin. Shall I spin the tale?"
I nodded and to my surprise, everyone else let out a groan.
"I'll do the abridged version." Emmett held out his palms defensively. Rosalie and Alice rolled their eyes, but he ignored them.
"Long, long ago…when our school was first built…" Emmett started in what he considered a mystical tone.
"Abridged, babe." Rosalie sighed.
"I am telling the abridged version." He pouted. Rosalie cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Fine," he sighed and turned towards me. "Bella, you know the Roland Academy Sharks, right? The school we're playing for our first game?"
I nodded, with a gulp. Our first game was on Friday and the butterflies were already fluttering in the pit of my stomach.
"Well pretty much since our schools were built-and that's a long time ago-we've been rivals. We kick off every basketball season playing them first. As you can imagine, the first game is always very competitive. It'll be even worse this year because we won against them in the championship game last year. But that's not why this game is so awesome," Emmett raised his hands dramatically.
"Then why?" I asked, knowing he wanted me to.
"Because, this game is all about tradition!" Emmett slammed his fist down to the wooden table dramatically. "Back in the 1960s, the basketball captains of both schools made a bet. The captain of the losing team would shave his head. We won and it has been a traditional bet each year since. Sure the headmasters tried to stop us; they changed the dates of our first games, threatened detention…but eventually they gave up because we'd never stop."
"You're gonna shave your head?" I asked incredulously. Rosalie was biting her fingernails at the idea of having a bald boyfriend.
"If we lose," He shrugged. "But I don't think that'll be a problem. We haven't lost the shave game since I joined in my sophomore year. I've been working the guys to the bone. Right, Eddie boy?" Emmett smirked at Edward, who growled back at him with narrowed eyes.
"You won't be blaming me so much when your captain next year. You'll do the same thing. I don't think Bella would appreciate you shaving your head. Come to think of it, we'd be seeing a lot of weeping freshman and sophomore girls. I can see it now on the front page of the school paper; Edward Cullen's haircut causes mass suicide!" Emmett laughed hysterically.
"We don't know for sure that I'll be captain…" Edward stated humbly, with a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Yes we do." Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett, stated simultaneously.
"Alice, are you sure this is the right size? It seems a little short," I said fidgeting with the hem of my mini-skirt, praying that my incessant yanking would somehow add a few inches of length.
The new cheerleading uniforms had just arrived in time for the opening game tomorrow, and we were all trying them on in the dreary locker-room. Though the tightness of the uniform was not an issue, I felt overly exposed from lack of material. All that shielded me from the world was a tight shell top that ended at the bottom of my ribcage and a barely-there mini-skirt.
"Are your cheeks covered?" Alice questioned, knotting the laces of white cheerleading sneakers.
"Well technically, I suppose. If I bend over though, not so much."
Alice turned to look at me with a quizzical expression and smirked.
"Well it may be a little long, but I think you're fine," Alice confirmed. I pouted and crossed my arms.
"You're wearing spankies, Bella. It's not like you're goin' commando or anything," Alice soothed but I could tell she still found humor in my distress.
"They're sparkly!" I complained. It didn't alleviate the tension to remind me that my bottom would be covered by green metallic, sparkly granny panties.
"Which makes them even more fun!" Alice grinned.
I rolled my eyes at her childish reasoning. Unfortunately, it directed my gaze to the girl who was slowly transforming from an occasional nuisance to the bane of my existence; Tanya.
I inspected her self-consciously from afar as she garbed her lean, muscular body in her new uniform. I felt a light flush stain my cheeks as I scrutinized her Hollywood beauty. She was so sexy and flawless with her shining strawberry blonde waves and icy blue eyes. It seemed to me that her overwhelming sex-appeal could only be rivaled by the goddess-like features of Rosalie. Every boy within a ten mile radius seemed to fall drooling to the siren's feet without an effort on her part.
But she didn't want any of those boys. At least not for longer than a night. She wanted the ones that she couldn't have; Emmett, the head cheerleader's boyfriend, who also happened to be the basketball captain; Jasper, the rebellious and intuitive rocker who'd fallen head over heels for his best friend; and finally Edward, my new boyfriend.
I could understand her lusting after Emmett and Jasper, but why Edward? Sure he was handsome, smart, athletic, and honestly, too good for anyone at this school, but her obsession with him was new to say the least.
In my first few months at this school, I'd only caught glimpses of her from time to time outside of practice. The past two weeks, however, I've been seeing her constantly.
And with who?
Edward.
It just didn't seem right. Now that I've finally confessed - most of- my feelings for Edward, and I'm finally happy, she shows up. Shows up two years after ditching him.
Maybe I'm overreacting…
"Ah, it's your favorite person, Bells," Alice teased, knocking me out of my thoughts. "Wanna go talk to her?!" she quickly added, with a conniving grin.
"Let's not be devious today, Al." I sighed.
"Ah, why not?" Alice's face dropped. She scrutinized my hastily masked nonchalant expression. "What's wrong now, pumpkin?"
I didn't answer.
"C'mon, sweetie. Did she say something to you? I'll kick her ass." Alice sat on the changing bench and patted the spot next to her.
"No, but…why would Edward choose me over her?" I spoke to the floor as I took a seat.
"Bella," Alice sighed. "I could go on and on about why I believe Edward chose you. I could tell you how cute and sweet and smart you are, but that's not what a best friend does."
"What does a best friend do?" I frowned in confusion.
"She tells you you're a dumb ass." Alice smiled cheekily.
"Thanks, Al," I said dryly, as I started to pack my things into my gym bag.
"Oh, and Bella?"
"Yeah?"
"I'd postpone your self-judgment until after you see Edward's reaction to your uniform."
Here comes the blush…
A/N: So yeah...Not the best chapter in the world, but it starts things up again right? Right. Again, those who still love me raise your hand...or review b/c I can't see your hand...Go with that one.
I love you forever,
Tetra