Ch. 2
The Dark Side

I grabbed my bag from in front of my locker and walked next to Jess down the hall. She was babbling about some assignment she had due in a few days. I could barely focus on what she was saying. I was still replaying Edward's words in my head during lunch. He could tell Jasper was serious about me?

I scoffed. A few months ago I would've been over the moon, but now my stomach filled with dread. I had liked Jasper for almost a year and he hadn't really noticed me. We were friends, but never anything more serious than that. So when the Sadie Hawkins dance came, I mustered up the courage to ask him myself. He'd agreed and I was excited because I knew we would hit it off. And of course we had. But now things were complicated.

"Bella?"

I blinked and realized that Jess was waiting for my response to a question she'd asked.

"Bella." she said.

"What? I'm sorry. I didn't catch that," I said.

"Just forget it," She mumbled and entered into the Literature classroom with Mr. Harrington. I sighed and continued down the hall to Mrs. Lisle's room for Statistics. I hoped Jessica wouldn't be mad at me later. She was my Chemistry lab partner and I didn't feel like dealing with her angry sarcasm for a whole class period.

I spent most of my stats class worrying. I was scared that Jasper was going to ambush me soon. I really didn't want to lead him on, but I didn't think I had the courage to turn him down either. And Edward. He would be confused if I did refuse because only until recently did my feelings even change. Then he'd want an explanation. An explanation that I wasn't ready to give.

The bell rang signaling the end of class. Mrs. Lisle called out that we had a test on Tuesday and I packed my books away before exiting the room. The hall was crowded as usual and I met Jess outside her Lit class. She didn't look angry and she made her way to me, so I took that as a good sign.

"Guess who got an A on her last test?" She waggled a piece of paper in my face. "Isn't that awesome!" She practically squealed.

I nodded as we climbed the steps to the third floor. "I mean that totally made my day! Anyways how was Stats?" Jess said.

"Not too bad. We just went over 8.3 and then we have a test on Tuesday."

"Ew gross. Ch.8 is hard. And we haven't even been on it for that long." She sighed. " I like Mrs. Lisle, but c'mon. Just because she happens to be a statistician doesn't mean we are." She grumbled.

We finally pushed our way through the other students in the hall to our Chem room with Mr. Banner. He sat behind his desk with spectacles on his nose, probably grading papers from the previous class. He looked up as we walked by.

"Afternoon Jessica. Bella," he said and nodded. We both smiled in response before taking our seats in the second to last row. I pulled out my Chem homework and placed it on my desk. I reached into my bag for my planner when someone sat in the seat next to me.

"Hey Bells."

I recognized the voice. I sat up in my chair and smiled at Edward.

"Hey." I said. "What are you doing on this side? I thought you usually sat over there?" I pointed to his usual seat and found it was occupied by a girl talking animatedly to Nina, a girl in my class.

"Yeah, but Nina has a shadow, so I had to move. I figured I might as well move to the dark side. I hear you guys have cookies." He winked and I grinned.

"Well then welcome to the dark side," I said. "But unfortunately we've run out of cookies."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to sit here until I get some," he teased.

"I suppose you will."

"It's settled then," he said and pulled out his own chem homework as the bell rang.

I opened my planner, pulled out my favorite purple pen and scribbled down the homework Mr. Banner had just written on the board for Monday. 2 pages of problems. Fun.

I glanced over at Edward as he copied down the assignment and admired his bronze hair and perfect face. I wasn't sure how it had taken me so long to see him. He made every other guy pale in comparison, including his brother.

I put my head on my desk in frustration. I didn't want to think about Jasper, but I desperately needed to figure out how to fix the horrible mess I'd caused.

"Hey, you okay?" I felt a hand rub my back, and I looked over to see Edward with his arm extended and his face full of concern.

"Yeah, just tired and stressed." I admitted.

"Why don't you come to my place after school? I'm sure I can find something to cheer you up and my mom will be happy to see you too."

"Alright," I said. I smiled at the thought of seeing his mother Esme. She was always so kind and genuine.

"Are you sure your family won't mind?"

"Are you kidding? They love you." He turned back to the front.

I smiled at that. I loved his whole family too. But a visit meant Jasper would probably be there. Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea after all. I didn't want to encourage Jasper, but I didn't want to refuse an opportunity to see Esme and spend time with Edward. It had been awhile since my last visit and it was Friday so hopefully Jasper would be out doing something else.

I crossed my fingers and prayed it wasn't going to be a mistake. I sighed. It was precisely these visits that had gotten me into this mess in the first place.

Oh Bella. What are we to do with you? If you know this is what caused you to get in this mess then why are you going? I guess we'll have to see just how much trouble you've gotten into in the next chapter...

Well anyways I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Ttfn!
Marie