This was my entry for the Pop the Question Contest back in March, 2012. As with my other unposted contest entries, my plan was to edit it and make it super pretty. But guess what? I decided I'd just post them as they were originally written to show my progress during the past five years I've been writing Twilight fanfiction.

Hope you like it! Just a heads up: this is a femme-slash story, so if you don't like two girls kissing, you should just skip it. No hard feelings if you do. I know not everyone is open to the idea that love is love is love.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all its characters, but she didn't give Leah a HEA, so I'm taking the liberty of trying to achieve that. I'm also taking the liberty of using Demi Lovato as Leah since she embodies the personality of the character I envisioned whilst writing this.

= Leah Clearwater =

June 16th, 2012 - Seattle, Washington

"I can't believe you're making me do this," I scoffed, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Will you be a good girl, and stop moving?" Jake asked, applying more mascara to my lashes. "And stop complaining. You're gonna have fun; trust me."

I huffed loudly. "I don't even know where we're going, Jacob. All I know is that we're going to hang out with your friend Bella."

"Jealous much?" Jake teased. I glared at him, punching his arm. "Ouch, that hurt!"

"Of course it did!" I cried. "I don't hit like a girl, you know. I don't hit like you do."

Jake exhaled, setting the mascara bottle down on the counter. "Okay, what's really bothering you, sweetie?"

"Nothing," I lied, rolling my eyes.

"Leah, you're my best friend, and not only that, we've known each other forever, okay? I know when something's bothering you."

God, I hated being so damn transparent, but most of all, I hated when Jake was right. Of course, he'd know something was bothering me since we'd been friends forever. My parents and his were best friends, which meant that we were practically joined at the hip since we were in diapers. I wouldn't change any of it, though; I don't know what I'd do without him.

When I was ten, my father passed away, and the only person that could give me any comfort was Jacob. His parents would send his sisters over to my house in an attempt of distracting me, but I only wanted to hang out with him. We'd go up to my room and lay in bed while we watched Disney movies, or we'd climb up to the tree house in my backyard and play domino for hours.

He was also there for me when I got my heart broken, and he's the only reason I survived my dreadful break up with Sam, a boy I'd been dating since junior high. A couple of weeks before high school graduation, I found out that Sam had been cheating on me with my supposed best friend, Emily, and I only became aware of the situation after she came to me, seeking my help because Sam knocked her up and refused to support her or the baby.

Turns out that they had been seeing each other behind my back for a while and their sexual encounters had been unprotected, so Emily didn't think she'd get pregnant. It was nasty to say the least, since I became the laughingstock of La Push, the reservation where we were born and raised, but as soon as we graduated, he brought me to Seattle with him.

We moved in together in a small apartment and both worked part-time to pay for the rent and other bills while I attended U-Dub and he got his cosmetologist's license. Once he did and he started working full time, we moved into a bigger apartment, even though I wasn't able to pay half of the rent.

That changed, though, when I became a Spanish teacher at one of the elitist high schools in Seattle for the past year, and I also owed it to Jake since he arranged an interview for me with one of his clients after I graduated college with my Foreign Languages and Literature degree.

So, here I was, paying back just a little of all he'd done for me, by sacrificing myself and allowing him to do my hair and make-up before a night out on the town with his other best friend.

"Fine." I rolled my eyes, once again, and sighed. "I'm kinda nervous about meeting Bella, I mean, she's your friend, and she gets along with Edward, but that doesn't mean she's gonna like me."

Jake smirked. "You're never going to get over the fact that I'm with Edward, are you?"

"If you mean that I'm never gonna get over the fact that your sexual preferences limited my chances with you, then yes, I'm not."

"I can't believe you'd be attracted to me," Jake said, incredulously.

"Why not? You're fucking hot, and I always liked you, but I always knew you were gay."

"You did not!" he exclaimed. "You only knew about it when I started dating Edward and I came out of the closet."

I snorted. "It was more like he took you into the janitor's closet at school and you had to come out because you got busted."

Jake blushed. "I can't believe we got caught due to being noisy. Damn me and my oral skills."

"Eww, I don't want inside details of your rather passionate sex life, Jacob! I'm traumatized enough seeing all your PDA, thank you very much."

"Whatever," Jake retorted, rolling his eyes. "Let's get back to Bella, alright? I know for a fact that she'll like you, and you wouldn't be worrying about this if you would have spent some time with her during the summers she went to Forks. But no, you wouldn't go because you were jealous and didn't want to share your best friend."

Jake was right; Bella had befriended him when we were all little kids, but I had refused to join them on their fishing trips that their fathers dragged them to and had actually never met her. Every year, she would come from Phoenix, Arizona, where she lives with her mother, to visit her dad, Charlie, after they got divorced. He's the Chief of Police in Forks, and best friend to Billy, Jacob's dad... And my mother's fiancé, too.

Yup, that's right. Bella's old man is marrying my mother. They had been dating for a couple of years, but Charlie finally proposed to my mom after his favorite baseball team, the Mariners, won the World Series. Super romantic, right?

Well, now Jake's trying to get Bella and I to bond since we're going to be officially step-sisters in two weeks and we haven't even spoken a word to each other. It's not that I have anything personal against Bella, but I don't like her closeness to my Jacob. He's my best friend.

I knew I was behaving like a petulant child, which made me come back with, "So what if I don't like sharing? I skipped school the day that they taught us that in kindergarten, remember?"

"Well that's too bad, but don't worry, Leah. You'll always be my best girl, alright?"

"Alright," I sighed. "So where are we going that I have to be all dressed up? You know that I don't get along with high heels, dresses and all these girly accessories," I said, motioning to my outfit.

He grimaced. "I know, honey, but we're going to Eclipse, so it's absolutely necessary."

"Eclipse? As in Seattle's exclusive gay bar?"

"Yes; why?" Jacob raised his brow at me. "You got a problem with that?"

"Of course I don't, and you know that, but what about Bella?"

"Bella's lesbian," he simply stated.

"Oh," I exhaled.

"Oh, what?"

"Oh, what if she thinks that I'm also a lesbian and hits on me, Jacob!" I shrieked.

Jake chuckled. "She won't, okay? And if she does, then just go with the flow. Besides, you never 'experimented' during college, baby." He smirked, wiggling his brows. "Maybe it's time you did."

An hour later, Jake and I arrived at Eclipse, where Edward and Bella were already waiting for us at a booth. Edward looked really hot, dressed in a charcoal grey suit and a black shirt with a matching tie, while his fiery hair was in its usual disarray.

And Bella, oh, my God, she looked stunning. She wore a black and red mini dress that revealed her long legs, which looked endless with the help of her black pumps; her chocolate brown hair fell down in soft waves, framing her face and her beautiful, delineated chestnut eyes.

And the fact that I had checked her out thoroughly had me on the border of freaking out, since I had never checked a girl out before. Ever.

After Jake introduced us, we ordered drinks and made small talk, yet that was until an upbeat song started playing and Bella dragged Jake to the dance floor.

Edward looked to me and said, "Well, I guess I'm chopped liver, huh? She didn't even ask me if I was okay with them dancing together."

"Sorry, E," I chuckled. "Do you wanna go over there and show them how it's done?"

"Oh, definitely," he replied, standing from his seat and taking my hand.

Just as we approached the dance floor, Enrique Iglesias' "Tonight I'm Loving You" began playing. Edward smirked, wrapping his arms around me once we stood across from Jacob and Bella, and pulled me closer to him.

We moved together in perfect synch, our bodies never separating as we smiled at each other until the song was over. Just as another song began to play, Jacob walked over to us with Bella trailing behind him.

He tugged Edward's hand from my waist and said, "Okay, that's enough. I wanna dance with my man now."

"About time," Edward retorted, turning into Jake's body. "I was beginning to think that you didn't want to dance with me."

"Nonsense," Jake muttered. "How would I not wanna dance with you, baby? It's not my fault that Bella can't keep her hands off of me. You know how insatiable she is."

"Yeah, I wanted to cop a feel of your fabulous ass, but you were too anxious to get back to your honey," Bella chuckled.

Just then, Edward pulled Jake into his side and placed a kiss on his forehead. "You better not put your dirty paws on my man's ass, Bella. You do not want me messing up my manicure while I mark your pretty face."

I could feel a smirk creeping up on my face as I saw their banter, which was almost as similar to ours, but it was tainted with the twinge of resentment I felt in the pit of my stomach.

As if Edward could read my thoughts, he looked over at Jake and said, "How about if you and I go get something to drink?"

"I don't know," Jacob replied, looking over at me. "What about Leah and Bella?"

"Oh, I'm sure they can manage five minutes without us; right, girls?" Edward asked. "Besides, I'm pretty sure they would love to dance."

"Sure," Bella replied. "We can dance… if Leah's okay with that?"

Everyone's eyes fell upon me, seeking a response, but I was too busy shooting daggers at Edward with my eyes to say anything, so I just nodded. Edward grinned, tugging Jake's hand as he pulled him in direction to the bar. "C'mon, baby, let's go."

Jake looked over at me, silently apologizing for the situation Edward had put me in, but I just shook my head, plastering a fake smile on my face. Bella bit her bottom lip while she nervously gazed at me. She sighed, running her hand through her hair as she said, "We don't have to do this, you know?"

"No, it's fine," I lied. "Jacob's trying really hard for us to get along. The least we could do is try."

"Yeah, you're right," she exhaled. "I know it's really hard on him that we hadn't met until now, so let's go on the dance floor and mingle while we jiggle our booties."

I laughed at her comment and nodded, walking back to the dance floor as Rihanna's "Only Girl (In the World)" came to an end. I became panic-stricken as I recognized the first notes the next song, which was also a song I had been listening to earlier.

It would be my demise if anyone found out that I liked Selena Gomez's "Love You Like a Love Song," so I tried not to mumble the words as I moved to the rhythm and her voice blasted from the speakers:

It's been said and done
Every beautiful thought's been already sung
And I guess right now here's another one

So your melody will play on and on, with the best of 'em

I guess I wasn't as successful as I thought because Bella looked over at me and grinned. "You know this song!" she accused, pointing at me.

"I do not," I replied in a haughty manner, shaking my head as I continued dancing.

Bella flat out guffawed, teasing me. "You love it! Admit it!"

"Never, you hear me? I will never admit that, Isabella," I countered. I knew she hated being called that, even if it was her full name. Jake had shared that small bit of information with me, so I was going to use that to my advantage.

She gasped and stopped dancing. "What did you call me?"

I sneered at her, staying silent and dancing as the song continued.

You are beautiful, like a dream come alive, incredible
A sinful, miracle, lyrical
You've saved my life again
And I want you to know, baby

"Nothing… I won't call you that ever again if you promise not to tell anyone that I like this song," I threatened.

"Fine!" she cried. "You lying liar who lies! 'Cause you don't like it, you love it!"

"Whatever," I muttered, under my breath before singing the next verse at the top of my lungs.

I, I love you like a love song, baby
I, I love you like a love song, baby
I, I love you like a love song, baby

Bella grinned, singing the next line with me, "And I keep hitting re-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat!"