Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or its characters. SM does. But still nobody can stop me from wishing it.

Past-aholics Anonymous

Chapter One

On Fire

I woke up with the sunrays of a new day hitting my face and my alarm clock screaming in my ears until I unplugged it. With my eyes still half closed because of the brightness, I took the bed sheets off me and jumped out of bed. I stretched my arms above my head until I heard my shoulders crack as I stood on the tip of my toes.

That's better, I thought with a satisfied smile on my face, nothing tops a good stretch.

I took a quick shower, wrapping myself in a towel after I was finished. I let my ordinary mahogany brown hair dry naturally after I applied a lot of hair products to achieve the perfect look I was searching for. I smothered body lotion on before starting to dress.

It was Monday, and the first day of a new school year, so I decided to dress a little nicer than I was used to, giving a good first impression to those who didn't know me. I grabbed my old pair of dark skinny jeans, which made my ass look great, and a salmon colored blouse—my favorite color.

I put my slippers on, the ones my mother had given me last Christmas, and maneuvered through the house until I was in the kitchen. I inhaled greedily as the smell of fresh made something assaulted my nostrils.

"Mm...smells good in here," I praised, looking around to find the source of the smell.

"I know, right? You can thank me later," my mother smiled smugly while she turned the pancakes in the frying pan.

"Dream on! It's only fair that you're cooking today; I'm the one that is always with sauce on her clothes. If you don't set the kitchen on fire, we're lucky," I laughed wholeheartedly.

Renée was not known for her cooking, to put it nicely...

After eating the pancakes in haste and talking a bit more, I grabbed the keys of my red, rusty pick-up truck and went to school. I looked out the window of my car, and admired the beautiful and old view of the city I'd been living in for almost twelve years now. I didn't even remember not living in here.

The sun was peeking through the clouds in the sky and it made a pattern of shadows on the ground that resembled a waterfall from the depths of the Amazon forest with all the little animals running around it—the clouds were moving.

I sighed to myself, because no matter how much I liked the view, it still bugged me how much green I saw every damn day. Green. I think the color started to disgust me somewhere between fifth or sixth grade. I looked around once again, and shook my head with displeasure. The trees were passing by me so fast, they looked unfocused and after a moment I could no longer distinguish shapes and everything just became a greenish blotch…

As I drove through the city I began to imagine how my day was going to be, if anyone was going to be ridiculously different and if anyone would notice the subtle changes in me. I smiled proudly to myself, I was not the same girl everyone used to adore—and sometimes abused; I had changed.

I was tougher, less naive and most of all, I was more self-confident.

I liked who I was mentally and physically, which was not an easy task to achieve given my insecure past. I promised myself I was going to accept every challenge thrown my way and look at everything with different, optimistic eyes. I was a changed Bella.A Bella that is going to be late for her first class, I thought as I looked at the clock in my cell. I rushed through the streets, earning a few angry yells from the people I almost ran over.

"Sorry," I yelled as I entered the school parking lot.

I quickly grabbed my purse and my books, and made my way through the school's corridors stopping by my locker to leave there all my unnecessary books.

Dead weight, if you ask me.

I greeted the school's janitor, my long time friend, as I rushed to get to class. Clumsy as I was, I rammed into someone—that had a big, hard as granite, muscled chest—, and stumbled backwards because of the force of the hit. I groaned aloud as I rubbed my forehead, already feeling a lump forming in it. I looked up to see a big, dimpled, goofy face smiling at me.

"You okay there, little one?" asked a friendly smiling voice.

"Yeah, sure...sorry," I mumbled into the hand covering my mouth as the other rubbed my sore neck from the effort of looking so up high.

"Gotta go, see ya."

I dashed through the hallway and, in a matter of seconds, I was in front of my classroom knocking lightly as if afraid of waking up a giant troll. My mind didn't even absorb the fact that I didn't know the guy I had just ran into.

"Come in," I heard Mrs. Watson say.

I didn't know how it was possible, but I found myself reveling in her nasal, nagging voice. I entered the white, squared classroom shyly, trying to make as minimum noise as possible as not to disturb the class which had begun fifteen minutes earlier.

"Ms. Swan, how wonderful of you to join us," Mrs. Watson's voice was dripping with sarcasm as she stood up from her wooden desk opposite the door.

Mrs. Watson wasn't the most...joyful teacher. Even though, ninety percent of the other teachers would let me enter without having to put on a show, this one was nothing like them. She lived for the drama of embarrassing her students, like me, when they were late for class, even if it was the first day of school and everyone else would've cut them some slack.

"Late on your first day, that's the way to make a good impression," she snickered.

I rolled my eyes, as she wrote something, probably about me, on her notebook. Her fingers twisted around her pencil and she almost ripped the page apart with her red claws.

I didn't reply, trying not to anger the beast and made my way to the only available seat—which was next to this handsome boy who I had ever seen in my life at school—as she had indicated with her hand. I noticed some people were waving at me, smiling, and I waved them back.

As I looked at the guy, the world stopped spinning and it was like I was seeing everything in slow motion like in a movie script.

Everything else disappeared into the background and all I could focus on was the Adonis in front of me.

He was tall and muscled, but not too much, his skin was pale and it seemed to glow. He was dressed in light blue jeans that fitted his ass perfectly, from the angle I was looking. He was wearing a grey t-shirt that clung to his chest and abs. Oh God, he's just… I stood there ogling him until someone coughed and I snapped out of it.

"Hi," he said, taking his hand out for me to shake as I approached him.

"Hi," I replied as I shook his hand and sat in the wooden chair next to him, feeling an electrical current from my tiptoes up to the roots of my hair.

Once I caught a glance at his face, he was even more handsome. I mean the bronze messy hair had me in a puddle at his feet, but those big green eyes made me surrender in a second. Maybe I liked green after all.

Who was this God-like person who made my insides tingle?

"I'm Edward, by the way," he said smiling awkwardly, waving his hand in front of his face.

"Isabella, but I go by Bella," I replied with a small smile of own.

His face was completely flawless, his chin was sharp and straight and his voice... oh, his voice was just so smooth, like velvet and it made me sigh dreamily for him. It made me hope he would talk again. Oh God, what's happening to me?

I cleared my throat, trying to make sense of everything I was feeling for this complete stranger and maintain some dignity, and as I did this, it hit me; I was completely and utterly dumbstruck by him and I couldn't let it happen.

No, I was going to focus on school as I had planned from the beginning and if that implied having to ignore this gorgeous specimen, than that was what I was going to do.

"Did you know that Bella means beautiful in Italian?" he asked, pulling me back from my thoughts.

I shook my head discreetly, trying to connect the words he had just said, and blinking several times as he smiled to me—a smile so big, it showed off all of his perfect, white teeth.

"Stupid Colgate smile," I muttered under my breath as I opened my notebook and started writing down whatever it was Mrs. Watson was saying about word pronunciation.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Edward looking at me like I was crazy, shaking his head and smiling, once again, to himself and then he just chuckled. He sat there, staring as he waited for my answer—the one that was not coming—, giving me all of his attention. Trying to ignore him and the hole that he must've been digging in the side of my head, I looked around and gasped at the hateful looks every single girl in class was giving me.

I caught one of them breaking her pencil as she growled at me, marking her territory, I suppose... What the hell is happening?

Seriously, the whole female class looked like savage animals—showing me their sharp, white teeth as their saliva slipped down their chins and their hair a complete, filthy mess—which freaked me out a bit... I made the mistake of looking at my left and found Edward still staring at me. I did the same, and nodded to his earlier question when he raised his eyebrow questioningly. It seemed to have been asked a million years ago.

As I looked into his deep, beautiful, green eyes and white smile, I lost train of thought and my eyes were suddenly unable to focus.

Once he realized my reaction, he shook his head and smirked, breaking our connection and looking at Mrs. Watson.

Well, I wasn't going to give myself away any more than I had already, and let him know that he had just dazzled me.

Resolute, I looked straight ahead, giving the hint that I didn't want to talk to him, which may have seemed a bit rude considering he was the new kid in a new school—for him at least.

I kept doing the same thing the rest of the class did: took notes, looked at Mrs. Watson, ignored the crazy, death glares, and ignored Edward. That last part they weren't doing, in fact they were almost fighting to see who would have his attention next and who was going to kill me. Hilarious.

It was not my fault Edward was the only one who didn't have anyone sitting next to him when I arrived, making his the only available desk where I could sit.

I just didn't get it...

Why were they acting completely insane towards each other because of Edward? Okay, maybe I did get it, but this was too much. By the end of class I was sure someone was going to murder me, stabbing me while I had my back to them... Crazy shit happens when no one's expecting it.

"What's the problem, Bella?" he asked, turning to me with a worried expression.

"Nothing's wrong, don't worry about me. I just want this class to be over," I answered before turning away.

I returned Mrs. Watson my full undivided attention, once again. I could feel him looking at me but I didn't want to give him the pleasure of knowing the effect he had on me, more than he already knew. I mean, it's not that difficult...every time he came closer to me during the last hour I would jump in my seat and sigh with relief every time he scooted away.

Suddenly, the bell rang and I stood up.

"May I walk with you?" he asked, squeezing my hand before I noticed what he was doing. I quickly pulled it away, not wanting to give him the wrong impression.

"Look Edward, I don't know how it worked where you came from, but here we don't hold hands like whores give crabs, okay?" I spat.

I moved away from him like I was repulsed by the mere thought of touching him—which was totally not the case. I didn't even know why I had said such a rude thing; I was out of my mind. I blamed it on hormones.

Where was my sudden confidence coming from?

I was happy I could talk to him without stuttering but it totally surprised me considering I was expecting not to be able to form full words… I did not want to be acting like a bitch, but the words were leaving my mouth before I could stop them. Way to go, Bella!

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it..." he stuttered embarrassed.

"No, no… I'm sorry; I don't know where that came from..." I apologized waving my hand, referring to my previous behavior and looked at the ground ashamed.

"Can I walk with you? I think if I stay here any longer I'm going to be raped," he joked jovially, trying to lighten the mood and looking around to the horny teenager girls who were undressing him with their eyes.

Imagine what they would do if they could touch him.

He fidgeted nervously like he was embarrassed by the thought.

"Sure, but I should warn you I'm going outside," I told him.

"It's okay... it's also very windy, Bella. Are you sure you want to go out there?" he asked a little confused. I turned to look at him as I made my way, through my peers, to the exit.

As I did this, I asked myself why I couldn't just stop talking to him when it had been so damn easy, definitely not easy, when class had first started. I twisted my nose like I smelled something really nasty and looked at him straight in the eye.

"I know it is but I'm going anyway. Feel free to come with me or don't. It's up to you," I said and walked out of the classroom.

I didn't feel him by my side so I figured he wasn't coming which made my mind happy and sad at the same time—confused because part of me was attracted to him while the other part wanted to concentrate in school and others things that more important.

I was crossing the school's gate when I felt someone grabbing my arm and pulling me back.

"Wait, please," the velvet voice pleaded. I turned to see who had touched me and I was surprised to see Edward. His perfect shaped face was looking at me with pleading green eyes—the ones that made me crumble to dust. The ones I shouldn't like.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to follow you but the girls cornered me in the classroom as soon as you walked out," he sounded guilty as if it had been all is fault.

I just kept walking. He followed me anyway. I stopped a few feet away from the school and opened my purse, grabbing my pack of cigarettes and pulling one out. I slipped my hand in my jeans pocket, searching for my lighter and stressed when I didn't find it right away.

"You really shouldn't smoke," Edward said with a harsh tone as I pulled the thing from my jeans and lit the damn cigarette. He shook his head disapprovingly. "It only harms you and doesn't give you any pleasure. I don't know why people do it, seriously."

"Yes, you're right," I said as I puffed on it. "I shouldn't."

"Then, why do you do it?" he quizzed, looking perplexed.

Hmm, smoking…

It was definitely not one of my greatest ideas, but it served its purpose when I needed to relax—it was a habit I turned to when in time of need.

One of my many flaws was my addiction to nicotine, a stupid one in fact, because I started smoking to prove that I was a woman.

I don't really know how I got to the conclusion that smoking would make me feel like an adult, but I did it anyway and now I couldn't survive without my pack of cigarettes and my lighter—even when I was sick, which was kind of dumb considering it could make me worse.

"Bella?" Edward asked worriedly, shaking my shoulder lightly.

"Sorry, I was just thinking…" I replied, blinking a couple of times before answering his earlier question. "I do it because I'm stupid and don't have enough willpower to stop and frankly I don't want to… I like it now."

I shrugged noncommittally.

"Oh," was his brilliant reply. He seemed to be deep in thought like he was concentrating hard on something, judging by the frown on his face.

I looked to the ground, expecting him to lash out on me like so many others had done, but heard nothing…

I looked at his hand which was still grabbing my arm and then looked up at him saying, without full or any words at all that he needed to remove it. He noticed and let go. I was struck with a painful feeling, a feeling I wasn't expecting but that really shouldn't have surprised me at all.

I shook myself a little trying to make it disappear.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I had no intention of harming you or grabbing you like that," his voice was full of regret and frustration like I was, somehow, angry at him...okay maybe I was a little bit but, as delusional as it might seem, I felt like something was missing and my skin was yearning for his touch again.

"It's okay, Edward," I said with a warm smile when he looked at the ground like he was ashamed of his actions. "Are you okay?" I asked as I patted his shoulder and puffed on the cigarette.

"Yes. Don't worry, love," I chocked on the smoke the second he said 'love' and glanced at him with both a surprised and a horrified expression.

He patted my back, trying to help me breathe normally again as I made my last dying wishes thinking I was about to drop dead in front of the entire school student body because of him.

Once I was able to breathe, he continued. "If there's a problem with me calling you 'love' just tell me. I won't call you that again," he went to grab my hand but I flinched and looked at him straight in the eye, reminding him of our earlier conversation.

The one about whores…and crabs.

"I know you're used to having girls all over your face but that's not me. I'd prefer if you kept your lovely nicknames to yourself," I snapped venomously and immediately clamped my mouth shut with my hand, regretting the words the second they left my mouth, but I was not going to drool over him.

You wish!

At first, he just stood there with his mouth wide open and his eyes about to pop out of his face, shocked…

But before I could worry too much about Edward being upset, he doubled over in laughter, completely erasing any worries that had ingrained their way into my brain. I glared at him, and stood on my cigarette, extinguishing it.

The bell rang suddenly and we went back to class without saying a word—at least I didn't because Edward was still laughing is ass off.

To my surprise (not), Edward sat next to me.

I thought he'd be kind of hurt with my words but clearly that was not the case, and eventually he stopped laughing...only to grin at me like a fucking idiot. I couldn't stop myself from thinking that he looked almost adorable. I slapped myself in the forehead and tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying, even though I already knew it—I'm that great.

I couldn't stop thinking about the way Edward's touch had felt when he had grabbed my hand and arm.

It was like an electrical current was inside my skin, in my blood.

My heart had started racing and my breathing had stopped, making my cheeks red and my eyes wide as saucers. I didn't seem to be able to control myself around him which was kind of frustrating given the fact that I was set on only being is friend and even though, I had only known him a couple of hours earlier, I was behaving this badly already.

Fortunately, Edward didn't try to make conversation with me, as he was struggling to understand what was being said. I didn't complain, only helping him when absolutely necessary.

Before I knew it, I was having lunch with my group of friends. Edward was with his family, which was a shock to me because I didn't even know his family was here, but it kind of maked sense…stupid me.

The girls were kind enough to tell me the story behind Edward's arrival.

He and his family had arrived from Chicago to Forks a week before, but they were so busy with moving that they hadn't got the time to connect and socialize with the rest of the city's population.

His father was a world renowned neurosurgeon and he had decided to come to a small town—also known as Forks—because his wife wanted a more relaxing lifestyle than the one Chicago had to offer. From what was being told around school, the big shot family, the Hales, which had also arrived three months before, were great friends with Edward's and it seemed they all got along, so he wasn't the only new kid after all...

He had two siblings, a brother and a sister, the latter being his age and the former being one year older than them.

His name was Emmett, he was the one I had stumbled into this morning as I ran my way to class, and he was not single—which apparently was not a huge deal breaker to the girls. His sister was Alice, the complete opposite of her brothers, a short, tiny little girl with black spiky hair, and a pixie-like face. They had green eyes, too, just like their brother...which were from their stay-at-home mother, Esme.

"How do you know that they have their mother's eyes?" I asked a little confused as I shredded my bread into small pieces and drank my apple juice with a straw.

"I've seen her," Jane whispered conspicuously, like she was sharing this huge secret that no one was supposed to know.

I sighed and continued to listen to her rambling about the rest of the family and explaining how she met Mrs. Cullen at the grocery store.

I drew little snowmen in my plate with the rest of my food; I was definitely not hungry when she started talking about her daydreams with some Jasper guy, telling us how she imagined he would kiss her and that she was so much better than the skank he was seeing...

I blinked trying to coerce my brain into processing.

"Who's Jasper?" I asked looking at Jane's annoyed face and Jessica's amused one. I could really space out if the conversation wasn't interesting enough to make me want to waste my energy listening to it.

"He's Rosalie's twin brother," she said, turning away from me and continuing to tell in detail her daydreams. I was just about to barf when I realized I also didn't know any Rosalie. Who was she talking about?

"Who's Rosalie?" I asked louder, immediately catching her undivided attention.

"You didn't hear a word I said so far, did you?" she asked as she raised her eyebrow, clearly telling me she wouldn't believe any of my sorry ass excuses.

"No…?" it was supposed to be a statement, but it came out more like a question. Jane just stared at me waiting with her arms crossed over her chest, her back slumped in the chair she was sitting in. "Definitely no."

"Thought so," she said smugly, looking a bit upset, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. "Look to your right," I did as I was told as she pointed with her finger to a table in the corner of the cafeteria, "…see that blond girl and dude sitting next to Emmett?"

Oh, I was seeing alright.

I was seeing the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my whole life.

Rosalie was gorgeous. She had blonde curly hair and big shiny blue eyes. She was also blessed with a perfect, curvy body. Emmett was by her side, joking about something by the way Jasper was laughing after he spoke. They were hugging each other, patting one another on their backs like they had done a good job. Jasper was blond too, tall and muscled but not as much as Emmett.

"They're the Hale's who got here a few months ago…" she explained. "Someone told me they're cousins…" Jane added conspiratorially, lowering her voice and her head as she bent her upper body across the cafeteria table and supported her head in her hands.

"But they're dating!" Jessica shrieked, disgusted with the thought.

"Who's dating?" I asked, curious as to why they were with their mouths wide open with shock and outrage.

"Rosalie and Emmett, Bella! Pay attention, for once in your life," she admonished, huffing and puffing because I was making her repeat herself.

"Alice and Jasper are, too," Jane added, and Jess gasped as her right hand flew to her chest and her left one covered her mouth.

"So what?" I asked, rolling my eyes and shrugging.

"Bella! They're cousins and they're dating!" she yelled, making everyone in the cafeteria stare at us like we were completely crazy.

They averted their eyes when the girls glared at them and I started thinking…

Could they really be cousins? I mean, Jessica and Jane weren't exactly known for their truthful rumors…and wasn't it illegal? Maybe, the Hales and the Cullens were in one of those religions that think incest is acceptable. Who am I to judge? Jess and Jane were probably lying about it anyway.

"That's just wrong…" Lauren said as she shook her head in disbelief and frowned. She opened the water bottle she was holding in her hands and took a sip. "What do you think, Bella?"

Everyone turned to me, wanting to know what I thought on the subject and the truth was I didn't know what to say because it was none of my business and I was getting sick of all the shit people said behind other people's back. Jane and Lauren were two faced, nice to each other when they had to be, but once they were apart they turned on one another.

"Hmm, don't know," I replied, shrugging as I stared at my plate, bored.

"Bella, you're no fun," Lauren whined like a seven year old as she ate her lunch, and threw a crumb at me.

I rolled my eyes and cleaned myself. I got up as soon as the bell rang, which indicated the end of lunch time, and grabbed my bag as the crowd made its way through the glass doors, out of the lunch room. They all followed me…

I felt him before I saw him—a blur of messy, bronze hair a few feet away from me.

My heart picked up, my palms got sweaty as did the back of my neck.

I walked faster, trying to go unnoticed but it was unnecessary… Edward's head snapped and looked straight into my eyes, as if he could feel my presence even without looking at me. I felt myself smile and tried to stop it before it grew out of proportion.

He smiled back at me, stopping in the middle of the hallway, across from me and raised his palm asking me to wait. I nodded and gestured to the girls, telling them to continue their way to class, and not to wait for me. They frowned, confused by my request but did as they were told and walked away.

I watched as Edward pulled his sister by her hand mid-step and turned her around so that they were face to face. He leaned down; his face close to her ear as his lips barely moved, but I could tell he was saying something to her even if it was too low for my ears to hear.

The other members of his family had stopped too when they noticed that Alice and Edward had stayed behind, they were now looking at them, frowning, probably not understanding what was happening.

Then, he waved goodbye at them and turned to me, not waiting to see them leave. He took a few steps towards me and stopped when we were only twenty inches apart, which made me breathe raggedly.

"Looking good, Bella," he praised jovially, grabbing the shoulder strap of his bag more firmly.

"You, too. How was lunch?" I asked, as I leaned against the wall and rested my head in it.

I let my purse slide down my shoulder and hit the floor. My heart was pounding and the air seemed too heavy to breathe. I twitched my fingers as I waited for him to answer—like it was a big deal. It wasn't.

"Yeah, you going to Biology?" he scratched the back of his neck, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously.

"Yeah," I smiled foolishly and picked up my purse. "You coming?" I asked looking back at him over my shoulder as I walked towards the classroom and, noticed we were late when I glanced at my watch.

"Yeah, yeah," he whispered looking flustered, running a bit until he was next to me.

"We're late," I warned him, increasing the speed of my pace, trying not to be late again on the first day.

He put his hand in his jeans pocket and shuffled it, searching for something. He huffed as he pulled on the pocket's cloth and nothing came out. He tried on his other pocket and stopped walking, smiling when he finally found the damn thing—his phone.

"Fuck," he muttered under his breath as he glanced at the time.

He grabbed my hand and dragged me through the hallway to our classroom, lightning speed. I gasped surprised with his boldness. He had, once again, grabbed my hand after I had told him specifically that I didn't want him to. The difference was that this time I didn't mind one bit.

I let go of his hand when we reached the classroom.

We knocked on the door quietly once we arrived, breathing hard, and were greeted by a very upset Mr. Banner.

He told us not to do it again and to take our seats and stay quiet. We did as we were told, not wanting to get detention on the end of the day. I took notes and glanced regularly at Edward, who smiled at me every time, shaking his head to himself and returning his attention to the class, afterwards.

I liked seeing Edward during class, he messed his hair even more when he was having trouble understanding things, furrowing his eyebrow into a V and resting his forehead on his palm. He would, then, shake his head and look at the blackboard with a new stash of determination. He also took quick glances at me, winking from time to time until Mr. Banner called him out on it and he stopped.

I was bored; I already knew what was being taught today because I had spent the entire summer reading the textbooks from every subject, so that I could be prepared when the time came.

Yes, I was a complete nerd but who could judge me?

I wanted to go to a good college, to get out of Forks and visit the exotic, fantastic and different places from around the world…and to do that I needed great, excellent grades. It wasn't like I didn't go out, I did… I just didn't spend every minute with the rest of the group on First beach partying like the crazy teens from Project X.

I liked that movie, there was one song that I loved but I couldn't remember the name… What was it? Man, I loved it…

"Bella?" a velvety voice asked me, waking me up from my rambling thoughts.

Someone nudged my shoulder and I looked to my right ready to snap at the idiot. But my resolve immediately crumbled when I saw that the idiot was Edward and that he was calling me because the class had already ended. I hadn't noticed.

"Sorry," I mumbled, picking up my bag and setting it on the table.

I threw my books into it, not caring if the pages got creased. Edward waited until I got everything ready and then he walked me to the parking lot without a word.

We were so close that our hands almost touched, sending electric shocks through my body when our pinkies brushed together.

From my peripheral vision, I saw him glancing at our hands and then at me, like he was trying to gauge my reaction if he eventually joined them. I didn't understand his fear, we had hold hands when we were rushing to the class and I hadn't said anything. Nevertheless, I kept my cool, reminding myself that we were mere acquaintances; the problem was my body wasn't listening to my brain.

Once outside, I stopped and turned to him, ready to say goodbye but I saw Jess and Jane looking at us, whispering to each other and smirking knowingly. They were standing by my car, waiting for some juicy details about the newcomer. Neither of them had Edward in their classes.

"Bye, Bella," he walked off to a Volvo where his siblings stood after he gave me one of most his dazzling smiles. He took the keys from his backpack and opened the car, sitting in the driver seat. They followed his lead and took off from the parking lot.

I didn't even have time to say goodbye back. Wasting no time, I went to my car as I prayed not to be assaulted by a million questions…

"Bella!" Jess shrieked once I got near them. "Tell us everything!"

"Hey," I waved as I grimaced. "Don't you guys have to go home or something?" I asked, hope coloring my voice.

"Not right now," Jane said grinning, as she leaned against the truck's side door.

I arched my eyebrow at them and looked through my bag for my car keys, supporting it on top of my knee.

I was so not in the mood for this… I huffed in annoyance and pleaded to my brain to invent a really good excuse that could prevent the interrogatory from happening. Suddenly, there was light and I turned to look at them with a fake, sad smile plastered on my face.

"Sorry girls, but Renee needs my help today," their smiles faltered a little and Jess pouted ridiculously; if she was trying to look cute, she was failing.

"Oh, maybe we can call you later?" she asked hopefully with her hands clasped over her chest and Jane mimicked her.

"Today's not good, but tomorrow…I'll talk to you tomorrow," I nodded my head and blew them a kiss, pulling Jane off my door gently. I hopped in, waving as I made my way out of the damn school, and sped my way home.

As I looked out of the window and let my hair wave with the breeze, I started thinking about Edward and how childish it was to just like a person without knowing them. I never did that, especially after the last fiasco with him… No, I wasn't going down that road again. I was going to focus on school like I had decided, no matter what the costs were. I could do this. I would do this.

I turned the radio on and listened as Bridgit Mendler's Hurricane started playing. I turned the volume of the speakers up and danced in my seat to the rhythm of the music, singing along with it.

I took the chance to empty my mind of all the thoughts regarding school, Edward, and him and to just enjoy the time I had alone until I was home with my chaotic mother and my silent father.

A/N:

Hi! I hoped you liked it. This was the very first fanfic that I wrote. It isn't finished yet. I started writing a few years ago and then forgot about it altogether... until now!

Oh! I changed the name of this fic. It used to be called "Pepper Hot".

If you feel like it, please leave a review so that I can know your thoughts about this fic, wether they are good or bad. If they're bad, feel free to be gentle about it.

Until next time!