Disclaimer- All things Twilight belong to S. Meyer, I'm just playing :)


One of the Boys

Chapter One- The First Day

Alice had been explicitly specific on her expectations of Bella's outfit for their first day as high school seniors. A skirt, or at the very least a smart pair of trousers, that cute blue blouse, maybe the grey cardigan. And would some lip gloss really be too much to ask? Bella smiled wickedly to herself, anticipating Alice's reaction as she saw Edward's silver Volvo pull in to the school parking lot.

As the car rolled to a halt in the space next to Bella's truck, Alice threw the door open, her expression equal parts dismay and resignation. Bella laughed, smoothing down her t-shirt and tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Come on, Alice! What did you expect, honestly?"

"Let me guess," Edward called over the roof of the car. "She tried to make you in to her own personal Barbie doll again?"

Alice huffed and sulkily crossed her arms. "I just wish you'd let me make you in to a girl sometimes," she sighed.

"Don't be stupid, Alice, Bella is a girl. She just doesn't dress or act like one," Edward said with a crooked smile, which quickly turned in to a grimace of pain as Bella reached over and punched him hard on the arm. Jasper laughed loudly as he got out from the back seat. "You know what I mean," Edward added, wincing slightly as he flexed his arm.

"You're such a baby," Bella smirked at him over Alice's head.

"Rose would understand," Alice mumbled wistfully, wishing her glamorous sister was still in Forks and not away at college. Bella was a much easier project to tackle with two of them.

"She certainly doesn't punch like a girl, anyway," Edward commented, surreptitiously rubbing the area Bella had hit. Alice glared up at him, and opened her mouth to say something, but Bella interrupted.

"Guys, I've just seen Angela, I'm going to see how her summer was. I'll catch you at registration" And she left the siblings bickering, with Jasper trying to mediate peace in vain, as she crossed lot to where Angela was stood with her regular group of friends. Mike Newton had an extra wide smile for her as she approached, and she suppressed a groan. Jessica Stanley wasn't in her usual position stuck to Mike's side, acting as his own personal limpet. Instead, she was stood slightly apart from the group with Lauren, looking vitriolic.

"Hi Bella," Angela said, grinning brightly. "How was your summer?"

"It was great, thanks. Pretty uneventful, I spent a couple of weekends camping with the Cullen's, the odd trip to the ER," Angela grinned knowingly at this comment. "Nothing really of note. And yours?"

"Mine was mainly spent at conventions," Angela said, glancing pointedly at her boyfriend, Ben, who was talking animatedly to Tyler. "If only I'd been given the chance at an uneventful summer!" Ben mimed a light sabre, and Tyler desperately tried to look interested. Bella chuckled and Angela smiled ruefully, shaking her head.

"You wouldn't have had it any other way," Bella said, and Angela's smile widened, the corners of her eyes crinkling. Looking over at Ben with clear adoration she said, "No, I suppose not."

"So!" Mike said loudly, sliding between Angela and Bella, draping an arm over each of their shoulders. "We're seniors, man. Seniors!"

"Yeah, Mike, who'd have thought," Bella said dryly as she watched Angela politely tried to extricate herself from his crushing grip.

"This year is going to be awesome! Senior yearbook, senior prom… college applications." The pitch of his voice rose expectantly at the last comment. When Bella didn't volunteer the information, he pressed on in a painfully faux-casual manner. "Hey, where are you applying?"

Thankfully, at that moment the bell rang to signal morning registration and Bella pushed Mike's arm off her with a little more force than necessary. A relieved Angela followed and they hurriedly made their way towards the school, closely followed by Ben.

"Catch you later!" Mike's voice floated after them.

Angela laughed. "Still the shiny new girl in his eyes after all this time," she grinned knowingly at Bella, who rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, lucky me," she deadpanned. "Hey, what's the deal with him and Jess anyway?"

"They broke up a few weeks ago," Angela said quietly, looking behind her to check neither was within hearing distance. "Apparently he had a little bit too much fun when he was visiting his cousin in Seattle."

"He cheated?" Bella asked, raising her eyebrows. Angela nodded.

"And then he told her?"

Ben shook his head, interrupting. "His cousin's girlfriend knows Lauren. She called and told Lauren everything. Lauren, dutiful friend that she is, then told Jessica."

"Oh, poor Jess!" Bella cried sympathetically, pushing the classroom door open.

Angela laughed. "Poor Mike, you mean! I hear it was not pretty when he got back."

Bella smirked to herself as she sat down on the seat that had been saved for her between Alice and Edward. She could just imagine the reception Jess had waiting for Mike when he got back from Seattle.

"What's got you amused?" Edward asked.

"Tell you later," Bella whispered in reply as Mike, Jess and the others trouped into the room to take their seats as their tutor began to call registration.

On the way to first period Biology, Bella caught Edward up on the situation with Jess and Mike. Edward simply snorted derisively and rolled his eyes at the whole situation, and Bella was inclined to agree with him; from the start, Mike and Jessica had never really been long-term material. They spent no more time discussing it once the class got under way, quickly getting in to a competition to see who could identify the different phases of mitosis the quickest. Bella won- very marginally, as Edward was at great pains to keep reminding everyone- which she was at great pains to keep reminding Edward.

Lunch found Bella at her usual table with the Cullen's and Jasper. It seemed forlornly empty without Emmett and Rosalie, so they were all pleased when Angela and Ben came to join them after about ten minutes.

"Things were getting a bit tense between Jess and Mike," Angela explained, taking the vacant seat next to Alice, while Ben settled next to Edward. Bella looked over and saw the pair glaring daggers at each other.

"Yeah, we were getting caught in the cross hairs," Ben added, leaning over to steal one of Jasper's fries.

"Hey, man, not cool!" Jasper exclaimed, snagging a handful of Ben's M&M's in retaliation. He shoved them all in to his mouth at once and looked victoriously over the table. Alice and Angela stole a glance at each other and rolled their eyes. The rest of the lunch hour passed with companionable chit chat, with Ben getting to practice his light sabre mime another three times, everyone laughing at Angela's increasingly mortified expressions. They made plans to meet up at the Cullen's after school to make the most of the rare September sunshine in the outdoor pool before heading to their afternoon lessons.

Bella's last lesson of the day was physical education, her least favourite subject by far mostly due to her massive lack of co-ordination. To her chagrin, they were starting with volleyball, and by the end of the hour she was receiving glares from more than one of her peers. In the changing room, she decided to dress between an unoccupied row of lockers towards the end of the room in order to avoid any more glares, most of which had come from Jessica Stanley, confusing Bella because she hadn't hit her once with the volleyball during class.

One by one, the other students exited the room. Bella stayed behind, rooting desperately in her bag for an errant sock. After a few moments, she became aware of voices, and recognised them as belonging to Jessica and Lauren. They were discussing Mike and the break up, clearly thinking themselves alone. Not wanting to eavesdrop, Bella was about to make her presence known, when she heard Edward's name. Debating the morality of what she was about to do for all of three seconds, Bella kept quiet and, grinning wickedly, settled down to listen, planning to embarrass Edward later with any juicy comments.

"Mike was just a little boy," she heard Lauren say spitefully.

"Exactly!" Jess agreed vehemently. "And Edward is just all man," she finished lasciviously, her voice dropping an octave. The two girls cackled loudly. Bella bit her lip to keep from laughing too- this was priceless!

"And what was with Mike giving the eyes to Bella today?" Lauren cried, changing the topic.

"Well, I suppose the little boy finally recognised he should be with a little girl," Jess replied, her voice dripping with malice. They laughed cruelly again.

"Maybe now she'll stop being so desperate around Edward herself," she continued. Bella felt her jaw drop, heat flaming across her cheeks as she blushed violently at what was being implied. "I mean, honestly. It's borderline pathetic," Jess finished matter-of-factly.

"True," Lauren agreed. "Like someone like Edward would ever look twice at someone like Bella swan. Please. It's obvious he only put up with her because she's his weirdo sister's charity case." Bella felt her eyes fill with angry tears, her fists clenched so tight she could feel her nails pressing painfully into her palms. She could hear the girls gathering up their things.

"Yes, and when I'm with Edward, she'll be the first thing to go from his life," Jess said with total confidence as she opened the door, the old hinges squeaking in protest. It slammed loudly behind them, the echoes reverberating off the walls, but nothing could make Bella's head ring more than what she had just overheard.

Well, shit.