Edward hobbled into the school lobby trying not to catch his crutches on the threshold. He kept his gaze on the floor ahead of him, but even so, he was aware that people were staring from every direction. Emmett and Tyler flanked him on either side, and Mike walked a few steps behind, carrying Edward's books.
"Careful, man" Emmett said, grabbing Edward's arm as one of the crutches slipped slightly on the smooth floor. "You don't want to wipe out and mess up your other ankle, too."
Edward shook off his friend's hand/ "I'm okay."
He still couldn't believe he'd landed funny after that rebound and sprained his ankle. Practice hadn't even officially started yet-it had happened during the warm-up. At first everyone had though it was broken, but luckily the x-rays had showed it was merely a sprain.
"How long did the doc say it would be until you can play agian?" Mike asked.
Edward sighed. "Three weeks." he replied. "Minimum"
"It could be worse," Tyler said. "When my cousin sprained her ankle, they told her she couldn't do ballet again for two months."
"Gee, that's looking on the bright side." Emmett told him, rolling his eyes. "Three weeks or ten years, who cares? The Garfield game is in four days!"
"I know," Edward moaned. "I can't believe I have to sit out. I'll never forgive myself if we blow our winning streak because of this."
Just then a gaggle of cheerleaders in their perky green uniforms spotted Edward. They rushed over and flocked around him, their faces filled with concern.
"How are you feeling Edward?" one asked.
"I was so upset when I heard you got hurt!" another cried.
"You and me both," Edward muttered, feeling frustrated and a little sheepish.
The cheerleaders were still clustered around the boys when Bella entered the lobby with Tanya. She quickly spotted Edward in the middle of the group.
"There he is," she told Tanya. "I'm going to go see how he's doing."
Bella hadn't seen Edward since he'd been carried out of the gym, but she'd spoken with him on the phone. It was a relief that his injury hadn't turned out to be as severe as everyone had feared. But she was still worried about him. He couldn't play for several weeks had to be tough on him.
And I'm sure it doesn't help that the whole school is already buzzing about Saturday's game, she thought. Everyone seems more worried about how this might affect that winning streak than they are about poor Edward!
"Hi," Bella said as she and Tanya reached the group around Edward. The cheerleaders parted to let them through, and Bella reached out to touch one of his crutches. "How are you doing? It looks like you're getting around okay."
Edward smiled. "I feel like an idiot," he said. "Who sprains their ankles during warm-ups, anyway?"
"Don't be too hard on yourself," Bella told him. "It could happen to anyone."
"I guess," Edward said. though he didn't seem convinced. "Hi, Tanya," he added. "How's are going?"
"Hi, Edward," Tanya said. "Total bummer about your ankle."
"Thanks. So I didn't get a chance to ask while they were caring me out on that stretcher-how was your first day at Forks High?"
Bella smiled. That was just like Edward. Even in the midst of his own problems, he was still to thoughtful.
Tanya was still chattering on about her impressions of Forks High when the whole group reached homeroom. Edward was trying to pretend he was listening to her. He'd seen Bella flash him that gorgeous smile when he'd asked after Tanya. He was glad she'd noticed his attempts to be nice to the new girl.
I should have plenty of chances getting to know Tanya over the next few weeks, he thought with a sigh. After all, I'll have lots of time that I won't be spending playing basketball...
"Injured man coming through!" Emmett sang as Edward limped a cross the room. "Make way, people."
Edward collapsed into his seat. The crowd around him was growing by the moment, Gossip traveled fast at Forks High, and everyone wanted to get a look at the splint on Edward's ankle.
"So, how'd it happen?" a girl asked. "I heard you tripped over Emmett and crashed into the bleachers."
:I head you were going for a slam dunk and landed on Tyler," another girl said.
Edward shook his head. "Not quite," he said. "It was just a stupid, bad step on a rebound, that's all." He glanced around at his teammates.
"Unfortunately, I'm not the only one who's going to be paying for it. You guys will just have to make up for me not being able to play on Saturday."
"Don't sweat it, man," Tyler said. "We'll work it out."
Edward stared at him thoughtfully. "Yeah," he said. "If Garfield High senses any weakness, they'll come at us twice as hard. So Tyler, you're going to have to pick up the slack in the rebounds. Mike, you'll have to really hustle on defense. and Emmett-"
Emmett laughed and slapped Edward on the back.
"Good old Edward," he said. "Always worried about the team!"
"Aha! So this is where everybody is."
Edward glanced over. Rosalie had just entered the classroom with Jasper at her heels.
"Edward!" she exclaimed, striding toward his desk. "Glad to see you were able to join us today after your little accident. I trust your knee is feeling better?"
"It's my ankle actually," Edward said. "And it's feeling a little better already. Thanks for asking."
Knowing Rosalie, Edward suspected she was annoyed that everyone was paying more attention to his injury than to her upcoming party. But to his surprise, she didn't look upset at all. In fact, there was an odd twinkle in her eyes and a smug smile playing around the corners of her mouth.
Rosalie turned to face the rest of the class and cleared her throat "I have an announcement that just might interest everyone enough to drag you all away from Edward's little medical drama," she said. "So listen up!"
"Let me guess," Emmett said. "You're finally going to tell us who's invited to your tea party."
Rosalie shot him an irritated look. "Hardly," she said. "In fact, considering what I'm about to tell you, I'm going to have to be even more selective about who makes the cut."
"What is it, Rosalie?" Tanya cried excitedly.
Rosalie's gaze drifted to her. "Um, and you are...?" she said.
"She's Tanya," Bella said."You met her yesterday, remember?"
"Oh, right." Rosalie shrugged. "It must have slipped my mind. See, I've had a lot going on the past couple of days-"
"If you've got big news, just spill it already!" Mike called out.
"Well!" Rosalie tilted her nose in the air looking insulted. "If you're going to be that way about it, maybe you don't want to hear my news after all."
Jasper jumped forward, practically quivering with excitement. "Oh, but you have to tell them Rosalie!" he cried. "This is huge news! Trina Chica-"
"Hush!" Rosalie hissed before her brother could say anything else.
Up until that moment, most of the class had been paying only moderate attention to Rosalie. But now she had everyone's full attention.
"Trina Chica?" Mike exclaimed "What about her?"
"Man, she rocks!" Emmett cried. "Have you seen her new video?"
Tanya nodded. "She's totally my favorite singer in the whole world!"
Rosalie spoke again, her stage-trained voice cutting through the hubbub easily. "Well, then," she said. "you all might be interested to know that Trina Chica herself will be appearing at my party on Saturday night."
"Whoa!" Edward exclaimed. "Trina Chica is going to be at your party? Really?"
Bella was impressed, too. Trina Chica was one of the hottest singers around. Her new album had gone double platinum, and her concert tour had just kicked off in New York City a few weeks earlier. Could she really be performing at Rosalie's party? It seemed to good to be true.
But if anybody can make something like that happen, it's Rosalie, Bella thought. She has a way og getting what she wants, And what she wants right now is a party that everyone will remember forever.
The buzz in the classroom was now an uproar. "Yes," Rosalie said, obviously pleased with the reaction. "I thought you all might find that interesting."
By the time Bella, Alice, and Tanya had left homeroom for first period, the entire school had heard the big news. Rosalie was mobbed by excited Trina Chica fans as soon as she stepped into the hall.
"this is going to be quite a week. People are already acting crazy about this Trina Chica thing," Alice commented as she dodged several squealing underclassmen who were flinging themselves at Rosalie.
"Can you blame them?" Tanya shivered with delight and wrapped her arms around herself. "I mean, Trina Chica! How cool is that?" She sighed loudly. "I just have to figure out how to get an invite to that party!"
"I wouldn't get too worked up about it if I were you," Alice advised. "Its's not worth it."
"Are you kidding?" Tanya looked genuinely surprised at Alice's comment. "Bella, back me up here-don't you want to see Trina perform live?"
"Not enough to start stressing over a party invitation," Bella replied honestly. "I mean, sure, it would be cool to see Trina Chica. I've Heard she puts on a great love show-they're even showing one of her concerts as a TV special sometime soon." She shrugged. "But Rosalie is going to invite whoever she wants to invite. I'm not going to worry about it.
Alice smirked. "Easy for you to say. You know your name is defiantly going to be on that short list Bella.
"Really?" Tanya stared at Bella curiously.
"I thought you and Rosalie weren't that close."
"They're not," Alice replied before Bella could even say a word. "But Rosalie has been crushing on Edward Masen since the sixth grade. She may be a little, um, self-involved, but she's not stupid-she knows if she wants Edward to come to her party, she'd better invite Bella. too."
She shot Bella an amused look. "You're name will be on that list, my friend. Take it to the bank."
Bella smiled sheepishly. "You're probably right," she said. "I hadn't really thought of it that way."
"Wow," Tanya said, a note of envy in her voice.
"Bella, I just hope you realize how lucky you are. And I hope you'll think of me while you're grooving to Trina's music on Saturday night-and maybe get me an autograph?"
"Sure," Bella said. She couldn't help feeling sorry for Tanya, especially when she remembered what the new girl had told her about missing her friend's party back home. That had to make the whole Rosalie situation even worse for her. "I'll do what I can."
Here is part 2...the next chapter should be up shortly! ...REVIEW!
