A/N: The italicized portion at the beginning of some of the chapters in an excerpt from Bella's latest installment for her story, fyi.

Lacey smirked at Brenda as she grabbed Eric by the hand.

"Baby, come on," she whined. "I want to go home."

Eric complied with his treacherous girlfriend's request instantly.

"See you, Brenda," he called as he waved goodbye with his free hand. Brenda hesitantly waved back, watching her best friend—her love— walk away with that slime of a girl. Couldn't he see her true colors?

Bella POV

Alice and Rosalie looked up from the draft of the first installment of my new story. Alice was reading it as both my friend and the Editor in Chief of the school newspaper, but Rosalie was reading as a fellow writer and a friend.

"Wow," Alice finally said, eyes wide. "That's really something. So Brenda falls in love with her best friend, but right as she figures out her feelings, the best friend starts going out with the popular girl who hates Brenda?" She paused, searching for affirmation, and I nodded.

Rosalie sat in a nearby chair, leant back, and thought out loud, "Wow. What happens to Brenda? Does she get Eric in the end? And what about that bitch Lacey?"

"Rose!" I exclaimed in response to the cuss word. "But then again, I guess she is. But I couldn't use that word, or else they wouldn't let me submit that as my anonymous installment piece. And since that's what I intend for the story to be, I haven't decided exactly where the story is going to go yet."

Both of their mouths fell open. They smiled wide in surprise and excitement as Alice squealed, "Seriously? This is your new anonymous piece? How perfect! Everybody will love this, Bella! It'll be your biggest hit yet! I'll give it to Mrs. Carpenter so that she can put it in next week's issue as soon as possible." She jumped up and squealed again. "I can't wait!"

"Can't wait for what?" I heard a velvety and friendly voice say. I turned to the speaker and smiled.

"Hey, Edward," I greeted. My smile grew wider—not only because I was extra glad to see him (I had felt the need to see his face—I had badly missed him since our smoothie trip last Friday and today's sleepy Monday morning), but because I was cleverly disguising the story that I had to hide from my inspiration. "Rosalie is just excited about the piece Mrs. Carpenter has assigned her to write for the next issue. She gets to interview the basketball team." I turned my head to her and smiled a telling grin. "Isn't that right?"

Rosalie looked at me at first like a deer in the headlights, but then the light bulb atop her head lit up brilliantly and she smiled back and nodded. She turned her head to Edward and gave him an exaggerated nod.

He looked at Rose like she was slightly insane and eyed me skeptically, but dropped it. "I can tell you all are lying, so I don't expect to see that interview, Rosalie," he said, looking at the bad liar. "But I won't bother you guys about it. Not yet, at least. See you at lunch." He smiled again and left the journalism classroom. I was glad I got to see him today—I usually didn't see him all that much on B schedule days.

I stayed looking at the door from which he had gone for a little bit, smiling. I turned back to my friends to continue our conversation where we had left off, but they were staring at me with smart little smiles on their lips.

"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" I demanded, feeling attacked.

Rosalie leant back in her chair again. "Oh, nothing," she paused, "Brenda." She stood up and faced me with a knowing expression.

I rolled my eyes, knowing where this was going. "Oh please. You know Edward is my best friend."

Alice put up her index finger. "Oops, you mean Eric." They were thoroughly enjoying this.

"Guys! I do not have a crush on Edward! I'll admit that I got the story idea from hanging out with him, but not from having feelings for him! How ridiculous do you think I am? Love stories are so silly anyway. You know that I think they're too far-fetched for reality." I crossed my arms and tapped my foot. Alice's amused expression slowly faded into a pout.

"You are no fun at all. But I bet that it's your subconscious trying to break free," Rosalie tried still.

I rolled my eyes and went to walk out of the room. "Goodbye, girls!"

"Wait for us!" they exclaimed as they grabbed their purses and chased after me into the cafeteria.

After I got my lunch, I took my tray and sat beside Edward at our usual table.

Our table housed only six people: Edward, his friends Emmett and Jasper, myself, and my friends Alice and Rosalie. Edward, Alice, Rosalie, and I all wrote for the school newspaper, even though Edward and Rose didn't always get along so well. Edward, Emmett, and Jasper were all on the baseball team together; they were among the best players on the team. And then, in addition to all of that, Edward, Alice, and Emmett were siblings and Jasper and Rosalie were twins.

The connections sometimes boggled my mind, but for the most part I ignored them. I only paid attention to the fact that we were all friends.

"Hey girls," Edward greeted us. "One of my friends from the baseball team is having a birthday bash this weekend and he wants me to bring some people. Do you girls want to come?"

"Ooh, are all your other friends from the team going to be there?" Rosalie asked excitedly. Rosalie's ideal type of guy was an athlete and a total hunk, and the baseball team was a gold mine of guys she considered her type. On top of that, she was a lonely single girl looking for a boyfriend, and all of the guys on the baseball team were lining up to be that boyfriend because she was so gorgeous. (She had long blonde hair and a perfect figure… if she wasn't my friend, I would've been insanely jealous of her beauty.) So, put all of this together and… bam! Rosalie loved any chance she got to hang out with the members of the baseball team and would die if she missed an opportunity to see them all in one place out of school.

Edward rolled his eyes, seeing right through Rose to her motives. "Yes, they'll all be there for your little fantasies, Rose," he told her.

Before I could even get a word out, Rosalie answered for me and Alice. "We'll be there, Edward!" Rosalie was grinning from ear to ear. I shot her a look. Why did she always have to drag me into parties? I hated parties—everybody acted so crazy and I always got drenched in soda.

Alice laughed at the exchange taking place and told her brother, "Sure, I'll be there, too."

Edward saw my distress and asked me personally, "So Rosalie is obviously coming, and Alice too, but what about you, Bella?" The way he looked at me was made it so difficult to say no. Oh well, I thought, I can just hang out with Edward for most of the night. It'll be fun!

*******************************

Going to that party was the biggest mistake of my life.

"Rosalie!" I yelled, competing with the blaring speakers.

"Where are you!?" Alice shouted, beside me, also trying to find our friend. I squinted and scanned the large room. I saw her talking to Jack, the captain of the baseball team. I pointed her out to Alice just as she looked our way and waved us over. She was preoccupied with us just for long enough for the shallow guy to spot another cute girl and follow her away from Rose.

"Bella! Alice! You let him get away!" She pouted. She saw the discontented look on my face and inquired, "What's the matter?"

What, the Coca-Cola on my favorite American Eagle tee wasn't a give away? "I got soda spilled on my favorite shirt and I can't find Edward," I shouted.

She nodded. "Let's go out on the patio, he might be out there," she suggested normal volume, right next to my ear. I nodded in agreement.

We all made our way out of the dark and crowded room into the cool and beautiful February night. I looked up at the clear sky; it was breathtaking. "It's so much quieter out here," I whispered.

Alice didn't respond. She looked nervous. "Let's go back inside," she said quickly as she turned. Rosalie nodded in agreement and turned to follow, but I grabbed them.

"There is no way on this earth that you can get me back into that room," I told them definitively. "Come on, let's go over to the—" I stopped midsentence as I saw what Alice and Rosalie had wanted to avoid.

There was Edward, sitting next to some trampy-dressed girl who was shoving her tongue down his throat.

"Edward?" I asked in astonishment. I gaped at my best friend. Since when did he kiss like that? Since when did he kiss girls like that? Who was she? I was repulsed; not so much by him, but by this girl. Who was she? What had she done to my best friend, my Edward?

They stopped. Edward had the decency to look embarrassed, but the other girl sat there, smirking. She scooted closer to him and grabbed his arm.

I recognized the girl now—it was Lauren Mallory, one of the most popular girls in the school. She was none too bright and I thought her obnoxious. Alice and Rosalie were with me on that point, although the guys couldn't see it. All they could see was her entrancing smile and big boobs.

"H-hey Alice, Rosalie, B-Bella," he stuttered. He coughed and regained his confidence. "This is Lauren, my… girlfriend." He motioned to the tramp.

"Nice to meet you both," she said in a sickly-sweet tone.

"It's great to meet you too," I said skeptically. "Edward, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend?"

She spoke for him. "I asked him not to tell anybody until tonight. We've only been dating for a week now, since Saturday." Edward nodded to affirm what she had said as she kissed him on the cheek and twisted his bronze hair around her claw-like finger.

I was still flabbergasted. "Oh… well, it's nice to know, I guess," I snapped somewhat bitterly. Before I could make some excuse to get away from the new lovebirds so I could barf, Lauren stood up.

She yawned and stretched out her long, thin arms. "I'm so tired, I think I better go." She looked to her boyfriend. "Edward, will you drive me home? I don't feel like finding Kayla."

"Sure, Lauren," he said with a smile, standing up. "Just let me say goodbye to a couple people first."

She put on a pout and grabbed his hand. "Baby, come on," she whined. "I want to go home."

Edward stopped in his tracks and instantly complied with his girlfriend's request.

As they walked away, Edward looked back. "See you, Bella," he called as he waved with his free hand. I hesitantly waved back to my best friend. When he turned forward, Lauren turned her head back. A smirk crept onto her face as she stared me straight in the eyes.

Edward, the gentleman that he was, escorted his treacherous girlfriend to his car and let her in. He sped away faster than he should have, naturally, and I thought, how can he not see that tramp's true colors?

I snapped back to reality and recognized what had just taken place. I looked at Alice, my mouth wide open.

"Your story," she whispered.

"It was the same exact scene!" Rosalie whispered, adding her observations.

What the heck was going on?