Here's chapter two! Enjoy. :)

Read the bottom for info about the contest!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

"You've really got to be more careful, Bella," Charlie told me at breakfast the next morning, eyeing my forehead. "It seems like every time I come home, you have bruises or scrapes or cuts."

"I know, Dad" I said, trying to keep calm. If James found out about this, I couldn't even imagine what I'd have to go through this time. "You know me; with my clumsiness, this is normal."

"If you're blaming this on being clumsy, then you've been a lot clumsier in the past month or so than in your entire life. This isn't normal and I'm worried about you, Bells. I want to know what's up."

"Nothing is up, Dad," I said through a mouth full of eggs, trying hard to be calm. James would find out about this. I wasn't sure how, but he always seemed to know every time when someone became suspicious and I had to pay for it. Charlie pushed his now clean plate away from him and stood.

"All right. I don't believe it, but obviously you aren't going to tell me anything." He put on his police gear and headed for the door. "Bye, Bella. Please stay out of trouble."

I watched the door close behind him and felt the tears in my eyes as I thought about what I'd have to go through today for Charlie's suspicions. I stood up, no longer hungry, and dumped the rest of my scrambled eggs into the trash can. I took both mine and Charlie's plates, rinsed them, and put them into the dishwasher.

I always did the dishes when James wasn't there to make sure there wasn't something that I could easily be beaten with out in the open. Unfortunately, last night he had come when I was about to eat dinner, so the plate was just sitting there on the counter. There was a knock on the door and I went to get it. Edward was standing in the doorway with a frown on his face.

"What happened this time?" he asked, looking at my forehead.

"Boomerang accident," I answered nervously. I glanced around, looking for where James might be hiding. He was probably out there some where and had heard the nervousness in my voice. Edward's hand grabbed my chin and turned it gently to face him. With his other hand, he wiped tears off of my cheeks.

"Bella," he whispered. "It's all right. You can tell me what's going on. I promise you that everything will be okay." I felt more tears fall freely down my cheeks and I shook my head. Edward was always suspicious of what was happening; most of my beatings had been enhanced because of that. I felt his soft fingers wiping more tears away and he threw his arms around me. I wanted so desperately to just stay there in his arms forever, but I knew I couldn't. I pulled myself together and stepped back.

"Come on," I urged him, picking up my backpack from the floor. "We're going to be late if we don't leave soon." He looked into my eyes and I avoided his gaze.

"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked.

"Peachy. Now, come on!" I walked past him and went straight for his Volvo. Before I could open the door, Edward did so for me.

"You're such a gentleman," I joked when we were both inside, trying to lighten the mood. I watched as he started up the car, realizing that he was deep in thought. That couldn't be good. I turned on the radio and couldn't help but laugh when Funkytown blared through the speakers. Edward cracked a smile as well and we started singing along.

"Well, I talk about it, talk about it, talk about it, talk about it," we sang together in high-pitched voices. Edward sounded ridiculous and we were both laughing hysterically by the time we pulled up at school. It was moments like this that made the hard times easier to deal with. Knowing that I had awesome friends who cared about me almost made up for having an abusive boyfriend. Almost.

"Hey, did you finish the Pre-Cal homework?" Edward asked as we walked up to the school.

"Oh, great," I face palmed myself. "I forgot." It was partially true. I had planned on doing it, until James showed up last night, that is. After that, I didn't think much about homework and probably wouldn't have done it, anyway.

"It's all right, it was easy. I'll help you finish it at lunch."

"Thanks," I told him. It was nice having math in fourth period so I could have extra time for homework. A few minutes later, we passed James and his friends in the hall. I tried to pretend I didn't see them, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward glaring at him. He did that every time they saw each other. I guess it was supposed to be a warning, like "You hurt my best friend, I'll hurt your face." Edward knew karate and I had no doubt he'd beat the living daylights out of James if he knew what really happened. It wasn't that I didn't want this. Honestly, I would love to watch him get what he deserves, but I couldn't bring myself to tell Edward. He'd find some way to blame himself and then James would come back to get revenge on me. It just wasn't worth it.

"And down the hall comes Edward and Bella," Alice announced in a reporter voice from where she and my other friends were standing around the corner. "Edward is sporting a very lazy, laid back look today and Bella looks great, as usual, except for that strange brown stain on her shirt." I looked down and saw that there was, indeed, a strange stain on my shirt. It was probably from ice cream or coffee and luckily was small, but I didn't like that Alice had to point it out to everyone. She continued, "Wouldn't they make just the cutest babies?"

"Alice," Edward complained as we came to a stop in front of them. I was blushing, but decided not to say anything. Alice had kind of figured out about my not so secret crush on her brother and has been trying to get us together since. She knew that James and I were supposedly together, but that didn't stop her from teasing us every chance she got. It made it even worse that we were the only two in our group of friends who hadn't hooked up. Rosalie and Emmett got together back in middle school and Alice and Jasper became a couple in their freshman year, though they had driven us all nuts with their flirting long before.

"Well, it's true," Alice stated as we walked down the hall. She started going on about how perfect we were for each other and how getting together with your best friend was every girl's fairytale. I looked back to see that Emmett and Rosalie were staying in the spot where we found them, just talking and laughing. They didn't have to listen to Alice's ranting. Lucky them.

"Can't you make her stop?" I asked Jasper, who was walking a little behind his girlfriend. He smiled back at me.

"Can anyone get Alice to stop once she's started?" he asked. Good point.

"Hey," Edward whispered in my ear. "What do you say we ditch the matchmaker?" I looked up to see a smile on his face. I smiled back at him.

"Ditch your little sister?" I asked quietly. "You sound so evil. I like it." His grin got bigger and he grabbed my arm, pulling me down another hall. I caught a glimpse of Jasper before the other two were out of sight and saw him shaking his head and smiling at us. Edward and I stayed quiet until we were sure that we were far enough away from his sister. Then, we both stopped walking and cracked up laughing.

"You know, she's going to get back at us later," I told him. "She'll probably lock us in a room and talk for hours."

"Eh, who cares?" He shrugged. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there. At least we aren't with her now." We laughed again and I looked up, realizing I had subconsciously moved closer to him, our faces now only inches apart. You two are so cute together, Alice's words rang in my mind. Perfect for each other. Edward and I were staring at each other and I realized that we were both leaning in. We were only centimeters apart, our lips about to touch when the bell rang, making us both jump.

"Um, I should get to class," I muttered, looking away uncomfortably.

"Uh, yeah," Edward said. "I'll see you later." We both rushed in separate directions and I couldn't believe what had happened. I almost kissed my best friend. Oh my God! I almost kissed him! I wasn't sure what I should feel. Relieved? Embarrassed? Excited? Then I caught a glimpse of my "boyfriend" talking to his friends and was brought back to reality. He wasn't going to be too happy if anything happened between me and Edward. Still, I couldn't stop the smile that came to my face.

I almost kissed Edward!

Omg she almost kissed Edward! :O Hehe :) This is a bit of a twist from what I originally had, but I like it much better :)

*CONTEST!* So, if you guys read any of my other stories, you might notice that I'm starting to do this for like all of them. I love reviews as much as everyone else, and I don't really want to bribe you guys, but I thought of an idea that can be beneficial to everyone :)

So, at the moment this story has 50 reviews. Whoever leaves the 60th review will get their choice of having me write a oneshot for them of something that I have to approve of (I can't write about something I haven't read :P) or they will choose one of my stories that they really want me to update and I will post another chapter or two ASAP. The winner will also get to choose a few of their stories that they want me to read and I will review every chapter and recommend the story to others. If the 60th reviewer is anonymous or chooses not to accept the prize, I'll give it to the next reviewer. I don't care how many times each person reviews, either. Sounds like a good deal? I sure hope so! Let me know if you guys have any suggestions and whether or not you like this idea. If y'all like it, I'll continue it as we go for the 75th, 100th, etc. Thanks! You guys rock! :D