"Bella, do you want me to eat lunch with you?" Edward asked in a pleading tone.

"No thank you," I replied.

"What Emmett said wasn't true," he began. "I can promise you that."

"Sure you can," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Just let me eat lunch with you. Please give me this chance," he begged.

I took a minute to examine him. How could someone so beautiful and innocent looking possibly do the things that people accused him of. He turned his mouth up to a crooked smile when he noticed me staring at him.

"Is that a yes?" he asked.

"That's a maybe," I corrected.

"Lunch is after the next period. What is your fourth period?"

"English with Mr. Smith," I replied. He smiled his crooked smile again.

"I know exactly where that is. I'll be waiting for you outside the door when the bell rings," he promised. "See you there."

"Same to you," I called as I walked off in the direction of my class. What a pain! A guy with those looks defiantly shouldn't be hounding a girl like me. I thought we would like someone more like Alice that was sociable.

I reached my assigned classroom and took my seat next to a male with dirty blonde hair that was pulled tight back in a ponytail. He acted as though I didn't exist for the first few minutes of class.

"Hello, class! My name is Mr. Smith. In my English class, we will also be exploring Literature of the English language. Since today is the first day, it will be used as a free day," he announced.

The class full of freshman cheered at his proposal.

"Cullen, huh?" a voice asked.

"Excuse me?" I asked the voice back.

The boy sitting next to me with the dirty blonde ponytail turned to face me. "You and Cullen?"

"Who is Cullen?" I asked curiously.

He sighed as if he was annoyed. "Cullen! Edward Cullen!"

"Oh, Edward! What about him?"

"You are stupider than I thought," he chuckled.

"That's not a very nice thing to say!" I exclaimed. I didn't know who this guy was, but he was about to make me result to violence.

"Calm down. I only said that because Cullen has a reputation," he explained.

"I know about his reputation, and what makes you think that we are together?"

"I saw you," he simply replied.

"Well that doesn't mean anything. I just met him today, and he asked me to have lunch with him. Well, really he harassed me until I said yes," I said.

"That's always his move," he replied. "He pretends that he is desperate so the girl will feel pity towards him and say yes. Then, he goes into this whole scenario about how he is a virgin and an orphan. That's when the girls gives in and fucks him."

"And just how do you know all this?" I asked. He seemed like a stalker to me.

"He is my cousin," he replied. "He stays with my mom and me because his parents are actually dead, but as far as the virgin bull shit…don't fall for it."

"Thank you for warning me," I thanked.

"You're welcome."

"Would you like to eat lunch with Edward and me to make sure that I don't fall for his lies?" I asked rhetorically. I wasn't shocked when he gave me an answer.

"I think I will," he replied. "I would like to see the look on his face when you show up with me. That would be the perfect Kodak moment."

I laughed at his joke. He was certainly handsome, and seemed completely capable of making me laugh. Maybe he would make a good male acquaintance.

"Why do you hang out with Alice?" he asked, interrupting my laughter.

"Excuse me?"

"Why do you hang out with Alice?" he asked again.

"She's my best friend," I replied.

"You two are completely different."

"It's like magnets. Magnets that are faced together at the same pole with repel. Magnets that are faced together at opposite poles attract," I explained.

"I see that you are a physics expert," he complimented. Once again, he made me laugh. The joke didn't even seem all that funny, but it made me laugh.

"You have to tell me your name!" I exclaimed.

"James," he replied. "Are you happy? You forced my name out of me."

I broke out in hysterics again.

"Am I really that funny, or are you just trying to be modest?" he asked curiously.

"It doesn't take much to make me laugh, but you are actually quite amusing. I am going to enjoy sitting next to you all year," I chuckled.

He smiled a nonchalant smile. " It still doesn't make you look good to be hanging out with someone like Alice. You do know what they say about her right?"

"I've heard most of the rumors, but what do they say?"

"They call her the stupid freshman that will do anything to fit in. When she gets drunk, they get her to do the most ridiculous things just to make them laugh. You should really tell her she needs to settle down," he suggested.

"I will," I assured. The bell rang, and I prepared myself to meet Edward.

"Let me guess," James began. "He said that he will be waiting outside your fourth period to meet you for lunch."

"Wow! You really do know your cousin," I said, suppressing a giggle.

James wrapped his arms around my shoulder as we walked outside the classroom. I could feel my blush coming, so I tried to shrink his arm to hide it. He had a nice smell. Alice used to come home from raves smelling stained of cologne. His scent I recognized as Ralph Lauren, one of Alice's favorites.

I could see the change in Edward's face as I approached him with James. First, he looked content. Now, he looked a tad bit deranged.

"James!" Edward exclaimed. He seemed annoyed. "I see you have met my friend, Bella."

"You know Bella too?" James asked with mock astonishment. "She just asked me to join her for lunch."

"It's a shame she will be joining me for lunch," Edward claimed. "Bella, have you forgotten our arrangements?"

"No," I replied. "I didn't forget. I just thought that we could all eat lunch together."

When Edward's face twisted with rage, both James and I had to suppress our laughter. James was right! Seeing him angry was a perfect Kodak moment.

"Did I miss something?" he asked angrily. "What's so damn funny."

"Relax, Edward," James said. He could no longer hold in his laughter. The sound of his laughter made me join in his hysterics.

"Fine! Have in your way. Eat lunch with Bella!" Edward exclaimed. He stormed off towards the cafeteria.

"You were right," I said to James.

"Most of time I am," he joked.

We walked down the hallway in the direction of the cafeteria. He still held his arm wrapped securely around me. I thought that at any moment he was going to take his arm down, but he never did.

Alice caught my attention as soon as we walked into the cafeteria.

"Bella! Over here!" she called. She was sitting at the table next to Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Edward. When she saw James hand around my shoulder, she scowled with disapproval. She began making her way over to where we were.

"James," she said as she got close.

"Alice," he replied back.

"You two know each other?" I asked.

"Of course, Bella! We all went to the same middle school. If you weren't so busy trying to be unnoticed, then maybe you would have known who James was, and maybe you would know the importance of not sitting with him," she explained.

"Still mad about my cousin's birthday party, huh?" he asked. A smile spread across his face. "Alice, I told you over and over that I wasn't the one who dressed you up in the doctor lingerie when you were completely wasted."

"No one was talking about that!" she screamed. "Come on, Bella. You don't want to sit with this loser!"

"Actually, Alice, I do want to sit with this loser. I would appreciate it if you would let me choose who I want to sit with," I said. She looked hurt.

"Fine then! Don't come crying to me when people call you loser!" she screamed. She stormed off back to the "popular table".

"Finally, you stand up for yourself," James said, clapping at my triumph.

"It feels good to have a little control over my life," I said with a sigh. I placed my book bag and purse in an empty seat next to me. James sat in the empty eat to the right.

"You attend all of those parties, huh?" I asked.

"It's kind of hard not to when they are thrown at your place of residence," he explained. That was right! Edward stayed with his family.

"Why?" he asked.

"I just wanted to know," I answered.

"It looks like you don't have a ride home now that Alice is pissed at you. Would you like for me to give you a ride home?"

"That would be nice," I said. I already knew that I was blushing a bright tomato red. He laughed at my expression.

"That is so cute," he commented.

We spent the rest of our lunch talking to each other about ourselves. I really liked James. He was a sensible guy with a great personality. When the bell rang, indicating that the lunch wave was over, he walked me to the cafeteria entrance.

"I'll see you in the parking lot," he whispered. He leaned down to my face to peck me on the cheek. My face felt hot as all the blood in my body rushed to my head.

He blew me a kiss as he walked in the direction of his class. I could feel moisture build up in my panties as I watched him leave.

"Bad idea," Edward's voice said from behind me.

I gasped and turned around to find him standing behind me. His posture indicated that he was in a bad mood.

"May I help you?" I asked rudely.

"As a matter of fact, you can!" he exclaimed. His anger was starting to frighten me. "You can help me by staying the hell away from James."

"Why?" I asked furiously. "I happen to like him!"

"James doesn't like you back!" he scowled.

"And how do you know?"

"He just wants to get back at me!"

"Whatever! He doesn't seem like the revenge type to me. Goodbye, Edward. I'm going to class," I called as I turned my back towards him. I started to walk away in the direction towards my class.

"You will regret this!" he called back.

I shot him the middle finger without turning around. I was shocked at myself. I never used that gesture before in my life, but man did it feel good.

When I walked in my classroom, I was disgruntled to see Alice. I forgot we had the same fifth period. She was bouncing up and down in her seat, and indicating for me to sit by her. Typical Alice was already over our little dispute in the cafeteria.

"Hey, Bella!" she beamed as I sat down next to her. "Aren't you glad that we have Algebra together?"

"Sure, Alice," I answered. I wasn't really paying attention to her. I was still thinking about James.

"Guess what?" she asked me.

"What?"

"Edward is totally jealous of his cousin," she nearly screamed.

"Explain!" I demanded.

"He was talking about you two the whole lunch period. He usually gets the girls, so he was angry that James won. It was fun to see his composure ruined for a change," she giggled.

"I know," I giggled with her.

"I can't wait to go home!" Alice cried, abruptly changing the subject.

"Alice, I'm riding with James home today," I informed her.

"What!" she screamed, literally falling out of her seat.

I helped her up.

"Edward drives them both to school!" she exclaimed. "Are you insane."

What did I get myself into?