WOW. Oh my gosh, I am so sorry. I got caught up with schoolwork and now, here it is. I actually planned on posting this along with the third chapter but, I guess you can say that I'm not really an active writer. I take forever. And from here on out, I wouldn't promise when I'll post stuff. I don't want to disappoint readers, no matter how pointless my stories are. Well, here is Chapter 2.

BTW, EPOV, people.

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Edward Cullen

The ride home was completely not what I expected. I mean, yeah, I have been living close to Bella for almost a year now, but this is really weird. I honestly didn't know what made me break up with Tanya today but some part of me wanted to. She was a whiner. I don't know how I actually lasted almost two years with her. But at least I was never inside her. That was a keeper.

The practice for our game on Friday went very well. Most people would tell me that I am not the usual jock because I was almost always top of the class and not dumb. No offense to the other football players like Mike Newton and Tyler Crowley, though. They think Biology is a freaking country. What the hell, right?

After three years of girls throwing themselves at me, I realized that finding the right person for isn't always as easy as opening a pickle jar. Okay, I know I sound a little cliché, but sometimes people search for their whole lives for their significant others. The girls in my school are different, though. They try every guy. I was a common target which is really unfortunate, but something tells me that if I date a girl for real, they would stop batting their fake eyelashes at me or something.

Then something nagged my brain telling me that I had company. I took the long way back home and slowed my driving so I can have a little more time with Bella. "So, you were going to ask me something?"

"Oh, yeah, um, why in the world did you break up with Tanya Denali again?" she asked dubiously.

"Do you really want to know?" Honestly speaking, I haven't told anyone the whole story behind the madness I just been through. Hell, even Tanya doesn't ask me about it, and she was supposedly my girlfriend.

She nodded. "Only if you want to tell me. I mean, I don't mean to pry," she said. I doubted that she meant it, her words burned with curiosity.

I chuckled. She was such a bad liar. "It's a pretty long story, so maybe I can call you later tonight?" I suggested as I parked the car in our driveway. It was almost five in the afternoon. And dinner was about to start soon. She murmured her agreement and thanks and slipped out of the car. I almost didn't hear her soft voice but, being the lovesick fool that I was, I caught everything she said.

I stayed for a moment longer and decided that hanging around was going to do me no good. I got out of the car, locked it and headed inside the house. I threw my keys on the counter just before I heard my mom say, "How was school, honey?"

"School was fine, mom. It always is," I said. No, wait. Add the Tanya thing. "Oh, it was a little more interesting today."

"Why? Football practice went bad?" she snickered.

"No, but it was fun. More laughs from Mike and Tyler's humor."

She laughed. She knows about those two Einsteins. "What was so interesting today that makes you want to share it with your silly mom?"

"I broke up with Tanya during lunch."

"Good for you, son." Okay, I know her comment is all sorts of wrong, but they know about what made me date Tanya. I haven't kept a secret from my parents for years.

"Thanks, mom. I'll be up in my room, okay? Call me when dinner's ready," I said and headed for my room. I took two stairs at a time so that I was in my room in no time. I went to my closet and changed into non-sweaty clothes before flopping down on my bed. Wow, I was so exhausted, but ecstatic all the while. Football practice went very well and I know that we have all chances of winning this Friday.

I had to be the luckiest stalker that ever existed because the girl I'm stalking lives right next to me. Okay, it isn't much stalking but it's still almost the same. Sometime last year, when they first arrived, they had to pick up a few house accessories the next day, which meant that Bella's window didn't have a curtain on. Her whole room was exposed and she was oblivious to it. That's when I got the clear view of her bare backside. The upper part only, I thought a little grudgingly.

After about ten minutes of staring at the ceiling, I had an idea. I picked up the phone and hid behind the curtains – enough for Bella to not see me but that I can see her. I waited until she was in her room before I quickly dialed her number. I was grateful that her room has a different line from the main house so nobody could pick up the phone secretly and listen to our conversation.

She had a hopeful smile on her face and quickly glanced in my direction. I thought she saw me but then she just might be checking if I was the one calling her when I promised that I would. When she saw no one, she grimaced and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she asked in that soft voice of hers.

"Is this Bella Swan?" I asked in a gruff voice which does not resemble one bit to mine. Her brows furrowed and I had to cover the mouthpiece and laugh a little so she wouldn't find out that I was pulling a prank on her.

"Um, yeah, this is her. Who's calling?" she asked in a panicked tone which threw me off the edge. The look on her face!

I almost broke my sides from laughing so hard and said in a barely coherent tone in my normal voice, "You . . . crack . . . me up!"

She looked in my window and started laughing along. "Damn it, Edward! You scared the shit out of me!"

After five minutes, I finally stopped laughing hysterically and apologized. I said I couldn't help it.

"That's fine. But if you do it again, I swear to God I'm turning you in!" she threatened. She was too beautiful for her own good. And she just looked like an angry kitten.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. But I have nothing better to do until dinner. I don't want to hang out with my mom."

"So you decided to harass me through the phone instead?" she asked in a 'don't-answer-this-question' kind of way and then laughed. "What's wrong with hanging out with your mom?"

"She'll bombard me with irrational questions," I answered. Little did she know that my parents, my mother mostly, knows about my little crush on her.

"And what's wrong with that? I hang out with my mom all the time." I quickly glanced at her, and she was blushing. Ah ha! That means she's either lying or embarrassed.

"Really? All the time?" I asked skeptically with a smirk on my face.

"Okay, maybe not, but you get the idea." I chuckled. "Hey, what about that story you were going to tell me?"

"What? Oh yeah. I had a story to tell." I saw her smile a bit and raised an eyebrow.

"So? Won't you tell me?"

"I honestly don't know where to start," I admitted and sat down on the edge of my bed.

"How about your first date with her?"

"Huh, I think I know where I'll start. My first year in the school. Have I ever told you that I wasn't always the 'coolest guy' in school?"

"I don't think so. It seems like you were born for it so I never ask."

"Well, I wasn't. In fact, my freshman year was a hell year for me. They would always call me 'geek' or 'know-it-all'. You know, the common jibes when you're new? Because back then I wore these stupid glasses that my mom forced me into."

"Seriously? I never knew that." She sat down on her bed and watched me intently as I continued my story.

"Yeah, because once I told her that I saw an alien so small that it can pass as a rat. Then I looked for it for days only to find a squirrel in the same spot that I thought I saw the alien."

"Oh my God! That's creepy!" She said while doubling over laughter. I rolled my eyes. I get that all the time, my mind told me.

"Well, let's get to the point!" I said after five minutes of her obvious fun.

"Right," she snorted out. Yeah, I know, snorted.

"Well, you see, pretty much everyone teases me about it at school and, well, when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Even Tanya. Now, that was my problem. She was constantly giggling whenever I can near a five-mile radius to her and I just sulked in the fact that no one will ever get past all the glasses and stuff . . ."

"Stuff? Is there something you purposely left out?" she asked dubiously.

"I got braces," I muttered. I was pretty sure she didn't hear it because she was silent for a moment and then –

"OH MY GOD, EDWARD! That is tattooed on my mind. I would never, ever forget that," she said. I know it should probably make me furious, but somehow, I was kind of glad that I would always hold a part of her pretty little head.

"Getting back to the matter at hand," I reminded.

"Sorry! That's the third or second time now."

"Well, that's okay. So, as usual, the new guy falls head over heels with the cheerleader captain, right? So that's what happened. I took my time ogling at her when she wasn't looking, and, I can't believe I'm about to say this to a girl, but every time she would turn around, I would sniff her hair just to get through the day." Call me pathetic now!

"Aww, that is so sweet."

"Hah, are you kidding me? When I took off the glasses and done with the braces, all the girls in school was practically throwing themselves at me. Even Tanya, she practically jumped at me. Doing stuff like batting her eyelashes at me or lightly scratching my arm every time she would just randomly pick the chair next to me. I mean, with the braces and all that, it was fun because I had the challenge. But when it was all gone, so was the challenge, you know? So, we went out in one date and the next day, she just told everyone that we were together. I mean, I was still a little new in school and what could I do, right? I couldn't just contradict what she tells people. I have a 97.5% chance to get beat up by her suitors and maybe even her ex-boyfriends.

"Then on my second year there, I tried out for the football team. You know, I had a really big chance that I wouldn't get in because of my body weight, it was a little lacking, but thankfully, Emmett McCarty, the team captain back then, was really considerate. He said I had the skills, and if I just ate a little more, I would be fit and right for the part. So they let me play. And third year and fourth year, I got elected team captain because Emmett went away to college. They said I got 'it', whatever it is.

"At first I got pretty scared. I mean, I couldn't live up to the leadership of Emmett, he was too good. And me, well, don't' ask."

"Well, you're doing pretty well now. I mean, that's coming from someone who doesn't know a thing about football. Plus, you were acting like a real leader and I can see everyone in your team at awe," she said softly.

We talked about a lot after the pitiful story back in my first year of high school. She would tell me all about her childhood hometown, her childhood as it is, her former friends who backstabbed the hell out of her – and I want to strangle the person responsible – and the people she knew.

Then I heard someone speaking in the background through her phone. She instinctively covered the mouthpiece and yelled back a response. When she was done, she turned to look at me apologetically.

"Dinner's ready. I gotta go. Talk to you tomorrow?" she asked.

"Sure. Oh, hey, what do you think? Do you want to join me for another ride to school?"

She blushed. Oh my hell, she just freakin' blushed. IN FRONT OF ME. Damn. "Yeah, sure. I'd love to."

Just when she hung up the phone and waved, my mom yelled, "Edward, dinner!" I swear to God that she was pressing her ear at my door because nobody would know that I'm done talking to someone if that weren't the case.

I got down to the kitchen and immediately loved it. The room was full of the aroma of chicken alfredo and maybe baked ziti. It was amazing and mouthwatering. Mom was setting up the table and being a gentleman – as my dad had said it score points – I offered to help. She was more than willing because she needs some finishing touches with her creation. I swear she didn't go to a culinary school but she is awesome just the same.

When dad came home, we all sat down and started eating. Halfway through the meal, my dad put down his fork and looked at me. The look he gave me was the one that would make me either nervous or embarrassed.

"Edward, I want to talk to you about something," he said in a serious voice.

"About what, dad?"

He spoke one word that completely took me by surprise but left me with a goofy grin on my face.

"Bella."

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Dangg. What does daddy Cullen wants to talk about Bella? Find out in the next chapter!