People were kind of stunned. I had beaten Alice Cullen. Sure it was an exhibition and by some rule that the most associations wouldn't go for but I had defeated her. Alice was glaring at me in the locker room as we changed. Yes I definitely upset her. When I got out of the locker room, I noticed a redhead and a blonde standing beside Alice. All three were glaring at me.
"That's Vicki Jameson and Irina Denali." Jane replied. "They're Alice's underlings. They do exactly what she says and some people wonder if the two of them share the same brain."
"I see." I remarked. So Alice was one of those girls. I could hear the two of them telling Alice that it didn't count and I wouldn't have beat her in a real match. While this may have been true, it was still amusing to watch.
"Oh I haven't congratulated you yet." Jane told me. "I think you're going to have a blast playing us. We're not all like those three."
"What are you going to have some kind of pajama party?" I asked, kind of sarcastically.
"Yes actually. I know that you're late to join the team but I've been planning it for months." She replied.
"You know sleepovers aren't really my thing." I stated.
"But this would be a great opportunity to meet your teammates." Jane argued. Wow she had a point there.
"Then I guess I'll come." I told her. "When is it?"
"It's on Friday." She replied. "We're renting out the gym for the evening."
"I see." I told them. "Now this sleepover doesn't have a sort of dress code, does it?"
"Well you can't wear anything that isn't gym appropriate." Jane explained. "That means no nudity, no lingerie, and no overly sexy nightgowns."
"What about a sports bra and shorts?" I asked. "That's what I usually sleep in."
"I think that will be okay but you'll have to ask Coach Platt." Jane replied. "So do you want to go get some lunch?"
"I suppose I do after that match." I agreed as the two of us headed to get some lunch. I noticed that Edward was once again in the place that we were eating. I really did wonder how Alice would react to me potentially dating Edward. But at this point, I wasn't even sure if he liked me. I stared at him while Jane and I sat at our table.
"Can you be any more obvious?" Jane questioned. I blushed, which only made her giggle. "You have interesting taste. Most girls steer clear of him."
"Because he's Alice's stepbrother?" I asked
"Well it's more what results from that." Jane admitted. "She seriously bitched out his last girlfriend, Tanya for cancelling a date on him and she promptly dumped him."
Well that sounded unpleasant. Though, I did wonder how strong this Tanya was if she couldn't handle someone like Alice. I know she was in great shape but I doubt she could do much physical violence. She was tiny.
"I think I can handle Alice." I replied. "I mean I already beat her on the court."
"Yeah and it's easy to tell that she's pissed about that." She responded. "Don't look now but he's walking over."
"How's my hair?" I asked
"It's a little wet." Edward commented from behind.
"I kind of just got out of the shower not that long ago." I stated, chuckling nervously. "I was in a hell of a match against your stepsister."
"Ah so you've had the privilege of meeting of her." He replied. "How did it go?"
"I won." I replied. "I mean it was just an exhibition and I won by a rule that definitely wouldn't fly in a tournament but I won."
"I bet she wasn't happy about that." He commented.
"It's just a game, Edward." Alice remarked as I saw her, Vicki, and Irina appear. "Hi girls."
"Hi." Jane and I waved to her, unenthusiastically.
"Bella, this is Vicki and Irina." Alice introduced.
"Well I'll leave you girls alone." Edward replied before he walked away. Damn, I probably should have given him my number. As soon as he was out of sight, Alice's smile faded.
"Okay enough with the pleasantries." Alice stated. "I never lose."
"Yeah Alice never loses." Irina repeated.
"Well I beat you." I pointed out. "I remember it pretty clearly."
"You won by a rule that you came up with." Alice argued. "No official would let a match be decided by a single point."
"You probably couldn't beat Alice on clay either." Vicki added.
"I played in Arizona, clay's pretty common there." I pointed out.
"Vicki, just stick on trying to hit the ball over the net and stop trying to be smart." Alice ordered her minion "Just know that the next time that we play, you're going to lose."
"Is that all that you need to tell me, your majesty?" I quipped.
"You better watch that mouth of yours." Alice warned me. "You never know when you're going to bite off more than you can chew."
Alice and her cronies then walked away.
"Wow I've never seen anyone talk to Alice like that." Jane remarked.
"Like I said, I'm not afraid of Alice." I replied. "Anyway, I should probably get back to my dorm and tell my roommates that I made the team. I'll see you around. Maybe we will have some classes together."
I walked back to my room and found Rosalie reading Seventeen and Jessica reading some book.
"I'm back." I announced which got them both to look up at me.
"You were gone for a long time." Jessica commented.
"Did you make the team?" Rosalie asked.
"Yeah the tryout took a little longer than expected." I explained. "I ended up in a fierce match with Alice."
"I bet that didn't go well." Jessica commented.
"Actually I won…well technically." I replied. "The match was taking so long and we agreed that the next point would win and I happened to get the point on an incredibly close landing."
"I bet Alice wasn't very happy about that." Rosalie remarked.
Before I could say anything, I heard the sound of what I think was Soundgarden blasting through the walls. Who still listens to Grunge? I started to head for the door.
"Bella you might not want to go over there." Jessica told me.
"How bad can it be?" I asked as I went over and banged on the door. I would tell this girl to turn the music down, probably as nicely as possible since I'm generally a nice person. The door opened. Are you serious?
"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me." Alice replied. "They gave you the room next to mine?"
"Nice to see too." I remarked. "What's with the loud music? Do you not being able hear?"
"Oh shut up." She replied. I then noticed that she seemed to be the only one in the room but all three beds were made.
"Do your roommates let you listen to that?" I asked. "Where are they anyway?"
"Vicki and Irina are taking a shower." She replied. Of course they were her roommates. "And they don't know that I listen to it. It helps me stay focused. I want to be the first American since Lindsay Davenport to be #1 in the world."
"What about Sere…" I tried to say.
"Don't say that name or that of her sister." Alice cut me off. "Those two are bad for the sport."
"What are you racist?" I asked.
"I don't dislike them because they're black." Alice replied. "It's all of the attention that get because they're black that makes me despise them. Plus that time Serena went off on that lineswoman really irks me. I know I can be a bitch off the court but I would never do that. So as far as I'm concerned, Lindsay Davenport was the last American to be ranked #1."
I wasn't expecting to hear her rant. I just wanted her to turn the music down.
"Can you please just turn the music down?" I requested.
"Okay since you said please." She agreed. She then slammed the door in my face.
I walked back to my room and saw Rosalie and Jessica looking over the doorway.
"You know the information that Alice was in the room next to us could have been very useful." I stated.
"We thought it would be better if you found out on your own." Rosalie replied.
"Well glad to know that I have such nice neighbors." I remarked.
The next morning, I showered and dressed in my uniform. I guess it wasn't terrible but it wasn't exactly high fashion. The skirt was kind of short even. I walked to my first class: Chem Lab. I was not a big fan of science because I probably was never going to use it. When would I need to mix potentially hazardous chemicals? I walked into the class and the teacher was there to notice me.
"I notice you're on the tennis team." The teacher remarked. He knew this because I was required to wear a pin shaped like a tennis racquet on my uniform. "In this case, you already know Miss Brandon and you can take a seat by her."
Well it seems like I will be unable to avoid Alice. I just hope she doesn't decide to throw chemicals on me. I walked over to where Alice was sitting and noticed that she seemed to look about as enthusiastic about this arrangement as I did. This was going to be fun.
"Let's just get this over with." Alice remarked. "We both need to pass this and all of our work is graded together so we'll just have to live with it."
I wasn't going to say it aloud but I did notice that Alice looked cute in her uniform. Again I definitely wasn't going to tell her this.
Because of the requirement to pass, Alice didn't throw any chemicals on me. There really wasn't much conversation between us but I was fine with that because getting to know her wasn't really at the top of my to-do list. Of course her brother was a different story. I wonder if it was too crass to say that he was on my to-do list.
Edward happened to be in my English class, as did Rosalie and Jasper. I noticed the two of them pretty much had the same look on their as they looked at the two of us. I wondered if they possessed that supposed twin telepathy that I have heard about. I actually wished that I had telepathy so I could know what they were thinking right now. If they planned on setting me and Edward up, I would be totally on board with that.
We had lunch after English and I decided to join the three of them. In addition to crushing on Edward, I think there was also a bit of anxiety about being the new girl and not wanting to be alone. I don't think that I could ever be a recluse because I don't really like being alone.
"So how has your first day been going, Bella?" Edward asked.
"It's been okay so far." I responded. "Chemistry with Alice didn't suck as much as I thought it would. She was more civil than I expected."
"Alice actually takes her schoolwork very seriously." Edward told me. That surprised me a little but I get it made sense and it probably meant that there wouldn't be any accidents in Chemistry. "Of course her sponsorship does make her do well in school at risk of being dropped."
"Okay enough talking about your stepsister." Jasper told his roommate. "So what's your next class, Bella?"
"I'm in Gym." I responded. "What's the gym teacher like?"
"You've actually already met her." Rosalie told me. "She's your coach."
Okay so this was going to be interesting. Will this make gym easier or harder? Wait…I have gym after lunch? That sounds fantastic.
After lunch was over, I headed down to the gym. I didn't have my gym uniform yet and I decided that it would also be a good time to my sleepwear was acceptable. I headed to Coach Platt's office and grabbed my uniform.
"So I have a question about the sleepover thing." I said.
"Shoot." She told me.
"I normally sleep in a sports bra and shorts." I responded. "Would I need to wear more than that?"
"Hmm do you have any tattoos?" She asked me. I had one on my belly: the date that I won my first tournament, but I had no idea why she asked. "I'm supposed to ask to cover up any tattoos."
Well I guess that answered my question. I went to the locker room and dressed myself in the gym uniform which was a basic t-shirt and shorts combination. I walked out and noticed Jane was in this class. At least I already had a friend in this class. Okay so Jane and I technically weren't friends we were definitely friendly with each other, and we would probably be friends soon enough. She greeted me with a smile.
So apparently we were supposed to start gym with sit-ups. I obviously chose Jane to be my spotter.
After that was taken care of, we went onto playing…basketball. Why we did this, I don't know because most of the girls in the class weren't very tall.
After we were done with the game, Jane came up to me as we were changing in the locker room.
"So you would say the two of us are friends, right?" She asked.
"Sure." I replied. "Why?"
"I just wanted to make sure that you weren't only talking to me because we're on the same team like most of the other girls." She remarked. Okay now made me want to give her a hug. However, since we were in a locker room and I was half-naked, I did not.
I realized that after school, I wanted to take Jane to do something fun. The only problem is I didn't know what kind of fun things were happening on campus.
"So do you know something fun that we can do after school…or practice? Something that isn't tennis related?"
"Well Mondays are Karaoke Night. I've always wanted to go but no one ever wants to go with me." She explained.
"I'll go with you." I volunteered. Karaoke could be interesting. Sure there wouldn't be drunk people messing up badly, but I actually preferred good singers to bad ones.
"Are you gonna sing something?" She asked.
"I don't see why not." I replied. "As long as they don't only have songs of musicals, that is."
"I'm pretty sure that they have current songs like really current songs." She replied.
"Well then I'm definitely interested." I replied. I was actually looking forward to this. "I assume you will be as well since you suggested it."
After practice we went to the restaurant called Tim's on the Quad that was hosting Karaoke Night. I even decided to volunteer to go first.
Uh huh life's like this
Uh huh that's the way it is
Uh huh life's like this
Uh huh that's the way it is
Chill out whatcha yelling for?
Lay back it's all been done before
And if you could let it be
You would see…
I like you the way you are
When we're driving in your car
And you're talking to me one on one
But you've become…
Somebody else around everyone else
You're watching your back like you can't relax
You try to be cool you look like a fool to me
Tell me…
Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else
It's getting me frustrated and life's like this
You fall and you crawl and you take what you get
And you turn it into honestly promise me I'm never
Gonna find you faking
No, no, no
You come over unannounced
Dressed up like you're something else
Where you are and where it's at you see
You're making me…
Laugh out when you strike a pose
Take off all your preppy clothes
You know you're not fooling anyone
But you've become…
Somebody else around everyone else
You're watching your back like you can't relax
You try to be cool you look like a fool to me
Tell me…
Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else
It's getting me frustrated and life's like this
You fall and you crawl and you take what you get
And you turn it into honestly promise me I'm never
Gonna find you faking
No, no, no
Chill out whatcha yelling for?
Lay back it's all been done before
And if you could let it be
You would see…
Somebody else around everyone else
You're watching your back like you can't relax
You try to be cool you look like a fool to me
Tell me…
Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're acting like you're somebody else
It's getting me frustrated and life's like this
You fall and you crawl and you take what you get
And you turn it into honestly promise me I'm never
Gonna find you faking
No, no, no
The crowd clapped when I was finished. I stepped out for a minute and there was Edward. He looked like he wanted to ask me something.
"Do you have the time?" He asked.
"It's 5:30." I told him. "Do you want to go out some time?"
So Bella currently has a rivalry with Alice, a developing friendship with Jane, and a crush on Edward. Where will all of those go? Victoria is played by Allison Iraheta and Irina is played Skylar Samuels. Please don't forget to review.