Lessons

A/N: Hello, readers! Mucho sorry about the lack of update but if you did just recently read the new chapter of 'Could You Be the One?' you know that I am in a family crisis right now and my updates may not be usual. I'm still looking for a BETA (registered beta-reader of the site) for this story. My Beta for my other story is quite busy so I'm hoping for another one. This chapter is dedicated to all the reviewers…

Sorry for the rant; on with the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own unless you consider me the wonderful SMeyer. But I highly doubt it. ©No infringement intended.

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Isabella Marie Swan

I hate him. I hate her. I hate myself.

I hated Edward because my love for him was unrequited and there was nothing I can do to make him return it. I also hated him for looking like a god.

I hated Stephanie because she was so much prettier than me.

I hated myself because I fell in love with Edward, because I'm not pretty, and because I feel like I'm the only person in the world going through this alone.

"Hi, Bella!" Stephanie walked up to me and started to walk with me through the bustling hallways. What a coincidence. "Hey, Steph,"I replied. People were looking… at her, not at me. Of course, they would look at her. She was the most beautiful girl in our school. She knew how to dress and how to put on makeup. I was a dork compared to her. I was clumsy, I had no sense of fashion, and I didn't even wear makeup.

If you put Stephanie and Edward side by side they would immediately look like they were the King and Queen of England.

I stopped at my locker and entered the combination. Once I heard the 'click,' I opened my locker and took the books I needed for my first class, AP History. I had that class with Stephanie who already had her books in her arms, against her chest.

Once I had my books together I turned around to have Edward stare at us at the other end of the hallway. Well he was looking at Stephanie, probably.

"Uhm, is it normal to have people stare at the new girl?" She asked me, fidgeting.

I nodded. "Well not Edward. Edward doesn't care whether a person is new or not. If you're an interesting person, it's most likely you'll catch his attention." I informed her. While I was talking to her, she was staring at Edward. I sighed in disappointment. "It's because Edward's staring at you, isn't it?" She nodded and grinned widely which I noticed. A feeling of jealousy coursed through my veins and I just didn't want to talk about Edward's crush on her. God, how I wish to be her.

"Well I think Edward likes you." I enlightened her on the new information she just learned. "Really," She queried but I knew she was playing dumb. She was ecstatic, telling me how she liked Edward too. And I was just so glad to hear that, wasn't I?

Please feel free to note the sarcasm.

Anyways, she continued, "Wouldn't that be so great if Edward and I started dating?"

Edward and I dating.

Edward and I getting married.

Edward and I having kids.

"Bella, Earth to Bella" I heard. I finally realized where I was. Stephanie's arm was waving up and down my face demanding to bring me back down to Earth. I felt like biting her arm out. If she wasn't so nice, I would definitely have done it.

"Oh yeah." I finally answered, "Just great." We finally reached room 204, AP History class. We sat down next to each other behind the first row.

"So for our Halloween dance, I was thinking of going as Cinderella. What do you think?" She said as we opened our textbook pages. The teacher didn't come in yet so everyone in the room was scattered all over the place as the volume in the class increased. Ah, classic Cinderella. Would you like me to go as the evil stepmother? "Oh, Cinderella? That would be really nice." I answered.

Of course it would look nice on her. She had the exact blond hair and the perfect body to fit into the wonderful blue dress. I internally groaned.

"What are you thinking of going as?" She asked me. Honestly, I haven't really thought of it. With Halloween in two weeks, I only thought of it as I passed the celebration oriented stores. Should I go as Amy Winehouse or a gypsy look alike? No, I already look like a psycho as it is. Oh! I got it! A witch! No wait, it's too cliché. Doesn't everyone go as a witch each year?

"Um, actually I'm not-," I started.

"Enough Class!" The teacher, Mr. Molina, said as he came in with a meter stick in his hand. He banged it against the black board nearest to the classroom door. We looked to the front of the class and stopped talking. Everyone quickly parted and went to their seats. Luckily, Stephanie and I were already in our seats and were not part of the commotion.

The class soon began and I entered my own world. What should I do? Maybe a fairy. Yeah that's it! No wait, a bad fairy. Yeah and let's see who'll come in hotter; Beautiful Cinderella or Sexy Fairy? I opened my notebook to the last page and started sketching what I wanted my costume to look like.

I smiled as I looked at the almost-finished work. It was coming out better than I thought. But the question is: how will I be able to get this costume? Would stores actually be smart enough to come up with a costume like this? Probably not. Even if they did, would it be a reasonable price?

Would someone be able to make this dress? A light bulb suddenly lit in my head and by this I took it by surprise. I straightened my posture and smiled even wider. Alice! Rosalie! Alice would be able to make the dress (especially without those annoying tags and scratchy fabrics) and Rosalie would definitely do the makeup (considering the countless misuses of makeup situations I've been in).

I would have to ask them at Lunch.

"Bella," Mr. Molina called on me. Damn it, so this is what I get for not paying attention? Complete silence –save the cough- was heard and I immediately went into panic mode. "Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown," Stephanie whispered to me. I could barely make it out but I figured it out.

"Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown?" I said in a question. Mr. Molina didn't say anything and I was starting to wonder if Stephanie backstabbed me. I would flip out. He just looked at me in a weird way.

A moment passed and finally he said something. "Correct?" He said almost like the way I answered the question. He stared at me suspiciously yet again and I had the urge to say, 'What Are you looking at?!' But of course I didn't.

He returned to the large textbook in front of him and continued to read an excerpt one of Cornwallis's soldiers said. My panic changed to relief in a second and I sent Stephanie a huge grin. She smiled back.

Stephanie was incredibly nice and just look at the thoughts I'm thinking about her. Shame on you, Bella.

A half hour later, the bell rang and Mr. Molina dismissed us. Finally.

"Where do you wanna go for lunch?" I asked Stephanie. At Forks High, you didn't necessarily have to eat at our cafeteria even though most people did. If you did try to go back home or go anywhere besides back to school, you were most likely to be found in this small town. And if you were found out of school or skipping it, the whole town was likely to find out the next day.

So that next day parents would say, 'Don't hang out with (insert name of the person that ditched here). They ditched school. No one wants a kid like that.' Stupid gossiping old ladies.

That's why it's usually Edward, Emmett (my brother, be surprised), Alice, Rosalie (brother's girlfriend), Jasper (Alice's boyfriend), Steph, and I to go out to Lunch. There really isn't anywhere to go in Forks.

About 7 blocks away from this school though, was a street – on Twilight Street but we called the street 'twister' for a reason only God knows why - that had about everything you needed in this town.

The street was the biggest street in Forks and we usually hung out around there. They had your supermarket and small convenient stores. But we usually were at this cool ice cream and pizza parlor, McDonald's, or Starbucks.

Sure there were others but we usually hung around here because the stores were consecutive and plus, you got to eat out back. There was always an open field where we played around.

It went really fast, unfortunately. We only had an hour. Fifteen minutes were usually spent for eating – yes, we ate very fast – and the rest was for talking or playing around.

"Uh, how about the pizza parlor place?" She suggested. I nodded my head, agreeing. Good, I was in the mood for ice cream.

"Yeah, I wanna eat there too," I admitted.

We walked to the cafeteria where we met the rest of our friends. They were all there and they gave us smiles as we arrived.

"So gang, where to?" Emmett asked. Steph and I answered at the same time. Then we giggled.

We walked out as everyone watched us. They tended to do that and I wondered why. We were just a bunch of kids, hanging out. Nothing interesting about that.

We approached the parking lot. All of us had separate cars but we tended to only take two. It was Edward, Stephanie and I in one car and Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Alice in the other. Sometimes, I cursed them in my head for getting me stuck in this car.

We separated, but for a change, I headed towards the back seat. I then signaled Stephanie with my eyes to the passenger seat. She smiled and opened the door to the passenger seat once Edward unlocked the car.

I decided to not be mad anymore at the little incident yesterday. I am so nice. If I said that to in front of Alice aloud, she would have scoffed.

Once everyone was in the car, Edward put his key into the slot and the engine started. He gave a glance to his right and was shocked. Even I couldn't help but let out a tiny laugh as his reaction was stuck in my mind.

As Edward started to drive he looked at the rearview mirror. He was looking at me through the mirror and he knitted his eyebrows in confusion. I shrugged and tried to start a conversation.

"So how was your day, you guys?" I questioned as if I was interested, but in reality, I was bored. I just didn't want to experience anymore of this tension. Edward shrugged mocking me and I couldn't help but smile. He looked into the rearview mirror again and I couldn't help but also notice his dazzling crooked smile.

Stephanie answered, "Incredible; the day has already started great and hopefully it will end as great too." I couldn't help but become curious on why she was in such a great mood. But thinking a little more, I knew it had to do with the fact that Edward likes her and has started to notice her even more.

At her statement, Edward turned his head to her and smiled. It wasn't my smile though, and for that I was incredibly happy.

"So Edward, what are you thinking about being for Halloween?" I asked him, completely throwing off the subject.

"I was thinking of going as a doctor," he replied. "Or maybe Superman? What do you think about that idea?" he asked to no one in particular.

"I like it," I answered truthfully. Hm, perhaps I should go as Lois Lane?

"Oh, what a coincidence!" Stephanie blurted randomly. My stomach started to churn as she continued, "I'm going as Lois Lane!"

Gasp; I cannot believe this. I thought she was going as Cinderella! No, wait, actually I saw it coming. What is she, reading my mind? That is creepy.

Edward gave her the same smile as before but again, it wasn't my smile. "Oh cool," Edward stated simply. I was thankful he didn't say anything else to praise Stephanie for her oh-so smart idea. Inside, I bet, he was jumping for joy.

A few minutes later we were at the parking lot of 'George and Cindy's Pizza and ice cream parlor'. Both cars arrived at the same time considering Emmett's car was following our car.

Cindy and George, the owners of the store, greeted us at the entrance. They waved and we gave them a smile. They were a sweet family in their 50's maybe 60's that ran this business along with their kids sometimes.

We told them all of the happenings at our school that week. They responded with interest. They stopped talking, worrying that we might be hungry.

"So kids, what'll it be?" Cindy asked us in her southerly accent which reminded me so much of Jasper's.

Emmett ordered first. His was always the biggest. He never grew fatter though, only stronger. That's probably because he worked out 3 to 4 times in one week.

"I'll take three slices, a large soda, chili," he started. Oh but wait, that's not the end, "French fries with that good cheese, hot wings, baked ziti," wait for it, "do you still have that pumpkin pie?"

Silence; George went to go check if they still had some in the kitchen and came back out quietly. "Yes," he finally answered.

Emmett smiled, "Okay I'll have that then and that'll be all."

Alice ordered next, "I'll have the same as Emmett."

Nobody was surprised save Stephanie. She was still getting use to the fact that Alice eats a lot but does not grow in any way.

We paid even though they always insisted that we were always considered family. Then, we thanked Cindy and George and told them were eating out back.

The boys ate pretty fast and ran to the field to play football. Jasper had bought the football with him and pointed out that he was so smart.

Stephanie volunteered to buy us ice cream. When she left, I turned to Alice and Rosalie.

"Rosalie, Alice, I was wondering if you would make my costume for me?" I asked them but they gave me a sympathetic look.

"Sorry, we can't make the costume. We still have to make ours and Emmett's and Jasper's. You're welcome to join us tomorrow though, and we'll give you a few pointers." They answered politely.

"Yeah, sure I'll come over at five, okay?" I said. They nodded.

"Should we invite Stephanie?" They asked me.

"No!" I answered quickly while they looked at me wide-eyed. "…I mean no it's fine. I think she's buying her costume."

When Stephanie came back she told them that she was indeed going to buy her costume and I was automatically relieved.

Now all I needed to do was get ready for another tutoring session with Edward tomorrow night.

A/N: Thanks for reading! That was one of the longest chapters I've ever wrote. I liked it and I hope you do too!

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