Disclaimer: I think it should go without saying that I have no ownership over the Twilight series. I mean, come on.

Chapter 3: Bella

I felt relief in the idea that today was no longer my first day of school. Hopefully by then everyone had adjusted to me being there, and would go on their merry ways. Of course, as luck would have it, that didn't necessarily happen.

"Hey!" Alice called from behind me, as I made my way to English. I swiveled around to face her, and smiled, a little plastically.

She jogged up to me; she was smiling brilliantly, and came to a halt in front of me. "Hey," she said again, by way of greeting. "You should come hang out with me after school. Rosalie, Karen, and Angela will be there too."

I marveled once again how casually, and easily she spoke to me. She invited me over, as if it were a usual occurrence. And I actually did feel bad to have to turn down the offer. "I'm sorry, Alice, but I have to go grocery shopping after school," I apologized.

Her smile remained fixed on her elfish face, undeterred. "Why don't you just go after?"

I scrambled for a way to dispute her suggestion, for a moment, before giving in. "I –I guess I could do that. Okay."

Alice's grin stretched, impossibly, wider. "Excellent," she said. "Let me give you the address." She took out a pen from her bag, and a scrap of paper, and scribbled out the address.

"See you at lunch," she said as she hurried off to class, and waved over her shoulder.

The whole stretch between then and lunch passed very tediously. More so even, than the day before. I knew it was only because this wasn't a new experience anymore. People were now used to my presence. Jessica all but ignored me in trig, though Mike was as kind to me as yesterday. He asked me if I did the Spanish homework –which I had- and if I was going to eat with the same group at lunch, as I had yesterday –which I was.

The table was just as crowded as on Monday, if not more. I gazed at it, lamenting, as I had yesterday, of my social ineptitude.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I jumped a little, and made a sound half way between a squeak and a shriek. Alice stood by my side, smiling. "Easy, Bella," she said.

I clutched my chest and let out a breath. "You startled me," I scolded, half-heartedly.

"That, I did. Why don't you come eat lunch with us today?" The way she said 'us' made me think she wasn't including Mike, or his group in that statement.

"But-" Mike began to say, but Alice promptly cut him off.

"You have Spanish and bio with Bella. I don't have any classes with her. You'll live."

He frowned, however didn't argue. "Fine. See you in Bio," he said to me, then turned to head to his table.

"I thought you ate lunch with Mike, too," I said, confused.

Alice shrugged. "Sometimes we do. But, it's hard to fit everybody at one table. Plus, Mike's group is a little … superficial. A classic high school clique."

"So then, where do you and your friends sit?" I asked, scanning the large hall, though I didn't know whom to look for.

"Right there." She pointed with a small, thin, finger a table not ten feet from us. As I scrutinized the many occupants of the table, I recognized the back of Rosalie's and the pretty Asian girl I'd seen her talk to yesterday's head, and Emmett, Jasper, and Chris sitting across from them. The table was near jam packed with other people I hadn't seen on my first day. And here I'd been assuming Alice's group was smaller, perhaps. I sighed, heavily.

Either Alice pretended to not have heard me, or had and was ignored my vocal exasperation. Either way, she continued on cheerily. "You should sit with Angela and me."

"Sure," I said. Oddly enough, though I knew I had the option to decline, I didn't really want to. I liked Alice. Oddly enough.

Alice sat herself across from Angela, and I sat next to her.

"Hi, Bella," Angela greeted shyly.

"Hey," I said back, pleased there was someone else as diffident as I was.

I noticed Rosalie out of the corner of my eye, saunter over to us, and stand behind Angela. "Hey, Alice?" she said. She glanced in my direction and smiled very slightly, to my utter surprise. She looked away before I could do but gape, dumbly.

"Oui?" Alice answered, with out looking up, as she took a sandwich out of her lunch bag.

"Whose house did we say we were meeting at?"

"Yours, I believe," Alice said, looking up to Rosalie then. "We always hang out at my house."

"Not true. Last time we were at Ashley's and the time before that we were and Olivia's."

"Then the time before that we were at my house," the Asian girl put in.

"Thanks for the support, Karen," Alice muttered, darkly. "However, every other time before that, we were at my house. And you know what? I will no longer stand for such injustice." She took meaningful bite of her sandwich, chewed for a moment, then wrinkled her nose, daintily. "Ew. Bologna."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "And the guys will not be coming, correct?"

"What?" Emmett demanded. "I thought we got to come."

"Sorry, Em," Alice said, unapologetically. "Girls only."

"Well… " He paused, struggling to find a comeback for a moment before muttering, "Forget you guys."

Rosalie went over to Emmett and sat in his lap. Jasper got up from the table and slung his backpack over one shoulder, and came to give Alice a kiss and tell her he had to go over an essay in his English class. He'd see her later. Alice talked to me about what to expect in PE and if I liked to book we were reading in English. It was different than small talk. It was actual talk, which I hadn't really experienced from many people aside from my mom. It was strange to be conversing with a classmate in such a casual way. With Alice, I didn't feel judgment or pressure. She was patient and interested, and laughed at my lame jokes. Which I had to appreciate.

"Hey, Ben," Angela greeted a short Asian boy, that came around the table to sit next her. She blushed, her expression delighted.

"Hey, Ang," he said back, with a sigh as he stuffed an accordion folder he'd been holding into his backpack.

Edward, to my surprise, took a seat next to me. "Seriously, fuck that," he said, to Ben. His tone was harsh, irritated. I felt a blush crawl up to my hairline, and my stomach spasm with something stronger than butterflies. For the love of all things holy, why are you being so ridiculous? I wondered to myself. How can you feel so … so lovesick? I recoiled from the word, but I could sense my own denial. Ridiculous as it felt, lovesick –shudder- fit the bill. "If Mr. Varner gives me another pre-test 'on accident' again, I'll just take the F," he went on.

Edward didn't seem to have noticed me yet, so I continued to look at him, unabashedly. He was wearing a clean white button up, the sleeves rolled up -a sharp contrast to the over-sized sweatshirt he'd worn yesterday. With out the covering of his hood, or even the perterbence of his headphones, I could see his face in sharper clarity. Though, maybe it was just our proximity. His skin wasn't just fair, but washed out, ashen. There were deep circles fanning out from under his eyes. How had I not noticed that yesterday? I wondered to myself. Even so, he was still very handsome, I thought.

Ben shook his head, in weary agreement. "I definitely hear you.

"What happened?" Alice asked, from my other side.

Edward turned to Alice, but froze when he saw me there. We both stared at each other for a prolonged awkward moment. He exhaled slowly. "Hey –Bella. Sorry, I didn't see you."

My face felt hot. "No worries, really."

Alice cleared her throat.

Edward looked to her. "Mr. Varner gave me the pre-test instead of the actual test. Again."

"He's doing it on purpose," Ben put in. "Same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago."

"No shit," Edward said, a little awed, and a little disgusted. He scowled deeply, and his lips thinned. "I'm boycotting. I refuse to retake the test again. The pre-test and the real test are pretty much the same thing, just different problems. And I took it twice, so that should count for something," he said as he took a Red Bull out of his backpack.

I turned away and shook my head, in an attempt at ridding it of my ridiculousness. What was wrong with me? And why oh, why did he have to be so good looking?

I noticed suddenly that Alice was talking to me. "Sorry –what were you saying?"

A knowing smile pulled at Alice's lips but all she said was, "You know how to get to the address I gave you, right?"

"Um, yes." I took it out of my pocket and looked at it. "It's sort of on the out-skirts of town, I think."

"Yep," Alice said. "There aren't that many houses in that area, so it should be easy to find. Not to mention Rosalie's house is big. And brick. It's not that hard to miss. But you could just follow my car, if you want."

I nodded. "I might do that. I don't have the best sense of direction."

Alice laughed. "Well, you're in good company, because my sense of direction is flawless, if I do say so for myself."

I realized that I'd forgotten to pack a something to eat, or bring money for lunch here. My stomach felt too uneasy to eat, anyway, what with Edward sitting not four inches away from me. I continued to steal glances at him through out the period, but I only caught him looking at me, once, and he quickly jerked his eyes from mine. I had noticed red, color his ears, though, after, and I felt a sort of satisfaction because of it.

It was right as I was walking to bio when it happened, though. Someone's hand rested on my shoulder to halt me, and the strangest current surged through me, at the simple touch. I wasn't surprised to see Edward standing there behind me. "Hey," he said breathlessly, as he pushed his hair out of his face. "Bella."

"Um, yes?" I replied, stunned. My heart pounded erratically in my chest, threatening to burst through my sternum.

He pulled his long, fingers through his hair again –a motion of stress. I watched the pieces shift back into place, like strands of soft silk. His hand was shaky and his neck and ears were pink. "Look, this is going to sound really weird, but –oh, jeez- okay: my mom wanted me to invite you to our house for dinner Saturday or Sunday night. With your dad, of course." The blush stained his cheeks now. It didn't make his complexion healthier looking, but rather, feverish.

"Oh, wow," were the only words I could come up with at the moment, taken aback.

"You don't have to come," he quickly added, misreading my awe. "Really, it wouldn't be a big deal, at all." His hand dragged through his hair time thrice.

"No, no!" I hurried to say. "We'd love to come. I just didn't expect such a- such a… " I trailed off awkwardly, and changed my direction with a small, forced smile. "Thank you. Really."

He looked almost winded by my answer –stunned, kind of. "Oh," he sighed. His shoulders dropped, comically, in his relief, from their fixed position. "Okay. Yeah. All right." He nodded to himself. "Great." One corner of his mouth twitched up into an almost genuine smile. "Mind if I walk you to class?" he asked, so suddenly I didn't even respond for a beat.

"Of course, not."

His lips turned up on both sides then, into a brilliant grin. "Lead the way."

The bell rang just before we got in the door. The whole right side of my body -the side he was walking on- tingled the entire walk to class. If I'd moved my arm, just so, I would have brushed against him, and the thought both filled me with girlish glee, and annoyance.

"Thank you for being on time, Mr. Masen, and Miss Swan," Mr. Banner, said as we entered the classroom. "Why don't you two make yourselves comfortable, in your seats. No, I insist."

"Thank you for the comic relief, Mr. Banner," Edward muttered under his breath.

"What's that, Masen?"

"Nothing."

I prepared for Edward to remain silent, and to take notes, on part two of cell anatomy, studiously, but felt his elbow nudge mine. I looked up to him, then the notebook paper, he'd passed to me. It had two lines written in his neat print:

Are you just agreeing to go, because you want to spare my feelings, or are you serious? I can handle the heartbreak, if you turn down the invitation, honest.

I frowned down at his words. Why on earth would he think that I didn't want to come? What a ludicrous assumption. I passed the note back with my response:

Of course, I'm serious. Why wouldn't I want to come?

I watched his expression change as he read my note. He pressed his lips together to hide a smile and passed the paper back with his reply:

I don't know. It just was a little out of the blue, considering you've been here not even a whole week, and someone you hardly know has invited you to dinner.

I restrained myself from rolling my eyes at the irony and wrote:

I thought everyone in Forks was nice and chummy. Maybe it's just me, but I figure it'd be easier to fit in with the locals.

This time he allowed himself to smile. He scribbled out his answer and slid the paper across the desk, to me.

Wouldn't want there to be any gossip about the chief's anti-social daughter, now would we? She's probably a schizo, they'd say.

My lips turned up into a smile of my own.

Could be a sociopath.

He wrote a retort and passed me the notebook paper again.

Either way, I'm not letting her near my kids. Damn psycho. Should be institutionalized.

I giggled, and Mr. Banner turned from the whiteboard. His eyes scanned the back of the classroom, but I miraculously managed to keep my face straight. "That better not be who I think it is," he warned.

Edward glanced up at Mr. Banner, then added something to his note:

He better not mean, me, because that was definitely a giggle, and males do not giggle. It's a known fact

I bit the inside of my cheek, to keep myself from any out-bursts of mirth. I wrote a reply:

I think it's okay for the male gender to giggle.

He shook his head, as he wrote and handed me the paper, then, under the table.

Actually, it's not.

I scribbled back to him, in my hardly legible hand and passed it to him, the same way he had for me.

What? Too manly?

He rolled his eyes, before glancing up at Mr. Banner, who was blathering on about the mitochondria, unaware. Edward wrote on his thigh, and passed me his note:

Duh.

Before I could even crack a smile, Mr. Banner called the full class to attention. He held a stack of paper, and broke it up into sections, before handing a section to each row of tables. "We are going to do a partner project. This project will make up a third of your grade. Count it, people. Not a fifth, not a forth, but a third of your grade."

Two papers made it back to Edward and I. I scanned the requirements and worried. I fervently hoped whomever I ended up with as my partner, was someone who was likable. And wouldn't slack off on their half.

"Your partners will be … drum roll, please … your lab partner."

The class became a commotion of rejoice, and despair. I heard Edward sigh quietly. It sounded like it was out of relief, but I couldn't be sure.

"Quiet down, everyone," Mr. Banner called, cupping his hands to his mouth. "No one is allowed to switch partners. If you can work with your lab partner in school, then you can do it outside of school. You can see your friends outside of class. I expect you to honestly collaborate with your partner on this project. It's a lot of work, and I expect nothing but the best from my juniors." He continued to explain the project, but I wasn't listening.

I worried. I had to be with Edward outside of school, and it was nerve racking enough just being with him in school. He seemed to like me now, but he would soon find me less amusing, or whatever it was that kept him talking to me. He probably wasn't even that interested in me, anyway. And that sigh? Definitely not a sigh of relief. Why would I even jump to that conclusion? Suddenly, everything got twisted all the way backwards, and everything Edward had said to me in humor, seemed in mockery, and any sign of interest seemed so obviously feigned. Probably I should have just restrained myself from picking every little thing he'd said to me, to pieces, but once I got started, it was hard to stop.

"So," Edward said, slowly. "How do you want to do this?" He turned to look at me.

I blushed, deeply. "Ahm. I –I don't know. What do you mean?"

"I mean, we don't really have to worry about this being due, anyway, for a while, but, it doesn't hurt to have a … a plan, I guess. I don't know." He glanced away, the color returning to his ears.

"No, that's fine, I get it. Are we going to partner up after school, or something, or…?" I trailed off. Oh, God, could this get any more awkward? I wondered. Why was I making this moment out to be so much more monumental than it really was?

He nodded. "Yeah, we should do that. Emailing each other the parts of the project, just wouldn't work. Plus, he's not going to give us time in class to do it, so there would be no other time to, you know, collaborate in person." He picked up his pencil, hand looked like he was about to write something down on the page, but then he hesitated. He frowned in concentration for a long moment, before turning to me. "Maybe we should exchange numbers? So we can arrange things in the future." He fidgeted uncomfortably and his eyes turned to his sneakers.

I felt the blush spread, heating my ears and neck. Why? Why are you blushing? I demanded myself. He's not asking you out on a date, for crying out loud. "Yes. Of course." I looked away, and busied myself with scribbling out my home phone. I tore off the corner of my paper I'd written my number on and handed it to him, just as he handed me his. I studied his smart hand. Though I knew the number was nothing personal, it felt that way, and I didn't know why.

"So, do you want to get together, or something, after school tomorrow?" he asked, uncomfortably. "For the project," he clarified, unnecessarily. He blushed harder.

I smiled at him, in an attempt at breaking the tension. How am I the one trying to break the tension, here? "I think that would be a good idea. Alice invited me to hang out with her and some of her friends today after school." I felt in awe, at the ease, the casualness that I'd managed somehow. My palms still felt slick, and hot, and my hair was sticking to the back of my neck, so I hadn't completely maintained a semblance of flippancy. That was a relief.

"Okay," he agreed. He opened his mouth as if he was about to say something else, but the bell rang, cutting him off. "See you later," he said with his crooked grin, before picking his bag off the floor, and leaving, before I could jam my notebook in my pack.

The notion crossed my mind before I could stop it, and I felt stupid for even thinking it –but a part of me hoped that 'later' would be a 'sooner'

oO0Oo

I gazed up at the large brick house. To call it a house was really a bit of an understatement; it was wide and red, and the porch –though 'porch indicates a certain level of quaintness, and there was nothing quaint about Rosalie's home- was yawning and white, with pillars guarding the entryway. Primly sheared, square bushes lined the walkway and stout pale blue hydrangeas sat under the wide front windows. The lawn was endless and green, with mammoth, leaning redwoods standing as sentries around the 'house'.

I heard Alice close the door of her car, behind me, having finally found her Clinique foundation, that had tumbled to the floor of her car, when she was searching for the house keys to Rosalie's house. I'd questioned her possession of the keys, and she told me she'd known Rosalie her whole life, and Rosalie's family was essentially a second family to her. "Rosalie has a key to my house, too. Most of the time we don't use them unless, we're house sitting one or the other's house, while one of us is away, or if we know that we're both going to be there. Rose is just one person in our group. I also have a key to Jasper's, Emmett's, and Edward's houses –and they have keys to each other's and Rosalie's and my house, too. Just because we're all close," she explained, as she reapplied her eyeliner.

I nodded, even though I really didn't know. I wondered what it would be like to be so close to someone that they practically invited you to invade their privacy, and you easily extended the same, for them. I couldn't imagine that. And something else struck out to me. "I didn't realize you were that close with," I paused for a minute, formulating a way to not make my probing obvious, "the guys."

Alice nodded. "Oh, yes, we're very close. Jasper's the only one I ever felt anything other than familial with, though. I've always sort of had this crush on him." She looked up at me, her expression unreadable. "I always knew we were going to end up together," she told me, matter-of-factly.

"Did you just out-right tell him?" I asked, eagerly. "Just like that?"

Alice pursed her lips, thoughtfully. "I suppose so. It wasn't that hard to admit it, though."

I raised my eyebrows. "Are you serious?"

"Bella, you're forgetting by the time I just plain told Jasper the way I felt, I'd already known him for sixteen years. Plus, it wasn't like he couldn't tell."

I processed this for a moment before choosing my next words: "And he just went along with it?"

Alice snorted. "He did better than that, thankfully. He felt the same way I did. We've been together for a year, this Sunday, you know." She closed the compact and stowed it in her bag. She looked up to me. "Why?"

I blushed. "No reason. Just curious."

I turned to admire the manor. To call it a house was really a bit of an understatement; it was wide and red, and the porch –though 'porch indicates a certain level of quaintness, and there was nothing quaint about Rosalie's home- was yawning and white, with pillars guarding the entryway. Primly sheared, square bushes lined the walkway and stout pale blue hydrangeas sat under the wide front windows. The lawn was endless and green, with mammoth, leaning redwoods standing as sentries around the 'house'.

Alice continued to scrounge the floor of her car for the make up. "Ah-ha!" She exclaimed in victory when she found it. "Rolled under the backseat, the little bastard." Just as she closed the back door to her car, someone leaned on their horn as their red car whipped around the corner, before coming to a screeching halt, and parking in the driveway to Rosalie's house. Rosalie stepped out of the driver's seat, and Karen the passenger. They waved to Alice.

"Nice entrance," Alice called to Rosalie, as she crossed the street. "Very subtle."

I quickly followed after her, uncomfortable standing alone. I was normally fine with being by myself, but in a social situation such as this, I preferred to remain courteous, if not outgoing. Which was usually the case.

Rosalie shrugged, nonchalantly, ignoring the sarcasm. "Do you want to go inside, or what? I just got the latest issue of Vogue and I haven't looked at it yet."

Alice beamed and clapped her hands excitedly. "Right. Of course."

Rosalie took us inside then. The house was very wide and open, and furnished with classic pieces. The parquet floor gleamed from the light slanting from the windows. We followed Rosalie up a large staircase, and down a hallway. She opened a door at the end of the hallway, and led us inside. The room matched the rest of the house in its spaciousness. There was a large bed with pale pink, satiny duvet, centered at the wall to the left, and a window with a view out to the street.

I fell to watching them socialize, while I sat on the edge of Rosalie's bed, next to Alice. They bantered on what their favorite current labels were –Alice urged that Marc by Marc Jacobs was the best while Rosalie argued that Valentino was the better. Karen commented on both parties, but didn't seem to pick a side. I had nothing to add; I didn't know anything about either of the designers. I didn't even know who they were.

Angela arrived with two other girls. She apologized for being late, and complained fondly about her brothers disrupting her leaving. The two other girls introduced themselves as Ashley and Olivia. They quickly joined in with Alice, Rosalie, and Karen on their debate. Angela however sat next to me, on my other side.

"How are you adjusting to Forks?" she questioned politely.

I smiled dryly. "Fine, I think. At least, better than I'd anticipated."

She smiled back. "Well, that's good. I know it must be strange to live some place so much the opposite of what you're used to," she said.

I shrugged. "Strong dislike of bad weather is in my blood," I explained.

Alice turned to me, suddenly and asked me, quite out of the blue, "What was your first boyfriend like?"

"What?" I asked, taken aback.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Come on. Just say it. We're discussing how your first boyfriend is never really… up to snuff, so to speak. Ashley is being ridiculous and saying her first was her best."

"Um," I looked down at my hands, in my lap. Of all the lousy questions to ask. "I –Well, I've never really, er, well, dated, before. I've never had a boyfriend, or anything." I pressed my hands on my cheeks, in a useless attempt at making the blood recede from them, back to my normal pale pallor.

Alice gaped at me, disbelievingly. "No way. I refuse to believe that."

"Why?" I asked. I didn't think it would be that hard to believe.

"What do you mean, 'why'?" Alice demanded. "You're smart, you're pretty. Why shouldn't you have a boyfriend?"

I noticed much to my embarrassment that everyone else was looking at me with the same confusion Alice was. "I've never been asked out," I said, plainly. I nibbled my lip, self-consciously.

Alice blinked, slowly. "I am… confused."

Rosalie snickered, and Alice shot her a glare.

I blushed. "What's there to be confused about?"

Alice pursed her lips. "I just think it's a little odd, is all. I don't know."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Give it a rest, Alice." She tossed her hair over her shoulder and turned to Ashley. "I honestly don't get how Newton could've been such a great catch as a first boyfriend."

She scowled defensively. "He was really sweet –he had manners, you know. Not a lot of guys can say the same."

"He's a vag," Rosalie huffed.

Karen and Olivia laughed. "What does that even mean?" Ashley demanded.

"It means, he might as well have one. He's a total ass-kissing slime-ball," Rosalie continued with a sickly sweet smile.

"He is not!" Ashley exclaimed. "He's so nice. He bought me flowers and took me to this really nice restaurant in Seattle, and- and…" She trailed off for a moment, thinking of another argument in his defense. "I don't know. He's just a good guy, okay?"

"You're such a cradle robber, Ash," Karen snickered. "You know Tom is totally into you. Why don't you go out with him?"

Ashley made a face, but didn't say anything.

I stopped paying to the conversation again, after that. Alice would sometimes attempt to turn the conversation to me, but I was a fish out of water when it came to any kind of romantic experience with boys. I would just give her a monosyllabic answer, and smile politely.

Some how I thought I'd be spared this feeling of isolation here. Like, maybe even Alice's genuine friendliness, and Angela's sincere questions might make me fit in Forks. Like, maybe because this was a fresh start, and because there was less people to make such an opposition to my single self I wouldn't feel so alone. Like, maybe I could even find my own niche in this sad and sodden little nowhere. Like, maybe I wasn't just by myself, and there was a half to my incomplete whole. It was kind of silly, because if I was at all logical in considering my situation I would see that Phoenix would be the more sensible place for me to find where I really belonged, not tiny insignificant Forks.

The sharp reverberation of a crash sounded from down stairs and started me out of my wallowing.

"What the fuck?" Rosalie said, getting up, and going to her door to open it. "Mom?" she shouted. She slipped out the door. Then I heard her yell it again, muffled by distance.

Then, "Hey, Rosy!" I heard Emmett's distinct voice shout.

Alice got up then, and went out the door, muttering what sounded like profanities under her breath.

I frowned, confused, but waited on the edge of the bed, unsure of what else to do. Rosalie and Alice came back in the room then, bickering.

"…Tell them to come?" Rosalie was saying to Alice.

"Of course not! You heard me at lunch, didn't you?" Alice snapped.

"Why are they here then?"

I never got to find out Alice's response, that I could see about to roll right off her tongue, hesitating in the air, because Emmett, Jasper, followed by Edward –of all people- entered the room.

It was a strange moment then, all warped into slow motion, just so it almost didn't make sense as Edward looked up from the floor, which he was glaring at, and his face froze, and I thought I saw something in his face, relax into an expression I hadn't seen on a person's face before, before he smiled a small, artificial smile.

And I felt myself freeze -my shoulders stiffen, my eyelids petrify, and my mouth become fixed. All my senses became sharpened, and anxiety stole me. I felt like a bit of a dolt, just staring at him like that.

But, he didn't seem to have any of those feelings, because he came to stand right in front of me and said, with the most ease, the least effort, "Fancy seeing you here."

His 'later' had certainly become my 'sooner'.

A/N: I have a few things I just want to get out there, but I'd like it if my readers too the time to read what I have to say:

1) Unfortunately, I can't update as often as I'd like to. I'm taking an extra class this year, and I don't want to fall behind. I'll try to update every two weeks, which isn't horrible, but I know it isn't that great.

2) Please review! Reviews are actually very helpful and encouraging to me. I like to know what my readers think of what I write. Especially when there are positive things to be said, because it makes me feel like I'm doing a good job and want to write more. Of course, I'd also like to get con-crit too, so I know what I need to improve. Anyone who is a writer themself, I think, can understand why I would ask for reviews. If I didn't care for my writing to get commented on, I wouldn't have posted here in the first place. So, please review!