Author Note:

Dear loyal readers,

Let me extend to you my deepest and truest apologies. I realize this fic has not been updated in…um…6 months…yeah. I'm so sorry. College life got seriously in the way of most of my fandoming, which included finishing up this story. I want to thank each and every one of you for all your wonderful reviews so far and hopefully I can continue to amuse you with this little tale. I feel like such a horrible author right now, but trust me when I say the delay was unavoidable. Anywho, with the discovery of my ever-so-boring and slightly pointless U.S. History class (I've taken it both in middle school and high school…when does the need to learn about this nation end?) and my A&S Orientation class (which quite frankly is the biggest waste of an 8 am class EVER) I am now able to actually do something useful with my time…like update this story. That was such a run-on sentence. So here you go… the long awaited and hopefully not disappointing Chapter 4 (which is kind of short, but I wanted to go ahead and tie up loose ends before I went on). To all of you who stuck around, have a cookie on me. ;)

Most gratefully yours,

Lynne

PS: I actually named my chapters! Party time!

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"Six hundred."

My eyes flew open as a voice I knew all too well echoed from every corner of the gym.

My body froze. The gym seemed to go completely quiet, but I blamed that on the fact that my brain was screaming bloody murder.

Every seat seemed to turn at that moment to face the voice that had called out such a crazy bid. Mike and Eric looked both infuriated and incredulous as they stared at none other than my mysterious phantom of a lab partner. Edward ever so calmly slid his way down the aisles to pay the auctioneer's assistant, who, like everyone else, seemed to be stunned, if not a little suspicious. The weight of the thick silence was obviously eating at my nerves, because I could feel my tangled fingers twitching involuntarily in my fists. I was finding it hard to keep my eyes under control, considering they seemed to want to glance everywhere I once. I must have looked deranged with my eyes looking from the crowd, to Edward, up at the auctioneer, then back to Edward. My brain was having a hard time with comprehension.

When he had finished paying for the basket he took a small glance in my direction and steadily headed back to the rear of the gym.

After what seemed like hours of agonizing stares and whispers in my direction, the auctioneer found his composure, thanking Edward for his generous donation and announcing the continuation of the auction.

I stumbled back to my seat next to Jessica and tried to remember where my lungs resided. In no way had that just happened. Six hundred dollars? Was he crazy? Strike that, it was me who was the crazy one. Crazy for not ditching like I should have. Stupid, stupid, STUPID Bella!

The rest of the auction passed in a blur, and before I knew it everyone was filing out to enjoy their soggy picnics on the school grounds. I noticed Mike leaving with Jessica in tow, and Eric had walked out escorting a rather bubbly looking red head who seemed more than elated to have been bid on.

I was one of the last to leave the gym considering I was still dazed and utterly in disbelief.

As soon as I found myself in the faded sunlight I realized Edward was standing there, waiting for me. Grasped in his left hand I noticed my pretty yet pathetic excuse for a basket.

I stared blankly for a minute, taking a few moments to glance down at my shoes before he frowned slightly and motioned towards an empty bench "Shall we?"

I dumbly nodded in consent, and followed his lead. This was so ridiculous on about ten different levels. Why couldn't I say anything? Why did my legs feel like they belonged in one of those awful Jell-O commercials? And most importantly, why was he staring at me with such an amused expression.

"So," he started as we sat at opposite ends of the bench. "Hungry?"