"Just perfect," Bella spat as she slipped straight for a puddle – right outside the English building.

She successfully drenched her new Roxy shoes, the ones the sales lady said you weren't supposed to get wet. Fat chance, she thought about saying to the lady. Living in Forks and just being Bella – there was no way that these shoes would last more than a month. Why did she talk herself into buying them in the first place?

She muttered a good share of profanities under her breath as she entered the classroom, taking the first available seat seeing as she was one of the last ones to class due to her encounter with the puddle outside. Kids rushed passed her in a hurry to get inside and escape the sprinkling rain and to avoid being late to class, not bothering to lend a helpful hand.

Not that she minded, she'd only have denied the person who would have tried to lift her from her klutzy feet – and she hated that. She could do things on her own. She might have made an exception though if it were a certain bronzish-auburn haired boy…

She shook her head, sighing.

She really needed to get a hold of her right mind.

"Hi!"

Bella's previous irritation halted for a moment. She glanced to her right, seeking out the owner of the chipper voice.

"Hello…" she replied warily. Gorgeous green eyes swept across her face, delighted, and Bella seemed to squirm under her gaze. She knew exactly who this girl was, despite the fact she had no idea what her name was. This was Edward's sister, only the second most beautiful girl she'd ever laid eyes on, the first being the mysterious yet undeniably, inhumanly beautiful blonde that sat with them at lunch.

"My name is Alice," she said brightly, extending her pale hand towards her. Bella took it, still wary. Her grip was firm and cool as she shook Bella's hand, smiling all the while. "You must be Bella," she went on. She grinned, appraising the brunette not as discretely as Bella would have preferred. "He was definitely right."

"Who was right?" Bella inquired slowly, already knowing yet still fearing Alice's answer.

She only smiled. "I have this feeling we'll be great friends, Bella," she simply said.

There was something definitely off about Alice and her perkiness but Bella decided to never mind it, focusing instead on the teacher who was bantering away to the class.

"The script here, in plain black and white for all to see says that Romeo matured in a way when it came to falling in love with Juliet – he had the kind of school-boy affection and infatuation of another girl before the star-crossed lovers met…" the teacher, Miss Eck, argued heatedly with a stubborn Mike Newton.

Bella sighed, tuning their little debate out.

The bell rang after a dreadful eighty minutes and Bella already her things packed into a neat pile so she grab them and flee quickly. It was the end of the day and she was far more anxious than she should have been to go home, cook dinner, finish homework and go to bed. It occurred to her that she led a pretty boring life without someone that kept her around and kept her mildly happy. But she didn't want to be mildly happy, she wanted to be exceptionally happy, with someone who she could make feel the same way.

Why did Edward immediately come to mind? False hopes, she presumed disappointedly.

She then wondered minutely if Jacob had maybe called, maybe left her a little message. Maybe even an apology if she was lucky. But Hell, who was she kidding? No one but herself. She sighed as she blew a strand of hair that was hanging in her face as she grabbed her things, standing up from her seat.

"Bella!" Alice's voice called and she turned to see her waving her arms, fumbling to catch up with her. She grinned when she stood by Bella, eyeing her bored expression skeptically. "Glad the period is over?" she smiled knowingly.

"Yeah," Bella laughed nervously as they continued their walk out of English.

Why is she talking to me? Bella couldn't help but to wonder.

Few words were exchanged between the two after that, just Alice murmuring about the homework assignment which Bella didn't really take the time to actually look over, just jotted it down quickly.

Alice bid her goodbye to the awkward brunette who had been walking with her head down the whole time and Bella nodded her head to her, acknowledging that she heard, even when she really didn't care to listen to what she had actually said.

Once Bella escaped the clutches of Alice, she placed her hoody up and bowed her head, planning to lay low for awhile. She didn't want to be Alice's friend and even though she felt guilty about it, she really couldn't find it in her heart to care. She didn't want to have to pretend to be happy all of the time when she clearly wasn't. She didn't want to have to get out of the house and do things with other people, she didn't want to socialize. She didn't want to meet new people and try new things. She simply wanted to isolate herself. She'd given herself away to Jacob and yet that didn't seem to be enough. If she tried to give away what was left to anyone else, that surely wouldn't be enough either. People would abandon her again.

She rushed to the parking lot, head bowed from the rain as she scrambled for her keys. She glanced up, finally registering what was going on around her for once. She didn't know why she cared; wasn't she pining to get home all day?

There, across the parking lot, happened to be the center of her thoughts all day. He was there in front of his pathetically pricy vehicle, flirting away with one of her friends, Jessica. There was no pang of jealousy like she'd expected, but rather than shrug her shoulders and move on like anyone else would have done who wasn't jealous, she starred. She starred at them, smiling and laughing. She watched as Jessica giggled, looking down, then back up. She was acting shy. Hopeful. Would he ask her on a date?

She didn't know how long she'd been standing there, but they were gone along with their cars by time she realized she'd been starring for too long. She sighed, climbing into her ancient Chevy.

Once inside the house, Bella threw her bag and jacket on the coat hanger, not bothering to pick out her homework from her bag. She started towards the stairs, but didn't make it before Charlie spoke up.

"Bells?"

"Yeah?" she called back, bored.

"No homework?" he asked.

"No," she lied.

"Huh." He said, studying her forlorn look. "Want me to order a pizza tonight?"

"Yeah, sure." She responded. "I think I'm going to go take a nap…"

He starred, skeptical. "All right."

She continued her pursuit towards the steps, taking her dear, sweet time trudging up them. She wasn't going to deny it, she was moping. Moping terribly. It wasn't like her, but she was past trying to act like normal. She felt miserable today, especially after this afternoon. She actually thought that someone like Edward in all his pathetically pricy car glory would be interested in someone like her. She groaned at her stupidity as she crashed onto her bed.

"Bells?" Charlie called warily, waking her up from her stupor. She wasn't quite asleep but very deeply in thought. So much so that she hadn't heard his approach. "Supper's ready… and your Mother's on the phone."

"Oh," she responded, wiping her eyes. "Kay, I'll be down in a sec."

"Okay," he replied, disappearing from behind the door.

She grabbed the receiver once she entered the kitchen, placing it to her ear immediately. "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, honey! I know we talked just the other day but I just wanted to hear your voice." Bella could hear the obvious giddiness to her tone. Something good happened to her mother, she could tell just from her tone.

She cracked a smile. "That's nice," she responded. "How've you been?"

"Oh, I couldn't be any better." She replied excitedly.

"All right – what happened?"

"I'm engaged!" she blurted, wasting no time getting to the point.

"Oh my gosh," Bella nearly gushed, forgetting her previous gloomy mood. "Really? Since when?"

"Since tonight. We went to this nice little restaurant and he proposed there. Oh, Bella, it was the most romantic thing ever."

"What does the ring look like?" Bella asked curiously, truly happy for her.

"It's a square diamond on a silver ring. It's just so beautiful and unique. I've never seen anything quite like it. It's perfect." She spoke fondly, tenderness coating her tone.

"I'm happy for you, Mom," she grinned. "When's the wedding?"

Renee laughed enchantingly. "Now, I haven't thought that far ahead yet. We're working on that part, though. Sometime this summer hopefully. I want to marry him as soon as possible. I'm so in love with him; you just wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Bella laughed lowly. "I believe you. Well, congratulations. I love you."

"I love you, too, sweetheart." She replied lovingly. "I can't wait to see you. Soon?"

"As soon as possible," she returned.

"Promise?"

"I promise you, Mom."

"All right, I'll be waiting for your call." She teased.

"Okay, okay. I gotta go eat supper. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"All right-y. I love you and I'll see you soon."

"Bye, Mom."

"Bye-bye."

She set the phone in its cradle, turning to Charlie with a satisfied grin on her face.

Charlie grunted, looking to his daughter expectantly. "Well?"

"Mom's engaged." She said hesitantly, measuring her father's reaction. She knew he wasn't quit over the fact they'd separated – he loved her mom so but apparently he didn't make Renee as happy as she wanted to be. She didn't feel the need to pity her father though; she loved him too much for that.

"Huh," he said, seeming surprised. "Well, I'm happy for her," he said distractedly though he sounded somewhat genuine about it, taking his seat. She sat across from him as well. "I hope you like pepperoni. I forgot to ask you."

"Yeah, that's cool," she said, taking her share of slices. It smelt absolutely delicious if she wanted to be completely honest. She kept her mouth shut though, speaking wise, as she bit into the warm slice. She reveled in its taste. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had pizza. It was nearly to die for good, better than she'd ever remembered. She was undeniably in a better mood since her mother's good news, as well. Her mood was definitely taking a turn for the better. She even felt the need to strike up a conversation with Charlie, but, feeling that it would only end awkwardly, she didn't say anything to spare the both of them.

I'm really sorry it took forever to get this chapter up and it's a complete BORE, but the next chapter will get better. Give it a chance, yeah? :)

And you should review. Tell me it's terrible. I don't care! Just review.