Author's Note: This chapter is much shorter than I'd really like it to be, but I thought that it was a good section. Also, I have finals coming up next week (spring semester at college…it sucks), and after that I'm moving back home for the rest of the summer. So I won't really be able to write much these next couple weeks. So for now, this is the third chapter! Enjoy! Also, please check out my new one-shot if you're interested (and if you haven't read Alli in the Meadow's stuff- get over there!). Lastly, REVIEW! SERIOUSLY! Just a few words is fine, guys. Just anything would be nice. I know you're out there reading this. And…if you do, I may give one randomly selected reviewer a sneak peak at what's to come…

Playlist: This Week the Trend by Relient K

Chapter 3: I See You

I wasn't sure what time it was – whatever it could have been didn't mesh well with me. For a few moments, I was deeply disoriented. What the hell had woken me up? Phone. Phone was ringing.

Groggily I found it, and managed to accept the call.

"Hello? Bella?" A voice came from it. I realized that I had forgotten to say anything. Whoops.

"Muh." I half spat, half barked at the phone.

"Bellllllaaaa!" The musical voice rang again. "Wakey, wakey!"

"Jesus, Alice." I finally managed, just trying to get her to shut up. "Do you even realize what time it is here?"

"Oh, well.." She trailed off, clearly just now realizing the epic time zone difference we had, now that she had gone back to Maine for the summer. "That doesn't matter!" She sang. "Now you can just get more done today! Such as talking to your very best friend in the universe!"

"God." I sighed. "Keep your pants on, woman."

She laughed, as she instructed me to turn my computer on.

"Why can't we just talk on the phone, like so many normal people do?" I wondered aloud, waiting for my laptop to boot up.

"Because then you couldn't help me pick out what I'm going to wear today! Silly!"

"And why would you want my advice on that? Aren't you the one who moans about how fashion-challenged I am?"

"Just because you have no energy to dress yourself well, doesn't mean you don't know what looks good." She scolded. "You don't give yourself enough credit."

"I try to limit the credit I give myself until I'm actually awake." I responded dryly. "I don't want to spend too much in one day."

"What-EVER, Bella!" She sang. She was in such a good mood I thought I was going to rip my ears off. And burn them. And then flush them down the toilet.

It was always like this with Alice. Everything was perfect peaches and cream in her mind. Seriously. At first she annoyed the hell out of me, but then I realized the strength of will it took to have that sort of outlook every single day. I admired her for it, and we've been friends since. She was one of the good things in my life. Even if she did get me up before dawn to pick out her damn outfit.

"Seriously, Alice, I'm sure that whatever you pick will be great. I don't see why you need me for this."

"Bella, sometimes I wonder what planet you live on! Seriously!" She shook her head, which I was now able to see thanks to Skype. "Okay, here's the first one. What do you think?"

She had some frilly thing on – I didn't really care. "Looks cute." I said dryly.

"Bella, you're not really looking!" She complained, making me actually focus. So much for the hope that I'd get back to sleep soon.

EPOV:

I took a sip of my coffee, waiting for my computer to boot up. I was determined that I'd get whatever I needed from Bella today, and then just leave her the fuck alone. I normally didn't spend this much time on one person – specifically one person that wasn't looking so damn promising anymore. I stared at the screen fixedly, trying to will myself not to go snooping through her files again.

Once I was into her system, I realized that she was using her computer at the same time.

"I should not be doing this…" I muttered as I gained remote access. I quickly released my mouse, not wanting her to think anything was weird was happening – after all, when you see you mouse pointer moving without you touching it…that leads for some concern. In most people, that is. Emmett would never notice.

I sat back, realizing that I was looking at the girl herself, doing some sort of Skype call with some obnoxious girl. Bella was captivating. Though she obviously just crawled out of bed, she was beautiful. Not in a traditional way, either. There was something different about her – like she had some essence about her that only I could see. I couldn't look away.

"What are we looking at, bro?" Emmett asked, coming up behind my while munching on cereal.

"Ah, nothing, just some chick." I mumbled, clicking out of my access. I'd get her information another time.

"Video about to get too freaky for me?" Emmett laughed as the Skype chat disappeared.

"Oh definitely." I responded. "Children like you shouldn't be allowed to see things like that."

"Psh." He laughed. "I'll throw a dollar at whatever I haven't seen before."

I laughed with him, going into the financial documents I'd found on Bella's computer earlier.

"This doesn't look good, bro." I said. "She's totally broke."

"I thought she was going to get these killer loans we could take." He responded, using his dumb voice.

"Well, yeah. She was. But it doesn't look like that's going to come through." I was disappointed. Unfortunately, I wasn't disappointed for myself loosing the money. I was disappointed because I had no idea what this was going to do to her. She'd never go back to college – she just couldn't afford it. Her life was headed down the drain fast. It unnerved me how much that bothered me.

I shook my head. I'd just been reading her damn diary too much. I was becoming obsessed. I just needed to move on. Forget about it.

"Can't we find a way to forge something – get the banks to give her money?" Emmett asked.

"God damn you." I breathed. "Would you believe that's actually brilliant?" I was excited now. "We can hack into the banking system – there're got to be one out there with shitty internet security – and we get them to give her the loan. Then we take the loan from her. It's perfect and totally untraceable back to us!"

"See? You're not the only smarty pants around here." Emmett said, belching.

"You'd never guess." I muttered, turning back to the computer. I had work to do.