A/n: LALALA. That is all. Enjoy please!

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 4

Bella POV

"I need your help", I muttered to Angela as I sat down next to her in Spanish, my second lesson of the day. I'd been disappointed to find that Edward hadn't come to walk me to my next lesson. I supposed, though, that he'd felt that'd be too presumptuous. I found myself wishing he had, though.

"Hmm?" she murmured back, raising her eyebrow. Obviously the fact that I was whispering had caught her attention. Good.

"I like him", I replied softly. She grinned.

"Mike will be thrilled", she told me; her grin becoming more of a smirk. I stepped on her foot under the table, gently. She snorted softly with laughter. "Sorry, couldn't resist". She was grinning again. I couldn't help but grin back.

"I'm glad", she muttered, seriously this time - she knew who I was talking about. This was why I loved Angela. "What do you need me for?"

"I want him", I replied, even more softly. The teacher began her lecture. I couldn't care less; the conversation I was having with Angela was about ten times more interesting.

She nodded slightly, so I knew she'd heard. Her face turned thoughtful.

'Don't ask him out' her note read.

'Wasn't going to. Too much of a gentleman', was my reply.

'Try working on his ego' Angela wrote. Her script far more legible than mine. I found myself wondering what Edward's handwriting was like. Mike's was big, and messy.

'Enlarging it?'

'Well, it couldn't get any smaller', I looked up to see Angela smiling sadly. I suppressed a laugh, and a sigh, poor Edward. Like Angela and Ben, he was too good for this place. I was glad he was here though; along with my two other friends, I didn't know what I'd do without them, if I was honest.

'Anything I should know?' I wrote on a new piece of paper, stuffing the other, full piece into my jean pocket.

'Musician', Angela's scrawl read, 'heard his sister mention it last year.'

He had a sister. Well, there had to be a downside. My heart sank as I thought of how much I'd loathed Justin's sister.

'Instrument?'

'No idea'. Damn. I was curious now. Music was a weakness of mine. I was now desperate to know. Guitar? No, that didn't really fit. Neither did violin, cello, bass, or the drums. Damn. Have to ask him about this later. Tactfully of course, better not let him know I'm semi-stalking him.

'Anything else?'

'Adopted', now that was a shock, maybe the root of the bullying problem, 'by Doctor Carlisle Cullen and his wife'. Doctor Carlisle, now that rang a bell. I thought back over the last week or two I'd lived in Forks. Right, first day here I met him at the hospital, after falling right off the stairs, coming off the plain. Sprained my ankle. I recall thinking that he was absolutely divine. Short, blonde hair, totally toned, flawless skin. Phwarr.

I nodded slightly at Angela.

Then the bell rang. And we made our way to trigonometry together. Thankfully, I'd discovered soon after I met her that we had quite a few classes together. I was ecstatic about this, since it meant that I could avoid sitting with the other morons that attended the school, for most of my time. Since I'd met Angela last Tuesday, I'd been stuck to her like a leech. She didn't seem to mind.

Trig passed in the same sort of fashion. Notes were passed, and I gained a little more of an insight to the life and times of Edward Cullen. He had two siblings; Emmett and Alice Cullen. Emmett was two years older, and Alice the same age; both were adopted. Angela hadn't known them well. Alice had been moved up a year to be with her boyfriend, who had moved with the family when they came to Forks, (something the students of Forks had found weird). Edward had chosen to stay with students his own age, in our year. His siblings had now moved off to college together.

Though Angela probably knew Edward better than anyone else in the school, even she couldn't tell me overly much about him. The biggest piece of information she could offer was that he was shy; and didn't open up to many people. He never sunk to anyone else's level, like Mike Newton, something which I, I have to admit, admired about him. He also opened the doors for absolutely everyone. I found it hard to believe, but he'd apparently even opened doors for Lauren and Jessica. Not that they noticed, or cared. He was also, she told me, extremely smart. I liked that, I liked that a lot.

Lunchtime came quickly, and I followed Angela to the food hall, since it was raining outside. We met Ben in the line and grabbed a tray to share between the three of us. They were serving pizza and chips. My stomach rumbled happily. I poked Angela in the side, and nodded towards Edward, who sat in the corner, alone at a table. He had an apple and a bottle of water in front of him, which he was staring at, like they would give him the answers to life's greatest mysteries.

Angela nodded, and pulled Ben towards Edward's table. Ben looked confused at first, but his face relaxed into a small smile when he saw where we were going. He waved his friends from his own year off, and followed Angela and me. Ben was a nice guy; I'd heard him voice a concern for Edward last week, but he'd admitted he'd been too scared to talk to him. I guessed he found Edward intimidating. I could see why, in a way.

"Bella baby!" I heard Mike yell from the table we were passing. I saw Edward's eyes snap up at me name. I turned around to look at Mike; giving him the worst look I could muster. "Come sit over here baby!" It hadn't deterred him in the slightest. I ignored him and walked past. Hoping he'd get the hint.

"Hey baby!" he yelled after me, "where ya' going? I saved this seat 'specially for you hon!"

I turned around and slapped my hands down on the table in front of him; looking him right in the eye.

"I told you not to call me 'baby'", I hissed at him, "I also thought I made my feelings for you quite clear in the corridor this morning. Now leave me the hell alone." I was glad Edward couldn't hear my language this time. I caught up with Angela and Ben, and we approached Edward's table. He looked up at us in confusion.

"Can we-" Angela began. I cut her off.

"We're sitting with you today, Edward", I told him. Loving the way he blushed, and the way his name rolled off my tongue.

"Unless you don't want us to", Angela quickly muttered.

"N-no, by all means", Edward stuttered. I slipped into the seat next to him. Angela and Ben sat opposite us, pushing the tray into the middle.

"Help yourself, Edward", Angela offered kindly. We had bought enough to feed an army, or two. Edward nodded, but didn't move to take any food. I picked up a slither of pizza, and began to chew on the end. It tasted okay; for school food. You'd never have believed the stuff they'd served at my school in Phoenix was food though, so anything was an improvement.

"How's your day been, Edward?" Ben was happy to begin the conversation, now that we'd actually approached Edward.

"Fine", Edward muttered softly, "yours?"

"Yeah", Ben grinned, "great", he took Angela's hand in his own, and looked over at her lovingly. Obviously, every day with Angela in was great.

"How was class, Bella?" Edward asked, turning towards me, and smiling shyly. I blushed.

"Er, great, thanks, Edward. Thanks for walking me this morning." I reached out and squeezed his hand. Hoping that maybe he'd take a hint and walk me more often. He blushed back at me and smiled.

"No problem."

There was a small, awkward silence, before Angela cleared her throat and began a conversation about the upcoming girl's choice dance.

"Are you going to ask anyone, Bella?" Angela asked. I snorted, and she raised her eyebrow.

"I can't dance", I told her.

"Oh", she replied, "you know, you don't have to dance."

"I have plans to go to Seattle that weekend", I told her quickly, hoping to get over this part of the conversation. I definitely did not want to go to that dance. I couldn't, and wouldn't dance. I was far too clumsy. They'd yet to see this at school, since I spent a great amount of concentration on not tripping, but if I tried to dance, they'd see exactly why I wasn't enthusiastic about it.

I noticed Edward looking at me strangely. When I looked at him, he smiled slightly, before looking away.

When the bell rang, I said goodbye to Angela and Ben, and found him walking by my side, towards Biology. When we sat down he turned to me and opened his mouth, intending to talk. Newton's foghorn of a voice cut him off before he could. I moved away, further towards Edward, as Mike rested his arms on the desk and leaned across to me.

"Bella, baby", he started, and my eyes narrowed at him. How many times did I have to reject him for him to get the picture? I was already ready to punch him, I wasn't sure how much more I could take.

"Stop playing so hard to get" he continued, giving me what I'm sure he thought was a sexy smirk.

"I'm not", I told him simply, "I'm not interested."

"Whatever baby", he said, sending a glare over at Edward, before making his way to his seat, at the front of class. He looked back at me and winked. I felt dirty. I looked over at Edward and saw his hands gripping the table; his eyes were dark; he looked annoyed.

"What were you going to say?" I asked him quickly. His posture relaxed.

"Nothing", he mumbled, and turned to the front. Class began.

Later, Edward silently walked me to gym. By the time I got out of class, the Volvo was gone.

A/n: Nomnomnomnomnom.

You might find this hard to believe, but I liked both Mike, and Jess in the books. Eric was cool too, and Tyler was rather amusing. I didn't like Lauren though. EW.