CHAPTER THREE

I'm going to be seeing Edward Masen all day today, what is wrong with the world? I didn't sleep well last night; tossed and turned I probably got three hours of sleep. Maybe I should fake sick and have Renee call in sick for me. I don't think I can face him today, not after waking up and seeing the knot on my forehead from where I hit it on the nightstand after the pillow fight with Rosalie. Why hadn't I felt it last night? Oh that's right, I'm so used to getting hurt I've become numb to the pain. It is right above my left eye, big blue and green with a small split in it, really why hadn't I noticed it last night? Why hadn't my mom or Rosalie said anything? Maybe they were so used to me being hurt that it didn't even faze them.

Shit. I have to go to school like this. I shouldn't be nervous I've looked worse. Once I went to school with two black eyes, I tripped and my face met the coffee table. No amount of make-up can cover black eyes, or this knot on my face. Maybe if I keep my hair down and in my face no one will ask what happened. Even after being at the school for a year the teachers still ask about any bruise or mark on me, I think they think I'm being abused at home.

After several minutes of trying to decide on how I was going to hide my face Renee called up to the bathroom, Rosalie was here to pick me up. I sighed and figured if I try to hide it the knot will be more noticeable, I grabbed a hair tie and pulled my hair up quick. That should do, if anyone asks I'll say I got into a fight with a table… again.

We both said bye to my mom and got in Rosalie's car, she turned to me and smiled brightly.

"Emmett called me last night." She gushed as she pulled onto the road to drive us to school.

Great, now I have to talk about the boyfriend to her. If it didn't make me a bad friend I would have told her not to talk about the dick. I couldn't do that though, Rosalie can't seem to keep a boyfriend. She's been adamant about no sex before marriage and after so many dates the boys usually break up with her because she won't budge. I just want to grab her by the shoulders and tell her that Emmett is just like the rest of the guys at school. Once he really knows she isn't just saying it he'll break up with her, he'll break her heart.

But instead of telling her he is a dick I just smile at her, "That's great Rosa!" I'm not a bitch, I'm not going to hurt my friends just because I don't like the boy she's crushing on.

She informed me that he had called to make sure she really would go to dinner with him on Friday night. So we now had to find her something to wear for the big date. Her smile couldn't get any brighter. We pulled into a parking spot at school and I noticed that Alice and both her brothers were standing by his Volvo. Great, I can't even arrive at school without seeing him.

"Oh Rosa… I forgot to tell you…"I started getting her attention before she got out of her car. She turned to face me, "I'm getting a ride with Alice after school." I bit my lip, I wasn't sure if she'd be upset we always rode together to and from school.

"You told me that last night!" She laughed with a roll of her eyes, "Where is your head?" She added getting out of the car.

Did I really tell her last night? I know I told her that Alice invited me over, maybe I did tell her. I got out of the car and started towards the group of people, Rosalie was already standing in front of Emmett and Edward. I looked at Alice; she was wearing a white skirt and white shirt, but a yellow belt and yellow shoes. She had yellow and white bangles on her arm and a bright smile. I let my eyes roam over to Edward, which was a first for me in a long time. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans that hung low on his hips and a tight black tee-shirt. I pulled my eyes away from gawking at him when Alice grabbed my arm.

"What happened to your face?" She asks, so loud that the group turned to look at me. I could feel my cheeks burn with the blush she caused and I closed my eyes.

"Oh… Uh… Rosalie and I got into a pillow fight, I lost." I gave a half smile with a shrug. It was the truth. I did loose, just not to Rosalie… I lost to the table.

I heard Rosalie laugh and looked up at her then to the others. Emmett had a large smile on his face as he was looking between Rosalie and I. Edward, well, he looked disgusted as he looked at me. Great… of course actually, what did I expect from him? Alice just linked her arm with me and we started towards the building.

"You really are clumsy!" She laughed causing me to laugh.

Yes I was really clumsy, I'm surprised I haven't broken my neck or something more serious than a few bones and a lot of bruises. We made it to our lockers and I shoved everything in there, except for my math book. I still had a few problems to work on, which is stupid since I understood this stuff.

"I'll see you at lunch. I need to go work on the rest of my math before class starts." I stated closing my locker; I waved and headed to class.

I had more than one reason to get to class early today. One, I didn't want to trip in front of the class again like yesterday. Two, I didn't want to have to look at Edward as I walked to my seat. And three, I actually had a few more equations to work on. I was a few doors away from my classroom when it happened. A few of the football players were throwing the ball around the hall and I just happened to get in the way. Of the ball that is, I saw it coming towards my face and tried to duck away from it, which was probably one of the stupidest things I could have done. I tripped over my own feet and in that moment I could see my face smashing into the wall I was falling towards and I could already smell the blood that would most likely come from the impact.

The impact I saw in my mind never happened. At least not the way I saw it, I still managed to meet the wall, only I was being pressed into it rather than hitting it. I was being sandwich between the wall and a very warm, very hard body I groaned a little. I hadn't realized someone was behind me when I tripped.

"Shit," I froze. It was his voice, he was pressed against my back, and he was the warm hard body that was making me groan. I almost did it again but bit my bottom lip; I would not embarrass myself.

"I'm sorry I tripped." His voice again, he tripped? But I tripped; I must have taken him with me. Why was he standing so close to me when I tripped?

He wasn't moving, how come he wasn't moving off of me. I turned my head to the left and saw that his hand was on the wall. His hand, his perfect hand was braced on the wall next to my face. I couldn't find my voice, even if I had what would I say? Get off me Masen? Or let's skip class and go screw? Shit what is going on? Edward Masen just tripped and here I am thinking about how great his body fees pressed against mine. I took a deep breath and managed to turn around so that I was facing him. If I could get my voice to work maybe I could glare at him hard enough to get him away from me.

I shouldn't have turned around; I was not prepared for the look on his face when he realized it was me who he had pinned to the wall. At least it wasn't disgust, it was a mix between anger and something else, hatred?

"Masen! No fucking in the halls!" I heard one of his wonderful team mates yell. That was all I need to snap me out of whatever haze he put me in.

"Sorry… my fault." I stated hardly above a whisper. I watched as his mouth opened a few times and then pushed him off of me and went to class. I don't think I could handle what he said; it was probably nothing nice anyway.

I kept my head down all of math; I only raised it when the teacher was explaining to us how to do tomorrows homework. I could see Edward in my peripherals, he kept glancing my way and it was making me feel… shit I don't know… strange. He never looked at me, ever. When class was finally over I waited until everyone had left before I made my way to English. I didn't want to have another run in with anyone. I was barely in my seat when Rosalie came up from her seat and squatted in front of me.

"Are you alright?" She asked, why was she asking me if I was alright? Did I look sick or not alright? I furrowed my eyebrows at her and slightly cocked my head to the side. "I heard what happened before first period." What?

"What?" My voice came out slightly shaky. Who the hell has been talking? It lasted all of a few seconds. I think.

"Jessica Stanley saw you and Edward together in the hall." She stated.

I'm going to kill that dumb bitch. She's probably got some rumor about how I'm screwing Edward Masen, and it's just a pity fuck for him because I'm so poor and boring.

"We… I tripped. I think I may have tripped him. He pretty much saved my face from needing stitches." I whispered. I guess it wasn't quiet enough, because I heard a grunt next to me and I jumped. Shit he was sitting there while Rosalie and I talked about him.

She just ignored him, "That's not what Stanley is saying." She stated, almost looking hopeful.

"Jessica Stanley is a stupid whore, she just wants to start rumors so that the one floating around about her having herpes will stop." I glared and turned to face the voice; those were almost the same words I was going to say. He was glaring back, his eyes shifting between Rosalie and me.

I cleared my throat and was about to respond but Rosa beat me to it. "So does that mean you have herpes?" She cocked an eyebrow at him and I tried to hold in my laughter. His face got red and his fists were balled so tight his knuckles turned white. Well shit, Mr. Hotshot was pissed, like what wasn't a first.

"She wishes I fucked her." Was his only response, I could see his chest heaving as he took deep breaths trying to calm himself down.

Rosalie let out a loud laugh which caused him to glare at her. I held my arms around my waist and just stared at her. If I dare look at him I wasn't sure I could hold my laughter in. Before anything more could be said Mrs. McKee came in and started class, Rosalie went back to her seat and I was stuck with a fuming Edward staring straight ahead. I almost wished I had kept my hair down; I would have used it as a wall between the two of us. I couldn't keep my eyes from drifting to him. I never had such a hard time before; all I could think about was how great it felt to have him pressing against me in the hall. It was like some sort of electric charge ran through my body where he was touching. It felt good… no, great.

The moment the bell rang to end class Edward was out the door. I slowly stood up and gathered my things. Rosalie stopped next to me and gave me a small smile.

"So…" She trailed off.

"So?" I asked raising an eyebrow at her.

"Tell me why he was holding you…. the truth," Her smile still on her face.

I rolled my eyes at her, "There was no holding Rosa. Some jocks were throwing a football it almost hit my head. Me being clumsy tried to dodge out of the way and I tripped. I was falling and the next thing I know I'm being pressed into the wall. He said he tripped and that was that." I sighed.

Close enough. I didn't have to tell her how great his body felt against mine or how he didn't even try to move off of me even after I turned around. She let out a nervous laugh as we started out of the classroom; she pulled her cell phone out and started to press buttons. Why is she so nervous all the sudden? We stopped at our lockers exchanging books and clapped me on the shoulder and said she was going to class. I quickly got to class and sighed when I noticed no one was there yet. I took my seat, which was next to Edwards and laid my head down on the table.

I was about to close my eyes when the sound of my phone beeping startled me. I sat up and dug it out of my backpack and groaned at the subject. Fuck.

To: Bella

From: Rosa

Subject: Stanley sent these out

Bells. Stanley sent these out. Call u a whore. Sry.

Attached were two pictures, the first one of Edward; his hands on either side of my body, both of us pressed against the wall in the hall. The second one was pretty much the same except I had turned around to face him, he was looking down at me and I at him. I felt sick. Jessica Stanley sent these pictures to all of her friends claiming I was Edward Masen's newest whore… slut… bimbo. My hands were shaking when I flipped the phone shut and shoved it back into my bag.

What was I supposed to do? I guess I could ignore it, act like I didn't get the pictures pretend that it never happened? The bell rang and I jumped, I hadn't noticed that the classroom was full minus one, Edward wasn't there. The teacher started class and handed out the assignment for the day. I looked up at the clock and noticed ten minutes had passed since class started. Good. He skipped I don't think I could handle doing a lab with him right now. Five more minutes had passed when the door opened and Edward strolled in, a smug smile on his lips. He dropped a note on the teachers' desk and sat next to me. I glared up at him and noticed he had lipstick on his jaw and neck. Figures he was out fucking one of his tramps.

"Ms. Swan, explain the lab to Mr. Masen please." The teacher asked causing me to divert my eyes from glaring at his lipstick clad face.

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath, "Don't worry about it Isabell, I know what the lab is." His voice cut off my train of thought and who the hell was Isabell?

"It's Isabella." I snapped

I didn't say another word to him the rest of the class, we worked on the lab, took notes but not another word was passed between us. Isabell, who did the hell did he think he was? I almost wanted to slap the smirk off his face when I had corrected his mistake. I should have called him some fucked up version of his name. After the teacher gave us an assignment to read I all but ran out of the classroom and to my locker. I don't know what is worse, Edward Masen not knowing who I was, or Edward Masen knowing who I was? Well sort of knew who I was, he couldn't even get my name right. I was glad to have one class without anyone I was friends with; I sat with my head down reading over the assigned work, only a few times would I hear someone whisper about Edward touching me in the hall.

I stopped in my tracks on my way to lunch when I noticed that not only was Emmett Cullen sitting at the table with Rosalie and Alice but Edward was as well. I took the remaining steps and stood next to Rosalie, she looked up at me and I looked at her. I need to talk to her, she got the hint when I shifted my eyes to everyone at the table and stood up with me.

"Did you get my message?" She asked when we got to the line.

I sighed, "Yes… I've been called Masen's whore five times since I left class." And I had been, three of the people were freshmen and two of them were Stanley and Lauren Mallory. I was tempted to ask her how her herpes were but thought against it, I didn't want to get jumped by the walking STD billboards. "Why are they sitting at our table?" I asked giving her a pointed look.

"Emmett wanted to sit with Alice and I, I guess Edward didn't want to sit with Jessica…" She tailed off biting into her bottom lip.

This better be just a one day thing, I don't want to have to sit next to any of them. I wish it were last year, where Rosalie and I sat by ourselves and talked about whatever. We paid for our lunch and I sat down between Rosalie and Alice, I kept my eyes on my tray no way was I going to look at him.

"Isa, about today… Jasper said he has football practice so he should be over around four-thirty. Would you still come over before then and hang out?" Alice asked me, I gave her a half smile.

That would mean that Edward would be gone as well, he was the quarterback after all. I was about to answer her but he beat me too it.

"Alice… it's IsabellA… not Isa." He corrected her on the correct way to say my name emphasizing the A in Bella.

Everyone was staring at the two of us. What the hell is his problem? He can't say my name right and now he wants to go and be an ass to his own fucking sister. I pushed my tray away and started to get up. I was not going to sit next to him, I couldn't do it. No way was I going to knowing I had the next class with him.

"Of course I'll still come over, as long as it's fine with Mr. and Mrs. Cullen." I gave a smile as I pushed my chair in; she stood up and did the same. She had a big smile on her face.

"Oh, yes! Esme and Carlisle said I can have anyone over anytime." She grabbed my arm and we went towards our lockers. I'm not sure why she was coming with me; I just wanted to get away from Edward.

"I don't want her over." I faintly heard Edward talking to Emmett, I looked over my shoulder and saw the Rosalie was glaring at Edward, her arms crossed over her chest and Emmett was laughing. What the hell is his problem? It's not like he even be there and when he is Alice and I will be doing homework not prancing around the house in skimpy little outfits.

"Do you not like it when I call you Isa?" Alice asked. Her usually peppy and happy voice seemed small. I looked at her; she was twisting the bangles on her arm and looking at me.

"No… it's… I don't mind it I just prefer Bella over anything else." I bit my lip.

I should have told her I hated being called Isa, Isabella, and Bella… I wish my name was more normal. Like Jennifer or Amanda or something like that. Her smile returned on her face and she gave me a tight hug.

"Bella it is then!" She laughed as she let me go, this girl is crazy, but in a good way.

"I'm sorry Edward was so rude to you…" I was cut off by her shrugging her shoulders.

"It's fine; I'm not sure what is wrong with him. He is usually very nice, at least at home. I think in the three months that I've known him he has only been an ass maybe twice." She gave a half smile.

That's weird; I could never see him being anything but an ass. I just felt bad that he had to be like that to her of all people. She just screamed fragile and it pissed me off that he had the guts to call her on my name like that, I don't care if it was in front of her friends. I wonder what he is like at home, is he a perfect gentlemen, the perfect son? I doubt it if his mom stopped being friends with my mom when she got rich I highly doubt he had anything perfect and gentlemanly about him.

I made it through Spanish without incident, Alice and Jasper got in trouble once for talking when we were supposed to be working on past tense phrases, I would have got into trouble had I let myself laugh when I saw the look on Alice's face when the teacher called her out on interrupting Mr. Whitlock's time. I was happy that I had sixth period free, and here I was just yesterday thinking I might add another class to my schedule. That would have been stupid, it was good thing I had it free.

I took my books out to a picnic table out in front of the school and started on my math homework. Maybe I could actually finish some homework before school started tomorrow. I wonder if and when I'll get the nerve up to ask Edward about our assignments in Spanish and English. I know we had three months to work on them; I just liked getting a head start on my work. Maybe I could just write my Spanish paper for him and him for me. I wonder if he'd be okay with that, as much of an ass as he was I know enough about him to know he took his school work serious. If he didn't he wouldn't be in all AP classes.

I only got half way through my math homework when I noticed a black Toyota truck sitting in front of the school; I could have sworn I saw that car outside my house yesterday. Maybe I'm being paranoid but I swear I had seen the car… I need to stop reading and watching horror shows. I jumped slightly when a throat cleared next to me; I looked up and noticed that Alice and Edward were standing there.

Shit how long had I been thinking about him and our Spanish work? I gathered my books and shoved them in my bag. We started towards their car and that's when I noticed the truck speed off. Huh, that was very strange.

"What?" Both Edward and Alice asked giving me strange look. Did I say that out loud?

I felt a blush start to creep up my neck, "What's strange?" Alice asked this time.

"Oh… Nothing, just I'm going crazy… I thought that truck had been sitting outside my house yesterday and … it's nothing." I mumbled as I ducked into the backseat.

Way to go and make myself look fucking crazy. The blush was not going away.

B/N

Hello, all. Monkey85's laptop cord has been acting up, and trying to commit suicide something fierce, for the past couple months...So today just after she sent me this chapter to look over, it was not really all that surprising to find another email stating her cord was now in it's last legs of life.

She was trying to get it fixed last I spoke with her, but I said that I would let you all know that if she does not update for the next week or two, it's because her laptop cord is on the fritz. It could be fixed already as far as I know. But, seeing as she is currently on the other side of the world from me, and probably just waking up, I'm not positive.

So, why don't you all give her something to be happy about next time she logs on?

Review people!

It will make her smile, and give a HUGE incentive to write the next update ASAP as soon as she is back online...

...not that she wouldn't any way....:D

~technically a lie.