Alright, so I know this is short but I haven't been doing a very good job of updating regularly and I wanted to post something this week for you guys. Even though it's short, this chapter is pretty important...especially in terms of character development and all that good stuff. Hope you like.

Chapter Four

EPOV

"I don't care what you say; Nelly isn't a reliable narrator either."

I sighed and ran a hand through my already fucked up hair. I had to clench my fists because I was so god-damned frustrated. There was just no reasoning with this girl.

"She's the closest to the situation and she knows Catherine and Heathcliff probably better than anyone. How does that make her untrustworthy?" I bit out in exasperation.

Shit, after three meetings, you'd think we'd have gotten over this. Wrong.

"That's exactly why she's untrustworthy," Bella retorted, crossing her arms over her chest which, of course, made her cleavage that much more visible. Nice.

"She's too close to them. She can't see the situation objectively." She continued, completely unaware of my ogling.

"Just because she's close to the situation doesn't mean she can't see it for what it really is. She knows that Heathcliff and Catherine are bad for each other and that's why she doesn't get involved with all their fucking drama."

"Whatever," Bella exhaled, blowing the hair out of her face. "Let's just agree to disagree and move on, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Thank fucking God.

She started flipping through the book again to figure out what we should discuss next just as Emmett walked into the kitchen.

"You kids playing nice?" He said, wiggling his eyebrows like the fucking retard he was.

"Of course, Em." Bella replied without even looking up at him and he just bent down and ruffled her hair.

Em? Since when the fuck did she call him that? Since when the fuck were her and Emmett friends? Ever since our first little rendezvous, things had changed. Somehow, all three of them, Alice, Rosalie, and Bella, had finagled seats at the boys' table. This did not sit well with me. At all. The boys table meant boys only. It was plain and simple and a well known fact around school that that was our table and no one else sat there. Ever. So why in God's name did the appearance of this girl suddenly throw everything into the shitter? There was just no explanation for it.

Actually I take that back. I knew exactly why Jasper and Emmett, in particular, were in the midst of Bella-worship. That goddamn, motherfucking stunt she pulled at the video store. To Emmett and Jasper, it was nothing short of legendary. Which wasn't saying much, considering the source but whatever.

Sure, I had expected Alice to immediately pounce on being friends with her and for Rosalie to follow suit just because. But Jasper and Emmett? What the fuck? It was like all five of them were suddenly one big happy family, not to mention the fact that Jasper was getting a little too friendly with my cousin…but that was beside the point. They all seemed to be joined at the hip in school, with me trailing behind, pouting like a little baby, and I knew it was only a matter of time until all three girls had successfully infiltrated boys' night.

Hell, Bella already had. One down, two to go.

What the fuck was going on here?

"Hey, can I ask a stupid question?" Bella was looking at me now.

"Uh…sure."

"Why are your parents never home?"

Huh. Well, better to be honest, I guess. Not like it really mattered all that much anyways.

"Well…it's complicated."

Her mouth curved into a little smile and I felt myself wanting to smile back.

"I'm sure I can keep up."

"Ah…well…I'm sure you already know that my dad is a doctor," I paused so she could nod. "Yeah, so he travels around the country a lot to for conferences and to give lectures. I'm not entirely sure where he goes every weekend…we don't seem to talk long enough for that to actually happen…"

Shit, why was I telling her all of this? I didn't need to go into the details and she probably didn't really want to know either…

"And my mom is a lawyer so she's in Seattle most of the time to meet with clients and everything so…"

"So, basically, they work too much and neglect you too much?" She asked thoughtfully.

Well, that was a rare reaction from her. I wasn't sure what to make of all this. Maybe she fell and hit her head or something.

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say neglected…that's probably exaggerating…but for what it's worth, I always have the house to myself on the weekends, which definitely has more advantages than disadvantages." I said with a cocky smile, my thoughts going back to all the times that had definitely been to my advantage.

"Right…so you can commit debauchery and fornicate every weekend?" She replied, cocking her head to one side.

Ah. There she is.

"Exactly. I'm glad you understand."

That's pretty much how these meetings were playing out. We did our work. We wrote shit down. We argued. We argued some more. We wrote shit down. Then we argued some more. And then I took her home. It was a fucked up routine but it was a routine nonetheless. Aunt Esme probably couldn't have hoped for much more from us and should probably be thanking her lucky fucking stars that Bella and I had murdered each other yet.

The next day at school went exactly how every other day was seeming to go. Jasper panted after Alice. Rosalie and Emmett were too busy scoping out the nearest closet or empty classroom to duck in to notice anything or anyone else. And Bella and I politely ignored each other as much as possible. Sure, we interacted if we absolutely had to. But I'm talking opposite ends of the lunch table polite. She kept her distance and so did I.

If anything, we seemed to have figured out a way to keep our differences aside and actually produce quality work. Aunt Esme praised it regularly, which to my surprise, had Bella looking pretty embarrassed. Her face never failed to turn beet red whenever Aunt Esme mentioned our stellar work in class. I really didn't see what the big deal was and there was something to be said about taking recognition where it was due. That was a lesson Bella obviously hadn't learned yet.

B y lunch, everything going fine. I was somehow keeping Jessica as far away from my dick as possible and it wasn't for her lack of trying. I got an A on my Spanish test and considering I hadn't had a chance to even think about studying on the bus the night before, I'd say that was pretty fucking spectacular. We had another game tonight and we were going to kick some La Push fucking ass. So all in all, when I sat down at our regular table, I was having a pretty damn good day.

Of course that was all shot to hell in the span of about five minutes.

The landslide started when Bella plopped down right next to me. Now, already, I knew something was up. She never, and I mean never, sat next to me if she could help it. I wasn't complaining but it was a plain and simple fact. She never sat next to me. All my quality time spent with chicks had well-equipped me to analyze the situation. There was really only one reason for the sudden seating arrangement upheaval. So, the question was, what the fuck did she want?

"Hey Edward." She said quietly.

She was purposefully refusing to look me in the eye. Yeah, something was definitely fucking up.

"Hey…so what do you want?" I said cockily, just to prove to her that I read right through her little game.

Naturally, the shields immediately went up. "Oh, so, just because I'm sitting to you next today means I want something from you?"

I frowned. "Well…yeah…"

"Jesus fucking Christ…are we going to meet tonight or what?"

Oo…the claws were out.

"Uh…I have a game tonight so I probably won't be much help to you and anyways, the guys and I always have a little shindig at my place anyways…"

Her brows furrowed like she had forgotten or something. "Shindig? Don't you have big parties at your house after games?"

"Only on weekends." I smirked.

"Ah. I see….alright, so I guess we'll have to reschedule then…"

I was about to answer her when dumb fucking Emmett just had to butt in like the little backstabbing asshole he was.

"Why don't you just come over after our game, Bells? It's only an hour." He grinned and I wanted to punch him in the fucking face.

This wasn't happening. Boys' night was sacred. What the fuck was he doing inviting her over? Especially after a game. Fucker had lost his damn mind.

"Wait, so you and Jasper will be there too tonight?" Alice was asking Emmett now.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"Well, yeah…it's tradition. We sit around, watch ESPN, drink a couple brewskies, you know…boys' night."

Oh no, oh no, oh no…fuck this shit right up the ass. I was going to murder Emmett in his fucking sleep tonight.

"So, that's all you guys do?" Rosalie was asking now.

Not good.

"Yeah, it's not a big deal." Jasper chimed in.

Et tu, Jasper?

"So…would it be alright if we came with Bella then?" Alice was giving her best puppy dog eyes to Jasper. He didn't stand a fucking chance. Shit.

"Uhh…" he stammered. "I guess…I guess that would be okay, right Emmett?"

Emmett just mumbled out a response, his eyes locked on Rosalie, who was giving him 'the eyes'. I had a bad feeling she was doing something completely school inappropriate to him under the table but I wasn't about to look to find out.

"What do you think, Edward? Is it alright if they come with? You wouldn't have to pick me up or bring me home then…I could just ride with Alice and Rosalie." Bella said to me quietly.

I knew exactly what was going to happen if I said yes. This was going to become a fucking routine. All three chicks were going to start regularly infiltrating boys' night whenever they pleased until there wasn't anymore boys' night. And while I was positive I was the only one of my friends left with their testicles intact, I didn't want to be the asshole and say no. Besides, I couldn't really think of a legitimate reason against it, especially after the ironclad point Bella had just made. So, really, I didn't have much of a choice.

"Well…I don't see why not. But after me and Bella are done, I'm kicking you ladies out." I stated. There. One hour of boys' night was all I was willing to sacrifice for these chicks. Jasper and Emmett fucking owed me for life. For. Life.

"Shut up, Edward." Alice yelled over to me from the opposite end of the table.

If she wasn't my fucking cousin…

God, Jasper had no idea what he was getting himself into.

"Alright, so one of you guys will just let us know when to come over, right?" Bella asked, blowing out a breath and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

Now, I still had my issues with Bella. She was a pain in my ass, smart as hell, but a pain in my ass nonetheless. And sometimes, I wanted to fucking strangle her. But every time she did that thing with her hair, I wanted to tangle my hands in it for hours. It just looked so goddamn soft. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to touch it.

And that wasn't at all creepy in any way, shape, or form.

Absolutely not.

Bella is a bitch. Bella is a bitch. Bella is a bitch.

Anyways, by the time I had gotten fucking hold of myself, lunch was over and I had to figure out how to make through the rest of this day without shoving a pencil in my eye. And everything had been going so well.

__________

Well, at least I didn't get hurt during the game. That would have been the icing on my fucked-in-the-ass cake. And we beat those cocky La Push motherfuckers and that was almost enough to completely re-boost my spirits…and then I remembered the ass backwards plans for the evening to celebrate our big win.

Of course, if this game had taken place on a Friday or Saturday, boys' night would have been pushed aside for an all-out, massive brain-cell reduction shit show of a celebration but it was a Thursday. So that would just have to wait for tomorrow night because not only did we have yet another game (and fuck if our game schedule wasn't a cleat to the balls), but we were going to win that one too.

Despite my last ditch efforts to derail the evening, like the whipped bitch he was, Emmett called Rosalie to tell them to come over. The absolute last thing I wanted to do was deal with those three chicks. All three of them annoyed me for variously annoying reasons and I was sore and tired and all I fucking wanted to do was have a beer, watch some TV, and sleep. Fuck, if I wanted to perform half as good tomorrow as I did tonight, I needed to rest up.

They had an hour. That was fucking it.

I had barely gotten out of the shower when I heard that little hellion burst through the front door. She probably pounced right on Jasper. That poor, poor bastard.

There was some commotion which I assumed was Rosalie mauling Emmett right in my house. Nothing like an orgy in the middle of your living room. Of course, when said orgy participants are your best friends and their respective bitches…yeah, not as appealing.

Despite my better judgment, I headed to the living room only to find Rosalie straddling Emmett on my couch and Jasper trying to up the balls to put his arm around my cousin. This was the most pathetic display I'd ever seen in my life. Bella was far off to the side, shifting her feet nervously. She definitely looked as uncomfortable with the situation as I felt. Well, I guess that was one thing we had in common.

When she saw me, I motioned with my head towards the kitchen and she scrambled for her backpack to get the hell outta there.

As soon as we were safely in the kitchen, she plopped her backpack on the table and pushed her hair off her forehead. Again with the hair. I think I shivered a little. No, no I didn't.

"Sorry about all this…I know you probably not very happy right now but there wasn't much I could do about it." She exhaled.

I just shrugged. "Ah…don't worry about it. I don't think there was anything either one of us could really do about this whole thing so…"

She was watching me very carefully and that made me very nervous. I fucking hated that shit. I never got nervous around chicks. Fucking never.

"Well…I guess we should get to work then." She said quietly.

I shoved my hands in front pockets and rolled back a little on my heels, suddenly feeling even more uncomfortable than I had in the room with the fornicators.

"Yeah…"

Awkward.

Ten minutes later, we were fucking arguing. Big surprise there.

"That is complete bullshit! I don't care what you think…Cathy is manipulative bitch!" I spat out.

She pulled a hand through her hair and tossed it over her shoulder again. For a split second, my frustration wavered. Then I remembered why she pissed me off so fucking much.

"If that's what you think then you are exactly the type of guy I've always thought you were!" She yelled back at me.

"Oh really? And what's that? One that isn't interesting in putting his dick in you?"

She froze and for a moment, I was nervous she was going to slap me. I was actually a little shocked when she didn't.

"You're a fucking asshole."

"Tell me something I don't know."

She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. I was actually enjoying myself though. As much as she pissed me off, there was nothing I liked more than seeing Bella red with fury. She swung her hair around again and I was beginning to think she was doing that on fucking purpose…like she knew what that shit did to me.

She took a deep breath and blew it out before speaking again. "Alright, so…instead of ripping each other's throats out, we should probably be talking this through. "

"Fine."

"Why, exactly, is Cathy a manipulative bitch?"

Hmm…how to explain the term manipulative bitch to an equally manipulative bitch without getting your eyes scratched out?

"Well…the thing is…she's spoiled brat who always gets what she want…and if she doesn't, she throws a temper tantrum like the immature little baby she is. She doesn't care what Heathcliff wants and definitely doesn't give a shit about his happiness because she ran off and married that Linton guy. She left him to fucking rot and she'll get everything she deserves."

There. Take that and run with it.

Watching her fume was fucking priceless. Truth be told, I didn't even agree with half the shit I just said. I just liked pissing her off.

Instead of flipping her shit like I was expecting, she just cocked her head and smirked at me.

"You sound just like Heathcliff."

What the fuck?

"What the fuck?"

She smirked again, like she was laughing about some inside joke I didn't have a shot in hell at ever understanding. Needless to say, I did not like where this was headed at all. I didn't have any major problems with the character of Heathcliff but when it came right down to it, I didn't want to be compared to that guy either. Dude was fucked up.

"Always blaming Cathy for everything."

Fuck that.

"Well, it's all her fault anyway."

Now that I completely agreed with.

She crossed her arms over her chest again and narrowed her eyes.

Uh oh. Not good.

"Oh so it's always the woman's fault then?"

I just shrugged that one off. She wasn't going to corner me into the misogynist trap if I could help it.

"In this case, it is."

She nodded with a weird smile on her face that was pretty fucking unnerving to say the least. I really didn't like where this was going.

"You know…there's been something about Heathcliff that I hadn't been able to put my finger on…something really familiar…until tonight. You're just like Heathcliff."

Hold the phone. Back up. What the fuck?

"I hope you're not implying what I think you're implying."

"I most definitely am."

"That's bullshit."

She smiled and leaned back in her chair. "No it isn't. Not when you think about it at least."

I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head. "Fine…enlighten me, oh wise Bella."

"Well, it's pretty easy when you think about it. All of this…" she waved her hands around the room like it was supposed to mean something. "All of the crazy parties, your attitude…the girls…everything…you're just completely overcompensating for something…just like Heathcliff."

I had nothing to say to that. It was too fucking crazy to dignify with a response. So she just kept right on talking.

"You don't like yourself...you don't like some of the things you have to do but I think you're really just doing it for attention…you know, the whole mom and dad don't pay attention to me, don't love me enough so I'm going to act out as much as I can so no one can see how much it affects me. And…to top it off, I think you think you're owed all this attention because of it."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, really. Oh and you know what else?"

"Try me." I bit out through clenched teeth.

"I think the reason why you have so many commitment issues is because you have no idea how to get what you want without ruining it."

What. The. Fuck.

Where did she get off saying that shit? She didn't fucking know anything about me…well, two can play at this game, honey.

"You know, I think you take a good hard look at your own analysis. You know, if you really think about it, you're kinda like Catherine too."

She scoffed at that and rolled her eyes. "Please. You're just saying that because I hurt your feelings."

"You didn't hurt anything. I'm just pointing out the facts."

"Fine. Bring it on."

Oh…it's on. It's on like Donkey Kong.

"Considering this is all in theory, right?"

She nodded with a smirk. "Well…theories that are being proven."

I rolled my eyes. "Right, anyways…let's think about Catherine for a second. What's the main reason why Catherine chooses not to be with Heathcliff?"

"She doesn't choose not to be with him…she can't."

I nodded. "Right, but why? Come on, Bella…you've said this yourself before. What's the one thing keeping Catherine and Heathcliff apart?"

She frowned and bit her lip. "Society."

Bingo.

"Right. You've said a million times in our meetings that the main reason they can't be together is because society won't let them but you've been wrong this entire time. Society is indirectly at fault here. Catherine is the one that cares too much what society thinks to allow it to happen. She doesn't want to be a social outcast so she casts out Heathcliff instead."

"Alright. But I still don't see what this has to do with me."

"Well, I'm getting to that part. So…let's get back to you then. You come into town, all high and mighty and shit and throwing accusations around, claiming you have a zero tolerance policy for assholes. You know, all this bullshit about you not wanting to have anything to do with guys that are only after one thing and all that. But you know what? I think the real reason you dreamed all that up is because you don't want anyone here to think you're a slut. You care too much about what everyone thinks so…in doing that, you're not letting yourself do what you really want to do."

She was not happy.

"Which is?"

"Come on, Bella…you haven't given any guy here in Forks a chance. You just automatically assume that every single one is just after some pussy. Now, that may be true about some of them but definitely not all of them. But you haven't given anyone a chance so you wouldn't know, would you?"

I sat back and folded my hands in front of my on the table for effect. She probably needed a little time to let all that shit I just spewed sink in. Serves her fucking right.

"That…that…that's not true…God, you're such an asshole!" She finally stammered out angrily.

"You know I'm right…besides, the thing that really gets me is that if Heathcliff had no idea how to get what he wanted, then Cathy definitely didn't. You guys are both too afraid of what everyone thinks to even give it a try."

"Maybe Cathy was realistic enough to know there wasn't a chance in hell of it ever working out, she didn't bother." Bella whispered back angrily.

I shrugged. "Maybe…but you know I have a point."

Bella took a quick glance at the clock and sighed, probably out of relief.

"Time's up."

"Thank God."

So how accurate do you think all their observations were? I think they're pretty spot on but that's just me. Anyways, let me know what you think!