And I return for a sequence of some of my favourite outtakes so far. With this chapter, I've finally caught up with all those reposts from when I half-deleted this fic, and next chapter we will have fresh meat, my pretties, yes we will!

Apologies for the above vulture!Gollum-ness; I'm just a little excited.

11. COMPLICATIONS

(Bella and Edward watch the video in Biology.)

And then, as the room went black, I was suddenly hyper-aware that Edward was sitting less than an inch from me. I was stunned by the unexpected electricity that flowed through me, amazed that it was possible to be more aware of him than I already was. But the charge kept itself up, seemingly drawing me closer and closer…

What the? My chair was pulling itself closer to Edward, all by itself! I hastily pulled it back to where it was before, shaking my head. It couldn't have been. It had to have been me. Before this could get too embarrassing, I dragged my chair over a little more, and gripped the edge of the table, trying to ignore Edward. Some hopes.

As the TV flickered to life, my eyes, of their own accord, flickered to him. He was sitting in the exact same position I was, chair tilted slightly away, gripping the edge of the desk, covertly looking at me, too. Did he feel the same thing I did? We grinned uneasily at each other, and, embarrassed, turned away again.

At least, I did. Because the next thing I knew, his chair had catapulted across the small distance between us and slammed into mine, making a terrific noise. Everyone turned to look at the same time that I realised that our skin was touching. I shivered. And in the next half a second, I realised that something, not electicity, but something else, was surging through me, fusing me to Edward. I felt… powerful… cold… strong…

And thirsty.

I couldn't figure it out for one brief moment, because I was sure I was thirsty for water. But no. Coke? Juice? I couldn't figure it out. Because a dull, dry ache in my throat demanded something wet and hot and fragrant. Cocoa? I felt a surge of distaste.

Almost a full second had passed, when I realised: blood. I was thirsty for blood. And the smell in the classroom was absolutely wonderful.

I stood up in a blur of motion, lithe and ready to strike. Edward realised what I was going to do, and stood up as fast as he could, almost at the same instant I did.

"No, Bella! No!" he shouted as he made to step closer, presumably to stop me. Unluckily he tripped over the leg of his chair and fell down with a thud, twisted and tangled in his own limbs. I ignored him, focusing instead on the startled faces and absolutely delicious scents before me.

Blood… I wanted blood…

.-.-.-.
(Bella's in gym)

Mercifully, some vestiges of Mike's chivalry still survived; he came to stand beside me.

"Do you want to be a team?"

"Thanks, Mike—you don't have to do this, you know." I grimaced apologetically.

"Don't worry, I'll keep out of your way." He grinned. I shouldered my tennis racquet and hoped he wouldn't regret this.

Five minutes in, I had managed to deal several, regrettably hard, blows to his right shoulder, and two to his right knee. Mike was limping, and his backhand was noticeably weaker than when we had begun—not that I was any judge. I hadn't hit the ball once.

"Sorry, Mike!" I called helplessly. And we still had ten minutes to go. Mike nodded and winced, clasping his shoulder.

"Sorry," I said again, wincing for him.

"Let's just get this over with," he said, almost roughly. I couldn't really blame him.

So we played. We were up 30-15 when one of our opponents, taking advantage of the fact that I was the weakest link in this partnership, lobbed the ball high over the net—right near where I was standing, at the back of the court. I stared up at it. I might actually have a shot at hitting this one!

Mike, who was, by now, used to playing our game all by himself, ran for the ball, his racquet outstretched, just as I pulled back to swing my own.

Meanwhile, the ball was falling. I swung and missed. Mike swung and connected—with my head. I fell.

"Sorry, Bella!" he shouted, twisting around to look at me apologetically. His racquet followed. His racquet followed. While it didn't hit me, it did hit the tennis ball—which slammed into me. Hard.

"30-all!" called Coach Clapp.

"Sorry Bella!" Mike said again, swinging wildly for the ball, regardless of Coach Clapp's judgement. He hit me twice in painfully quick succession, each time apologising profusely. As the bruises rose, I was beginning to suspect that he wasn't really that sorry at all. My suspicions were confirmed when he hit me again, even though the ball was completely off the court.

"Oh, did I hit you? Sorry, Bella!" he shouted, panting hard. He hit me again, hard enough to hurt. I yelled in pain. My other Mike-inflicted injuries were beginning to throb.

"Mike?" Coach Clapp and I shouted together. He ignored the both of us, and hit me again and again, a grin on his face.

"Mike, what are you doing?" I screamed. He was hurting me!

"Oh, does it hurt, Bella?" he panted, smiling strangely. His next blow to my bruised and battered head drew blood. I could barely take the pain anymore. And then, as he swung back for the next blow, he began to laugh, wildly, madly. I was terrified.

"MIKE!" Coach Clapp was running over to restrain him, but it was too late. The final blow came down, and everything went black…

So much for chivalry.

12. BALANCING
(Billy and Jacob have come over. Bella's in the kitchen making toasted sandwiches. Jacob joins her.)

"Jacob, could you hand me some plates? They're in the cupboard over the sink."

"Sure."

He reached straight over my head and took out four plates. I sighed dramatically as I flipped the sandwiches over.

"What?" he wanted to know as he handed them to me.

"It's just that you're so much taller than me," I explained. "You've gotta be at least seven feet by now, am I right?"

He grinned. "Actually, I'm—"

I held a hand out to cut him off, and joked, "Please. I don't want to know! It's so unfair!"

For some reason, that struck us both as incredibly funny. We started laughing, and just couldn't stop. It was that kind of day.

"Hey," Jacob said a few minutes later, when we were gasping for breath.

"Yeah?"

"You know what else is unfair?"

"Yeah…?" I wasn't sure where this was going. If he was going to mention the beach…

But my fears were laid to rest when he said, "I can juggle." He knew this was one thing I couldn't do- my clumsiness would definitely not allow it.

"Um. Great for you, Jacob?" I clapped really slowly, emphasising that I wasn't exactly what you'd call impressed.

He wasn't downcast, however. "Watch this!" he said, and reached for two of the plates that I had set down on the counter, ready for the sandwiches.

"Jacob, no; they're breakable!" But I was too late. Jacob Black set both plates spinning: one on his right fingertip, and the other on his head. I looked down and cringed, waiting for the crash that I was expecting very soon. But, to my surprise, it never came.

"Bella, watch." I obeyed him. Somehow, he simultaneously managed to slip the one plate off his head, throw it, and the other plate into the air, and add a third one to the mix. Now he was juggling. And he hadn't dropped anything so far. I loosened up a little.

"Hey, Jake, that's pretty good!" I said. "Can you do anything else?"

"Sure," he said. "Watch this!" Quick as lightning, he grabbed a fourth plate and tossed it up.

I stepped back to the other side of our medium-sized kitchen to give him some room, and bumped against the fruit bowl. This gave me an idea.

"Hey, can you take an orange, too?"

"Sure!" he laughed. I threw one across the room. He caught it with ease, and started what looked like a complicated routine. I felt a twinge of envy.

"You kids having fun in there?" called Charlie from the front room.

"Yeah!" Jacob called at the same time as I did. We started laughing again. Amazingly, he still hadn't dropped anything.

"Where did you learn to do this?" I wanted to know.

"Down on the rez, we have summer programs. I learnt to do this last year." He grinned. "Pass me another one."

"Okay." Another orange flew over to join the party.

"Apple!" I, obligingly, threw one over.

"Orange! Apple! Orange! Orange!" I threw as he dictated. Some of my throws (well, okay, all of them) were a little wild, but he always managed to catch the fruit without missing a beat. I couldn't tell how many things he had in the air now—all I knew was that he was juggling incredibly well, and incredibly fast.

I guess we'd been having so much fun that we forgot about the sandwiches. That is, until Jacob sniffed the air. "Is something burning?" The objects flew in a blur around his head.

"The sandwiches!" I cried. About to dart forward, I suddenly realised that there was no way I could get to them without going through Jacob. Oh no.

I tried to remain calm as I asked, "Hey, Jake, do you think you're able to move?"

"I don't actually think I can," he said, looking worried. "I might hit something."

"Oh, great." There was smoke in the air now, and the smell was worsening.

I coughed. "Can you stop juggling?"

A plate wobbled, and it was a second or two before Jacob could speak again. "Umm… I don't think so." He looked sheepishly at me, still juggling.

After that, there didn't seem to be too much else to say. We stood there, Jacob juggling, staring at the blackening sandwiches.

Suddenly Charlie appeared in the doorway, looking puzzled.

"Bella, what's that smell?"

"Aurggh!" Jacob jumped and let out a yell you could have heard halfway to Seattle, dropping every single thing in the process. Plates and fruit rained down with a crash. I tried to avoid the worst of the debris.

As I rushed to turn the grill off, Billy wheeled to the doorway and surveyed the scene before him with a grim eye.

I had a feeling Jacob wasn't going to be attending any more La Push summer programs.

.-.-.-.
(Bella meets Alice)

"Hello, Bella." Her brilliant obsidian eyes were unreadable, but her face was friendly. "It's nice to finally meet you."

Edward flashed a dark look at her.

"Finally?" I asked, mystified.

"Oh, yeah!" her face suddenly warmed. "He's always moody when the sun's out and he can't see you, and he talks about you all the time. It's all he does. And then at night—"

Edward coughed. "Yes, well, I'll meet you at the car, Alice." She took the hint, and left without another word. I considered the past ten seconds. A warm glow wanted to rise up inside of me: he was as in love with me as I was with him! But something still confused me.

"What was that about at night?" I asked him as we watched her walked away.

He looked uncomfortable, for some reason. "Oh, nothing."

Hope you enjoyed it! Please review, it's nice to know what you think! And tune in next time for the in/famous meadow scene. I can only hope I do it justice...