a/n- sorry this took so long, i had it done but was working on the next chapter and didn't want to post till i got it done, and my life has been busy with all sorts of end of the year stuff. let's see if it gets less crazy now that school is out :)

please review! ;)

i don't own anything :(

EDWARD

I got to school early on Wednesday so I could talk to Mr. Banner, pulling into the parking lot before most of the student population. I parked way at the back of the lot like always, it made it easier to get out of the lot at the end of the day and I loved my car and didn't want it too close to some of these kids. My parents had given me my Volvo for my 16th birthday.

Banner suggested I sign up to tutor other students, he told me I could use it as extra credit and it would look good on my college applications. He was putting together a tutoring program this year, I had to go up to the office and sign up, listing the classes I could help with, and he'd pair me with a student who needed help. The bonus was that I could work it around my schedule which was great because cross country season was starting up. When I left the classroom I still had some time till first period so I went up to the office, to sign up like Banner told me to.

As I passed the parking lot, I found myself scanning it, looking for faded red. Ugh. I wanted to kick myself. I was looking for Bella's truck, I didn't see it though. Between classes I found myself searching the crowds for Bella. Any glimpse of Bella's hair, Bella's eyes, Bella's face. I was making myself sick. Especially since I kept reminding myself that she'd be sitting beside me in biology, and I was counting down till that time. I was disgusting. I hadn't spoken to her at all, I knew nothing about her. For all I knew she was a fucking ax murderer. OK that wasn't really all that likely but, really I didn't know this girl from Eve. She could be just like every other girl at Forks High though, but I couldn't bring myself to believe that.

At lunch I still hadn't spotted Bella. Though really I shouldn't have been to surprised, I hadn't seen her yesterday before lunch either. I got to the cafeteria earlier today, picking an empty table nearer to where Emmett usually sat. Thinking that he'd some how manage to get Bella to sit with him again, all part of his fucked up game with Rose.

Emmett came in a few minutes later with a tray filled with food and sat down at his table with a few of his jock buddies. Rosalie found her way to me, unfortunately. She slided into the seat next to me, placing her diet coke on the table. "Hey Eddie."

"Don't fucking call me that." I couldn't fucking stand being called Eddie, the only people I tolerated it from were family.

"Oh, come on."

"What do you want Rose?" I asked taking a bite of my pizza.

"I just thought you could use some company," Rosalie said, trailing her manicured nail down my arm.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Emmett watching us, I 'm sure Rosalie was also watching him. "Actually Rose, I was quite content on my own." I reached up and ran my hand through my hair, when I placed my hand back on the table Rosalie grabbed it. I'm sure Emmett saw that too, because he suddenly stood up and headed for the door. I shook my hand loose from Rosalie's while she grinned, it was sickening.

I looked to where Emmett had been sitting and realized, Bella wasn't there.

BELLA

I woke up about 9, big oops on my part, I didn't set my alarm and knew that Charlie had to be out the door early. I got up, showered and headed out to the Beast. It was gray again and drizzly, it was worse than the rain. Drizzle felt heavy and thick, while rain was cleansing. I pulled my pack of cigarettes out of the glove box and lit one, then jammed my key into the ignition. Taking a drag from my cigarette, I threw my head back against the seat and closed my eyes. I turned on the radio and continued to smoke.

I was on my third cigarette when my cell phone went off. "Hey," I answered.

"So, Bells, are you planning on going to school today?"

"They called you huh?"

"Yep."

"Are you the truancy officer?"

"If I need to be. So?"

"I overslept. I'm on my way now."

"Alright," Charlie said. "You've got 10 minutes to check into the office, before one of my deputies starts looking for you."

Talk about abuse of power. I shook my head, this was fucking stupid. "I'm in my truck I'll be there."

"Bye Bells, have a good day," he said, his voice overly bright.

I hung up. Shaking my head again I fired up the Beast, lit cigarette number 4 and head out. I was going to have to get someone to buy me more cigarettes, more than one pack this time. At the school the parking lot was pretty much full, I backed into the first spot I saw, way at the back of the lot. Then I checked in at the office like Charlie had told me to, the secretary smiled way too much. She obviously though this shit was funny.

"Your supposed to come back after your last class and pick up work for the classes you missed this morning," she said, grinning cheerfully.

Fucking bull shit.

I sighed and nodded once, turning on my heel and walking out the door. I walked into my English class about five minutes late, at least this was the last class before lunch. I slunk into a seat near the back of the room, barely acknowledging the snide greeting from the teacher. I spent the rest of the hour fuming, and desperate for a cigarette. I had to admit, Charlie was good. The score currently was Bella 0, Charlie 2. I had to give him a point for not jumping all over my ass about the smoking too.

When the bell finally rang I jumped up and bolted for the door.

"Hey! Hey, Bella." Mike shouted out behind me.

I slowed slightly, looking over my shoulder at him, but kept heading toward my truck. "Yeah?"

"Where you going?" he was jogging in order to catch up.

"Nowhere," I said as I reached my truck. I unlocked the door and leaned in over the seat, plucking my cigarettes from the glove box. As I straighted out I caught Mike's eyes on my ass, he looked up slowly. When he realized he'd been caught he quickly looked up at the sky. I lit my cigarette. "Mike how old are you?"

"17."

"Damn."

"Bella, I don't think you can smoke here. I mean we're on school grounds."

I rolled my eyes at him, Mike was a fucking pussy and I was fighting the urge to tell him that. But figured now wasn't the time to be pissing people off that I might be able to use down the road. "Hm." I leaned against the side of the truck as Mike stood awkwardly nearby. His eyes kept darting back and forth, and he was stiff. "You don't have to stay out here."

"No. It's OK. I mean how much trouble could you get into? You are the police chief's daughter."

I snorted, "How much trouble is there to get into?"

"Are you hungry Bella?" Mike asked as I finished up my cigarette. "We could head into the cafeteria and get something to eat."

"Nope, I 'm good. Had a late breakfast." I pulled out another cigarette and put it between my lips, though I didn't light it yet. "If you need to go get something though, go ahead, I'll be fine. I'm just gonna hang out here. It's actually not raining. Now if the sun would just shine." I dropped my head back leaning it against my truck and looking up at the sky. I pulled mindlessly at the chain around my neck.

"What's that Bella?"

"Huh?" The unlit cigarette fell from my mouth, I barely caught it with my other hand. Mike had caught me off guard. I lifted my head, and he motioned at hand. "Oh. It's nothing," I quickly dropped the chain. I felt it's weight as it hit my chest. I looked at Mike, his eyes were still on the bottom of the chain. I grabbed the gold ring hanging from it and lifted it, dropping it down the front of my shirt. The cold metal touched my skin, I inhaled sharply as it hit just between my breasts. Mike raised an eyebrow at me, but said nothing. I fiddled with the cigarette in my hand.

"Bella," came a shout from across the parking lot. Mike's face dropped as we looked and saw Emmett bounding toward us. I caught Mike's eye and smiled at him genuinely. I appreciated that he had pushed his questioning, and wanted him to know that. He smiled back before Emmett made it to us. "What the hell are you doing out here?" I waved my cigarette at him. "Ah."

I shrugged as I lit it.

"Ah, I'm gonna go grab something to eat," Mike said. "I'll see you in bio Bella?"

"I'd guess so. I'm sure Good Ol' Chief Charlie will have one of his deputies on my ass if I'm not." I pointed toward the main office with my cigarette, "These fuckers called him this morning when I wasn't in class."

"Yeah that's pretty much standard procedure around here. If you miss more than one class they call your parents," Mike explained.

"That's fucked up."

He shrugged. "Well, I'll see you later," Mike said as he turned and walked back toward the school.

"Man, Bella. You've been here less than a week and you've already got the fuzz on your tail, huh?" Emmett joked.

I smiled. "Why the hell do you think I'm here, Emmett?"

"Huh, I guess I hadn't thought about that. Why are you here?"

"I'm not gonna get into that, Emmett. It's a long fucked up story." Shaking my head, I tried to smile, but I'm sure it didn't reach my eyes. "Hey Emmett, if I gave you some cash do you think you could pick me up a few more packs of cigarettes and a lighter? I could just get them from you tomorrow."

"Um. Sure, Bella. I guess." Emmett was had a strange look on his face as he eyed me up and down.

"I don't usually smoke this much," for some reason I felt the need to defend myself. "This whole move was pretty stressful." I leaned my head back against the truck again, and laughed quietly, pretty stressful, that was the understatement of the year, if not the decade.

"What?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking." Neither one of us said anything for a moment. "So, Emmett, why does have a been warned about hanging out with you?"

Emmett tensed up, "Warned by who?"

"Good Ol' Chief Charlie."

He relaxed a bit,"Oh."

"Why who should have warned me?"

"I don't know."

"Emmett you totally got bent out of shape when I asked you that."

"No I didn't."

"Yeah. You did." Emmett shrugged. "What gives?"

"My girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend," he shrugged again, "and here you are busy monopolizing all my time," I said smiling at him. "I could have been spending quality time with an available boy instead I'm hanging here with you."

"I bought you cigarettes."

"Oh that's right. All is forgiven. So what's the deal?"

"Ah, Rose got pissed at me. I think 'cause I couldn't drive her to go shopping last weekend 'cause I had football practice. So she told me that our relationship wasn't important enough to me."

"So you thought you'd hang all over the new girl to make her jealous?"

"Well, she always does it to me. She starts hanging all over my little brother."

"This isn't a first."

"Nah, Rose and I breakup at least twice a year."

I laughed, "How long have you guys been dating?"

"Since freshman year."

"Emmett, don't take this the wrong way but, you're kinda fucked up in the head." Emmett laughed loudly. I wanted to add that his girlfriend sounded like a total bitch, but I didn't. "She flirts with your fucking brother?" I said softly, shaking my head, he nodded.

"Are you pissed."

"No. I mean really I'm only hanging out with you 'cause Charlie told me not to."

"Really?" I nodded. After a brief second Emmett's face lit up into a dimple inducing grin, "We should totally hang out more." I looked at him. "Seriously, Rose fucking hates that I sat with you at lunch, and Chief Charlie doesn't want you around me. It's perfect."

"Hm," really I didn't mind this plan. I wasn't entirely sure as to how mixed up I wanted to get in Emmett's fucked up relationship, especially not being sure what kind of a crazy bitch this Rose girl was. But, I liked hanging out with Emmett, he was nice, kinda goofy, really easy to be around. Part of me kinda wondered if Charlie really had an issue with him or if he had set this whole thing up. I wouldn't put it past him to use reverse psychology to get me to hang out with someone he really approved of. He just might be sneaky like that.

"Come on, Bella. You know you wanna be my friend," Emmett smiled. "I'm fun. I throw the best parties. I'm having one this weekend actually, and your gonna come."

"Party, huh?"

"Yep, my folks are out of town."

I grinned and looked up at him through my eyelashes, "Hm, I'll think about it. 'Kay?"

Emmett laughed, "What the hell else are you going to do?"

"Good point. Though really I'll have to see if Good Ol' Chief Charlie will let me out of the house."

"He wouldn't?"

"Who the hell knows. He did threaten to sick his deputies on me today if I didn't get to school." Emmett laughed loudly. "Glad you find it amusing."

Emmett and I talked for awhile longer till the bell rang. "Let's go Bella. We don't want the cops showing up cause you were late to class. Might take them away from a real Forks emergency," he said picking me up and tossing me over his shoulder. "Where're we headed?"

"Biology. But really Emmett, I can walk there."

"This is faster," Emmett said.

He'd picked up his pace to a brisk jog, my head was bouncing everywhere. "Emmett, put me down," I shouted, Emmett laughed. I swear I could feel my brain hitting one side of my skull and then the other, as the ground would get closer and further, closer, further. I tried closing my eyes, too late, my stomach was in a knot. "Seriously Emmett."

Then he stopped. He flung me down, setting me on my feet. Well, he tried to put me on my feet. My knees buckled underneath me I was falling backward. "Oh shit," Emmett shouted trying to grab around my waist. Suddenly I stopped falling, Emmett's hands were still outstretched toward me but I knew I hadn't hit the ground. I was confused and dizzy, I felt something firm under my arms. "Good catch Eddie."

"What the hell?" I mumbled.

EDWARD

Once Emmett had left the cafeteria Rosalie was quick to depart from the seat beside me. I was glad to be rid of her. I ran my hand through the front of my hair and scanned the cafeteria. Bella was nowhere in sight.

When the bell rang I headed toward biology, I was almost to the classroom door when I heard Emmett's laugh. Someone was yelling at him, I turned. Emmett was coming toward me, the yelling was coming from the girl he had slung over his shoulder. Good God. It had to be Bella, why else would he be in this part of the school. Bella was yelling at Emmett to put him down and he seemed to think she was a joking, but the tone in her voice told me she wasn't. Just like Emmett to not know the difference.

He stopped a few feet away from me, and tossed Bella back to the ground. I'm pretty sure he was trying to set her down, but I'm guessing Bella gets motion sickness, because she didn't stand up. Quickly she was falling toward the ground. I took a step forward, placing my arms out. I caught her just under her arms. I breathed in her scent deeply without even thinking about it, her hair was in my face all around my mouth and nose. My heart rate increased as my lungs filled with Bella scented air. I stood there holding her for several seconds. She was even lighter than I had would have imagined, she seemed so fragile and breakable in my arms. I was cursing Emmett for treating her like some rag doll.

Then Emmett's loud chuckle filtered into my brain. "Good catch Eddie." I looked up at him a glared.

Then Bella's voice came soft from in front of me, "What the hell?"

I tried to lift her back onto her feet, but she just couldn't seem to get them underneath her. Instead I lowered her back toward the ground outside the classroom. A few people had now gathered and were trying to figure out what was going on. Emmett was still laughing. As I held her with one arm, and came to her side, "Are you OK?" She nodded slightly, then her eyelids fluttered a bit and her head lulled back. "I think she just passed out."

"Your kidding," Emmett said, leaning in toward her. "Bella?"

Her eyes opened wide, as she pulled her head up off of my arm. Her thick mahogany waves brushing across the back of my arm caused goosebumps to rise on it. She brought her hand to her face, rubbing over her eyes and brow. "Fuck," she finally said, "Did I throw up?" I was taken aback by her cursing, I don't know what I expected but it wasn't that. Emmett just laughed. Bella looked around and I noticed a pink blush rising up her neck and into her cheeks. I wanted so badly to reach up and touch her face, to see if her porcelain skin was as soft and delicate as it looked, since her choice of words had shown me she wasn't as demure as she seemed. My free hand twitched at my side, suddenly Bella was out of my arm. Did I do that? I was afraid I'd done something stupid.

But, then I realized Bella was trying to stand. I scurried to my feet beside her, catching her again as she stumbled backward. She turned her head and looked at me. Her eyes widened, she looked surprised to see me standing beside her. My arm was around her waist, still supporting her slightly, "Hi," she said. I nodded at her. Then she straighted herself up, finally seeming strong enough to support her own weight. "Damn it Emmett," she breathed, "Don't ever do that again."

"Crap Bella. How the hell was I supposed to know you'd pass out."

"Now you know. Never again."

I was still standing by her side with my hand lightly on her back. My lungs had been filled with her scent, and I swear it was burning down my throat. I felt like my hand was vibrating and the metallic hum had returned to my ears. Bella turned to me then, pulling herself away from my hand slightly. I dropped my hand quickly, wondering how long I'd been touching when she didn't need it. "Um, thanks?" she said uncertainly, then flashed me a smile. My heart stopped. There was seriously something wrong with me.

I avoided her eyes, remembering how they had held me yesterday. I didn't want to stand there looking at her like some kind of crazy person. Finally I nodded at her, it felt like several minutes had pasted. The bell hadn't rang so I'm pretty sure it was only seconds though, I hoped like hell it was. Then turning I walked into the open classroom door and hurried to my seat. Bella entered the room a bit later, smiling widely, just as the bell rang. Sauntering over and tossing her bag on our lab table, before dropping herself to her stool. She placed her elbow on the table and propped her chin on her hand, turning and looking at me over her shoulder.

"Emmett wouldn't tell me, did I throw up?"

Her pale skin was still flushed pink from her earlier embarrassment. She was wearing a deep blue top today that set off her skin. It was loose enough to not show curves but it had a deep scoop neck that reveled cleavage. Shit, she was going to think I was looking at her breasts. I quickly looked up at her face, she was biting her lower lip softly. There was no way I could speak to answer her, I shook my head. She looked at my face, suddenly her teeth let go of her lip, she'd noticed me watching. She dropped her arm to table and jerked her head forward to the front of the room, pulling herself straight in her stool.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Sorry? For what? I didn't understand. I was about to ask when Mr Banner cleared his throat at the front of the room. I pulled out my notebook to take notes, Bella dropped her head to the table and started trying to stand her pen on it's end.

BELLA

Ugh, my stomach was still rolling. I thought that the buzzing in my head had stopped but when I sat down in my seat in bio it came back. At least I hadn't vomited.

I could have killed Emmett for embarrassing me like that. Could have, if he wasn't like 5 times my size. That and I'd have to find someone else to buy my cigarettes.

a/n - hopefully the next update won't take as long :) review and i'll try extra hard ;)