YEah! Another chapter! I was watching Ninja Warrior all morning today. Got me in the ninja mood. Anyway, I'd like give a big shout-out and thank you to BerryEbilBunny for giving me the idea for the later part of this chapter. You rock!


"So…" I cleared my throat, and looked to Edward walking next to me. "Does this mean we're friends?"

Startled, he turned around to look at me. "What?"

"You know, friends, buddies, accomplices."

"Why do you ask?" He stopped walking, and I stood in front of him.

"Well, you came to eat lunch with me earlier." I raised my eyebrows, and looked down, a little startled with myself. "Isn't that what… friends do?"

He blinked and looked around. "I guess so." He muttered. "I suppose we could be friends." He scratched the back of his head, still not looking at me. "I mean, only if you want to be."

"Of course. Why, uh, why else would I ask?" Awkwardness took over my body language. Asking someone to be your friend wasn't exactly easy. Maybe this was why I'd never had many friends back home.

I caught a hint of a smile on his face. "I guess you're right."

I nodded to him, smirking a little. "Always am. But we're going to be late for class if we stand here any longer."

We finished our journey to the classroom and took our seats as lab partners. Today was boring, another lecture. As per usual. I missed the teaching ways of Academy back home.

I sighed heavily, staring down at my blank sheet of paper.

"Something wrong?" Edward whispered to me, not taking his eyes off the screen.

I looked to him and blinked. "Huh?"

He smiled, his mouth lying crooked on his face. That familiar warmth came to me again. "Is that gonna be a thing with us?" He chuckled softly. "Anyway, since we're friends now, it's customary for one to ask the other if they're okay when they look troubled."

Oh. I shrugged visibly, and frowned a little. "I'm alright, I guess. Just a little homesick."

"Not much sun here, huh?"

"What's sun got to do with it?" I asked, completely confused with his turn of conversation.

"Well, Arizona is a sunny place. Washington isn't. You must be missing it."

Right. "Eh, I just miss the way things were over there. Not necessarily the weather."

"Things can't be that different." He muttered, finally turning to look at me.

I sighed again, and slumped back into my chair. "You have no idea."

A worried look came to his eyes. "Anything I can do to help?"

I looked at him, almost letting a smile come to my face. "No, I think I'll be fine. It's just this lecture is boring me, and my mind is wandering."

He looked back away, and nodded. "I can understand that. These teachers barely know their stuff."

"Exactly!" I shook my head, smiling slightly. "I could do all of this, and more, in my sleep."

His smile was still bright on his face, and I noticed today his hands weren't fisted and he wasn't as stiff. We really were becoming friends. But I really knew nothing about him. And I was nervous to ask.

"So, Bella, since we're friends, can I know some things about you?"

Well, I didn't have to ask anymore. "Like what?"

"What's your favorite color?"

Good question. "I'd have to say, maybe a forest or army green." The color of our garb when we were in the woods or on the high grass plains.

"Favorite music?"

"Um…." We didn't have a lot of music back home. Just festival music. I made my best guess at what it would be called. "Classical, I think."

"You think? How can you not be sure?"

I shrugged. "Next question."

"Favorite activity?"

Jumping around in trees after dark and smashing skulls of enemies together. But that might scare him. "I like to run." There, not a lie. But not the truth either. Perfect.

He smiled. "Me too."

"Really?" I raised my eyebrow at him. "How fast can you run?"

He laughed, almost bringing the teacher's attention to us. "Faster than you can imagine."

"Oh, I doubt that." I smirked. "No one is faster than I."

"I beg to differ."

"Beg all you want. The only way to settle is race."

His shoulders shook with the laughter he was trying to contain. "Sure." He muttered, his voice shaky from hysteria.

The bell decided that it wanted to ruin my friend-making moment and rang loudly. Sighing, I stood, Edward following shortly after.

"So," He started, a smile settling over his face. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I nodded. "Tomorrow," I said and left the room.

"So, you making any friends at school?" Charlie asked, munching on a piece of meat.

I sat at dinner with him, chewing my own food. As usual, I was starving. When I had ordered twice of what a normal teenage girl should eat, both the waitress and my dad bugged their eyes at me. I just shrugged, mumbled something about lunch, and looked away.

"I think so." I told him.

My mind flashed to Edward. Again. Me and him talking and how nice it felt to talk to someone. And he didn't seem to care that I was a bit off. I knew he had to know I wasn't exactly a social butterfly. I almost smiled.

"Who?" my dad asked again.

"There a couple. Angela Webber is really nice. And, uh, Edward Cullen." I muttered, staring down at my now empty plate.

I could almost swear to hearing my dad's jaw in the floor. "One of the Cullens?"

Was that not obvious? I thought to myself. "Yeah. He's a nice guy. Do you have an issue with him?" I asked, thinking back to the way the father's back home would practically knock Lucky out for even trying to be friends with their daughters.

"No, the Cullens are perfect citizens." My dad said. "Dr. Cullen is the best surgeon Forks ever had, and there's not a spot on the kids' records. Not one ounce of trouble from them." But then he shook his head. "But since their new in town, people like to talk about them. And they like to keep to themselves a lot."

I blinked once at him, almost raising an eyebrow. "I've noticed they don't talk a lot to the other kids."

He smiled at me then. "Well, I'm glad you're making Edward your friend. Those Cullens could use an outside social resource."

Me? A social resource. Yeah, right. I just nodded, and said that we should go, if we were done with dinner.

That night, I was out on the tree again, my eyes closed, listening to the sounds of the storm rolling in. I should have been asleep, seeing as I didn't last night. But I didn't want to.

A small gust of wind brushed over me, rustling the leaves on my tree. I smiled against it, noting how wind felt the same wherever you happened to be. For a moment, I let myself believe I was back home, sitting in the tree in my front yard.

The wind calmed my breathing, and I felt myself fading in and out of consciousness. I really was tired, though, I'd never admit it to anyone else. The smile stayed on my face as I let my head rest on the tree, and fell asleep.

I had odd dreams that night. Dreams that, like most things, I would never speak aloud..

One dream, I was sitting in the forest, listening to the soft humming of a song I didn't recognize coming from a voice I knew well, but couldn't find. The other, I was being chased, and nothing I seemed to do would get the pursuer away from me.

And finally, the one I woke up with in my mind. Edward was sitting with me in the forest, smiling brightly at me. I was smiling back at him. That was the weirdest part. I never, ever truly smiled at anyone. Not even my close friends.

I opened my eyes to see the green leaves all around me. A dull, clouded moonlight was filling the sky. Yawning, I sat up, and climbed back through my window. Looking at the alarm clock, I saw I still had four hours left to sleep before I to go to school. I laid down, and took advantage of that.

I stood in the parking lot, not quite sure what to do. Everyone around me was shouting and staring at a fight in the yard. Back home, whenever one of the novice ninjas would get into a fight, they were scolded heavily, and ignored for weeks by their classmates. Here, they seemed to be cheering them on.

Soon a teacher came running by, and broke up the fight, dragging both boys toward the office. Another came and shouted for us all to get to class. I shrugged, and went, not really caring.

"So, Bella, why didn't you sit with us yesterday?" Jessica's annoying voice penetrated my deep thoughts.

"I didn't want to." I answered simply, not turning around to look at her.

"What?" Lauren chimed in.

Was she deaf? "I said that I didn't want to."

Lauren scoffed. "So, since you're from big town Arizona, you think us small town people aren't good enough for you?"

I blinked. "I never said that."

Jessica came in again. "You didn't have to. We can all tell."

People were starting to look our way, and I tried to shrink back into the background again. "What in the world are you talking about?" I asked, completely confused.

The bell rang, and I almost dashed outside. Sadly, as I was trying to make an escape, a surge of people came and cut me off, allowing Jessica and Lauren to catch up.

"Say it, Swan." Lauren spat at me. "You think you're better than us."

I stared at her, unblinking. What in the world was wrong with these two?

Jessica laughed. "To think, you actually think Edward Cullen wants to be your friend." She elbowed Lauren.

I narrowed my eyes a fraction, a tiny drop of anger falling in me. "Why wouldn't he?"

"Hello?" Lauren bobbed her head. "Why would he? Obviously, he just feels sorry for your pathetic loserdom."

"Is that even a word?" It was all I could do to keep from visibly clenching my fists.

"Maybe you should read a dictionary," Jessica raised her voice, coming toward me. "You think you're so smart, but you're just a faker."

Faker? This time, I did clench my fists, my nails rubbing against my palms. "Shows what you know." I almost growled at her.

"Aw, look at that, Lauren!" Jessica shouted. "Little Bella is getting all angry at us."

Anger flooded through me now. My usual emotional control was fading fast.

"I bet she couldn't break a twig." Lauren shouted with her. "She'll probably just run away."

That hit it. Running away was already a sore subject. My lips curled back, and I flexed the muscles in my arms, ready to not only break a twig, but her face too.

"Shut up." I growled, narrowing my eyes fully.

Don't hit them, don't hit them, some sane part of me chanted. Another, much more dominant part shouted for me to pick them up and beat them against a tree. I realized that my body had begun to shake with the anger I was holding back.

"Are you gonna make us?" Lauren said, pushing her face close to mine.

"Man, you really are pathetic," Jessica laughed loudly behind Lauren. "Maybe we need to call your buddy, Edward, into help you. If he even cares enough, that is."

I snapped. My fist flew forward, burrowing itself into Lauren's cheek, and sending her flying. "I told you to shut up!" I yelled, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt. I slammed her back against a locker, and heard the air rush from her lungs. That made a evil smile come to my face. That insane, angry part of me took pride in the fear in her eyes. "Edward is too my friend!"

Jessica broke into a fit behind me. "Yeah, right."

I threw Lauren down, and turned to Jessica. I was all ready to lunge at her and crack her skull against the floor tiles.

"Hey, Jessica." I heard a familiar, almost comforting voice beside me. "Maybe you need to mind your own business." Edward came up into my narrowed line of sight. "But, just so you know, Bella is, in fact, my friend."

Jessica stood, dumbfounded.

"And your goading her just proves how little of a person you are and how prone to jealousy."

Jessica's eyes widened. Edward smirked in front of me. I felt a little anger slip away, seeing him defending me like that. I wanted Edward to continue insulting Jessica back, but he turned away from her, grabbing my arm, and began to pull me away. Before we were out of earshot, however, he turned back and grinned evilly.

"By the way, nobody at this school would ever date you." I heard her gasp loudly. I was going to turn around and look at her, but Edward continued pulling me away.

He dragged me on and on, away from where I'd almost completely lost it on a couple of innocent students. Once we were in the parking lot by my truck, I sat on the tailgate and hid my face in my hands.

Why? Why had I allowed them to provoke me like that? I could take just about any verbal beating. I had taken most of them. But then they started to question my friendship with Edward, and everything went downhill.

I punched myself in the face. I noticed Edward standing front of me, and I saw how his eyes widened.

"What are you doing!" He shouted, reaching for the hand I'd hit myself with.

"Trying to clear my mind."

"By giving yourself a black eye?" He asked, incredulous.

I nodded. "The pain helps me think clearer." Pain I could deal with. Pain wasn't concrete and I could force myself not to think about it. And if I was avoiding something in my head, I could focus on that.

He stared at me. "So, what were you, Lauren, and Jessica fighting about?" He asked, sitting next to me. "I mean, before I came in?"

"They were mad because I didn't sit with them at lunch yesterday." I muttered, staring at my hands. The bruise I'd gotten from that guy the other night had faded into a shadow. "They seemed to think that I thought I was better than them."

Edward sighed. "That's how those two work. You're either with them or you're dirt under their shoes." He patted my shoulder.

It was then that I noticed his skin was freezing cold. And hard as rock.

"I'm impressed though," He continued, a smirk coming to his face. "I never, ever thought you could punch like that."

That made me smirk now. I rubbed my knuckles against my shirt, polishing them. "Why, thank you." I said, putting pride into my voice. And then, the reasons why I punched them came back, and all the thoughts. I grimaced. "But, you really shouldn't have seen that. No one should have." I muttered.

"You were just defending yourself." Edward tilted his head a little, a concerned look on his face.

"Doesn't matter." I mumbled. "I can defend myself without using my fists." I slammed my bruised hand into the side of my truck, the knuckle barely aching again.

Edward frowned. He looked like he was about to say something again, but I shook my head.

"I lost my head." I slammed my hands over my eyes, rubbing circles on my face. "Never, ever, should I resort to violence against civilians." I muttered, barely audible.'

Edward's face turned into full out confusion. "What?"

"Nothing," I mumbled. "Anyway, thanks for coming to me, Edward." I looked over to him, masking the anger at myself and disappointment in my eyes.

He smiled at me crookedly again. "No problem, Bella. It's what we friends do."


*Insert giant smiley here* I can tell you one thing. Ninjas sure beat out studying for semester finals! Anyway, thank you all for reading! I love the vistor count when it goes up. Farewell, my readers, until next time.