Thank you so very much to those taking the time to read and especially to those who review. All the encouragement makes me so excited to keep this going! Normally I wouldn't update on a Lost night, but since the site was being lame, the chapter was delayed in getting out and I wanted to put this up as soon as I could.

I have been asked (I think once) if we'd see any of Edward's perspective. I'll say upfront that you won't see it on this story because I think it would detract from the flow. Right now Bella is learning to interpret him for herself and if we knew all of his actions, it would probably take away from the story and his character in her eyes. That's not to say that you won't see it because some snippets of Edward's perspective do exist and maybe eventually I'll slap them together and pop them into a typical attachment of one shots.

Chapter 7 is dedicated to Steph who, of course, is amazing or whatever and Benry who is a badass. (Sorry, but it's Wednesday!)

This chapter contains naughty behavior. Don't do drugs, drugs are bad. Also, don't lie to your parents, they always know the truth…or at least most of it. Everyone gets caught eventually.

Sorry for the long note. I hate doing that. I'll refrain in the future.

Disclaimer: None of it's mine.


Chapter 7 - Can We Go Home Now?

An alley.

That's where Edward was going. To an alley. Seriously, it doesn't get more clichéd than "conducting business" in an alley.

We pulled off the street and I had to say, as far as alleys go, this one seemed pretty nice. Not that I go to many alleys, they're just typically portrayed as narrow, dirty, dark, dank, hobo infested crevices in the city. This one was wide enough for cars to park, and there were a lot of people walking around, apparently using the back entrances to various businesses in the immediate area. The hampered sun even filtered in enough to light up the space.

Edward put the car in park along the side of a brick building; so close I couldn't get out without having to climb the center console and going through the driver side door. I tried to push back the sick feeling creeping through my torso. I had no idea where we were going and apparently Edward didn't want me to escape.

My mind ran through the drive to our current location. It had been completely uncomfortable, dead silence as he drove. The only time the silence was broken was when Edward made a phone call, the conversation lasted for exactly nine words – no more, no less. "Hey, where are you?" Pause. Inaudible chatter through the earpiece. "I'm on my way." Pause. More chatter. "Yeah." Click. The end. It seems Edward could be a man of few words when the situation called for it, who would have guessed? Not me, and I certainly wished I'd gotten to know the Edward of few words.

Edward shut the car off and in one of those weird oddly synchronized moments that occur in the universe, a door across the alley from the Volvo burst open with enough force to hit the brick wall it was attached to with an echoing bang. In that unmarked doorway stood Mike Newton.

"Eddie!" His arms threw out wide as if this alley were a home he was welcoming Edward into. He jogged lightly over to the side door and I could feel my skin burning at the sight of him.

Mike Newton. Reigning golden boy of Forks. Very much Edward's opposite in everyway. Where Edward made girls want to drop their underwear with a lingering gaze, Mike made them swoon with a boyish and sweet smile. Mike was adored by authority figures while Edward frequented the collective shit list of every adult in Forks. Mike was the kind of guy you'd have romantic daydreams about, full blown meeting-the-parents, wedding type shit. Edward was the kind of guy most girls dreamt about having all kinds of obscenely dirty and scandalous sex with in semi-public places.

The shit about Edward was common knowledge; girls didn't go to Edward for relationships, I had never heard of him being in one. Mike…well, he even held my girlish fancy for the duration of my freshman year, until I realized that the difference between the Mike Newton in my head and the real thing was starkly different. When it came down to it, Edward and Mike were of the very same species; teenage boy.

"My, my! Cullen's got himself a new flavor of the day. Shocker." Mike chuckled to himself as he leaned down into the window Edward had rolled down. His eyes flickered over me and my face burned. Sure, my infatuation with him was done, but nothing has changed with his looks. Still a gorgeous boy, if not a little typical. "No offense, honey, but you don't look like you're exactly his speed. You're far too sweet for the likes of Cullen."

"Hardly." Edward scoffed under his breath. I glared daggers at him. He doesn't think I'm sweet? He can fuck right off, then. "I need my half, Newton."

"Chill, Cullen, I've got it right here." He pulled back from the window a bit and reached into his pocket, before returning to his previous stance with a plastic bag clutched in his hand. Edward started counting bills that I hadn't seen him take out. I must have been more focused on Mike than I thought. I tried to shake my thoughts, so I took in the scene before me, but it was difficult when Mike had turned his attention back to me. "Just a warning, honey, don't let him sink his claws in too deep. There's no telling where his… uh…claws have been."

He raised his eyebrows suggestively and I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Edward was looking increasingly annoyed and I certainly didn't want to have to walk home for something as stupid as laughing at something so completely true.

"Cut your shit, Newton," Edward growled, shoving the stack of bills at Mike who grabbed them, licked his thumb and began counting in what even I could see, was a blatant show of distrust. After a moment he lightly tossed the plastic sack at Edward and, without the obstruction of his hand, I could clearly see what the lingering smell in the car had already told me. Pot; it wasn't cocaine; I was relieved a bit, I guess. "Wouldn't want you misleading Little Red Riding Hood here into believing you were anything less than what you are. Honey, I could tell you stories about our boy here that could make your toes curl."

Now it wasn't just Edward who was getting annoyed. I was sick of the implication that just because I was younger, I was naïve and sheltered. I mean, I was pretty naïve and pretty sheltered, but that doesn't mean I hadn't dipped my toes in a little bit of sin myself. I figured Edward was feeling pretty ganged up on, so I figured now would be the time to cut him a bit of slack.

"I highly doubt that," I let my eyes roll as if I didn't feel the slightest bit of nervous energy rolling through my limbs. "And if you call me 'honey' one more time, I'm going to get out of this car and tear your balls off, honey."

Mike's eyes widened a bit before he burst into laughter.

"Is that so?" Edward was holding back his own laughter now. Assholes.

"No." I said firmly and Mike's laughter calmed a bit. I could see I had his attention now. "Come to think of it, given the stories I've been told about you, you'd consider that foreplay. I guess I'll have to focus on your jugular, then."

Mike shook his head, laughter dying out but the amusement still blazing in his eyes.

"What's your name, kid?" Kid was better than honey, but not by much.

"Bella Swan." I smirked, watching the recognition settle over his face. The amusement in his eyes extinguished and they narrowed as they flickered between Edward and myself. Obviously paranoia and distrust. He looked freaked out.

"Shit." He swore softly, turning to Edward as he spoke. "Bella Swan, as in, Police Chief Swan's sixteen year old daughter?"

"In the flesh." I offered but his eyes stayed locked on Edward. His head shook slowly from side to side, almost in disbelief.

"Cullen, you are either the dumbest fucker I've ever met or the most brilliant." They glared at each other for a second longer before Mike turned on his heel and walked back through the unmarked door without a farewell.

"That has yet to be determined." Edward muttered as he started the engine.

"Shit, are we going to the pier?"

I couldn't help the feeling of excitement that coursed through me. The Port Angeles City Pier held a lot of my better childhood memories. The sights and smells of the pier would take me back to those day trips to the city that was a world away from tiny Forks. Mom would be sober for the most part and sometimes the Blacks would join us. Having Jacob and his twin sisters along always increased the fun. There would be ice cream and sand castle building in the summer and even though the winters were freezing we couldn't resist chasing the waves in our jackets and then running away when they began to lap at the toes of our shoes.

As I got older, the visits kind of tapered off, but whenever we were in Port Angeles, the pier was always on the itinerary and good times were always had. It was impossible to be unhappy there.

"Well actually, I was planning on driving right past the pier and straight into the ocean. Sounds like fun, right?" While his eyes didn't roll, it was implied in his tone.

"Your biting sarcasm has no affect on me whatsoever when I am going to such a sacred place, Eddie." I was positively giddy as he pulled up to the pier parking.

"You consider the Port Angeles Pier sacred?" I could hear the mocking in his tone. "Clearly, you have low standards."

"I have a lot of good memories here." I sniffed in mock offense. He was just being an elitist asshole; did I expect any less of him? Never. "Besides, it's the ocean; it connects us to everything in the world, Edward. I like the ocean so my standards are low?"

"Well that and you like Mike Newton. Two for two, Swan, two for two."

"Excuse me, but I do not like Mike Newton. Even if I did, you clearly need to reexamine your definition of low standards."

"The only thing lower than liking Newton would be liking a professional wrestler. Tell me, Bella, how do you feel about John Cena? The Rock?"

"I have no idea who John Cena is and the Rock is hilarious when he acts, whether it's intended hilarity or not." I rolled my eyes. "And you're wrong, there's another level lower than professional wrestler. That level would consist of you."

"Ouch, Isabella, that hurts." He looked hurt, but he was just acting. I think. He didn't strike me as the type to take offense to teasing. "I think I'm a perfectly respectable choice. You can't judge the level of quality unless you've tried it out for yourself, which is why you can't dub the Port Angeles Pier something sacred. There are far more worthy places in the world."

"Yeah ,well, we aren't all as well traveled as you. This place was my first taste of freedom from Forks. It'll always hold a special place in my heart. What are we doing hear anyway?"

Edward leaned closer to me. I stiffened and…what the fuck? Was my heart racing? Hell fucking no. Maybe I had a heart defect I never knew about. Yeah, that was it. I was not responding to Edward, I was responding to a potentially deadly heart failure of some sort. Seemed likely enough.

Through my panicking dismissal of my response to not-Edward, he leaned closer and closer and then popped the glove box until it bumped into my knees. The heart racing stopped or calmed in favor of hot blood rushing through my veins with a burst of anger.

The asshole was doing that on purpose to get a rise out of me. Well it wouldn't work, I was too busy dealing with a heart palpitation of some kind to notice his green eyes and the faint shadow of stubble, and his…boy smell. He can take all his charm and shove it up his ass. I'd take a dive off the pier in the middle of the October chill before his lame voodoo would work on me.

Either way, it was probably best for me to not look at him. I focused on the glove box as he pulled out a large pill shaped something, roughly the size of my hand. Fucking druggies had too many weird containers for paraphernalia. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this one probably contained something to smoke the weed in. As soon as he shifted the container to his other hand he leaned back to close the glove box but I reached down and forcefully slammed it shut. He laughed under his breath; I turned to push my door open. Dick.

"Wait, Bella. I've got to pack it in here, then we go. Too windy on the coast to load a bowl on the beach." I glowered at him and turned to face forward in my seat. I watched once again as he prepped his drugs. I wondered if he'd offer me some again and I wondered how I'd turn him down, or, if I'd turn him down again. I was pretty sure he wouldn't judge me if I did, but did I want to? Coke was one thing; I couldn't just pick it up in an instant, but weed? Everyone did it once, maybe the time had come for me to do it my one time. It sure would be nice to do something that wrong for once.

Apparently hanging out with Edward severely impaired my comprehension of right and wrong. As it so happened, he did ask and I did accept. At first he was hesitant to actually let me, he thought I was just trying to impress him, but I assured him nothing could be further from the case. I was making mistakes.

He hadn't laughed when I said I hadn't done it before, he just gave me pointers. We walked along the waterfront jogging trail and discreetly smoked away the weed in his pipe. The feel of wandered childhood stomping grounds blended beautifully with the affects of the pot, leaving me feel as light as a cloud drifting along the waterline. I felt at ease as Edward and I (probably more I than Edward) reminisced and reflected on life.

We drifted toward the deserted viewing tower and climbed the stairs. We sat on the benches and watched the waves as Edward rolled a joint, which turned out to be easier to get the hang of smoking than the pipe. I just had to draw on the time after Jakes older sister Rebecca started smoking and he dared me to steal one and smoke it. The pot smoke was a bit easier to breathe.

While the teasing never stopped, we talked a lot. It was the most I'd talked to a guy since Jake and I had our 'falling out'. It didn't feel like regular, angry, boring Bella and he didn't act like arrogant, irritating, rude Edward. Instead it was Bella and Edward; kids acting like kids. High as kites, sure, but that's what kids did.

By the time the shadows started stretching behind, us as noon passed into the afternoon, we trooped up the pier to the car. Everything was different, everything had changed. Edward didn't feel like a means to an end any more, but something akin to a friend, and I think he felt something like that too.

"Bella, you're so different from the other kids in Forks," he shook his head as he navigated the highway back to Forks, my qualms with his driving-while-high style were long forgotten in a chronic haze.

"Thanks, I've always wanted to be a freak." I tried to sound sarcastic but ended up giggling as I drew my feet until I was sitting on them in my chair. "I guess you're pretty different too. Hey, I know!"

"Know what?" He looked away from the road to give me a look. I waved his gaze back to the window and he only rolled his eyes before complying.

"We should hang out more." I shook my head and leaned back into the seat.

"Oh, I see," Edward sighed. "You get a taste of marijuana and now you want to exploit our non-existent friendship for all the pot you can get?"

"Yeah, sure," this time I was able to roll my eyes with the right follow through of no giggling or laughter of any kind. "Seriously, you've made me feel better. I'm not ready to walk away from feeling better just yet."

"Understandable," he murmured. We didn't look at each other for the rest of the drive and nothing else was said. I'd already said far more than I wanted to, or should have said, today. We pulled up at the empty school parking lot, well after school had let out.

"I'll see you real soon, Bella." Was all he said as I stepped out of the car. He drove away before I could even consider a response. I climbed into my truck, already feeling the joy of the day drain from my every movement. Back home to real life, where mom would be a wreck and dad would be distant. Oh, the joys of returning to honest living.

I had just settled down in the living room, ready to take a bite of a hot pocket fresh out of the microwave when I heard tires in the driveway. Charlie was home. Grabbing the nearest textbook I flipped open to a page at random pretending to be absorbed. I took a quick bite of the hot pocket -- that smelled like heaven -- and paused mid-chew when I heard the door squeak as it opened. Heavy footsteps – heavier than normal. The bit of food in my mouth was scalding hot and I was panicking. Sucking in as much air as I could to cool the burning in my mouth was doing little to mellow my frantic fear; I started to feel like I was hyperventilating.

Heavy footsteps are bad. Heavy footsteps headed toward the living room where I normally sat to do homework rather than up the stairs to confront Renee meant bad things were coming my way. I set the hot pocket down carefully and sat up trying to appear fully engrossed in the textbook.

"Isabella Marie Swan," the voice came from the entrance to the living room and I looked up knowing full well the face I'd see before my gaze met the enraged sight of Charlie. For a second I considered grabbing the hot pocket and chucking the pepperoni and cheese lava grenade at him so I could make my escape, but that was just enraging the bull. That and the scalding snack smelled fantastic. I let it sit and awaited the wrath, knowing exactly what was coming my way. "Why did I get a call from your school wondering where you were today?"

"I'm not sure, maybe they didn't turn in the attendance sheets properly?" Denial was my best method for the moment.

"Okay," he didn't sound convinced in the slightest, I was a terrible liar when it came to direct confrontation with Charlie. It was like he had some kind of military grade interrogation methods or something. He rivaled Alice in that department. "Why did you just get home?"

"I didn't, I was-" I stopped midsentence when I saw the look on his face. I'd said something wrong and he'd caught me in my lie. Damn, I should have said I went by Alice's, or the diner on Main, or the bank, or anywhere but here. Too late to back peddle, so I waited for him to show his hand.

"Don't lie to me, young lady, your engine's still warm." I just nodded my head in assent as I shut my textbook and set it on the table. "Bella, why didn't you go to school today? You better have a good excuse."

His words triggered the memory of what Edward had told me earlier in the Volvo. It's a damn good lie. And it was. My reasoning for not wanting to lie at the time seemed foolproof, but I was definitely not against using his lie to get myself out of the tight spot I was currently in.

"It was just…" I looked down trying my best too look downtrodden. "I couldn't face the other kids at school again. It was so humiliating what happened with Renee the other day. Yesterday was horrible. I just couldn't do it again."

"Oh, Bells," I looked up and Charlie's face was twisted with parental concern and blatant discomfort at the display of emotion. "Honey, you should have said something, I wouldn't have…I could have called the school for you at least. Next time you need a break tell me before you just go skipping out on school. I mean, what did you do all day if you weren't here?"

"Uhhh," I cleared my throat trying to buy time as I attempted to extract a believable lie from my brain. I tried to force more of the sadness into place; it seemed to keep him from asking too many questions. "I went down to La Push to see if Jacob was around, but I forgot he was in school so I just kind of hung out on the beach and thought about stuff."

Definitely a lie. I wouldn't go looking for Jacob Black to talk to about local gossip. Way too much history there, but Charlie was none the wiser on that topic, so it worked well enough for a lie. After all, he still thought Jake and I were all buddy-buddy.

"Hmm," He shook his head and turned toward the kitchen; I held my breath. Please buy it, please buy it, please. "Just tell me next time, Bells."

Thank god for this town's police chief being a little more than ignorant in the ways of teenage girls.