Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. I do own the Sims 3, a broken stereo system, and lots and lots of shoes.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing this story. And of course, Chylex28 for letting me know when my writing is crap and helping me better it.


When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,
When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on
Don't let yourself go, 'cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes

Sometimes everything is wrong. Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go, (hold on)
When you think you've had too much of this life, well hang on

~Everybody Hurts~REM


Surviving High School

I awoke Monday morning, with a smile on my face. I was still giddy over the almost kiss with Edward and couldn't contain the joy I felt when I thought about him. I went about my usual morning routine, and once I was dressed, I headed downstairs for a quick breakfast. After gulping down some cereal and milk, I headed out the door and started up Chuck. For the first time in a long time, I was actually looking forward to going to school. And, of course, I was excited to see Edward. Last night we had established the fact that we were, indeed, friends and that we liked each other and I was thrilled. I arrived in the school parking lot, just as Edward and Alice pulled up. I parked next to the mom-mobile, grabbed my bag, and got out.

"Good morning!" Alice sang.

Normally, I hated morning people, but today even Alice's overly cheerful attitude didn't bother me.

"Good morning, Alice."

Edward stepped over to me and tugged playfully on my ponytail.

"What? I don't get a 'good morning'?" he asked.

I turned to him and felt my heart start to race. He was so beautiful. And that smile. Oh, that smile just made me melt.

"Good morning, Edward."

"Good morning to you too, Bella."

After exchanging our pleasantries, we started our walk into the building and that's when the drama started. It had being go so well. I'd managed to go a few days without any drama, so I should have expected it. Jasper and Emmett had caught up to us, as well as Ben and Angela. The seven of us were talking about our weekend, when we heard the shrill voice of Victoria screeching out Edward's name.

"Ah, fuck," I mumbled under my breath. Alice must have heard me, cause she gave me a sympathetic look as Victoria stalked her way over to us.

"Eddie! I missed you yesterday," she whined as she leaned in to plant a kiss on him. I turned my head to avoid seeing the kiss. The last thing I wanted to see was Edward and Victoria kissing. Angela tapped me the arm to let me know it was okay to look. That was when Victoria noticed me. Her eyes narrowed and she looked less than pleased to see me. I quickly looked away, not wanting to meet her eyes, afraid that she would be able to see that I had almost kissed her boyfriend. As I looked away, I found myself face to face with Emmett. He leaned down and whispered in my ear.

"Just ignore whatever bullshit comes flying out of her mouth. That's what I do. 'kay?"

I gave him a small smile and nodded my head. I mentally prepared myself for her verbal attack and turned back to face her. Before she could open her mouth to say anything, Edward leaned down and said something in her ear. Whatever he said, didn't meet Victoria's approval because she yanked her arm away from him.

"Oh, we'll definitely be talking later, Eddie" she snarled at him, turning on her heel and stomping through the doors. She was pissed! Edward let out a sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. I itched to reach out and run my fingers through his hair as well, but managed to keep myself from doing so.

"What was that all about?" Emmett asked Edward, as we walked in the doors and down the hallway.

"Hmmm...Oh. I told her I needed to talk to her about something and now she's all pissed off," he said.

"Good luck with that bro," Emmett told him, while clapping him on the back and then took off to meet up with Rose.

"Well..I see you in Biology, Bella."

"You bet, Edward. See you later."

My morning passed swiftly, except for gym class, but that was nothing new. After a rather less than rousing game of volleyball, Mike and I made our way to lunch.

"So, Jess told me that you hung out with the Cullens the other night after the game."

"Yep."

"Huh. You don't seem the type."

"What are you talking about, Mike?"

"Nothing. It's just.., you just don't seem the type of person to get sucked into the glamor of the in-crowd."

"Good lord, Mike. You make it sound like I've gone to the Dark Side. I haven't been sucked into the glamor of the in-crowd, as you put it. I just happen to like some of the in-crowd folks."

"Yeah, I just bet you do," I heard him mutter.

"What is your problem?" I asked him angrily.

"I don't have a problem. But if you continue to hang all over Edward, you're gonna have a big problem with Victoria," and with that parting shot, he took off to the cafeteria leaving me there, staring after him.

What a jerk! For the life of me, I couldn't remember why I was friends with him. Seriously? Who the fuck did he think he was, getting all upset because I'm friends with the Cullens? As I let out a huff, a big meaty arm threw itself around my shoulder.

"You okay, Stumblelina?"

I looked up at Emmett and gave a small nod. "Yeah. I'll be alright. Mike just pisses me off sometimes."

Emmett gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze and said, "You know why he's acting like that, don't you?"

"Cause he's a jerk."

He gave me a grin. "Well, he is that, but he's acting that way cause he's got the hots for you."

I just stared at him, dumbfounded. He let out a loud booming laugh at my expression.

"It's so true, Trippy. That boy has been sniffing after you for years."

I couldn't help but shudder at the thought of me and Mike as a couple. It was so wrong, for so many reasons. As we started walking to the cafeteria, Rosalie came over and gave me a nod. I responded by giving her a small smile and made to remove myself from under Emmett's arm. The last thing I needed was another enemy, and Rosalie was not a girl to be trifled with. Emmett noticed me trying to get away, so he tightened his grip on my shoulder and threw his other arm around Rosalie.

"Why are you trying to get away from me? Don't you like me anymore?" he asked while pouting.

"I like you just fine," I replied while struggling, to no avail, to get away.

Rosalie looked around Emmett at me. "Struggling just makes it worse. Trust me. I know. It's easier to just give in."

"Yeah, well I don't particularly want you killing me."

"Why would I kill you?"

"Um...cause Emmett has his arm around me?" I asked.

Emmett started chuckling and flashed me a grin, "Rosalie's no Victoria. She knows that I'm a one-woman-man. Right, Rosie?"

She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "It's fine, Bella. I know you and Emmett are nothing more than friends. Once the big oaf here has decided that he's your friend, you're stuck with him for life."

"I suppose I could do worse."

"So not cool. I am awesome! You should be ecstatic that I'm your friend!" he exclaimed.

And he was right. I loved having Emmett as a friend. Lunch passed quickly and before I knew it, it was time for Biology. We made our way to the classroom, and I noticed that my table was empty. That was unusual. Normally, Edward was at our table before I was. I looked at Angela and she gave me a shrug. I sat down on my stool, and got my binder and notebook out. I looked at the clock as Mr. Banner came in, and saw that class would start in two minutes. Where was he? He never missed class and I was really starting to worry. The bell rang and Mr. Banner shut the door. He told us to get our equipment and that we'd proceed where we had left off last week. Shit! I was gonna have to do this dissection thing by myself. Mr. Banner was handing out the pig fetuses that we had worked on. I had just laid out the instruments I would be using, when the door opened and in walked Edward. Oh thank God! I wouldn't have to do this alone. Edward walked over to Mr. Banner and had a quiet conversation with him, then headed over to our table. He looked really upset and wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Everything okay? I was starting to worry when class started and you weren't here."

He sat down on his stool and put both elbows on the table. His hands went to his hair where he started tugging at the strands.

"Things aren't really okay at the moment," he answered in a slightly cold voice.

I waited for him to say more, but he didn't. Instead he reached in his bag and started pulling out his notebook and pencils.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

And that was the end of that conversation. I tried not to be hurt by the fact that he was shutting me out, but I was. We spent the next 50 minutes in awkward silence, until I couldn't take it anymore. We were packing up our bags and I reached out and touched his arm.

"Edward?"

He turned to look at me, meeting my eyes briefly before flickering away.

"I know you said you don't want to talk about it, but if you change your mind, I'm here to listen."

"Sure," was his reply and he took off.

I was so confused by this sudden about face that Edward had done. Was this about the almost kiss yesterday? Maybe he had talked to Victoria and things hadn't gone as planned. I didn't know, but I did know that I was left standing there confused as hell.

"Bella?"

I turned around and saw Angela standing next to me.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm...confused. He's really upset about something and didn't want to talk about it. Hell, we barely even talked at all."

"I'm sorry. Maybe he's having a bad day."

I nodded and off to study hall we went. I usually spend study hall getting a head start on my homework, but today all I could think about was Edward and what could possibly be wrong. Fifty minutes of thinking up worse case scenarios and letting my imagination get the best of me. I was never so thankful for study hall to be over and for Calculus to arrive. I left the classroom and decided to make a quick stop at the girl's bathroom. I was in the stall, when I heard voices near the sinks.

"So what did Edward want to talk about, Victoria?"

"He wanted to talk to me about Bella Swan. He told me, that she told him, that I was being mean to her. She's such a fucking bitch! Trying to get Edward to turn on me!" she ranted.

"O.M.G. What did you say?"

"I told him that she was a liar. That, except for the one time when she ran into him, I was always nice to her. I told him that I wanted to be her friend, but she laughed in my face and verbally attacked me. I warned her that I would ruin her life and now I will. She won't know what hit her when I'm done with her. I'll make it so Edward never wants to speak to her again."

And that little speech explained everything right there. Now I understood why Edward was so standoffish during Biology today. I'd like to think that Edward thought higher of me than that, but he'd known Victoria for far longer, so it makes sense that he'd trust her word. There was no way I could go to class now. I was too upset, so I waited until I heard Bitchtoria and her cronies leave, then I snuck out of the bathroom and headed to the parking lot.

Once I arrived home, I shut myself in my room. I had a lot to think about. At some point, I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. It was Charlie informing me that he was going to be working late at the station and that he'd see me sometime tomorrow. After hanging up, I sat there on my bed feeling sorry for myself. Talk about throwing oneself a pity party. I wanted to talk to someone about what I was feeling, but wasn't sure who to call. And then it occurred to me. Alice. She would know what was going on a little bit more than I did.

"Hey, Bella."

"Hey, Alice. Hope you don't mind me calling, but I needed to talk to someone and you're it."

"No prob. So what's up?"

"Well..., Edward talked to Victoria today and things are definitely worse."

"Oh no! I knew that his talking to her was a bad idea."

"Yeah. Totally was. He came into Biology late and refused to look me in the eye or even talk to me. Which left me confused and upset. Turns out, Victoria told him that I'm a liar and I guess he believes her. Of course he didn't tell me any of this since he won't talk to me. I had to overhear her telling some girls in the bathroom. She told them she'd make sure Edward never spoke to me again."

"Oh, she's such a bitch! And he believed her? I'll be having some words with him, I guarantee that," she vowed.

"Alice, it's fine. Okay, it's not fine, but why shouldn't he believe her? They've been dating for two years."

"Hmmph. That's no excuse for him to be rude to you. If he truly believes her bullshit, then he's a lot more stupid than I thought!" she ranted.

"I just...it's stupid. I thought for sure, that we were friends and that he liked me, but all Victoria has to do is say one bad thing about me and he believes her. I would like to talk to him and clear things up, but I'm afraid I'll make things even worse."

"Oh, Bella. Let me talk to him first and found out what's going on in that head of his and then I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Alice."

"You bet."

I hung up the phone and lay back on my bed. I hoped that the next day would prove to be better than today. I knew for a fact that I wouldn't be able to handle spending the rest of the school year with him not talking to me. I'm not sure how long I laid there on my bed, but after a while I realized that this pity party had to stop. I logged onto Facebook, when a thought occurred to me. Maybe Edward had unfriended me. I quickly scanned my friends list and was relieved to see that Edward was still on the list. Part of me hoped that he had his chat on, so I could have a little chat with him, but he didn't. I logged off and headed to bed, where I was plagued by an unpleasant dream.

I pulled into the parking lot at school and got out of Chuck. I noticed, as I was walking toward the school, that people were stopping and staring at me. Whispering to each other and some were even pointing at me. What in the world was going on? I saw Ben and Angela up ahead and ran over to them.

"Hey guys."

I got no response. As a matter of fact, they kept walking, ignoring me completely. Okay, now I was really confused. I couldn't recall doing anything to upset them, but obviously, I had. I saw Emmett, Alice, and their gang standing together and they too, choose to ignore my presence. And then I saw her. Victoria. She was standing on the steps of the school wearing a robe and a crown. Oh good God, she really did think she was a queen didn't she?

"Attention, attention!" she called out to the masses.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards her.

"As your queen, I would like to remind you that no one, and I mean no one, is to talk to Isabella Swan. She is an undesirable and we don't associate with that kind."

"Yes, Queen Victoria," the crowd agreed in unison.

UN-fucking-believable. So because she didn't like me, I was now a social outcast. A pariah. Who fucking died and made her queen? I'd show her! I marched toward her and before I could get too close, a group of guards surrounded me.

"Don't even think about it," a voice to my right said.

The voice sounded awfully familiar, and I found myself face to face with Charlie. Good lord, my own father was against me now? Before I knew what was happening, I was thrown in a cell where I was to await my punishment. I'm not sure how much time passed, but eventually Charlie came to get me. I was led into the gymnasium, where the stands were filled with spectators. Charlie pushed me into the center of the gym and I was instantly surrounded by people holding dodge-balls. Oh, this was gonna suck. Instantly, I curled myself into a ball, doing my best to make myself as small a target as possible and waited for the balls to start pelting me.

And that's when I woke up. I lay on my back and pushed my sweaty hair out of my eyes. What a horrid dream! At least, I hoped it was a dream, and that when I arrived at school today, Victoria wouldn't be wearing a robe and crown. I looked at the clock and saw that my alarm would be going off in a few minutes anyway, so I got up and ready for the day. My stomach was all tied up in knots. I was unsure what the day would bring. I kinda wanted to stay home, but knew that I'd have to face Edward and probably Victoria at some point, so I might as well get it over with.

I somehow managed to get to school late and had to park in the furthest spot away possible. Ugh! Not a good way to start off the day. I hurried inside and barely made it to homeroom before the bell rang.

"Cutting it close there, Bella. You okay?" Angela whispered in my ear.

I nodded my head and gave her a small smile. All too soon, English arrived and we were told to spend the hour working on our rough drafts for our stories. With everything that had happened last week, I'd totally forgotten that we were supposed to be working on the assignment, so I had nothing done. I opened my notebook and attempted to write something about the old man from Nantucket and his money storing ways. Forty minutes later, I had a couple of paragraphs of crap. Oh well.

I spent Social Studies playing hangman with Emmett instead of paying attention to our teacher, and spent Gym avoiding Mike, as well as the volleyball. I didn't feel up to having lunch with our usual crowd, so I grabbed some food, stuck it in my bag, and went to eat lunch by myself at a picnic table outside. Okay, so maybe not the best of ideas. It was freezing out here, but it was better than having to listen to Mike and Lauren bitching. There were a few people wandering around outside. As I sat there reading a book and eating, I thought I heard someone mention my name. I looked around and noticed a group of students standing near one of the buildings, smoking.

"So did you hear about that Bella girl?" I heard this girl ask her friends.

Holy shit! My nightmare was coming true! I strained my ears to hear what else they were saying, but the wind picked up and I couldn't hear anything else. My imagination went into overdrive, trying to figure out why these people were talking about me and I was unable to focus on my book any longer. The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and I trudged my way to Biology. I wasn't sure what to expect from Edward today, and that made me nervous.

I walked into class and saw him sitting at our table texting. Well, that was a relief of sorts. I made my way over and dropped my bag on the table.

"Hey, Edward."

"Hey," and he went back to texting.

I saw Angela look over at us and frown in Edward's direction. I shrugged at her and got my stuff out, ready for class to start. Angela must have said something to Alice, because Alice looked over and gave Edward a nasty look. He returned her look and then went back to ignoring me. The first thirty minutes passed in that stifling silence of yesterday and I finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Want to tell me what's wrong?" I asked him while we worked.

"Nope."

"Well then, do you want to tell me why you're not speaking to me?"

"You lied to me."

"What are you talking about? I've never lied to you. Not once, Edward!" I exclaimed to him in a hushed voice.

"Look Bella, there's not point in trying to save face. Victoria told me all about you."

I just sat there in stunned disbelief. He really did buy all her bullshit.

"So that's it, huh? Victoria, who's been nothing but a bitch to me, tells you I'm a liar and you automatically believe her?" I asked incredulously.

Never taking his eyes off of his worksheet he replied, "Why shouldn't I believe her?"

"Maybe because she's lying to you."

"Right," he scoffed.

And with that, our tentative friendship ended. As much as it pained me, as much as I wanted to cry, I couldn't be friends with someone who believed the worst about me. I couldn't be friends with someone, who believed me to be a liar and wouldn't give me a chance to explain. I got up from my table and approached Mr. Banner, sitting at his desk.

"Excuse me, Mr. Banner?"

"Yes, Bella?"

"Is there anyway I can switch partners?"

"I'm sorry, Bella, but you and Edward will just have to work out whatever differences you have. I can't go changing partners in the middle of the lab."

I nodded and made my way back to my seat.

I glared at Edward's head and told him, "Well, unfortunately we're stuck working together til this lab is over."

"Whatever."

Stupid jerk. I was so fricking pissed off, that I wanted to take my textbook and smack him upside the head with it. As we sat in silence for the remainder of the class, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I would be damned if I cried in front of him. I blinked them back and as soon as the bell rang, I ran out and made my way to the closest bathroom. I heard Angela and Alice calling my name, but I didn't stop until I was safely locked in a stall. And then the tears began to fall.

"Bella?" I heard Alice call out softly.

"Wha..what?" I sniffled out.

"Unlock the door, please."

I unlocked the stall and found myself wrapped up in a fierce hug. She rocked side to side, while I sobbed into her shoulder, her hands running gently over my back.

"He hates me!" I wailed.

"Shh..shh. He doesn't hate you, he's just being a stupid ass. I love my brother, but sometimes he's not that bright. I tried to talk to him last night, but he ignored me. Tonight, however, there will be no ignoring me. How dare he make one of my friends cry!"

Angela was standing quietly near us and reached out and stroked my hair.

"Alice is right, Bella. I don't think Edward hates you. I think that he's confused. He likes you. I think the almost kiss was proof of that. But I also think he feels guilty about that almost kiss and combine that with whatever Bitchtoria told him and he's an emotional wreck. NOT that that is an excuse to hurt you!"

My sobs quieted and I pulled away, wiping off my tears with my shirt sleeve.

"Well, I don't care how confused he is! He's an ass and I'll be damned if I'm gonna be friends with an ass!"

"Um, Bella? You do realize you're friends with Mike, right?" Angela asked.

"Don't forget Emmett," Alice added.

I threw my hands up in the air. "Fine! Fine! I'm friends with a bunch of asses! Something is obviously wrong with me."

"Bella, before you completely give up on Edward, give him one more chance. Please!" begged Alice.

As much as I wanted to say hell no, I also knew, deep down, that I couldn't just write him off. That's not who I was. I let out a small sigh and agreed to give him one more chance. Alice assured me that she would talk to him and point out the errors of his ways. I had a feeling she would too. While I was dabbing my face with the wet paper towel that Angela had gotten me, the bathroom door opened and Rosalie stepped in. She shut the door behind her, leaned against it, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, Victoria is out for blood," she said.

"What's she done?" Alice asked.

"She's doing everything in her power to discredit Bella and make everyone believe that Bella is a liar and violent."

"What?" we all exclaimed.

"Oh yeah. She was telling me earlier, that she told Edward that you were a liar and wanted to break them up because you're jealous of Victoria. She told Edward that you threatened to hurt her if she told anyone. Although, how or why anyone would believe that bullshit is beyond me."

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. The thought of me beating up Victoria was laughable. She would flatten me like a bug in a fight.

"Well, that's just great. Who knew that I was such a violent liar?" I spat.

"Calm down, Bella. We'll fix this," Rosalie said.

"Does it even matter? Even if I wanted to get back at her or set the record straight, I'm no match for Victoria."

"Like I said, we'll fix this."

"Why are you helping me, Rosalie? You don't even like me." I asked her.

She gave me a smirk and replied, "Well, Emmett likes you and he's a good judge of character. Besides, I'm getting tired of Victoria and her reign over this school. I think it's high time there was a new queen of Forks High and I intend on it being me. The only way to do that is to get rid of her. So my reasons for helping you are primarily selfish."

Huh. I was okay with that. If I was take down the wicked bitch, then I'd need all the help I could get.

"So, what did you have in mind?" I asked.

A smile came across Rosalie's face and I have to admit, I was a bit frightened.

"You just leave it to me, Bella. I'll fill you in once I've set things in motion."

I gulped. That sounded extremely ominous.

"Nothing illegal, right?"

"Of course not," and with those final words, Rosalie opened the door and left.

I looked at Angela and Alice and they looked right back at me.

"So.." I began.

"So..."Angela said.

"So...Rose is gonna kick Victoria's ass and I, for one, can't wait to see what she does," Alice chimed in.

I laughed nervously at that, almost afraid to find out what Rosalie had in mind. The bell rang and we all jumped, realizing that we were late for class. We each grabbed our bags and started toward our perspective classes.

"Oh, Bella!" Alice called down the hall.

I turned around to look out her.

"Don't worry about Edward. Everything's gonna be just fine."

I certainly hoped so, although whether or not, I'd be able to trust him again was a whole other matter.


A/N: Leave me some love