A/N: First things first - thank you again for all the reviews. You are all awesome!

Now - I was asked about the ages of my characters. I know I have not really talked about this and that's because I could never find a real good place to include the info. At the beginning of this chapter (roughly the end of May of our sophmore year of high school) the ages are Bella - 16 bday 9/13; Edward - 16 bday 6/20; Jasper - 17 bday 11/8; Emmett - 17 bday 1/31; Alice - 16 bday 7/11; Rose - 17 bday 2/3. I will put the ages again at the end of this chapter becuase the will change during the course of it.

Also, I'm warning you now, this is the longest chapter I have ever written. I just couldn't break it apart. It all had to be together. Hope you like it. :-)


Over


Two weeks; fourteen days; three hundred thirty-six hours – that's how long it's been since I've talked to Edward. We haven't even looked at each other. I thought our previous awkward spell was bad. This is unbearable. I'm losing my mind but I still didn't know what to say to him. I pretty much admitted everything to him and wasn't sure where we stood. His silence didn't help at all. I'm assuming he picked up on my admittance and now he's doing exactly what I figured he would do – freak out. He doesn't see me as anything more than a friend and now that he knows I do, he's uncomfortable with me.

I've lost my best friend.

"Honey, Alice and Rose are here." My mom said sticking her head in my room.

"Tell them to go away." I mumbled through my pillow.

"We're not going any where chica. You're stuck with us tonight." Rose said.

"Yep…stuck with us." Alice chirped as they both plopped themselves on my bed.

"Why?" I groaned.

"Because something's been wrong these past two weeks – really ever since prom actually and you obviously need to talk about it." Alice said.

"I don't want to talk about it." I said whining but knew I could whine all night and they weren't going to budge.

"We've brought ice cream and pizza." Rose said waving the box in front of my face.

"You guys know we can't eat that. What are you thinking?" I whisper yelled.

"Oh hush with that nonsense, its light ice cream and a veggie pizza." Alice laughed as she pulled a slice. "Soooo….are you going to tell us what happened between you and Edward or let us assume the worse."

I rolled my eyes because even though I hadn't spoken to anyone about what happened, no one in my group is stupid. Obviously something had happened between us after the softball game. They both were patiently waiting for me to decide how to begin. I grabbed the gallon of ice cream and a spoon then took a deep breath.

"I likehimmorethanafriend." I ran together in one long word with my eyes closed waiting for their reaction. When I didn't hear anything I chanced a peak. They were still just sitting there like I hadn't dropped a bomb.

"Oh we know that already silly!" Alice laughed.

"What do you take us for? We knew that as soon as you said you "guessed" dating Mike was a good thing." Rose said raising an eyebrow.

"And let's not forget the obvious playing of favorites." Alice said then it was like something automatically clicked in her head. "Is he pissed at you because you've been treating him like, well like just a friend these past few months?"

"Eh yes and no…" I said taking another huge bite of ice cream before I told them everything.

After my Saturday night with the girls I still wasn't convinced that I needed to talk to Edward so I kept with my re-arranged workout schedule to try to avoid him even more than I already was. I knew it was childish of me to avoid him and I knew all my other friends were put in a tough spot by me doing it, but I still couldn't make myself talk to him.

Even the best laid plans go to shit sometimes though. I made it till Thursday before the three boys came walking into the weight room. I was in the middle of a set when I heard the voices. My flight instinct kicked in but I quickly remembered one way in, one way out. I couldn't leave because they'd see me. When they finally appeared and saw me they all came to a quick stop. I looked at them and for the first time in three weeks let myself look directly at Edward. His face held absolutely no emotion as he turned around and headed back towards the door. Jasper and Emmett quickly reacted and ran out the door locking it behind them.

"What the hell you guys?!" Edward yelled as he slammed his fists into the door.

"Fix whatever happened between the two of you. This whole not being friends thing is really messing with all of us!" Jasper yelled right back.

"Jasper Whitlock Hale! Emmett Alan McCarty! Open this damn door right now!" I yelled as I walked beside Edward.

"No way! You can yell all you want but it isn't happening! Not until your friends again." Emmett said. I knew they were serious and I was almost positive that the pixie had her hand in this. She had been trying all week to get me to talk to Edward; she even tried to force us next to each other at lunch a couple of times. I shook my head and walked back towards the machine I had been working on.

Just go back to your workout. Maybe he won't say anything or ask any questions. God I hope he doesn't ask any questions. I have no idea what to say to him. I'm not ready for this.

I was almost in a full blown panic attack when I felt him sit down next to me on the bench.

"Damn, act like it's the end of the world to be stuck in this tiny room with me." Edward said. I turned my head and just looked at him. I didn't know how to react to the first words spoken to me in almost three weeks. "Why the hell are you mad at me? I don't get this at all."

He thinks I'm mad at him?! Is he serious! What the heck is this boy….grrrr. He is beyond frustrating!

"Are you serious?" I asked in disbelief apparently letting my brain filter go a little.

"Ha! Got you to say something and look at me." He smiled. I shook my head and let a little chuckle of relief out. Relief that on top of whatever conversation we were about to have I didn't have to convince him that I've never been mad at him. Even with breaking the ice a little, we still sat in absolute silence for a minute before I decided it was time.

"I really hate the way I feel right now." I said looking at my feet.

"I don't understand what you mean."

"I obviously can't have you both in my life." I said. I wanted to add that I truly didn't want both, just the one, but I couldn't say it. I wasn't at that point in the conversation yet.

"No one said anything having to pick one or the other."

"Yes, you both kind of did. You both want…expect me to spend all my free time with you. When I don't, I get bitched out. I can't be in two places at once." I said as I lifted my eyes from the floor to stare directly into his. He seemed to look deeply into mine, almost like he was looking for an answer. I wasn't sure what my emotions read in my face at that moment so I have no idea what he saw but he finally spoke.

"Isabella…I want you to be happy. I don't want to cause you stress about anything. If you feel like you need to choose then I will back off and be just your friend. I will try to remember that I can't have you all the time."

Not what I wanted to hear at all. Why can't he fight for me? I want him to fight for me. I want to spend all my free time with him. Did he not get the hint? Did he not understand what I practically told him three weeks ago?

Man up Swan. Tell him. He wants you to be happy. Ok then…he's the only thing that will make me happy. He deserves to know this even if he only thinks of me as a friend. I don't care anymore if I make a fool of myself…

"I do want to make sure you know something else though." He said breaking me out of my thoughts. "Just because I'm backing off, doesn't mean I'm happy about it. You're obviously not happy with Mike anymore; you really should do something about that. And if he is going to be an ass and make you choose, I hope you remember who you've always wanted to turn to." He finished then stood up.

My heart was thundering in my chest. I knew in that second I had to just come right out and tell him.

"Edward." I said as I put my hand on his arm, stopping his walk. He turned around and looked down waiting for me to say something. I stood up so I could get closer to him. "Everything you say is the truth. I'm no happy any more. I haven't been but I'm not sure how to make myself happy when the one thing that I know I need is my best friend and his feelings aren't the…"

I was in the middle of pouring my heart out to him when he interrupted me with a kiss. My mind went completely blank. He had one hand on my cheek and the other on my lower back holding me tightly towards him. Everything I had planned to say was gone. The feeling in his one kiss was more than all of Mike's put together. It was like an electrical current pulsing through me. When he stopped and pulled away, I had to catch my breath. I just stood there staring at him, still speechless.

"Bella…this is wrong." He finally said.

"What?!"

"You're still with Mike."

"But I don't want to be with Mike. I want to be…"

"No you don't." He said sounding almost like he was trying to convince himself more than me. "I can't risk our friendship on something that may or may not work out. I can't lose you completely. You have to be in my life one way or another and if friends is all we can be, then so be it."

"But…"

"No. I shouldn't have kissed you like that…"

"No shit." I said pissed crossing my arms. He just looked at me. "So you just let me pour my heart out knowing that you wouldn't…"

"No, no, no…" he said quickly but didn't know how to follow it. "I don't know. I want…I don't know what I want. Well…I want our friendship."

"But nothing else."

"Can't you understand where I'm coming from? I have to have you in my life. I'll screw it up eventually and then you'll hate me and we'll…"

"I'll always be your friend, Edward. And…I do understand where you're coming from, but I don't like it. I'm really pissed about that kiss…you shouldn't have done it." I said looking at him. Yeah, the kiss – the kiss that I'll never forget as long as I live. The kiss that has forever tainted any future kisses from anyone.

"Bella…promise me one thing." He said. I nodded and waited. "Don't break up with him. If you do then I won't have a reason to stay away from you."

I didn't respond. I couldn't promise that and he knew I couldn't promise it. I just walked up to the door.

"Boys open up." I said as I knocked.

"Are things better now?" Emmett asked as they opened the door.

Were things better? No they were worse. I think I'd rather be where I was a week ago. Now I knew he wanted me as well but didn't want me at the same time. The confusion in my mind was beyond words. How was I supposed to go on and pretend we're just friends when we're not? And the promise, the promise I couldn't make – to stay with Mike.

Edward wants to stay friends then that's what we'll stay. It will be an impossible task so to make it easier, I will stay with Mike currently because doing that will make it easier for Edward. The easier it is for Edward then the easier it will be for me to pretend.

"We're friends." Edward and I said at the same time.

----

School ended the following week, Alice and Rose went to Europe for the summer and Mike started college visits. Mike being gone made things both better and worse at the same time. Without Mike there, Edward and I didn't have to put on so much of a show. It was worse because when school started back up and Mike got back it was damn near unfeasible to dial it back to treating him just like Jasper and Emmett.

Once our junior year did start it was obvious that being with Mike was not going to work. He was a senior and acting like the school was his to control. He was beyond arrogant and hating him was the only emotion I was feeling towards him.

When did I start living a lie? Oh yes that's right, when my best friend kissed me and then proceeded to tell me not to break up with my boyfriend. Right. Hell.

As much as I didn't want to be with Mike, he was still my distraction although it was starting to not work anymore. Alice and Rose helped when it became evident I was losing my will to live basically. Every time I had a free day or night, they practically kidnapped me. It made life a little better. They basically took all my choices away from me. Probably the best thing.

But as much as I tried to still be the girlfriend, I was losing the battle and reverting back to Edward's friend.

"Hey girl." Edward said to me as he walked up to my locker. It was the last week of October and I was leaning there with Mike talking about playoffs for football that were coming up. Edward completely ignored Mike, like he so often did, and leaned down to hug me.

"Hey." I said smiling then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek which he returned. No matter my mood, where I was, or who I was with I could never hide my enthusiasm when Edward was around.

"So, us boys are planning on a movie and pizza later. You interested? Rose and Alice might meet up later but they aren't sure."

"Heck yeah!" I said all excited about it. I hadn't spent much time with just the boys lately, obviously, but I figured I was owed a little bit of time. You know like time off for good behavior.

"She's not interested." Mike firmly stated. I wasn't aware my head could whip around as fast as it did, but before I knew it I was looking at him and I could feel my face heating up. He had never told me I couldn't do something. Sure he'd made it clear he wasn't happy about it, but he'd never flat out told me I couldn't go and he sure as hell never did it in front of the person who asked me.

"Excuse me? Please repeat." I said trying to reign in my anger. The school hallway was not a place for a fight.

"I'm not letting you go out with him. I don't like it. I don't like him. Especially since he just kissed you." He said condescendingly and narrowed his eyes at me. I narrowed mine back as I took a deep breath and turned back to Edward.

"I don't think I'm going to make it out tonight after all." I said very subdued. I knew if I let any kind of emotion show now I was doomed to go off on Mike right there in front of everyone.

"God-damn-it Bella! Are you seriously going to let this asshole…" Edward yelled.

"That's how it should be." Mike said.

"No, she should be able to spend time with her friends." Edward said through clenched teeth as he took a step towards Mike. Mike smirked. I knew there was something happening that I would have to try to process later but right now all I knew was that if I didn't do something quick, neither one of the boys would be playing football anytime soon. So I stepped in the middle of them. Edward looked down at me with a look that could only be described as pissed off. I knew he was mad at Mike but I also knew a lot of that anger was directed towards me as well.

"I'm not blowing you off…some things need to be taken care of tonight." I said under my breath and then mouthed 'call me later.' He nodded then walked away.

"Glad you saw that from my…" Mike smiled as he put his arm around my shoulders and started walking towards our class. I spun out from under him and glared.

"Shut-up. Just shut-up you son of a bitch. Edward is my best friend and yeah he did kiss my cheek – actually I kissed his first. But it was on the cheek! And I do believe I let it go every time one of the whores in this school does it to you." I said and stopped just long enough to catch my breath and try to calm myself. He thought I was done and tried to talk. "I'm not done yet. If you want this to work you have got to let me spend time with my friends – ALL of my friends. That's all there is to say. Subject closed. Your decision." I finished then walked away.

I'm not stupid. Mike wouldn't put up with me growing a backbone. I just wonder how long it will take until he breaks up with me. I quickly found Rose and Alice; they already knew what had happened so we skipped our last period and headed back to their house for girl time.

I was home pretty early and was surprised when Edward's car was in his spot. I thought about knocking on his door but opted against it and just went into my room. He called me about ten minutes later.

"I want to apologize for causing that fight today." He said as soon as I answered my phone.

"You're not upset and I'm not worried about it." I said laughing. "I'm just so sick of fighting with him over the same stupid thing."

"Yeah about that…" he said then I heard him take a deep breath. "Bella…I've been thinking. It was really selfish of me to ask you not to break up with him for my benefit only. That was so stupid. Being with him is obviously making you miserable and he's clearly an asshole."

"Are you asking me to break up with him now?" I said laughing at the whole situation.

"No. I'm not asking you to do anything. I just want you to do whatever makes you happy." He said then paused. "But are you going to breakup with him?"

The hope in his voice was not disguised very well at all. I couldn't suppress my smile.

"No I have not but I really don't think it will last much longer, whether it is my doing or his. I pretty much told him it was over though just not officially."

"Just playing the waiting game then?"

"Pretty much. I don't want to end it right now before playoffs and throw his whole game off. You guys gotta win this again!" I said hoping our conversation would switch tracks to something I was more comfortable with, like football. It worked.

----

The playoffs started and it was obvious Mike and I were on the verge of breaking up but neither of us were doing it. He spent the last two weeks ignoring my phone calls and if he did actually take it he only stayed on the line for a minute then gave me some excuse to get him off the line. The only time we saw each other was at school events. This of course let me spend time with my friends with no interruptions. I could tell Mike was cheating on me, but I really didn't care. As far as I was concerned our relationship was over a year ago really. I was even positive I knew who he was cheating with.

I kept my suspicions from everyone else and just went on with life. I really wanted to show him that you don't mess with Isabella Swan. And even though I wasn't mad he should have just ended it with me before going off with the slut. I wanted everyone to know the kind of scum Mike Newton really is.

My stage was set. It was perfect; our Regional Championship game.

I didn't act any differently the day of the game. I still wore his jersey like the good girlfriend even though we hadn't talked much. It was hard to force it over my head in the morning when I really wanted to pour bleach on it. Even though I didn't change my attitude and I tried to act normally, I was pretty sure my friends knew something was going on. They never asked though, for which I was thankful.

As expected we won the game, the only step of my plan out of my direct control. As soon as the game finished everyone rushed the field for celebration. I calmly walked my way towards where Edward, Jasper, Emmett, Rose, and Alice were all standing. Mike was behind Edward so he could see me and I could see every expression on his face. Mike was livid as I approached Edward, Edward was confused, and everyone else was blank.

"Congratulations." I said to Edward then kissed his cheek. I saw the light bulb flicker on above his head. He knew I was ending it with Mike but didn't know why.

"Do you want me to handle this for you?" He asked very serious. I just had to laugh.

"Honey, you can't breakup with him for me. That's just wrong."

"I'd probably hit him anyways." He said shrugging.

"I know you would." I said implying that Mike had hurt me – Edward's qualifications for kicking his butt. I saw the other light flicker on again as well as everyone else standing close. I winked at them all then walked past them and headed towards Mike to do it.

He glared at me the whole time I walked across the field. It was surprisingly very hard not to laugh.

"So I'm second!" He yelled at me.

"Mike, seriously, do you think I'm stupid? You must think I'm honestly blind."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Yes, you're second…you always have been. But aren't I second too?" I said looking at him dead in the eyes. I knew he wouldn't admit it in front of everyone. It would tarnish his perfect reputation. As far as everyone else was concerned, we had the perfect relationship. One of the most popular guys in school and the most popular girl, we were it. We were what incoming freshman looked up to. We had been together since my freshman year, basically two years. As far as the rest of the student body was concerned, seeing Mike and I together in the hall was common place. To see something different would have been ludicrous.

"Can we discuss this off the field?"

"Nope." I said popping my 'p' like Alice. I could feel the eyes on us from behind me but I didn't chance a look at my friends. "We're discussing this right here, right now. Ya know, I'm not really surprised you cheated on me. How long has it been going on? Did it happen after our little fight in the hallway or were you doing it before then?" I said not really expecting an answer because that would be admitting to it.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh just grow a pair and freaking admit you're a cheating asshole." I said loud enough to make sure everyone around would hear me.

"Please let's do this…"

"No Mike. I'm tired of doing things the way you want them done. I've been doing it for two years. I'm through with it. I'm done doing anything you want me to do. I'm done with you. We're through. It's over." I said then sighed. "Huh, wow, I feel better already. I hope you two are happy together. You're both perfectly matched really." I said then glanced toward Jessica Stanley who was looking very anxiously at our exchange from the sideline. Her facial expression confirmed my suspicions.

"Wait, Bella…please just…" Mike begged and reached for my arm. All my emotions came crashing down on me when he touched me and tried to hold me in place. The force in which they hit me was unbelievable. I felt my eyes water, my cheeks got warm, and my hands were shaking.

Deep breath. Breathe. You can do this without shedding tears in front of any of them.

"Go fuck yourself Mike." I said, ripping my arm from his grasp and headed directly toward Jessica. Her expression changed immediately. She now looked scared as I came walking toward her. She kept looking around for help but no one was moving. Everyone was watching me intently. I'm sure running from me was what she wanted to do, but she just stood there.

When I was about ten feet from her I started taking Mike's jersey off. I didn't say anything, I didn't look at her, I didn't stop walking, I just dropped the jersey at her feet and didn't stop walking until I reached Jasper's truck in the parking lot.


A/N: Hope it was worth the wait. She's done with Mike!!! But will she and Edward finally get together????

Ages at the end of the chapter (roughly the middle of Novemeber - in our junior year of high school)

Bella: 17

Edward: 17

Jasper: 18

Emmett: 17

Rose: 17

Alice: 17