Okay, I know it's been forever, and the 2008-2009 school year has been over for me for almost two weeks now, but hey! Cut me some slack, I've been busy. And this chapter is pretty long. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't think Stephenie Meyer goes to Megan's house to make silly videos and then puts them on YouTube. I do though. (:
Extra Credit: Secrets
Bella's POV
"Alright guys. Because you're seniors, you've earned the right to do fun stuff in school. But because you're in school, you still have to do work," Mr. Duffy said, erasing the remnants of cell reproduction from his board.
Biology has never been my favorite class, despite its easiness. Having Edward as a lab partner has helped quite a bit though. Did I mention we have biology together? He took the empty seat next to me, becoming the envy of everyone in our class. Not that he really needed me; he could hold his own when it came to anything academic.
"So! Because we've been in school for almost two months now, I say we take a break from biology for a while…" Mr. Duffy went on. The class cheered quietly. "And enter the fascinating world of ecology!"
The class was divided between groans and cheers. I was amongst the groaners; ecology is so boring! Mr. Duffy shushed us as he began getting his PowerPoint ready. That was our cue to get ready to take notes.
For the next hour, Mr. Duffy went into detail about crap I already knew: populations, ecosystems, carrying capacity, adaptations, biomes… Edward and I played hang-man and tic tac toe. He usually won, but only because he would pick medical words that he'd learned from Carlisle that I had never heard of, and tic tac toe is a generally unfair game.
Finally, with about ten minutes left in class, Mr. Duffy turned his projector off and walked back to his white board.
"What do you say we do a little project?"
This got the class interested.
"This is simply extra credit. I'm not going to give you time in class to work on it. But I'd advise some of you," he gave a stern look to the kids in the back of the class, "to take advantage of it and do a good job."
Edward leaned close to me. "Wanna do it?"
"Let's see what it is first," I whispered back. He nodded.
"I want you to write me a children's story about an ecosystem," Mr. Duffy continued. "You should include pictures as well as some good narration. It doesn't have to be super long, but the more thought you put into it, the higher grade you'll get. The most points I'll award is 100, and it'll count as a test grade. It can't hurt you if you don't do it, but it will definitely raise your average if youdo."
I looked at Edward. He shrugged. "Up to you."
Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see Tyler Crowley, looking desperate. He licked his lips.
"Hi Bella. Will you, umm, be my partner?"
"Uhh…" Before I could think of reason to say no, I noticed that a swarm of girls had formed around our table, mostly around Edward. Sluts. The sluttiest of them all was Jessica, and she was oh so proudly displaying her fake, C-cup cleavage by leaning over the table.
"Wanna work with me, Eddie?" she said.
Edward crossed his arms. "Please don't call me that." He said it a politely firm way that only Edward could manage.
Jessica grinned. "Alright. What do you say, Edward? You can give me an A in this class and I can give you anything you want…" She leaned forward and—I couldn't take it anymore.
"Sorry, Tyler," I said. I slipped my arms around Edward's stomach and he uncrossed his arms and slung one across my shoulder. "I'm working with Edward."
"Damn it!" Tyler walked away looking depressed.
I smiled. Jessica was glaring at me.
"What do you think you're doing?" she hissed.
"Giving my project-partner a hug?" I looked up at Edward, and he was smiling mockingly at her. She glared from him to me and back again, and then stalked away, fuming.
Edward glanced down at me and we both irrupted into laughter. I hugged him tighter. Although I knew I should, I didn't want to let go.
"Well that took care of them…"
Edward's POV.
I found that I couldn't stop thinking about that day in Biology—the way I felt when Tyler came up, the look in Bella's eyes when Jessica started flirting with me, and how she responded by wrapping her arms around me. How I unthinkingly returned the embrace. It just felt so…right. But it shouldn't have! Bella's taken. We're just friends. Good friends.
I still couldn't get her off my mind.
I thought I had made a mistake by telling my sister what had happened and how I felt, because for about five minutes she sang, "You're in love with her, you love Bella!" But then she calmed down and became sympathetic.
"Everything will work out how it's supposed to, Edward."
"How is it supposed to be?" I'd asked.
Alice shrugged. "Who knows? But! You and Bella were meant for each other; I can feel it. It's just the getting you two together part that I'm not sure about…"
She then walked away, tapping her chin thoughtfully.
I was laying face down on my bed, thinking about how badly I missed Seattle, when my pants started vibrating. I sat up and pulled my phone out of my pocket.
Bella was calling me. My pulse quickened as I answered, "Hello?"
"Edward!" she said brightly.
"Hi Bella."
"What's up?"
"Nothing, just laying on my bed. You?"
"Same. I'm really bored," she said, sighing.
"Where's Emmett?" I don't know what empowered me to ask that question…but I did.
"He, uhh…had something to do. I'm not sure what. But he cancelled on our Friday night movie thing we've been doing since we got together for the first time since, well, we got together." Bella paused. "Oh well. Charlie's working late and I was wondering if you wanted to come over and work on our extra credit thing? Alice can come too; I'm sure we could use her creative ingenuity."
I smiled. Bahaha. She invited me over. "Sure, that sounds good. Let me go find her and ask." I covered the mouthpiece of my phone and ran out of my room and towards Alice's. Her door was shut. I knocked, yelling, "Alice! It's just me; open up!"
Alice opened the door. She was clad in a white bathrobe and appeared to be half way through putting on her makeup—only one eye had been painted from what I could tell.
"Yessss?" she asked, drawing out the word.
"I'm going to Bella's tonight to work on our extra credit project and you were invited."
My sister's tiny mouth fell open. "Aww! I would love to! But…I can't. I have a date, remember?" Her pretty face lit up with excitement.
Oh yeah. She'd been prancing around all afternoon, screaming at the top of her lungs, "I have a date with Jasper Hale!"
"Oh. I forgot. Never mind then." I smiled again. Alice could clearly see what I was thinking.
"Behave," she mouthed. I rolled my eyes.
"Bella?" I said into the phone.
"Mhmmm?"
"Alice has a date and can't come."
"Really? Aww. With who?" she asked.
"Jasper Hale, you know, the guy who knows everything in our history class?"
"Uhh yeah. The twin." Bella paused. "Aww, I bet they're so cute together! Is she excited?"
"Very," I said. "It's a little obnoxious." Although I had walked away from Alice's room. I heard her yell, "I heard that, Edward Cullen!"
Ignoring her, I asked, "Want me to come now?" (That's what she said. Hahah.)
"Uhh huh. I ordered a pizza before I called you."
"Sweet. Be there in a few."
"Bye, Edward." I hung up the phone and got ready for my night alone with Bella.
Score!
Bella's POV.
After three hours of hard work, one hour of messing around, and nine slices of pizza, Edward and I finished our Biology project. And it looked pretty good too, despite the fact that I wasn't creative at all and Edward used most of his creativity on music. But we were proud of it, and that's all that mattered.
I'll admit, I was pretty excited when Alice couldn't come. I'd never really been alone with Edward. This was my chance to get to know him better. So we could become better friends. Best friends, if I was lucky. Because…do you want to know a secret?
I needed a best friend. Someone that I could trust with all of these emotions that have irrupted inside of me. And although I couldn't tell Edward about the feelings I felt about him, I still needed him. Badly.
We sat on the floor of my bedroom, laughing about something Jessica had done in Biology today. It was so easy to be with him.
We were silent for a moment. I leaned my head back against my bed and looked at him. He looked so…unreal, propped up on his hands and his feet outstretched sitting on my floor. His hair was all over the place, as usual. His green eyes were lit up as he looked around my room, observing. Then they came to rest on me. I could feel myself blushing. Edward grinned his sexy little half grin.
"You're a good friend, Edward," I said.
His smile intensified as he did a mini bow. "Why thank you. I try."
I laughed.
"And what makes me such a good friend?" he asked.
"Well…" I looked around my room, avoiding his gaze. "You're fun to be with. You make me laugh. Talking to you is very easy. And," I finally looked back at him, "I trust you."
"Do you?"
I nodded. Edward scooted across the floor to sit by me.
"You're very hard for me to read, Bella. But I can tell that something's going on."
I gazed into his emerald eyes and tried very hard not to cry.
He grabbed my hand. "Tell me." His eyes were filled with concern.
I closed my eyes and began. "This year started off great. But now it's like all of a sudden I don't know who he is anymore."
"Emmett." It wasn't a question. His voice was a whisper. I nodded, my eyes still closed.
"At first it was little things. Forgetting to meet me by my locker. Not being interested in our conversations. One time I ran into him and he completely blew me off. And sometimes he would be completely normal! The same, silly Emmett who I loved and who loved me. But now…cancelling on our plans, spending less and less time with me…"
Tears spilled over my cheeks. Edward pulled me onto his lap and hugged me close as I cried onto his shoulder.
"I don't want to lose him! But I feel like I am."
Edward rocked me and calmed me down, whispering soft consolations in my ear. Even when I had stopped crying, we sat like that—me wrapped up in him—talking about random things.
He didn't leave until after ten; we moved downstairs to wait for Charlie to get home and watch episodes of CSI: Las Vegas. (My favorite show EVER) When he decided to go home, I walked him to his car, our arms linked.
"Thank you, Edward. For everything." I reached my arms up and around his neck and hugged him tightly. When I released him, he cupped my cheek in his hand.
"You're very welcome. I'm always here for you." He kissed my forehead and then got into his car and drove away.
This was the start of our beautiful friendship.
So! There's a little bit of fluff...leading up to some dramaaaa! There's no telling when the next chapter will be up, but it centers around the Cullens. So. REVIEW.
