Chapter 10

Changing

Bella's Point of View

It had been two weeks since I had come back to Mystic Falls and everything was going really good. School was great because here they had AP classes and in Forks they didn't; even though it meant more work. Bonnie and I met everyday at my house for witch lessons, and everything was going smoothly. Dad called me everyday as did Angela and Ben; they told me what was going on in Forks. All of them danced around the subject of the Cullen's and of the pack. Amazingly I hadn't though of them ever since I left.

I was in the library when the doorbell rang; I got up to get it.

"Hello Bella." Damon said smiling at me.

"Damon what are you doing here?" I asked blushing. I hadn't seen him very much since I had been back.

"Well I thought that tonight you needed some fun; according to Elena and my brother you have been working too hard." he said in a disapproving tone.

It was true; since I had come back I had rearranged Aunt Lizzie's house. I felt bad about doing it, but Aunt Lizzie did tell me to do what made me happy. I had turned the storage room into a sunroom and it had all of the antique furniture in it. Thankfully Bonnie's dad owned the company that turned it into a sunroom; so not only did I get a good price, they got it done quick.

"I don't know Damon I have a lot of homework and still have some unpacking…" before I could say anything more he put his hand over my mouth.

"Not another word; this is not a negotiation. I will not take no as an answer and if you don't come willingly I can always force you." he said in that soft sexy voice and I saw his pupils constrict and than widen.

"You know compulsion doesn't work on me Damon." I said

"Oh I know I just like watching you blush whenever I try. Do I turn you on when I do it?" he asked. I was completely caught off guard and couldn't say anything. He smiled, "I will take that as a yes."

He drew his face closer to me until once again we were only an inch apart. I could feel his breath on my face; I felt my heart beating faster and I knew he could hear it. I was so tired of us being this close and never getting anywhere. I knew I hadn't closed the chapters before Damon, but this tension and attraction between us was undeniable. I wanted to know what it was like to feel his lips on mine.

"What are you thinking Bella?" he asked me in a very smooth as silk voice.

"I'm thinking that …." I started, but I didn't finish.

Instead I just let my instinct take over; I closed the distance between us and crushed my lips to his. He didn't hesitate in returning the kiss; he pulled me to him and I felt myself melting into him. Finally after a while I had to come up for air. We just looked at each other until my phone rang; I shook my head and answered it.

"Hello." I said shakily; Damon had never taken his eyes off of me.

"Hey Bella its Elena; what are you doing tonight because we are all meeting at the Grill. Mrs. Lockwood has some important news to tell us about the founder's month stuff. Can you come?" she asked.

"Yea I'm on my way now." I said.

"Bella is something wrong?" she asked suspiciously.

"No Elena nothing is wrong and I will be there soon." I said and hung up.

"Well looks like you are going out after all." he said and I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. Inwardly I moaned; my body was filled with electricity.

"Yea you wanna come?" I asked him. I didn't dare to look at him because I knew if I did I wouldn't make it to the Grill.

"Are you asking me out Bella?" he asked and I could tell he was smirking.

"No Damon I'm not. Well since you are declining my offer I will see you later." I said and shut the door in his face; I had just kissed him and he wanted to tease me. I shook the kiss from my head and I ran upstairs to get dressed. After fifteen minutes I was ready; I grabbed my wallet and keys and opened the door but someone blocked the doorway.

"You know it's very rude to shut the door in people's faces." Damon said.

"Yes and it's even more rude to sit there and tease someone after they just kissed you." I glared at him and pushed him back away. I locked the door and started to walk to my car when he caught my arm.

"Bella please don't be mad I'm sorry for teasing you; it was wrong of me and I apologize." he said it so sincerely. I couldn't look away at him; I felt as though his ice blue eyes were burning a hole through my soul. "I would love to accompany you to the Grill."

"Alright apology accepted let's go." I said. He was at his car in a flash and was holding the door open for me.

"Your chariot awaits milady." he said bowing as I got in.

"Why thank you good sir." I said smiling.

The moment he got in the car he took my hand in his and I just smiled. We got to the Grill and he got out to open my door, "You know you don't have to do that Damon." I said to him as he held his hand out to assist me out of the car.

"I know, but where I come from its only right." he said.

"According Elena you don't normally do that for girls; you just use them for your own reasons." I said.

"When did she tell you that." he asked solemnly.

"The first night I was here." I replied. "Is it true?"

He sighed and looked away, "Yes it is."

"Why is that; why do you do those things?" I asked quietly.

"Perhaps I will tell you that story another time; it is very long and we are on a tight schedule." he said as we walked towards the Grill.

"I'll hold you to that, but answer me this; why are you acting differently now?" I asked.

"I can't explain it Bella, but I think it's you. You bring out a part of me that I thought was dead." he said smiling at me.

"Well I know that feeling." I said as we walked into the Grill.

I found the booth where everyone was sitting and they looked shocked as Damon and I walked in. I sat down next to Elena and Damon sat next to me. Elena narrowed her eyes at us and I gave her my 'Leave it alone' look and she did. Mrs. Lockwood walked over to us.

"Bella thank you for coming on such short notice. Now I have some very exciting news, but first I need to confirm Elena, Caroline, and Bella for the Miss Mystic Falls pageant." she said.

"Oh I completely forgot I signed up for that." Elena said.

"Of course I'm in Mrs. Lockwood." Caroline told her.

I was shocked, "Mrs. Lockwood I wasn't here when you held the elections; how was I elected?"

Caroline answered, "Well your aunt signed you up saying you would be here and well I convince Mrs. Lockwood to agree to elect you; I guess she was right."

Aunt Lizzie knew I would be here. Mrs. Lockwood looked at me, "Bella I know the last few weeks have been hard if you don't want to do it the judges and I would understand."

"No Bella you have to do it! It is a tradition for all three of our families to participate and remember we used to talk about it all the time when we were kids." Caroline pleaded with me.

"Caroline if she doesn't want to do it don't push her." Elena said.

"No it's alright." I said and than I turned to Mrs. Lockwood, "Yes I want to participate."

"Wonderful; now next order of business. This Founder's day will be different; we are going to have some people from another school come and visit us. They will be staying in the old Fells home and they will be attending school with you. The will be here for the entire month and since you all are within their age and part of the founding families I want you to set an example for the rest of the town. Now we haven't decided who it will be yet, but when we decide I will let you know. It will be soon since our Founder's month is only about 4 weeks away. That's all I will see you all later." and with that Mrs. Lockwood left.

"Bella are you sure you want to do this; I mean the whole pageant and party stuff?" Elena asked me.

"Yes Elena; I do. Aunt Lizzie would want me to." I said and she dropped the subject.

Caroline started talking about us going shopping and everything. I just tuned her and everything else out until Damon's voice asked me, "You wanna play some pool?" I nodded and we got up to grab a table. "Why don't we make this interesting; I make a shot I get to ask a question and vice versa. Are you game?" he asked me.

I smiled, "Yea I'm game."

He broke and made in the first ball, "Why are you agreeing to do the pageant?"

"Because believe or not I kinda want to. Aunt Lizzie always told me how much fun she had and Caroline, Elena, and I used to talk about it all the time. After everything that has happened I just want something a little normal." I replied.

He shot and missed; I shot and made it, "Why did you come to my house tonight Damon." I asked.

"Because I wanted to see you." he replied.

I made another one, "Why don't you treat me like I'm going to break? Everyone else does."

"I can tell you don't like being treated that way; it annoys and pisses you off. That's the last thing I want to do." He said looking at me with those ice blue eyes. I got lost in them and missed.

"My turn." he said. He made two balls, "Guess that means I get two questions. Let's see; do you miss the wolf boy and sparkle boy?"

"Honestly I haven't thought of them much since I came here." I replied.

"Do you still care for them?" he asked softly.

"Yes I do, but it's changed. I realized I loved them both as something more than friends, but now that's all I love them as." I told him and he smiled.

He made another one, "What do you think of me?"

"I think you put on a show to hide true feelings. You are more caring and concerned for the people around you and your asshole persona is just a wall you have built up. You don't want to care, but you do so to try and keep that wall up you keep people at bay with your jackass attitude." I said and it made him miss his shot. I made two shots, "Why do you act like that?"

"Because I have been hurt and betrayed; I don't want to get to close for fear of losing whoever I'm close to." he replied.

The next few questions were stupid ones. I scratched on my last ball so it was his turn; all that was on the table was the two ball and the eight ball. He made the two in, "Hmmm…..Bella why did you kiss me?" he asked.

"I kissed you because I have felt something for you since we first met and I was tired that every single time we got that close someone or some thing interrupted and I didn't want to let the opportunity pass me by again." I said quietly.

He smiled and knocked the eight ball in; he walked over to me and once again we were an inch apart, "Do you want to do it again?" he asked.

"I think you know the answer to that." I said and with that he leaned down and kissed me softly.

Stefan screaming interrupted the soft sweet kiss, "Damon what the hell are you doing?"

A/N: So what do you think is going to happen next? Review and I am going to get the chapter up tonight as well. Hope you enjoy.