Okay. One thing:

Renee is annoying. Defs. I can understand TOTALLY if you don't like her. But the thing is, she's not a bad person. She does selfish things, but she's not a bad person. Every individual has so many sides to them, it's hard to classify someone as "good" or "evil" unless it's in extremes. And that's just how it is with Renee. There are sides to her that imperfect her, just making her character human. The real important thing is that she loves Bella, and always has good intentions.

* HOPEFULLY this is the right chapter this time, hey? It was soooo embarrassing for me, actually, to log into my emails and realise I have people left and right asking about that one…

Stupid Lina…

SM OWNS ALL CHARACTERS. THE TRUTH HURTS.

10. A New Development

EPOV

And I had been . . . thirteen minutes late. It took me twenty four to drive from James' place to my parent's, which was in the opposite direction. The first ten minutes after I arrived was with introductions, muffins, and a seating arrangement. The next half an hour was going over plans that I already knew, and that didn't concern me in the slightest. Throwing a party didn't concern me in the slightest, full stop, but since Esme was so anxious about the whole thing, and my father seemed to be not coping too well with it, I had agreed to look things over. Distantly. Or so I thought.

So it was after the first forty minutes it finally looked like we were making some progress. But then, of course, my mother had to throw in a decoration change, or add in some more guests, which stuffed up the seating arrangements, and the time kept ticking by.

I'd sat in the high, comfortable wooden seat, across from my parents at the dining table. Carlisle looked a little lost, and a little distracted, but he rubbed Esme's hand underneath the table where he thought I couldn't see. Supporting her in the best way that he could. Papers were strewn across the shiny surface, plans and location brochure's tucked up into various folders.

"Thank you so much, Edward, for coming here," Esme had thanked me, one of multiple times. "I know it must be boring for you. But I just can't get it right . . ."

I'd tried my best to help. Truth be told, I didn't have a clue in any of it. The only useful bit of information I contributed was highlighting the fact we'd need a seriously large birthday cake. Especially seeing as the birthday boy was Emmett. Twenty years old. Jesus.

I'd fidgeted in my seat when I got asked my opinion on flowers. Flowers. Carlisle raised his eyebrows at me in a way to say, Well, son, you agreed to this. And I'd twisted my way around answering that one. Esme was lovely, and I knew she meant no harm in her queries, but the last thing I wanted was to suggest something horrible. Which I probably would.

Why would Emmett want flowers at his birthday, anyway?

So it was one hundred and forty eight minutes later when I left my old home. Esme and Carlisle still had Emmett and mine's old bedrooms, just in case we wanted to stay. As far as I knew, nothing had changed there. Everything was as it had been a year and somewhat ago.

I was thankful when I made it home. After another thirty one minutes.

I was not in the least surprised to find Emmett sprawled across the couch in the living room, beer in hand and flipping through channels mechanically like he was programmed to do it.

I snorted my greetings. "So you stayed in all day?"

He didn't look up at me. "Yep," he said. "Beauty of being an adult, kid."

I leant towards him and grabbed the control out of his hands, flipping it back to the channel he'd just passed. He grumbled under his breath, but sat up, heaving his body around, so I could sit on the sofa next to him.

"You have no idea how fucked up my day was," I mumbled.

"You have no idea how great my day was," Emmett gloated.

I rolled my eyes. "What happened."

He chuckled, a hearty sound that was rather deep. "Rose came over today. God I love that girl. Do you know what she said to me today? 'Why don't you stop playing with your stupid balls and just hurry up and kiss me?'" His laughter got louder.

"She sounds just right for you," I said dryly.

"Too right." Emmett straightened up, taking a good look at me. I ignored him, staring at the screen. "What happened to you?" he asked. "Was Esme really that bad?"

I grimaced. Although he didn't know what exactly I was there for, he knew just as well as I did how she could sometimes get.

"She was fine, I guess," I sighed finally. "I'm starving now, though. Skipped dinner in hopes of making it home earlier."

Emmett nodded. "Chicken's in the oven. Still warm."

I nodded. "Yeah, maybe in a minute. I'm just so tired."

We both sat, staring at the screen for a moment.

"So," Emmett said, slightly lighter than what I was used to. "You never did tell me where you went at the party the other night."

I internally groaned. How many people wanted it brought up?

"I was around," I answered evasively. "I wasn't expecting to come home to the news of a party, remember? Maybe I didn't quite feel up to it."

Emmett snorted. "Yeah, right. Edward Cullen has to be up for a party. I think your fan club would die a little inside if they heard you say that."

I muttered a low curse under my breath, which just made him laugh.

"You know, I didn't so mind your disappearance during the night—although the questions I got asked about your absence were irritating—but I really could've appreciated your presence in the morning. That was one hell of a clean up."

I smirked, having forgotten all about it in my rush out of the place. I was sure the damage must have been pretty extensive.

"Well, I'm going to go get some—chicken, you said?—and then I'm off to bed."

Emmett was already back to flipping channels. "Sure thing."

I shook my head, rolling my eyes, and departed out of the room silently.

I saw her at school the next day. It was kind of surprising that one moment it was like I'd never seen her, and now all this evidence of her never-ending presence was cropping up all over the place. She was there when I passed through the locker hall. She was there in the cafeteria at lunch. And, of course, she was there in my Biology class.

I had kind of made it my duty to make sure I acknowledged her the next time we were in school. It was rather surprising that when I saw her, I hardly thought about it as I smiled. She'd smiled back, raising her eyebrows, and then she was gone. And I totally hadn't given it a second thought.

Lunch was hellish. I suppose it could have been classified as entertaining, but what with Tanya's standoffish behaviour towards me at the moment and Irina's constant remarks on the cafeteria's trashy food, it was tiresome. James still wasn't there, which bothered me somewhat, and relieved me at the same time. When the subject of him and this rumoured Victoria—apparently I was the only one to have met in the flesh and blood; lucky me—cropped up, I stopped listening. I had no interest in that conversation.

"You alright, Edward?" Kate asked me, frowning slightly as she stared at me. I mentally shook myself, composing my face which had zoned out.

"Fine," I lied easily. Then I smiled at her, surprised at her perceptiveness.

There were the usual bunch at our table—too much, really, considering how much space there was—plus one or two extras I hadn't seen before. And probably wouldn't see again. There were always people being invited to sit here who never got invited back.

"God, do you guys know of Angela Weber?" Simon asked. Irina was sitting in his lap, feeding him food off her tray.

"The quiet girl?" Kate wondered.

I just stayed silent, not being perfectly sure of whom they were referring to.

Simon snorted. "Quiet, yeah. And also completely nerdy. She's in my calculus class, and is just a freak. She sits in the front row with her glasses perched on her nose and her face buried in the text book. When the teacher talks, you can hear her—physically hear her—scribbling down the notes on her page, so fast like she's afraid she'll miss a word he says." He snickered, wrinkling his nose. "It just bugs me."

"I borrowed a pen off her once," Irina smiled looking into his eyes. "Or, at least, asked to. She just stared at me weirdly." She giggled, lightly pressing her fingertip to his nose.

"Well, is she hot?" Laurent, James' best friend—an okay guy—asked, like that was all that mattered.

Irina grimaced at the same time Simon snorted rather loudly. "Huh. No. She's all skinny and shit. Like . . . willowy. Stretched out."

"Uh."

The whole group kind of lost interest after that.

I was picking at my food without any real interest when I saw, from the corner of my eye, Tanya rise and walk off. Without Kate. Even stranger: without Irina.

I shook my head, feeling a little guilty. She hadn't spoken a word to me since Friday night.

"Oh," Jasper said, who was, naturally, next to me. He noticed it at the same time I did. "Man, are you going to tell us what's up with you and Tanya? Everyone's noticed it." It was one of the first things he'd said. Jasper was fairly quiet most of the time.

I noticed everyone was looking at me. A small kid who I'd never seen before was staring at me like I was completely fascinating. I frowned.

"Ah . . . I don't know," was my genius reply. "She and I just had a little disagreement, that's all." I shrugged, letting them know it was no big deal.

"Looks like more than just that," Laurent said, as Irina scowled. I was guessing Tanya hadn't even told her what had happened, and she was probably frustrated at not knowing the answer.

I shrugged again, not giving them anything to work with. Although Tanya was annoying me, she didn't deserve to be squandered behind her back.

"Did you guys try something together at the party?" Laurent pressed. "Like, get together again? Maybe this is luuuuuurve and we're just reading all the sexual tension wrong."

Most people laughed. I rolled my eyes.

"You wish," I muttered. "I'm serious, though. Nothing happened at all." Why couldn't people just drop it?

"It can't be that hard to make her put out," Simon chuckled. "She's completely open to experimenting, even with old material. Jesus, man, maybe you've lost your charm."

"Or maybe Tanya can't go down properly and Ed's sick of it. Is that the reason you guys broke up?" someone said.

That pissed me off. Why the hell hadn't I realised before these people were a bunch of disrespecting morons?

"Piss off," I muttered, shoving my chair out from the table angrily. Once again, why the hell would they talk about something that was private between Tanya and me? "If you've got a problem, why don't you talk about it to Tanya," I suggested, before turning around and storming out of the cafeteria. One girl tried to stop me as I walked, smiling at me, but I pushed past her without glancing at her and continued on.

Fuck I hated school.

--------------

And there was Bella as I sat in the back of the biology classroom. My stormy behaviour had died down after mulling around with it in my car during lunch, listening to music at the top volume. Now I was relaxed and fidgeting in my seat as I listened to the teacher drone on and on.

As soon as we were dismissed from the treacherous lecture, I reluctantly turned in my seat to face my partner.

Lauren smiled at me. I smiled back.

"So," she said. "What are we going to start off with?"

Like she even had a clue on what we were doing. I looked around the room as I passed it off as thinking about her question, noting the pupils' behaviour. Bella was there with Mike, but I could only see the back of her brown hair if I really craned my neck . . .

Lauren snapped the gum in her mouth, also snapping my attention back to her. "I think this is a really lame project," she shared, cupping the back of her neck with her palm. "Why don't you just tell me what you got up to on the weekend?"

I stared at her. "Uh, stuff, I guess."

She was silent for a moment, and then her face broke into a small smile and she let a giggle escape. "You're funny," she decided. I grimaced.

"What did you do?"

There was that smile again. She seemed delighted about something. "Hung out with Jessica. And my mother went into hospital, so that was kind of bad . . ." Her face crumpled slightly and she frowned, looking up at me through her lashes.

"I'm sorry," I told her, rubbing the back of my neck. "Is she alright?"

She lifted on corner of her mouth up. He eyes were wide and she was still angling her head down low. "Mmmm hmmm," she said, nodding slowly.

"That's . . . good." I didn't know what else to add.

I blinked and then turned my attention back to the classroom. As far as I could tell, no one was really doing their work at all. Some students had ventured out of their seat and were sitting on their friends' tables.

I looked back to find Lauren twirling a pencil in her hand, making it dance on the desk. I watched silently from where I sat, mesmerised in its movement.

Then the pencil led snapped. She stopped, staring down at the pencil like she didn't know what had happened.

I kept my eye roll to myself and leant forward from the desk, tapping the girl in front of me with my hand. She turned, and then looked at me, completely shocked. I leant in even closer, smiling warmly.

"Hi," I said. "Sorry to interrupt, but my friend's pencil just broke . . . Would you by any chance have one she could use?"

Her partner at the desk, a tall, thin bloke, had also turned around to stare at me. I ignored him easily.

She seemed frozen for a second, and then she turned around hastily, fumbling with the zipper of her pencil case. "Sure," she managed to say.

She retrieved it and turned to hand it to me with an unsure smile. "Thank you," I said sincerely. I watched in amusement as the girl quickly turned back to the front and sat in her seat, stiff.

I handed it to Lauren without a word. She was looking at me funny. "What?" I asked, confused.

She shook her head. "Nothing," she whispered, and then focused intently on the sheet in front of her, smiling. Pretty perky for someone with a mother who had just gotten out of hospital.

I sat back, waiting for the class to end.

--------------

Days passed. Tuesday went by much in the same fashion, only my idiot friends didn't bring up any more topics like yesterday, resorting to plan yet another party instead. Tanya pushed past me as I walked down the corridor. The lunch lady gave me a free drink. Coach made me do an extra three laps for being late to class.

Wednesday saw the return of James.

He waltzed in with his usual swagger, smirking at everything that passed his eyes. I was still feeling weird around him, but I greeted him like any other day. He and Laurent skipped class to smoke out back. Irina was fluctuating between Simon and James, unable to make up her mind who she wanted. Kate broke down during lunch about something, and was whisked away by Jasper who took one long look at Tanya and Irina, heads bent together and giggling at something, and figured they wouldn't do anything.

Emmett was cocky that day. I finally was introduced to Rosalie properly after school, and then his bedroom door was slammed into my already retreating figure. Like I wanted to stay anywhere near those two when they were together.

Thursday I got a quick call from Esme. She didn't once bring up the subject of the party, for which I was surprised. I had an inkling that Carlisle was in the room, however—a feeling that strengthened each time I heard a low cough on the other line—so perhaps he was behaving her.

Thursday was also the day when—before school, out the front where our cars were collectively parked—James heard of the plan for another party. He jumped in on that one, announcing it should be at his 'rent's place after school tonight. It had always planned to be small, and the short notice would prevent heaps of people from showing up.

It was agreed on, and he casually mentioned the huge hoard of alcohol he had already stocked up on.

"You going, Edward, buddy?" he asked.

"Yeah, maybe," I said.

It was after school as I made my way towards my car—having shrugged off any offers of lifts—that I saw Bella for the first time in two days, walking across the lot with her friend, Alice.

I didn't even think. "Hey, Bella!" I called, lifting on hand in the air when she swivelled around, confused, looking for the owner of the voice. Recognition flared in her eyes when she saw me, and I watched as her friend turned to me, too, looking surprised.

I stood there, wondering what she'd do. Wondering what I'd do.

Alice moved; first her mouth, uttering words I couldn't hear, and then her body, taking a step towards me. Bella followed, always a slight step behind, staring up at me, her head titled to the side. She looked slightly unsure, and when she reached me, she smiled a little, still seemingly quizzical.

"Hi," I said, automatically smiling when I saw her. "I haven't seen you lately."

She just nodded slowly. "Yeah . . ." Alice was next to her, all small and grinning at me—making me feel like I was missing something. I didn't really know her all too well. Then when a moment of silence passed, and I was thinking if Bella was ever going to say anything else, Alice very deliberately stomped on Bella's foot, with what looked like a surprisingly amount of force.

Bella closed her eyes, grimacing. "And this, Edward, is Alice!" she said, without opening them, muttering it through her teeth with overdone emphasis.

I looked between them, wondering if she was okay.

Alice grin grew even bigger, if it was possible. I took that as confirmation that Bella was alright.

"Hey," I said to her, nodding once, and unthinkingly stooping a little lower. She perked up and held out a hand.

"It's very nice to meet you," she said lightly, and I reached out and took her hand. She enthusiastically shook it. When I let go, it retreated, and she pushed on Bella's shoulder. "You can look, now, honey," she said abruptly.

Bella slowly opened her eyes, her cheeks tinging a faint pink. They met mine and I slowly smiled at her, at her embarrassment and her reaction. She was so cute.

"Well, isn't this lovely," Alice said brightly, seeming to be the only one who was completely comfortable. "A nice little pick-me-up to the day. Tell me," and she leaned in further, "Do you like tea?"

"Excuse me?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"You know, the drinky stuff you drink?" She rolled her eyes dramatically. "I'm talking herbal stuff here! I suppose it can be considered a calming drink, but that's not why I personally like it. I think . . ."

"Alice," Bella said in a warning tone. "Just drop it."

Her friend stopped and sighed. She took the advice, though, and clasped her two lips together carefully.

"Huh. Um, well . . ." I scratched the back of my head. "Do you guys have any plans for tonight?" I shifted the bag strung across my shoulder. Her friend was making me nervous, what with all her inane chatter.

"Nope," Alice said immediately, popping the 'p', at the same time Bella said, "Sort of."

I raised my eyebrows.

Alice turned on Bella. "We have plans?" she asked incredulously.

Bella looked uncomfortable. "Well, actually, I kind of have a heap of homework that needs to be done . . ." She kept shifting her gaze from the ground to Alice to me.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Sheesh," she muttered under her breath.

But I looked at Bella when I answered. "That's pretty smart, actually. I have tonne to do too, only I doubt I'll end up finishing it." I laughed once. The prospect was very slim.

She smiled at me, nodding, seeming grateful.

I looked around, noticing the student lot was abruptly emptying. I caught eyes over my shoulder with Tanya, who was surprisingly standing there, but I turned my back on her very quickly.

"I'm not holding you guys up from getting home, am I?"

I didn't understand the look that passed through them. "No," Bella said. We're fine."

Great. Okay.

"How was school?" I asked finally unable to think of anything constructive to say.

Bella wrinkled her nose. "Horrible. We had Gym."

Alice gave her friend a sceptical look. "You did fine!" she assured her. "Come on, you know deep down you love it . . ."

Bella shook her head adamantly, directing her speech just my way. I was glad she was finally talking. "Honestly, I didn't. It really was awful. And there was Alice, skipping around like a pixie and trying to coax me into voluntarily leapfrogging the players to get the ball." She shuddered. "Horrible. Like the players don't already hate me enough."

I frowned a little at that comment. Alice's smile was smug, though. "Come on! They totally love your sportsmanship."

Bella payed no attention to her comment and asked me in return how my day was. It didn't escape my notice that she seemed a little embarrassed again, about her little speech.

Stupid, really.

I shrugged. "Alright, I guess," was my simple reply.

--------------

BPOV

I was going to kill Alice. God I was going to kill Alice. Oh, wait. God. That's a good one.

I'd let God kill Alice. It would save me the trouble.

I suppose she wasn't being too bad, all things considered. I was probably blowing her behaviour widely out of proportion. Apart from the few comments she had made that had made me internally cringe, and Edward in turn look a little lost—Alice's attitude was one you had to get used to—everything was alright. I think. I hoped.

He stood in front of us, smiling a little and probably completely oblivious to how good he looked right now in this moment. I was feeling a tad uncomfortable, but that was normal. I could see he was trying to show me that the small incident that happened on Monday wasn't going to be repeated.

I stood there, just looking at the ground, not quite sure what I should act like. Alice had said something else, and started another conversation by the sound of things with Edward—I hoped, at least. Because if I was supposed to be listening, I wasn't.

No. Right now I was trying to rack my brains and come up with an answer why this week, the two times Edward had openly come up to me, he was alone. He never seemed to be alone. Someone was always hanging around him, or off him, or on him. Was it just luck, then?

"That's good," Alice was saying, nodding her head seriously. "I mean, there's no harm in being social, right? Tell me—"and her small body leant towards Edward with all the eagerness of a small puppy—"is Jasper like that? Because I've noticed you hang around him lots and stuff and I was just wondering if . . ."

Poor guy. My head snapped up on the mention of Jasper's name—of course she'd manage to weasel him into the subject—and immediately caught the eyes of Edward, who grinned down at me in encouragement, almost as if he'd been looking at me beforehand.

"So what do you think?" Alice repeated. Apparently I'd missed something.

Edward looked back at her and cleared his throat. "Arr, I don't know, really." He shrugged. "Maybe you should ask Jasper."

She seemed to really take what he was saying into consideration. "Hmmm."

"Well," I said rather brightly, swinging my arms, "I don't mean to be rude, but we've still got a bus to catch . . ."

Did Edward notice Alice's eyes flash to mine with the evilness you except to come from a maniac scientist, or was it just me?

"Oh." He shifted the bag on his shoulder. And did Edward realise how envious I was getting at the realisation that he seemed to be able to make every one of his movements smooth and sensuous? "I can take you guys home, if that'd be better. I seem to be getting myself into the habit of holding you up." He laughed once.

I could totally understand the look on Alice's face on that offer. It wasn't every day that you got invited to take a lift from non other than Edward Cullen, who stood there causally like it was the most normal thing in the entire world.

"Thanks," I said before Alice could, "but I'm not letting you. Again. There's a seat on that bus with my name on it, and I just have to claim it."

He accepted what I was saying with an acknowledging smile, and, surprisingly, didn't argue with what I said.

"Alright," he conceded.

I smiled gratefully in return, and lightly put my hand on Alice's shoulder. "Thanks, I'll see you soon?" My question was rhetorical, and delivered with all my uncertainty, but he still answered.

"Absolutely."

I nodded, biting my lip, basically dragged Alice along with me when I turned, and was just about to walk off when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I stopped and turned back around, a curious expression on my face.

"Sorry," Edward was saying, retreating his hand. He looked a little lost. Or perhaps he was just deep in thought. "I know you said you were busy, but do you guys want to hang out tonight, anyway?" he asked slowly, as if he was coming to some sorts of a realisation about something himself.

I stopped and was inwardly gaping at him. What. The. Hell.

He was seriously asking that with a straight face. The butterflies that filled my stomach for a second hardly distracted me from the look on his face. He almost seemed hesitant himself. Leaning towards us, as if he hadn't quite caught up with his actions yet.

His question had been so abrupt, and when I didn't answer straight away, he paused and then his face melted into a smile.

"After the homework, of course."

I smiled back automatically. Without realising, I nodded at him, eyes wide. It was a cautious nod. "Um, yeah, alright."

The grin on his face made me want to laugh. It was like the air surrounding all three of us had lightened immeasurably. All three of us . . .

"Oh, gosh, that sounds nice," Alice gushed enthusiastically from the height of my shoulder, but then grimaced apologetically. "But I've got stuff that needs to be done. Plus I have nothing to wear!" She held her hands up in the air in a gesture that said, 'Well, that case is closed'. "But I still do think that sounds really nice." She smiled sweetly.

"Oh, okay," Edward said. He turned to look at me. "Bella?"

I nodded again, trying to stifle the panic that was building because I would have to be doing this alone. Crap. But I knew if I declined the offer, not only would Alice hit me over the head with a frying pan and chop off my fingers, I would regret it. I knew I would.

"I'm in," I murmured for further confirmation. "At least, I think . . . Where are we going?" I squinted up at him.

And he grinned. Again. A nice grin. "I haven't quite planned it," he admitted. "But like I'm going to tell you. We'll just figure it out along the way, I suppose."

I digested this information and pushed it aside. Whatever. I was still in.

"Well, how lovely," Alice interrupted the conversation between us. "Lovely, lovely, lovely. Now scoots, sweetheart, we have a stinky, slimly chariot waiting." She clapped her hands, gave a thumbs up to Edward, and started walking off.

I laughed. "So I will see you soon."

Edward nodded. "I'll pick you up around six? That give you enough time?"

"Sure," I agreed. Then, because I knew I was really beginning to be late, I waved. "Well, bye, then."

"See you," he murmured, just as I was returning the way I came, determined to catch up with my friend . . .

. . . With a huge smile on my face.

Things were beginning to be good.

Ohhhheeeyyyayyyy. He still doesn't like her! (Just for all you romantics who are deluding yourself he does.) Well, much, anyway. He doesn't know it. He just thinks she's a nice person, yar?

Oh and how I love Alice . . .

And also . . . I did say EPOV for twenty pages, right? It was written, but it didn't work. Trust me on that. And I don't want to chop their "hanging out time" in half, so I ended the chapter here—otherwise it would've been like fifty pages long. Trust me. (Jeez I say that a lot, eh?) So I have the next part written, and the more encouragement I get, the sooner it'll be posted up…

Just maybe . . .

But, again, because of my totally sweeeeet plans next chapter, Bella's POV will be taking spotlight once more. You'll hear Edward's thoughts on it later, though, so still no worries! And, just a little hint because this AN is taking forever…

We'll be getting a little action between E&B v Edward's group later on . . . *chuckles evilly*

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