Thanks for putting up with my lack of updating, guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter-the day has ended and Bella is pissed.

Happily Never After
Bella
Tuesday

Va-va-vroom. My truck was old, but it had moves. I shifted uncomfortably, pulled out an empty lunch bag from under me, and started driving.

He was an ass. A big, complete total retard. He deserved to rot in hell for wasting a tenth of a million on me. ME. As if I was worth that much in the first place. If he actually cared for the charities then it was a different story, but he just wanted to score a date with me. What a player jerk.

Like you?

I pushed the little nasty thought away. I had changed. I wasn't the stupid idiot playgirl I used to be. Now that I thought about it, being that person...well, it was kinda stupid. I had been pretending my ass off, and just thinking about my behaviour made me sick. No wonder Renee had gotten so mad at me.

I sighed and slowed down, swiping one hand over my forehead. Great. It took a player to change another player. I seriously needed therapy. All this crap was getting to my head.

First things first. I needed to tell Carlisle Cullen of his, ah, sons' extravagant spending. Millionaire or not, a hundred grand wasn't a little matter. Add that to Jasper Cullen and Emmett Cullen's crazy spending and Carlisle Cullen would be broke. If the auction had gone on any longer the Cullens would be bankrupt.

I deliberated. After two seconds I executed a very nice sudden turn and went the opposite direction that I was meant to go. I had never been to the Cullen's house before, but Charlie was so terrified of me getting lost, he had educated me thoroughly on the surrounding roads and highways. I felt like I had a built-in GPS system in my head. Maybe a tinny female voice would tell me to turn left.

Which, of course, didn't happen. The only voice I heard was my stupid conscience, which would shut up and leave me well enough alone.

"Hmph," I muttered, drumming my fingers on the dashboard, my elbows resting on the steering wheel as I drove down a straight road. I was looking for trouble, and I knew it. I wasn't even a fair driver. Oh, if my dad saw me now...

After what seemed like ages, I was travelling down the long driveway flanked by tall oak trees. It wasn't even a proper driveway, just a hiking trail-ish path worn into the ground. The only thing distinguishing this path was its huge size-it looked as though it could fit two monster trucks in here-and the abnormal perfection that each tree flanking it was exactly one arms' length apart.

The Cullens were supposedly rich, but they couldn't afford to build a proper gravel-and-tar driveway? Either they were posers or they liked living under a shroud of obscurity.

I parked the truck a distance away from the actual house, reversing it so that I could make a quick getaway in case Edward came chasing after me with a knife in hand. Sure, I was being a bit dramatic, but judging by first impressions, Edward Cullen wasn't really to be underestimated. Also, by parking my truck in that spot, I wasn't blocking the driveway either. I was in this weird spot that branched out from the actual driveway. A few steps back, and the truck became completely shrouded in ferns.

I walked the rest of the way, my head down and the toe of my shoe scuffing the ground, sending dirt everywhere. To a passer-by I probably looked sad, or even depressed, but really I wasn't. I was wondering how to put my thoughts into polite words that didn't include mad cussing.

Then their house came into view. I looked up reluctantly. My jaw dropped.

Oh. My. God.

I knew the Cullens were rich, but this...this was crazy. You could fit ten of Charlie's house in this...this mansion. It was crazy. It was...surprisingly beautiful. I was suddenly seized with an urge to turn and flee. Not because the palace was so intimidating, but more because I was...well, I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed that I was so plain and so poor compared to them, and then even more embarrassed for having the thought in the first place.

Isabella Marie Swan, you have nothing to be embarrassed of.

That, at least, was true. I wasn't plain or poor. The Cullens were rich. I sighed and stomped up to the wide Victorian-style door and knocked-well, pounded would be a better description.

The door swung open, revealing a pretty woman that looked only about 30, tops. This must be their mother. Her caramel-coloured eyes had the same hypnotic effect as Renee's, exuding that weird I-know-what-my-kids-are-up-to knowledge that all mothers seemed to have. Her face broke out into a wide smile, albeit a little surprised. Heck, of course she'd be surprised. A random stranger just pounded on her door like a maniac.

"Oh! Um, to what do I owe this visit? Isabella Swan, right?" she asked.

"Bella," I corrected automatically. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs Cullen. I'm a friend of Edward."

"Please, call me Esme. Come on in," she said, and held the door open wider so I could duck in around her. She was nicer than I would have expected. From the looks of the house I expected a snooty, polished blonde-haired blue-eyed woman who dressed in cashmere and skin-tight white leather that talked down on people and subtly insulted everyone. Instead I saw a sweet woman with brown hair almost identical to mine and caramel-coloured eyes. To top it off she was wearing jeans. Wow.

"Esme," I said, confidence springing back to be in waves. "I'm here to see Mr. Cullen, actually. Is he home?"

Damn. Of course he wasn't. It was a working day, for crying out loud. He was probably at the hospital. Mentally I kicked myself at my stupidity.

Surprisingly, though, Esme merely smiled. "As a matter of fact, he is. He made use of the numerous sick days he accumulated to work at home today. We're hosting a little get-together tonight, and he wants to make sure Emmett doesn't ruin the decorations."

I laughed. "That sounds like Emmett." It did. I might not know the guy, but he looked the type to do something ridiculous like that. He had brawn, but his face was like a kid's.

Esme laughed, too, and gestured towards a door at the end of the long hallway. I hadn't realized we had travelled to the third floor already. "That's his office. Be warned, though, he can get a tad distracted while working, so you might have to knock more than a few times."

I smiled. "I'll take note," I assured her, and walked to the door. Esme waited a few seconds, then went back down. I hesitated a moment before rapping on the door sharply. Esme was right; it took four knocks before a distracted-sounding voice replied.

"Come in."

I opened the door slowly, steeling myself for a rich snob Cullen. Esme had surpassed my expectations, but I couldn't possibly believe there were two nice rich people in the same family in the world. (Haha, as you can see Bella has something like a prejudice against rich people. Just a characteristic I wanted to add in.)

The man that looked up from the desk looked like my stereotype of rich people. He had wavy golden hair and light coloured eyes. I couldn't say precisely what colour they were, because from where I was standing they appeared to be morphing from blue to topaz to green and back to blue.

Holy crap.

And you expect me to believe this guy was a doctor? He should be a model! I slowly approached the desk overflowing with papers, and barely stifled a giggle as Carlisle lunged for a stack of papers that had begun to topple. Carlisle straightened them and grinned at me.

"Sorry, I tend to get caught up in my work. Isabella Swan, if I'm not mistaken. Please, sit," he said, waving aimlessly towards a cushy armchair in front of the desk. I sat down, noticing he wasn't even sweating despite having working for goodness knows how long.

Now that I was seated I noticed his eyes were a light blue. (The books never said what Carlisle's human eye colour was so I'm just going out on a limb here and guessing it's blue. Hope you don't mind.)

"Bella, Mr. Cullen," I corrected.

"Bella," he repeated. "And call me Carlisle."

Eesh, what was it with this family and first names? Honestly, it was freaking me out. It was almost as if they had no clue about social courtesy. But heck, if he wanted me to address him by his first name, I would address him by his first name. Though calling him Mr Cullen would definitely be a lot easier.

"Carlisle," I said. "Before I begin, may I ask you, do you consider a hundred thousand a small amount?"

Carlisle frowned, his brows furrowing to form an almost straight line. "Of course not!" he exclaimed. "A fifth of that amount would be considered hefty to me." He smiled suddenly. "I'm not sure what rumours you have been listening to, Bella, but if you think we consider that large an amount trivial you have been misinformed."

I could've kissed him. His little speech just made me a lot more confident about what I was going to tell him.

"Well...I don't really know how to say this," I confessed. Carlisle smiled kindly. "Okay, today at school there was an assembly on a carnival the school was going to organize in conjuction with National Police Day." Carlisle nodded, urging me to go on. "The school was organizing a few activities that required preparation. Two of them were the kissing booth and the bid-for-a-date auction."

Carlisle breathed out slowly, making a soft sigh-like hiss in the air. Apparently he now knew where this was all going. "I assume Rosalie and Alice were up for bids," he said. Not as a question, but a statement. I hid a grin before nodding. "How much?" he asked wearily.

"Fifteen thousand for Jasper, ten thousand for Emmett," I told him solemnly. He groaned and fell back onto his chair, mopping up the beads of sweat that had appeared. So now he sweats?

"Dear God," he muttered under his breath. I doubt he intended for me to hear. "They are both doomed."

That I couldn't help but snicker softly at. "Actually...Edward kind of splurged too."

Carlisle froze. "How much?"

I paused-not for dramatic effect, but I was wondering about the health of his heart. He couldn't be that young if he had four kids. And heart attacks were all the rage now, what with the invention of coconut milk and extra grease...but he was a doctor, he'll survive. "A hundred thousand dollars."

Carlisle sighed and mumbled something under his breath that I was sure I didn't want to hear. I stood up abruptly. "Sorry for bringing you bad news, Carlisle, but I thought you should know."

"Before my bank account suddenly gets depleted?" he asked wryly, and I smiled. "You're right. At least this way I can blame the right people. The last time something like this was organised in Forks five thousand dollars went missing from my bank account. Emmett blamed it on Alice's shopping. Poor girl, she had no clue why she was rebuked so harshly when she returned from a friend's house. I only discovered this when Edward accidentally let slip."

I giggled. Poor Alice. "I should really be going, Carlisle. Sorry for not having better news."

Carlisle smiled radiantly, though the horror was still there. "Of course. Feel free to inform me if anything like this happens again. I promise not to tell." I grinned.

"Sure," I said, and headed out the door.

"Oh, and Bella?" Carlisle called. "Jasper and Emmett were obviously bidding on Alice and Rosalie respectively, but who was Edward bidding for?"

I was halfway out the door. I turned, popped my head into the room and winked at Carlisle. "Me," I said, and left. Behind me, before the door swung shut, I heard Carlisle start laughing.

Humming under my breath, I strolled down the grand stairs and out the door, smiling to Esme, who had appeared at the kitchen doorway wiping her hands on a dishcloth. As I slid into my truck, I spotted the three cars that rumbled down the driveway, passing by me as I leaned out the window of my truck.

As the third car passed by, I leaned out the window, making myself completely visible, and waved jauntily to Edward.

I drove home feeling much happier than I've felt in a long time.

*sniffs* If you're reading this, I love you. I feel like this chapter was really hard to write, mainly because I lost inspiration. But after Bella walked into the house, the ideas started flowing. I'm still not sure if this chapter's good enough, but hey! Review your thoughts then!