A/N: I hope you guys didn't wait too long for this! I have controlled the situation, and both ends are quite happy! And I know some of you are wondering about the music aspects of the piece, and I apologize for diving so deep into the subject and leaving you guys in the dark. Visit my profile page for links to explain stuff that might have you lost. I included a copy of the sheet music of the piece, a link to listen/download a version by Jacqueline du Pre, and youtube links, wiki pages of composers, all sorts of good stuff! I hope you guys aren't so confused anymore. If you still have questions, feel free to send me a PM. Okay enough of this, read on, REVIEW (you guys are so good to me, I swear) and enjoy!

I wasn't exactly breaking my promise, I mean, he did say not to get extremely mad. I wasn't extremely mad, I was a little mad. Mad, mixed with a bunch of different emotions. The only ones coming to mind were confusion, shock, disappointed, sad. Especially sad, it seemed to be taking over most of the emotional pie chart in me. It wasn't as if I didn't take joy in the fact that he had kissed me, after all, he did give me a warning, kind of. I could've stopped it before it happened. I should have. I should have pulled away as soon as he started it, but I didn't. And now, because of me, not only did Tanya get hurt, I did too. I know I shouldn't feel like that, but I do. It hurt me, not only because my own feelings were getting in the way of everything, but because he had only done it to spite Tanya. If he did, then why did it feel so right to have him kiss me?

Because I'm a stupid fool. Honestly, what other reason was there to explain myself? As soon as he had pulled his lips away from mine (at which I felt a sudden pang of disappointment, his lips felt much too nice against mine) I could only stare at him in shock. He looked extremely sad, almost remorseful. I did what any idiot would do; I got up and bolted back to my room, not even worrying about my newly checked out books as I left them.

I couldn't even make it to my bed to bury my face in a pillow before I started crying. I hated crying, it was the most vulnerable feeling in the world and it made me feel weak. I just slid down the length of the door as soon as I was safe inside, letting the hot flow of saline roll down my cheeks. I wiped at them hastily.

The one thing that was tugging on the back of my mind was asking why Edward could be so cruel, even if it was Tanya? I had certainly convinced myself that he was much more gentlemanly than that. And for me? Did he really believe this would alleviate the situation between me and Tanya now? Certainly not, she's probably plotting something to destroy me right now.

But all in all, I realized that my anger was only at myself, not at Edward. This was ridiculous, really, because the last thing I should want to do is talk to him, let him explain himself, but I did want to hear his voice. It made me feel even guiltier. I finally crawled over to my bed and hoisted myself up, curling in a fetal position. The sun was almost completely set now, and I'm sure Alice would be coming back soon. I didn't want her to ask me questions, so I tried my best to force myself to sleep. But even ask I drifted off slowly, I knew that my dreams would be no better than my reality right now.

I tried my best to avoid everyone the next three days, the most Alice could get out of me was when she handed me my books that I'd carelessly forgotten with Edward. She said Edward asked her to bring them to me, and my heart hit a twang. I tried to smile as best as I could in thanks before I headed out the door again.

My classes on Monday and Tuesday were in a stupor. I felt like a zombie; in my confused state, I could hardly pay attention to anything. Even Theory seemed to be tolerable while I wanted to scream already, why not scream about two things at once?

I had to force myself to go to Ensemble on Tuesday evening, and even then I started to feel out of place. I felt like everyone was either talking about me, or looking at me like I was an alien. In truth, I might as well have been. The entire class, I kept my eyes on my papers. Never once daring to look up at Edward, or look at Tanya. Much to my surprise, Tanya didn't throw books at me or even give me her death glares. In fact, she was just as focused on music in front of her as I was. Something about the way she was acting made me a bit nervous. I dropped my gaze back to my music, but I could feel Edward's eyes burning into me. I couldn't risk crying all of a sudden, so I clenched my jaw and looked at anything except him.

As class finished, I was packing my things away. An arm brushed against mine, it being the first contact with anyone since that day. I looked up to see who it was, but all I saw was the back of a tall, bronze-haired boy trying to get out of the room as fast as possible. I sloppily packed everything else away, the tears threatening to fall again.

As I woke up on Wednesday, I wondered how I was going to get through our lesson without having a sob fest in front of him. Maybe I shouldn't even go, he might not even show up so why waste time? But I knew better, he would show, and there was no avoiding it today. He'd come and find me if I ditched him, and he'd insist that we need to rehearse. We did, progress was a little slow even though we still had plenty of time until the recital. But I knew any time wasted would be bad. I had no choice, I definitely needed to go.

As I left my Chamber class, I walked slowly on purpose. I took as much time I as needed, not wanting to arrive early. I picked a slow somber song on my iPod, letting my feet shuffle to the tempo to keep from speeding up. It still only took me 10 gloriously painful minutes until I reached the practice room we usually met in.

I didn't bother knocking like I usually did. I didn't hear any piano sounds coming from inside, so I had a fleeting hope that he wasn't here yet. But as I turned the knob and walked in, I wasn't alone. Edward sat in his spot at the piano, his elbows sitting on two or three keys and his hands were tangled in his hair. He looked frustrated, definitely channeling the emotion I was feeling right now. He looked up at me when I walked in, and I noticed he looked tired. I probably didn't look much better though. Not that I could compare myself to him.

"Hi," his voice came out raspy. I half-smiled at him, not daring to try to speak in fear my voice would betray me. I started setting up my chair and unpacking my things, only this time instead of facing him like I always did, I turned my chair in the same direction he would face. He seemed rather hurt about it.

"So where do we start today?" he tried to keep his tone light. God, I was such an awful person. I couldn't even make this less awkward by acting normal. I wasn't going to win this, not with myself.

I tried to smile at him again, this time with reassurance. It worked a little; he let out a breath that he had been holding in, I hadn't noticed it.

"How about measure 22? That's where we stopped at last time," I said. If he did have something on his mind, I wasn't going to be the one to bring it up. He nodded his head, turned to his music and waited for my cue. I paused for a few seconds before actually giving him one, taking in a breath right before I started playing.

I had to admit, we played beautifully together. I was getting way better at this, and to mesh the music I was making with the sound produced from Edward's fingers, well, I was getting caught up in the music again. I took in a deep breath, letting my eyes fall closed as my body overtook the music inside me. I swayed slightly with each bow-stroke. I had to admit, I was the calmest I had been in the last three days. Even if it was for a little while, getting lost in the music meant that I didn't have to think about Edward, even though he was just as much influencing the calmness in me as my cello was. It was like love and hate both triggering me to feel better.

Also surprising was how smoothly the rehearsal had gone, or well, minus the hesitant glances Edward was giving me. It might have been because when I thought he wasn't looking, my expression turned somber immediately. We had about fifteen minutes left, and we had just stopped on the last line of the sheet.

"I think it needs to be softer at this part."

"Bella, I'm sorry."

His words caught me off-guard. My head snapped up from writing on my music sheets to look at him, the wary expression on his face again. It was sudden and he definitely chose a good moment to catch my attention. I looked at him, studying him for a second.

"It's not that big of a deal, I mean just play it softer-," I figured if I just played ignorant to what he was really sorry for, the chances of me running away from him again would be slim to none.

"Bella! You know that's not what I mean." Crap, my plan didn't work.

"I know, you don't have to apologize, Edward. I know you only did it to make Tanya mad." His face turned into hurt the moment the words left my mouth.

"That's what I'm sorry about. I guess I wasn't thinking, and instead of hurting only one person, I've hurt two," his eyes fell to the floor. I felt an inch of bravery crawling into me, and if I didn't ask now, I'd never get to know.

"Why, Edward? I know you could never hurt someone like that; you're not cruel like she is. I didn't expect you to stoop so low," my voice was quiet.

"Bella, I wouldn't have done that if I didn't have reason."

"What's the reason then?"

He hesitated, trying to decide on whether to tell me or not.

"Thursday, after class, I went back to my room and she was standing there waiting for me. The first thing she did was start asking me questions, about… you," he said carefully. He looked up to meet my eyes, searching for any emotion in my face but I held stern to indifference. I wouldn't break down, at least not right now. "She was talking pretty loudly, so I told her to come into my room so that nobody else would hear her. Then she started going off about how I "don't care for her like I used to" and "that I was falling in love with a new kid" and how everyone was starting to talk."

I shifted slightly in my seat when he said "falling in love," the subject disconcerted me.

"I didn't care about what she was saying, and I think she noticed. She started making up plans about how she was going to take you down, and that's when I couldn't handle it anymore. It's so wrong, Bella, how she's unusually cruel to you, and just you. She never did anything like this to anyone last year. I must have been yelling my head off at her, but she was smiling like she had just gotten what she wanted and… she tried to kiss me," he said the magical word like it was made out of garbage. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach, and even I scrunched my nose in disgust. Just trying to picture her puckering her over-glossed lips at Edward sent a burning pang of jealousy down my spine.

"You have to understand, Bella, my intention wasn't to hurt you. I'm really, truly sorry about that. I should have told you before, but… when have I ever been good at telling you things instead of having you find out for yourself?" he said with a half-hearted, lopsided grin. I wasn't paying attention; the words were still traveling through osmosis speed into my brain. I had to admit, a part of me felt a little better, but that was still only the fracture of evil Bella inside me. So Cruella had it coming, I knew Edward wasn't as mean and vindictive as she was.

"Say something, what are you thinking?" he pleaded me. I didn't realize I had still been silent seconds after. I pursed my lips together, trying to form a coherent sentence.

"I… understand. I think. But I'm still confused. I don't know, I mean, that explains Tanya but… what about us, Edward?" Oh no, I said the word I didn't want to say- us. I wanted to hit myself right then and there; why do I always make myself look like an ass?

"Do you want me to lie or be honest?" God, no. I couldn't handle a lie right now.

"Honesty, please."

His face was all kinds of frightened, but he forced himself to speak.

"I think you're a genuine person, Bella. Actually, that has to be an understatement. What I mean is, when I came here to this school, I felt extremely out of place. Even when I was friends with Tanya, I still felt like Tanya was my companion in outcastville. I've never met anyone like you, someone who feels what music is, not just hears it. When I watch you play, it's like a different person comes out, the one that's been stuck inside a shell and wants to stretch her wings. You tell stories with it, hell, you even put Mozart and Beethoven to shame. It's like you take what I feel inside me and put it out on display in your cello. You can't imagine what it's like to watch you play," he said with a small chuckle before his voice turned serious again. "I'd be a liar if I said I didn't think you're special, Bella, but I told you, you won't be like Tanya. Never. I promise you that. I just wish that Saturday hadn't happened so I could do this more… properly."

My heart had crawled back up into my throat, a stinging feeling struck my eyes again but this time, it wasn't because I was sad. I was floating above the room, miles away from humanity. I couldn't see anything except for Edward, arms on his knees in front of me, asking me to understand where he was coming from.

"Do what properly?" Honestly, there wasn't anything he wasn't doing properly right now. This was the last thing I'd expected to hear from him.

He let out a sigh before answering. "Asking you to just, give me time. That is, if you don't hate me by now," he looked at me expectantly.

"I could never hate you, Edward. But everything's just so sudden. I'm still trying to take in everything you're saying, it's just too dream-like for me right now," I said, for once not caring how stupid I sounded. If Edward had the guts to spill this to me, I could afford a moment of embarrassment, too.

"Can we just go slowly, pretend that nothing happened?" he asked me. I could've frowned.

"I'm not protesting what happened," I said defiantly. His lip twitched into an upward curve for a fleeting second. It was true though, I wasn't upset he'd kissed me. If the circumstances had been different, I would've jumped him right then and there.

"Alright, then just… go slow?" I nodded, feeling my spirits relieved and somehow in a happier state. In just fifteen minutes, my mood had gone from morose to I've-never-been-so-happy-in-my-entire-life. This wasn't a "truce to signify that we were just friends", this was a "right now is too soon, so let's take our time."

Edward's face was rid of all anxiety, as was mine, and everything seemed back to normal as a student who needed the practice room after us knocked and asked if we were done.

"You and Edward are together now, aren't you?" Alice accused me on Friday afternoon, pointing out the stupid smile I had on my face. I didn't answer her as she danced in between the space of our beds. We had moved Rosalie's out of the way against the other wall, giving the two of us a little more room. Rosalie hardly ever stopped by nowadays, and if she did, Alice and I jumped for joy. Rosalie was actually fun to have around once you got used to her, and she and Emmett always filled us in on the upperclassmen gossip. I never had bothered to ask what Rosalie was studying, but it only figured it would be Drama. I knew Emmett was a percussionist since he was in my Ensemble class, but I hardly ever had time to notice him since he was stuck in the back of the classroom.

"See, you can't even admit it! You are! I knew it!" Alice said with a laugh as she pirouetted. She had put on one of her ballet CD's with the volume up pretty high. I didn't seem to mind, actually it was quite relaxing. I was in dire need of it considering I hadn't finished last week's homework and now had a pile that would last me the entire weekend.

"We are not, Alice," I said in a simple voice. I still hadn't told her what had happened last Saturday, but I knew if I told her now she'd be forever convinced. I told myself I'd tell her at a later gathering.

"You've been spending an awful lot of time with him, he's even coming around to look for you," she accused again. A goofy smile spread across my face again. This time, Alice sighed exasperatedly at me.

"Bella, this isn't fun! You're not even being honest about it! Tell me, you know I won't say anything, pinky swear," she said as she stuck out her pinky, waiting for me to hook mine with hers. It wasn't fair really, that I hold so much information from her. After all, she was becoming my best friend quite quickly.

"Alice, why is it every time you ask about me and Edward, I tell you nothing happened?"

"Because you take pleasure in making me suffer." This girl doesn't miss a beat. I had to laugh.

"No! Because it's exactly that," I said. She looked like she could kill me. "But, I guess something did happen…" I trailed off for dramatic effect. Alice's eyes widened and she plopped herself down on my bed next to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders in a vice grip.

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me, in full, exactly what happened!" she said in her high-pitched voice. I tried to wiggle out of her grip but it was useless, for someone so small she sure had a good grasp.

"I can't breathe!" I yelped. She laughed as she loosened up a little, but still holding on enough to keep me still.

"Fine, fine," I finally gave in. I told her about what had happened, editing my story a little to leave out mine and Edward's intimate moment. She looked at me with a dreamy expression, giving out a dramatic sigh for sound effect at every proper moment. When I finished retelling the tale, she had a look of mischief in her eye.

"Alice, I told you, we're not anything… yet, please don't do anything to embarrass me!" I warned and pleased at the same time. But Alice waved her hand at me as if to brush off what I just said. I didn't trust that.

"Whatever, this is just good news for me too, Bella. Now maybe I can sneak off to Jasper's room without having Edward there, you know... he can busy himself elsewhere," she said with a suggestive raise of her eyebrows. I blushed beet-red and smacked her on the arm.