DISCLAIMER: The characters do not belong to me…they are all the creations of the wonderful Stephenie Meyer. All are human.

Tutoring

I made my way toward her front door as Emmett was coming out.

"Hey, Tutor-boy!" he called.

I smirked. "It's better than the other choice."

Emmett smacked me hard on the shoulder. "She's upstairs. Make sure she gets a good grade!"

"Certainly," I replied, lifting my hand to knock.

Emmett chuckled and I turned around to face him. "Just go in, Edward. She's in her room and she'll never hear you knock."

I did as he said and walked into the house. The first thing I heard was music. It was the strumming of a guitar and a sweet voice singing softly.

The rain is falling on my window pane
But we are hiding in a safer place (Lyrics from Bubbly by Colbie Caillat)
Undercover staying dry and warm
You give me feelings that I adore

I made my way to Bella's room, wondering which CD she was currently listening to. I pushed the door the rest of the way open and was stopped in my tracks.

Its starts in my toes, make me crinkle my nose
Wherever it goes, I always know
You make me smile please stay for a while now
Just take your time, wherever you go

Bella was playing a guitar and Bella was singing. She noticed me and stopped immediately, nearly dropping her instrument.

"No, don't stop on my account," I said softly.

"Ah!" she said, waving a hand at me. "I was just goofing. You ready to tutor me?"

"That was much better than goofing, Bella," I replied.

"You think?" she asked, crinkling her nose.

"I have a little bit of a background in music," I teased. "I think it's safe to say that I know what I'm talking about."

"Oh," Bella said. She suddenly smiled and my entire day brightened. "Thanks, Edward. Emmett is not a fan! Although, that may have more to do with my choice of song than anything. How were your classes today?"

"Fine," I replied. I noticed that her fingers were covered in band-aids. "What happened?" I asked as I lifted up her hand.

Bella blushed as she said, "The strings are new. I didn't want to cut up my fingertips so I wrapped them up. Anyway! Tell me more about school. 'Fine' is not very descriptive," she said as she grabbed her bag and pulled out her math book.

She patted the spot next to her on her bed. I looked at her doubtfully.

"Unless you want us at the kitchen table." She noticed my apprehension.

I shook my head and sat down next to her. "It was just a long day. My classes seemed to take an especially long time today."

"I'd love to agree with you, Edward, but my math class always seems especially long. And today was the most torturous yet. I swear that man knows how awful I am."

"I take it he piled on the homework."

"Yep. Final test on Friday."

"You'll be ready."

"Ha!" Bella chuckled, shaking her long brown hair. "You're a real comedian, Edward."

I stood and walked over to her small stereo. I flipped through her CDs, looking for just the right one.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm looking for some Beethoven."

"It's on the shelf by your foot."

I bent down and found exactly what I was looking for. I put the CD into her stereo and turned it on. I moved back to the bed where Bella was staring at me, an eyebrow raised in question.

"I've found over the years that having classical music playing in the background helps me to memorize things. I thought it might work for you," I explained.

"At this point, I'll give anything a try!" Bella flipped her notebook open to show me her assignment.

"I may have spoken too soon," I teased. "He certainly seems to know your weakness."

"Math is my kryptonite," she chuckled.

"Let's start by going over the work we did on Saturday. Start with the two you got right and then pick one of the others to try."

Bella did as I said and reworked the two she had gotten. She was able to solve them again without looking back at her previous work. She sighed heavily as she picked her new problem.

"Relax, Bella. It's only math."

"So you say! You're not in danger of flunking."

"I won't let you flunk."

She looked at me doubtfully.

"I'll make you a deal. I'm already going to be over on Wednesday to help, right?"

"Yes."

"If you still don't have the hang of it when I leave, I'll come back Friday morning before your test."

"But you have your own classes, Edward."

"Not first thing on Fridays."

"Thanks!" she said and her face lit up with her smile.

"Back to work," I said, pointing sternly at her math book. I couldn't keep the grin off my face though.

Bella chuckled, but started working on the problem she had picked out. I watched as her eyes scanned the page, trying to pull the answer from the text. She tapped the end of her pencil against her lips. I couldn't help but remember what it had been like to feel her lips against mine.

When she finally decided where to start, her eyes widened and a grin crept across her face. She wrote out her answer, taking her time and double-checking it before handing it over to me. She closed her eyes and crossed her fingers and then her legs.

I did my best not to laugh as she was nervous enough. I reviewed her work and was happy to see that she had done well. "Bella."

She opened one eye and peaked at me. "How bad is it?"

I pretended to scowl, "Well …"

"Argh!" she cried, hiding her head under her hands. "I am going to fail! I've never done that before."

"Bella, I'm sorry, I was only kidding," I laughed. "You got it right."

She lifted her head and looked at me warily. "You're being serious? I got it right?"

"Yes, Bella!" I replied, rolling my eyes at her.

She grabbed her tablet from me and smacked me with it. "Stupid Tutor-boy!"

She smiled then and I knew she was only teasing. She tried the other fourteen problems that had mystified her on Saturday and got all but one of them correct.

"This is the only one that's wrong, Bella. Why is it wrong?"

She stared at the book and at her solution. I let her take her time. She needed to know how to solve it correctly so that she could move on to her new assignment. Her warm brown eyes sparkled and I knew she had found her mistake.

"I forgot to carry the one over here, so my answer is really 235."

"Excellent!"

"You're a really good tutor, Edward. Maybe you should be the teacher."

"I don't have the required patience for a room full of children."

"You seem to put up with me just fine," she snorted.

"You're not annoying," I quipped.

"You say that now," she sighed. She flipped her book to her new assignment and looked at the page. Worry creased her brow. "Let me try the first one on my own and let's see what happens."

"By all means, go right ahead."

She chuckled and shook her head.

"What?" I questioned.

"The way you talk."

"Yes?" I asked warily.

"Relax, Edward!" she said, putting her hand on mine. "I like it. It's proper and old-fashioned. Different, but a really good different!" She took her hand back and I missed the warmth of it against my skin.

I could be friends with Bella I told myself. But for how long? How long before I wanted to be more than friends? And what if she didn't want anything more than friendship? I realized it didn't matter. Having her as a friend would always be better than not having her in my life at all.

"I give!" she yelled suddenly, tossing her math book across the room.

I tried to hide my smile as I retrieved her book. "It's not the book's fault."

"I know."

I put the book back down in front of her. I stretched out on the bed to match her position. We spent the next fifteen minutes taking apart the problem and solution, line by line.

"So then if this is 12 and the first part is correct, X is 172?" she asked, looking over at me. Her eyes were hopeful and her brow was creased.

"Correct!" I laughed. "You've got it."

"Thank You! Thank You!" she sang as she grabbed my face and kissed my cheeks. "You are the best tutor ever!" She jumped up and grabbed my hand. "Time to celebrate! I'm making dinner!"

I followed her down the stairs and into her small kitchen. "You don't have to."

"Actually, I do. Even if you choose not to eat, Emmett will be home soon and he requires sustenance!"

I watched as she pulled out a green and yellow pepper with a pack of chicken breasts and an onion. She slowly cut everything up into little strips. I wondered if her slowness was for precision or because of her clumsy tendencies. As she threw everything into the pan on the stove, the small house filled with the smell. Bella seemed to be a very good cook.

"Edward, reach into the cabinet on side of the fridge and hand me the box of fajita wraps, please."

I did as she asked and found the box easily. I turned to give them to her and we ran into each other. I automatically put an arm around her waist to steady her. She smiled up at me as she took the box.

"Thank You."

"You're welcome," I said.

She chuckled at me and I felt my eyebrow lift up. "You might want to let go so I don't burn supper."

I hadn't realized that I had still been holding her. I let her go and felt my face turn red.

She laughed in earnest. "Alice says you only do that twice a year and she's already gotten you both times."

"Alice says a lot of things," I mumbled, sitting at the table.

She turned the fire down low and put the wraps in the oven. She took the seat next to me and tossed her feet up into my lap. "What else does Alice say?"

"She thinks you're insane for not enjoying shopping."

"I kind of figured that out for myself. Tell me something I don't know." Her face and eyes lit up suddenly. "I know! Tell me if your parents found out about her wild partying while they were out!"

"There wasn't the faintest sign of a party anywhere in the house," I chuckled. "They are still utterly clueless about the devious child they call daughter."

"I can tell you don't really mean that," she said, staring intently at me. "Every time you talk about your sister, your eyes brighten up."

"Don't tell her that," I warned. "She already considers herself in charge of my happiness. Information like that will only prolong my suffering."

"I would hate to cause you to suffer, Edward."

She smiled as she moved her feet and stood up. She took the pan off the stove and pulled the wraps out of the oven. Just as she was turning everything off, Emmett came bounding through the door.

"What's cooking, good looking?" Emmett called as he pulled Bella into a hug.

"Fajitas," Bella said, trying to push him away. Bella looked behind Emmett. "Where's Rose?"

"She and Jasper had some business to take care of," Emmett said, plopping down into a chair. "Hey, Edward. How's she doing with the math?"

"Much better," I said, proudly. "She's gotten a total of seventeen correct so far."

"Yeah, but two of them I had right on Saturday so I don't think those should count," Bella said as she handed Emmett a plate full of food.

"Smells great, Bella!" Emmett announced.

"Thank You," I said as Bella handed me a plate.

She made her own and sat back down next to me. "How was your day, Em?"

"You already know about work this morning," Emmett replied. "But tonight was pretty good. Rose let me take her ice skating for a bit."

"And you both survived?" Bella teased.

"Not every girl is as clumsy as you, little sister," Emmett chuckled.

Bella poked her tongue at him and I laughed.

"So what do you two crazy kids have planned for tonight?" Emmett asked.

"More math," Bella said, poking at her food.

"You have the rest of the week. Why don't we stop for tonight and pick it back up on Wednesday?" I offered. "I'm sure your teacher won't add that much more work before your final on Friday."

"Yeah, Bella!" Emmett said. "Take a break, Squirt! You don't do that enough. You and Edward can watch a movie or play some video games or something."

"Why, Emmett?" Bella asked with a grin. "Where will you be?"

"I thought I might go over and visit Rosalie in a bit," Emmett replied, staring at his food.

"I figured," Bella chuckled. "I assume there won't be a need to worry with waking you up for work."

Emmett lifted his head and smiled brightly. "Shut up, Bella!"

"That's fine!" she sighed, still smiling. "Abandon your baby sister! I get it!"

Emmett pulled a pepper slice out of his wrap and tossed it at Bella's head. "Shut it!"

Bella ducked it easily and poked her tongue at her brother.

"Besides! I'm not abandoning you. I'm leaving you in Edward's very capable hands! Just don't stay up too late. You do have work tomorrow." Emmett finished off the last of his food and brought his plate to the sink. He rinsed it off and set it down. When he turned around, he ruffled Bella's hair and kissed her cheek. "Lock the doors!"

"Yes, Sir!" Bella giggled as she gave him a quick salute.

"See ya, Eddie!" Emmett called as he disappeared out the door.

"I thought you had an Eddie-free month for behaving on Friday?" Bella asked, grinning at me.

"Emmett has a very short term memory," I replied.

"Yep! That's why he keeps bringing home the bacon and I keep tossing it out!"

We ate the rest of our meal in silence. I could tell Bella's mind was far away. Her brown eyes had a glassy look to them. I wondered what she was thinking. I wasn't sure if it was right for me to ask so I kept quiet.

We did the dishes together, with me washing and her drying. Then we went back to her room and she put in a DVD. I leaned against her pillows and headboard while she rested her head against my shoulder. She watched the movie until she fell asleep. I watched her. That was the night she said my name in her sleep for the first time.