NOTE: These technical difficulties have been bumming me out! So just for the record I did plan to update way sooner than this! This chapter is meant to allow Bella and Edward to get to know one another and set up upcoming plot. It's a little bit of filler, but most of it's cute and a HUGE event is brought up. So enjoy!

Thanks to my reviewers for getting me to 100! Guess what? It's my birthday 2/26 so give me the awesome present of tons of reviews!

Monday October 27, 2008

Gypsy proved harder and more expensive to fix than we previously assumed and Jacob had been unsuccessful with his valiant mechanical attempt. This meant that I was out a ride to school and had the options of taking the loser cruiser or bumming a ride from Charlie. Neither of these choices was particularly appealing.

Just as I was locking the door and beginning my trek to the bus stop, Edward pulled up, the Volvo's headlights cutting through the fog like a sharp knife. I smiled as he pushed open the passenger's side door.

"I figured Gypsy wasn't feeling up to the challenge of driving a whole three miles up the road," he explained.

"You were right. She won't be up for much of anything for quite awhile," I told him as I buckled in.

"Lucky for me." He pulled me into a kiss, running his fingers through my hair while my hands traced his sculpted chest. It was such a casual display of affection, so comfortable and easy.

"Screw it, I think I'll be sabotaging any attempts to fix the Chevy from now on," I joked after we pulled away and Edward turned onto the street.

"I wouldn't mind that plan," His hand searched for mine and he interlaced our fingers once he found it.

"Where are Emmett and Alice?" I asked, noticing that we were missing a few members of the Cullen clan.

"I told Emmett to take his Jeep. I'm pretty sure Rosalie has been forcing him to carpool for the past few weeks and it was getting really annoying. There's only so much Rose one person can take, unless of course you're Emmett. I really have no idea how he puts up with her," Edward explained. "Alice, well she took her car."

"And that supposed to mean?" I asked raising an eyebrow, confused at exactly what he was insinuating.

"You'll see. Technically, the Volvo belongs to both Alice and me. It was our father's hand-me-down when we first got our licenses. Carlisle has a bit of a car fetish and we all feed into it more than we should. On our seventeenth birthday, mom and dad bought me the Aston Martin and Alice well, she got that…" he pulled into a parking space next to a canary yellow Porsche 911 Turbo.

"Holy shit! Isn't that a little too much torque for a ninety pound stick figure?" I asked while gawking at the brilliant contraption in front of me.

"You'd think so, but she's actually an insanely good driver," Edward answered as we walked past the throng of ogling boys, drooling over Alice's car.

"So, I take it Carlisle had a pretty good year. Two extremely expensive cars in one month," I commented. Where the hell did the Cullen's get all of this money?

Edward chuckled. "Yeah, he worked as a Chicago surgeon when he was younger. That's where he met Esme. Forks General doesn't really pay that well. Esme's an interior designer and has been commissioned for some pretty prestigious projects. It was rather unnecessary for them to buy us each new cars when we already had the Volvo, but…I really like my Aston Martin."

"Yeah, so do I," I laughed.

"Dad prefers we drive the Volvo to school, but Alice…well, she'll be Alice. Isn't it ironic that Bella the speed demon comes to Forks and befriends the family with a five car garage?"

"A little. Then again, I might just be seducing you in order to swipe your car keys right out of your pocket," I joked.

"I could live with that." His perfect, breathtaking smile crossed his lips as he slipped his arm around my neck and pulled me into his chest. I felt his lips on my hair as he kissed the top of my head. I wrapped my arms around his chest and basked in the warmth of his embrace. I noticed quite a few students gawk at us, open mouthed and confused at our intimate exchange. Edward didn't seem to care and neither did I.

Edward walked me to Trigonometry and was just about to kiss me goodbye when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I smiled sheepishly as I extracted it and glanced down at the call id. The message button was flashing as the word 'RESTRICTED' scrolled across the screen. I hit view.

Get any packages lately. You're gonna die, bitch!

I snapped my phone shut, my nostrils flaring and heart rate increasing.

"What's the matter?" Edward asked, taking my phone from my hand. He glanced up from the screen after reading the oh-so-friendly text. "Is this James?"

"I don't know. Most likely yes, but it could be one of the Volturi. Jane's not exactly planning on inviting me to a funfetti baking party anytime soon," I said.

"This is ridiculous, Bella. They have no right to hold that crash over your head. Death threats are way out of line. They're committing a felony just by insinuating any type of bodily harm towards you!" Edward was getting worked up and I had to squelch his panic before he jumped on a plane and decide to take down the entire racing underground mob.

"Don't worry about it. It's just a text. They can't really do much from five hundred miles away," I explained, twirling my finger around a lock of Edward's hair at the nape of his neck. He kissed my forehead tensely, obviously not pacified by my reasoning. I forced him to go to class before the bell rang and scurried into the Trig room in deep contemplation.

The gripping Law of Cosines could not hold my attention for the first hour of the school day. Mike chattered on about how completely smashed he was at his party Saturday night and I vaguely remember him asking me how bad my hangover was the next day. I ignored him. I had bigger problems at the moment.

The death threat wasn't at all substantial. The Volturi weren't the type to give warnings and they needed me to win the Seattle Coastal for them, so killing me off wouldn't be such a smart plan. Jane wasn't my best friend by any means, but she'd fall into line at Aro, Marcus, or Caius' orders.

This left James. His rashness made him dangerous, but I knew how to handle myself in regards to his aggression.

As the first period ended I came to the conclusion to ignore any more of these text messages and to consider them as hoaxes. No reason to get worked up over nothing.

"What's going on, Bella." Alice slipped past the crowd of students filing out of the classroom and snaked her arm around mine. "You were completely out of it back there."

"Hmmm…oh, nothing. I just got a weird text, but it's probably nothing," I told her.

"What did it say?" Alice urged.

"Somebody's going to kill her," Edward popped up out of nowhere and protectively draped his arm around my neck so that I wedged between the two Cullen children.

"WHAT?" Alice squeaked.

"It's a long story, but I was thinking about it all period and it doesn't hold any weight so let's not worry about it, okay?" Edward and Alice both reluctantly nodded, obviously not placated, but willing to let it slide for the time being.

After each period, Edward walked me to my next class, never bring up the strange message again. For that I was thankful.

At lunch, he dragged me over to the Cullen/Hale table much to Rosalie's chagrin. She was cordial, however, most likely due to Emmett's orders. They included me in their conversations about musical bands and books, most of which I enjoyed. The small talk allowed me to relax.

I had all but forgotten about the creepy potential killer by Music Theory when we were assigned a long term group project. Our teacher, Mr. Howard, assigned us each a partner based on the instrument we played. He wanted each partner to play the same instrument so as to help the other develop their skills and choose songs that each person could play.

"This is a two month long project in which each group will be designated a day to perform a play list of songs. I'd like the songs to be a reflection of the groups own thoughts and feelings, music that evokes emotion. The groups should put their own twists on the compositions to make them work for their purposes. In addition, each group will compose their own song to be performed at the end of the assigned period. Lyrics are not necessary, but are not discouraged. I've chosen the partners as followed…" As I was a new student, I threw off the balance of partner system and became the third wheel in a group of wannabe Angus Youngs. Edward, as the only pianist and musical genius in the class, was left without a partner which was apparently the norm. But, Edward had other plans.

"Mr. Howard, I think that it would be beneficial to expand our musical talents to multi-instrumental groups. It would add a lot more variety and offer a more emotional performance. Not that I mind being partner-less, but I would like to interact with other musicians. It's a rather important aspect of music, you know…sharing thoughts and feelings with others by way of lyrics and melodies. Do you think that perhaps Bella Swan could be paired up with me? She's very talented and always up for a challenge." Edward charm was irresistible and convincing as hell.

Mr. Howard furrowed his brow and glance my way. "Bella, are you up for a piano/guitar duet. It's up to you?"

"I think I could manage." I tried to be nonchalant, but couldn't help the smile from spreading across my face. Edward was truly a genius. I migrated over to his piano bench. "You're very clever, you know."

"Hey, I'm motivated," he whispered as he placed his fingers on the keys beckoning me to follow his lead. I began strumming in harmony with him.

Gym class was…interesting. As I was changing into my new, decked out uniform courtesy of Alice, I received another text.

Watch yourself. You won't be racing anytime soon.

I found it hard to take this message seriously. It sounded like something an older brother would send his kid sister on Halloween. An empty threat meant to inspire fear. Well, it wouldn't work on me. I'd been through worse and wasn't about to be frightened by a loser in a Scream mask. I shoved my phone into my bag and joined the rest of the class in the gym.

Coming in last place at knock out had its perks. Alice and I were told to sit out while the top ranking teams competed for the coveted 'no-change pass.' That was fine by me.

"So, what happened Saturday? I've heard quite a few rumors!" Jessica whispered to Lauren. Suddenly, both Alice and I tensed and leaned forward to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Well, you know I was having a really good time with Eric and Tyler. We were playing a few drinking games and next thing I know, I've had a few too many. Then, you won't believe what happened!!" Lauren squealed. I knew where this was going and it would probably consist of pure fantasy.

"What?! Dish, Lauren!" Jessica was all too eager to play into Lauren's sick attention seeking ways.

"Two words for you…Edward Cullen!" She didn't bother to glance around and see who might be listening.

"No way! Edward Cullen? He's so…gorgeous, splendid, superb! How far did you go?" Jess asked.

"Well, I was just going to the bathroom when I passed him in the hall and he pulled me aside. At first, I was a little taken aback, confused. I told him I wasn't that type of girl, you know, the easy kind especially considering what happened at the bonfire last year. But he is sooo good at seducing, Jess. You have no idea. He just whispered my name and started kissing me. Best kisser in the world! And then, the next thing I knew, we were on the ground…you can use your imagination," Lauren finished with a smile.

Jessica was gawking at her like she was the Queen of Sheba. "You mean…"

"Yup."

"You lucky bitch! Ugh. So does this mean he's available?" Jessica asked. "Like, actually willing to date a girl?"

"Hey. Back off, Jess," Lauren said defensively. "I thought you were obsessed with Mike anyway."

"Yeah, but this is Edward Cullen!" she reasoned. "And Mike is completely childish. He's like stalkerishly in love with Isabella Swan. What the fuck is so special about her anyway? She's like a complete psycho!"

"Oh, I know. She totally barged in on Edward and me Saturday night. It was way creepy!"

I was about ready to jump both of these bitches and teach them a lesson in common courtesy, but Alice stopped me. She casually strolled over to Jess and Lauren and sat down with a smile on her face.

"Hey, Lauren. I'm supposed to relay a message to you. It's from Edward…" The girls began giggling. I wasn't sure if Lauren actually believed her own tall tale or not, but she didn't seem at all concerned that the girl who had caught her assaulting Edward was now confronting her. "He says that you should consider purchasing a dildo because you're pretty much the crustiest skank in this school. Tootles."

With that, Alice strutted back to the empty seat on the side of me. I slipped her a high-five on her bluntness, but wasn't all too satisfied by the bloodless exchange. "Have anything in mind?" Alice asked, reading my thoughts.

"I've got a few options." We spent the remainder of the period discussing how we could mess Lauren up and get away without so much as an after school detention.

"Oops, sorry!" I exclaimed as I shoved Lauren into the bathroom section of the locker room after class ended. "It's slippery right there."

"What the hell, Swan! I have a modeling audition tonight!" Lauren cried.

"Oh, well, in that case maybe you should fix your mascara it's smudged all down cheek," Alice cooed from behind me. Lauren gasped and ran into a stall to check her face in a mirror.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with my face!" She whined.

"Now there is!" I grabbed the stall door and smashed it directly into her nose. Blood poured down her face as she cried out in shock.

"Oh my goodness. Bella, you klutz. Let's wash that blood off before it cakes over." Alice seized Lauren's head and shoved it into the toilet causing the water to turn a bright red hue as little bubbles sputtered up from Lauren's muffled screams. "Much better!" Alice grabbed a handful of paper towels and pushed them against Lauren's bloody, dripping wet face.

"Now, I'd keep this little exchange to yourself. Wouldn't want us to leak the fact that you can't get a guy without resorting to assault," I warned. Lauren nodded her head.

"Oh, no! Coach Clapp! Lauren slipped in the bathroom and hit her nose on the toilet seat," Alice called as she dragged Lauren into the hall, sending me a wink in the process. Now that felt good!

As per usual, Edward was waiting outside of the gym for me. His brow was raised in bewilderment as he watched Alice explained her fabricated version of Lauren's injury. "I take it you had something to do with that," he nodded his head towards the gesticulating Alice and sobbing Lauren.

"Yup. I have to defend my man, don't I? And your sister wanted to help, and you know there's no way to refuse Alice when she has her mind set on something," I explained coolly, snuggling into his chest innocently.

Edward chuckled. "Then I guess I should thank you."

"Yes you should." The wheels began turning mischievously in my head. "And I know just how you can make it up to me."

"I'm sure I'll enjoy whatever you have in mind. Does it have anything to do with the Aston Martin?" He asked.

"Actually, no. But now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind another joy ride." I smiled hopefully up at him before continuing. "My original plan revolved around the fact that Charlie doesn't come home until five fifteen. That gives us a whole three hours alone in my empty house."

"Now, that's my kind of plan," Edward chimed in his velvet smooth voice, throwing in my favorite crooked smile.

I felt my phone vibrate for the third time today, but chose to ignore it rather than ruin the mood. I was fairly certain that Edward hadn't felt the buzzing and didn't want to give him another reason to worry.

I glanced out my window as Edward pulled out of the parking lot. A couple of rows away from us Alice was perched on Jasper's high-tech silver motorcycle both feet dangling off the edge as if she was sitting sidesaddle on a horse. Jasper was straddling her legs; his head tilted down as he lovingly caressed her cheek and planted soft kisses on her lips. Their foreheads met and they smiled warmly into each other's eyes. Jasper and Alice had a certain intimacy that was unmatched by any other couple I'd ever met. It was my aspiration to reach that level with Edward and I smiled when I realized that we were well on our way.

"Well, I guess Coach Clapp believed Alice's little fib," I nodded towards the cute couple.

"Alice could get away with murder if she wanted to and Jasper would help her hide the body without thinking twice," Edward smiled. "Jasper's been my best friend since I was eleven and he's always cared for Alice. He'd pick her flowers at recess and help her reach the top cubbies. Jazz is the only person I'd trust with Alice."

I snickered to myself causing Edward to glance my way. "What?"

"Nothing, I can just see a little version of Jasper flourishing a bouquet of dandelions," I laughed.

"Dandelions? That's simply not up to Alice's standards, even as an eleven year old. She would accept nothing less than lavender or violets and they had to be accompanied with baby breaths." As laughable as it sounded I couldn't deny the truth in his statement.

"And only Jasper could put up with those high standards," I reasoned.

"Pretty much, but he really couldn't care less. I see where his motivation comes from, though. I'd probably scale the Alps if you told me your favorite flower was the Edelweiss."

"But it isn't, so don't be booking plane tickets to Austria anytime soon, unless you plan on inviting me along." He met my gaze and shook his head.

"So much for my subtle hidden question. What's your favorite flower, Bella? I want to know everything about you."

"Fairy lilies. My favorite color's black and I like Jane Austen more than is healthy," I summarized.

"Black? That's not even a real color. That's the lack of refracted light and doesn't count," he commented with amusement flooding his voice.

"Excuse me, but I can like black if I want to. The mere fact that I can register the lack of vibrant color in black should be enough to qualify it as an actual color. Besides it's in a Crayola Crayon box so that completely destroys your argument in and of itself." The inexplicable passion harnessed in my rebuttal was rather comical.

"I beg to differ. Just because Crayola decides to name the color violet 'purple mountain majesty' doesn't actually make it a different color," he argued.

"Well, if you knew anything about coloring you'd know that 'purple mountain majesty' has a lighter hue than regular purple and is therefore a completely differ color," I refuted.

"And if I was color blind it wouldn't matter at all," Edward said, chortling under his breath.

"It depends on what type of color blindness you have. Red/Green blindness doesn't affect the color purple whatsoever, so you'd probably appreciate the subtle distinctions that 'purple mountain majesty' has to offer. In any case, you'd always be able to see black, so ha!" Victory was mine.

"I take it you owned the 160 piece Crayola set."

"Yup. I had every color from 'Razzmatazz' to 'Bear Hug Brown.' I laughed at those kids who were satisfied with their 24 packs. I take it you fell into that category. Ha-Ha," I pointed my finger at Edward and mock laughed as he nodded and chuckled at my enthusiasm.

Our discussion of the finer points of color mixing ended fifteen minutes later as we reclined on my old tattered living room sofa. My legs were perched on top of Edwards lap. It took me the majority of that time to extract the exact shade of Edward's favorite color. I swear, industrial sized crayon boxes should be mandatory for all children because the color 'blue' is not an adequate answer. It turned out that Edward was a fan of Prussian blue.

Although I would have like a little more physical action, our afternoon was put to good use as we learned the little quirks of the other. For instance, Edward was completely freaked out by seagulls due to a nasty childhood experience while on vacation in Florida. Apparently, 'his eyes had almost been pecked out of his skull' while he unsuspectingly munched on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It took me a good ten minutes to stop laughing long enough to apologize for my rudeness.

Naturally, the conversation turned towards music.

"How can you not like the Beatles?" Edward exclaimed in exasperation.

"Easy. I don't take drugs and I have no idea what they hell they're trying to say in about eighty-five percent of their songs," I explained.

Edward let out an exasperated sigh and extracted his iPod from his pocket. He tossed it towards me. "We're switching for a week. You need to be enlightened."

I grabbed my Nano and tossed it to him before flicking throw his music list. "10,753 songs. Are you serious?"

"There's a musical world outside of the Jonas Brothers, Bella," he chided.

"I don't listen to the Jonas Brothers," I said indignantly. He just laughed and pulled me onto the couch, pressing his forehead to mine. Here's the part I had been looking forward to.

His lips crushed against mine, forcing my mouth open to make room for his tongue. I snaked my arms around his neck and allowed him to lean me down across the couch while he supported his weight by his forearms. My legs automatically hitched over his hips and his hands wandered across my body.

By the time we broke apart at four forty-five, approximately an hour and a half later, we had somehow ended up on the ground wearing substantially fewer pieces of clothing than we had started off with. My shirt was draped over the couch, shed about a half-hour into our make-out session, exposing my lacey black bra. Edward was sitting on my stomach wearing nothing but his boxer shorts, trailing kisses up and down my chest.

"Charlie will be home soon," I sighed. The last thing I wanted was for Edward to leave, but Charlie would shoot him if he found us making out in the living room.

"How much trouble would we be in if I stayed," Edward asked, barely bothering to lift his lips from my breasts.

"Lots," I answered.

"What if we behaved ourselves and just listened to music until he came home? I don't feel comfortable leaving you alone with that crazy texter on the loose," Edward pulled me up from the floor, suddenly serious.

"Edward, my dad will be home in a half-hour and nobody's in the house now. I think I can manage to lock the door."

Edward huffed, but kissed my forehead. "Fine, but if you even so much as see a shadow that seems suspicious I want you to call me." I nodded and grabbed my shirt from the couch as he did the same.

We reluctantly walked to the front hall where I kissed him goodbye and locked the door behind him. I heard him jiggle the doorknob a few times to make sure it was firmly bolted and I rolled my eyes at his overprotective tendencies.

That reminded me of the message I had ignored earlier in the day. I pulled my phone out and noted the restricted number before reading:

Do you feel lucky, Bella? Do you?

I instantly felt sorry for not opening this text in front of Edward. How could somebody be intimated by an enemy who quoted Dirty Harry?

I thought about forwarding the message to Edward as evidence supporting the fact that I would be completely alright, but my vibrating phone foiled that plan. At first, I thought it was another message, but it continued to vibrate which meant that somebody was actually trying to reach me. ALICE scrolled across the caller ID screen.

"Hey, Alice. What's up?" I asked as I trudged up the stairs.

"Bella? Are you okay?" she sounded frantic.

"Yeah, I'm completely fine," I said in bewilderment. What did she think was wrong with me?

"Is Edward still there?" She hadn't yet lost her hysterical edge.

"No, he just left."

"I have a bad feeling, Bella. Please tell him to come back," she pleaded. These Cullen kids overreacted to the smallest of things.

"Alice, I don't know what you're talking about. Everything's normal here," I tried to convince her as I opened my bedroom door. The temperature difference caught me off guard. It was almost five degrees cooler in my room compared to the hall.

"Please, Bella. It would make me feel so much better."

"Fine," I told her as I flipped on the light switch.

And then I stopped dead in my tracks as my eyes settled on the figure sitting on my bed.

A/N: Dundundun....

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