Joe's POV

We stayed on the top of Bella's van for about an hour and a half just talking and stuff. It was nice to hear here voice not being mad at me. It was perfect.

"I know you," I said.

"Well you do now," she said. I laughed laying back on the van. She did the same except she rested her head on my chest. I couldn't be happier. Now all we had to do was let my parents know. I mean I wanted my mom and dad to know that I really liked Bella and she was a good person. If they could see that then there wouldn't be an issue.

"You're sure," I said, "I don't want to make you do something you don't want to do."

"I'm positive," she sighed, "I guess it's just hard to adjust to such a rapid change of thought in such a short period of time."

"Yeah," I said, "It's a good hard though."

"Good," she laughed.

"So," I said, "My parents are going to be here tonight. The reason they weren't was because my little brother was staying with some relatives… had to go get him."

"Oh," she said nervously, "Wh-what if they don't like me?"

"I'm sure they will," I laughed, "As soon as they see how much I like you then they'll know you're just fine."

"What if they saw the shark bite," she said, "I mean, they probably wouldn't want you to hang out with such a reckless person."

"Reckless," I repeated, "Smart, Funny, Beautiful…"

"You're just too nice," she replied.

"I think they'll see those things in you," I said, "For sure." She didn't know who my parents were either… that was funny.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said, "Can't be too late in the day."

She sighed, "I don't want this to end."

"You don't," I replied, "Neither do I." I honestly didn't want it to end. We just laid there for a while then eventually went back inside the van. Bella had to start it a few times to actually get it in driving condition. I laughed at her first few attempts.

"This thing is complicated," she said.

"I don't think it wanted to leave either," I laughed. She smiled. I looked at my phone. It was two. How long were we out there? I had six missed calls from Nick and seventeen from… Amy.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked.

"Nothing," I said, "Nick called a lot."

"Oh," she said, "Well you should call him."

"Right," I said still a little worried. I don't think she noticed it. I had to tell Amy that she had to stop. I typed in what I had to say quickly so Bella wouldn't see. She must've thought I was finding Nick's number. As if I didn't have it memorized already.

To: Amy= You seriously have to stop this. We dated a long time ago. Besides, I've moved on.

It didn't take long for her to text back. I ignored it. I wasn't going to let Bella get more suspicious than she already was possibly. I dialed Nick's number and it only had to ring twice before he picked up.

"Where the heck have you been?" asked Nick, "Mom and Dad are going to be at six and we still have to-"

"Nick," I said laughing, "It's alright. We're on our way."

"We're?" he asked, "Are you and Bella… well did she… are you?"
"Yeah," I laughed again, "It's pretty official."

"Whoa," he said, "Well good for you, dude."

"Yeah," I said, "What about you?"

"Well," I said, "Lily and I are taking it slow but we both definitely want to be with each other."

"Sweet," I said, "But we should keep this private of course."

"Yeah," Nick replied, "We'll have to keep it private." It was sort of hard to keep our relationships private. It wasn't tempting to reveal our relationships to the public or anything but someone always ended up seeing us with them.

"I should go," I said, "We'll see you soon."

"Okay," he said, "Later." I snapped the phone shut and sighed. I had to look at the text eventually whether it was on my way to delete it or not. It almost screamed in frustration.

Amy: We'll see. I happen to have something you don't. I already sent it to every magazine in the state.

Below was a picture of Bella and I. There was no way for us to keep this private now except to deny it. I could say we're just good friends and she's a new member on the show if she complied to even being on it.

"Joe what's going on?" she asked worried. She leaned over and took the cell phone from my hands. "What is this?"

"Amy saw us," I said, "She saw us together and she sent it everywhere."

"Oh," Bella said a little sad, "We'll figure this out."

"How?" I asked.

"I have ways," she replied calmly, "When does Nick want us back?"

"Well, my parents are going to be there by six," I said, "Why?"

"I'll drop you off at home," she said, "No one will see that picture." She was kind of cute when she was determined. For some odd reason, I believed her. I mean, I believed her period but I didn't ask any further questions. Soon we were in front of my house. "I'll see you soon."

"Okay," I said leaning in to kiss her. I didn't want to stop but I forced myself, "You're the best."

"I know," she laughed. I laughed too and ran for my house.

***

"Where have you been?" asked Nick pulling me into the kitchen as soon I walked through the door.

"Me and Bella were spending some quality time together," I said.

"Did you guys talk?" asked Lily. She sort of came out of nowhere, standing next to Nick.

"Yeah," I said, "And um, well I'll explain that later. But you see she found out she was on the show."

"Wait, so she made it?" Lily asked chipper.

"Yeah," I laughed, "And she was kind of upset. But then I made a deal with her. We'd put it to a vote. It's up to you guys. If we all say yes she's on the show." I looked at Kevin who was standing silently by the stove.

"So where is Bella?" asked Nick.

"Well we kind of have a problem," I said, "Amy showed up and managed to get a picture of us. She sent to every gossip magazine in the state. It's going to be all over the place now. So she dropped me off here and she said she'll take care of it."

"Who's Amy?" asked Lily.

"My ex-girlfriend," I said simply.

"Oh," said Lily, "So she's intimidated by Bella?"

"Well of course," I laughed, "We're sort of giving it a shot."

"Wait!" yelled Lily cheerfully, "So you guys are dating!?" I nodded and she did the most non-Lily girly scream I've ever heard in my life. I laughed though, she was excited for Bella because like me, Lily knew we belong with each other. "Sorry."

"It's alright," I replied then turned to Nick, "So why are you so worried?"

"Mom and Dad are going to be here with Frankie at six," he said.

"Yes," I replied, "So why are you worried?"

"Well," Nick had to stop and think for a second. I honestly don't think he knew why he was so worried, "Okay so I don't know."

"Honestly Nick you worry too much," I laughed. I was worried though. What if Bella couldn't stop those pictures from leaking? Her safety would definitely be on the line. I mean don't get me wrong, I love my fans and always will but what if they tried to gauge Bella's eyes out?

We'd definitely have to take some precautions.

***

"I'm back!" Bella stumbled in the house. She looked exhausted. She had to have driven all across California. It was five-thirty. We were all sitting in the front room, waiting for her to arrive. We all stood up, afraid she would fall. "I'm fine."

"So what happened?" I asked, "Did you stop the pictures?"

"But of course," she said laughing.

"R-really?" I asked.

"Do you have special powers?" Nick asked, "Or did you threaten to kill them?"

"Neither," Bella replied, "While I was talking to each and every one of those sleezy editors, I managed to either take the picture off their desk while they weren't looking or pulled the fire alarm in their building so I could quickly delete the pictures off their computers." We all just stood their, mouths dropped like open doors.

"Bella," I said, "You're a genius."

"Well, I wouldn't say genius," she said, "As long as those pictures are off the press then they have no proof and can't run the story."

"You're just in time, too," said Kevin, "Our parents are going to be here any minute now."

"Oh," said Bella nervously. We all laughed. Bella seemed confused. She didn't know that I told them we were a "thing" now.

"They'll love you," Kevin said, "They'll love both of you. Trust me, our parents are not strict judges of character."

"Good," said Lily, "Because I thought they would dig into my criminal records. Bella there's also something we need to settle." Bella sighed in defeat.

"I know," said Bella.

"I vote yes," I said. She glared at me, somewhat annoyed since she already knew my vote was a yes. I teasingly stuck my tongue out at her.

"Yes," said Kevin, "It'd be great to have you work with us."

"Of course," Nick echoed to the entire yes's. I looked at Lily she was staring at me with pleading eyes.

"Why would you do this to me?" I asked her.

"It's a great opportunity, Bella," she said, "And I can't lie to you and tell you you're not capable to doing this. Plus, I made a video chat with home. Everyone there voted yes."

"Are you serious?" Bella asked. It wasn't a happy moment. She shook her head and walked pass us, downstairs. I flinched when the door slammed.

"I'll go talk to her," said Lily.

"I'll go," I said, "You guys should wait here."

Bella's POV

Why in the world would Lily do that? She knew how everyone at school felt about me. She would actually embarrass me like that! I slammed the door of the room we were staying at, locking it as well. I didn't want anyone in here with me… not even Joe. He just fed the fire. I jumped to see a laptop on the bed. I shook my head in astonishment when there was a huge pop-up asking for a video chat. I hesitantly kneeled in front of the laptop, and accepted it.

The screen was flooded with almost my entire school. Did they plan this? Were they hoping I would storm off downstairs? Everyone started cheering. I was a little scared at first and just waved.

"Bella!" said a girl named Jane who went to our school. She was one of the cheerleaders. She was also really smart. We were friends before everything happened.

"Uh, hi," I said, "Um why are you guys still on the video chat?"

"We were sort of hoping you would show up," said Rachelle. I was a little mad about her being there. "Listen, Bella. We know we haven't been the nicest people to you lately, but we were being fooled by Glenn. We didn't know the reason you punched him in the nose was because he…"

"I thought you all knew," I said.

"If we knew that loser tried to do that to you, then football would be the least of our worries," said Dan, another football player who had history with me.

"Guys, don't feel pressured over Lily," I said, "I mean I really don't want to be on this show."

"Because you've suffered enough humiliation right?" asked Rachelle. I nodded.

"Well that's ridiculous," said Dan, "You shouldn't feel humiliated as much as we are. I mean, we were horrible to you. If anything, you need to be on this show."

"Why?" I asked tears welling up in my eyes. They were happy tears.

"So you're biggest fan can cheer you on!" Dan replied. Then the entire student body started cheering and yelling… for me.

"O-okay," I sniffled, "I'll do it for you guys." More cheers came on. "I should go. We should do this again."

"Definitely," said Jane. We all said your goodbyes and I eventually shut the laptop. I don't think I've felt this feeling in a long time. I felt loved. Not just by one person but by everyone I'd thought I lost. It would be wrong to not do this for them. There was a small knock on my door. I quickly stood up and walked towards the door.

"Who is it?" I called quietly.

"It's Joe, Bells," Joe said, "Please open the door. For me?"

"Why should I?" I asked. Maybe I could fool him now.

"Because," he said, "It might just kill me not to be in the same room with you." Suddenly there was this huge thump on the floor. Afraid he might've fallen I opened the door to only see him towering over me, smiling ear to ear. "That's better."

"What do you want?" I asked fake-frustrated.

"Bella," he said, "You're not mad at me." He moved closer, his forehead pressed against mine. It was hard to look in his eyes, "Are you?"

"N-no," I stuttered giving in.

"Good," he said, "So you'll do it?"

"Well if it wasn't for my entire school's encouragement I wouldn't have done it," I whispered. It wasn't necessary to use my regular voice because he was so close.

"But…" he pressed.

"I'm going to," I said. That's all it took for him to press his lips against mine. This may sound weird but I'm pretty sure his lips fit perfectly on mine. Everything we did seemed to fit now. Was I really falling over a Lucas Brother? I pulled away. It's always good to leave them wanting more. I laughed at myself.

"Thank you," Joe said.

"For what?" I asked.

"For listening to what they had to say," he said.

"Y-you heard?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied, "You're terrible at pretending to be mad at me."

"You're terrible at pretending to die not being in the same room with me," I said.

"You fell for it didn't you?" he laughed.

"I guess so," I chuckled.

"You know Lily feels bad," he said, "It'd kill her if you didn't forgive her."

"I do," I said. There was no point in being mad at her if I was already going to do the show.

"Good," he said. There was some noise upstairs. Something was going on. Joe chuckled wrapping his arms around me, "They're here." I began to freak out. Joe could definitely sense it. "It's alright, Bella."

"What are they going to think when I come upstairs with you completely out of breath and somewhat… blown away?" I asked. He laughed.

"You're blown away," he said. It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

"Yeah," I replied, "A little."

"It's sweet that you want this meeting with my parents to be perfect," he said, "But trust me, they'll accept you."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Well I know my parents," he said, "They're strict with girls for us. But they want to make sure the girl is right. You're right. You're absolutely perfect."

"Okay," I said nervously. Joe laughed.

"Trust me, Bella," he said. I nodded looking up at him. He was half smiling. He leaned in quicker, kissing me while I was off guard. It was perfect though, just like the rest of them. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," I said. I really wasn't but I trusted him like he told me to.

***

"Mom," said Joe running to his mother and giving her a hug. She laughed and smiled. She was mid-height, brown curly hair. She looked like their mother. They had a lot of resemblances. I couldn't picture her without a smile on her face. She was a happy person… proud. Joe continued to his father who was just the same. He was mid-height but his hair was lighter. He wore glasses. Again, Joe, Nick, and Kevin had a lot of familiar features from their father. He was smiling as well, making me a lot less nervous.

"I missed you boys so much," their mother said hugging Nick and Kevin, "I can't stay away from you three that long. I mean have you gotten taller?" I smiled. They were so nice, not awkward at all. I mean, I wasn't expecting awkward but I think I just let my thoughts take control of me.

I didn't notice their little brother standing by his mom. He hugged each of his brothers, quietly. He looked a lot like his father. He seemed quiet to me. But I'm not the one to judge. He seemed polite as well though. Joe went to my side, definitely making me stick out.

"Who's this, Joe?" asked his mother.

"Mom, this is Bella Sandford," Joe said, "She's here with her friend Lily who's now on the show with us."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said happily shaking me hand. I smiled, letting my nervousness fade.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Lucas," I said.

"Please," she laughed, "Call me Denise." I nodded making sure I'd do that. I shook hands with Mr. Jonas who insisted that I called him Paul. Frankie wasn't hesitant to give me a hug. I laughed and hugged back. Okay, was I actually afraid of them? I was stupid.

We all kind of just sat down, watched TV, and socialized. It was nice to know that there was such thing as a well-constructed family because that's exactly what they were.

"So, Bella," said Denise, "Are you on the show too."

"Yes, actually," I said, "Um, Joe kind of did the honors." Joe laughed. I looked at Lily and gave her a look that said: You're my best friend and I could never be mad at you. She nodded and smiled.

"Well that's nice," said Paul, "It's good that you're here for you friend."

"Thank you," I said. It was a lot of talk. Lily explain how she got on the show. She even said that she loves the Lucas Brothers. They were really fond of her. I pretended not to notice Denise looking over at me and Joe every once in a while. He was sitting really close, a dead give away.

***

"Goodnight, Denise," I said giving her a hug, "Paul. It was nice to get to know you guys."

"The pleasure is all ours," said Paul. I smiled and waved, going downstairs with Lily. Her mom would be here tomorrow, so we could get out of here. I have to admit it will be hard though.

I shut the door of our room and sighed. "What a day," I said.

"Yeah," she said, "Pretty crazy. You and Joe are dating?"

"Yeah," I confessed nervously, "I mean it just sort of happen. But we're just trying this." She laughed, "And I'm sorry about freaking out. I actually talked to our school."

"Y-you did?" she asked surprised.

"Yeah," I said, "They said they were hoping I would show up."

"They encouraged you," she stated smiling.

"Yeah," I said smiling smug, "I guess they did."

Joe's POV

"So Joe," my mom said walking in my room. I was actually getting ready to sneak in to see Bella, "This girl… Bella. Tell me about her."

"Well, you met her," I said, "I um, I kind of like her."

"So do I," she said, "She's a sweet girl. Polite."

"She loves you guys," I said referring to her and Dad, "She was nervous at first though. She wanted to make a good impression."

"She was successful," my mom said. She sighed running her fingers through my hair, "You are growing up… so I approve if you want to have a mutual relationship with her. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Mom," I said hugging her. Now nothing could stop Bella from falling in love with me. "I love you."

"Love you too, sweetie," she said, "Goodnight."

"'Night," I said. She shut the door behind her. I waited until I heard the door to her room shut. When I heard it, I quickly stood up cracking the door open a little bit. No one was in the hall way. Now was my shot. I had to make it back upstairs before anyone came back out in the hallway.

I made my way down the two flight of stairs and the long hallway to Bella's room. Maybe if Bella answered, I could pull her out, so she wouldn't disturb Lily. It was worth a shot. I quietly knocked on the door twice. I didn't hear much for a while. I was about to get the heck out when the door quietly opened.

"Yes?" Bella mumbled.

"Bella," I whispered, "It's me."

"Really?" she asked quietly, "I thought it was Santa." I chuckled as she stepped out of the room. "So what's up?"

"Nothing," I said, "I just wanted to see you."

"Oh," she said blushing, "Well that's sorta sweet."

"Sorta," I repeated moving closer to her, kissing her forehead, "My mother approves. Which means her and my dad talked about it. You can stay my girlfriend… not that I would've dumped you if they didn't approve."

"I would've," she said, "You're family is so sweet. I would hate to break that."

"They like you," I said, "They actually love you. They wish you and Lily would stay. So do I."

"I know," I said, "I wish I could stay, too. But you know I'll visit you. And we'll see each other on the show. It'll be like I never left."

"You're falling in love with me, aren't you?" I asked. She didn't answer. We just sat by Bella's door, in each others arms. I was starting to get exhausted, I had to go. I looked down at Bella who was already sleeping peacefully. I smiled and stood up. I caught her before she could fall to the floor and picked her up. Her arms wrapped around behind my neck. I smiled and quietly opened the door to her room. Lily was up, reading. She looked at me and waved, a smile on her face. I smiled at her and brought Bella over to her bed. Lily quickly pulled the covers back before I could put her down. I mouthed thank you. She nodded and I laid Bella down. I pulled the covers over her, tucking her in. I kissed her as light as I could. I looked at Lily who was back to her reading. Before I left I heard something come from Bella. It made me restless all night.

"Yes."

Sorry that it took me so long to update. I haven't been feeling well lately and didn't get the time to get something typed up. I hope you can forgive me for only have Bella and Joe's POVs. But I promist that there will by some Nick/Lily things going on next chapter! Thank you so much! Tell me what you think so far! 3 reviews=life.