A/N So my writing muse was kidnapped after I recovered from a nasty cold/fever thing...sorry for the delay. I struggled with this chapter and I am still not satisfied with it but I wanted to get something out. Future chaps will be better...I promise. Please review so I know you're still out there.

I didn't realize what a stir my sitting with the Cullens and the Hales at lunch would cause until I heard the quiet whisperings and felt the stares of the others around me as I followed Alice along the food line; gripping my tray knuckle white.

Ever since she cornered me before homeroom, asking to join them at lunch, I felt queasy; like giant butterflies invaded my stomach and couldn't find their way out no matter how hard they tried.

"You'll know Edward, of course." She had said as if I didn't know exactly who she sat with at lunch.

Ah, yes...the same Edward that hadn't spoken to me in the past few days unless 'please pass the microscope' counted.

The same Edward, while he didn't speak to me, I felt the weight of his stare on me when he thought I didn't notice. The expression in his eyes; I was still trying to decipher.

The same Edward that for whatever reason, I couldn't stop thinking about.

The same Edward I shouldn't think about.

Shaking myself from my thoughts, I plunked an apple on my tray. It was the only thing I think my stomach could tolerate at the moment. Most of the other stuff the cafeteria staff was doling out did not look appealing.

I had a rule; if I didn't recognize what it was on sight, it wasn't going in my mouth.

"You've already met Emmett, my other brother." Alice chatted as she stopped at the salad bar filling a plate with an assortment of raw vegetables and white chunks of something I assumed was tofu.

"If you could call knocking myself on my ass trying to avoid collision with a six foot something quarterback, a meeting, then sure…we'll go with that." I quipped, adding a bit of lettuce to a bowl.

She laughed aloud at my comment.

"Anyway…his girlfriend Rosalie, well she has a bit of a hard shell. If she doesn't like you, you'll know right away but there isn't a more loyal person to have in your corner."

She was also intimidatingly beautiful but Alice made no mention of that. Next to her, I would feel like Quasimodo dressed in a hefty bag with a bright rainbow clown wig.

"Jasper." She continued with a sigh. "Well, I've already told you about him."

She did and quite often. I hadn't met him yet only saw him briefly in between classes. He was her boyfriend; a bad boy artist type that consistently ignored her attempts to dress him fashionably or that was the way she told it.

Suddenly I had to ask even if I knew I was going to regret it.

"Does…um…Edward have a girlfriend?"

She looked at me with such an expression of amusement on her face that I couldn't help but wonder what was so funny.

"Edward doesn't date….though many have tried." She said cryptically, narrowing her eyes at something behind me.

A wave of unwanted relief surged through me. Why?

"That may change soon though." Alice added.

Before I could ask what she meant by that, she was already walking away and plunked her tray on the table in the corner. I followed suit and sat down next to her facing the two others at the table; Emmett, who I recognized from the "football incident" was already seated making quick work of the mountain of food in front of him. Next to him, watching me curiously albeit cautiously was Rosalie.

"You must be Bella." She said. "I'm Rosalie. And this human vacuum is Emmett."

He waved with a smile as he chewed.

"We've uh…met." I said giving him a wave in response.

"Oh right" She smirked. "I forgot about that."

So she was witness to my oh so graceful tumble on cement. Wonderful. Could I feel anymore woefully incompetent?

"How's the elbow?" Emmett asked in between bites of some indecipherable noodle and meat dish.

"Well…I don't think I'll be playing tennis anytime soon…"

Emmett's face fell. "Oh shit…I'm sorry Bella."

I immediately felt like a complete heel.

"No, hey…I was just kidding." I said reassuringly. "I'm fine." I moved my arm around showing my range of movement "I don't even play tennis."

Or anything really.

"You almost had me, Swan." He grinned with a shake of his head.

Jasper sauntered forward with his tray, sat down and pulled Alice into his lap. She laughed as he nuzzled her neck and fed her a fry before directing his gaze at me; the interloper.

From a distance, Jasper Hale had looked young and wiry but upon closer inspection I recognized that I had seriously misjudged him. He was wearing a black t-shirt with a hard rock band insignia that I didn't recognize with a black thermal shirt peeking out from under the neckline; a black hoody and jeans completed the outfit. He may have been considered almost pretty had it not been for the jagged scar that crossed through his eyebrow but it was the hard look in his charcoal eyes that spoke volumes.

There was nothing soft about Jasper Hale.

Worrying my bottom lip with my teeth, I leaned back from his assessing gaze. The way he scrutinized me made me uncomfortable; as if he could see right through me down to the very depths of my soul.

What did he see?

"Hello, Bella."

His arm pulled tighter around Alice and the adoring look he gave her made my heart ache.

I was wrong.

There was nothing soft about Jasper Hale except for his love for Alice Cullen.

"Hi." I responded feeling a tell tale heated blush creep up my neck.

I felt like an intruder.

"Don't look now but it appears like you've dropped a few rungs on the social ladder." Rosalie remarked looking behind me; her mouth lifted in amusement before refocusing her gaze on me.

Why did it feel like I was being tested?

I stole a look behind me and sure enough the same people I had been sitting with only yesterday were staring at our table; all with varied degrees of shock and sneers on there faces.

I resisted the urge to look down at my shirt for the scarlet letter "A". You would think I committed a major felony. Even Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory who seemed to resent my presence in their little group from day one had malice in their eyes. I would've thought they'd be happy.

I turned back to Rosalie feeling angered all of a sudden on behalf of the Cullens and the Hales. I didn't understand the injustice of it…why they were ostracized but it bothered me immensely and I wasn't about to get caught up in school politics.

I also wasn't used to being caught in the crossfire of something I couldn't define. My anonymity through life kept me tethered and secure. Renee had always moved us to big towns or cities and my new appearance in a school was news for maybe a day before I went back to being just plain Bella, sinking into obscurity.

Now I felt adrift…the rope in a tug of war being pulled from both ends.

"I don't like heights anyway." I commented wryly in response to Rosalie's comment.

She nodded approvingly. "Bella, I think we're going to get along just fine."

I guess I passed.

I felt a tiny fissure of awareness on the back of my neck like the kind you get when you can actually feel someone watching you with their weighted stare.

It could have been the group of kids behind us, Mike Newton, Tyler Crowley…take your pick but I knew it wasn't. I only felt this particular sensation from one person.

Turning slightly in my seat, I saw him.

Edward Cullen

And he did not look happy.

No one else seemed to notice or acknowledge his demeanor as he placed his tray on the table and sat in the farthest seat away from me. His eyes flitted from me to the sparse contents of my own tray and frowned.

I wanted to ask what the hell his problem with me suddenly was but I remained mute. Casting my eyes down at my tray, I picked at the stem on my apple…no longer in the mood to eat.

The din of conversation went around me as I listened with only half an ear. Another part of me was hyper focused on Edward. He remained silent as well, watching me curiously with those hypnotic green eyes of his.

"So, Bella what do you think?" Alice asked me.

"Um..I'm sorry, what was the question?"

"We're going to dinner before the movie. Do you like Italian?"

Dinner? I wasn't sure I could even keep lunch down.

"Who doesn't?" I shrugged plastering a fake grin on my face.

I caught Edward's eyes narrowing at me.

"Great. La Bella Italia it is."

Midway through the period, Emmett sat back in his chair with a grin and announced it was football time. I noticed Edward's heavily expelled breath and look of relief as he agreed right away.

It was obvious he didn't want to be near me.

It shouldn't hurt but it did.

I shouldn't care but I did.

"You game to watch us, Bella?" Emmett asked me. "I promise no collisions."

I looked at Edward, who was watching me intently. "Actually, I think I'll sit this one out thanks."

As it turned out both Alice and Rosalie decided to stay inside with me but not before Alice excused herself to follow the guys for a moment.

"I'll be right back." She said after narrowing her eyes at Edward through the window of the cafeteria and stalked through the outside doors.

"What was that about?" I asked Rosalie.

"I'm not sure." She grabbed my sleeve with a conspiratorial grin and pulled me towards the window "But let's go watch. Alice is a real spitfire when she's mad...and she is furious."

Through the dirty glass smudged with I didn't even want to know what, I watched as Alice caught up to Edward and yanked forcefully on the sleeve of his coat. He turned swiftly and glared at her.

I couldn't hear what was being said but Alice's mouth was moving frenetically while her hands flailed about her body. Edward stood there grim faced, jaw tensed under Alice's tirade; his hands which were positioned on his hips suddenly moved to his hair, yanking at it. Then he started yelling back; pacing back and forth; hands at his sides then in his hair again.

Rosalie snickered. "Well, whatever she's saying to him, he's not liking it too much."

His eyes met mine through the glass.

"Busted." Rosalie chuckled under her breath.

I had to take a step back from the painfully twisted expression when he realized we were watching. Slinking away from the window back towards our seats, I couldn't watch anymore.

I felt sick.

Alice breezed back into the cafeteria with a self satisfied grin on her face.

"What was that all about?" Rosalie asked her.

"Just a little sibling chat." She said flippantly with a shrug of her shoulders.

When Edward sidled in the seat beside me in Bio, I didn't even spare him a glance. Ashamed as I was that he caught me spying on the confrontation with Alice, there was nothing I wanted to say.

"You should eat more." He leaned over towards me and whispered. "I don't want you fading away on me."

My whole body stilled. I gripped the pen I was holding tightly before I started writing again.

What did he care what or how much I ate?

"You don't have to do this, you know." I told him, the pieces finally clicking together.

"Do what?"

"Be nice to me just because Alice wants you to."

"Is that what you think I'm doing?" He sounded offended and a little shocked.

"Isn't obvious? You don't talk to me for days then suddenly after Alice yells at you in the middle of the football field, you're speaking to me again?"

He shook his head slowly in denial but it was too late…I already knew the truth.

I sighed "It's okay. If you don't want me hanging around, I'll tell Alice I won't be able to go tonight. It's better this way anyway."

I wouldn't have to pretend to be normal, I wouldn't have to fake a smile and lie.

"Please don't." His voice was soft and truly remorseful. "It would hurt...m...Alice if you didn't come. She doesn't make friends that easily."

"I don't see why…she's a lovely girl."

It was true. Alice Cullen was probably one of the nicest, most genuine people I had ever met. It wasn't' her fault her brother had a multiple personality disorder.

"It's…complicated." He finally said.

Isn't everything? I thought.

"So you'll go?" He asked hopefully, his green eyes urging me to say yes.

"I'll go" I whispered. "For Alice."