Again, sorry for the long delay in postings, I'm in the process of moving - so I've been a little frazzled. I'm almost all settled in, so hopefully I'll get a little more time.

I just want to thank Serendipity for all of her help and comments, she's been great! You are awesome!

Love to hear from you guys! ;)

BPOV

"Ok, so what's the plan for the game and everything...the parentals are starting to become a gigantic pain in my ass over this."

"Emmett, the game isn't for another month, its only the middle of October." rolling my eyes, this was my fault; I told him I thought it was at the end of October, when really, I found out it was the middle of November. He had been harassing me about it ever since the beginning of the month. "Don't try to put this off on your parents; I know they would be fine with whatever and on top of that, they love me and completely trust me with their precious, little baby boy," squeezing his cheeks and moving his head from side to side - like those grandmothers you see on TV do, but never actually see in real life. "You just can't wait to down there; you always get so overly excited for the game. It's just football, relax!"

He swatted my hands away; I guess his manhood felt a little infringed upon as the rest of our little group made their way to our designated lunch table in the middle of the room. "Its football AND cheerleaders, Bella - you can't forget about them. Never forget about the cheerleaders," stating that like it was law.

I brushed my bangs out of my eyes, "And I care about cheerleaders, why? All they are, are a bunch of dance team rejects who just prance around on the sidelines; I mean it doesn't take any real talent, anyone could stand in one place and yell, uh, I mean cheer...."shifting my attention to Alice and Rose now - deliberately saying this for their benefit.

Emmett attempted to stifle his laughter because it appeared like my comments were actually getting to Rosalie - hence her reddening face. Alice was used to my cheer putdowns by now, "Those who cannot even do a cartwheel and have difficulty staying vertical should not be making any comments on the noble distinction of being a cheerleader," Alice retorted not even seemingly bothered with my comment. I must be getting predictable, damnit.

"I haven't had any complaints about not being able to stay vertical; you're one to talk biatch," winking at Alice.

Jasper arched an eyebrow, looking at me and then at Alice, who had an angelic smile on her face, "Ladies, ladies, keep it PG, there are children here," motioning toward Emmett with his head as he took his regular seat next to Alice.

I covered Emmett's ears, "Earmuffs, dear. I forgot about the young-in here and his virginal ears," not even able to stifle a laugh as the words left my lips; the rest of the table erupted into laughter as well.

Emmett moved his head away from my hands again, he was the only one not laughing at the joke, but that wasn't surprising. "Ha, ha, ha...whatever. I bet you all that I get more ass than any of your fuckers," looking at everyone like he was waiting for them to challenge. His resolve solidified when he looked at me, though, "Especially you. Would you like to take this bet; I'll make it worth your wild," he exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with confidence that this was a bet he could actually win.

I knew he would win this, therefore, there was no way I would ever take this bet - but there's no harm in making him think that he would lose...all's fair in love and war, right? "Don't worry, you would lose this too. Don't you remember last time? One word from me and no girl within a 100 mile radius will touch you - I wouldn't have to do anything and I would win. So, do you really want me to take this wager?" feeling very confident in my retort.

Emmett was about to respond when he was cut off by two girls approaching our table, "Um, sorry to interrupt Alice, but do you want your coffee now?" We all turned our focus to two girls who had just approached our table. They looked like they were Freshman - probably just trying to kiss Alice's ass.

"Yea, I'll take my vanilla latte now. Ask the rest of the table what they want too - it's just rude to only ask one person when there many more people sitting there."

The main girl looked nervous to talk to us, but I guess who wouldn't, there are people within our class who are nervous to talk to any of us - at least these girls had the balls to make a power play so we would at least know who they were. I guess this would be a point for Forks, high school royalty - but who's to say that, that wouldn't have happened in LA too? The girl hesitated, looking back at Alice who nodded her head as a sign of encouragement, so the main girl continued. I suppose this was cheer's way of hazing: being accepted into the group but only after you have became that person's bitch for the entire year. Alice must see something in these girls, because she usually keeps these types of mundane/normal tasks for the end of the school year - once she's already given them every shitty job she can think of.

She went around asking what people wanted and everyone responded rather indifferently to the Freshman's question - treating her more like a waitress than anything else. The main girl was bolder than her friend; with each person she asked, she became more confident, losing the nervousness in her voice. The other girl was more reserved and hung back: clearly intimidated by being there, but as her friend moved to each person she grew closer to the table too, becoming somewhat more confident.

"We won't bite you," Emmett winked at the second girl, "unless you ask, that is" in his most charming voice - it was slightly nauseating. He motioned for her to come closer but she looked like a deer in headlights, unsure of what she should do. "We aren't that intimidating, once you get to know us." Man, he was laying it on thick. He could see she was getting more uncomfortable, which egged him on more - he loved the innocent ones.

This was enough. Usually, I could give a shit if Emmett fucked around with the underclassman, but this was too much - this poor girl had no idea what she was getting herself into. "Em, shut the fuck up. Obviously, she's not interested; not everyone is simply going to fawn over you because you're trying to be charming and playing nice....right now. Since she's not falling all over you, she's smarter than half the girls here then." I smiled at her, a genuine smile - not that fake shit I usually give everyone else at the school, not including my little group of friends. I turned towards her and whispered, since she was closest to me, "And if he ever tries to pull anything, whether it's something like this or he's just asking you what time it is, just punch him in the balls and say that it's from me." She smiled at me and then ran over to catch up with her friend who was now in the coffee line.

"You scarred her away," Emmett jokingly pouted.

"I think you did that Casanova," satisfied with myself, I had done my good deed for the day. Little as it may have been, it helped that girl out. I sighed contently and noticed that Cullen had that same content look, which was probably plastered across my face, and was looking at me. As soon as he saw that I had seen him looking at me, we both dropped our smiles and he diverted his attention to something Rose was saying. It had been a little over a month since that night at Jacob's, and we haven't spoken much since. He hadn't tried to say anything to me since that night and vice versa - which is perfectly fine with me, there's nothing to be said. As long as he was still communicating with Jacob, there was nothing really to say to him. And even if he wasn't, what was I going to say 'Hey, thanks for just watching us duel it out -where he could have actually hit me and you just stayed the fuck out of it, that was great fun, wanna grab coffee?' I don't fucking think so.

The girls had come back with the coffee and the main girl was handing everything - except for mine and Cullen's, the shy girl was holding ours. Everyone had said a thank you rather dismissively, aside from Alice who genuinely took interest and seemed to be telling her that she had done a good job. The shy girl handed Cullen his coffee and he thanked her politely - nice to see he could be polite to other people.

She then made her way to me and placed my coffee on the table, "Thank you for before," she softly said.

"No problem, I'm always willing to help. What's your name, by the way?" She looked surprised that I had asked her that; which made sense. I wasn't as outspoken as Alice and Emmett, mostly talking with them and some others in our grade. It's not that I wasn't social, but that I just wasn't interested in the majority of high school drivel.

She hesitated, searching to see if this was some joke that I was playing on her. I made no motion and she could see that the rest of the table wasn't even paying attention to the fact that she was still there - we could be fairly self-involved - and finally answered, "My name's Victoria."

"Nice to meet you. I'll see you around." She smiled and turned to see where her friend had gone, leaving the table.

Again, I thought I saw Cullen watching me, but I didn't even bother looking; if he had something to say or some sort of eye problem he should take care of it himself. I dove right into the conversation the others were having.

"Well, where are we going to stay then?" Rose asked.

"Um, I'm not sure. probably the W, that's closest to the school and that's where we stayed last time too," Alice replied, sipping on her latte.

Back to the football game, really? Damnit Emmett.

"Yea Bells, where are we staying?" Emmett asked, relaxing back in his chair and smug that the topic of conversation went back to the football game.

"What are you guys talking about?" Cullen finally deciding to partake in the table's conversation.

Crap. This is the reason I didn't want to talk about this now or ever really. I had already invited Jasper to come along too, but I wasn't planning on inviting him - the less I saw of him the better - and Emmett and Alice both knew this. Em could obviously care less about what I wanted though; he kept trying to force us together, like the more time we spent together would make everything just be alright.

"The football game in LA," Alice said brightly.

"Oh," slightly flinching, but otherwise he looked disinterested.

"I was just wondering about some of the details, Bella. Would it be bad to wear a USC jersey?" Jasper asked with a glimmer in his eyes.

My face dropped and I became fairly serious, "If I even see anything resembling red and gold, on the same article of clothing, it will get burned. Be glad you asked me this, my dad wouldn't even let you on the plane!" The table silently laughed, "If you need something UCLA, we will gladly provide it; I already got Alice, Em and Rose stuff, so I'll just let Mikey know we need one more."

Emmett kicked me from under the table - I winced. "Don't you mean two more?"

I stayed silent. 'No, I only meant one more, you fucker,' eying Emmett and trying to telepathically tell him this. Alice picked up on this move as well and pushed the issue further, "Yea, Edward and Jazz should both be a medium in whatever you get, right guys?" She kicked me too, not as hard as Emmett though. What the hell!

Jasper nodded his head, agreeing with Alice's sizing assumption while Cullen just stayed still not even acknowledging Alice's comment. He's not stupid, I'm sure he knows that he wasn't invited for a reason and probably doesn't want to go either. He probably doesn't want to spend any extra time with me than he has to.

"Yea, it'll be great! We can have a suite and then one room can be the girls room and the other can be the guys! That is if we are actually staying in a hotel, or are we staying at your house?" Alice asked.

"Probably a hotel, my parents are redoing the entire downstairs," I said absentmindedly, trying to figure out how to get out of this diplomatically.

"Can you get extra tickets Bella? I mean we don't have to come," Jasper stated, attempting to ease my anxiety. I could see what he was trying to do, give me an escape out so I wouldn't be uncomfortable and have to invite Cullen. He's growing on me more and more, and I actually want him to come. He nodded at me, as if to say 'Just say you can't get tickets, its fine'.

"Well, I don't think I would be able to go; I'm supposed to be going to check out schools with Dad and Esme that weekend anyway," Cullen finally interjects into the conversation - I guess he doesn't really want to go either, I kicked Emmett and Alice back, rebuking their kicks.

He kicked me again; fuck, I'm gonna get a bruise. "Dude, you can always go another weekend. I'm sure the parentals will appreciate a weekend without any kids in the house...if you know what I mean, bom chicha wawa," he sang.

"Ew," Rose said, shuddering in the process and hitting Emmett in the side.

"Yeah man," Jazz replied with the same look that Rosalie had on her face, exposing their twinness .

"What? You know it's all true" Emmett stated.

"So you'll come right Edward? You can go check out schools the following week," Alice pushed on with their initial motive - Operation get Bella to Cave.

All eyes turned to Cullen, while he looked directly at me, "I guess I can go, but only if Bella can get tickets and if it isn't too much of an imposition."

With the answer that they were hoping for, everyone now turned their attention to be - wanting my answer. I was stuck. Was there even a polite or tactful way of getting out of this? Nope - royally screwed.

"Hi Mrs. Swan, its Alice."

I thought my eyes almost bulged out of my head when I heard the words escape her lips. That sneak had somehow gotten a hold of my phone when I wasn't paying attention - that was probably the reason those girls came over to get us coffee: they were her decoy! I tried to reach over the table to get the phone, but Emmett held me back. "Give me the phone Alice!" I quietly yelled.

She looked over at me, smiled, and then flipped me off, scooting her chair further away from the table, so that she was definitely out of my reach. "Yes, I'm fine and so is Bella. Bella had just asked me to call to see if it would be possible to get two more tickets to the upcoming football game for Rosalie's brothers - Jasper and Edward. She would have asked when she got home, but she didn't want to forget so she had me call now while she was in her charity meeting."

I tried to break free of Emmett's death grip on me, but was unsuccessful - I'm not a happy camper right now.

She was staring at me now with victory in her eyes, "Great! Thank you so much! I'll let her know the good news, thanks! Ciao." She closed the phone and slid it back at me. "Well everything is in order now, everyone now has a ticket. She's really excited to see you again Jazz and to meet you Edward."

I was beaten and I knew it. Damn it! Damn Alice and her crafty ways. "Well since that's taken care of, now both of you can come," nodding towards Jasper. "Don't worry Cullen, we got the ticket, you're welcome to come," trying to stay as calm as possible. I sunk down in my chair and waited for lunch to end.