I sit in the car for another ten minutes, wondering what the fuck just happened. I sit there for so long that the final bell rings and I take my time getting inside because I already know I'm late.

Instead of my normal conspicuous entrance, I quickly and silently slide into the first seat by the door and pull out my things.

My head is still back there. Back in the car. And I can't for the life of me figure out what went wrong. We were friends. We flirt. Right? Was I completely off base here thinking that she might possibly want to go out on a date with me? I was used to dealing with rejection and disappointment, but this was a whole other level.

I hope I see her at lunch so I can explain or figure out what's going on in her head. She's not in the cafeteria, she's not even in the courtyard.

I sit with my friends, completely immune to anything that's going on around me. I don't even eat.

Emmett nudges my shoulder when the bell rings and I head to my next class. I sit in my normal seat and gaze out the window as the teacher begins to speak.

"Hey, Masen," someone behind me whispers. I turn and find James. His eyes flicker from the front board to me as he speaks. "Did you nail her yet?"

"Excuse me?" I was still in my post-rejection funk and wasn't quite sure I'd heard him right.

"The new girl. Did you nail her?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" My fists clench as I turn towards the front and try to ignore him. Out of every person in this school, he is the one I hate the most. Good for nothing daddy's boy who gets whatever he wants.

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't have any claim on her, man. So you won't mind if I take her?" He says. My blood boils. All I can see is her face. Her sweet and beautiful face. And I want nothing more than to tell him she is mine. I can't. Because the truth of the matter is the complete opposite. I can't call her mine, but she sure as hell can call me hers if she wants. "I bet she makes the sweetest kitty cat noises when you touch her just right," he mumbles.

I shoot up out of my seat and throw myself at him, knocking both of our desks over. The teacher immediately starts yelling at us, but I don't hear a word he says. We roll over the floor, knocking into bags and chairs and legs. I feel a hard hit to my lip and throw up my fist, trying to get a punch him before he decks me again. It connects with his cheek and I smile in satisfaction as I'm pulled off of him. Someone has their arms around my chest, stumbling backward as Coach Green does the same to James.

"You two, to the office. Now!" Coach yells. I shake out of the teacher's grip and stomp out into the hallway. Coach and James appear behind me and he escorts us down to the office.

We sit outside the principal's office, separated by the secretary's desk. The school nurse's office is across the hall. She shows up with two ice packs, one for his cheek and one for my lip. I finally taste the blood and realize he got me better than I thought.

We sit for a good fifteen minutes before the principal calls us in. He closes the door behind him and stares at us. He thinks I'm going to get embarrassed, that I'm going to regret hitting him. He's wrong. I'd knock the son of bitch down again if I had the chance.

"So what's the deal, boys?" He sits down in his chair and folds his hands over his obnoxiously large stomach.

We don't speak.

"Silent treatment, huh? Guess you won't mind spending the rest of the day sitting in silence then. Detention. Both of you."

I hold the ice pack close to my lip and stand. On the way to detention, I stop by the bathroom to get a good look at the damage. There's a large gash just off center on my bottom lip. I spit some blood out of my mouth and see James walk in. He checks out his cheek and I laugh under my breath. I knocked him good.

I wipe my face with a paper towel and throw it in the trash can as I head out.

"Was it something I said, Masen?" He taunts.

"Yeah. It was. She's too good for you." I narrow my eyes at him. "And she's too good for me too, but do you want to know the difference between me and you?"

"Enlighten me."

"I know her. I know her in a way that you will never, ever know her. And if by some chance, she ever decided to let me be with her, I'd spend our time together making sure that she didn't regret that choice. You'd be the biggest mistake of her life before your name even rolled off of her lips."

I leave before he has the chance to piss me off even more. As I hurry out of the bathroom, I run right into someone lingering by the door.

"Bella!"

Her eyes are on the brink of tears, glazed over in the flourescent lights.

"Did you hear all that?" I ask, closing my eyes. I'm afraid she'll see me. Stripped bare and naked in the most frightening way.

I shiver when I feel her finger across my lip. And then in an instant it's gone again. When I open my eyes and I catch her running away down the hall.

I sigh and decide I should get to detention before the principal decides to check in on us. I take a seat in the back and doodle on my desk until the end of the day. James decides to forgo our punishment and skip the rest of the day. His Dad will probably write some ridiculous note about how he got food poisoning and had to leave the premises.

When the bell rings, I grab a few things from my locker and head out to the parking lot. My heart starts pounding faster as I get closer to the tree. Her tree. I expect to find her sitting there waiting for Charlie and I run through a thousand scenarios in my head about what I'm going to say to her. Like "I'm sorry I freaked you out." Or "I had a momentary lapse of reality and thought you actually had feelings for me."

I never get the chance to say a word because she's not there. Maybe Charlie was early today.

As I approach my car, I notice someone sitting in the passenger's seat.

And not just someone. My someone. Bella.

I open my door and slide down into the seat. "I'm pretty sure this car was locked." I cock my eyebrow at her as I throw my bag in the back.

"I'm pretty sure you're mistaken."

I play with my keys to ease the tension.

"Listen, Bella..." I start.

"Edward, stop."

"What?"

"Stop." She takes a deep breath. "I would love to go on a date with you."

"But I thought earlier..."

"I was just caught a little off guard. I never wanted any of this," she says.

Ouch.

Then she surprises the hell out of me and slips her hand into mine. "But I think today made me realize it's exactly what I needed."

A/N: Girl finally got her head screwed on straight : ) Thanks for reading!