Hi everyone! This has got to be my latest update yet... really sorry! I've been so busy with school I've barely had time to think! But per usual I have two chapters ready for you guys! I struggled with Bella's character. I feel like Bella would like Hermione, I came to the decision in Chapter 2. So that's how I wrote her...lol

Thanks so much for the reviews, alerts, and favorites! I really appreciate it! :D Hope you guys enjoy these next two.

Chapter 10

It was refreshing to have someone worried about her. That was the true feeling of belonging, when you come back and you know you were missed. Bella, who Hermione only exchanged words with during the lunch hour though they shared two classes, asked to exchange phone numbers in case of any future absences.

Bella had been worried as well.

Since that day she gave Bella her phone number, Hermione received a call at the same time every day for two weeks. The girls talked about random things at first: favorite movies, music, and games. But as they grew closer the conversations grew more personal.

One day Bella started a conversation about Mike Newton in a strategic attempt to bring up the topic of relationships. Hermione saw it as a way to extract information about her relationship with Emmett, so today Hermione decided to ask about Edward.

"So now that you know Emmett and I are only friends."

Hermione rolled over on her chocolate and sky blue color comforter. A sly smile playing across her lips, she asked the questioned she been dying to ask for two weeks.

"Tell me about you and Edward Cullen?"

If the choking sound that filtered through the phone was any indication, Hermione knew Bella was embarrassed. Knowing the fair skinned girl quite well now, Hermione guessed she was probably blushing a bright tomato red.

Listening intently, Hermione heard the sound of shuffling feet. Bella had gotten up to close her door. Shifting around a little more, completely ignoring her Calculus homework, the original reason for the telephone conversation, Hermione leaned against headboard.

"We're ah… together."

As if she hadn't known that. Sliding lower into her bed, Hermione couldn't help but be disappointed.

"Well of course silly! I know that. For how long exactly?"

The soft sigh Bella emitted made Hermione grin.

"Since last spring. A little after I moved here last year. We kind of just fell together, like magnets when you drop them on a table. They can't help to be drawn to each other. One day it was really weird, he's was so… mysterious, untouchable. Then the next day it was like lightening, he was ready to know everything about me. I used to tell him he gave me whiplash with his mood swings."

The girls shared a laugh.

"At first everything pretty much rested on Edward, if he could handle us being together."

Immediately she stopped her explanation, as if she'd said too much. Hermione got the sense that there weren't many people that Bella could talk to about her and Edward's relationship.

"What do you mean?"

Bella stammered over her words attempting to find a decent explanation for her last statement.

"Only that it started off so intense. The moment he saw me he was drawn to me, like magnets, I think I said that. But anyway, he really couldn't stay away, and he tried. He wanted to, he was scared really, he'd never felt that way about anyone before and so he'd thought it'd be best if he distanced himself. I hated it, because the moment I saw him, I knew there was something about him, I was drawn too."

It was an honest response, one that revealed so little but so much at the same time. Not enough information for Hermione to add to the list of odd things about the Cullens, but enough for Hermione to keep her eyes open. The clues were starting to fall into place.

"What about you? Anyone special in the UK?"

Before Hermione could answer, Bella laughed lightly through the phone.

"No, that can't be true, if it were you and Emmett wouldn't be going on long, private drives together."

The insinuation was enough to make Hermione blush, and temporarily forget about the list of odd things. Rolling back over, Hermione stared at her white ceiling.

"I talked to my therapist about Emmett."

Closing her eyes tightly, Hermione listened to Bella moving around in her room. Hermione hoped that she hadn't given Bella too much information. They had done some talking about her PTSD though she refused to tell Bella any real details behind it. Hermione almost never went into detail about her therapist visits.

"Well are you going to say something or keep me waiting in suspense?"

Hermione let out a sigh of relief. She was glad Bella wasn't too freaked out.

"She thinks Emmett is a good addition into my life, you too actually. She thinks I should get to know him. Since I did tell him the event that triggered my PTSD."

Bella gasped loudly.

"You did? When?"

"A few weeks ago, my first driving lesson. My therapist thinks that it's good that I'm telling people. It makes the event more of the past than the present. I don't know about letting him too close though, I've had bad experiences with that."

The bed creaked as Hermione shifted her weight again. She leaned over the edge of her bed to pick up a few sheets of Calculus that fallen off. The equations and subsequent eraser marks danced cross the scrap paper in no particular order.

"Does your bad experience stem from someone in the UK?"

The question was asked in a rush. Whispered, as if Bella probably wouldn't have asked if she didn't say it quickly.

"Yes. It's very long story, that one about Ron Weasley."

"Sounds like a jerk to me."

The girls laughed again, the tension created by Hermione's psychological issues easily dispersed. A loud knocking, which sounded more like sound moving through glass than wood, broke through their conversation. By then the conversation had turned back to AP Calculus and how impossible it was.

"Edward's here, call me back when you've finished your homework. I don't get any of this."

"Oh yes, don't keep Edward waiting." Hermione hoped Bella didn't miss the suggestion in her tone.

The chuckle that filtered through the phone was definitely that of Edward Cullen. The girls bid each other goodbye before the dial tone sounded.