Hey, you. yeah you reading this page. were you expecting a new chapter of MrzCena's recent story, O.f.C.? well, you are in luck because you have come to the right place! yay you! lol

so here we are, yet another chp. i heard i'm good with the updates. well you guys are doing great with the reviews. so let's give it up for the both of us! *clapping cheering* YAY US!

sorry for the late update. i woke up early this morning to go somewhere. when i came back i meant to do it before i laid down for my nap but i didnt get around to it. then i slept way longer than i would wished, so yep, here we are. oh well, right.

Ok, enough of my silliness, enjoy the chp.

Chapter XI

(Bpov)

I had to say, I was quiet shocked when Edward asked to meet on Saturday because he was afraid he so going to have a test or something today at school. I guess I should accept the fact that he was actually serious to all this.

He proved it again when he came on Monday. I was in my room when the doorbell rang. "I got it, Mom." I yelled. I had to run from my room upstairs to the door because my mom was in the living room and I didn't want her to answer it. I normally wouldn't be bother with her. Most of the time when she flirts with one person, and she's done with them. But this time, considering who his parents, I think she might make an expectation.

She turned to me when I walked down the last step. "You really shouldn't rush down the stairs like that dear. It makes your face look more washed out." she said in disgusted.

I rolled my eyes. Does she really have to point out every little blemish I have? I realize they're there. I don't need her commentaries. "Thanks so much for the tip." I mumbled before walking to the door. When I opened the door, he was locking his car. "Bonjour." I greeted him in my poor excuse for an accent when he turned back around. He gave a confused look. I chuckled. "It's French for 'hello'. Sorry, I was just doing my French homework." I explained. He nodded as he walked in.

Renée turned and gave her best smile to Edward. "Hi handsome." Geez, mom. She doesn't even greet my father like that.

Edward gave a polite smile back. "Hi Ms. Swan." He said back.

I grabbed his wrist. "Come on." I told him in his ear. I pulled away and saw my mom asking a question with her eyes. It was mostly something along the lines of "what was that?" I rolled my eyes again, making she saw. Now she was just being ridiculous. I pulled him to the office.

"Your mom kind of makes my uncomfortable." He admitted when we got there. I chuckled. I never heard that before. I thought I was the only one felt that.

"Just ignore her. she will leave you alone when she realize it doesn't affect you." I told him as he sat on the couch. I walked over to the shelf where I kept the books for our sections. I grabbed the dictionary. "First things first." I told him as I walked back over to him. He sighed hard. "No complaining, remember?" I reminded him on what he said when he dropped me off at my house Friday.

"Fine." He sighed. "What's the word, this week?" he asked as I sat down next to him.

I opened the large book. "Let's see, the next letter is B, so…" I looked through the list of words beginning with the letter B. then I found one that should be as easy for him to use in every conversation as the first one. "How about 'Bigot'?" I asked.

"That sounds foreign." He complained.

I shook my head. "Fine. How about…" I looked for another word. "'Blight'?"

"The meaning?" he asked.

"It means to cause damage or harm. An example of it can be something along the lines of 'She hit his car with a bat and blighted his highlights'." I explained.

He shrugged. "Fine."

"Did you work on your paper?" I asked as I closed the book and placed it on the table..He nodded. "Want to me to look over it again?" I asked.

He shook his head. "My sister looked over it for me last night. It should be good to turn in tomorrow." He answered.

"What's next?" I asked He reached in his bag and pulled out his math homework. I took a look at it. I realized that since I was in AP Cal, I already did most of what on his paper last year. "Shouldn't be too hard?" I say aloud.

For the next hour, we worked on what he had for his math homework. When we were done with the sheet, I urged we use some examples from the book. He complained that he didn't want to and that we didn't have to. Then he agreed when I asked if he understood it enough to point when he could admit it without my help. I leaned into closer to him so I could get a closer of look of his work.

"What do you do now?" I asked as he worked on another problem.

"Don't I solve it?" he asked.

I shook my head. "Not yet."

He thought for a moment. "Do I distribute?" he questioned as he looked at me. I nodded. He looked back at the paper and did just that. "Now what?" he asked when he was done.

"You tell me." I replied. He looked at it. I saw he was confused and didn't quite know the answer. I decided to give him a clue. "It's the last step." I hinted.

"Combine like terms." He answered. I nodded. When he got the okay, he finished the problem. He pushed the paper towards me when he was done. "Is that right?" he asked. I looked over it. I redid the problem in my head to make sure he got the right answer.

I looked at him and smile. "Yeah, it is. Good job." I praised. I took the paper and wrote a problem I made up in my head. I made sure it was easier enough for him to do it on his own and for me to know the answer just by looking at it. I pushed the paper back to him. "Try this one on your own." I told him. He gave me look for skepticism. "You can do it. Just try." I told him. He sighed and looked back at the paper. I watched him as he worked and resisted the urge to correct him when he made a mistake. When he was done, I saw him look at it before giving it to me. Then he took it and fixed the mistake he made before handing it to me. I looked at it for the intended second before nodding. "You're right." I told him.

He smiled. "Cool." He gave a small celebration.

I looked at my watch. It was almost 8:30. "My dad will be home soon." I told him.

"That's my cue." He said. I laughed as he took the sheet out my hand.

"By the way, did you take that test you were worried about?" I asked as I helped him gather his things.

"Quiz." He corrected before nodding. "And yeah, we did. It was only ten questions. It was so short, she graded it in class." He answered.

"Let me see it." I told him. He looked at me. I figured if I look at the work and the exams he was being handed back, I could see his progress. That allows me to see how much and where we need to work on next. "Just let me see it." I repeated when he didn't make a move to get it. He rolled his eyes as he took his bag off his shoulder. He reached in and grabbed a piece of notebook paper then handed it to me. I looked at the red letter in the corner. I blinked a few times to makes sure my glasses were working correctly. They were. "A B minus. Pretty good." I approved as I handed it back.

"Yeah, let's hope my father will think so." He mumbled as he stuffed in back in his bag.

"You don't think he will?" I questioned. Even if it was a low B, it was still a B. coming from a D, it seem like it was something to be proud.

He shrugged after tossing his bag back on his shoulder. "When he puts his foot down on something, he wants all or nothing. I just don't think a low B will be good enough for me to play in Saturday's game. But we'll see." He explained as we walked to the door. "Oh speaking of Saturday…" he stopped and turned to me. He gave a smile before reaching in his pocket. "Tanya wants to run for King and Queen, so she made these. Please keep in mind that this is just a prototype." He said before handing me something.

I grabbed it and looked at it. It was a black button with pink block letters. "'Vote 4 Tanya and Edward. They're T-E-rrific'." I read off it. I gave a laugh. "That's uh…clever?" I said with question mark because I wasn't quite sure if that was the word I wanted to use.

Edward laughed. "No, it's really not." He replied. "I think's its lame, but like I said. It's just a prototype so you can have that one." he assured.

I had to say, that was nice of him. Too bad I couldn't take it. "Thank you, but I can't take this." I said as I started to hand it back.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because of Rosa." I started.

When I said her name, I saw his realization come on his face. "Your best friend is running." He concluded.

I nodded. "Yes, and she would literally try to kill me if she saw me with this on. Besides, it wouldn't do any good because of the fact that I'm not even going to the dance."

"Why not?" he interrupted me.

I shrugged. "I told you. That's not the dance I care about." I reminded him. He nodded. "And not only that, but it's not like many people really listens to me. I think by me wearing something for you, you would most likely lose votes." I told him in a light tease.

"That actually wouldn't be so bad." He mumbled.

He looked at me then tilted his head. Why was he looking at me like that? "What?" I inquired.

"Are you always down on yourself like that?" he asked.

I wondered where that came from. I don't remember giving him the impression that I did, beside right at this moment of course. "I guess."

"Why?" he asked again. I think I was getting drained with all his "why?". Why did he feel the need to know everything all of a sudden?

I shrugged. "I just say what I know what everyone else is thinking. I found if I say first, it might not hurt as much when others do. Though it doesn't stop people from saying it anyways." I told him.

"You shouldn't. If you show you don't care and act like you don't believe you have any flaws, people won't have a gateway to them. Maybe that's something else we should work on." He looked down and saw my hand reached out for him to take the button in my hand. He looked back at me. "Keep it; I told you, I think its lame. I'll tell Tanya I lost it or something." He said with a shrugged before turning away from me. "I'll see ya tomorrow." He said over his should as he walked to his car.

"See you later." I said before closing the door. I looked at the button. He was right; it was "lame" as he put it. But it was nice of him to let me keep it. I stuffed it in the pouch of my hoodie before climbing the stair back to my room to finish my homework.

XXX

How the heck does that word mean again? I thought intensely as I looked over my French homework. I really regret signing up for this class. It was the hardest one I ever had to take. I couldn't for the life of me remember the stupid word. And I didn't want to look in the book because I wanted to try to do it all without it. What was it, what was it?

"What in the world are you still doing here?" I heard a voice. I looked up from my notebook. I looked over my glasses to my mother. What does this woman want now? "It's Saturday. You should be at the dance." She urged.

I shook my head. "No I shouldn't. I told you I wasn't going." I reminded her as I looked at down again. She's been bugging me all week about the silly Homecoming dance that was happening tonight. She even drop hints to Edward should ask me, who also thought I should go, when he was here Friday. I made sure I stressed to the both of them that I didn't want to go. Unlike my mother, Edward dropped the subject after the third time of me repeating it. When he left, she made a comment about he knows he out of my league and that was why he gave up so easy.

She sighed. "Isabella, I keep telling you; if you put on a little make up and actually do your hair rather than throwing it up in that mess, you would have gotten a date." She urged.

"I didn't go because no one asked me." I told her. That might have been part of the reason. Even if someone did cared enough to ask me to it, I would have most likely rejected the offer. For one, I doubt it would have been the certain person I wanted because I still look the way I do. And for two, because of the main reason I didn't go.

"Then why not?" she demanded as if I was speaking of committing some kind of crime.

I rolled my eyes before looking at her. "I didn't go because I don't care about it." I told her again. That wasn't the dance I cared about. I much rather be at home catching up on some much needed studying then to get a dress and pertain to have a good time when I know for sure I wouldn't. The only dance, the only high school event I wished to attend was the one at the end of the year. That one was the only one that mattered to me. "Can you please leave me alone? I need to study."

She shook her head. "I don't see how you can sit there while your whole school is out having a good time? You always do this. How do you expect to get anywhere if you're always sitting home with no one or nothing but your silly little books?" She ranted. She was starting again. Once she gets like this, there is nothing I can say to stop her. It's best to just get up and walk away while she was talking. I gather my pen, notebook and bag before getting up and leaving dad's office. "Where are you going?"

"To see if dad needs help with my truck." I answered as I walked pass her.

"You really should really let your father alone with that. Working on cars is not for young ladies." She said as I left the house. I walked to our small garage on the side of the house.

When I walked in there, I glad to see that my father was really working on my car. I was saying that to get away from her, and didn't expect to see him actually working out here. "Damn it." He cursed before something crashed to the floor.

"Dad." I placed my things on the floor before walking over to him. "Are you okay?" I asked.

He looked at me and gave me that his infamous grin. "Hey, Bells. Sorry about that outburst." He said. He was the only one I knew who took my dislike for swear words seriously. It might be because he knew why I felt the way I did about them. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just cut myself on something." He said.

"Need me to go get something?" I asked.

He looked at his hand. "Uh, no. I think I'm okay enough to finish." He said when he saw he wasn't bleeding.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I went to get my things from the floor.

"Trying to stop that ticking we hear when the car is being started." He answered as he picked up whatever it was he dropped. I wasn't too good with the names of the tools he used. "What about you?" he asked.

"Hiding from your wife." I muttered as I did my trick to open my cab door. Sometimes it gets stuck and I have to get some kind of thing to get it opened. Now was one of those times. After I opened it, I climbed inside behind the wheel. I left the door open so I could talk to Charlie.

"She giving you a hard time again?" he asked.

"Is there a time where she isn't?" I replied.

He sighed before reaching in the open top to do something. "Bells, I really wish you and your mother would get along." He said from behind the hood.

"And I really wish she didn't feel the need to change me all the time."

"I'm sure she doesn't; she just wants you to have more friends. She has a funny way of going about it. Maybe try listening to the message more than the words."

I sighed. "Why are you always taking her side?" I pouted.

"I'm not. I just…" he stopped and sighed. He closed the hood and looked at me through the window shield. "I just want to try to get the peace. You only have a few more months and then you leave us. I want you to hold on until then. The last thing I want is that you pick a school far away from here out of spite. You might be away from her, but you'll be away from me too. Do you want to leave me too?" he asked.

I gave a small smile. "I guess not. But can you talk to her sometimes. It's not just me, you know."

He chuckled. "I will; but after tomorrow. Let's let her be 'Miss Queen Bee' for her birthday." He said. When he said that, I remembered that tomorrow was my mother's thirty-fifth birthday. That should be fun. Once a year, she talks about all her failures and the things she could have done with her life. She never says it's because of me that she didn't, but it's always heavily implied. "Did you get her something?" he asked. I nodded. I brought her some diamond earrings she was looking at a month ago. Unlike her, I get her what she wants for her birthday. He smiled. "Good girl." He walked over and kissed my forehead. "You're almost there." He reminded once again.

"Thanks." I replied drily. He left me in the garage. When he did, I turned on my phone to play my music while I finished up my homework. When I was done, I walked back in the house. Before my mom had the chance to get to me, I went up to my room. As I soon as I got there, my laptop binged to tell me had an incoming video call. I pressed answer. I smiled at Rosalie on my screen. "Hey Rosa."

"That's Queen Rosa." She corrected.

I laughed. "My deepest apologies, my majesty." I teased as I gave a fake bow. She giggled at me. "Cute tiara. So I'm conjecturing you and Emmett won tonight" I commented.

She nodded with a wide smile. "Not that there was any doubt. Next thing on the list, dance scholarship; then prom queen and then I can graduate with everything on my list done and then University of New York her I come. By the way, I don't give a damn if I have to buy your dress, dress you and drag you there myself; you will be at prom to see me be crowned." She threated.

I laughed at her. "I will have to look at my schedule." I teased again. She rolled her eyes. She must know I was not stepping anywhere near that dance if I didn't get what I wanted.

"But you should have been there tonight. You should have seen the look on Tanya's face when they placed the tiara on my head. Too funny."

I shook my head. "No one would want me there." I reminded her.

"I wanted you there. Who give a damn about everyone else? Izzie, you have got to stop caring what others think. I don't, so why should you?"

"There's one thing you're missing. I am not you. I don't look nowhere near as good as do."

She shook her head. "I don't understand why you don't see all that damn hottest you possess."

She was speaking craziness again. she swears up and down that I was pretty. I don't know where she gets the idea of. "Because I don't. And you're the only one who thinks that way."

She shook her head. "I'm sure everyone thinks that. They're just too afraid of Tanya to disagree with her. It's a good thing I have my own damn opinion or you would never hear the truth. You'll be walking around with these lies in your head. Bella, the only reason Tanya says the things she does and tries makes people believe that you're anything but sexy beautiful is because she knows you look better than her."

Now I know she was crazy. Tanya jealous of me because I am prettier than her? Yeah right. The only thing she might be jealous is that other people get too look at her all day when she can only look at herself in a mirror or something else shiny. I didn't say this out loud because I knew Rosa would just continue going back and forward with me. I didn't feel like hearing her same arguments. The ones she gave me were enough for one night.

I gave her a small smile. "Shouldn't you be getting your beauty rest now?" I asked just to get away from this conversation

"Bella…" she urged.

"Good night my queen." I said before hanging up on her.

XXX

"Happy Birthday!" my dad and I cheered when my mom walked in the kitchen. I believe his cheer was more jovial than mine. In fact, I knew it was. I put on a smile for my father. I was never too excited when this time of year comes around.

She smiled. "Oh. You two remembered." She gushed as if this was the first time we said it today. Every year, she anticipates a "happy birthday" every time she walks in a room. It certainly gets exasperating after the third time.

"Of course, Sweetheart." Charlie entertained her as he walked over and kissed on the cheek.

She grinned as she gave him a kiss on the lips. Then she turned to me. When she did, she gave a disgusted groan. "You could've at least put on some descent clothes for my birthday, dear." She said to me when she saw my sweatpants that were rolled at the waist and one of my looser shirts in which it hung off my shoulder.

I rolled my eyes. It was Sunday, what did she expect from me; that I would be all dressed up? I wouldn't be surprised if she did. Truthfully, she should just be contented with me being to begin with. I saw Charlie looking at me again. His face was telling me to try again. I gave a soft sigh before looking back at my mom. I smiled. "I would have, but I lend my dress you gave me to Rosa." I informed her.

My mother shook her head. "Honestly, Bella. It's as if you don't appreciate all the hard work I do for you." She complained.

I shrugged. "Selfish, I guess." I answered.

She rolled her eyes. "That's an understatement." She sighed. "But it's probably best. I'm sure she fills out that dress much better than you do." She replied. I shifted my eyes to him. They might as well been saying "see, see what she does to me?" he just smiled. It was saying "it's her birthday; humor her." and humor her I will.

"Dear, how about we enjoy this wonderful meal Bella made for you?" he suggested, changing the subject.

She smiled. "Let's. It's one thing she correctly learned from me." she gloated. Because it was the only thing I cared enough about to learn. She says I need to learn to cook because that was one of the sure ways to a man's heart. I only learned because if she, for some reason, was to stop cooking, I would probably starve to death.

We sat down and ate the dinner I made for my mother. Through I am able, and sometimes even better than my mother, I'm not the one usually cooking. The only reason I did today because she refused to cook for her birthday and my father was incapable of making anything besides hot dogs. So unless she was in the mood to eat out, which was hardly ever, I was the only source of food for that one day out of the year.

"That was great, Bells." Charlie said when we were done and he was wiping his mouth.

"Thanks." I smiled.

My mother shrugged. "The chicken was a little dry." She complained. This was one of the times I believed I did better than her. And like any other time I feel I did okay, she finds something wrong with it. It was what she was best at. I was going to comment, but I saw Charlie's eyes again. So I just sighed. I reached for another roll. She made a disgusted face. "You don't need that, Isabella." she said before reaching to take the roll out my hand. "I think you've had enough carbs for the night." She commented.

I gave a small smile as I wiped my hands on my pants. "You're right." I entertained yet another comment. I wish this day would hurry and be over already.

"Of course I am." She said as she dropped the roll back in the basket. At least she didn't say "I can have it because I'm perfect. You can't because you're not" by not eating it either. That was something. "Now presents." She demanded with excitement. I gave her my gift first. Then Dad gave her his gift. She cheered when she unwrapped it and saw the light blue box, hinting it was something from Tiffany's, one of her favorite and most high priced stores. I'm sure he had to go all the way to Seattle to get whatever it was. I wondered how much it was. No doubt it was more than he could afford. Of course, I wasn't astonished. When doesn't he go all out for her? That's why I insist on going first because I know his present will outshine mine.

Then dad went to go get the cake. Of course she made another comment about me not needing it. Again I just smiled and told her she was right. He placed it on the table with lit candles. "Make a wish, dear." He cooed as he sat back down.

She closed her eyes; I'm assuming doing just that. She was always more into stuff like that than I was. I never made a wish on my candles. I closed my eyes and counted to ten to feign like I did and that was pretty much it. I never saw the point of doing such. It wasn't like it was going to come true. It could be like believing in the tooth fairy, having something pleasant and appealing to believe in while you still can.

She opened her eyes. She turned to me and smiled at me. "Isabella, would you like to I wished for?" she asked.

I smiled back. "I don't believe you should announce it, mother." I replied, not caring one way or another what she wished for.

"Not when it's involving someone else. You have to tell when it's have something to do with someone else. And my wish was more for you than for me." She answered.

I gave a puzzled look. "Excuse me?" I replied.

"I wished for you to stop talking like that and dressing like that. I wished for you to stop being the outcast all the time and for you to be popular." she told me. I should have known it was something like that. No wonder she was so keen to tell me. "You would be much happier with yourself if you were, dear." She went on.

Little does she know, I would be happy if she stopped saying things like that. I already have one person reminding me I'm something I'm not. Do I really need my own my mother coming at me too? When would I get a break? "I'm perfectly content with myself, mother." I answered in an annoyed tone. She was starting to reach the limit I set for myself earlier.

"You say that, but think of how much better things will be for you if you were the most wanted girl at your school. Every guy waiting to be with you" She said with glee.

"Uh, Renée …" my father said interrupted timidly before she got too far, like we both knew where she was going. He always gets that way he sounded when she talks about the opposite sex like that. I think it was because it reminded him of her past. I was sure that was something he wanted me to stay away from. He didn't have to worry about me, though. "This is your day. We should be talking about you." He said, hoping her favorite subject would get her attention off me.

She looked at her husband and rolled her eyes. "Let's talk about me. Thirty-five and haven't done much of anything." she complained.

"That's not true. You're a great teacher and a good mother." he said. I gave a little cough, the thing I do when I try to hide a laugh that I know I shouldn't have. The first one might be true, but I knew the second one was a lie and he was just saying it to be nice. He shot a look to me. I shifted my eyes away from him.

"Yes, I'm just a teacher. I wish this was twelve years ago. Those are times to talk about." She grinned as I'm sure the thoughts came rushing back.

Unfortunately, they came rushing back to me. "You mean the time where dad was working while you left me with some random person to go party and drink like you were some college student?" I replied before I could stop it. Well, no point in trying to stop it now. It was out there. As soon as I finished the last word, I felt a pinch in my arm. I shifted my eyes back to my father. He could pinch me all he wanted, it didn't change that I already said it; not that I regretted it much.

"That's what I should have been, Isabella. I could have gone college, maybe in business school."

"What business would you have ran, mother?" I asked perfunctorily. Here it comes. I wondered what took her so long to get here.

"I don't know, but I could have. Maybe even become C.E.O. of something. Maybe traveled and seen the world. I could have done something with my life."

"If it wasn't for me?" I interrupted with a guess, though I knew the answer.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Isabella. You know I would never say that." out loud, she forgot to said.

"Whatever." I mumbled.

"Bella." My father warned.

"You don't even appreciate how much I gave up. You can't even dress appropriately. That's the least you can do." She answered.

"Renée ."

And so it begins. "Mom, what you think is appropriate is not appropriate for me. If you paid attention to what I do in my life and stop trying to change every little thing about it, you would know that." I snapped her. Now I knew it was her birthday. What would be a Renée Birthday Celebration without our annual fight, which usually ended with someone crying?

It would be something normal. But that can't happen because a day, especially this specific one, can't go by without her reminding me how nothing I do is acceptable for her.

"Isabella, I'm only trying to help."

"You're trying to make into you. I don't want to be like you."

"Why not? I had a great high school life. so many friends and guys surrounded me. You only have one friend and Rosalie is too pretty and popular for a friend that's below her like that. You need to meet her standards."

"You mean meet your standards." I challenged.

"Well, it's better than whatever you're doing now. And if for one single second, you would stop being so selfish all the time, you see that what I'm doing is for you." She expressed like I was actually supposes to have some kind of conviction in her and the things she stood for. But I couldn't. I couldn't pretend like she was right and the only way to have a great four years was the way she lived them because it was. I didn't want the experience she had. It might have been the one for her, but not for me.

I was done playing nice. It was almost ten. As far as I was concern, the time for good daughter was over.

I gave a laugh. "Right. I don't want you to pick and prep me like I'm your life size doll. I'm such a selfish, spoiled brat." I shot back. I stood up. "Sucks you had someone like me, uh?" I said before walking out the room. I heard my father call after me. "I'm going to do my homework." I called back.

"Why the hell do you do that to her, Renée?" I head my father snap to her in a low voice before I went up the stairs.

"It's for her own good." I heard her snap back.

So much for keeping the peace, I guess.

welcome to the bottom the page.

nothing to say or report, just will someone please, please make me a cover? i'll love you forever and be your best friend...

Okay, now it's getting creepy. anyways, thx for all the reviews, favs, and alerts. you all keep me writing. (because my love for story telling has nothing to do with it.) keep on Reading & Reviewing. love you all.

Luv & Rockets.

oh, i want to leave you with one of my fav lines from a movie. i want to leave this because of something i saw on this show call Hit the Floor on VH1. i dont know if you all watch it or not but my mom and i do and we love it. and if you do too and saw the most recent ep, you would know why i want to make this comment.

"Make that money. don't let it make you." my friend said it to me on my fb status, i thought it fitted. now the chp, life just period. ok, see you in two days.