Disclaimer - I do not own Twilight or any of its characters

A/N - Once again I have to give a big thanks to all the readers/reviewers and it makes me especially happy that we have several new readers! Also, a special thanks to those who participated in my trivia question and the winner is…drum roll please…redlulu!

**Sorry, no stalking, Charlie panicked when he heard Bella's screams and continued pleas for Edward to come back so he called Jacob to call Bella and calm her down. Aw, dads always know best.

This starts right where the last chapter left off and it is super long. Enjoy!

Chapter 11

Girl Time

(Not to be confused with the first Destiny's Child group, lol! I think I watch too much Behind the Music!)

I got up late and had to race to school to make it on time. I sprinted through the classroom door with about 10 seconds to spare and received a relieved look from the math teacher and I was a bit sad that he would be terribly disappointed tomorrow when I went back to lying on my books.

Jessica and Angela didn't ask me about lunch anymore, but I knew it took all of Jessica's energy to bite her tongue. Hopefully Angela would continue to help keep her off my back.

Tuesday when I came to school Angela was here early, she even beat me there. When she saw me get out of my truck she looked so happy that I had thought for a moment that she would jump on me. She ran up to me and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug.

"I'm so happy to see you!" she had exclaimed.

"Why?" I asked puzzled.

"Once I thought about it I thought you were going to take off and go to Baltimore and I didn't know what to do. Charlie would find out and if you happened to survived traveling across the country alone he would've probably killed us both." She was nervously rambling again.

That was an interesting idea and I had the urge to do just that before I realized that he wasn't really there.

"So, where were you then?' She had asked me with a confused look on her face and at the same time she reached out and flipped my braid with her hand, but I'm sure she didn't realize the significance of her gesture.

"I went to talk to my friend, Jake, and I didn't get home until late." Half of that was the truth and she seemed to believe it.

I jumped in my seat as the bell rung bringing me back to reality.

The rest of the day dragged on for me knowing that I would not only have my first real cheerleading practice, but I would have to go to the mall with Jessica and Angela too. It didn't help matters that I had willingly agreed to participate in both, I didn't even have anyone else to blame.

During my last class, American history, I gave my powerpoint presentation and it went really well until I was walking back to my seat and tripped over my own feet.

As we walked out of the classroom Mike reassured me that my presentation was the best one so far and he even complimented me on my poster. He said that the feather made it perfect and I had to agree, but Mike didn't seem too happy when I told him my friend, Jake, gave it to me. Mike was either extremely persistent or extremely daft and I concluded that it must be a dangerous combination of the two.

"Hey, Bella!" Jessica and Angela yelled as they ran towards me as I stood in the middle of the gym waiting for practice to start. A weak smile spread across my face as I waved at them and tried to match their enthusiasm.

"We are going to have so much fun today!" Angela squealed and I thought that she may very well jump out of her skin she was so excited.

"Yeah" continued Jessica "We're gonna do some shopping and get our hair done…" she stopped when she saw the scowl that uncontrollably took over my face. "Bella, you'll have fun. We're just going to do our hair and buy some makeup so we can look nice for tomorrow's game."

Oh yeah, the first game was tomorrow. Will this hell never end?

"Oh yeah, that's true and my hair does need a trim." I tried to sound agreeable and they nodded happily talking about lipstick and eyeliner.

This wouldn't be so bad we would hang out at the mall and I would help them pick out clothes and we'd get a bite to eat or they would use me as a guinea pig in the makeup department and try to dress me like a Barbie doll. I sighed and tried to stay with the optimistic thoughts.

Practice started and I was off in my own little corner where I couldn't really harm anyone except myself, but I was spared today. We learned a few cheers that we would be doing tomorrow and a more experienced cheerleader worked with me, at a distance, to make sure I could do the simple routine.

We changed our clothes and the girls followed me in Jessica's car to my house so I could drop off my truck.

"I'll be right back!" I shouted to them as I ran up the stairs to the front door.

As soon as I got inside I dropped my back pack on the floor and went into the kitchen to greet Charlie.

"Hey dad, did you find the lasagna I put in the refrigerator for you?"

"Yeah Bells, but you know you really don't have to do that. I mean I appreciate it and all, but I can take care of myself."

"Sure dad I know, besides I'm sure Skippy the pizza delivery boy misses you too." We smiled at each other because we both knew I was right.

"Well, I'm off to the mall with Jessica and Angela. They're waiting for me" and I gestured towards the front of the house.

"So, you're going to the mall?"

"Yeah, they want to get their hair done and stuff before the game tomorrow."

"Don't' you?"

"Sure I guess, I kinda do need a trim."

"Well, here" Charlie said as he handed me an amount of money that I would consider to be a lot.

"Dad…" I started to protest.

"Honey, just go and have fun with your friends. Go buy some school clothes and do girl stuff." He said as he motioned with his hand trying to shoo me away. I gave him a big hug, which he seemed almost comfortable with, and ran out the door.

I kind of felt bad because he had just paid a lot of money for me to do cheerleading. He paid my uniform rental and bought my windbreaker suit and matching shoes. I thought it was a ridiculous waste of money, but of course Charlie didn't mind paying for it. He had said that it's a parent's responsibility to pay for their child's extracurricular activities just like his parents had done with him. I knew he was thrilled that I was doing something 'normal'. I guess that reasoning was true enough, but I'm sure that he at least enjoyed playing football unlike me who was how should I say this 'only doing this to appease a ghost' or 'biding my time until I could quit' or 'making a futile attempt to be normal and failing miserably'.

I climbed into the backseat of Jessica's car and got ready for the long drive.

Their chattering began right away, but I didn't mind. I had the whole backseat to myself and I spread out my legs and let my head rest on the side and tried to keep up with the conversation that was going on between them. I was determined to have fun.

"So, Bella what are you going to be looking for at the mall?"

"Oh, I don't know. I need a couple pairs of jeans and I thought I would get some shirts too. Oh, and while I'm there I might as well get some lip gloss, you know for tomorrow." I don't think I owned one piece of makeup, but I wasn't going to tell them that.

They looked at me like they were waiting for me to finish although I obviously already had.

"And an outfit for the party" Jessica added while she peeked up at me in the rear view mirror.

"Party? What party?"

"Well, Mike's parents are going out of town in a few weeks and Mike is throwing a big party."

"Yeah, they just happened to be going on their hiking trip on the weekend of the big game so Mike is throwing a party that Friday night."

They explained to me that the big game wasn't homecoming, it was considered to be the game that we played against our rivals, the Eldon Pirates. The rivalry wasn't much of a rivalry anymore and both girls admitted to having friends that went to that school, but the people who were our parents' age and older still harbored ill feelings from when the Eldon football team had spray painted their mascot, Pirate Pete, on our parking lot. They said it had taken months to get the red and black pirate off of the pavement and if that wasn't bad enough they went on to beat us in regionals and they won state that year. Angela laughed as she said that almost the entire student body went to state to root on the opposing team, the Aberdeen Bobcats, although it apparently did no good. It was such a funny story that I didn't even have to fake interest as I laughed in the backseat. I made a mental note to ask Charlie about it sometime.

Talk went back to the party and I would've said that I wasn't invited, but it would have done me no good knowing that given the chance Mike would probably beg on his hands and knees for me to go. So, I used the best excuse I had.

"I don't know if my dad will let me go since he'll probably know Mike's parents are out of town. I would just hate for him to show up looking for me." I threw that last part in there for good measure and made a sad little face at them like I was truly disappointed.

"You can just make up a good excuse" Angela said in a tone that was foreign to her normally friendly voice. I knew what she was saying 'I covered for you when you lied to go to your friend's house so you can lie to come to a party with us'.

I nodded. "I can make probably make it,"

"You can bring that cute friend of yours." Jessica added. Somehow I knew she wouldn't want me around Mike.

"Well, I can ask him." I said with a smile and that really wasn't a bad idea. The party might actually be bearable with Jake there.

We got to the mall and started looking for clothes in the department store we entered in. We wandered around the junior's department and I stopped at a royal blue shirt. I was staring at it and gently stroking the sleeve with my thumb deep in thought.

"You should get it, that color would look great on you." Angela said from behind. I gave a nod because she wasn't the first person to tell me that. I didn't even know where that shirt was. I hadn't wanted to wear it, but I haven't seen it either. I couldn't really remember what I was wearing that night and thought maybe that was the shirt I had lived in for over 2 weeks and it had indeed been thrown away. I took it off the rack and didn't make it far when I stopped at a green shirt, it was the same beautiful shade that I had imagined that his eyes would've been while he was still human. I had almost made it to the dressing room when I saw a cute pink sweater and it made me think of all the pink flowers and candles that Alice had adorned the Cullen house the day of my birthday. Was there any color that wouldn't remind me of them? Apparently not.

I took my three shirts and the two pairs of jeans that I had casually grabbed off of the shelves of a big display that I had passed on my way to Jessica and Angela. They way they were choosing clothes was in total contrast to me as they intensely examined every piece of clothing they came in contact with. I told them I was going to the dressing room and they nodded and told me they would be in there in a moment.

I stepped out with one of the jeans on with the pink sweater on and was greeted by both Jessica and Angela as they walked in with a pile of clothes in each of their arms.

Angela smiled at me "That sweater is so cute!" She was nodding in approval and added "I just love that shade of pink, it reminds me of roses." I was smiling too and I was looking at the sweater in the full length mirror that was against the dressing room wall "That's exactly what it reminds me of too." I agreed. I could at least smile thinking of Alice as I still had hope that she may contact me someday.

"You know I'm just glad to see that you're getting stuff with some color in it." Jessica added and I looked up to see her reflection in the mirror. Our eyes met, but I wasn't really sure what she was talking about.

"Well, you did go a whole week with wearing nothing but gray."

Angela shot her a dirty look which got an exasperated sigh in return as Jessica walked into an empty dressing room stall. "I'm just saying I'm glad that's all." She muttered before she shut the door.

I looked at Angela "Really, a whole week?" and she gave a hesitant nod. I frowned at myself in the mirror and she gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder.

I got Angela's approval on all three shirts, but I had to get a smaller size in the jeans. I guess I had underestimated my weight loss, but she was very nice to go and get me the next smaller size while I changed.

After I was back into my jeans and put the last of the shirts on I sat in the main part of the dressing room to wait. Jessica came out in a cute dress that was black with dark purple designs on the top and then a small waistband separated it from the short bottom that was the same shade of dark purple. Since it was sleeveless she had on a small black sweater that covered her arms that the dress would have left bare.

"Oh, that looks really good on you!"

"Thanks, do you think it would be good for the party?"

"Yeah, I think it would be perfect for the party" said the girl who had worn gray for an entire week. Obviously needing a second opinion Jessica started looking around the dressing room.

"Oh, Angela will be right back." I said trying to be helpful.

"Did she forget something?" she asked while shaking her head "She always forgets something." She added in a disapproving tone as she marveled her twirling reflection in the mirror.

"No, she's just getting me a different size in the jeans I had."

"Oh" she said a little surprised, but really I think she didn't like to be corrected. "Well, I like that green shirt on you" she smiled and tried to lighten the mood just as Angela walked in with two folded pairs of jeans in her hands.

She walked passed Jessica who snatched one of them right out of her hands exclaiming "Oh, these are cute!", but I saw the sneer that quickly came over her face as she saw the size on the tag. Angela snatched them right back and gave Jessica another dirty look.

Angela agreed that the black and purple dress would be perfect for the party and after I quickly tried on the jeans I returned to my seat and gave my opinion on each of the outfits that they paraded in front of me.

We made our purchases and left the store. It was way past dinnertime and we were all eager to make it to the food court as quickly as possible, but both girls promised we would resume the search for my 'party outfit' once we finished.

Goody I thought, but I remained being a good sport.

We had all decided to get Chinese food with the reasoning that there was no place in Forks to get something like this so we would seize the opportunity while we had it. I sat twirling my noodles aimlessly as I thought of Jacob. I was wondering what he was doing and if he was thinking of me. I wished I could call him right then, but I would have to settle for the moment I walked in the door.

"How are you're noodles?" Jessica asked in a suggestive way.

"Oh, they're really good" I said taking a big bite. Every time she looked at me it was as if she was fighting the urge to funnel lard down my throat.

After we left the food court we had returned to the party outfit patrol just as promised.

I wasn't given must trust to find something on my own so I didn't have to worry about looking too seriously at the overwhelming amount of clothing. This was fine with me since I really had no idea what I was looking for anyway. One thing I was sure of was that I didn't want a dress or skirt. I gave the excuse that since Jessica was wearing a dress and Angela was wearing a skirt that I just wanted a nice shirt to wear with one of my new jeans. There wasn't' too much protest and we were soon scouring the tops in a nice little clothing store.

Jessica and Angela took their job very seriously and soon they were shoving me in a fitting room with an armful of shirts. I pouted a little in the dressing room when I realized I was having a good time, but had to ruin it with thoughts of how it would have been so much better with Alice.

I quickly went through the stack of clothing and picked out my favorite so we could hurry over to the beauty salon. I chose something cute that I knew Angela had picked out. It was actually three separate pieces. It had a white lacey camisole that went under a smoky blue shirt that had a low v-neck that would insure that plenty of that lace would show and finally a beige corduroy jacket that fit snuggly, but was still comfortable went on top. I wasn't planning on buying three more things but I did like the idea of layers especially since I was always cold.

I stepped out of the dressing room and exclaimed how much I really liked this one. Angela was thrilled that I had chosen one that she had picked out and Jessica complained in a small voice that I hadn't even tried any of 'hers' on, but we both ignored her this time. They returned the other clothes to the racks while I paid for the all mighty party outfit, which wasn't really as much of an outfit as much as it was just three shirts. Then we quickly made our way over to the beauty salon.

We all three sat in a row and I listened as they explained all the layering and styling they wanted done to their hair. Jessica insisted that once her hair was cut she wanted all of the curls straightened out, something she probably didn't have the patience to do herself, and when Angela tried to point out that no one would see her straight hair tonight, Jessica argued that it would still look just as good tomorrow at school.

Then it was my turn.

"I just want a trim. Maybe an inch off the bottom to get rid of the dead ends."

"Oh c'mon Bella you should get more than that cut off." Jessica had waited until just now to try to convince me, but this was one thing I wasn't budging on.

"No, I really don't want my hair any shorter. I'm used to it this way." I've had enough change, I was sick of change and I wanted no more of it.

"Something different might be nice, Bella" Jessica tried to add in a therapeutic tone.

I just shook my head. My hair had been long most of my life and having it shorter had intrigued me when I was younger, but I liked it and I was used to it. Not only that, but Edward liked it and he used to twirl his fingers in it, still did as a matter of fact.

I wasn't really listening to them as they continued to offer arguments in favor of a shorter hairstyle. Finally the stylist who had been combing my hair looked up.

"Girls, if she doesn't want it cut then it really is her choice" she said firmly. This lady must be a mother I concluded.

I hadn't said anything and the stylist was still evaluating my hair. I was too busy thinking about his fingers twirling in my hair to give a confirmation of my decision.

"Have you ever had your hair colored?"

"No" wasn't that obvious I had barely had it cut.

"Well, if we cut this much" she said grabbing a substantial amount of hair that would leave me with barely enough to touch my shoulders "you could donate a very generous sized ponytail to Locks for Love". I hadn't gotten past the large sized pony tail that she still had grasped in her hand, but I faintly heard what she was saying in the background, that all of my hair would go to help make a hairpiece for a child with cancer who couldn't afford to buy one.

Her words sunk in and I realized it was just hair to me I had plenty of it, but I thought of those children that didn't have any and were already dealing with so much. My hair would grow back and then the decision seemed rather easy to make

"Ok yeah, cut it off" I said meekly. Jessica and Angela just stared at me with their mouths hanging open.

"Are you sure?" The motherly stylist asked.

"Sure, sure. It is just hair after all, it will grow back." I waved my hand at them like I wasn't just getting ready to fight tooth and nail for every strand just 2 seconds ago.

We walked out of the beauty salon and they couldn't stop telling me how much they liked it. Even Jessica had seemed genuine with her compliments. It did hover around my shoulders and was layered quite nicely. Angela stood next to me flipping the bottom part of my hair with her palm, catching it, and then flipping it again.

We quickly made our way around the makeup store, I'm sure it had an actual name, but I couldn't remember it. I grabbed some lip gloss and mascara, the two things I had deemed the simplest, and made my way to the cashier. They had already had an idea of what they wanted so we were in and out fairly quick.

We were making our way across the mall to the department store where we entered and although I was leaving with a considerably lesser amount of hair than what I came in with, I did have a pretty good time, way better than I had expected.

On our way out we stopped at a smoothie place and I wasn't planning on getting anything but Jessica gave me a look like if I didn't order something she would diagnose me as anorexic herself. So, I ordered something tropical that had an umbrella sticking out of the top of the cup. I sipped it as we continued to walk and it was actually really good.

We made the long drive back home and talked about the upcoming game, Mike's party, and what we bought at the mall. We even spent several minutes talking about my hair. I didn't really know what to think about it, but whenever I felt anxious about it I remembered that some little girl that would get a hairpiece because of me.

We pulled up to the house and I said goodbye and told them what a good time I had before I ran up to the front door. I almost slid on the wet sidewalk, but caught my balance.

The door wasn't locked and I walked right in to see Charlie watching TV in the living room. He was clearly waiting up for me.

"Hey Bella, did you have fun"

"Yeah dad, I actually did." I was starting to tell him about the shirts I bought while I instinctively pulled my wet hood off my head.

"Whoa Bells, you sure did get your money's worth for that trim didn't you?"

"Oh" I was a little taken aback by his remark and I grabbed at the ends of what was left of my hair.

"No honey, it looks great, I'm just a little surprised that's all."

"Me too" I mumbled as I headed for the stairs with my backpack and shopping bags in hand.

"Wait, come here for a second" I dropped my things and sluggishly made my way to the couch and plopped down next to him.

I leaned my head against his shoulder "Yeah, dad" I said tiredly.

"Well, do you like it?" he asked as he ran his hand through my hair.

"Yeah, I do. I just need to get used to it."

"Did those girls talk you into this?"

"No, I wanted to so I could donate my hair to make wigs for kids with cancer."

"Really?"

"Yeah dad" I answered although I don't think it was an actual question, after all why would I make something like that up. "Goodnight, dad" I said as I kissed his cheek and got up from the couch to collect my stuff off the floor.

I made my way upstairs and after I got into my room and threw my stuff on the bed I grabbed the phone to call Jacob. I didn't even pause to look at the time I was only concerned with hearing his voice before I went to bed.

He answered the phone and sounded just as happy to hear my voice as I was to hear his. I told him about the party and he was excited to go and I told him how nervous I was about tomorrow's game. He was sad that he couldn't make it since it was an away game, but promised he would come to the next one. We made plans for him to come over on Halloween to hand out candy with me and just when we were about to hang up I remembered what I had wanted to say.

"Jake?"

"Yeah"

"I just wanted to say thank you for calling me last night, well I guess I should say this morning, it's just that it meant a lot to me."

"Bella, I would be happy to sing you a lullaby every night if it made you feel better."

"Thanks, Jake." I could hear Billy in the background telling him he needed to go to bed. "Hey, I'll call you tomorrow if I don't get back from the game too late."

"Just call no matter what time it is"

"Ok" I said and we hung up.

I had deliberately omitted the part of me getting all my hair chopped off since I thought that was something easier explained in person, without words.

I took my time putting my new clothes away and setting out my windbreaker outfit that I would have to wear to school tomorrow since it was a game day. I went to the bathroom to get ready for bed and when I re-entered the room and saw my big, empty bed I felt an overwhelming sense of dread build up in me.

I turned off the lights and laid down. I tried to stay calm and breathe slowly, but it was no use. The tears started steaming down my face.

I spent my days surrounded by people who believed the lie of Edward being in a hospital somewhere out east and they were filled with hope that he would return someday soon. It was easy to give in to those thoughts and even the fake sense of hope when I was around those people, but as soon as I entered this bed, this empty bed, the truth always came crashing down on me like a ton of bricks. The truth was he wasn't in a hospital and he wasn't coming back and that this was the last place I was with him and one of the last places he was at all.

My sobs grew harder and harder until my chest and my sides ached from the heaving. I laid there curled up in a ball at the edge of my bed and I was shaking just knowing what the nightmares would have in store for me.

All of a sudden fingers started twirling in my hair and I barely had a chance to notice before he began to speak.

"Bella, I didn't think it was possible, but you are even more beautiful than the last time I saw you." His fingers never stopped moving.

I lifted my head and I could feel my hair against my cheeks, the short locks hung barely past my face like a frame and no longer dangled off the side of my bed like Repunzel. I managed to smile as I choked back tears "I missed you. I missed you so much."

I continued to cry as I remembered the night before I had called his name a million times, but still he never came and I had feared that he would never come again.

"Love, I didn't think you wanted to see me again, it's just so hard for you" he said in a sad tone, but it was still a million times better than the voice I had heard in my sleep last night.

"No, it's harder not to see you at all" I said in a shake voice, he nodded, and kept twirling my hair and that's when I remembered that I had cut most of it off today, the hair that he had loved and I started to cry harder.

"What's wrong?"

"I cut all my hair off" I blubbered and I saw a crooked smile come over his face.

"I know, you look beautiful"

"Really?" I'm sure I didn't, but I was comforted anyway and my heavy eyelids began to fall.

"I love you" I whispered.

"I love you too, Bella."

-------------------------------------

After my usual morning routine of screaming my head off and sobbing until the sun comes up I grabbed my clothes and headed for the bathroom. I stood in front of the mirror for a long time staring at my hair, or lack thereof I should say. I sighed and reassured myself that it was for a good cause and that I wasn't going to dwell on it. I pulled out my rubber band to put my now short hair up in a pony tail. I marveled at the novelty that lay in my hand for a cheerleader could not wear just any old rubber band, no way, it had to be this special rubber band that was adorned with gold and blue ribbon sticking out all over the place. I sighed and grabbed my brush.

I managed, with continued brushing and a great deal of effort, to get a nice pony tail that now bobbed in the back of my head. There were some stray hairs that lay scattered on my forehead and some shorter hair, that did not make it into the pony tail, that rested on the nape of my neck. As I moved my head the ponytail, which was surrounded in an embrace of ribbons, moved accordingly in a peppy, swaying motion.

I actually looked like a cheerleader in my windbreaker outfit and white tennis shoes that had gold and blue on the sides. I didn't look in the mirror again before I left the bathroom for fear that I would not recognize the person who was looking back.

It seemed I left the house every morning in the same way. I stepped out of the door and as soon as my feet hit the pavement my body would become tense with anxiety and a sense of dread would wash over me. Sometimes I didn't even know why I got out of bed at all, but I would remind myself the few reasons I had and would reluctantly start my day.

I hopped out of the truck and painted a big, fake smile on my face. I didn't get there as early as I normally do, I suppose my pony tail wrangling had taken more time than I thought.

"Hey, Bella!" Jessica and Angela were shouting at me with the happiest looks I've seen on them yet.

"Hey!" I yelled back excitedly, I was getting much better at this.

"You're hair looks awesome!" Angela squealed as she flipped my ponytail with her palm as she had done last night.

"Thanks, I'm really starting to like it" and I really was. I guess if I was going to try to be different, to be 'normal, like Alice's note had said I could at least put forth some real effort.

We must have looked like triplets, of sorts, as we walked across the parking lot and every guy's head turned to watch us walk; now that was one thing I could not get used to.

We went our separate ways and as I was walking into the building when I heard an "ow" and groaning noise coming from behind me. I turned around to see Mike standing next to one of the steel posts that were in the doorway and rubbing his head. I chuckled to myself knowing that he had just run into it.

"Hey, Mike are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." He said trying to sound ultra tough and masculine.

"Ok" I smiled and turned around to walk to class. I should've known it wouldn't be that easy.

"Wait Bella, I'll walk with you to class" He was wearing his football jersey over a white t-shirt and jeans and we both walked down the hallway looking like the perfect couple in our matching, school color attire. The only thing missing was his arm around me and that wasn't going to happen. I could just imagine how this looked to everyone else in the hallway.

He turned to look at me as we walked and he had a big smile on his face. "You look so cute. I mean your hair…wow."

"Thanks" I said and I tried not to blush too much.

The day pretty much continued like this, people giving me compliments or not recognizing me at first. It was embarrassing as hell, but after awhile it got to be not so bad to be Cheerleader Bella and it was so much easier than being Brokenhearted Bella. Well not easier in the sense that I was still putting on a show, but emotionally I'd rather be Cheerleader Bella any day, hell I'd rather be Garbage Man Bella if that was my only alternative.

I even got a compliment from Lauren although it completely lacked any sincerity, but I couldn't really pass any judgment since I was just as fake as her now.

I still ate in the office, but besides that I was being pretty social.

The school day finally ended and I said my goodbyes to Jessica and Angela in the parking lot as we went our separate ways. I had about 2 hours before I had to come back to the school to ride the bus to the game. I headed home so I could make dinner, get changed, and of course call Jake.

"Hey dad!" I said when I walked in the door. He was home a little earlier than usual since he planned on driving up to the game to see me make a fool of myself…I mean cheer at my first game.

I started making soup and sandwiches so we could eat quickly before we left. I was making the plates and putting things on the table when I realized I still had to call Jake.

"Oh, I have to call Jake before I leave. I've barely talked to him the past few days" I said with a frown.

Charlie just looked up at me smiling.

"That reminds me Bella, since I have to drive through La Push anyway I thought I would pick up Billy and Jake on my way to the game." He was smiling obviously quite pleased with himself.

"Really dad, that's awesome!" I said as I took my seat at the table. I didn't even care if I did make a fool out of myself I was glad that he was going to be there.

I ate my food quickly and ran upstairs to change. I pulled the uniform out of my bag and stared at it, just the look of it terrified me. I had faced blood thirsty vampires, loneliness, and desperation (and probably a little insanity too), but none of that compared to this stupid little uniform that stared back at me tauntingly.

I eventually I came down the stairs, ponytail bobbing all the way, and smiled back at my dad's happy face as I walked out the door with my duffle bag swung over my should. I got in my truck and made my way to the school.

I exhaled deeply You can do this. It will be fun. I repeated to myself.

I pulled into the back parking lot where the bus was waiting and parked next to Jessica's car. She must have just pulled in too because her and Angela were still sitting there. I got out of the car not feeling too uncomfortable since I did have my windbreaker suit on over the uniform.

They jumped out of the car greeting me with giddy excitement. I was starting to feel excited too and we were talking and laughing as the three of us boarded the bus.

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A/N – Ok, so I had to throw Aberdeen in there somehow as a tribute to a late, great musician who was from there. I will offer another 10 super bonus points to the person who can name said musician. Someone has to tie with redlulu before it goes to her head, lol!

When I was writing the part where she was talking about crying for him the night before the song Somebody's Crying by Chris Isaak popped into my head so I tried to be clever and put some of those lyrics in there.

I will update as soon as possible, but wanted to forewarn everyone that my classes did start this week so the next chapter will probably take me a little longer…sorry.

Reviews are better than being a member of the party outfit patrol…for sure!