After that I knew that I had to start trying harder, harder than I ever had before. I shed outfits like dogs shed fur when I saw they weren't working. I tried showing more skin, but Edward just offered me his jacket in a gentlemanly fashion that would have made my cheeks stain red with rage if that were possible. It's not as if I even needed a jacket, what with my new subzero body temperature; he was just being an ass. I had to flee the room before I words of rage started spewing from my rosy lips. I didn't help that I could have sworn I heard him chuckle as I raced around the corner at inhuman speed. I shredded a lovely little hat into millions of pieces when I got back to my room.

After that defeat I turned to more subtle ploys. First I tried to show him that we had similar interests, some men like stuff like that. He played the piano. I played the piano. That had to mean something right? So I began artfully arranging myself on the piano bench whenever I had a chance, working on my sonatas and nocturnes, practicing willingly for the first time in as long as I could remember.

On and off for three days I sat at that piano to no avail. Esme would sometimes sit and listen, sometimes offering small compliments on my improvements, but Edward seemed to be skirting the sitting room completely. I was about to give up and find more constructive uses for my ample amounts of free time when I finally saw a glimmer of hope.

The fourth day Edward quietly walked into the room and stood listening for a moment just as I had almost a week before. I watched him out of the corner of my eye for a moment, but continued playing as if he wasn't there. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before he wasn't. It wasn't much, but that interlude was enough to renew my motivation.

The next day when he came into the room, Edward didn't just stand there. When I paused between pieces he asked, "Would you mind playing a duet?" I looked up at him through lowered lashes (to hide my satisfaction) as I scooted over a tiny bit on the bench. "That would be lovely," I simpered.

I waited for a moment as Edward retrieved some sheet music, glad that I was being rewarded for my hard work and plotting but trying not to think too hard about it. Attempting to entice someone that could read minds was turning out to be far harder than I had anticipated. I didn't feel the stirring of unease until I saw the music that placed in front of me as he sat down. It was an extremely complicated Liszt piece that I had never seen before in my life. I knew that my plan was rapidly unraveling when we started to play.

It was all that I could do, even with my new vampiric abilities, to keep up with the music. Had I not had such superb reflexes I am sure my fingers would have been in knots within moments. The best I can say for my end of the duet is that it was passable, which is more than should have been expected from anyone on her first perusal.

Edward, on the other hand, weaved new melodies in between the extant notes that made my playing seem rudimentary. His fingers moved further and further up the keys until he had taken over both of our parts and I was left wondering what to do with myself since whenever I tried to hit a note his fingers were already there. After a moment of listening to the exquisite music I found myself once again leaving the room in a huff to avoid his not so subtle implications of my inferiority. I shrieked into my pillow when I got safely to my room, but at least I didn't destroy anything that time. I was soon scheming once again; I was nothing if not determined to win Edward over. After all, if I couldn't do it, then nobody could.

After that disgustingly humbling experience I decided that I needed to completely revise my tactics. I thought that maybe Edward was not so civilized as he seemed, perhaps he preferred his women a little bit on the wilder side. The next time I felt the familiar burn in my throat intensify I asked Edward if he wanted to go for a hunt. He agreed.

As we sprinted through the forest in search of prey, the familiar bloodlust seeping through our veins, he quickly got ahead despite my efforts to keep up. At first I was dismayed, but then I realized that this gave me a great opportunity. I could follow him and make sure he was nearby when I made my kill. I could ensure that he would able to see my consummate grace when I brought down a buck or a moose and hopefully to admire it.

Things did not go as planned however, when I did come across the throbbing heartbeat of an exceptional moose, Edward was nowhere in sight. I had underestimated my thirst, and as soon as I smelled blood I sprang into action, the noble animal was dead before it knew what hit it. I was just polishing off my meal when Edward reappeared. I looked up at him, dripping blood all over my soft sweater, hair all awry, only to see that he looked pristine, not a drop of mess on him or a hair any more out of place than usual.

He looked at me with an eyebrow cocked for a moment before saying sardonically, "I think you could use a napkin, Rosalie." Then he continued on his merry way. I had been thwarted and humiliated once again.

When I got back to the house I sat down at our misnamed dining table to try to find another angle of attack. I couldn't, I was out of ideas. Instead I just sat there and wallowed in my own feelings of hurt and inadequacy.

To my horror, it was not long before Edward slunk into the room. "Go away." I muttered. Not for the first time I wished he wasn't privy to all the thoughts roiling around in my head.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I can't help it." I glared at him for answering my thoughts and focused all my mental faculties on wishing he would go away. There's no way that he didn't hear me, but he sat down at the table anyway.

"Listen. Rosalie, you are a gorgeous girl and if I were anyone else I'm sure I would be completely entranced by you, but I'm just not interested. So please stop pursuing me and maybe we can avoid any further embarrassment for either of us."

For a moment I just stared at him. Then I spat, " Don't flatter yourself, I wasn't pursuing you, I was just trying to be a good sister." We both knew it was a lie, but thankfully he kept his stupid know-it-all mouth shut, because if he hadn't I think it might have come to blows. I walked out of the room very much on my dignity.

I took almost a year of serious sulking for me to admit to myself that I hadn't ever been attracted to Edward, hadn't even really liked him as a matter of fact. I was just mad because he was the first person to treat me to the sting of rejection.

I still don't look back on our stay in Goderich fondly.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter, you guys are the best! Ok, so I am not sure how this chapter will be received, but I do know one thing, it was super fun to write. Please review and give me some feedback, because this is certainly extremely different from earlier chapters when Rose was massacring people and such. Also, reviewing will expedite an update, and more likely than not Emmett comes in the next chapter!! Thanks again for reading! --DD