A/N- It's me again! I've been total fail at responding to review replies and I promise to get on that! I won't leave any of you hanging! Things have been busy with work, family, and starting a new direct selling business. Not to mention, vacation is coming up! YAY! Beach bound for a week!

I have to thank each and every one of you for understanding exactly where Bella is. You all get that she's back in that mind set of a high school girl. That means more to me than any of you can ever know.

Thank you not only to ..you that reads, reviews, tweets about this story, but also to my prereaders, Jacndaniel and Amieforshort and my beta who is really, beyond words.

Chapter 11
Can't Fight This Feeling

After sleeping on the advice that my mother had given me, I decided to heavily consider what she was saying. What did I have to lose by telling Edward what I thought? If he didn't see me as anything more than just a friend, then she was right, it was his loss. I also decided that, as much as I liked him, I'd rather have him as a friend than nothing at all.

With this new found confidence, the following day at school I just decided to go with the motions and not let the drama around me get me down. That was a lot easier said than done, especially when lunch time rolled around.

When I stepped into the cafeteria, I was surprised to see Alice and Rosalie sharing a table. Forgoing my usual table, I strode over and sat down with them. Both of their heads snapped up at my presence and they both smiled at me brightly.

"Hey stranger," Rosalie said.

"Me? You've been the stranger. I haven't seen you in gym for over a week."

"Yeah, I know," she said sheepishly, keeping her head down. I looked over at Alice who watched Rosalie with the same sort of confusion as me.

"No way, you spill! What's going on?" I asked in a playful tone.

"Um...I might be sneaking around back and watching the football team practice."

"YOU WHAT?" I shouted.

"Jeez, Bella, keep your voice down." She gave me a look that didn't convey that she was upset, but more along the lines of embarrassed. It didn't seem to be the correct word, but it was something I wouldn't have thought from her.

"So you've been watching the team practice?" I asked in a quieter tone.

"Well, not the team. More like Emmett."

I squealed and clapped my hands together. "I knew it! Don't think I haven't seen the two of you eating lunch together. I knew you liked him."

"Yeah, who would have thought? Me, the girl everyone thinks is the big whore, dating a jock and nominated for homecoming queen."

"Oh, congrats on that by the way. I'm totally pulling for you to win." I gave her a wink and popped a grape in my mouth.

"Me?" she asked perplexed. "What about you?"

I rolled my eyes and waved my hand in the air dismissively. "Please, I don't care about that."

I had almost forgotten Alice was at the table until she joined into our conversation. "Speaking of which, both of you will be needing dresses for the coronation and the dance. What do you think of a shopping trip this weekend?"

In all actuality, it sounded like just what I needed. "I think that's a great idea."

"Me too. Saturday?" Rosalie asked.

Alice and I both nodded. Our conversation flowed freely as we chatted about the stores we could visit and overall, how much fun we were going to have. It dawned on me, mid way through lunch, that neither Emmett nor Jasper was around.

"Where are the boys?" I asked.

"Emmett had some sort of meeting with the guidance counselor," Rosalie said.

"Jasper had a doctor's appointment," Alice replied.

"Gotcha," I said, nodding.

"Hey, Bella? Not that I'm not happy we're all having lunch together today, I have to ask, what made you decide to sit with us?" Rosalie asked.

"Well, usually you both are eating with the boys and I don't want to intrude or be a third wheel, so I just suck it up and sit with the usual crowd. Today when I saw just you two sharing a table I wanted to join you. It seems like forever ago when we went out."

Both girls agreed. Alice kept looking over my shoulder, every so often, and I finally had to ask her what she was looking at.

"I don't think Lauren is too pleased about you sitting with us."

I turned my head slightly to see where Lauren was sitting. When I saw who she was sitting with my heart dropped. Sure enough, she was giving me the evil eye from across the lunchroom, all while sharing a table with Edward.

"They don't matter," I said firmly.

Alice and Rosalie both exchanged a look. "What do you mean, they?" Rosalie asked. "I can see where Lauren wouldn't, but Edward? I thought you two were friends?"

I snorted. "Yeah, that's all we are."

"Why would you think that?" Alice asked. "I may have been focused on Jasper the night of the concert, but I totally saw the way he was checking you out."

"Did he say something to make you think all you two were was just friends?" Rosalie added.

"It doesn't matter. For once, I actually thought that a nice guy might like a girl like me and it turns out, he's interested in someone else."

"Who? Lauren?" Rosalie questioned. "Because from where I'm sitting, it looks as though he's doing everything he can to scoot further and further away from her."

"Like I said, it doesn't matter. I was stupid. I've decided I'm not going to let it get to me. If he just wants to be friends then I just have to buck up and accept that."

"Like hell you do," Rosalie snarled. "Lauren Mallory is nothing but a dirty trouble maker, her and Jessica both. You know how they are! Hell, up until a few weeks ago, I pegged you to be just like them."

"Fer sure. I mean, you know all too well the kinds of games that they play. Maybe Lauren caught wind of how you felt and she's using it against you." Alice's expression, the look that said she felt sorry for me, made me feel that much worse. Instead of helping me see some sort of optimism in the whole situation, like remaining just friends, all I was seeing was two girls who pitied me.

"I don't know how she could have. I never told anyone that I had a crush on him."

Rosalie laughed lightly. "Babycakes, you didn't have to. It's written all over your face when you look at him. To be honest, he looks at you the same way. I really think that maybe things aren't what they seem. Give the situation the benefit of the doubt, I did with you and look where it's gotten us."

I couldn't help but smile at that. She was right, but it still didn't ease the constant nagging in my head that I wasn't the one that he wanted.

When the bell rang, both girls gave me encouraging hugs and asked me not to look too much into it. They both felt like I was looking at the whole situation with blinders on. I couldn't agree with them, but nodded my head anyways.

The mood I had entered into the day with quickly disappeared after lunch. I was a mess and my emotions were all over the place. Whether or not Rosalie saw him trying to move away from Lauren during lunch, I saw two people sharing a table together. He nearly always had lunch with Ben and it was rare for Lauren to sit with anyone other than our regular table. It didn't help matters when I thought back to how she commented that his eyes would go great with her homecoming dress. It just confirmed to me that they had in fact stepped over the barrier as friends and into something more.

When I stepped into bio, Edward was seated at our table, but he made no move to lift his head to see anyone that entered. Even as I sat down, he kept his head down. I was a disaster of nerves being this close to him. I sat in my chair, facing forward, giving him the same silent treatment as he was giving me. I knew it was childish but what was I going to say? Nothing of substance seemed to come to mind.

The longer I contemplated the heavy air between us, the more and more the whole situation ate at me. A part of me wanted to ask him straight out what was going on with him and Lauren and the other part of me wanted to tell him exactly how I felt. Before I could muster up the nerve to start firing off my questions, Edward finally spoke to me.

"So, big plans for the weekend?"

I looked over at him trying to gauge the reasoning behind his question. It was a harmless question. It wasn't like he was asking me out.

"Um, yeah actually I do. Rosalie, Alice and I are going to the mall to shop for homecoming. Since Rosalie and I are on the court regardless if we go to the dance we have to have coronation dresses."

Edward nodded his head as if I was making perfect sense. For all I knew, Lauren had already filled him in on all of this.

"That sounds like fun," he said. I could tell from the way his voice sounded that he was trying his hardest to make conversation. Even though my body language was proving that I was hardly in the mood.

"I think it will be. I haven't spent any time with them since the concert."

" Are you going to be at the mall in the Port?" he asked.

"Yeah," I laughed. "The one and only."

Our conversation died as Mr. Banner stood center stage. He wore a proud smile and was holding what I could only assume were our tests.

"Ladies and gents," he called to us. "Here I have your test papers and I'm happy to report that not a single one of you failed." He looked over at me with a pointed look but a smile still firmly on his face.

"I'm going to pass them out and we're going to spend the rest of the hour going over the answers."

As Mr. Banner click and clacked his way along the linoleum floor, passing tests back, I couldn't help but feel anxious as to what my grade was. A 'D' wasn't failing, but I knew that I had done better than that. Edward had tutored me and I was certain that I at least squeaked by with a 'C'. Of course, I felt like anything less than a 'B' would have been an insult to Edward.

Mr. Banner slowly crept his way to our table, pausing briefly to hand Edward his test before laying mine face down on top of the table.

"Well done, Ms. Swan."

I looked up at him with wide, surprised eyes. He winked and continued on past our table. I took a deep breath before I lifted the paper from my desk, flipping it over to see the outcome of my grade. The smile that broke out across my face was hard to contain as I stared at the big fat 'B' on the top of my paper. I must have actually made some sort of noise because Edward leaned over toward me (not that I saw him, but there was no denying his close presence).

"Well done, Bella," he said. I looked over at him, still smiling, only to be met with a smile of his own.

"The thanks go all to you." Before I could grasp what I was doing, my arms snaked around his neck. I closed my eyes and relished in the feel of our bodies so close. His own arms wrapped around my back and I felt the faintest squeeze.

It took me a second before I realized that we were still in class. Otherwise, I may not have been able to stop myself from kissing him right then and there.

I pulled myself away from him to stop the urge that was building up inside of me. The look on his face was hard for me to decipher. I thought I had seen the same want that I was feeling but I must have imagined it.

"Really, Edward, there was no way I could have made this grade without all of your help."

He blushed slightly and looked down. "It was my pleasure, Bella."

For the rest of the period Mr. Banner went over the test, answering questions from students in the room about various questions that we had gotten wrong. I tried to listen to everything he was saying but my mind was still on the embrace I shared with Edward and the longing look in his eyes.

When the bell rang, we both gathered up our things before walking out of the classroom together. The smile I sported from the moment I had gotten my test back all but disappeared as soon as I saw who was waiting outside of our class. I stopped in my tracks, resulting in Edward running smack into the back of me. It was his voice that resonated in the emptiness that had taken up residence in my chest.

"Lauren," he stated.

She smiled and looked at Edward with what could only be described as an evil smirk.

"Hey, I thought maybe you could walk me to class. We have so much to talk about." She looked at me dead in the eye as she stressed just how much they had to talk about.

"Lauren, I…"

Before he could offer his arm to her, I turned and faced him, putting on my best fake smile.

"Thanks again, Edward. I'll see you around."

I ran past them with my head down because I would be damned if she saw me cry. Instead of walking to the gym, I ran into the girl's bathroom and into the first stall I saw open. Once inside, I locked the door and sat on the toilet and allowed the tears to fall effortlessly.

All the conflicting emotions I had regarding Edward had hit me full on at that moment. I wasn't sure what I was doing, or for that matter, what I was supposed to do. I wanted to scream out my frustrations. I wanted to rub a genie bottle and pray that Winona Ryder popped out. I just wanted this all to be over with because at that very moment, I felt like I was failing at everything I was sent back to try and do.

After I had reapplied a little powder to my face and fixed my eyes, I made my way toward my final class of the day. No way was I in any sort of mood to listen to Lauren and whatever she had to talk to Edward about. I knew Lauren all to well to know that she was going to dish to us like we'd be on pins and needles to know what was going on with the two of them.

The bell had already rung before I could make it through the gym doors. I knew Rosalie wouldn't be present today since she had taken up watching Emmett practice, so there was no way I could use her as an excuse to cut last period. I had to face this head on. I may be changing for the better but as far as Lauren was concerned, I still needed to be the bitch they all feared.

I was surprised when I walked in to see Angela sitting alone on the bleachers. She looked up as I approached with a tentative smile.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

She giggled and patted the seat next to her. I dropped my bag on the ground and sat next to her willingly.

"Well, let's see. Lauren failed Banner's test so in order for her to pass the class she has to start doing extra credit. This is his free period so she had to join him to go over what she would have to do to pass."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked in a shocked tone.

Angela nodded. "How she failed is beyond me. I mean, Edward was tutoring her, right?"

"Yeah, and I got a 'B' on the test after he helped me. Wow," I said a little softer. "I wonder what in the world they were doing when they were supposed to be studying?"

"You don't think he's into her, do you?" she asked me.

"Yeah, I do."

"You can't be serious? Bella, sweetie, I don't think that Edward is into Lauren."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"You really need me to break this down for you? Bella, Edward's into somebody and I can promise you it's not Lauren."

"Well, it doesn't matter. She's determined to sink her claws in him. He's a guy. Who wouldn't pass up some girl offering themselves to them?"

"Um, Edward."

I looked at her like she had lost her mind. "He has a penis. They don't think with their brains, they think with their dicks."

Angela snorted a laugh. "Maybe some, but I don't think Edward is one of those guys. Are you okay? You seemed kind of down when you walked in."

"I don't know. I'm confused I guess."

"Well, we have the rest of the hour to talk about it. Lauren's probably getting high off second hand reefer smoke from Banner and Jessica's not here. Why don't you tell me what's got you down?"

And so I did. I spilled everything to Angela, leaving out the part that I had time traveled from the future. I told her about the concert, the sleepover, the study dates, and the kiss. Then I told her how insanely jealous I've been watching Lauren throw herself at Edward and how I had thrown myself at him after we had received our tests back today.

Angela was quiet for a long minute before she spoke about what all I had just confessed to her.

"You need to ask him to the dance." These were her words of wisdom.

"Excuse me? Did you not hear anything I just told you? It's obvious that he and Lauren are going to the dance together."

"And you know this because you asked him? Listen, I can see where this all looks shady but you need to take a stand. Ask him. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Um, how about he could tell me no?"

"And if he does, he does. Although I highly doubt he will. I tell you what. I'm planning on asking Ben. If all goes well, will you consider at least asking Edward if he plans to go with Lauren?"

"Yeah," I said after thinking on it for a second. "I'll ask him."

"Good," she said clapping her hands together. "Then when he says no, you can ask him to go with you. See how this works? Everyone gets their man!"

I had to laugh at Angela's logic, but in all honesty, it was the best plan of action I had heard yet. The simplest plan and the one I should have thought about from the get go instead of whining about the whole situation like the seventeen year old girl I had reverted back to. When in the eighties…

A/N- yes when in the eighties...speaking of which, put on your best for being seen because we're headed to the mall next chapter! I'm going to try to post next Thursday because the following week I'll be on the beach being lazy. Well, until my inlaws arrive. Then I'll be drinking...a lot. :)

xoxo
Holly