I KNOW THIS SHOWS UP TWICE!!! I will delete it in a bit.

Chapter Playlist- Leave Out All The Rest by Linkin Park

Previously… (BPOV)

So I let my imagination run wild. I fell into a deep slumber imagining his strong arms around me, pulling me into his lap, his lips on my neck, whispering sweet nothings in my ear… And somewhere, far, far away, a piano played a soft tinkling melody, comforting me, telling me that everything would turn out okay. In the end.

The Hard Way To Learn A Lesson

Chapter 10- Midnight Snacks

Edward POV

I jolted awake, vaguely aware of feeling disoriented and uncomfortable. Then I realised why; I was still fully clothed and lying on top of my bed. It was also apparently the middle of the night. Well, damn. I had missed dinner and now I was absolutely starving.

It was all Bella's fault. Everything was. Wait. Bella. I looked round the room, at the sofa, on the floor, even under the bed. And then I realised that she was probably with Alice. Huh. Cheater.

I got out of bed and snuck downstairs, looking for a something to eat without making a heck of a lot of noise.

Eventually, I settled for making a simple sandwich, buttering six slices of bed and coating them with peanut butter, shoving them down my throat like I hadn't eaten in days. Then I ate peanut butter from the jar. Man, I loved that stuff.

I gulped down a glass of milk and then started back upstairs, still not quite satisfied, but too lazy to bother making anything else. I'd just have a big breakfast before school in the morning.

Once back in my room, I stripped my clothes off in a matter of seconds and climbed into bed in just my boxers, not bothering with the over-sized top I usually chucked on as well.

But, as thunder rumbled outside and images of the beautiful girl who was now sleeping next door – sigh – ran through my head, sleep refused to take me again. My fingers flexed under the sheets, desperate, I knew, to run delicately across piano keys. I hadn't wanted this so badly in years. I should have known that fiddling around with the piano the other day had been a bad idea. I knew that, if I started playing again, Alice would make the wrong ideas; think that I had continued to play without her. And even I would think that callous after all that we had been through.

But I was already sneaking up the second flight of stairs, desperate to break my own rules; to make beautiful music.

I pulled the sheet off of the piano and eagerly sat down on the stool. I stared at the ivory keys for a long moment, and then laid my fingers on some. I closed my eyes and thought of Bella, and I played what came to me. That was how I had composed Esme's songs before… I let that thought trail off before it came back to haunt me and listened to the melody I unconsciously played.

It was alarmingly sweet and adoring… almost girly. I hated that one girl could make me feel like this. Was this how I made other girls feel? Wow. I thought everyone just got with me so that they could get some. Not because their pulse raced every time they saw me and I was all that they could ever think about. Did I make Bella feel like that? Don't be stupid, Edward, I told myself firmly, the girl hates you.

I felt a pang as I thought that. Why had I teased her like I had? That was kinda cruel. I hadn't thought to look past the angelic, annoying persona she had in front of the teachers to see the beautiful, humorous… incredible real persona she had. Sigh.

Suddenly, I got the spooky feeling that I was being watched. I stopped playing instantly and looked at the open doorway, though I already knew who was there watching. I expected her expression to be furious… but it was gentle.

"What are you doing, Edward?" Alice sighed, coming over and sitting beside me. "That one was new. I haven't heard it before. Did you write it while I was in Biloxi?"

"No," I mumbled. "I can't write without you here. You know that. I just…" I sighed, not knowing whether to tell her everything. All of my confusing feelings. All of my damn apologies. But then, maybe I should wait for her to be ready to forgive me. I had accused her of the worst thing imaginable so maybe I should live and let live for a while.

"You just?" Alice prompted softly. Her hand came up and touched my face.

"I just needed to play. I don't know why. I haven't felt this way in… well, years. And now, I just wanted to. It's insane."

"Edward you look…" Alice's brow puckered.

"Tired? Weird? Insane? All three?" I suggested tiredly.

"Confused," Alice decided. "What are you confused about? Is it…?" She trailed off.

Now it was my turn to prompt. "What?"

"Is it Lauren? Are you in love with her?"

"What?!" I said again, a lot louder this time. "Of course not! I kicked her out hours ago!"

"Ssh!" Alice hissed. "Bella's asleep in the room below us!"

How strangely proud that made me feel… I quickly removed the thought from my head before Alice caught wind of it on my face. It was too late to worry about that anyway.

"Bella?!" she gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief.

Now, I had two options: confess everything or lie. I chose the latter. "Bella what?" I asked innocently.

"Don't even think about denying it, Edward," she whispered. "You like her, don't you?" She grinned like a cat that had got the cream. "Well, that's funny because she was just telling me earlier how much she doesn't like you." She laughed humourlessly. Yes, I was right; she wasn't ready to forgive me yet. It was strange how she got all defensive the moment Bella was brought into the conversation.

"I do not like her, Alice!" I hissed. "What on Earth made you think that?"

"The look on your face when I said her name," Alice replied coolly.

"I did not have any look on my face when you said her name!"

"And your defensiveness," she added.

I growled and glared at her.

She glared back. "Don't even think about trying to seduce her, stealing her innocence…"

I snorted at her choice of words.

Alice flushed, but continued, "…and then breaking her heart and dropping her like another girl in your long, long line, because she won't fall for your dumb tricks. She's too smart and too good for you. Far too good. And she told me that she'd never, ever like you so just suck it up Eddie. Because, for the first time in your pathetic life, you want something you can't have! And never will have." She hit my shoulder, quite hard for a girl, as if trying to put her point across with even more conviction and then she stood, glowering at me.

I sighed, careful to keep my emotions hidden so that she wouldn't see how much that hurt, how deep the knife went. Then, I stood up and threw the sheet back over the piano before following Alice back down the stairs.

I grabbed her arm outside her bedroom. "I do not like her, Alice," I repeated. "But is she in with you?"

"Yes," Alice snapped, snatching her arm away from me. "And stop denying it Edward; I'm your twin- I think I know something about how your stupid sex-obsessed mind works."

I got one glance in her bedroom before she shut the door in my face. I didn't even get to see the sleeping Bella. I sighed and retreated to my bedroom in defeat, sad that Alice could hate me so much just for wanting Bella… not that I'd ever admit it. Or act on it.

I got into bed, thinking over everything Alice had said. She had said 'break her heart'. Was there a possibility that Bella could ever hurt over me? No, probably not; Alice had also said that Bella had told her that she'd… what was it? 'Never, ever, like me'. But then a sudden aggressive feeling ran through me; Bella would never hurt over me because I'd never give her the chance to. I'd never hurt her. Ever. I wanted to hurt anyone who hurt her and I couldn't hurt myself… that's stupid. I wasn't feeling this way because I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hurt her. No, that's what saps say. I just couldn't beat myself up- that was stupid.

***

I woke up quite early for me the next morning. At first I considered going back to sleep and turning up late for school, as usual, but then I remembered Bella. She wouldn't be impressed if I tarnished her perfect tardy record.

So I got up, dressed in the first thing my hands came across and headed downstairs for that large breakfast I had promised myself.

"…still don't see why you wouldn't wear the dress…" I heard Alice saying as I came down the stairs.

"Alice, I'm going to school, not clubbing!" Bella retorted. I ignored the way my pulse picked up when I heard her perfect voice. "The dress is completely inappropriate."

And then I went through the door to the kitchen. "Morning," I grunted, not looking at the girls.

"Wow. This is incredibly early for him," Alice muttered to Bella, though I was sure I was supposed to hear it.

Bella giggled in response and, despite Bella's giggle being the epitome of beauty, I had that feeling like they were ganging up on me. You know, like in the playground at little school.

I threw as much bread as would fit into the toaster and went and sat down at the table, running my fingers through my irritating bouffant. Seriously, no matter how much hair stuff you used, it refused to sink.

"Like that's gonna help," Alice mumbled. What was with her this morning?

"Look, Alice…" I started as I looked up, but then I saw her. Bella had had her hair cut. And, holy mother of Jesus, did it look sexy. She was looking down at the table, her eyelashes painted with black, her eyelids lightly coated in smoky grey, her cheeks unusually pale… until she looked up at me and caught me staring. She flushed a million different shades of red and looked back down at the table, stealing her beautiful brown eyes away from my gaze.

"What…?" I heard myself ask breathlessly, unable to finish.

Bella looked up again shyly. "Is it really that bad?" she whispered.

Alice snorted and walked over to the toaster, making sure to subtly kick my leg on the way over.

I didn't notice. I was surprised that Bella thought it looked bad. "No," I whispered back. "It looks great."

She smiled at me sexily, dazzling me. Wow. Whoever thought that Bella Swan could ever look sexy?

Bella POV

I fiddled nervously with my fingers in the back of Edward's Volvo. His reaction to my new haircut had been… different, to say the least. I had a feeling that he didn't like it, but felt guilty for last night so didn't say so. And if that was what Edward thought, then what would everyone else think? They'd say worse things about me, to me.

"I don't feel so good," I muttered to Alice, who was sat next to me.

"Don't worry, Bella; you look incredible," Alice replied, and then leant over to adjust my necklace. Well, her necklace.

I had refused to wear the red dress once I had seen it. It was way too short, the skirt ending at my thigh. I may have been leaving the sweats behind, but I certainly wasn't about to leap right into a tiny scrap of material like that. Especially not on a school day.

So, instead, I wore a pair of skinny jeans; a red (well, I already had the nail polish on) top that hugged my torso, with a plunging neckline that showed the tiniest bit of my cleavage- enough to play up the eyes, but leave a bit to the imagination, Alice had said; a pair of silver ballet flats; and a red pendant necklace. Everything I wore, Alice had bought on Saturday.

We got to school right on time, which annoyed me a bit. I couldn't really explain why it annoyed me, but I had a feeling that it had something to do with the fact that Edward Cullen was always late and I didn't want him to make an effort just to get me here on time. It just made him more perfect and, therefore, more annoying. Yes, that seemed like a fairly sensible reason to be annoyed.

We passed Mr Marshall on the way in. He smiled at us, but there was something in his eyes that was satisfied. I couldn't quite pinpoint it…

"You're early this morning, Edward," he said cheerily.

Edward made a noise under his breath and stormed off to his form room. Mr Marshall chuckled and Alice and I headed in the opposite direction to our own form room.

Mrs Connell still wasn't there yet, thank goodness, so Alice and I took our seats at the back of the room, me trying to ignore the stares I felt on me.

The silence that had fallen when we walked in was filled with whispers, murmurs. I heard my name mentioned, and Edward's, and Lauren's.

"Can't they talk about something else?" I asked Alice quietly. "Anything?"

Alice shrugged and opened her mouth to speak, but then Jessica Stanley came over. "Hi," she said. "Did you have a nice weekend?"

I stared at her. Jessica Stanley had never spoken to me. Ever. And now she was acting like we were best of friends. What. The. Hell?

"Um… it was okay," I answered her question. Actually, come to think of it, I had had a great weekend, minus walking in on Edward's make-out session.

Jess smiled genuinely. "That's nice."

I nodded, surprised by her sudden friendliness.

Then Alice spoke up, "If you want to talk to Edward, don't you think it'd be better to actually go and talk to him? You know, like a normal person?"

Jess glowered at Alice. "I was talking to Bella."

Alice's glare was much more impressive. "Well, she doesn't want to talk to you."

"I think she can decide who she wants to talk to for herself, can't you Bella?" she looked at me.

"Um…" I started, but then –thankfully – Mrs Connell came in. Jess reluctantly took her own seat.

"Ugh," Alice grumbled. "I hate it when people do that."

"Do what?" I asked.

"Try to be your friend so that they can get to Edward. Been there, done that and got the t-shirt. Believe me, I know all of the symptoms of someone like that." Alice pulled a face.

"Oh," was all I could think to say.

As the day went on, I got stares and whispers in the corridors. I knew that people were spreading rumours about me, and I knew that girls hated me now because I got to stay in Edward's house, but I didn't care as much as I usually did. It must have been something to do with Alice being right beside me. It was nice to know that I had a friend who liked me for who I was, rather than whose house I was staying in.

At lunch, I sat with Alice again. Alice spent practically the whole lunch hour staring across the cafeteria at Jasper Hale.

"After school," she said to me, "we are going to the coffee shop round the corner from our house. Rose said that Jasper's there then."

"Alice, why don't you just go and talk to him?" I asked.

"Because, Bella," she said, rolling her eyes, "because that would look desperate. And because he's sat across the table from Edward."

"Oh," I said, looking over as well. "Right."

Then, Mike Newton came over. He was rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Hi, Bella," he said quietly.

"Uh… hi," I replied, watching him shuffle edgily.

"You look… great," he told me.

Alice smirked at me across the table and mouthed 'told you so'.

I ignored her. "Thanks." I smiled genuinely at Mike. "Did you want something?"

"Actually, yeah. I'm… er… having a party on Friday and I wondered if you two wanted to come along?"

"Um… I don't know…" I started, but Alice interrupted me.

"Sure. We'll be there," she said, turning to smile at him.

He nodded, but didn't leave.

"Anything else?" Alice asked.

"Well… yeah," he admitted, chuckling awkwardly.

"Sit down, Mike," I offered.

"No," he refused, "it's okay. I just wanted to ask you if… well… if you were doing anything tomorrow night?" he said in a rush.

"Um…" I had an awful feeling about where this was headed. "Well… not really…"

"Would you like to go somewhere with me?" His eyes never met mine.

"Like a date?" I asked.

He nodded sheepishly.

"She'll go," Alice answered for me.

"Great!" Mike enthused. "I'll pick you up tomorrow at… half six?"

"Um…" I stuttered.

"Half six is fine. She's staying at our place, though," Alice reminded him.

"Sure. See you tomorrow Bella." Then he turned and walked away.

I stared after him and then glared at Alice. "Why did you say that?" I demanded.

"Bella, you need to liven up a little. You may not like Mike but it may make people more aware that you are there and you're into guys. One day Mike Newton the next… well, someone you like hopefully."

"You are so dead when we get home," I promised, looking down at my plate again.

I heard Alice snicker before she gathered our plates and went to dump them in the sink for the dinner ladies to wash. I didn't move from the table, but I could feel someone watching me, so I looked up.

For a brief moment, my eyes met the extremely familiar green pair that were watching me, and then his glance flashed away again, so quick that I couldn't be sure that he had even been looking in this direction.

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Wow, an update! I know, right? XD

So… sorry there wasn't much BxE fluff but you're finding out a teeny tiny bit more about Edward and Alice's relationship together and why it's like that and Bella got asked on a date! :D squee! Lol but it's Mike so you must've seen THAT coming!

OMC. Guys I am so, so mega sorry. Kristen is NOT quitting- I got it totally wrong okay? It's Rachelle Lefevre who's quitting (just to clear that up) I'm really sorry!

I'm not all that pleased with this chapter, especially not as a last chapter to give you for a very long time, but I have actually had quite a lot of time to write after all so I already have the first bit of the next chapter written and there may be a very slim chance of another chapter for you before I go. Possibly. Don't yell at me if there isn't but there is a possibility. But if it's not up tomorrow, then it won't be for a while. Okay? Right. :D

Right. Yeah. I hope that you liked this chapter more than I did.

PLEASE REVIEW!!!

Thanks

Steph

A lot of you were unwilling to admit what the worst item of clothing you have is... hmm... interesting... but then there were the gifts that no one wants (of course!) that are always itchy and horrible colours and the odd home-made tie-dye t-shirt and stuff. Interesting… :D

What would you eat for a midnight snack???