The Obligatory Disclaimer can be seen in chapter 1.

Well look-ee here, another chapter! I know it's been a while, mostly due to life getting fucking busy and shit… and that whole internet craptacular thing. It's still slow as all fuck, but a couple of reviews caught my attention enough, recently, for me to actually dredge through the slow connection and post something. As such, a special thanks and shout-out to CloudAuditoreFaire-SisterJ


I

Isabella looked carefully, silently at Edward. He was certainly attractive enough, when he wasn't being annoying or possessive. She'd always acknowledged that, at least. His features were well proportioned, pleasing even, and the pale cream complexion of his skin set well against the rich coppery color of his hair. She suspected half of the family's fashion sense came from Alice's obsession with clothing, but nevertheless he and the others all dressed well. Physically, they weren't unappealing. Emmet was attractive enough as well, though significantly larger in muscled bulk than Edward, and had a much better personality in her opinion.

But Edward is annoying, possessive, and whiney… and Emmet is a giant child, even if he's also a sweetheart… The thoughts were frustrated at the least, and she shifted her gaze absently to Jasper. Probably the most attractive of the three, actually. I like his hair, it looks all silky, like Rosealie's. The thought stopped her completely. No… she wasn't attracted to Jasper either, at least that she could tell. He seemed nice, really, and attractive, but she couldn't even bring herself to imagine attempting to kiss them. Her only attempt with Edward had been awkward, uncomfortable, and left her somewhat squeamish until Alice had begun petting her hair again. Jake's attractive enough too, especially with his recent changes. Tall, muscular, symmetrical and appealing features… and we have similar interests. No. Not him either. Her glance shifted idly around the cafeteria.

Mike Newton seemed almost attractive, with his pretty boyish look, and there were several other boys that didn't seem completely unappealing, none of which had aggravated her as much as Newton had. Nevertheless, she could only bring herself to look at them objectively. Most of them she hadn't ever really noticed before even. Slowly she swept her gaze around again, picking girls out of the crowd. Pretty… pretty… ugh nasty… pretty… Who?

Isabella blushed brightly when the girl she'd stopped to gaze at somehow noticed that she was being stared at. Pretty green eyes met hers, and a light blush dusted across the girl's cheeks. Izzy hadn't ever really paid much attention to her peers before, but she was surprised she hadn't noticed the girl before. Pale skin, though definitely not Cullen-pale, with light freckles that she could barely make out from the distance, and red-blonde hair stood out. Isabella blushed when she realized that she'd continued staring, despite being caught, and quickly turned back to her food.

"What's wrong?" The whispered words seemed to catch the attention of the remaining Cullens, and Izzy glanced in embarrassed surprise at Jasper. How he'd managed to be sitting next to her was a bit of a shock, considering that she usually had Edward on one side, and either Alice or Emmet on the other. Edward had been tugged down next to Emmet in a debate she hadn't paid any mind to, and the shuffle of seating had resulted in her sitting between the mated pair. "Your emotions shifted from your usual frustrated and annoyed boredom to flustered and embarrassed." From his concerned look, and Edward's increased curiosity, she wondered just how, exactly, he'd edited his words, no matter their apparent truth.

"It's… nothing." She blushed more brightly, and noticed him shift uncomfortably as he stopped breathing. "Sorry." Emmet glanced at her with a fond smile before turning again to continue attempting to engage Edward in their little debate, which she passively heard involved the merits of a bear versus a cougar and decided not to listen in on. Edward however, seemed to be watching her not-so-discreetly, that same look he'd always worn when she'd first seen him back in place. "Am I really always bored and annoyed?"

"Not around us, but at school yes." Jasper answered, looking curiously out at the student populous. She let his southern drawl, light as the accent was, sooth her a bit. "Who were you looking at?" She blushed again, and saw him shift more. "Sorry, I'll drop it. Yes, at school you are usually bored, annoyed, or frustrated… or all of them. Jessica's voice makes you angry, though, and I wonder why you don't twitch when you have to be near Mike. Around us you are mostly content, if occasionally uncomfortable… and my love makes you happy when you are both playing. Thank-you for that."

Isabella had to admit that this was the longest she'd ever interacted with Jasper. He seemed sweet. "Emmet is a goofball. Sweet, but a goofball. I'm… I'm glad that someone decided to like me so strongly when I moved here." She paused, frowning. "I didn't have a lot of friends when I left Arizona." She shrugged and sighed, letting that memory slip away. Maybe him talking to her this much meant that he'd decided to like, or at least interact with, her.

"Thank-you… so few people can so easily let go of their emotions like that." His smile was genuine, and for once didn't seem to be strained by the emotions and scents of the sea of students. She smiled back, a little embarrassed by her lack of response to that. It wasn't exactly something she could really say you're welcome to. "But I thought you were friends with that dog on the reservation? And Angela Webber doesn't seem to aggravate you."

"Angela's nice, but we don't have much in common." She paused in thought. "Then again, I don't have much in common with most of you and we get along well enough for Edward to pretend not to stalk me." Jasper chuckled lightly, the look of strain starting to return. "Try concentrating on what I feel, instead of the surrounding emotions. Focus instead of letting it all seep in… like focusing on a single sound or voice." His eyebrows shot up. "Sorry… erm… yeah, Angela is nice… but I don't like the people around her very much. And Jake's complicated. I love working on my Lady with him, but he's really temperamental right now. Every time we've talked he's tried to insist that I live on the reservation with some girl named Leah, and never be around any of you again."

Jasper's strained expression slowly shifted into a frown, and he exchanged glances with Alice, who nodded. "Leah is the name of the second wolf who phased. She doesn't participate much in the duties of the pack, only the formalities, as far as we know. She's never been at the meetings their Alpha calls with Carlisle." Jasper's voice was an odd mixture of his twang and a growl. "None of us like the idea of you living with one of the dogs, Isabella."

"I doubt it has any chance of happening, Jasper." She said softly, staring directly into his caramel-shaded eyes, and carefully placing a hand on his arm. He tensed at the contact. "I'm not going to live with the wolves." Concentrate on my emotions and that it won't happen, southern-boy. Stop getting all growly, no matter how sweet the intent behind it is.

"Jazz, she'd never give us up for smelly dogs." Emmet said with a soft chuckle, wrapping both, burly arms around her, and the blonde's eyes started to immediately lighten in color. "Right Izzy-bear?"

"How did Isabella end up between the two of you anyway?" Edward huffed, eyeing Jasper suspiciously. "And stop pawing at her."

"He isn't pawing at me any more than he always does, Edward." Izzy grunted, attempting to lift Emmet's arms off of her, and failing. "And he's gay. He doesn't paw at me."

"Your last attempt at petting her hair was closer to pawing." Alice chimed in, making Emmet laugh as he actually lifted Isabella up, into his lap, and shifted their seats so that he was next to his mate. Really, with how often Emmet sits with and leans on Jasper, how are people stupid enough to think he's dating Rosalie? Her glance shifted to the stiff, annoyed expression on the blonde girl's face. They're close, but she hasn't even spoken to him in a few days.

"Emmet said something that upset Rose." Edward whispered barely within human hearing, and she heard a vampiric growl start up on the other end of the table. It had Rosalie's pitch to it, so she doubted it was Emmet or Jasper. "Alice has been plotting asking you to go shopping with her."

"Emmet gets to play with you every time you come over, and Edward keeps lurking off to your house now… it's my turn." Alice pouted cutely, and Isabella's eye twitched. I'm a toy. I'm a toy that the Cullens are fighting over getting to "play" with. Edward's chest rumbled slightly, and she blushed over the realization of how that thought sounded in the wrong context. His growl tapered off and a slow smirk lifted his lips as he glanced purposefully between them, lifting up a hand to attempt resting it on her shoulders. Not like that… she's pretty Edward but I haven't even pictured her like that!

"And yet there's so much petting between you two lately." Edward mumbled, still with that smirk, and she pointedly ignored him to pay attention to Alice's pouting and attempts to get her out shopping with her. As he stood and shifted around so that she was closer to the petite vampire, placing himself between Isabella and Emmet, he whispered, "She won't give up, by the way."


R

Rosalie growled softly to herself, watching as Alice, somehow, convinced the human to be her living, breathing, Barbie Doll. The short vampire insisted on an entire Saturday of trying different outfits for Isabella, different looks, actual makeup. The concept was almost interesting, except for the fact that Edwrad watched on with a smug, soft grin on his damn face. I do NOT like Isabella like that. She's a human. She's weak and fragile. She's annoying. She's a threat to our family because Edward is stupid enough to be tempting himself with her.Unbidden and unwelcome came the thought that it was quite a temptation too, with how good the girl actually did smell. Edward's dark eyes shifted to her and she heard his soft rumble of a growl. Rosalie actually smirked, softly, as Isabella tapped Alice's hand, and the short vampire leaned quickly around and over to smack Edward's shoulder. What a system. Fun game... make you growl, the human hears and taps Alice, Alice smacks you. Should I make peace, give her a collar to put on you, Pet? Edward gave a soft growl again, turning back to the human, who absently tapped Alice again, and another soft smack could be heard. Alice couldn't hit him as actual reprimand, not at school where the entire student body could hear the contact. Serves you right for peeking into my thoughts, ass.

Her gaze lingered briefly on the human again, and her jaw set. Emmett was just being an idiot. She only watched them because of how frustrating it was that Edward endangered their family like this. She wanted to be able to put a stop to it if anything particularly horrible were to happen. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the human roll her eyes at Alice, and complain that they weren't destroying her existing wardrobe. Edward gently tried stroking the girl's hair, and Rosalie growled softly again, even as Isabella made an odd face and tried to put up with it. "Just don't pull or get your fingers tangled." The human whispered, and Alice began giggling uncontrollably.


TBC