A/N: Hey all! I am so sorry it took me so long to update! I am glad to say that Jasper has finally come back!!! School is about to make life a lot more interesting.

Bella's POV

Rose picked me up for school on Monday and I was happy when I found out that we were also picking Jasper up. The three of us caught up in the car ride to school and when we pulled into the parking lot, Rose parked right next to Edward's shiny, silver Volvo. Emmett was at her door instantly, opening it for her and then taking her in his arms for a quick hug. They drifted off toward school talking quietly.

"Hello Bella," Edward whispered as he came up beside me. I jumped about a foot in the air when he did that because I hadn't expected him to come up behind me.

"Jeez, Edward, could you try and scare me a little more?" I asked him while I put a hand to me furiously beating heart. He got a mischievous grin on his face.

"There are plenty of things that I could do to scare you," he said and I shivered. I was saved from having to respond to that when Alice let out a squeal.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Jasper!!!" she sang as she raced towards him. Both Edward and I turned to watch the exchange. All I saw was him raise one of his eyebrows at her before she jumped on him.

"I missed you so much," she continued. "I was so worried about you. Don't you ever get sick like that again." She squeezed him tight one more time before dropping to the ground. I watched as he smiled and took her hand in his and they too walked off towards the school.

"Shall we follow their lead?" Edward asked from beside me. It took me a second to realize what he meant. The instant I realized that he was asking if I wanted to hold his hand, I blushed and smiled.

"Why fight the crowd when they are having so much fun?" I responded, slipping my hand in his. He just shook his head with a smile.

"You have no idea how much fun they are having," he laughed lightly as we headed to math.

Once we entered the classroom, we were forced to part and I felt the emptiness in my hand instantly. Who knew that holding hands with someone could feel so nice?

I sat down behind Alice as Mr. Varner walked in. After the bell rang, he picked up a pile of papers from his desk. Oh, no, we were getting our tests back.

"Well class," he caught everyone's attention as he came to a stop I front of his desk. "Most of you did fairly well on this test and I am confident that you grasp the concept. Some of you, however, seem to be having an extremely difficult time with it." I laid my head down on the desk, not wanting to see my test. I was forced to look up, though, when Alice tapped me on the shoulder until I took the test. I groaned as I looked at the score. There was no way I was going to pass this class.

"How bad did you do?" Alice asked hesitantly, not wanting to upset me. I just handed her the test and put my head back down.

"There is no way that I will be able to pass this class," I mumbled my earlier thoughts aloud. Alice set the test back down on my desk right before Mr. Varner called me up to his desk.

"Miss Swan and Mr. Cullen, please come up to my desk," he requested. I complied, leaving my test upside down on my desk so that no one else would see my horrible grade.

"I am sorry to say that you did not do well at all on this test Bella," he told me. Like I didn't already know that. "That is why I have decided for Mr. Cullen to tutor you in math." My jaw dropped. Could this get any more embarrassing? Honestly, now he would know that I sucked at math. I just nodded silently, knowing that I didn't have any other option.

"You two are dismissed back to your seats," he told us, then added as we started to turn and leave. "I almost forgot. I will be changing everyone's seats soon; you two will be sitting next to each other." Both Edward and I waited for a moment to make sure that he was really done talking before he started to walk me to my desk.

"I'm so sorry you have to do this Edward," I began to apologize. He grasped my shoulder gently and turned me to face him.

"You have no reason to be ashamed Bella," he interrupted me. "Everyone struggles at something." I shook my head at that; Edward was perfect at everything.

"You don't struggle at anything," I muttered under my breath. He must have heard me because he responded to the comment instantly.

"Trust me, Bella," he whispered to me. "I struggle with something everyday; it is just not your average struggle." With that, he walked back to his own seat and I finished walking back to mine. I shivered involuntarily as I sat down. His statement reminded me once again that he was not human. I still didn't know what he was; though I was slowly gathering facts about him to try and figure that out, I didn't want to guess and be wrong.

The rest of math class went by fairly quickly. I didn't pay much attention to what was going on and was thankful when Edward came up to me about the tutoring sessions at the end of class.

"Would this Thursday after school be a good time for us to have a study session?" he asked me politely. I thought over my schedule before nodding my head.

"That sounds great," I answered him, getting my stuff together. He smiled at me but stayed silent as he walked me to my next class.

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, and before I knew it, I was waiting in the lunch line talking to Alice and Rosalie.

"Oh my god," Rose whispered to us as we inched closer to the stack of trays. "You will never believe what Emmett did yesterday." She was being so dramatic that I had to hold back a slight giggle. It wasn't that I found the situation funny; it's just that she reminded me of those people in soap operas who over-dramatize everything. But that was Rosalie for you.

"I don't know Rose, what did he do?" I asked. As I looked at her more closely, I noticed that she was glowing, practically oozing happiness. This got me genuinely curious and I glanced over to see that Alice was curious as well.

"Well," she drew the word out as we moved forward again. "After he took me out into the garage, we talked for a little. After that, he leaned down and he kissed me." She had the dreamiest look on her face as she said this. She must have it bad to be this worked up over a first kiss. Rose wasn't one to jump into every relationship opportunity that came passing by. Alice squealed when she heard the news.

"That is so cute," she said excitedly. "You guys are so cute together." I nodded my head in agreement before I realized something.

"Rose? We were at the Cullen house last Thursday. Why did it take you till now to tell us what happened?" I asked. She blushed and looked down at her feet.

"My first reaction was to tell both of you right away," she admitted. "But then I thought about it and decided that I should ask Emmett if it was okay to tell any9one. I didn't know how he would feel about other people knowing, so I figured I'd play it safe rather than be sorry." I smiled and was about to comment on how she really felt about Emmett when Jessica Stanley got up on the stage at the far end of the cafeteria.

"Hello everyone," she said brightly into a microphone. She got a few responses, but the room was mostly quiet, just waiting for her to continue. "Well, I am excited to tell you that this year, we will be hosting a very special event." She paused here to build up the anticipation and I had to admit that even I was curious as I got my food. "This year we will be having a Halloween costume party!!!" Her news was greeted by excitement as all of the students started murmuring amongst themselves. I was one of the only people not thrilled to be having another social function.

"Bella, I don't care what it takes, you are going to that party," Rose told me. Alice nodded her agreement fervently.

"I won't let you get out of this either," Alice responded to my pleading look. I just groaned aloud at the thought of it, I was not going to survive this year.