Hope you like...

HOPE

"Voila – chocolate cake," I announced. I placed the dessert platter into the center of our lunch table and their eyes surveyed my delicious dish.

"This looks and smells delightful," Lee Ann as she reached for her a piece.

"Go ahead and eat it up." It was Monday, the day after Aunt Bella and I made the cake, and it was moist and ready to be eaten. I could eat a whole cake by myself, but I had to think about how my tummy would feel.…

"This is great, Hope," Nicole smiled. "But you know they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach…"

"You want to give a piece to William?" I whispered.

"No, I want you to give a piece of cake to William," she beamed while sliding a slice of chocolate cake in front of me.

I eyed it curiously. "I don't know if I can do it. Our first date didn't end so hot." In fact, it ended cold and wet.

"I dare you." Her face was hard as the rest of the girls stopped in mid-chew.

"This is stupid." I shook my head at the nonsense while sliding the slice back.

"I double dare you."

"Come on, get serious, Nicole." I tried to laugh it off, but everyone bore a grave expression.

Then, a sly smile developed on her face. "Unless you want me to tell William how…most and…tantalizing your cake is, you better go over there. Wait look there's another girl over there now."

I shot my attention over at William's table. Indeed there was another girl over there and she was just flirting away with him. Jerk.

"Okay, I accept your dare. I'll even drive that floozy away."

"Let's get ready to rumble," I thought I heard Brielle whisper to Sydney. I picked the piece of cake and paced myself over to William, trying to breathe as much as possible before I choked by him.

Okay, Hope, you're doing fine…twelve feet…five feet…you're here. Now, talk. "Hey William," I chimed.

"Hey Hope," He greeted warmly.

"Hello," I said curtly to the girl while she checked me out. I did the same to her: she had tramp written all over her. I turned my attention back to William. "I just wanted to give you a slice of my chocolate cake I made. It has all off the most important ingredients, especially love." That was the dumbest thing I have ever said, but apparently he ate it up, because he tried a piece.

He closed his eyes and moaned in delight. "Mmm…Hope this simply the most scrumptious piece of chocolate cake I have ever had." He smiled before taking another piece. The girl cleared her throat impatiently. "Oh, um…Ashley would you care to try some…" he offered.

"No, thank you. Well, I need to get going, I have other things I could be doing. See you William," She waved him goodbye and shot me a look. She was a hater.

"Thank you, Hope." He placed the cake down and rose from the table.

"Oh it was no problem –"

"Not for the cake. It was delicious. But I want to thank you for making Ashley leave." I stared at him doubtfully but he just drew closer to me and whispered. "You see, she's been flirting with me ever since she saw you and me at the party…"

"Is she jealous?" I proposed cheekily. His eyes lit up as he followed the game.

"That depends; does she have something to be jealous about?"

"That depends…"

"On what?" he smirked

"If you want to give her something to be jealous about…"

"How about you and I," he began while taking my left hand. His touch sent tiny thrills that ran in my blood. "Let her get jealous while I take you out on a date."

I blushed. "What do you have in mind?"

"Doesn't matter as long as I am with you," he murmured before taking my hand to his lips. How I wished that he would kiss my lips instead of my hand. His lips softly brushed across my knuckle causing my skin to prickle in goosebumps. I looked around the cafeteria to see his table and mine were staring dumbfounded. I blushed. "I love it when you blush."

"Well, since you like my chocolate cake so much and are so interested in my family, why don't you join me and my family for dinner?"

"I'll come only if I can help prepare," he grinned.

"Great, how about Wednesday?"

"Perfect, see you then…" He knew he was watching me as I hurriedly walked back to my table.

I rejoined the girls. "Is he still looking?"

"Wait for it…okay, now squeal." Our table erupted into a fit of giggles as everyone obsessed over the fact that I drove Ashley away and scored a date with William.

"You must be something special, Hope. William doesn't fall for any girl and he's falling for you," Kayla pointed out. This was big news to me. William seemed to be a very patient guy and he was slow to get on with his feelings – except for our first date. But he did ask which made it more sentimental.

"So what happened on your first date? After you guys left the party? We saw the two of you huddled in the corner engaging in conversations." Nicole stared me down as she related some evidence.

"We talked."

"And…" she pressed while gesturing for me to continue.

"He did ask can he kiss me…"

"And you said…"

"Yes," I blushed.

"How was it? Was he good?" A frown folded onto their face as I related to them what my uncle did. "Who would have thought that such a hot guy could be so…controlling," Nicole pondered. Yes, at times I wondered the same thing.

In music class, William and I couldn't talk as much as we wanted to because Ms. Spinet said we were being too chatty, so she placed us at opposite ends of the classroom.

But at the end of class, William caught up to me as I was headed by my locker. "Hey Hope! Do you mind if I come over now? I mean we can get started on the Spanish homework."

I shoved a textbook in my locker while trying to let my heart slow down. "Umm…just let me call ahead first. I think you would understand." And he did. Before I could finish dialing Uncle Edward's cell phone, he called me.

"And the answer is 'no.'" He was growling into the phone, and I knew he was not controlling his temper.

"But you said you would try," I quietly whined into the phone. Uncle Edward was silent on the phone for awhile. "Stop doing that," I whispered.

"How do you know what I'm doing," he snapped.

"I'm going to tell Aunt Bella you took that tone with me and won't let me have friends over…"

He sighed. "Fine, Hope. I'll meet you at the house."

I closed the phone and grinned at William. "It's okay. You can come over."

We pulled up to the house. "I have to warn you that our house always has company, okay?"

He smiled while stroking my chin. "I like company…" He came over to my side to open the door and I stepped out. I could see rustling in the curtain and I knew that someone was peeping on me. I opened the front door with my key and was ambushed by my family of vampires who all screamed "William!" enthusiastically. He smiled as he greeted everyone with a handshake or hug. Did he not notice how hard or cold they were? "It's a pleasure to meet you, all."

Uncle Emmett escorted William to the nearest couch - probably going to chastise him. Sigh...men are always protective of the women in their family. But, William seemed to fit right at home - there were a couple laughs that escaped from the sitting area as I hovered in the back to watch.

Finally, once the show they were enjoying ended (some baseball exposé), William sat by me on the piano.

"This is nice," He complimented, before asking for permission to play. I gave him the go-ahead and the music filled the room. Everyone flocked over to see who was playing.

"So how was I?" William asked. I just smiled and hit him playfully. But Uncle Edward just grimaced at my action.

"I thought you were great, but I think we should get started on our homework."

"You're right." I took his hand, weaving through my family and heading upstairs.

"Wait!" Uncle Edward called.

"Yes?"

"Door open." I understood what he meant. I guess I couldn't expect too much from him so fast. I nodded and continued to trek up to my room. Opening the door, William seemed unfazed by the vastness of my room. He went straight towards my mini-sitting area.

"So what shall we do first?" he suggested.

I was confused. "I thought we were going to work on homework?"

"Hope," he chuckled. "We are."