I still don't own Twilight. It all belongs to Stephenie.
Thank you to my friends for pre-reading and beta'ing this quickly for me.
And thank YOU for the amazing response. I don't have time to answer reviews, but we can talk in my group on FB. ;) See you there for pictures and answers of any question you might have.
Over the following days I try my best to keep a low profile. Every magazine is crazy about finding out more about my mysterious man.
We know he goes as Eddie, so the best guess if that he's real name is Edward. From that sentence they've written an article about people named like that and the meaning of the name.
Edward's mostly amused by this, but soon they'll know more. It's just a matter of time.
I spend Christmas Day surrounded by family—both our families, even Jasper's—all together at the Cullens' place. Carla is still upset with her brother, and apparently with me too. The only one she's talking to is Jazz. The charade I'm mad at you because you're leaving disappears when she opens her present from her brother, a much desired DVD collection of books adaptions. She hugs him and apologizes for not speaking with him for almost a week.
On the second day of Christmas is my concert in the park. I'll have it easy. After speaking with the organizer and some of the other singers, I decide on only four songs, maybe five with an encore. On the night of New Year's Eve comes that private party. Alice knows these aren't my thing, but I know this guy and we've been friends for years.
Jacob Black is the son of the mayor so yeah, I couldn't say no.
I talk to him a day before the party and he suggests me to bring my friends, when I hint at Jazz and Edward joining me. Alice and Jimmy will be there no matter what so it feels natural to bring my best friend and boyfriend along.
"That's what you're wearing?" Edward asks from his spot on the sofa in my suite at the hotel.
"Uh, yeah." I tug at the elastic over my boobs then continue sticking hairpin into my up-do. It's getting on my nerves. I hold one side up and the other starts falling apart. I'm close to destroying what took Alice half an hour to do. She's left me to finish the easy task of fixing my hairstyle. It's not easy, I'm telling you.
"That's too… There's too much skin, Bella!" he exclaims, coming to me, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind. "But I promise to be a good sport and let you go like this."
"Let me go like this? It's not an option! I'm wearing this!" I say amused.
"Just hear me out. You can wear this if you do something for me." He licks my neck, his fingers bundling up the hem of the dress.
Uh huh.
"We don't have time."
"Just be quiet. There's always time for sex. Put your hands on the mirror and bend a little."
He lifts the skirt of my dress and puts it high on my waist, pushes my panties aside then I can see through the mirror as he unzips his pants and pulls his dick out. Much to my amusement he takes a condom from his back pocket and once covered, he slips inside me. I moan loudly, my fingers trying in a futile attempt to claw at the mirror for leverage.
It is quick and dirty and everything I need. Also, once we're done I have a sound reason to release my hair from the up-do. It's fallen apart during the romp.
Alice has a short hysteric moment when she sees my hair down and a huge hickey on my neck, but Jazz manages to calm her before we get in the car.
At the party, I introduce Edward and Jazz to Jacob, telling them about we met in Los Angeles and how this friendship began, how we were happy to learn that we shared the hometown and how later after we've told our parents separately about each other, both our dads said they knew each other. That piece of information has been mind-blowing.
I've had no idea Dad knew the Mayor.
~*~ ONE OF THE BOYS ~*~
Our stay in San Francisco is something I don't take for granted.
How can I?
I'm aware that this isn't likely to happen again, not any time soon. Edward understands it, too, because after a lot of pleading from me soon he's the one dragging me out to visit and stuff. Two days before we have to head back home, he wakes me at the crack of dawn telling me we're checking out.
Still sleepy I ask if the parents called or something, but he shakes his head and smiles, telling me we're going to Los Angeles. It's close and he says it will be a shame not to visit since we're a few miles away.
I'm not sure about this, but go with it.
The problem that we don't notice until late that night after driving to LA, visiting and having fun is that both our cell phones have died. And just because we're lazy asses and don't go to the car to get the chargers, we suffer the consequences when in the morning we decide to be responsible and charge the phones.
Both our moms yell and make us come home early. Apparently, they have called the hotel we were supposed to be checked in San Francisco, but obviously we were long gone.
When we arrive back home, we're grounded and not allowed to talk to each other until school starts. But we're smart and use Jazz as our wingman. He's willing, too. Like he has a choice.
The new school year brings a new student and everyone is buzzing with this news. I don't get to see the new girl until lunch.
Edward and I are talking about the band project. It's been something we decided to do over the summer. Being grounded in the summer, in such a heat…yeah it damaged our brains. We want to have a band—the three of us. We even have songs penned down. The only missing thing is the location.
Who'd allow a bunch of teenagers to sing in a club?
"There he is! Over here, man!" Edward exclaims when he spots Jazz walking in the cafeteria. He's with a tiny blonde girl, dressed in all black, black eyeliner making her blue eyes pop, leather bracelets on her wrist. If that's the new girl, I'm already best friends with her.
Jazz comes over after buying lunch. The blonde girl is a step behind him, pocketing her cash.
"Hey, guys! Just met Jane. She's new here and apparently the newbie is not that interesting to the fuckers around here."
"Hi, Jane!" I wave. "I'm Bella. This is Edward."
She seems to relax under my eyes, before she takes a seat next to me. "Nice to meet you. I'm so happy there are normal people around here."
I grin. "We're as normal as we can be," I promise.
I become aware that Edward and Jazz are having some soundless conversation. It looks like Edward is nodding to Jane with his chin as in prompting Jazz to do something to which our friend shakes his head looking embarrassed. We both feel guilty for abandoning Jazz for some private time, but we're not good matchmakers. If he likes Jane, they'll end up together.
So to come to Jasper's aid, I step on my boyfriend's foot, narrowing my eyes at him.
"Oh, I already like you!" Jane exclaims.
"They're such boys," I mumble, rolling my eyes and turning to face her.
It surprises me how quick I befriend her. I'm not good around other girls. I like to be around boys, I get them and they get me. Jane is different, though. She is like the missing part of our group.
She tells us about her dad moving here when he divorced her skanky mom—these are her words. Her dad bought a pub and is planning on restoring it and making good money out of it. The three of us get starry eyed at the mention of the pub which makes her laugh at our expressions.
Edward tells her about our plan to sing in a club or pub or some place. She promises to talk with her dad but it most likely will be a go considering she plays the guitar, too.
From that moment on three becomes four.
After a couple months, Jane gets the guts to come out to us, and we don't bat an eye. So what? To each their own. She jokes that Edward has motivated her to do it just to stop him from pestering poor Jazz to ask her out.
Her dad, Marcus, is down with the kids and accepts to have us play at his pub. He even pays us. Though, there's a rule—no drinking alcohol. We respect that because we love what we're doing.
It takes a while for all our parents to accept it, but once they meet Marcus they see we're not going to be sold to the Mafia or something.
In the first week after winter break when we return to school, the principal has a surprise for us seniors. As we make our way to the gym, I can hear everyone guessing what he has planned for us.
Most of our fellow seniors are wishing for a free day which is unlikely, others think he's going to talk to us about prom, but I know what's going on. I've heard the Math teacher saying something about a Sex-Ed project.
"Where's boyfriend?" Jazz whispers in my ear.
"No idea. Didn't see him since we arrived this morning," I answer.
"Looking for Edward?" Jane asks, giggling. We both nod. "Last I saw him was in Math which is my second class of the day. He's probably hiding from the new teacher."
"Why? He seems pretty cool. I can't say I miss the old cow that decided to retire in the middle of the school year!" I mutter.
"Well, from the moment he called our names and saw Edward…" Jane giggles some more. "He gave him a look. You know what I'm talking about? Cleary he has no idea that teachers shouldn't look like that at students."
"Oh gosh! I missed the fun!" Now I really wish I switched my Spanish to Math so I could share with Edward.
"He's coming," Jazz hisses to us.
True, my boyfriend scurries toward us, looking anxiously over his shoulder. He slumps in the chair next to me, sighing in relief. "Hey." He leans to kiss my cheek.
"You okay?" I check, trying to keep the amusement from my voice.
"The new dude that is supposed to teach math gave me the look then tried to keep me after class because he was impressed with my knowledge of logarithms."
"Whoa! Really?" I catch Jane's eye, and she puts her face on her palms, giggling like mad.
"You knew?" Edward gasps. "And you're not in the least worried about me?"
The principal starts talking, so I drop my voice and lean closer to Edward. "Why should I be worried? You don't plan on leaving me for him, do you?"
He rolls his eyes. "If I go missing, you just know that the Math teacher kidnapped me."
The principal speaks louder, his eyes on us. Oops. We fall quiet and try paying attention to his rambling.
Soon I tune him out as boyfriend starts kissing down my neck and I scratch his forearm the wayhe likes.
"I guess they don't like dolls and want to make one of their own," I hear Jazz saying loudly.
It makes me snap out of my Edward induced haze and focus on my surroundings. Everyone is standing and slowly making their way to the front of the room.
"What's going on?" Edward seems to be just as out of it as me.
Laughing both Jane and Jazz tell us to go to the principal. We'll know when we get there.
Curious we make our way there, with them behind us. On the way to the front of the room I see people—couples—with dolls in their hands.
Holy shit!
Not that kind of project in Sex-Ed.
Why?
"Name?" the principal asks when we arrive in front of him.
"Swan," I tell him fearfully. Why does he want to know that?
I see he has everyone paired up and I share a horrified look with Edward. The principal taps another name I can't see because of the pen. "Whitlock."
"Sir?" Edward says on a pleading voice. "Uh, I'm…with Bella. Swan—" He points to me when the principal looks bored at him. "—do you think maybe…is it possible for us to be paired? Cullen it's my name."
After a few seconds, the miracle happens and instead of Jasper's name, the principal writes Edward's name next to mine. We're instructed to pick a doll and the using book then move along. I can hear him muttering something about hoping this experience will make us ponder on being careful.
We leave the gym and decide to wait for our friends outside. There are other seniors juggling with their dolls. Most of them don't seem to know how to turn the doll on.
Edward leans against the school building, keeping the doll in his hand, holding it around the waist…like it's some simple toy.
"Be careful with that. We're being graded," I warn him as I dig in the bag they gave me for the book. I can see a lot of stuff for the baby doll.
"It's not on," he mutters, twisting his hand. Somehow he must have turned it on without realizing because when he makes the wild hand gesture the doll's head hits the school wall the parking lot is filled with loud cries from our doll.
"Shit! Shut up," he mutters, stuffing the doll in his jacket. It seems to cry louder.
"Edward!" I shout in between amusement and despair. "That's like a real baby! You're suffocating it."
"I'm not. Shush, you stupid thing." He holds it tighter against him, under the jacket glaring at everyone that looks at us in shock.
"Edward," I coax him. "Give me the doll."
The second he opens the jacket two things happen. We gasp in shock at its red face and Jazz appears next to us with Jane.
"Don't kill it, dude!" Jazz yells.
"I'm not," Edward mutters passing me the doll.
Once it's in my arms I'm not sure what to do with it. I feel silly to hold it as a real baby, but that seems to do the trick. Once it quieted, some of our fellow seniors come closer to ask how we turned it on—to which we don't have an answer. Edward must have pushed some button.
In the book it says one of the parents should be with the baby at all times. There's even a carry-on and one of these marsupial bags that go around the shoulders.
I have gym and it's out of question for me to take the doll, so worried he'd really kill the doll, I put it in that bag that is strapped over Edward's chest. He promises to be careful.
Some aren't as lucky as us, and both parents have gym at the same time. So there are a bunch of crying babies on the benches…until Coach whistles loudly and makes one of the owners of the dolls to stay with it. Obviously all the girls scatter away.
It's going to be a long week.
Let the fun begin, huh?