Forks Academy for Special Gifted Students

by StarStrellaStar

Twins Isabella and Christabel are not your ordinary, everyday girls. At least that's what the teachers of FASGS, a magical school, say. Now, the two contrasting girls have to deal with their new lives and an unexpected secret that awaits them in the dark.

21. Well Kid, I Guess We Just Happened

A/N: Hello, one and all! This is Star's friend here, updating for her. Star currently has no access to any computer, therefore she's been adding the finishing typed touches to this chapter on her brand new iPhone *everyone ohhs and ahhs*

Sooooooooooooo sorry for such a long wait. Not only did school start back up again a while ago—hate you!—but also, Star recently moved into a new apartment *cheers* and has been so "damnass busy" (her words, not mine!) with packing and unpacking and all that jazz. As you can tell, she can't even update herself (this is where I come in in all my awesome glory).

Now, since I don't know what else to write because I can't ramble quite the same way as Star can, you may all cheer and rejoice and cry with happiness over the fact that you can all waste (IN A GOOD WAY!) some minutes of your lives to read this amazing chapter of this epic story.

I read over her A/N from her last chapter, and noted that she said that this one was "already halfway done" and that she was "pretty positive that [she'd] be done in the next few days." What lies, Star. It's okay though, we all love her, right? (nod enthusiastically or you might end up having to wait another treacherous few months for the next update!).

Enjoy! :)

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Bella POV

I woke up with black hair fanned across my face. I groaned and pushed my sister's hair from my face. Wait...what in the world is Chris doing here?

My mind rushed back to the night before. I remember Alice and Jasper volunteering to take the couch and leaving the guestroom to me and Edward, so why was Chris here now? I opened my right eye a tiny bit, and sure enough, Chris was lying right there. But then what happened to Edward? That question was answered immediately when I heard a grunt from behind me and felt his body shift. I relaxed and let my eyes drift shut again.

A second later, I sat up abruptly and processed the situation properly. Why the hell am I lying in bed with Chris and Edward?

I must have said that out loud because both of them grunted. Chris seemed to be somewhat awake.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I hissed at her.

"No cursing so early in the morning," she grumbled.

I let out a sigh of frustration. "What are you doing here?" I asked, struggling to stay quiet as not to wake Edward.

"Sleeping," Chris murmured and turned over.

I looked at her for several moments before I decided that it would be best just to push her off the bed.

She hit the floor with a loud thud, but apparently not loud enough for Edward to wake up, since he just sighed and resumed snoring.

"Even his snoring is pretty," Chris muttered as she sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her head.

"When will you explain to me what you are doing here?" I asked impatiently.

"Oh stop being so bitchy. It's not like I interrupted you guys with anything," she replied and got back on the bed.

"That is hardly the point, but you can't just turn up in other people's beds."

"You never used to mind it when I crawled into your bed."

"That's because there was no Edward," I whisper-yelled.

Chris quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Not everybody tolerates random people in their bed," I added.

"Oh please, I thought it was a secret fantasy of every guy to have twins in his bed."

I groaned. "Could we please, just this once, try not to make everything sexual?"

"I'll think about it as soon as I'm awake," Chris replied and slumped back into the pillows, sighing contently.

"You are awake now, so get up and leave!"

"No, thanks."

I stared at her in disbelief before I let out anther sigh. "Fine, have it your way," I said quietly.

"Did you say something?" Edward's voice was still thick with sleep when he spoke.

I stared at him. Why did that wake him up?

He was looking at me, still half asleep, and then he spotted Chris. "What's Chris doing here?" he asked, yawning.

"Nobody knows."

"What time is it?"

"2 AM," I replied bitterly.

"Then don't sit there... just sleep," Edward instructed and pulled me to his side.

"But Chris—"

"Is a very uninteresting matter right now," Edward interrupted me gently.

"I can still hear you guys," Chris remarked, but she didn't sound as if she was actually paying attention.

Edward didn't respond to that. "Sleep, my Bella," he murmured and then started snoring quietly again.

Apparently I was the only one who found this a little strange.

I settled back into the pillows and fell back asleep.

"Now that she's actually supposed to be awake, she is sleeping like the dead," a voice complained, but didn't really sound upset. It was Edward and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"The dead don't sleep," Chris retorted with a yawn.

"Oh really? I never knew that."

"Yeah, yeah. I have a question for you."

"Hmm?"

"Why didn't you throw a fit when you noticed me here?"

"I wasn't awake enough to process it correctly, plus isn't it every guys fantasy to lie in bed with twins?" Edward said in a very serious manner, although I knew he was joking.

"I knew it," Chris giggled.

"Jokes aside, I just figured you had your reasons. Why else would you volunteer to be in the same room as me?"

"Just because I can't stand you doesn't mean I hate you."

"That's certainly good to know."

Chris hummed. "It's just a little weird, you know. I feel like I'm losing the connection to her," she then said quietly.

"That's ridiculous, you two are bonded, there is no way that you will ever lose your connection," Edward told her.

"But that's just it, the bond didn't even really exist in that sense before we came here, and even though it's still all new, I feel like Bella is already shutting herself off from me or something." There was a pause before she continued talking. "Bella doesn't seem to be as affected by the bond as I am," she elaborated.

Edward made a thoughtful sound before he spoke, "And you're blaming me for that?"

"Yes...no..." she sighed. "Both, I guess. It's not your fault and I don't 'blame' you, I just think that it's because of you. She's slowly getting more attached to you, and eventually you'll be the one finishing her sentences," Chris answered wistfully. She sighed again and I felt the bed shift. "Ah well, the day was bound to come sometime anyway. You should wake her up or she'll be late to order her faithful minions around."

I heard the door open and close quietly and I knew that Chris had left the room.

My mind slowly processed the conversation.

Did she think that Edward was replacing her? It sounded like it. Was that why she just opened up to Edward a little?

My thoughts were interrupted by Edward.

"Bella, love, I know that you are not sleeping anymore," he mumbled into my ear, tracing light patterns on my arm.

A little smile crept onto my face. "How did you know?" I asked him, not opening my eyes.

"You are a horrible actress," he told me, resting his head on my shoulder now. "Plus your leg twitched when I talked about the twin fantasy."

I groaned and opened my eyes. I had to crane my neck a little to be able to look into his bright green eyes and when I did, I was grinning like a fool.

"Hey," I greeted him stupidly.

"Hey, yourself."

Edward's hair was in it's usual morning mess, sticking into every possible direction. I ran a hand through it in an attempt to tame it, even though I knew it was useless.

"You don't really have weird fantasies about me and Chris, do you?" I asked him. Even to my own ears I sounded a little insecure.

"Does it count if, in the dream, Chris locked you in a tower and then turned into a giant dragon to prevent me from getting to you?" he asked with a grin.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Ready to get up?" he asked.

I yawned and nodded.

Edward placed a quick kiss on my lips before he slid off the bed.

The day started like the previous mornings. Alice was already busy planning out all of our breaks. Seeing that today was the last day, she was having a bit difficulty with this, because some of us had some kind of grand finale today.

I had, for instance, along with my water show today, also a few dancing-on-ice sessions with Natalia. I sighed just thinking about it. And then there was...

"Oh," I said quietly when I remembered. How could I have forgotten?

Everyone turned to look at me. I ignored them and focused my attention on Edward instead.

"Do you think I can rent you today?" I asked him.

"I'm sure you could," he replied slowly. "But why would you want to do that?"

"I totally forgot that I have to crown my king today," I explained.

"Crown your king?" Edward asked with a devious grin.

I pulled a grimace at him. "The one that I go to the party with tomorrow," I clarified.

"Which would be me."

I bit my lip and sat down beside Chris. She was eyeing me with a curious expression just like the others.

"Bella?" Edward asked, stretching my name.

"Yes?" I replied innocently.

"Is there something I should know?"

"..." I squeaked quickly.

"Um...hat?" he asked with a dumbfounded expression.

Meanwhile Chris was already shaking with silent laughter. Either she had been rummaging through my mind or she had understood what I said.

Alice was grinning now too and leaned over to Rose to whisper something in her ear.

Oh man, life was so much easier when I had friends who didn't have some kind of freaky superpowers.

"You kind of have to win in the Royal Games to be my date," I repeated slowly.

"Royal Games?" all the boys asked at the same time.

"Yeah."

"Meaning?" Edward motioned with his hands for me to elaborate.

"Meaning that there is a contest and the two winners get to date me and Natalia," I answered reluctantly and stared at a spot on the floor as if I was talking to an invisible bug.

"And why didn't this come up earlier?" Edward asked, sounding a little desperate.

"I forgot. It's not like I was too keen on this idea, so I kind of suppressed it and only just remembered it now," I defended myself.

Edward let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, tell me what I have to do and I'll just go and win this thing," Edward said.

"I can't tell you."

"Do you want someone else to win?" Even if it wasn't very prominent, I could still see hurt washing over his expression.

"No, but I still can't tell you. It was one of Bryce's stupid ideas and one of the rules was that Natalia and I don't get to know what the games are exactly, in order to prevent us from telling our boyfriends or anyone else along those lines."

While Edward looked highly frustrated with that, Alice got more and more excited.

"When do these games take place?" she asked.

"At noon."

"That's perfect, I was already looking for an activity for all of us. Well, I guess we won't be playing Quidditch then," she said and clapped her hands.

"Quidditch?" Both Chris and I asked.

"Yes, the anti-gravity people decided to make a Quidditch field for the last day. Not a big one, but still. It would always be three on three."

"Doesn't sound as much fun as the Royal Games and I bet as soon as the news is out, everyone will be attending those," Rose barged in.

"Hopefully not," Edward grumbled

"Well, we could get Eddie better chances," Rose started casually.

Everyone turned to look at her now

"How?" Edward asked eagerly.

"All of you boys compete."

"That's brilliant," Edward cheered. "And you are going to do it, you all owe me in some way or another," he then added, looking at each of the boys.

"What? No way. When I win a date with Bella, I don't want to share her with Eddie," Emmett protested.

I sighed and just turned my attention to the breakfast. I could care less which one of them won, as long as it wasn't a random person in the crowd.

On our way to the fair, Emmett and Jasper were already planning out strategies for winning, which was ridiculous, because they didn't even know what they were going to be doing.

Emmett seemed to think something along the lines of gladiator fights.

When we got to the fair, I saw what I had been dreading. I suddenly remembered why I had suppressed this information when I saw the hundreds and hundreds of posters announcing the Royal Games. I had been dreading this part of our display. Not only was the attention of hundreds of people on me, but there would be the attention of...well, hundreds of people on me.

"Well, good luck, Bella," Chris said with a grin before she took off.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that you will not land in the fangs of some pervert," Emmett reassured me and then left as well.

"And I will make sure that you will not end up with Emmett," Jasper called over to me since he and Rose already departed.

"Well, I'm not sure yet if I will be participating," Dylan said thoughtfully.

"Of course you will," Alice told him in a bossy tone.

"Maybe."

"What do you mean by 'maybe'. I thought you liked Bella."

"I do, but I was planning on spending as much time as possible in the Pyros display."

"Why? Are you upset because Chris is being nice to all those guys drooling over her?"

They were obviously talking about their later visit at the display. According to them, Chris had been flirting with every male within her reach and charmed them all with her smile. At least that was what Alice had said. The fact that she had been half-naked probably helped as well.

Alice and Dylan took off, not once stopping their little argument.

I looked at Edward, who was standing beside me and had been awfully quiet.

"Something wrong?" I asked him carefully.

He looked down at me with a calculating expression. "Do you really have no idea what the challenge will be?" he asked, sounding almost desperate.

I shook my head. "Sorry, you would have to read Bryce's mind, and he's been popping Psych Blockers like nobody's business."

Edward growled something that sound vaguely like one of the many curses that Chris usually let out.

"I'm sure it's nothing that you can't handle," I told him as confidently as I could.

I was pretty sure that Edward was rather brilliant in numerous things, but since I didn't know what exactly the games contained, I couldn't be sure that Edward would be able to pass.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by Edward when he gripped my shoulders and spun me around so that I faced him.

The look on his face was very aggressive. "I swear that I'm going to win this for you, and if not, then whoever wins is probably more worth your time than I am," he said and then gave me quick and fierce kiss before he let go and left.

I stared after him with wide eyes. I wasn't quite sure what just happened, but if I interpreted his words the right way, he had been telling me that whoever wins should be my boyfriend instead of him.

Chris POV

I yawned when Meredith put the chain with the little bells on my ankle.

"Didn't sleep well?" she asked me sympathetically.

"You could say that," I answered, thinking back to last night.

If those idiots would have listened to my protests just once last night, I wouldn't have been forced to sleep with Bella and Edward.

I walked out of the bathroom, quickly brushed through my hair, and then threw myself on the giant bed, just like the night before. Dylan knew that he was now able to use the bathroom and went in without a word.

I stretched once before I decided to crawl under the covers and get comfortable on my side of the bed.

I was sleeping on the left and Dylan to the right and in between us was enough space for another person to sleep there. With some luck, even Emmett.

I was so exhausted that I barely noticed that Dylan had returned and was now turning of the lights.

Unlike yesterday, there was no room for awkward silence, because I was already halfway in dream land.

"Chris?" Dylan's voice cut through the comfortable silence.

"Hmm?"

"I never knew you were such a great dancer," he said casually.

"I'm not. I'm an average dancer," I grumbled. Despite the childhood belly dancing lessons that Mom had cut off for greater projects, I never managed to be an outstanding belly dancer. Not that I minded, I didn't even want to be a belly dancer. I was already content that I didn't look like a fool when I danced to my favorite songs.

"Well, I'm not sure about that," Dylan replied. Something in his voice had changed, but I didn't want to bring myself to think about it.

"You're only saying that because you enjoyed the sight of me in the costume," I sighed.

Suddenly I felt his breath right on my neck, which startled me since I never felt the bed shift.

"Especially the costume you wore when you were travelling around on that tiger. You really looked like an Arabian princess," he whispered, alarmingly close to my ear.

I worked on breathing evenly before I answered him.

"Did you discover some kind of new fetish for yourself? If yes, I'm not gonna help you live it out," I mumbled, even though I had already forgotten all about my sleepiness.

"Too bad, I'm pretty sure you are the only one who can help me live out my Chris fetish," he murmured and started running his fingers over my arms, barely even touching me. I knew from a memory that Bella's skin had the tendency to burn when Edward touched her and this felt quite similar to that.

This was the first time we touched — or rather he — like this since the night before mine and Alice's little adventure. All of that seemed like a distant memory right now.

I would have welcomed it if Dylan had just left me alone and let me sleep, but he seemed to insist on torturing me. He placed an open mouthed kiss on my shoulder and I yelped in surprise in the same second that I turned around to face him.

"What the hell?" I asked him with wide yes.

"Just wanted to make sure that you taste as well as I thought you would," he answered nonchalantly.

I eyed him closely in the darkness. He was grinning widely.

"Could it be that your hormones are going crazy after you saw me half-naked today?" I asked him in a challenging tone.

Dylan snorted. "I already saw you naked, remember? From head to toe, and I have definitely not forgotten a thing. Although you didn't have that tattoo on your stomach back then." His hand was suddenly on the spot that had been talking about, somehow laying underneath my shirt. "It's kinda hot," he added and then attacked my mouth before I could say anything.

I instinctively responded, even though my mind started to wonder why the hell we always ended up like this and why I was supporting this kind of behaviour.

I felt his tongue trace the shape of my bottom lip and I suppressed the sudden images of Bella and Edward in my head. That was just highly disturbing.

I granted him the access he craved and let my instincts take over. His hand had already been on my naked skin, so I didn't mind it. When his body suddenly leaned over mine, I also didn't mind, and instead worked on closing the distance. When our bodies were pressed together, I definitely didn't mind and I simply enjoyed the fluttering in my tummy along with the taste on my tongue.

There were just two very stupid things about letting myself function fully on instinct. And no matter what I had told Bella about being half a virgin, we both knew it was bullshit and that I only told her to annoy her. Well, at least I knew.

I didn't even know if his hands had travelled too far up or too far down or maybe both, I just knew that he startled me immensely.

So thing number one that went wrong was that we — or more accurate, Dylan — had pushed against the boundaries. The second thing was that my body reacted before my mind did and I felt my body flare up for a millisecond.

"Jesus," Dylan hissed loudly and disappeared from on top of me to beside me.

I was breathing heavily and was slowly processing what just happened in my mind. I didn't look at Dylan and I knew that he was fine because the fire had not been enough to hurt anyone. It was just a little shock to both of us.

I sighed quietly, remembering a conversation with Raven when she was preaching about older guys.

I guess I should have taken that more seriously.

"You could have just said something instead of trying to ash me," Dylan said in a stiff voice.

I snorted humorlessly. "Right, because my mouth wasn't occupied in any other way."

He didn't reply so I added, "And I didn't do it on purpose."

"Sure," Dylan said. "I guess Damon was lucky then."

I blinked and turned my head to look at him. He was staring at the ceiling and rubbing his chest absentmindedly. I detected a few tense lines on his face and I knew that he was displeased about something.

"What are you talking about?" I asked slowly.

"You didn't burn him, did you?" His voice held an emotion that I had never heard from him and I couldn't place.

"No," I replied almost silently.

"So his touched must have bothered you less than mine," he continued.

I sat up and stared at him. It was jealously that I heard. At least I thought it was.

"No, I—"

"Obviously, yes. Otherwise he wouldn't have..." he trailed off and turned away.

I frowned in confusion, not knowing what he meant.

He wouldn't have...well, what? I rummaged through my mind for anything that suited this situation and his unfinished sentence until it clicked.

"You think that Damon and I..." I was only voicing my thoughts, so I didn't bother finishing the sentence. "And you are upset because we didn't? Or don't or won't or whatever."

Dylan didn't answer. I narrowed my eyes at him which he didn't see since he had turned his back to me.

"I can't believe you're only upset because I won't let you fuck me," I hissed. Both he and I cringed at my choice of words, but I didn't bother to occupy myself with that any longer and disentangled myself from the sheets so that I could get up.

"Where are you going?" Dylan asked in surprise when he noticed I had gotten up.

"Home," I hissed and then stomped out of the room.

I sighed at the memory. No matter what, it never seemed to go right between us. One of us always managed to mess up. Well, some people are just meant to be and others are not.

"Boyfriend troubles?" Meredith asked.

"I don't have a boyfriend," I said calmly while brushing my hair.

Meredith made a weird noise that sounded strangely like a snort but then spoke in a normal voice. "Well, you only have to make sure that no weirdos find your lamp, otherwise you might not be able to go to the party with Dyl—uh, I mean whatever person you want to go with."

I decided to ignore her little slip up. "Sounds like someone found your lamp."

That brought a scowl to her face and I couldn't help but giggle at her.

Just then Janan entered the dressing room.

"Morning, kiddos," she greeted.

"Hey, Janan guess who's lamp has been found," I asked her still laughing.

Janan's eyes flitted over to Meredith. "Who?" she asked excitedly.

"Dario Caine," she mumbled darkly.

"You don't mean the one who always hangs out with Dean and Damon, do you?"

"That's exactly the one that I mean."

"He wished for you to be his date?" I asked in surprise. In all honesty, Dario never seemed like a guy who was actually interested in any kind of dating, so this was kind of surprising.

Meredith threw me one last dark look before she went out of the dressing room.

"Well, that answers the question," Janan noted. "Good thing that I am not a genie."

"Yeah, you are really lucky," I sighed, remembering Alice's persistence. I still wasn't sure if it was a good thing or bad thing when I had to fulfil her wishes.

Maybe I should just find out where Dean's lamp was and lead her to that one.

I threw my scarf over my shoulders and left the room as well.

I strolled over the still empty sand place and just enjoyed the burning heat of our fake sun. I hadn't gotten to enjoy it before, because I had always been distracted.

"Hey, Chris," a voice called.

I opened my eyes, not even aware that I had closed them. I turned to see Jensen walking towards me. "I haven't done anything wrong, so you can't scream at me yet," I informed him and resumed my walk.

"I wasn't going to scream at you," he said as if that had been obvious, which it hadn't.

Never mind how much the girls swooned over him because of his "dreamy ocean blue eyes" and his "adorable chestnut curls" and not to forget his "sexy arms," each and every one of them was also kind of annoyed with him, because he was the one council member that could be Simon, if we were some kind of casting show. Most conversations that I had with him involved him screaming at me for not doing what he demanded, like for instance not helping the others with the sun even though I could have done it on my own. At least that's what he had said.

The only normal conversations I had with him was when he asked me to move so he could pass, so I thought that it wasn't so wrong to assume that he was going to scream at me since there was plenty of space for him to move passed me.

"Well, what do you want then? I'm not doing the fire show, the flaming hula hoops work just fine without me," I said to him.

"I wasn't going to ask that."

I eyed him with raised eyebrows and waited for him to continue. Now that I actually looked at him, I noticed that something was off. He was rubbing his hands awkwardly in front of him and was looking at the ground. When he didn't say anything for several moments, I got impatient.

"Well?" I pressed.

"Oh yeah," he said, sounding like he had been somewhere far away with his thoughts. "I just wanted to ask if you want to go to the party with me tomorrow." Despite the nervousness I had just seen, he was sounding very confident. Maybe I had just imagined it. "Well?" Jensen mimicked.

"Why do you even want to go the party with me?" I asked him in confusion.

He just looked at me as if I had lost my mind. "Why not?"

"Because constantly shouting at me and ordering me around doesn't seem like there was ever any interest in dating me. Did you lose a bet?"

"First of all, I was screaming at everyone, and secondly, I didn't lose the bet. The loser was supposed to ask Liz," he retorted.

"And what about the whole bossing me around?"

"Oh, that was only so that I could talk to you," he said dismissively.

"Have you ever heard of casual conversation?" I asked him sarcastically.

"Sure I have, but that's hardly any fun. It's a lot funnier when you are pissed."

I only shook my head in disbelief. Why in the world was I always surrounded by idiots?

"So, do you want to go to the party with me or not?"

I thought about it. I hadn't thought much of the party. Every time that I did, I just thought that it would be our usual group and I would probably end up with Dylan when the couples all decided to spend some quality time together. But seeing that Edward had to win his quality time first, I guessed that we might not go as an entire group. Maybe a date would be a good idea, even if the thought of a date brought Dylan's face to my mind. I sighed. Last night's fiasco had not been a topic of discussion yet – as a matter of fact, we haven't talked since then. It might be a good idea to talk about whatever needs to be talked about and maybe, just maybe, we would go to the party together. Or maybe not. I really didn't know. I had never met a guy that was so infuriating. He changed his mind as fast as a girl changed clothes and... I just used song lyrics in my inner musings.

"Are you still with me, Chris?" Jensen asked, waving his hand in front of my face.

I snapped out of my haze and smiled halfheartedly at him. "I'm not sure yet," I told him.

He looked at me with raised eyebrows. "You're not sure?"

"Yeah, you know Alice always has the craziest ideas and she might be planning something ridiculous and I wouldn't want you to suffer along with me," I explained lamely. It didn't even sound convincing to me.

"Wait, you are talking about the date now?" Jensen asked in confusion.

"Yes, of course I am. What else should I be talking about?" I asked, equally confused.

"I just thought... You know what? Never mind." He took a deep breath before he continued. "Was that a no?"

"Err, no."

"Yes?"

"No."

"No?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'm confused," he admitted.

"It was a maybe," I clarified.

"Maybe?" The look on his face showed that he didn't like that much.

"Well, apart from crazy Alice, there is also the matter that someone could still find my lamp and demand that I go to the party with him. It's a wish that is within my power to fulfil," I told him. This was definitely more convincing, perhaps because it was not a lie.

Jensen rolled his eyes. "Right, I totally forgot about the lamps. It's really awful how we are all selling ourselves for the fair."

"Tell me about it," I hummed in agreement.

"Alright, I'm gonna go and make sure everyone is ready," he said and turned around. "I won't be waiting all day for an answer."

"Nice to know," I mumbled.

"What? You're not the only one who looks hot in our costumes," he told me with a shrug.

I didn't have anything to say about that, which only cause Jensen to laugh while he departed.

I saw that Martin had already set up his stand and quickly dashed over where he was polishing the apples. From all the snacks that were sold here, I loved the apples the most.

"Morning," I greeted him brightly.

Martin looked up and pulled a grimace before he threw the apple at me that he had been polishing. "Morning," he replied.

"You're not in a good mood," I observed and bit happily in my personal piece of heaven.

"I'm never in a good mood," he grumbled. "And you should stop stealing my apples."

I giggled. "Stop acting like a grumpy old man. I know that you are capable of being happy. And I didn't steal it, you gave it to me."

"Only because you would steal it otherwise."

"Is that really the point of this conversation?"

"Just get lost. I can't deal with you prissy girls right now," he said and threw another apple at me, which I luckily caught.

"Jeez, I'm sorry for talking to you."

I wanted to turn and walk back to the harem to enjoy the last minutes of peace and quiet before I had to waltz around the place and flirt with everything that looked male, all because our council thought it would be funny. Unfortunately, there was no time for that.

Just when I turned, the gates opened and I heard the much dreaded noise that always accompanied a mass of people.

I let out the millionth sigh today before I put on a fake smile and sent a quick prayer to heaven, wishing for all of this to end soon.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"I am exhausted and it hasn't even been half of the day," I groaned when Meredith, Janan, and I had made it to our dressing room after our ridiculous dancing session.

"You are lucky that you are on break now, I have to go outside now and play beautiful and mysterious Arabian princess or whatever it is that we are supposed to be doing," Janan complained.

"I feel like we are strippers or something along those lines," Meredith groaned.

"I said that a circus would be way cooler," I told the two of them.

"As if that was ever going to happen. We are the Pyros and we always do the ridiculous stuff, even though this a lot better than what we usually pull off. Must be because I am on the council now," Meredith said, smiling at herself in the mirror.

"I'm sure it is."

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"Me? Never."

Meredith huffed, but grinned anyway.

I quickly changed outfits. I was already wishing for the day to end so that I could be free from wearing these outfits. Now I had to wear a pair of big orange harems pants and a red tank top. It was the most comfortable thing that I got to wear so far and I hoped that I didn't have to change again any time soon.

I brushed through my hair once again, humming quietly to myself.

"Um, Chris?" Meredith's voice interrupted my humming.

"Hmm?"

"Your bells," she explained, gesturing to my ankle.

I looked down and groaned when I realized that the bells were ringing. "No," I whined instantly while Meredith and Janan giggled. "Why me?"

"Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later," Janan reasoned, still laughing a little.

"Whatever," I huffed in response and ran my finger over the pendant dangling from my neck at all times. Not that I actually needed something to remind me of Dylan, since he was always around somewhere.

I counted quickly to three before I beamed to where I'd hidden my lamp.

"And here I was hoping you would wear something pink," I heard Dylan's lazy voice from behind me.

Like I said, he's always around somewhere.

I spun around and saw him leaning casually against the wall. I sighed when I saw my lamp in his hands. Maybe I should have found another corner to hide it, but then again, I don't think that would have saved me. Maybe I should have just told Alice where that stupid lamp was – whatever Alice would wish for couldn't be nearly as bad as the things that her brother would come up with.

"What do you want?" I asked, not trying in the slightest to hide the annoyance in my voice.

"Well, actually I just wanted to talk to you," he stated. "And I figured there was a higher chance if I found your lamp."

I looked at him, trying to read his emotional state, but his face gave nothing away. "Alright, you're talking to me now," I replied. Even to my own ears I sounded like a bitch. Geez, I really wonder how people manage to put up with me sometimes.

"I...I just..." Dylan was now looking down as he scratched the back of his head almost bashfully. If I didn't know any better, I would say he was nervous. But that was ridiculous. Why would he of all people be nervous?

"I just wanted to apologize for last night." He spoke so fast that I almost didn't catch it. Almost. I was pretty sure that the grin now spreading across my face wasn't exactly what you would call friendly.

"What about last night?" I asked innocently.

Dylan's head snapped up and he narrowed his eyes at me. "You know exactly what I mean," he accused.

"I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about," I retorted with an innocent shrug.

"For once, can't you just try and be serious?"

"Do you really wish for me to be serious now?" I asked him, hoping that he would say yes.

"Uh, yes, why else would I say that?"

"Alright, then I'll be serious now," I told him calmly. He didn't need to know that I was internally rejoicing. I just may have created a new topic to fight over, but he didn't know that yet.

Dylan looked at me and I guess he started to wonder what the hell wasn't working right in my head. Sure, I was moody and not something people would call stable, but he certainly wasn't one to talk – if anyone had even worse mood swings than me, it was him. And he didn't even have PMS to blame for it.

He took a deep breath and then pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against, closing the distance between us. He looked down at me with intense eyes and a flash of our Halloween kiss flew through my mind. Silly Chris, you shouldn't be thinking about this stuff right now.

"Chris, I'm sorry about how I behaved yesterday. I didn't mean to insult you in any way," he said, his voice so low and husky that I had to suppress a shiver.

For a few moments, neither of us spoke. I wanted to reply, to tell him that I actually had to apologize as well, but then suddenly, a high-soprano voice interrupted our little moment.

"Dylan, you found her lamp! You are such a genius. Please tell me you haven't used up all your wishes yet!"

I turned around slowly, grinding my teeth together to prevent myself from shouting something at the annoying little pixie. I had just been about to say something nice and cheesy to the idiot in front of me. Of course the one time that I'd actually been close to doing something Bella-like, Alice just had to barge in. Either she was still a wacky psychic, or she did it on purpose. I really would have to have a talk with either Edward or their parents about the fact that his siblings definitely didn't have as good of manners as he does.

Sure, I might not like them as much then because it would be weird if these two actually behaved normal, but it was still a mystery to me how the same set of parents were responsible for an arrogant, uncaring and annoying playboy; a hyperactive, shopaholic and nerve-wracking pixie; and a dense, self-conscious and cheesy know-it-all. It just didn't seem right.

And then again, maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.

"No, I didn't. They're all yours," Dylan sighed and handed the lamp over to Alice. He seemed to be somewhat disappointed and I guessed that he had sensed that I was about to say something useful for a change.

Well, too bad that I was going to ruin the moment even more.

"Actually," I said slowly and stepped back from Dylan and Alice, "You did use two of your wishes."

"Dylan, how could you? I wanted to wish for something first," Alice complained and smacked Dylan on his arm.

"Ow, stop that," he grumbled rubbing the spot she'd hit before turnign to me. "I didn't wish for anything."

I shook my head. "You kind of ruined my genie entrance by talking before I even saw you," I infromed him, taking one more step back. "Congratulations, you found my lamp and now your wish is my command. Of course I'm not just here to flaunt so I'll do anything you want."

Now that it was actually useful to me, I didn't hate that little phrase as much as I did before.

"And what is that supposed to tell me?" Dylan asked.

"I'll grant you three of all your wishes, but of course you will not get any kisses," I continued in a sing-song voice and smiled brightly as if I was actually into this rhyming nonsense.

"No offense, Chris, but these are some horrible rhymes you got," Alice commented with a giggle.

I shot her a dirty look. "I'm very aware of that, but I didn't come up with that crap."

"So, you are done with your bad rapping?" Dylan asked.

"I wasn't—ugh, nevermind. Yes, I'm done, and if you had listened carefully you would have noticed that I just rhymed you more or less the rules."

"I didn't kiss you if that's what you are trying to tell me. Well, not today anyway," Dylan replied.

A sharp intake of breath was to be heard from Alice. I shook my head, but didn't say anything to comment on that. Alice already knew way more than any average tiny teenage girl should know. Too much knowledge in the wrong hands and we would all be ruled by a fashion-crazed pixie. I shuddered at the thought.

"That is not what I meant," I said calmly. "Your wish is my command and I'll do anything you want... Well, more or less."

The expression on both Alice's and Dylan's face showed that they didn't understand what I was getting at.

I let out a fake giggle and continued. "For a wish you have to wish for something or want something."

Still no change in expression.

I sighed. "You wanted to talk to me and you wished for me to be serious."

Understanding lit up his face, before his expression turned dark. "You tricked me," he accused.

"Not really, I was planning to do that to get the third wish out of you," I said nonchalantly and shrugged.

"Wait, does that mean that there is only one wish left?" Alice asked.

I nodded. "And you can't even use it. The wishes are for finders only," I told her.

"Chris, you are such a traitor," Alice whined and stomped her foot on the ground.

I rolled my eyes at her. "It's not my fault that Dylan hadn't been paying attention."

"How the hell was I supposed to know anything about the rules?" he protested.

I shrugged and didn't answer him, but spoke to Alice. "Maybe, you should just go and see—" I never finished that sentence, because Alice's face already lit up and she dashed away.

She probably already knew that I had been about to tell her where Jensen's lamp was. Poor guy, I could only imagine how Alice was going to force him to carry around all the things that she was going to buy, now that she had someone "willing" to carry them for her. I wasn't even sure if it was against the rules to make the Genie pay...

"You know that technically I still have two wishes, right?" Dylan asked, causing me to turn around once more and look at him.

I simply quirked an eyebrow at him and sent him a half-smile. "No, you don't. I told you that you already used two of your wishes and there is nothing you can do about it," I chirped, being probably a little too pleased with myself.

"You're wrong, pretty lady," he argued and pinched my cheek slightly. "I never actually said that I wish for you to be serious. You asked if I did and I said yes. Don't I have to say the actual words to make the wish official?"

Now he was grinning smugly, while I took on his earlier sour expression. I thought back and realized that he was right, which only made my scowl increase. So much for my cleverness. Maybe I should just give up on this self-proclaimed genius thing, because it was definitely not working for me as much as it used to.

"Fine, have it your way," I grumbled at him. "You have two wishes left. But there is no way that you are going to get the third wish back."

Dylan send me another victorious grin, before he spoke, "That doesn't really matter. I actually didn't even need the second wish. I just wanted to annoy you."

I groaned. What was it with all of those people, wanting to piss me off? It can't be that much fun, can it?

Thinking about the way I enjoyed getting on other people's nerves, I already had my answer.

"If you don't have anything to wish for, I can just go, right?" I asked.

Dylan's eyes widened and he hastily shook his head. "No, you can't go."

I looked at him with in impatience clearly written on my face. "And why not? If I'm not needed, I might as well go and do something useful with my free time, don't you think?"

Apparently he didn't think so because the thoughtful hum that he made led me to think the he was figuring out a way to make me stick around a little longer.

I honestly would never get what he actually wanted from me. One minute it was absolutely nothing, the next he would be everywhere I was to get my attention, then he would tell me just how important I am to him, only to yell at me in the next moment and then give me a present that was somewhat equal to a proposal just so that he can skip off and date some other girl before he breaks it off with her and makes me feel all special again for about three seconds, because he turned into a selfish little bastard after that again.

Am I the only one who is getting a headache from that? This could not be healthy for either of us.

"You are going to be my escort now," Dylan exclaimed all of the sudden. Even though I had been watching him the whole time, I was still startled when he suddenly spoke.

"Um...pardon me?"

"You are going to be my escort. You will have to walk around with me all day, wait for me if you need to—especially since I still have me escort business to do—and just give off the overall impression of enjoying my presence," he explained a little too excited for my taste.

"Over all you want me to pretend that I'm your girlfriend, am I right?" I asked dryly, my hands on my hips and a dark look on my face.

"I see that you understood the concept. Different than me on my escort dates, you will of course be free to kiss me if you feel like it." Yep, he was definitely too excited about this. His grin was mischievous and he actually waggled his eyebrows at me for a brief moment. Whatever happened to the apologetic Dylan a few moments ago, it must have been pretty bad to make this one come back out. Something was obviously wrong with me if I was seriously attracted to this guy and even worse, I might have felt some very faint excitement when I talked about being his girlfriend.

I really needed to have a little chat with Bella soon because I was pretty sure that I was starting to lose it.

"Kissing is against the genie rules," I mumbled lamely, commenting on his last statement.

"I thought it was against the rules to wish for a kiss." Just like last night he was suddenly next to me and what was even worse, I was more awake this time to notice just how seductive his voice sounded. "I only allow you to kiss me if you feel like it, so that shouldn't be against the rules, right?" He twirled a strand of my hair on around his finger and I practically felt his gaze on my face.

I didn't blush, my heart beat didn't quicken or even stop and my breathing didn't change either. I might have been pleased about that if I hadn't been biting on my tongue instead.

I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath, before I ran a hand through my hair, pushing it back and freeing it from Dylan's molesting hands. The taste of blood in my mouth enabled me to think normally again.

"I'll be sure to remember that," I said to him, a coy smile in place. "You have to wish properly, though."

Dylan was staring at my hair with a little frown, before he gazed down into my eyes. "I want you to be my girlfriend."

Oh my. Did I just swoon? I might have. Blue eyes, dead serious low and husky voice, combined with his good looks? There was no way that I did not just swoon.

"I really hate you right now," I informed Dylan in a quiet voice.

His hands went through my hair to the back of my head and forced me to face him. Before I could even comprehend what was going on, his lips were on mine.

"No, you don't. You love me," he replied a second later with a grin.

Oh how I wish I could make this stupid grin disappear...

I shook my head briefly and stepped away from him. "This really has to stop," I told him in a disapproving tone.

"Why? It's way too much fun," he answered and walked passed me. He took my hand in the process and tugged me along.

"I figured you might say that."

Dylan only shrugged and pulled me closer to his side. I briefly considered asking him what kind of body lotion he was using that made him smell like aloe and apple blossoms all the time, but thought better of it.

"Chris," I heard a whine come from behind me then.

I turned around and saw an unhappy Alice.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Your stupid friend took his lamp away before I reached it and now I don't have a genie," she kept whining.

I refrained from rolling my eyes and let out a sigh instead. "Sorry Al, I can't help you anymore that I already have."

Alice instantly went fro upset to angry and narrowed her eyes at me. She opened her mouth and I knew that she was going to start another one of her speeches in which she accused me of being a traitor.

Only that the speech never came. Alice had closed her mouth right after she opened it. Her eyes were fixed on Dylan's and my intertwined hands. Now her angry expression changed to one that I couldn't exactly place. Her grin was definitely smug, but her eyes were twinkling with something entirely different. I didn't bother to try and decipher her. Knowing Alice, she was getting carried away and imagined some kind of super romantic tale.

"I'm gonna go and look for Rose. Don't forget that we have to be at the Hydro's display in forty minutes," Alice said, now sounding cheery and skipped away.

"Great. Now I have to deal with Rose and Alice asking stupid questions," I grumbled.

"Is that a problem?"

I glared at Dylan. "Of course it is. What exactly am I supposed to answer?"

He looked completely at ease and it annoyed me immensely. "It would probably be useful if your answer suits the question."

"Gee, thanks; what a wise thing to say. Now I will have absolutely nothing to fear when Alice and Rose ask me if I'm now your girlfriend," I said sarcastically.

"Of course you don't. And do you want to know why?"

"Why?" I looked up at him through narrowed eyes, while he wore a thoughtful expression, not looking at me for a few seconds. Then he turned his gaze back to me and grinned suddenly.

"Because you are."

Bella POV

"I think we have to get going soon."

I sighed. "But I don't really want to," I complained.

Edward chuckled quietly, but the sound was a little off. I could tell that he wasn't really happy about the thing himself. Of course he wouldn't be. I honestly didn't see the sense of crowning some idiot as my king when I already had a boyfriend. Sometimes I really wanted to strangle Bryce.

Edward buried his face in my hair, causing his voice to sound a bit muffled when he spoke. "You have absolutely nothing to worry about because I will be the one to win the date with you," he said. He pulled me closer to him and rested his head on my shoulder.

I leaned back and sighed contently. Thankfully we had my dressing room to ourselves, otherwise we wouldn't be able to cuddle up in here.

"I really hope so. It would be one of the few positive things to occur in this week."

I thought back to the beginning of this week and wondered why in the world everything seemed to be more or less normal. It was as if our encounter with Irina and Co. never happened, or at least happened a long time ago. Even more importantly, Mr. Decour still wasn't back and we never really found out how he managed to disappear just like that in front of our eyes. The only persons I had ever seen doing that were Dylan and Chris. Probably also Edward, since he moved too fast for me to actually see.

"What are you thinking about?" Edward murmured, his breath tickling my skin.

I let out a deep breath. "I was just wondering about Mr. Decour's whereabouts," I answered, feeling how Edward tensed up briefly.

"That is really not something to think about right now."

"Why not? Shouldn't we be worried what in the world is taking him so long? Something might have happened to him and it would be our fault then." I shuddered at the thought.

Edward rubbed his hands up and down my arms in a soothing manner. "You really have to stop thinking like that, love. I'm sure that Mr. Decour is fine. He mentioned when we spoke to him on the phone that it might take him a few days, but he will be back by the end of the week. He'll probably return tomorrow."

"I really hope so."

"Stop worrying. You'll get wrinkles and you don't really want that do you?" His long fingers stroke over my forehead.

I turned my head to look at Edward. "Why? Won't you still love me if I get wrinkly?" I asked teasingly.

Edward looked back at me intensely. "I would still love you even if you were dried out, wrinkly and fragile," he answered and then kissed my cheek gently.

"Are you sure about that?" I tried to imagine me as an old lady with Edward by my side. I was having trouble with that.

"Absolutely." He kissed the spot under my ear.

My breath hitched. "That will be a very long time," I informed him in a shaky voice.

"I'm very aware of that," Edward murmured and kissed my neck.

"You will have to put up with Chris for the rest of your life," I said, now imagining an old Chris who was tripping an old Edward.

"Hmm," was all Edward replied, while he placed more kisses on my neck. He moved down and up again and gently bit my earlobe then.

I let out a little surprised yelp. "You'd have to get along with my parents as well," I whispered breathlessly.

I felt Edward sigh and his shoulders slump slightly. He looked up at me with a disapproving expression. "You know, talking about your family is a real turn off," he frowned.

I giggled, slightly nervous, though I had no reason to be nervous. Edward noticed my emotional state and moved us so that I was now sitting on his lap, sideways, enabling me to look at him better.

"What's wrong?" he asked, with a worried expression.

I only shrugged as an answer, since I didn't know it myself. I leaned against Edward's chest and inhaled his scent.

"Bella, I thin—"

"I found them!" a voice suddenly screamed, interrupting whatever Edward had been about to say.

I turned around as much as I could in my current position only to see Rose standing in the door frame, grinning widely at us. She didn't stand there for long though because Emmett pushed her out of the way—careful not to let her fall—with Jasper and Alice following him.

"Well, well, if it isn't the Queen and her Prince-not-so-Charming," Emmett said, snickering at his own bad joke.

"Shut up, Emmett," Edward replied with a sigh and I could practically hear him rolling his eyes.

"Hey, where is Chris?" I asked, realizing that my sister was not here to pick on Edward as well.

Rose and Alice started giggling. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you."

I only quirked an eyebrow at them. I didn't have to know what they were talking about, did I?

"Is this some kind of joke?" Edward asked sounding surprised and shocked at the same time.

I looked at him and saw him staring at the two giggling girls.

"No, it's not," Alice answered him. "Although it definitely is amusing."

"Uh, what are you guys talking about?" I asked in confusion.

"Maybe we should just go outside and meet the two of them. They are already standing in line for the registration," Jasper suggested.

"Right, right. Let's get going, before the two idiots give our spot to someone else," Alice agreed and led the way out.

I looked at Edward questioningly, but he only shook his head at me.

The two of us got up and followed the others. As soon as we were out in the open, all hope that maybe there weren't going to be so many people for the games vanished.

The line was endless and I wasn't even sure were exactly it started and where it ended.

"This is definitely going to be tough," Emmett commented and then pulled me to his side to hug me fiercely. "But I will not rest until I've made sure that you are safe, Belly-Boo."

"Emmett, I need to breathe," I choked out. "And stop calling me that."

Emmett let go and grinned at me once more. Rose decided that it was time to smack the big goof on his head, while Edward took my hand and gently tugged me along.

I heard Chris before I actually saw her.

"Are you out of your mind? Ugh, I don't even know why I'm asking you this because you clearly are," she complained.

A moment later I saw her standing in line right next to Dylan, who had his arm around her shoulder while laughing hysterically.

Seeing that we were in the middle of a huge crowd, it should be considered strange that I was able to hear Chris so clearly, although there were about a million other voices to be heard. Especially if you considered that Dylan's laughter was silent to me until we actually reached the two of them.

"Aw, already trouble in paradise?" Alice cooed and pinched Chris' cheek.

Chris only slapped her hand away and her scowl increased.

"Don't touch that cheek," Dylan said to his sister, still laughing, "it's a little irritated."

Chris spotted me then and her scowl changed into a pout. "Bella," she instantly whined.

I suppressed a sigh, while Edward chuckled next to me.

"Dylan bit me."

I only looked at her with raised eyebrows, while I heard how Dylan's laughter was getting worse. "He bit you?" I asked, a little confused as to why he would bite her.

Chris nodded and rubbed her right cheek, which looked a little pink and I knew that it had nothing to do with Alice pinching her.

I shot a disapproving look in Dylan's direction, before I placed a hand on Chris' cheek.

She sighed contently when I touched her skin, probably because I focused on spreading water across my palm to cool her irritated skin.

I held my breath for a second, fearing that I might hurt her again, but nothing happened. Chris only closed her eyes and leaned into my touch, relief washing over her.

"How hard did you bite her?" Edward asked his brother exasperatedly.

"Not really hard," Dylan defended himself.

Chris let out a snort and opened her eyes to glare at him. "It hurt like hell before Bella started cooling it. Your teeth are pretty sharp."

Dylan flashed her a grin, showing off his teeth on purpose.

"Hey, just how long is this line?" Rose asked, interrupting the conversation while she looked the mass of people around us.

"It looks a little worse than it actually is because apparently something went wrong with the timing so this line is not only for registration but also for getting tickets for the show. It ends somewhere there," Chris answered and pointed over my shoulder.

I turned to look and only saw a lot of people and not really something like an organized line.

I sighed and turned back to Chris, who took my hand away from her face and sent me a grateful smile.

"So how much longer do we have to wait?" Emmett asked, already sounding impatient as he bounced on his toes.

"Twenty minutes," Alice answered immediately, her eyes once again milky white and unfocused. We all looked at her with strange expressions, although we had seen it happen before.

Alice suddenly started to sway and Jasper was next to her to steady her. While he was holding his girlfriend in his arms, she started to flinch lightly and her still glassy eyes were darting around frantically as if she was trying to keep up with something. And then just as quickly as it started, it suddenly stopped and her eyes returned to normal. She looked around in disorientation and then frowned slightly.

"What did you see, Alice?" Jasper asked her quietly.

"Hmm?" was the answer he got.

"Didn't you just have a vision?"

"Um... No, not really. Why would you think that?" Alice asked him in wonder and looked first at Jasper and then at the rest of us when she noticed that all of us looked kind of worried.

"You were just in some kind of trance or something," Rose told her with wide eyes and an urging voice.

"I was?"

"Yes, and your eyes did that weird thing again."

"Well, I don't remember anything apart from telling Emmett how long we are going to stand here," Alice replied with a nonchalant shrug.

I looked at Edward in search for an answer. He looked back at me and shrugged. "I don't see anything in her mind," he said.

"Maybe we should talk about this a little later when we are not surrounded by a mass of people," Alice suggested looking around with distaste on her face.

The rest of us agreed with that and I decided that it was a good moment to change topics.

"So, wasn't there something really amusing that you wanted to show me or something?" I asked, looking at Rose and Alice.

The two of them exchanged quick looks before they started giggling again just like they had before.

I just looked at them a little at loss what to do with that.

At the same time I felt a strong wave of annoyance come from Chris.

Edward sighed beside me and leaned down to quietly speak into my ear, "Dylan forced your sister to be his girlfriend for the day and that is what is amusing them so much."

My eyes widened when I heard that and I turned to look at my sister, who was currently turning away from me.

In her mind I heard her cursing Edward and his mind reading, Alice and Rose, who found this far too amusing, and Dylan for finding her lamp.

"So you two are together now?" I asked slowly.

"Yes," Dylan answered with a grin at the same time as Chris growled, "No!"

Dylan looked at her and shook his head in mock disappointment, before he pulled her to his side and kissed her.

Seeing them kiss might have been cute if Chris hadn't been struggling so hard and then slapped Dylan afterwards. I would never understand the relationship between those two.

Apparently neither did Chris because her mind was filled with a chaotic web of different scenarios she had found herself in with Dylan.

While the others were commenting on Dylan's and Chris' "public display of affection," I was trying to keep up with her thoughts.

Seeing how the two of them had never been on good terms until Sunday night when she and Alice had vanished.

I pulled a grimace at those memories. Now I knew how she felt when she had seen me and Edward together.

When her mind shifted to the time they spent together while they trained, I decided to shut myself out of her mind.

She should figure that out on her own. I had greater problems. Like a tournament that decided who would be my date for the party tomorrow, and a boyfriend who seemed to think that only the winner of those games will be worthy of being my boyfriend.

I sighed at the less pleasant thought and watched said boyfriend teasing his brother, who didn't seem to mind that much.

"Our little clique is officially weird. I honestly don't want to hear the rumours after the rest of the school finds out about Chris and Dylan," Rose suddenly sighed next to me and rested her arm on my shoulder.

"Um...what are you talking about?" I asked her.

She sent me a little eye roll and a smirk. "About the fact that our group consists of four couples."

I thought about it for a brief second and then nodded in agreement. She was right about that and it would be interesting to know how in the world that happened.

Alice appeared at my other side and nodded as well. "Maybe we should dump the guys and be a group of hot single girls instead. That should be quite interesting," she suggested playfully.

"That should be easy enough to accomplish... for me, at least. I don't know how you plan to break up with Jasper after all these years," Rose said in a serious manner.

I saw how Jasper's ears perk up, despite the fact that he had been in a conversation with the rest of the group.

He strode briskly over to us and before Alice even had the chance to reply anything to Rose's last comment, Jasper had picked her up and carried her over to the others.

"Stop corrupting my girlfriend, Rose," he called over his shoulder to Rosalie, while Alice started giggling.

Rose only huffed at that.

"Oh look! It's her!" a voice suddenly exclaimed in the crowed.

I turned slightly to the side only to see that apparently the general attention had shifted toward me.

I didn't even have time to comprehend what that was all about because Edward was already by my side and put his arm around me in a protective manner and then pulled me along toward Chris and Dylan, who were standing pretty much in the same position.

Chris only lifted an eyebrow at me as if to ask me if I found that just as annoying as she did.

Unfortunately for Edward, I did.

Not that I didn't like his arm around me, but the way he was shielding me from every other gaze except his own was kind of ridiculous. After all, I was the reason why this huge crowd was here in the first place.

I blew a strand of hair out of my hair and just didn't say anything.

Alice squeezed her tiny self between me and Chris and started blabbering happily, while Edward demanded that Emmett stand in front of us and Jasper behind us like some kind of bodyguards.

Rose just looked a little too amused when she came to stand beside Emmett, but I couldn't have commented on that even if I had wanted to, simply because Alice's chatter could not be ignored.

"...and I really think that blue suits you the best, Bella. Maybe mixed with a little white or silver just because of the royalty thing. And Rose is perfect for red, but I really wanted to see Chris in a red dress as well..."

I didn't pay close attention to her chattering, while the line moved slowly. I listened enough to know that she was talking about dressing us for the party tomorrow.

I don't even think that Alice cared whether or not anyone listened, as long as nobody said anything, seeing as she didn't complain when Chris started humming quietly to herself and when Emmett whispered silently with Rose.

It seemed like eternity and three days before we finally stood in front of the registration booth behind which Japree and Bryce stood, both of them wearing big grins on their faces that quickly vanished when they spotted me.

I wasn't entirely sure if it was my death glare or Edward's that caused them to shudder, but I also didn't care.

"Are you two just there for decoration or are you actually supposed to do something?" Rose snapped at them when neither of them moved.

I bit the insides of my cheeks to prevent myself from grinning, while Chris and Alice openly giggled.

Bryce's eyes flitted over to her and narrowed. "I would be nice to us if I were you."

"And why is that?" Rose asked casually, inspecting her shiny red nails.

"Because we're the ones deciding who is allowed to take part in the tournament." The grin on Bryce's face was almost evil, while Japree only rolled his eyes at him.

"Don't I have some kind of veto power?" I asked lamely, already knowing the answer.

The answering look I got told me the exact same thing.

"Just sign in your names," Japree said with a sigh and pushed a list in Rosalie's hands together with a pen.

"Can girls take part too?" Alice asked wide eyed.

Japree quirked his eyebrows at the little pixie and smiled when he saw her bouncing frame. "No, but only because of the sexual orientation of our two main prizes. I just assumed that the list would be safer in her hands then his," Japree replied and nodded his head in Emmett's direction.

Emmett looked slightly offended, but didn't pout for long since Rose passed the list and pen to him.

While the boys scribbled their names onto the paper, I managed to free myself from Edward and turn to Bryce.

"Are you ever going to tell me what exactly is going to happen in those Royal Games?" I asked innocently. I even batted my eyelashes, but Bryce only shook his head.

"You gotta try harder than that if you want to get anything out of me, Swan," he told me with a laugh.

"Would you at least tell me?" Chris' head suddenly appeared right next to me.

"I'm not stupid. You would tell your sister and she would tell her boytoy over there and then there is no real fairness left in the Games."

Chris gave him one of her mean glares, but Bryce didn't look all that impressed. "You really hurt my feelings. I only intended to use that information to sabotage Edward more easily," Chris declared before twirling around swiftly.

I gaped at her when she went over to the boys and snatched the list out of Jasper's hands. She threw the clipboard at Bryce and then stomped over to Dylan, burying her face in his chest and whining about Bryce being mean to her and how he should "persuade" him to get some information out of him.

Clearly she was hanging out too much with Alice. And Rose. And every other crazy person on campus.

Japree took the list while Bryce rubbed his forehead which showed a red mark that showed exactly how good Chris' aim was.

I snorted at that, but quickly bit my lip and tried to stay quiet when I saw the look on his face.

Meanwhile Japree was quickly wielding his wand, making numbers appear on the shirt of each boy.

They had the numbers 178-182.

Looking behind me, I knew that there were still quite a few hundred to come.

As if they had been waiting for me to turn around, an overall cheer went through the crowd when I faced them, causing me to blush deep crimson.

After that, all I remembered was a blur.

It started with people suddenly running toward me, continued with cheers, screams and laughter, went on with people tugging at my clothes and myself—especially my hair—and then ended with people actually starting to beat each other just to get to rip out some of my hair.

The crowd mostly consisted of guys and in this madness, I briefly wondered since when there were so many male students in this school.

I looked around, desperate to find my friends and call for help, but all I saw were arms reaching for me.

And just as quickly as the chaos had started, it ended.

All it took was a furious Edward dashing through the crowd, pushing everyone in his way aside.

When he spotted me, he was immediately by my side, picking me up and running as if our lives depended on it.

Which they probably did.

Merely a few seconds later, he set me down on a bench and automatically started inspecting every inch of my body, not slowing down one bit after his impressing sprint, so it was actually quite hard for my eyes to keep up.

"...gonna kill them...how dare...miserable life...beat them all to hell...dancing on their graves..." Edward was muttering just as quickly as he moved so I only got to hear bits and pieces of the things he said.

He prodded and poked me at every angle he could until I was annoyed enough to simply stick out my leg.

Sure enough, Edward didn't pay attention in his haste and tripped over my leg.

It slowed him for a moment, but he just continued his examination of my body, lifting my right arm up.

I wanted to shout at him to stop treating me like I was seriously damaged, when I felt piercing pain in the arm that Edward was just holding up.

Hissing loudly, I pulled my arm away from him abruptly only to experience more pain.

"Okay, where does it hurt? Is it your arm? Did I just hurt you? Oh God, I'm so sorry. I'm gonna take you to the hospital right away. I—"

"Edward," I groaned, both in pain and annoyance, "just shut up and chill for a second."

Edward stared at me with wide eyes and snapped his mouth shut. Then he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I'm sorry. I went a little overboard," he apologized gently, although he didn't seem entirely relaxed.

The pain in my right arm had somewhat faded and I figured that it was probably nothing nothing too serious.

"Found them... again," I heard Rose exclaim and a second later the whole group was gathered around us.

Chris and Alice both pounced on me and hugged me fiercely, which would have been painful under normal condition but was now agonizing.

Both girls let go of me immediately when the groan escaped my mouth.

"You are hurt, aren't you?" The way Alice said it, it sounded more like she was stating a fact instead of asking me whether or not I was hurt.

"It's no big..." I tried to reassure her lamely, while I cradled my arm close to my chest.

Chris didn't even acknowledge that and instead sent a fierce glare in Edward's direction.

Edward stared back at her in the same manner.

For a moment I thought they were having some kind of staring match until I noticed the determination in both their eyes. My brows furrowed and I tried to get some insight into Chris' mind.

There were different scenarios running through her mind that all involved Edward and Chris beating faceless people until they begged for mercy.

Edward must have looked into her mind as well, but unlike me he didn't look shocked—he had a dark look of satisfaction on his face.

What was wrong with the two of them?

Both Chris and Edward suddenly moved in perfect synchronization, turning around to head back to where the noises of the crowd could be heard.

I opened my mouth in an attempt to stop them from doing something stupid, like committing murder, when Emmett took matters into his hands.

He reached his hand out and grabbed both Edward and Chris by their collars and set them down right beside me.

"No one is going to kill anyone... yet," Emmett said in an eerily calm voice.

"I'm going to kill you if you don't let go," Edward and Chris chorused.

Emmett simply quirked an eyebrow at that and crossed his arms in front of his broad chest, making him look like one of those buff secret service guys. "Go ahead and try, but I'm telling you I won't go easy on both of you just because you're girls."

It shouldn't have surprised me that not only Edward replied to that with a growl, but Chris as well.

Jasper then came to stand beside Emmett and spoke in his usual calming manner, "You two have to calm down. Bella is alive and well, so there is no need to freak out..."

"She is not well," Edward protested immediately. "Don't you see that she's in pain? I'm gonna rip out the arms of every single person that dared to lay hands on her."

He made an attempt to dash past Emmett and Jasper, but just when he started to move, he suddenly froze.

I was just watching the whole scene in front of me with wide eyes.

"Dylan," Edward all but roared.

"I'm sorry, bro," Dylan said unapologetic. "But you're not ripping anyone's arms out right now."

"No problem; breaking skulls is enough for me," Chris chirped in, and just like Edward, she attempted to walk passed the wall of boys in front of her. And just like Edward, she ended up freezing in her movements.

"Jasper, you might wanna do your part fast," Alice said now. "Dylan won't be able to hold them in place forever."

Dylan sent her a grateful smile.

"Alright, you two," Jasper said. "Maybe you should sit down and try to gather your thoughts."

"Sit," Dylan instructed and his two captives obliged immediately.

They both sat down next to me, sending death glares in Dylan's direction.

"Edward, you need to stay here with us anyway because of the tournament and if you go killing off half of the competition, you will probably be disqualified and then you can watch how Bella is going to dance with one of those filthy scum bags that harassed her a few minutes ago."

Edward's expression became, if possible, even more furious than before.

"Of course, if you stay calm for now and let out your rage during the Games in a legal and mostly harmless way, then you might have a fair chance of winning your girlfriend as your date."

Jasper looked meaningfully at Edward before he turned his attention to my sister.

"And you and the other girls will accompany Bella to the first aid tent. If you break anyone's bones on the way, you will have to share beds with Dylan tonight again."

I felt how Chris' anger was quickly replaced by shock.

"Alright, I think I'm done," Jasper declared, looking at Dylan.

Dylan narrowed his eyes slightly at the two overprotective idiots by my side, who were now unfrozen.

Chris got up swiftly and yanked on my uninjured arm.

"Let's go."

I barely had time to turn around and wave at Edward, who was not even paying attention to me because he was busily sending death glares at a boy who walked passed them and had dared to look at me.

Upon closer inspection, I recognized him as the guy who had professed his undying love to me not so long ago.

I gulped and hoped for his sake that his thoughts had been somewhat innocent, otherwise Edward might skin him alive.

Rose and Alice had managed to catch up with us and helped Chris to drag me to the Psychs display where the first aid tent was located.

A girl in a short nurse outfit was sitting in there and had been looking at holes in the air until we entered. She immediately got up from her chair and hurried toward us, guiding me to one of the three day beds. She instructed me to sit before she scurried off back to the desk she had just occupied.

I watched her, while the other three were talking quietly. About her.

"Do you think it is stupidity or impressive self-esteem that she is walking around in those shorts with thighs like hers?" Rose asked quietly. The phrasing sounded kind of mean, but she sounded like she was really curious.

"I think it looks good on her," Chris commented. I looked at my "nurse" again and decided that I agreed with her.

The girl wasn't slim like we all were, but she wasn't fat either. She was just really curvy.

The girl turned back to us, enabling me to read her name tag. Her name was Delphine. "Alright, let's get your arm patched up," she mumbled gently with her wand in her hand.

"How do you even know—"

"It's my gift," she replied with a smile.

I nodded in understanding.

"Err, Delphine?" Chris asked carefully.

"Hmm?" Delphine didn't look up at her, while she slowly ran her wand over my injured arm repeatedly.

"Could it be that we already met?"

Now the girl did look up at her with a bright smile on her pretty face. Meanwhile, I was wondering where we had seen her before.

I think I would have remembered her if we really had met her before. Impressive curves, chocolate-colored skin and long black braids. No, I'd never seen her before, and yet I suddenly thought she looked familiar.

"Not that I know of. Why are you asking?"

"You just look kind of familiar, that's all."

Delphine simply shrugged and resumed running her wand over my arm a few more times. "Okay, you're all good now. Luckily, it was only a slight sprain," Delphine then declared.

"Alright, let's go and get you dressed for your Royal Games," Alice cheered before she quickly thanked Delphine for patching me up. She just smiled in return and waved when I was dragged along once more.

I wasn't even sure how Alice had gotten me so fast back to my dressing room, but I couldn't ask her, either because Cynthia was immediately by my side.

"There you are. I heard that you had gotten hurt and I was so worried. I hope Delphine healed you alright. She is really good at that, but I think it's because her brother is probably tutoring her. There is no way that she gets any free time at home, considering that her brother is a teacher. Once, she healed my nose when I fell in Gym. Afterwards, I felt so much better. When I asked her about it she told me that she also loosened up the tension in my body. Her healing is better than a wellness weekend. However, it needs some time until you actually feel it..." Cynthia just continued blabbering and Alice soon joined in, both of them starting to do my hair and makeup. Cynthia usually didn't appreciate it if anyone else got in her way, but the happy chatter seemed to distract her, while I was just wishing for it to end.

Half an hour later I was dressed in one of my white dresses with a long white coat over it and my hair just as snowy white as always.

Chris shuddered when she looked at me.

"You look kinda cold," she told me.

I didn't reply to that.

"Let's get this party started!"

Natalia suddenly appeared beside me and grinned brightly at me.

"What party?" I asked gloomily.

"Don't be so grumpy, Bella. You have to see the positive side of it—I'm not sure what exactly the positive aspect is, but that doesn't matter right now. I'll make something positive out of it."

"It better be good, otherwise I'll let my sister loose in this ice town," I told her.

"Really?" Chris asked, sounding like a kid on Christmas day.

"No."

Chris' smile turned into a scowl.

"Uh, I was just wondering..." Rose said slowly. "Where exactly are these Games taking place?"

I shrugged in answer.

"Japree is supposed to pick us up," Natalia informed her.

As if on cue, Japree waltzed into the room. "Ladies, the Games cannot start without you."

"Well, in that case,I should have stayed somewhere far away," I grumbled.

Natalia poked my side and shook her head in mock disappointment, while Japree chuckled quietly and offered me his arm.

Natalia hooked hers through it and grinned at me. "You always have handsome boys by your side, so it's my turn now," she said.

"I wasn't going to deny you your chances of walking with a handsome boy."

"So you think I'm handsome, huh?" Japree asked the two of us with bright smile on his face.

"Shut up, Jap. You ruin your pretty image when you start talking," Natalia instructed.

"Guys, I love that you are getting along so well, but we kind of have to get going," Cynthia interrupted whatever comeback had been about to leave Japree's mouth.

I sighed loudly at that.

"Stop sighing like an old, unhappy woman," Alice scolded, wrinkling her little nose, "it's unattractive."

"Bella, would you please join us in front and leave the mundane people behind," Japree called to me.

"Mundane?" Alice repeated, scowling.

"I didn't mean it like that, but since she is the Queen, she kinda has to walk in front of the line, which would be next to me."

Alice was apparently not satisfied with that answer, but I didn't get to hear whatever she mumbled next because Rose simply pushed me forward.

I stumbled awkwardly and Japree barely managed to steady me with his free arm.

"Shall we go now, before you hurt yourself... again?"

I only rolled my eyes at him, which he took as a yes.

It shouldn't have surprised me that there were more people than normal around. I looked at the ground, while Japree led the way.

"The palace?" Natalia asked disbelievingly. "How unoriginal."

I looked up and saw that Japree was indeed leading us in the direction of the Palace.

"Not the palace, silly. We set up a stadium behind the palace."

"A stadium?" Natalia and I asked in unison.

Japree only nodded.

I was pretty sure that it was useless to ask how in the world they managed to create a stadium out of nothing.

Behind the palace was some kind of big monument, but I couldn't exactly see the shape or size of the stadium because Japree led us through a big set of doors.

"I'm just going to assume that you want your friends to sit with you in the VIP section," Japree said to me.

I nodded and stared at the high set of stairs in front of us.

"Have none of you ever heard of an elevator?" Chris complained somewhere in the back.

"Sure we have," Japree replied lightly, leading us up the stairs.

I heard Chris grumble something, but I didn't listen to that as I climbed the stairs.

About 83 steps later, we finally arrived at the top and went through the doors in front of us.

The large patio that we now stepped on reminded me of those gladiator movies, which could probably be because the stadium looked exactly like those.

Down in the middle stood Bryce, who made a sign in Japree's direction.

Japree nodded in answer and a second later Bryce's voice could be heard loud and clear to everyone.

"Ladies and gentlemen—the Queen and Princess." He made a dramatic gesture in our direction, while Japree pushed me in the throne next to Natalia that stood in a safe distance from the rails.

Right in front of the rails was a bench, which was already occupied by Cynthia, Chris, Rose and Alice.

They all waved at the cheering crowd, while I only wished to disappear.

"Well, now that our two stunning ladies have arrived, we can start the Games!"

Sure enough, the ground he stood on was made up of ice and several fountains of water broke out when he lifted his arms in a dramatic manner.

"The first Royal Task is going to be the Balance test," Bryce declared, while the fountains proceeded to spit water. "The stadium will be filled halfway with water and our contestants over there—" he pointed to the seating rows right across from us, "—will have to balance on an ice floe for ten minutes. Anyone who falls into the water will not only get a cold, but will also be disqualified."

I saw how a few of the boys started to look nervously at each other, while Bryce continued his speech.

"In the first round, the use of gifts and magic of any kind is not allowed. If our judges notice any of you cheating, you will be disqualified." Bryce pointed in our direction, but I knew for sure that none of us were the judges so I just assumed that they must be sitting beneath us.

"Let the Royal Games begin!" With those words, Bryce hurriedly made his way out of the arena, the water already reaching his knees.

I noticed that beneath the rows where the audience sat was another patio that went once around the stadium and everyone that sat there suddenly got up. All of them were Hydros and they all turned their concentration to the arena beneath them, doing different hand movements or wielding wands.

I saw the ice ground break and the water rise. Soon enough, the water almost reached their patio and a little set of stairs were quickly formed to allow the participants to go down there.

The first floe made it's way up and came to halt right in front of the stairs. I was really impressed at how good the others had gotten with their gifts.

"Contestant number 100, please come down," a female voice spoke. I didn't see the person it belonged to, but I knew that she was also one of the Hydros.

One of the boys, dressed in nothing more that a bath robe, stepped down the stairs. Two of the Hydros standing next to those stairs helped him take off his robe and spoke quietly to him, before he went to take a seat on the floe.

"Contestant number 101..."

I already tuned the voice out, not really interested in each individuals number.

"Hey, Japree," Chris called over to Japree who still stood by my side.

"Yes?"

"Why are they starting with number 100?"

"Because that's the first one. We started with 100 and ended with 200. Don't even ask why. It was Bryce's idea," he explained and then handed me a pair of binoculars.

"Bella, move your butt over here and sit with us," Rose demanded and patted the empty space beside her.

"And you, too, Natalia," Alice added.

A few minutes later, Natalia, Japree, Cynthia, Rose, Alice, Chris, and I sat on the pillowed bench, munching on popcorn and chips as we watched the contestants continue to busily take their places on the floes.

"Contestant number 178..."

Alice and I cheered loudly, although Alice managed to make more noise since she had various fan articles that had been specifically designed to make noise. Especially the little 'hooter' that was constantly screaming Edward's name at the same deafening volume as Alice. She'd apparently thought it would be important to have something that could shout whatever she wished for it to shout, with her, only to motivate the boys. I doubted that it was motivating; it was just downright ear-splitting.

Much like the other 77 contestants before him, Edward wore nothing more than a pair of swim trunks.

Of course, I didn't drool. It's not like I was some crazy fangirl.

"Bella, wipe off that drool of yours," Rose instructed, throwing a tissue at me.

Edward's floe was already floating around in the pool of water when Jasper stepped down the stairs.

This time, Rose cheered, though thankfully at a much more tolerable volume. Even Chris joined in and I began to wonder why in the world the two of them had been completely silent when Edward had been called up.

I didn't ask them, though. I was helping them cheer for Jasper, and then Dylan. I noticed that we were not the only ones doing that. The whole crowd had become louder ever since Edward had undressed. Jasper definitely didn't help matters, and Dylan made everything worse by waving and blowing kisses to the crowd before he pointed at Chris and put a hand on his chest, motioning how she made his heart beat faster.

I saw how Chris shook her head slightly at him, but sent him a kiss back anyway, and waved.

I was sure that I wasn't the only one that stared at her, but I was definitely the only one who was not plotting to kill her.

Apparently my sister and Edward's brother weren't just a couple for the day. There was no way that it was like that, otherwise she would have flipped him the bird or something. Now I actually saw why Rose and Alice had found it so amusing and I glared at my sister for not telling me.

I would have to have a little chat with her later.

"I love you, Emmy-Bear!" Rose suddenly screamed from beside me. She sounded like a crazy fangirl that was about to faint and her squealing like Emmett was a freaking pop star only supported that.

Now that all of our boys were on the water, the cheering went down a little. Alice had decided that it was a good idea for us to rest our voices until the competition began.

Japree was shaking his head and mumbled something about "crazy teenage girls with high-pitched voices."

"Alright, everyone. It's time to start," I heard Bryce's voice and a giant stopwatch suddenly floated above our heads. "On the count of three, all of the contestants will have to stand on their floes. Is everyone ready for this?"

The answering roar from the crowd rang in my ears.

"One...two...three." The watch immediately started counting and two boys already fell into the water.

The ice cold water.

"Contestants number 127 and number 185 are disqualified," the female voice announced

"You can do it, Emmett! If you win this, I will rub those big feet of yours!" Rose shouted.

Chris stared at her with a disgusted look on her face, while I laughed at her expression.

"I believe in you, Jazzy! Make us proud, Edward! Your new girlfriend is watching, Dylan!" Alice shouted. She didn't even take a breath while she cheered for the three boys. "Emmett, you'll get a steak if you win! Edward, don't let those other losers take your girl!"

She continued randomly screaming things at each boy, while I just had to laugh at the things she said.

"Contestants number 103, 164, and 177 are disqualified."

I looked at the time and saw that just a little over a minute had passed.

"Contestant number 199 is disqualified."

"You are the champion, you are the champion. The rest are the losers and you are the champion... of the Gaaaaames!" Alice now sang.

Chris and Rose soon joined in, while Natalia and Cynthia were rolling with laughter.

I took off my coat and leaned over the railing together with the others and somewhat joined in in their ridiculous song as well.

"You are the champion, you are the champion—"

"Contestants number 112, 115, 137, 145, 162, 178, and 189 are disqualified."

"The rest are the losers—What?" I interrupted my singing and stared the seven boys that were currently swimming back to the stairs.

This couldn't be. I probably only imagined it. There was no way that—

"Edward, you bring shame to our family! How dare you?" Alice screamed at the top of her lungs, causing the bronze-haired boy that just wrapped himself in a towel to turn around and glare at her.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"What the hell, Edward?" I all but shrieked as I paced around the room.

The whole group was gathered in my second dressing room in the palace and watched as I was freaked out.

"Bella, I—"

"How could you lose?" I asked incredulously. "And in the first round!"

The rest of the boys had made it safely and dry through the first round and were now spending the break eating, while they sat and watched.

"I wa—"

"I mean, you are Edward Cullen, for God's sake! The whole world automatically assumes that you are at least going to make it to the final round, but no, you managed to get kicked out in the first round. The first round!"

"Could—"

"You ace every little unimportant test in school, but you fail when it comes to winning a date with me? Am I not good enough? I know I'm not, but you didn't have to get yourself kicked out in the first round for that. Yo could have just told me that you are sick and tired of of me instead of using the whole 'whoever-wins-should-be-your-new-boyfriend' thing. I understand. I really do."

"Isabella!" Edward shouted, making me cringe. He was quickly by my side, throwing my over his shoulder and carrying me out of the room and into the throne room. He sat me down and looked at me with furious eyes.

"Are you mad at me?" I inquired quietly.

"No," he answered and then sighed, running a hand over his face. "I'm mad at myself for losing and making you think that you are not worth the effort of trying."

I blinked and then watched him as he started to pace around.

"I tried, Bella, I really did. It's just that... ugh. I'm still so angry about the incident earlier."

"Shouldn't that have motivated you to win?"

"Oh, it did motivate me alright," he replied grimly. "I just wasn't in control of my gift and I was hearing everybody's thoughts. Nothing I can't handle since I've been living like that for years, but..." He stopped and let out a frustrated groan. He punched the wall in front of him and I saw a small crack build in the ice.

He was by my side in the blink of an eye, kneeling down before me, gripping my arms. "I'm so sorry, love. I don't intend to break up with you and I certainly didn't want to make you feel like you aren't good enough. You are perfect, Bella; don't let anyone tell you anything different. Just because I'm an idiot doesn't mean that you are worthless, okay?" His green eyes looked like they were trying to will me to believe him.

I nodded my head.

Edward loosened his grasp and let his head fall into my lap.

I was at a loss of what to do, so I gently stroked his head, running my fingers through his soft hair.

"I'm sorry, Bella," he mumbled again.

"It's okay."

"No, it's not. I messed up and now you will have to go to the party with some slimy, stinking—"

"Dylan, Jasper, and Emmett are still in the Games."

Edward looked up and stared at me. "You're right. And they're not going to be distracted by—" he stopped short, his eyes darkening, before he quickly averted his gaze.

"Distracted by what?" I pressed gently.

Edward didn't answer.

Instead, he got up again and went to punch the next wall.

"Edward, could you please stop trying to punch holes into my palace?"

"Sorry."

"Are you going to tell me what distracted you?"

"It wasn't just me. The other ones who got disqualified at the same time as me were also distracted by—" Again, he just stopped talking.

"Can you just tell me what distracted seven boys so much that they fell into the water? Was it something I did?" I demanded, getting a little impatient.

Edward didn't look at me; instead, he seemed to find the wall very interesting. Probably because his blood was slowly running down it.

I sighed. I had to end this conversation before he punched the wall again.

"Alright, it was something I did. What did I do? Was it my singing? I think Alice sings a hundred times worse than me. Chris isn't a brilliant singer either and Rose was not even in tune."

"It was not you singing," Edward replied quietly.

"Okay, then what was it?"

"It's not your fault, it's just that—"

"Yes?"

"I don't even know what was wrong with me. I'm not normally like this, but I think it's getting worse these days..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Of course it's only natural, seeing that you are gorgeous, attractive, and just overall stunning, but still, this is not really the way I usually act."

"Edward?" I urged.

"It was the coat, okay," he blurted out. "I don't even know what's wrong with me. All you did was take your coat off, and then you leaned over the railing and you dress is slightly low cut and I just... ugh, I'm such a freak, it's not even normal. I think I'm turning into Dylan. Wait, that didn't come out right, since Dylan ogles every female with boobs and I've only got eyes for you, which doesn't mean that I ogle you all the time or your boobs, although they are quite nice, but still, I'm not—"

"You fell because..." I could even finish the question and instead blushed the deepest crimson ever.

"I'm so sorry, Bella. I don't even know what's wrong with me. First the morning wood the other day and now this. I swear I'm not a perv; something just must be wrong with me. Maybe I'm sick or something..."

"You are not sick, my dear brother," Dylan's voice suddenly spoke. He waltzed into the room, followed by the rest of the group, and walked to Edward's side, throwing a hand on his shoulder. "That is how a normal teenage boy should behave. Edward, what you are experiencing is called puberty."

Emmett let out a roar of laughter, while I blushed even more and let my hair hide most of my face.

"You are a pretty late bloomer, dear Eddie, but now that you finally are a man as well, let me tell you that you are currently experiencing what it's like to live life with hormones—teenage hormones. This gets especially worse when you have a beautiful girl, such as Bella, constantly by your side. The fact that the two of you are sharing your bed is probably not helping, either."

Emmett's laughter only got louder, and now he was joined by Jasper and Rose.

Oh, dear God, just kill me now!

Alice appeared at my side and sat down on the arm rest of my ice throne. She patted my back in an attempt to be comforting, but her quiet giggles weren't helping at all.

I buried my face in my hands. "How long have you all been listening?"

"Ever since we heard a weird warrior cry come from in here," Emmett answered, somehow managing to laugh at the same time.

"Ugh, Dylan," Edward suddenly shouted.

I peeked through my fingers at the two brothers and saw Edward shake Dylan's hand off his shoulder.

"Hey, I'm just being helpful," retorted Dylan.

"No, you're being disgusting. How about instead of whispering that nonsense into my ear, you go whisper it to Chris? She might like it." The flush on his face and the way his teeth were grit together led me to believe that Edward was more than pissed.

"Leave me out of this," Chris chirped, wandering around the room, bored. "This is your Sex Ed course, Edward. I already hit puberty."

"You are two freaking years younger than me," Edward hissed.

Chris glanced up at him and flashed him a brilliant smile. "Yes, but I'm also a girl."

Emmett apparently thought that this course of conversation was boring because he made his way toward me and said, "I think it's really unfair that only Edward got to see it. I wanna see that nice pair of boobies, too!"

I don't think I've ever gotten out of a chair faster, and I don't think Rose had ever been so quick to smack Emmett across the head.

"Ow, Rosie," he complained in a whine.

"No more boob talk. You want boobies? You'd better behave and help save Bella, otherwise I will wear turtlenecks for the rest of your life," she threatened.

While Emmett's lips dropped into a pout, the rest of us were silent.

"Wow," Jasper murmured after a few quiet moments, "what an unnecessary insight into my sister's relationship."

Emmett stopped pouting and decided to tease Jasper instead. "You're just jealous 'cause you haven't seen Alice's goodies yet."

"Emmett!" five people exclaimed together. Alice, Edward, Dylan, Rose, and of course Jasper. The way they all glared dangerously at the giant idiot was almost comical. The boy really knew how to piss off a room full of people.

"You know, guys...not only are we a group that only consists of couples—which is already weird enough—but there also doesn't seem to be a single day that goes by without any perverted jokes or comments, sex talks, or anything else along those lines. What is wrong with you people?" Chris said, more or less voicing my exact thoughts.

"First of all, don't be such a prude," Dylan answered her. "Second, I believe there have been days without any 'perverted jokes or comments'. Third, I think I know why it bothers you, and I can certainly help you with that little problem—" he waggled his eyebrows, "—and last but not least, did you just say that we are a couple?"

"Oh yeah, about that..." I chimed in before Chris could say anything. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Chris looked at me first, and then at Dylan. It seemed like she was trying to decide which one of us she would answer first.

Eventually she turned to me. "Well, did you tell me when Edward asked you to be his girlfriend?" she snapped.

"Well, no... But that was because we weren't talking to each other at the time, thank you very much."

"So? I also never got a play-by-play of your date. All I ever got were your makeout sessions."

"Well, you never once talked to me about your whole Dylan issue. You only complained to me every now and then, but you didn't really tell me anything—like last Sunday. And then you don't tell me that he's your boyfriend now."

"I couldn't tell you that because it just kinda happened. Besides, Edward told you before I could."

"Hello? We have a mental connection. You could have let me know instantly."

"Does that mean that you really think of me as your boyfriend?" Dylan barged in excitedly.

"Shut up!" Chris and I snapped at him in unison.

Then Chris turned to me again to continue where we'd left off.

"You know, I'm trying to stay out of your mind most of the time because I don't wanna see, feel, or taste Edward anymore. Do you know that it's your fault that I more or less madeout with Dylan on his bed?"

I gaped at her for a short moment before I pointed my finger at her and jumped like a little child. "See? See? That's exactly what I mean. Why didn't you tell me any of that either? I swear, you two could have had sex by now without me knowing anything about it."

"When was I supposed to tell you that? When you were rolling around with your new boytoy, or when we were surrounded by the rest of them? It's not exactly what I call privacy."

"Mental connection," I hissed at her. "We have a freaking mind connection!"

"Oh great. So should I be telling you this stuff during class, so that you can be pissed off at me later for interrupting your concentration? Or should I have told you while we were doing homework? Oh, oh! I also could have intruded your mind while you were busily practicing with the Hydros, or maybe I should have just ripped you out of your sleep." The sarcasm in her voice was practically visible.

"I don't know why, but this is strangely fascinating," I heard Rose whisper.

I sighed. "We need to talk," I said to Chris, more gently now.

She let her shoulders slump and nodded in agreement. "I know."

"Later?"

"Sure, just without the audience."

"What? No way!" Emmett and Rose protested at the same time, causing Chris to glare at them while I shook my head.

"I already have an idea how to get rid of them," she mumbled.

"I hope it's nothing brutal," I commented.

"Not really."

"Yeah, well, that's all great, but shouldn't we get back to those Games that are kind of important because they decide Bella's future?" Alice chimed in.

Everyone murmured something that sounded like agreements, and we slowly shuffled out of the room.

xXxXxXxXxXx

"And now let's get started with the second Royal Task!"

"Is it okay if I hate him right now?" Edward asked me in a whisper as he glared down at Bryce. He was now sitting with the rest of us on the bench, leaning against me. He was still pretty down about the fact that he hadn't won—I knew that, and I played with his hair in hopes of soothing him. He did have his eyes closed and looked like he was relaxing in my arms, but there was still a frown on his face.

"If you want to hate him for coming up with this idea, then sure," I told him truthfully.

"The two of you are real downers, huh?" Natalia commented, raising her eyebrows at me.

Both Edward and I glared at her.

"Just sayin'," she mumbled.

"Okay, let's get down to business with our Royal Task numero dos!" Bryce's voice sounded as cheerful as always, which only made the desire to strangle him grow. "Our remaining 64 contestants will have to prove their strength by showing us some climbing skills."

Suddenly the ground started shaking. I let out a little yelp of surprise and instinctively held onto Edward, who'd sat up and looked around in search of the source of the shaking.

Meanwhile, I peeked over the railing and noticed that it wasn't the ground shaking, but the stadium itself seemed to be moving. Looking at the opposite side of the rows, I instantly knew why. The circle in which the seating rows were arranged was slowly starting to part.

"A little warning would have been nice," Rose grumbled, sounding surprised, startled, and pissed at the same time.

Slowly, the gap forming revealed a giant ice mountain, which was big enough to let the Titanic sink twice.

"The rules for round two are as follows: The contestants will have thirty minutes to climb to the top of the mountain. Everyone who does not make it to the top in those thirty minutes, or falls off within that time, will be disqualified. In this round, the usage of magic is allowed, but only under the condition that each contestant is indeed climbing up."

While Bryce was talking, the seating rows arranged themselves in a straight line, enabling everyone to watch what would be going on on the ice mountain. Alice had already snatched the binoculars that Japree had given to me earlier, and was vibrating with excitement.

"Ready, set, go!"

And just like that, the next round of madness started.

A few months ago, I had been perfectly content with my life. I did well in school, had decent friends, and more than enough things to do in my free time. Most of the time I would help out my mother with her new projects, and try to teach her how to cook. Sometimes I let my sister drag me along to the beach or the mall and actually enjoyed myself every now and then.

I did my homework, I had dinner with my family, and I talked on the phone for a longer amount of time sometimes.

Now that I look back, I actually find my previous life pretty boring, even though it hadn't bothered me at the time.

I never dreamed of having so many good friends that I was not willing to ever let go. I never imagined that I would have a boyfriend, who was not only two years older than me, but also one of the most sought after guys in school. But the thing that I definitely never, ever even dared to think of is that I would actually enjoy life in the rainiest town in the whole country.

But here I was, and exactly those things had taken place. Normally this would be the moment in which I would look at my friends and smile at Alice, who was jumping up and down in her seat, cheering, and at Rose and Chris, who were supporting her.

I would place a kiss on Edward's cheek and then hug him, and I would pull a grimace at my sister, who might have made some stupid comment.

But none of that happened. Instead, I was sitting cross-armed the entire time, scowling.

Out of all the crazy things I've had to endure ever since I arrived, this was the one thing that I hated the most.

Watching a bunch of guys in some stupid competition just because my idiotic mentors thought it would be funny to make me the prize. If there had ever been a moment in my life in which I wanted to switch places with just about anyone, this was probably it.

I watched how the boys climbed the ice mountain, and worried for a moment that someone could get hurt. That was until Japree told me that they were wearing protection clothes, and that nothing could happen to them.

After that, I didn't bother to worry about anyone anymore.

I didn't care that some guy almost shot Jasper off the mountain with some weird blasting spell. I also didn't care that Dylan beamed himself halfway up the mountain, climbed half of the remaining distance, and then beamed himself up again, only so he could climb the last remaining bit to the top. It was apparently not against the rules because the rules only said that they had to climb to the top, which he did.

I might have cared a little when Jasper did indeed fall down, but after he got up unharmed, I resumed fuming.

At the end of those thirty minutes, Dylan and Emmett had made it up along with 15 other guys.

The others cheered for our two remaining boys in the contest, and welcomed Jasper into our midst.

My mood got a lot worse when Bryce announced the third and final round right after the stadium had returned to its original shape and a running track appeared in the middle. The last challenge was a race on skates, and the fact that Emmett couldn't ice skate even if his life depended on it did absolutely nothing to improve my mood.

My friends sensed that it was not a good idea to try and cheer me up, although it might have had something to do with me growling at Edward for trying to comfort me.

Thinking about it later on, it had probably been a good idea that I didn't get my hopes up and had been in a bad mood from the beginning.

"Hold still, Bella. I'm trying to make you look pretty," Alice complained for the millionth time.

"But I don't want to look pretty," I whined in return, probably also for the millionth time.

Rose, who sat on the bed with Chris, groaned. "Alice, just leave her be. There is no need to try any hairstyles on her. You can experiment on me."

As soon as the suggestion left her mouth, I jumped out of the chair and dragged Chris out of the room and into the living room with me.

"Is Alice done torturing you?" Jasper asked casually, glancing up from his book.

"Not really. I just managed to escape," I replied gloomily, and Chris patted my shoulder sympathetically.

"Perfect. Stay just like you are," Dylan suddenly instructed.

Both of us looked at him and saw him sitting in the armchair with his sketchbook, in which he was scribbling furiously.

When he looked at us again, his shoulders slumped. "You shouldn't have moved," he complained.

"You don't expect us to apologize for breathing, do you?" Chris asked him with raised eyebrows.

Dylan didn't reply, and instead resumed sketching, although it was a lot slower now.

"Are you drawing us?" Chris asked him curiously.

"No, I'm trying to catch the true essence of the forceful nature," he answered thoughtfully.

Chris gave him a confused look.

He sighed. "I'm trying to draw you," he explained.

"Oh," was Chris' reply.

"Why?" I asked, trying to combine his earlier answer and the explanation.

"Just because. I'm always sketching and most of the time it's the people around me."

"Does that mean you have a picture or something of me as well?"

"Err... Yes." The expression on his face was weird. He looked like he was embarrassed or something.

Chris noticed this as well and narrowed her eyes at him. "What have you done?" she demanded, pointing her index finger at him.

"Nothing."

"Then what's up with the blush?"

"I'm not blushing."

"That's what you think."

I sighed while the two of them continued their bickering. Two arms snaked themselves around my waist, pulling me close.

Edward rested his chin on my shoulder and whispered, "It's a really beautiful painting that he made, and you'll see it soon. He's just too embarrassed to talk about it in front of people. He never talks about his paintings."

"Why not?"

"He thinks it makes him look less cool to talk about it because his paintings have a lot to do with his feelings—sort of like a reflection of them—and of course it's not cool to have feelings." Edward chuckled quietly when he saw the glare his brother sent him in the middle of his bickering with my sister.

"Don't act like you're any better, Eddiekins," Emmett said as he walked into the room. "You won't play piano for us, either."

"That's because none of you have any sense for classical music."

"Yeah, yeah," Emmett waved him off and threw himself on the couch.

"Psh. I refuse to believe that this is supposed to be me. Maybe Bella, but not me," Chris argued and I turned to look at her. She was perched on the armrest of next to Dylan, peeking into his sketchbook. Meanwhile, Dylan looked slightly frustrated.

"That's not Bella. I think I can tell the difference."

"Obviously not. See those eyes? They are totally not mine. Well, also not Bella's, but still, my eyes don't look that…that…" she was struggling to find a word.

Dylan pulled her down from the armrest and onto his lap. "That beautiful? Actually, they do, since I draw people how I see them, and you are exactly as beautiful as look in this drawing."

The sudden wave of mixed emotions that came from Chris almost knocked me over. I freed myself from Edward's embrace.

"Wasn't there a conversation that we still have to finish?" I asked my sister.

Chris looked up at me and then awkwardly got off of Dylan's lap, and caught my hand. "Let's go and take a bath," she suggested.

Whatever Emmett had been drinking was now spluttered all across the floor.

I decided that it would be a good idea to get going before he recovered from his coughing fit.

We went to the master bedroom and straight into the bathroom before we both came to a stop in front of the bathtub.

"You weren't really planning on us taking a bath together, were you?" I asked Chris, remembering that the last time Mom had put us in a tub together was when we were five.

"Um, no, not really. I just figured that the only place where we wouldn't have to worry about privacy was the bathroom," she answered.

"Well, we can always pretend to take a bath together," I said and seated myself in the tub.

Chris eyed me with a funny expression for a few moments before she shrugged and climbed in as well, sitting down on the opposite side of the tub.

I guessed that Mr. Decour didn't have the tub with intentions to share it with someone. Either that or he liked the fact that there was little space to move once there were two people in the tub. I decided to banish these sort of thoughts, and instead focused on Chris, who was still trying to figure out where she should put her legs.

"So..." I started once she sat still.

"So," she replied, looking down at her hands.

We were both quiet for a while.

"I guess assigned sister talk doesn't work for us," I noted then.

"Seems like it."

Again, silence followed.

"Chris?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry for screaming at you earlier."

"It's okay. I'm sorry, too."

"Do you really think that we have drifted apart?"

Chris leaned her head against the porcelain of the tub. "I'm not sure. We do spend more than enough time together, but I don't think I've ever had to share you with so many people at once."

"We've also never had separate rooms."

"I think I'm quite thankful for that, actually," she grimaced.

"Why?" I asked in confusion.

"I wouldn't survive if I had to see Edward all the time."

"Don't be mean."

"I'm not being mean. I'm just being honest."

I sighed and rolled my eyes at her. "Well, I guess I don't have to like Dylan then, right?"

Chris shook her head. "No, you don't. I don't even like him."

"Right. That's why you're his girlfriend now."

Chris grimaced again. "It wasn't by choice, okay? He just dumped that piece of information on me and left me no choice."

"Um, you do realize that you could have just said that you don't want to, if that were really the case," I told her, shaking my head slightly.

"No, I couldn't have. Just like I could never intentionally hurt you, I can't refuse him this one little thing. It might have been possible some time ago, but not anymore."

I started to hum the tune of Can You Feel the Love Tonight, causing Chris to kick me lightly and me to giggle madly when she did.

"Oh, you have to admit it. You are in love. And you have been in love for quite some time already. Rose even told you that months ago."

"I am not in love. I'm a hormone-driven teenager."

"Sure, sure. You keep telling yourself that."

Chris decided to tickle me with her foot while I proceeded to sing Elton John's song.

It went on like that for several more moments until Chris accidentally turned the water on. Both of us climbed out of the tub then, and got ready to sleep. Instead of cuddling up with Edward, I was falling asleep with Chris by my side, and I grinned when I heard her mutter Dylan's name in her sleep.

The next morning was a lot more relaxed than the previous ones. The fair was now more or less over, and all that was left to do was close our displays and help our groups clean up. After that, there was only the party left, and I wasn't looking forward to that. How Eric—what's his surname again?—had managed to win was still a mystery to me, and I was not looking forward to the result of that, either. I had recognized him as the guy who professed his undying love for me in the palace, and kissed my feet. Edward was, of course, not pleased about it and was already planning to steal me away from my "date." So much for "whoever wins will be more worth your time than me."

The day dragged on painfully slow and I'd already started to miss Edward when the day was only halfway through. Making water masses disappear was definitely tiring, especially since I had absorbed almost half of the pool before I felt like I was going to explode. During the whole cleaning session, I never once spoke to Bryce or Japree. I didn't even look at them.

When we were finally done with all that had been left to do, Alice appeared to pick me up for a quick shopping trip together with the other two girls. Like always, it was true torture to go shopping with Alice. But I didn't complain, mostly because I preferred the shopping trip opposed to dancing with Eric—something closely related to Yuckie.

After the shopping spree, we all hurried back to Mr. Decour's house to get ready for the evening. Or rather, the others did and I did my best to be as slow as possible. The boys were all gone somewhere because Alice had apparently warned them to stay away. By the time the evening slowly came around, the front door burst open and Emmett and Jasper stumbled in.

"We searched the whole campus," Emmett said breathlessly.

"Not a trace," Jasper added.

All of us girls made our way to them and gave them confused looks, having no idea what they were talking about.

"What are you two talking about?" Alice asked.

"Where are Dylan and Edward?" Chris inquired at the same time.

"Gone," answered Emmett and Jasper simultaneously.

"What do you mean by gone?" Chris and I asked in unison.

Jasper and Emmett looked at each other briefly. "It means we can't find them."

Without waiting for anyone to say anything at all, I flew out the door. I felt Chris right behind me as I went. I sprinted as fast as I could to the Black House, since this was the first place I could think of to look for them. I didn't halt until we reached Edward's bedroom door.

I knocked and waited impatiently for someone to answer. Chris, however, was not in the mood for waiting and simply opened the door. I had feared that the room would be empty, but actually seeing it empty was still a shock. I looked around the room in hopes of finding something, until my eyes zeroed in on a piece of paper lying on Edward's bed. Chris noticed it as well and the two of us quickly dove for it.

You may have noticed that your beloved Edward is not here. In case you are wondering, he and his cute brother Dylan are with us, and if you ever want to see them again… Well, you know where to find us.

To prevent any kind of unnecessary trouble, I'm suggesting that only Isabella and Christabel come and see us, otherwise the two boyfriends will die.

xoxo
Irina

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A/N: Fish (that's me) says you will all die horrible deaths in the impending 2012 Apocalypse/end of the world if you do not review this amazing chapter.

Seriously…

I'm not kidding…

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Thanks ._.