A/N: Thanks so much for all your wonderful thoughts.

Most characters belong to S. Meyer. The rest belong to me. All mistakes are mine as well.

Chapter 3 – Stage 3: Elementary School for B, Middle School for E:

STAGE 3: Elementary School Age Stage for Bella, and Middle School Stage for me:
(aka Bella finally left the tears behind, but when the hell did Emmett and I become her babysitters?)

"Rocks, papers, scissors, shoot!"

"Yes! Scissors cut paper!"

"Again!"

"Rocks, papers, scissors, shoot!"

"Aw, man, Ed!"

"Hah! Rocks break scissors!"

"Four out of five. Rocks, papers-"

"Boys, it's almost Bella's turn," my mom said. "Now, face forward!"

Emmett and I shared a smirk before we both begrudgingly turned and faced the minuscule stage in the gymnasium of Forks' Early Learning Center, where that afternoon, the Kindergarten class was graduating. About thirty, five-year-olds dressed in white graduation caps and gowns were standing around in alphabetical order, shuffling agitatedly, pulling one another's hair, pushing, being loud, and generally on the verge of something dangerous.

Meanwhile, their excited parents crept closer and closer to the stage, with their unnecessary, professional-grade camera lenses extended as far as they'd go, and poised to snap picture after picture of their children receiving diplomas for little more than learning to use scissors.

"Melanie Sanchez!" Mrs. Molina, the Kindergarten teacher, proudly called out, while little Melanie snatched her diploma from Mrs. Molina with one hand and picked her nose with the other. Sure enough, the moment was immortalized for all posterity by her proud, camera-toting parents and applauded by everyone else in the audience.

"This is silly," I chuckled as I clapped half-heartedly. "What's the point of kindergarten graduation, anyway? It's not like Bella Marie is receiving a college diploma from…the University of Chicago! Now, that would be something," I grinned. "That would be reason for all this commotion!"

"Samuel Scranton!"

Mom side-eyed me while clapping for little Samuel.

"Edward, Kindergarten graduation is a special day. Someday, you may come to appreciate the fact that you shared in this special day with one of your best friends."

"I doubt that." When I looked over at Emmett, hoping to have him back me up here on the insignificance of the event, I found his head hanging, while a telltale snore erupted from him. I expelled a sigh.

"Donna Sherman!"

"Marking milestones is more than a momentous endeavor, Edward," Mom continued. "It's meaningful as a gauge of the changes an individual advances through in life, from birth through toddlerhood, through preschool, through elementary school, through middle school, through high school, and then through whatever real-world experiences an individual may choose. And while some of these stages may seem…silly," she smiled, "they mark a transition. Little Bella, for example, has gone from being a baby, who cried because she needed help with almost everything, to learning to use her words to communicate her wants and needs, learning motor skills that were once beyond her ability, and experiencing her sensory world as more than an enclosed space. And from here on in, her world will expand all the more as will the way she sees it and the way she deals with it. It's an amazing thing to watch, Edward – in her, in Emmett, and you. And mark my words, someday, you'll look back on these milestones and see them through a different lens."

"Kenneth Stewart!"

"Not one as powerful as the lens Mr. Stewart has trained on little Kenny's nose there. Man, oh, man!"

"Shh! Here comes Bella," Mom said excitedly, and I dug an elbow into Emmett's ribs to wake him.

"Emmett, here comes your little sister!"

Bella inched closer to the podium and displayed a gap-toothed smile.

"Isabella Swan!"

Despite my previous complaints, hearing Bella's name called and seeing how her tiny face lit up with pride – as if she was indeed receiving a diploma from some grand institution of higher learning – made me grin. I jumped up from my seat along with my parents and Emmett and applauded and whistled hard.

"Yeah! Go, Bella Marie! Yeah! You did it!"

"Go, baby sister! Yeah! Woo-hoo!"

"Congratulations, sweetheart!"

And Bella ate it all up, posing for the pictures Mrs. Swan and the Chief were both frenziedly taking up front, twirling this way and that while holding her rolled-up, yellow-ribbon-tied diploma.

"I did it! I did it, Edward! Edward, look at me! I'm a big girl!"

"Yeah, you are!" I replied, "even if the paper you're holding up is just a blank piece of nothing!"

The grin evaporated from Bella's little face. Instead, a deep, vertical line formed between her tiny eyebrows.

"What?"

The entire auditorium fell into a tense hush.

"No. Never mind," I said. "Nothing."

But Bella was already untying her 'diploma.' "Mrs. Molina said it's my diploma, with my name, saying I'm a big girl."

"It is, Bella Marie. You're right. Stop unrolling it. Bella!"

"Bella, honey, may I please present the next diploma?"

"Now, Bella, just get off the stage and let the next little boy get his turn," the Chief ordered.

By now, all the kindergarteners on stage were following Bella's lead and unrolling their papers. When Bella held hers open, her brown eyes grew wide, and a sharp gasp escaped her.

"Oh, my God! There's nothing on it!"

"Oh, my goodness!"

"She lied to us! Mrs. Molina lied to us!"

"So, we're not really big kids?"

"Of course, you're all big kids," Mrs. Molina said anxiously. "Boys, girls, settle down and roll your diplomas back up so that we may continue. Boys! Girls!"

And as the graduation descended into chaos, Emmett looked at me and clapped me on the shoulder.

"Good job, Ed. We'll be here for another couple of hours now."

OOOOO

Sure enough, kindergarten graduation marked a transition into a very different stage for Bella. She left behind the constant goddamn tears – only to become an even bigger pain-in-the-butt. What's more, her elementary-school stage happened to be when she met her best friend, Alice Brandon. Suddenly, another tiny, brown-haired thing was always. lurking. around.

"Good morning, Edward."

"Morning, Mom."

"Someone sounds cranky this morning. What time did you get to bed?"

"Don't know. Em and I were battling on the Xbox 'til- holy crap!"

"Hi, Edward."

"Where the hell did you come from, Annie?"

"It's Alice."

"Whatever. What are you doing here?"

"I'm having a sleepover!"

"In my house?"

"Bella invited me."

"Hi, Edward."

"Bella Marie, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Edward, that's neither the language nor the manners of a twelve-year-old."

"But Mom, doesn't she have her own house for sleepovers?"

"Edward, you spend just as much time at the Swans as Emmett and Bella spend here."

"Yeah, but I'm there to hang out with Emmett! What's she here for?"

"I like hanging out with your mom and dad, and you've got the nicer pool, so Alice and I jumped over the fence and went swimming." Bella shrugged and stuck out her tongue at me.

"And next time, Bella honey, you'll let us know before you go swimming in the pool, correct? We grownups need to know you're in there."

Bella smiled sweetly at my mom, batting her tiny eyelashes. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good girl." My mom chuckled and placed a kiss on Bella's forehead.

"See, this is the kind of stuff that only happens in small towns. In Chicago, that would be breaking and entering, and Chicago P.D. would've hauled your skinny, eight-year-old butt to jail."

"That's not accurate at all, Edward," my dad snickered from behind his morning paper.

"Then, it's a good thing we're not in stupid Chicago and that my dad's the Forks police chief so that I'll never go to jail."

"So that I'll never go to jail," I mimicked, making faces and all.

"Edward, enough," Mom said, scolding me as if Bella hadn't started it. "Don't tease little Bella." Again, she hugged and kissed her.

"Yeah, don't tease me. Meany."

"Ugh." I threw up my arms and stalked away, completely forgetting my need for breakfast. "I'll be in my room. Let me know when the Teletubbies are gone."

"Edward, Bella said we could go to your room and play with your Xbox."

"No way in hell, Amy!"

"It's Alice!"

"Edward, you're such a meany!" Bella yelled at my retreating form.

So yeah, as if one pain-in-the-ass wasn't bad enough, now they'd multiplied. No matter where we were, whether at my house or Emmett's house, at the skate park or the rec field, Bella and Alice had a way of popping up like those annoying moles at the arcade Emmett and I liked whacking in the head with those thick mallets. Unfortunately, we couldn't whack these two. Man, I missed those days when Bella was a pre-schooler, and thereby less mobile – even if she was always crying. In this stage, I'll tell you; there were days when the last thing I was in the mood for was Bella Marie Swan.

OOOOO

For example, there was the summer right before I started high school, when I was fourteen and Bella was close to ten:

"No, she didn't."

Mom and Dad had just bought me my very own laptop for my birthday, and as an upcoming high school freshman, I had grand plans for it.

"Oh, my God, no, she didn't."

My words erupted through clenched teeth as I held my closed laptop in front of me and glared at the stickers that hadn't been decorating it the night before.

"She ruined my laptop!"

"Oh, honey, it's not ruined." Mom chuckled, seated at the breakfast table with me, and calmly sipping her late morning coffee.

"There are stickers of rainbows and unicorns and…puppies all over it."

"I think they're cute." By the amused tone of her voice, I could tell that she was hiding a smile behind her mug.

"Yeah, because that's exactly what a freshman guy wants decorating his laptop on his first day of high school – cute stickers."

Esme quirked a brow. "Why not? As principal of Forks High, I can assure you, our student body is extremely open and inclusive."

"Mom, what was Bella Marie even doing here so early this morning? I don't understand why she's here so much, yet when I'm at Emmett's, she's there too. I just don't get it."

"Don't you?"

Despite what must've been my confused expression, Esme kept right on smiling. "Aww, she's the sweetest little girl. A bit on the...precocious side, but that's what makes her so special."

"She's a massive pain in the butt is what she is, somehow an even bigger one than she was when she was tiny."

"Edward, you're both at different ages and stages. You don't realize it, but the way she acts at ten isn't very different from how you acted at ten, just as the way she behaved at four was pretty similar to the way you behaved at four. As I said, you're in different ages and stages," she repeated, "but one day, those ages and stages won't seem so far apart, and maybe you'll understand her better."

"I doubt it." I sucked my teeth in frustration as I attempted – and failed – to peel off the damn stickers. "Darn Bella Marie."

Esme chuckled and patted my hand. "Edward, don't forget that your dad, the Swans, and I have theatre plans in Seattle tonight. We'll be leaving early afternoon, and you and Emmett are watching Bella over at the Swans."

"What? When the hell did Emmett and I become her babysitters?"

"Edward."

"Can't you guys take her? She's so skinny and small, she can probably squeeze into the seats between you and Mrs. Swan, and no one would ever notice."

"Edward." There was more than a note of warning in Mom's tone now.

I expelled a heavy sigh. "See? If we still lived in Chicago, the theatre would only be an L ride away. You'd be there and back in less than a handful of hours, and Emmett and I wouldn't have our entire Saturday ruined by getting stuck babysitting Bella for a whole afternoon and late night."

Mom chuckled. "First of all, you were four when we moved here, Edward. You remember nothing about Chicago."

"That's where you're wrong. I remember the Chicago River and the skyline, and the deep-dish pizza, and Wrigley Field, and the Magnificent Mile."

"Those are all googled tourist attractions, honey. They're not memories."

"They are," I insisted, "and when I graduate high school, I'm leaving this one-horse town behind and moving back to Chicago. I'm going to college there."

Mom held my gaze for a moment. "Edward, honey, remaining in Chicago would've meant a trade-off between growing up with a great skyline and deep-dish pizza versus growing up with what you've had here, making the memories and connections you've made here."

"Other than my buddy, Emmett – and you guys, of course – there's no one here I'd miss. Besides, Em and I already have it all planned out. He's applying to both the University of Chicago and Northwestern with me. We're going to college in Chicago, getting big, important jobs, and living in high-rise apartments."

There was something melancholy in Mom's expression. "Well, if that's what you want, honey, of course, your dad and I will support your decision. But don't be surprised if you find yourself missing this little town every once in a while, and maybe even missing more than what you expected to miss."

"Pfft," I snorted. "I doubt that highly."

OOOOO

"Emmett, there! There's one hiding behind that crate there! Shoot it! Oh, yeah!"

"Ed, get the zombie heading for the chainsaw before he grabs it! Get it! Yess!"

"Can I play with you guys?"

Emmett replied without taking his eyes off the game. "See, little sis, while I'd love to have you play with us, you know you're not allowed to play this game. Otherwise, I'd be moving over right now. Ed, grab the Katana Sword!"

"There's no reason why I can't play that game just as well as you two."

"Because Mom and Dad don't want you seeing zombies coming at you from everywhere," Emmett chuckled.

"I won't! I'm not a baby!"

"Bella Marie, your brother and I are in a fight for our very lives here!" I said as I sliced off a zombie's head. "Ooh, Em, did'ja see how clean that head came off? Bella, how come you're not hanging out with Alice and wallpapering the fridge or the TV or some other pricey electronic with puppy stickers?"

"Because Alice already left."

There was something in her tone, a sad note I wasn't used to hearing in her voice. Bella was a pain-in-the-ass – but she wasn't a mopey pain-in-the-ass. When I looked over my shoulder, she was leaning dejectedly against Emmett's bedroom door and looking as if someone kicked her non-existent puppy.

"What's wrong, Bella Marie?"

"Nothing." She shrugged, shuffling her right foot back and forth in front of her. "I just wanna play with you and Emmett is all."

"Bella, you know you can't play this game with us. The Chief and Mrs. Swan would have our heads if you had zombie nightmares-"

"Ed, pay attention! Aw, man! You see? Now you're gettin' your hand chomped at by that zombie, which means I'm gonna have to saw off your entire arm before you turn."

Hastily turning back to the screen, I hissed. "Ouch. Shit."

"You're not allowed to curse either, but you're doing it now because our parents aren't here."

We managed to battle our way out of that horde with only a few limbs missing between Emmett and me. Then, I remembered Bella. When I turned toward the door, however, she was gone.

"Hey, Em, what do you think was bugging your-"

"Ed! Look at what you're doing! You're walking right into another horde!"

"Oh! Damn!"

Some time later, I awoke with a start, having dozed off on the floor. The TV was still on, and scenes from the game Emmett and I had been playing now scrolled in a continuous loop, its eerie zombie music playing in the dark background. It was all accompanied by Emmett's snores, who was also asleep on the floor.

I wandered out of the room, heading toward the kitchen for a drink of water. I had to pass Bella's room on the way to the staircase. Her door was wide open, and as my eyes strayed indifferently into the purple and white decorated space, I noticed it was empty. Assuming Bella was somewhere on the first level of the house, I kept moving.

After serving myself a glass of water, I strolled into the living room and took a seat on the couch, switching on the TV. It was at least ten minutes later when it hit me: Bella wasn't anywhere down here either.

I sat straight up.

"Bella Marie?"

No answer.

I muted the TV. "Bella?"

Nothing.

Setting the glass on the coffee table, I shot back up the stairs and into her room, standing in the middle of her surprisingly neat space, while my eyes scanned for clues. Unfortunately, I was no detective. Sprinting over to Emmett's room, I found him still asleep on the floor and nudged him with my foot.

"Emmett. Yo, Em, wake up. I can't find your sister."

"Huh? What?" Emmett mumbled groggily, eyes still shut, and rolled over.

I sucked my teeth. "Emmett, get up. I don't know where Bella is."

"She's...probably…" He resumed his snores.

"Shit."

Raking a hand through my hair, I ran through the house again, calling out for Bella. A quick check of the living room clock gave the time as…really damn late – too late for Bella to be missing. Our parents would be home any minute.

Panicking, I yanked open the sliding glass doors that led to the pool.

"Bella!" I shouted into the darkness, receiving only the crickets' replies.

I ran into the backyard and flipped on the pool lights, my heart literally in my throat. I only relaxed a minuscule amount when I confirmed that she wasn't lying face up in the Swan's pool. Running toward the white, picket fence that separated our back yards, I scaled them in one jump and lunged over to our pool. When I found that one empty as well, I sank to the muddy ground.

"Bella Marie, where the hell are you?" I muttered as I sat there, legs crossed, and debated what the hell to do next.

It was then when I experienced one of the most…terrifying moments of my young life.

The woods encroached on both the Swans' and our backyard. They were packed with wave after wave of majestic pines and fir trees. Every night, their branches swayed with the evening breeze.

That night, however, those branches morphed into long, mangled arms reaching for me. The whistling wind murmured my name…

"Edward…brains…"

Suddenly, dry leaves crunched on the bracken-littered, muddy ground. Someone…something was approaching. I sat frozen…unable to move a limb as I watched the thing come toward me, surrounded by total darkness. It ambled with the uneven footfalls of the dead and damned, head tilted sideways…hungry.

I opened my mouth to scream, but horrifyingly enough, no sound came out. And when it whispered my name, all I managed was a wild gasp.

"Edward? Edward?"

When it cleared the shadows…and turned on its flashlight, shining it directly into my face, I'd never been so relieved – and simultaneously mortified – in my life.

"Edward, what are you doing out here?"

"Holy hell, Bella Marie," I hissed. Then, I threw myself back against the dewy grass.

For a long while, I remained that way, glaring at the stars and waiting for my heart to stop racing and my chest to quit heaving. Bella switched off the flashlight, and in my periphery, I saw her take up a similar position. For a few minutes, neither one of us said a thing.

"Bella Marie, where the hell were you?" I finally demanded, scowling at the sliver of moon.

"I was walking in the woods."

"You know you're not allowed to do that," I growled.

She was quiet for a minute.

"I was…upset."

With a frustrated breath, I turned my head toward her. With the faint light provided by the moon and stars, I could see how her eyes glistened.

"Were you crying again? I thought you left the tears behind in preschool?"

"Shut up, Edward."

"What's wrong?"

She shrugged.

"Did you hurt yourself?"

She shook her head.

"Did you hurt someone else?"

"I don't think so."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Alice is mad at me."

"Why? What happened?"

"You know that boy, Jasper Whitlock, who moved in down the block a few months ago?"

I sat up and crossed my legs, and Bella followed suit.

"The short kid with the white-blond hair? Looks about your age?"

"He's not my age; he's twelve."

"Like I said, he's short. So, what is it? You both have a crush on him?"

"No!" she shouted, jerking back. "Yuck! He's gross! He picks his nose, and one time, I caught him playing with his booger between his fingers as if it was silly putty."

"That's pretty disgusting," I chuckled.

Bella chuckled in return.

"There, see?" I said more gently. "It can't be that bad. So, does he like you and not Alice?"

"God, I hope not."

"I'm confused. What the hell is the issue?"

"I just told you!" She huffed impatiently. "Alice likes him, but I told her that he's the grossest boy alive, and I told her about the booger incident. And she got mad at me as if it's my fault he plays with his boogers!"

She looked agitated again, so I resisted the urge to chuckle once more. Instead, I said nothing because I had no damn clue what to say. So, for another while, we just sat there.

"Well?" she said.

I sighed. "Bella Marie, Alice won't be mad at you for long."

"How would you know?"

"Well, here's the thing. If she's got any brains, which I doubt, but that's another story, but if she does happen to have any, pretty soon, Alice will realize that it's a good thing you don't like Jasper. It decreases the likelihood of competition."

When she frowned dubiously, I rolled my eyes. "Watch. By tomorrow morning – late afternoon at the very latest – Alice will be back here at your house, or even at my house," I muttered, "and the entire incident will be forgotten."

She looked away thoughtfully. "I don't like that she likes Jasper."

"Why? Do you like her?"

She looked at me, her brown eyes strangely bright despite the darkness. "What? Like to kiss her, you mean?"

"Yep."

"No." She shook her head. "I don't like anyone in a kissing way. I just don't like that she got mad at me because of Jasper."

"Ahh, okay. Well, here's another thing," I said, ready to impart more of my sage wisdom. "Friends are great, but once you start getting old enough to be interested in kisses, it adds a whole other layer of drama into the friendship mix."

Again, she looked confused. Tilting her head sideways, she scrutinized me. "Have you and Emmett fought over girls?"

"Nope," I shook my head. "But that's only because the girls we like happen to be twins," I grinned crookedly, "so there's one for each- never mind that. The point is, you're going to be what, ten-years-old next month?"

She nodded.

I nodded in return, smiling despite myself when a vague image of a pink bundle, then a clearer one of a gap-toothed kindergartener, flashed in my mind.

"I guess you and your friends are getting to an age and stage where some of your friends, if not necessarily you," I qualified, "will start looking at other friends and liking them differently. And I suppose if you say something bad about them, it hurts the person who likes them. So, just don't say anything bad about them."

"Even if they pick their nose?'

"Even if they pick their nose."

"How about if they murder someone?" she grinned.

I rolled my eyes. "Well, obviously, that's different."

She chuckled. "Okay. Edward, I don't think I'll ever like anyone in a kissing way. Sounds like too much trouble just to share spit."

I snickered and offered her an indifferent shrug because the possibility of a much older Bella kissing someone someday was an image I didn't even want to consider.

"Maybe you will, and maybe you won't."

"I bet you think no one will ever like me that way, huh?"

Here, I laughed hard. "I don't think that, Bella Marie. What I think is that whoever does end up liking you that way is going to have to be one damn saint. I mean, he's going to have to be madly in love with you to overlook what a pain-in-the-butt you can be. He's going to have to adore you. Like think-you're-the-smartest-and-nicest-and-sweetest-and-prettiest-thing-ever-even-if-you-are-insane kind of worship you."

She giggled. "You're so mean, Edward. Or maybe, when and if I ever fall in love, I'm gonna have to look past what a dummy he is."

"Maybe," I shrugged. "Just don't fall for a knucklehead who doesn't treat you like a princess – even though you are a pain-in-the-butt."

"I won't," she chuckled.

"Or a nose-picker."

"Ew!"

Just then, a pair of headlights turned into the front driveway and beamed brightly into the back yard.

"Shit, they're home. Let's get back inside."

"Okay."

Pulling her by her sleeve, I yanked her up so fast that her feet dangled in midair for a second.

"Set me down before you drop me!" she shrieked.

"Pfft," I smirked. "As if. You weigh less than a wet sack of air."

Bella giggled, but then, as I set her feet back on the ground, she gazed up at me.

"Hey, Edward?"

"What?" I prompted when she remained quiet. Yet, for another handful of seconds, she said nothing and just kept…looking at me.

"Never mind. Hey, wait 'til I tell everyone you almost pooped your pants when you thought I was a zombie ready to jump out of the woods and eat your brains!"

"Why you little!"

She had to wrap her arms around her stomach to contain the force of her laughter. "You should've seen your face! I never knew you could look so scared!"

"Oh yeah, Bella Marie? Let's see how funny the story is when you've gotta tell your dad the part about how you were wandering the woods by yourself."

"Oh." Her amusement died – for the most part. She still kept grinning. "How about we don't say anything at all?"

"Sounds like a plan." Smirking, I reached out and pulled her tangled hair. "You're a royal pain-in-my-butt, Bella Marie."

But the truth was that, even back then, Bella was inching toward a stage where she'd one day make me regret so many of my words.

A/N: Thoughts?

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