-3-

EPOV

Senior year of high school

—

I leaned against the wall outside of Bella's fifth period English class. She'd have the same reaction to my presence that she had every other day since the beginning of the year—a big, heavy sigh before telling me she didn't need a babysitter. I knew she didn't need me to babysit her, and I didn't consider it that.

I liked being around her. If I was being honest with myself, I way more than liked being with her. Even after all these years, riding with her to school every day, and the time that she spent at our house with Rose and Alice, my feelings never faded. The sleepovers were the worst, listening to them chatter, me wishing that she was in my bed with me instead of sleeping in the living room. Since the beginning of ninth grade, when she'd filled out, I had a constant boner.

I had no clue how to tell her I wanted her. Hell, I hardly knew how to talk to her! Most of our walks down the hallway were silent after she stopped telling me off. I wanted today to be different. It was time that I told her how I felt.

The bell rang, and the door to her classroom flung open. Everyone streamed out into the hallway, and just like every other day, Bella was the last one out. I was almost positive that was her plan, to be last, to be the least noticeable. But she was noticeable to me. She was all that I saw, with her pretty face and generous curves. And she was smart, too, one of the top in our class, and she was so kind, especially when she had no reason to be. So many people treated her like crap because she wasn't typical.

To me, she was the total package. If only I could find the nerve to tell her.

"Edward," she huffed right on cue. "It's almost April, when are you going to get the hint that you don't need to wait for me every day?"

Shrugging, I grinned at her. I ran a hand through my hair nervously. "Well, like you've said, it's April and I haven't taken the subtle hints you've been throwing out there, so maybe you should give it up. We're friends, I like walking with you."

Internally, I rolled my eyes at myself. Great job putting yourself into the friend zone, Cullen.

The heat rose on her cheeks, making them the most beautiful shade of pink. "Oh, is that the problem? Have I been being subtle?"

"Must be."

"I can take care of myself, Edward. Mike and his dick squad don't bother me anymore."

I snorted at the term she used, but the slight downturn of her mouth told me it was a lie. The cruel things that he and his friends said, whether to her face or behind her back, definitely still hurt.

"Maybe I really do just like walking with you and it has nothing to do with Newton."

"Whatever. Do what you want. But I'm pretty sure you could spend your time better."

I stopped us just outside of the cafeteria, turning her to look at me. Apparently, I'd found my balls today. "Tell me, how could I spend my time any better than walking with you?"

"Edward," she whispered. "There are plenty of other girls who would love for you to wait outside their class for them."

I took a deep breath, knowing that she'd just given me the perfect invitation to tell her how I felt. "Bella, don't you—"

At the exact moment that I'd finally manned up, Mike walked past us, not even trying to keep his voice low. "Oh good, Swan isn't in there yet, there'll be plenty of food left for the rest of us!"

Bella just rolled her eyes, trying to seem unaffected by his statement, but I could see the hurt and embarrassment in her eyes. She may have been happy to pretend to ignore him, but I for one was sick of it. For the last four years I sat back and watched him torment her, not knowing what to do. Not today, not anymore.

"Yo, Mike, hold up."

He turned to me, a smirk on his lips. "What do you want, Cullen?"

That was when I punched him straight in the mouth. His head flew back, splitting his lip, causing blood to drip down his chin.

"Shut your fucking trap, Newton!" I roared.

Even with a mouth full of blood, he was a cocky mother fucker. "Aw, Cullen, are you actually sweet on Swan? Get out of my face and go fuck your whale of a girl somewhere else."

My body tense, I moved to lunge at him.

"Edward, stop!" Bella yelled, causing me to turn in her direction. The wind was knocked out of me as I saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. I hadn't meant to make her cry.

"Bella—" The air was knocked from me once again, but this time by Mike sucker punching me in the gut.

"Remember your fucking place, Cullen." He sneered at me.

"All right, the two of you in my office, now," Principal Greene shouted over the voices in the hall. With one last glance in Bella's direction, I walked away. I had a feeling I'd severely fucked up.

—DC—

I was suspended for a week and grounded for two. I tried to pull the "I'm eighteen, you can't ground an adult," card. My dad had pushed back with the statement that if I lived under my parents' roof, and ate the food they provided for me, they could definitely ground an eighteen-year-old.

I didn't fight him on it any further. Even if I couldn't see her, at least Bella would get a bit of a reprieve from Mike, since he'd gotten the same suspension as I had.

"Wait, where are we going? Don't we need to pick up Bella?" It was my first day back after my suspension, and I was confused why Alice was driving straight to school.

Rose turned around in her seat, glaring at me. "No. She's getting a ride with Angela."

"Oh. But why? And why didn't you tell me?"

Rose huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Really, fuckhead, you don't get it, do you? She doesn't want to see you. You...never mind. Just shut up, okay?"

"Whatever."

We pulled into the school parking lot a few minutes later, and I jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped.

I needed to find Bella, and fast. I knew she'd been mad at me the other day during the fight, but shouldn't she be over that by now?

Thankfully, it didn't take me long to locate her. She was heading toward her locker like she did every morning. "Bella!" I called after her, but she didn't turn around. Instead, she acted as if she hadn't heard me.

"Bella, wait!" I shouted, jogging to catch up with her. I grabbed her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. "Bella, what's going on? You're not riding with us anymore?"

"Leave me alone, Edward." She wrenched herself from my grasp before walking away again.

I should have just let her be, but I couldn't. "Why are you mad at me? I was just—"

"You were just what, Edward? Doing exactly what I've avoided doing for years? You made everything so much worse! What did you think was going to happen? That Mike's friends would leave me alone if he wasn't here? Or maybe this was your plan all along, to torture me, to make my life even more of a living hell. All I want is to hide while I'm here and then get the hell out of this damn town, so please, just leave me alone!" Her last words were shouted, causing heads to turn and stare. A few girls in the corner started pointing and laughing.

"That's never what I wanted, Bella. I care about you. Fuck, I more than care about you! I think I'm in love with you."

The laughter grew around us as she shook her head, eyes filling with tears as she backed away. "I thought you were my friend but…please, just leave me alone."

How are we feeling?

Remember, these are just glimpses of their high school years to give you a bit of back story going forward. The same will be with Bella's college years.

Also if you haven't already, go check out my Facebook group, Stories by MissLiss15! My good friend LunaEclipse17 was kind and organized my photo albums for all of my stories for me!