It was a lovely Thursday morning in Forks, Washington. The sun was out, the sky was blue and Bella Swan was in a great fucking mood. It might have had to do with warm weather, possibly one of the last hot days before fall completely transitioned to winter, or the fact that she'd slept like a baby the night before. Most likely though, Bella thought to herself, it had most to do with a wild haired, kinda groggy, gift bearing Edward Cullen waiting at her desk when she walked in to English.

She had already had a small smile while entering the classroom, but her smile grew noticeably bigger at the sight of him. He was swiping through his phone, donning an innocent baseball shirt and ripped jeans and oblivious to the eyes on him. Bella felt increasingly dazed the more she stared and tried not to let her body's physical reaction to him bother her.

She marched with a little skip in her step and stopped right in front him, giving him a megawatt smile as she waited for him to notice her presence. He felt her in his close proximity and looked up immediately. Her pearly whites stunned him for a second, and all he could do was stare. Bella wasn't aware of the ogling; her eyes were trained on her redemption gifts.

"Good morning," she greeted him, "I was fully expecting you to forget."

"No chance," Edward said, handing her the starbucks cup and paper bag. The girl in the drive thru had asked for a name and Edward told her to make it pretty, so now the plastic cup had 'Bella' written over it with flowers all around. "Good morning, by the way. You seem chipper." He commented, moving out of her way so she could settle into her spot.

"The thought of free iced coffee and food have that effect on me. Thank you." She took a sip from the straw and made a small sound of pleasure. Edward took a deep breath. "They made it just right."

"Yeah, it's almost like they knew that the stakes were high and this was my only shot at forgiveness, so they had to make it perfect." Edward's joking tone didn't help her figure out if he was lying or not, but his crooked smile made it not matter. She was about to ask him if he was serious when his phone buzzed, and he reached for it instinctively. Whatever his screen said made him grimace and swear, and he texted back immediately, his thumbs angrily tapping the screen.

"Is everything alright?" Bella asked carefully, unsure if it was her place to ask. He continued to text aggressively and it took him a second to reply.

"I can't fucking believe it." Edward seethed. "Jasper just told me that the football team is going on a surprisetrip to Seattle today. They're going to spend the day with the fucking UW football team. They get to train on the field, look around campus and play for some scouters. I honestly can't believe it. I'm the team captain, detention or not. I should've been able to go."

Not anymore, Bella thought in her head but decided against saying it out loud. She wanted to empathize, but she didn't feel like it was entirely unfair. He'd made the mistake, and this was just him paying for it. She took a guilty sip from her iced coffee and asked instead, "When do you get to be back on the team?"

"Berty said I can be back after September ends. It's bullshit that they couldn't wait a couple more weeks. That trip would've been sick." The school bell rang through the classroom as he said that, and he trudged back over to his desk, furiously typing away at his phone while swearing under his breath.

Mr Banner came into the class as the morning announcements came through. He wrote their class plan of the day on the board, which seemed to be an in depth analysis of Macbeth. He faced the class as the final few words over the telecom were spoken. They all waited for silence before he could begin.

"Good morning, Happy Thursday. Almost to the weekend, guys. One more day left." He looked more excited than some of the teenagers. "Today, we will be doing an analysis on Macbeth. The themes, what each character symbolizes, motifs, the lot. We will start out in groups of…" he counted the amount of students with his index finger, "Four? Maybe five. Each group will discuss their ideas, come up with a list in each category and present it to the class," There was a collective groan from everyone, "Unless, you want to do it individually!" An immediate objection from each student made him smile satisfactorily, "That's what I thought. Each group will present one by one. For homework, I want a 500 word analysis on what we talk about today, so take notes."

A hand shot up from the front. Banner looked at it and answered quickly, "It'll be due Monday, Sarah." The hand went back down. "Alright, are we all understood on what we are expected to do?" His eyes skimmed the room, gazing at the nods of approval. "Good, figure out your groups. Let's start with 20 minutes, and then we'll see if you need more time at the end of it. C'mon guys, we gotta go, we gotta go! Shakespeare is what? Good!" He hollered, causing everyone to get out of their chairs to look around for group members.

Since Bella grew up with the majority of the kids in her grade, she was friendly with most of them. It didn't take her long to link up with Jessica Stanley, whose father also worked at the station with her dad, and Lauren Mallory, Tyler's ex girlfriend. Things were still pleasant between her and Bella, even though they didn't nearly hang out as much. Bella had just started looking for a fourth member when she saw Edward in her periphery headed in her direction.

"Bella, you think we can be in the same group?" he asked quietly. Bella could see that he was still in a bad mood. His request felt a little out of character; she knew Edward didn't usually have to ask to be part of things. Most people approached him first. She was about to say yes, but Jessica beat her to the punch.

"Yes, Edward, of course. We could totally use you." She said enthusiastically, giving him her undivided attention. Bella saw Lauren perk up as well, and tuck her hair behind her ear. Both girls moved closer to Edward.

"Thanks Jess." Edward replied smoothly, giving her a small smirk. It wasn't genuine. It didn't reach his eyes, but he still looked gorgeous, and Jessica wasn't prone to it's effects. Bella watched in disbelief as her pupils dilated with pleasure. Edward went back to being quiet, occasionally checking his phone, texting back furiously and glaring at the floor.

"Well, I hope you all finished the play." Bella started, taking on the role of group leader. As council president, she was used to taking charge of class groups. Only the girls nodded. She noticed Edward biting his nails and staring off, oblivious. "Edward?"

"Hmm?" He broke out of his thoughts.

"Did you finish the play?" She asked softly, gently. He shook his head, and went back to sulking.

"I can tell you how it ends!" Lauren cried out. She continued excitedly to give Edward a summary of the ancient play, one that wasn't entirely accurate and missed a couple of important points. Bella was about to correct her when a hush fell around the room. They all looked up to see Mr Berty standing at the door. He smiled pleasantly at the class.

"Macbeth, huh? The scottish play? How dreadful, Mr Banner. Why are you English teachers always trying to kill the happiness of our students?" The class snickered, and Mr Banner gave him a playful raised eyebrow.

"Mr Berty, always a pleasure. I absolutely love it when you drop by unannounced and express your entirely unwanted opinion. Especially on curricular objectives that were decided by none other than yourself. How mature." He shrugged, in the way of a harmless banter, some friendly bickering. A work friendship of decades had brought them to face each others' jokes with easy humor.

The class made shocked sounds. "Ooooooh, damn." Chuckled a student.

"Well, as we all know, maturity is my strong suit. Death by boredom is yours." He chuckled along as the class hooted and hollered. Banner gave his best effort at keeping an angry face, but he lost the battle almost immediately and flashed an amused grin.

"You've got me there." He relented easily. "How can we help you today, Mr Berty?"

"I just need a quick word with Edward Cullen." He said to the class, his eyes searching. Edward straightened out at the sound of his name and walked up with some reluctance, unsure of what was going on. Berty held the door open for him to walk through. Before he shut the door behind himself, he caught Bella's eye and winked.

What was that all about? Bella wondered.

"Alright, back to Shakespeare," Mr Banner ordered. Now that their group was short a very distracting member, Jessica, Lauren and Bella easily talked through their ideas and observations. She wasn't surprised to find that Jessica didn't have anything intelligent to say about the play. Lauren brought up a few more than surface level points, but her depth was lacking.

Mr Banner granted them another 10 minutes. After those were up, everyone went back to their seats. Just as the first group was preparing to give a riveting presentation to the class, the overhead intercom went off.

"Good morning, Forks High." It was Mr Berty, announcing in his principal voice. "I apologize for the interruption, but if I could just have your attention for a moment. Earlier this week, we had an unfortunate disturbance during the lunch hour. Now we could have handled those indiscretions privately and resolved the matters behind closed doors, but to be entirely honest and forthcoming, where's the fun in that? Let today serve as a reminder of the consequences of disturbing school peace and endangering students and their safety, and have a great rest of the day."

Murmurs of surprise and curiosity sprung through the class instantly. Bella, too, mulled over the odd announcement. A fun punishment? Consequences? What was Mr Berty up to? Before she could contemplate any further, the classroom door creaked open slowly, hesitantly.

At first glance, the creature standing behind the door resembled a bear with a human head in an absurdly tiny basketball jersey, but turned out really to just be Edward in the school mascot, Wilson the Wolf's costume. He carried the large wolf's head tucked by his right hip, and his face was the epitome of pissed off. There was a collective gasp from the students, and then everyone lost their shit. Phones came out, there was laughter, wolf calls. It was all in good nature and friendly teasing, but Edward was far from amused. He stalked off to his seat, catching Bella's eye on the way. She wanted to look supportive, encouraging, empathetic; all she could manage was a smile, but laughter broke through the surface. Mr Berty was a genius. Edward stuck to his scowl, but Bella could see him fighting the grin that crept up to his face.

There was no chance of getting the class's attention. Mr Banner tried, but even he couldn't keep off of the amusement hidden. "Hey, no pictures!" He tried, but there were too many devices for him to confiscate. They attempted to do the presentations, but none of the kids could concentrate on what they were trying to say, constantly breaking out into laughter the more they stared at Edward.

Edward took it in stride; his initial fury had worn off, and now he had a small smile on his face. Even though he was the person suffering the humiliation, he could appreciate how entertaining it was for everyone else. If it had been someone else in his shoes, he would've been nagging and teasing them too.

It got progressively funnier as the heat started to affect Edward. The huge furry costume was a chimney in cloth form, and Edward's entire body began to sweat. Soon, his hair was damp and his skin was flushed. He looked like he'd just gotten off of the court in a game of basketball.

Mr Banner dismissed the class early when it was evident that no work was going to be done, and when students with spares started appearing at the door to catch a glimpse of Edward. As soon as they filed out of the class, there was a crowd around Edward. Bella marvelled at the scene as she walked to her next class. It dawned on her why Mr Berty sent the football team to Seattle; he didn't want to humiliate Edward in front of his team. It was one thing for them to hear accounts later when they returned, but seeing first hand would bring down his respect and undermine his position as team captain. Mr Berty was protecting Edward's reputation while still teaching him a lesson.

The day went on much like that. It was a fun one for everyone besides Edward. In every class that she went to, there were jokes and pictures of Edward. Nothing was malicious or ruthless; it was all just a little bit of fun. At lunch, the whole cafeteria howled like wolves when Edward walked in. He gave them a salute and a bow, breaking into a wry grin. At some point, Mr Berty came to fetch Edward. He whisked him away, leaving everyone a little excited for whatever was coming next. When he didn't return, confusion took over. That was until someone yelled, "In the parking lot!"

A great number of students abandoned their lunch to investigate. Angela and Bella waited to be finished, and followed the mob like curious civilians. The crowd was easy to spot, and it seemed to be surrounding a car. Bella and Angela slithered their way to the front to come across a wildly amusing sight. Edward, still wearing the ridiculous mascot costume on the last hot summer day, was wiping down Mr Berty's car with a cloth, a bucket of water by his feet. Bella full on belly laughed at the insinuation of such a punishment; the costume torture was a lesson for the whole school, but this one was just for her. Her fondness for Mr Berty grew. Edward spotted her in the crowd and raised a knowing eyebrow. She just nodded and laughed some more.

It was wild how the universe worked, how she could have the worst day the day before and the best the day after.

The day ended with the same gusto. Strangely, Bella felt an odd excitement and anticipation for detention. Now that she wasn't trying to pulverise Edward with her eyes, she was curious to see how their conversations were going to go. And, if she was being completely honest, she was excited to see him.

She walked into detention with enthusiasm. Like the day before, Edward was already there, but Mr Banner had yet to show up. Edward was hunched over his desk, back in his normal clothes. His hair was still a little damp though, his skin still a little flushed and glowy. He looked like he'd just walked out of a wet dream. He gave her a small nod but didn't try to engage in any conversation, even when she pulled up a chair to a desk right next to his.

"Hi," She began, not attempting to curb her grin. He looked up and tilted his head. "How was your day today?"

"You know how my day was." He groaned, returning back to his phone. His attitude reminded her of her own from the previous day. She considered leaving him alone to wallow in his own misery but there was a tiny voice in her head that didn't like seeing Edward in such a bad mood, especially when he had tried to alleviate hers so much the day before. Truthfully, though, she wanted to tease him. Being friends with Jake her whole life made her discover how fun it was to agitate a teenage boy when they were already in a bad mood.

"I guess maybe I didn't see you wearing the mascot costume, so I don't know actually. And I definitely didn't see you wash the principal's car in the lot." She remarked sarcastically, entirely too pleased with herself. "Hey, next time I need to wash my truck, can I call you?"

"Shut up, Bella. Not in the mood." He tried to shut her down, but Bella could see his eyes sparkling with amusement.

"You know, they were right, whoever they were. Revenge sure does taste sweet," She kept going with her musings, getting to her feet and circling his desk like a villain from a James Bond movie, "Like the iced coffee you got me in the morning. Sweet and cold as ice. And to think that I didn't even have to go out of my way to seek it." She put a hand on her heart dramatically, and made a comical expression. Edward watched her with careful eyes, trying not to break.

"You know what they say, Edward Cullen," She stopped in front of his desk and planted both palms firmly on the surface, leaning in, "Karma really is a bitch."

"Bella, stop. I'm warning you." Edward growled dangerously, leaning in closer. He was breathing harder than he was before. Bella was too.

"What are you gonna do?" She whispered, baiting him, playing with fire just see if he would call her bluff, "Are you going to call me a motherfucker too, Edward? Are you going to fucking end me?"

That's what he'd screamed to James the day he'd decked him in the cafeteria. Recognition flashed in his eyes, and he licked his lips, smirking. "Fuck, you really shouldn't have said that."

He was out of his chair the next second, his hands grabbing her around the wrists. She broke free before he could tighten his hold, and giggled as she dashed away, her laughter filling the room. Edward smiled brightly as he chased her around the desks. She ran through the rows behind him, pulling out chairs and casting them in his way to slow him down. He was too fast, and was gaining on her within seconds. Bella couldn't help her shriek as she feigned a right and dodged out of his way, clambering to the front of the class towards Mr Banner's desk. Edward couldn't get her in time as she slipped behind the desk, using it as a shield between the too. He spread his arms and crouched lower, caging her in. They scaled each other, both grinning widely, shuffling around the desk.

"Where are you gonna go now, huh?" Edward goaded her, sliding a chair to Bella's right, effectively blocking her path on the one side. Bella cursed and made to escape just as Mr Banner opened the door and walked in with a stack of papers and binders in his arms.

"Forgive me for being-" His gaze landed on the two students playing tag in his classroom.

"What are you two-No, stop!" Bella had ran behind him, cowering behind his body as Edward dashed to his front, sandwiching him in. Mr Banner shuffled between the two, thoroughly amused with their antics and laughing along with them. "Now, now, that's enough."

When neither of them let up, still giggling and growling, Mr Banner was forced to use his teacher's voice. "It's like you've both forgotten that you're in detention. Go back to your seats or it'll be another week of it."

Edward sighed and straightened out, bowing his head in a truce. Bella watched him carefully, playfully. Mr Banner turned and attempted to give her a stern look. "Bella…"

"Okay, okay. I'm going." She put her hands up and trailed back to her desk behind Edward. He turned around and grabbed her wrist, pulling her in, his eyes playfully threatening. "This is not over." He whispered huskily, dropping her wrist and returning to her spot.

Bella's wrist tingled from where he touched her.

Mr Banner took his seat, gave them another warning look before diving into his papers. Bella sighed and started pulling out her books and binders from her backpack. Edward looked at her questioningly.

"What are you doing?" He had a dubious expression on his pretty face. Bella looked back with mild incredulity.

"Homework?" She said back sarcastically.

"Fu-screw that. I'm not feeling it today." Mr Banner lifted his head up from his pile of papers and gave Edward a stern stare. Edward gulped. "That was a joke. Homework it is." He leaned down and grabbed his backpack. Banner went back to work.

"You should finish reading Macbeth, since you haven't yet. We were supposed to have it finished yesterday." Bella suggested coyly, absolutely playing teacher's pet to annoy Edward. He gave her a glare, shook his head and made the motion of sealing his lips with his index finger and thumb pinched together.

"Oh yes," Mr Banner quipped in, not raising his head up, "What an excellent idea. It would be a shame to think you had all this time and still failed to finish an English assignment, especially with your teacher present in the room. That would reflect badly on your report card." The humour in his voice was evident.

"Wouldn't want that, Mr Banner. Read Macbeth, that's exactly what I should do. Thanks for the suggestion, Bella." Edward replied in a bright voice, while simultaneously glaring at Bella and moving his thumb from one side of his throat to the other. Bella laughed softly, winked at him, and went back to work.

About 20 or so minutes later, Mr Banner put down his pen and sparked up his computer. He gnawed on his nails as his eyes frantically flashed behind the screen. He sighed. After a moment, he spoke.

"Bella, would you mind giving me your opinion on something?" He asked quietly, cautiously. Bella lifted her head up and nodded.

"Yes, of course." She replied courteously.

"My daughter is turning 8 this year, and her birthday is coming up next. I've asked her a bunch of times if there's anything that she wants, but she always says nothing. I don't know what I should give her. She's been so quiet, ever since-" He stopped, and swallowed. "Well, you know. Do you have any suggestions?"

Bella's heart broke for her favourite teacher. In him, she could see the reflection of her own father, helpless, burdened; dealing with his own grief while being clueless on how to take care of a young daughter all alone. She took a second to think back on her own childhood days, when it was just her dad and her left, and how she would've given anything to get her mom back. When that wasn't possible, she didn't want anything either. But there were still things that made her happy.

"When I turned 8, my dad got me a tent. It was my grandma's idea. He pitched it in the backyard and filled it with blankets, lights, snacks, books. Everything that I liked doing. I used to spend all day in that tent, reading, drawing, writing. I loved that tent. Your daughter might like one too." She suggested sweetly. She didn't realize that Edward was staring at her in wonder. He could see the buried pain in her eyes, and how she didn't let it touch her. She was so strong, but Edward couldn't recall what caused her to hurt much as a child. She'd never told him.

Mr Banner considered her answer for a second. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. She loves being outdoors and reading. It'll be too cold to go out eventually, but it should be fine for the next couple of weeks. Thanks, Bella." He smiled and nodded, and turned to his screen to search for a tent.

"When's her birthday, by the way?" Bella just asked out curiousity.

"September 27th."

Bella's eyes lit up. "That's only 2 weeks after mine."

"When's your birthday?" It was Edward who asked that question.

"September 13th. It was last friday." She told him.

"What, no way." Edward cried. "It was only a couple of days ago?"

"Yeah, I just turned 17." Bella shared, not quite used to it just yet.

"Well, Happy belated Birthday." She smiled.

"Thank you," An unintentional blush colored her cheeks, and Edward just stared. A thought occurred to Edward. This was a perfect excuse to see Bella outside of school, and do something nice for her at the same time. "Bella, we've gotta celebrate."

"Edward, that's not necessary. I already celebrated with my friends." Bella argued. "And it was almost a week ago."

"Only almost a week ago. My mom has always extravagantly celebrated birthdays. It's in my blood. I have to get you a birthday treat or something." He was so honest and charming.

"Edward, you've already spent enough money on me." Bella tried to counter weakly, but Edward wasn't having it.

"Today, after detention, we're going to Spoons. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Edward-"

"Stop. It's happening. Non-negotiable." Edward demanded with finality.

"Fine," Bella conceded. "But we can't today. I have a test to study for, but we can do tomorrow. I have dinner plans, but I have a few hours before then. And I pay." She negotiated. Edward shot her down right away.

"No chance, birthday girl." His giddy smirk was too much, and Bella couldn't stop her grin.

She was going to get birthday ice cream with Edward.

As friends. Nothing more.

They were just friends.

Hello!

So that was a big one. A lot to unpack. I hope you enjoyed it.

I would like to start with welcoming new people. Since the last chapter, I've had a lot of more people following the story. Thank you for the support and I hope you continue to like what you read.

How did we feel about Edward's punishment? Detention?

I want to start a new thing. For everyone who requests in the reviews, I will send you a sneak peak of the next chapter. I loved it when authors used to do that before and I want to do the same for my readers.

Today's recommendation is another fanfiction: This is Who I am

It's my favorite Patty Ros fanfic, It's still up so I'll just copy paste the summary: Edward Cullen, successful business exec/playboy/all around bad boy. Bella Swan, divorced mom/graphic artist/unwilling to trust her heart to the likes of someone like Edward again. Will she give him a chance? Does he even deserve one? AH, AU ExB

So well written, Maddy is to die for, and I cry everytime I read it.

Please leave me some love and feedback in the reviews. I want to know what you thought about Edward and Bella now that the animosity is over.

See you soon!