Bella walked through the empty hallways of Forks High with purpose. She knew where she was trying to get to; who she was trying to reach.

She stormed through the abandoned cafeteria eagerly, hurriedly. When she got to the double doors that lead to the football field and parking lot, she pushed the doors open with fervour. It only took a second for her to spot him.

Edward stood in the middle of the empty school parking lot with his hands in his pockets, a crooked grin resting on his face. He was wearing an all black outfit again, black tee, ripped jeans and combat boots, his usual bad boy attire. Bella felt a wave of anticipation when she found him already looking at her, as if he'd been waiting for her to reach him.

She approached him slowly. He raised an eyebrow at her caution. She smiled shyly and picked up her pace. When she was close enough, he offered his hand out for her to hold. She took it without hesitation.

"What took you so long?" He asked gently, grabbing her waist with his other hand and pulling her to him. Obviously he wasn't expecting an answer because he had his mouth crushed to her a second later.

He kissed her with unbridled passion. It was warm and affectionate and made her light headed with desire. She kissed him back just as fiercely, pulling on his bronze strands and pressing her lips to his with too much force. She wanted to bruise him, mark him, own him. He dug his fingers in the soft skin of her waist, wanting to leave his own impression. Bella arched her back into him, making him groan. It was an animalistic sound.

It was heaven and hell. It was perfect.

And then she started hearing the whispers. They were near her, hundreds of hushed voices echoing around them. She felt their words crawl down her spine. Rumors and snide comments and questions and speculations punctuated the silence, filling her up with dread.

What were they saying about her? What would they say about her family? Would they be just as cruel as they've always been?

She wrenched her mouth away from Edward's and glanced around. The parking lot wasn't empty. They were no longer the only two there. A crowd had gathered around them; teenagers, adults, children, the elderly.

All whispering and talking behind palms, studying Bella and Edward with rapt attention and judgment.

"Please stop!" Bella heard herself beg, "Not this again!"

But they didn't hear her. They just kept talking, kept whispering, kept watching-

The shrill sound of her iPhone woke Bella up. Her heart pounding was in her chest. She took a big gulp of air and swept her forehead. It was covered in a light layer of sweat. She looked around her quaint bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief.

It was just a dream.

The phone kept ringing. Sighing deeply, Bella reached over to her nightstand and grabbed it. The caller ID made her smile.

It was Angela.

Last night, when she'd gotten back home from Spoons, Charlie was already waiting for her by the dining table, all dressed up and ready to go. They had their weekly dinner plans with the Black's. It was a tradition between the two families dating back to when Bella was about six years old; every Friday night, her dad and her would make the half an hour trek to La Push and have Billy's special trout, followed by the Mariner's game. This was when Bella and Jake usually split off and did their own thing, whether it was hanging out with Jake's friends and going to the beach, or helping him in the garage or even just watching movies together in Jacob's bed. There were very few Friday's in her lifetime that hadn't been spent with Jacob.

Bella had wanted to call Angela right away, but Charlie insisted on leaving the second she walked in through the door. Anxious to share her scandalous romp with Edward, Bella sent her a quick message.

Something crazy happened. Going to Jake's now. Call you after.

Angela replied while Bella got in Charlie's cruiser.

Same omg. Talk to you soon.

Bella had every intention of calling Angela later, but Bella didn't get home until almost midnight. The night had kind of gotten away from her.

Bella could tell something was off the moment she saw Jacob. When Bella and Charlie entered the modest bungalow that the Black's had lived in Bella's whole life, Jacob was absent from the kitchen. Billy was stationed at the stove, flipping fish fillets on a grill.

"Ah, I hope you're carrying cans of Bud, Chief." Billy said without turning, "I just ran out last night."

Charlie walked up to his best friend and waved his 6 pack beer by his face. Billy chuckled. "Atta boy!" The two men shook hands and Charlie leaned down to give him a one armed hug. Then Billy turned to Bella.

"Hey there, Bells." She walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Sue made some brownies last night, the ones you love. I hid some away while Jake wasn't looking. Eat 'em before he comes back."

Bella giggled, her heart warming up. "Ah, thanks, Uncle Billy, but you didn't have to. I'll wait for him. I don't mind sharing. Where is he, by the way?" She asked, grabbing some plates from one of the cabinets to set the dining table.

"Ah, football practice, I think? I can never remember."

When Jacob finally showed up, his usual cheery disposition was nowhere in sight. Standing at almost six feet two inches, Jacob towered over most people. He was built like a wrestler, his strong body a result of all the hours he spent at a gym. With his russet skin, dark hair, and deep set eyes, Jacob was definitely very easy on the eyes. Bella could objectively admit that Jacob was ridiculously handsome, and she wasn't the only girl who felt that way. Since he had hit puberty, Bella has heard countless stories of girls showing interest or flirting with him. Even Angela had questioned many times why Bella didn't feel anything romantic towards him.

But to her, he was just Jake. Her childhood best friend, her annoying surrogate brother, her partner in crime. She has seen him naked as a kid too many times, and had teased him when he threw a tantrum. There was only platonic love between the two.

She smiled when she saw him enter the kitchen. His hair was still wet from a shower, and he just wore plain white tee with some grey sweats. He looked happy to see her, but his shoulders were hunched, and his eyes were troubled. Bella had known him long enough to read him like a book. She knew something was up.

"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late." Both men stopped their conversation and turned to him.

"Hey kiddo." Charlie grunted, messing up his hair. Charlie adored Jacob, just like Billy doted on Bella. "How's it going?"

"Same old, same old, chief. Hey Bells," He slid in the spot next to Bella. "What's new with you?"

"Well, your dad just made my day by saving me some of Sue's special brownies." Bella smirked at him. Jake gave Billy a look of disbelief.

"Hey, you said I ate the last one." He accused his father, but it didn't match Jacob's usual level of enthusiasm.

"Jacob, you had four. I did you a favour, son. It's not going to be long before the weight catches up with old age, and with your eating habits, the future isn't looking too bright for you, my boy. " Billy retorted. Charlie chuckled next to him.

"Damn, dude, that's mean." Jacob replied with no inflection.

"Jake, it's okay. You can have some of mine." Bella assured him. He smiled stiffly. "What's wrong?"

He dropped the act, but stayed closed off. "Nothing. I'll tell you later. Let's just have dinner first."

After dinner, Jacob and Bella left the old friends to the game and settled into the garage. One of Jacob's hobbies was fixing old cars, and one of Bella's was to watch him. Bella took her usual spot on the stack of tires by the door, watching as Jacob fiddled under the hood of an old Mustang.

"What's been up with you?" Bella asked casually, keeping it light.

"Nothing too exciting. Just busy with school. Quil's having a bonfire later tonight, by the way." He answered distractedly. "How about you?"

"Well, we just got the green light for the dance I told you I was planning, so that's exciting. I've already started prep with Angela." At Jake's absent nod, Bella continued. "We want it to be in December, something Christmas themed. You could come, if you want. Bring maybe Leah or Claire, or the guys. It'll be fun…"

When Jake gave no reaction, Bella sighed. "Jake, what's wrong?"

At that, Jacob stopped moving his hands, and sighed in defeat. "It's nothing," Bella was about to protest, but then Jacob began to speak. "It's just the new kid. I told you about him, Sam Uley?"

Bella nodded.

"He's pissing me off. He acts like he owns the goddamn place. Today at practice, he was walking around telling us all how to play. As if he has the right just cause he trained with some hotshot big leagues team. That's probably bullshit too. I don't believe it. And just cause he's captain doesn't mean he's the fucking coach." Jacob spat out.

"Everyone's just following him around all the time. No one else sees how fake he is. It's so annoying." Bella understood not liking someone, but Jacob was uncharacteristically bothered by this Sam guy. Bella couldn't put a finger on it.

"I totally get it, but don't you think you could just ignore him?" She suggested, "It doesn't seem like he's done anything to you..."

"Yeah, but, even my friends suck up to him. Everybody thinks he's so cool. All the girls are obsessed with him. All the guys are kissing his ass. It makes no fucking sense." Jacob cursed dejectedly.

There was more to this than he was sharing, but Bella didn't want to push him. Nor did she like seeing him in such a bad mood.

"Well, fuck it. It doesn't even matter anyway. Let's go do something fun, something that'll put you in a better mood." Bella jumped up from her perch. "You mentioned that Quil was having a bonfire?"

Half an hour later, Bella was on the beach with her La Push friends, sitting around the fire with a blanket on her lap and a cold beer in her right hand. Jacob had offered to drive her home later, and Charlie let them go with a curfew warning. She had a great time with Jacob's friends like she always did. She'd known all of them since she was a child, and they were all a sort of wild bunch. All the boys, Paul, Quil, Embry and Seth teased Bella for her pale skin and the girls, Leah and Emily caught her up on the latest La Push High news. Like Jacob had insinuated before, the girls were obsessed with Sam Uley, and they both gushed over him. Emily admitted that she was going to go on a date with him the next week, much to Leah's playful dismay.

Bella laughed and teased back and drank beers and stayed warm, and by the time she'd gotten back home, she'd almost forgotten about her kiss with Edward Cullen.

Almost.

Which led her back to the present. Her phone continued to ring in her hand. She rubbed her eyes with one hand as she swiped right with the other and accepted the call.

"Hey, Ang," she spoke a very groggy voice.

"Oh shit, did I wake you?" It was best friend's crisp voice on the other end.

"Yeah, but it's okay. I'm glad you woke me up. What time is it even?" Bella asked, bringing her phone to her face to check at the same time that Angela said, "A little past 10. You didn't call me last night."

"Yeah, there was a bonfire at La Push that went till pretty late. I got home around midnight." The night started coming back to Bella, as well as the evening before. Her dream started making a little bit more sense.

"Oh nice." Angela remarked, "So what did you want to tell me?"

Bella chickened out, "Um, you first."

"Okay so, yesterday, Ben asked if he could walk me home, and of course I said yes, but then instead of turning onto my sweet he asked if I wanted to go to the little park, so we walked a couple of streets over to the park by my house, you know the one, with the huge mushroom sign, and we sat on the swings and just talked and he asked me about my fav- fuck, it doesn't even matter, he kissed me!"

Even though Bella had kind of guessed, it was still shocking to hear. A wave of excitement washed over her for her best friend.

"About fucking time!" Bella cried, sitting up in her bed, "That's so great! Ahhh, how was it? Is he a good kisser? Did he use tongue? Tell me everything."

At her request, Angela began to describe in explicit details how her first kiss with Ben went, how he grabbed her hand before and seemed awkward about it but it was really cute because he was so nervous, how he asked her if he could kiss her which was so respectful of him and how most guys just don't do that anymore, you know?, how the kiss was surprisingly hot and Ben wasn't shy at all once he'd kissed her, and yes, as a matter of fact he did use tongue. Bella oohed and aahed at all the right places, while simultaneously replaying her own kiss in her head. She felt a tinge of guilt and fear at how Angela would react, but dismissed it quickly.

"...so yeah, after he totally bruised my lips cause we kissed for so long, he asked me to be his girlfriend. You are no longer talking to a single woman, Bella. I have found myself a man!" Angela exclaimed, and Bella felt genuine happiness for her.

"Look at you! That's amazing. I'm so pumped for you. Although, you should tell Ben that I have dibs on the majority of your free time. No way does he get to hang out with you more than me now." Bella threatened, but it was all in jest. Bella knew how relationships worked; she accepted the fact with a heavy heart that she won't be seeing as much of her best friend anymore. She wouldn't let it come in the way of their closeness.

"Well of course. He knows his place." That made Bella chuckle. A sudden thought came to Bella.

"By the way, I'm sitting in between you guys during the movie today. I will not condone any inappropriate behaviour while I'm ogling Thor in the theatre, no matter how horny you guys are. We will not disrespect Marvel that way."

"What the hell, dude. You're no fun." Angela protested with a laugh. "Actually, I'm going to make sure you end up between Tyler and Eric. That'll be so much more fun for everyone. Bet you ten bucks that Tyler will try to slide his arm around you!"

"God, I hope not. That would make me so uncomfortable." Bella shuddered at the thought.

"But he likes you!" Angela mused, "That would be so sick if you and Tyler got together and then we would have to find Eric a girl and then we could all go on triple dates and have a couples gro-"

"Um, Ang," Bella interrupted, her eyes squeezed shut in anticipation even though Angela couldn't see, "Remember when I said something crazy happened yesterday?"

"Oh right, of course." Angela recalled. "What happened?"

Angela waited.

Bella said nothing.

Four seconds passed.

"Bells…?"

"Um, so…" Bella started, "You were right."

"I'm right about a lot of things." Angela stated it was an obvious fact, "What are you referring to?"

"Ah, you were right about Edward…"

"What about Edward?"

"About Edward having any-"

"-any familial relationship to Robert Pattinson because they look so similar?" Angela interrupted, her voice an octave higher.

"What? No! You said that two years ago! How is that relevant to anything?"

"Hey, you agreed with me! And it's uncanny how similar their eyes and jaw structure is, and Edward is still going to grow into his features. Imagine how much more he's going to look like him when he's 21, he'll probably look exactly like that vampire-"

"He likes me!" Bella cried out, "He like likes me…"

There was silence on the other end.

"Yesterday, Edward asked me to go to Spoons with him after detention. Well, technically he asked me on Thursday, but we're not going to get into that. Anyway, he bought me ice cream and we hung out at Spoons for a bit, but then I was running late for dinner so we had to go. He made a joke about us being friends on the walk back, and so I asked him if that's what we were cause I just thought it was weird that we'd gone from not talking to hanging out, and he was saying some stuff that didn't really make sense and I was still confused, but then he kissed me, so I guess he does like me after all."

Bella took a deep breath. Angela didn't reply. If it wasn't for the sound of her heavy breathing on the other end of the line, Bella would've thought that she'd hung up.

"Ang, say something…" Bella begged, starting to panic.

"I just need a moment to process…" Angela responded shakily, "Did you say that he kissed you?"

"Yeah?"

"Like mouth to mouth?"

"Yup."

"Like how people do when they have romantic feelings for each other?"

"I suppose so…"

"Like how Ben kissed-"

"Yeah, exactly like that." Bella hastily agreed.

"I'm sorry, I just can't wrap my mind around it…" Angela admitted in a daze, "Am I dreaming?"

"Huh?" Bella responded, confused.

"It feels like I'm dreaming."

"Is Edward and I kissing something you dream about often?" Bella asked, more than a little alarmed.

"No, but I've dreamt of impossible things before that would've had more of a chance of me believing were real...did you just really tell me that my best friend just made out with Edward fucking Cullen?"

"Yeah, I really just did."

"Bella, what the actual fuck?" Angela was taking a mile a minute, "How are you so calm about this? How do you not just want to scream and cry? Well, this trumps my stupid announcement for sure! Edward Cullen? Really? Was he a good kisser? I bet he was. I bet he was kind of aggressive too. Oh, delicious! So does this mean you're going to be his girlfriend now? Are you guys dating? Oh gosh, the whole school is going to flip-"

"I don't want to be his girlfriend." Bella interrupted quickly. Angela stopped right away. "I don't want to date him."

Angela thought about it for a second.

"Wait, do you not like him?" She asked with the same disbelief and disgust one would use if they asked a person 'wait, are you a racist?'.

"I do! I mean, I don't. I, just…I don't know!" Bella cried out in confusion. "Of course I've always had a little bit of a crush on him, but it was never anything serious. And I never thought anything would ever come out of it. And, honestly, I don't really want a relationship. I'm so busy with school and council and we have so much more to worry about with college applications and most couples break up after senior year anyway so really, what's the point in trying? Not that I think you and Ben are going to break up, don't listen to me-"

"Calm down, Bells. This isn't about Ben and I. This is about you and what you want. What if he actually wants to be with you?" Angela asked solemnly.

"Then I'll tell him what I just told you. That I don't think it's a great idea for me." Bella couldn't see it, but her best friend's eyebrows were raised to the heavens in disbelief.

"You're really going to turn down Edward Cullen?" Angela asked incredulously.

"Well, he hasn't asked or anything. I don't even know what he's thinking. Maybe we want the same things," Bella reasoned.

"I doubt it, but I guess you'll find out when you talk to him. So you really don't like him?" Angela asked one last time.

"I do, but not enough to date him. Like you said, he is Edward Cullen, which means a shitload of drama that I don't want to deal with. Senior year is stressful enough, and I don't want to add to it. And I don't even know if we have a future together, and that will most likely just lead to us breaking up. It just doesn't seem worth it."

Angela sighed, but she could see Bella's point of view. Knowing Bella's past, it made complete sense that she would rather be careful and not risk anything now than be heartbroken over it later.

Better to be safe than sorry.

Still, she wished her best friend would allow herself the happiness of loving others and being loved in return without always fearing that they would leave or it wouldn't last. Angela held on to the hope that Edward could help bring some of Bella's walls down.

"As much as I selfishly want you two to be together so we could go on double dates and plan our weddings together, I support you, Babybell. But I think you should tell him soon so he doesn't get his hopes up."

"I can't imagine him being that disappointed, but you're right. Maybe I'll call him today after the movies…" Bella sighed. She didn't want to have that conversation. The idea of it made her insides turn.

"Good idea. By the way, we're all meeting at the mall at five thirty. Wanna ride together?"

"Yeah, sounds good. I should get out of bed now. See you at five?"

"Yeah, see you then. Love you, bye!"

"Love you too, Ang. Bye!" Bella hung up and laid back down in bed, pressing her palms to her eyelids.

She was not looking forward to the day. At all. She tried to reason with herself.

You're probably both on the same page. I'm sure he agrees with me. Everything will be okay.

However, her gut still churned and her heart still pounded, and a tiny voice whispered that maybe she was making the wrong decision.

She ignored it.

What the fuck is Bella thinking?

Hello, welcome or welcome back! I noticed that the number of readers had gone up quite a lot since the last chapter. Thank you for joining me. Hope ya'll stick around till the end.

This week's recommendation is a podcast called Don't blame me

It's an advice podcast by meghan rienks and melissa monts. Meghan's a youtuber, and she just published a book. Anyway, they get a lot of calls about relationship problems, mental health and just a lot of feminine topics. Sex included. I've learnt so many life lessons and just relationship stuff from them, and both women are very experienced and intelligent. I would recommend the podcast to any lady, whether you're in a relationship or not. It's available on spotify, apple podcasts and youtube.

Thank you for your reviews. Sorry there was no Edward in this chapter, but I'll make it for it with the next chapter. I promise ;)

Lemme know what you guys thought. Leave me some feedback. How do you guys like Jake? How do you feel about Bella's decision?

Until next time, bye!