Hi everyone! Sorry for the slow update, life decided to get busy! I know, I know, ANOTHER slow burn chapter. But I promise, y'all, we are getting to some goodness! Next chapter, just hold on, my little angels. (As always, I don't own Twilight, or Bella or Edward... but I do like to play with them a bit).

"Aneeka? What are you doing?", the shock of her sitting in his seat floods into my voice.

"Oh! You're a cheerleader now, that means you're our friend. And friends don't let other friends sit alone", she smiles broadly up at me. I take my seat beside her, dumping my jacket and bag on the ground as I do. "Besides, I'm terrible at biology", she winks at me.

"You're coming on Friday night, right?", Mr Banner has started the class but Aneeka keeps whispering to me anyway.

"Friday?", I mutter under my breath.

"Yeah! Tara's having a party and basically the whole school will be there!", Mr Banner rambles on about molecular interactions. He glances over into our directions, and we quickly drop our heads down. "You can invite whoever you want, but we'd love for you to come. The cheer practices can get pretty intense so it's a great way to kick back".

My first instinct is to say no, a party with everyone from school doesn't sound the most appealing to me. But it would definitely be a great way to get Charlie off of my back, besides, what's more teenager than a high school party?

"Yeah, sure, I guess. Can I invite Angela?", there's no way I can go to this alone, at least Angela won't want to drink either.

"Which one is she? I'm so bad names", Aneeka laughs a little too loudly for Mr Banner's liking.

"Aneeka Jenson, is there something you wanted to add?", he calls to her. No blush comes across her face like would mine, she just laughs and brushes him off with a simple 'no, sir'.

Once he heads to the back of the class, we resume our conversation.

"I sit with Angela at lunch, she has dark hair and she's kind of my height-ish", I offer my best, but unfortunately, vague description of her.

"The one dating Ben?"

"Yeah, her"

"I know who you're talking about! Oh, of course she can come! Hey, maybe invite that Jessica girl too. Just don't invite Lauren, Tara kind of hates her", Aneeka laughs. I offer her a quizzical look, although I can see why Lauren wouldn't be liked, it still surprises me to hear it.

"She keeps begging Tara to be on the cheer team, it's a little cringy", Aneeka laughs again, she doesn't seem to notice I'm not laughing with her. "Anyway, ask them at lunch and then come to sit with us, k?"

She notices my silence this time.

"Tara likes the cheer girls to all sit together", Aneeka smiles sweetly at me.

And I wonder to myself if this has the potential to take a turn I hadn't anticipated.

The rest of the biology passes quickly after that, with English flying by in a blur because of our spontaneous pop quiz, it's not long before lunch rolls around.

I enter the lunchroom on my own, but as soon as I step in I can feel eyes on me.

Tara is watching me like a hawk as I grab my usual apple and bottle of water. I head over to the table where Angela and Jess are sitting.

I notice that Lauren is on the other side of the room talking to a few of the cheerleaders I've yet to be introduced to.

"Hey, Bella", Angela greets me fondly. Jess doesn't look up from the magazine she's flicking through, she's engrossed in the fashion page.

"Hey, look this a bit random but I wondered", I take a deep breath, why is this so awkward? "did you want to go to a party on Friday?".

That grabs Jess' attention. She looks up with a start and stares at me.

"Bella, are you talking about Tara Ryder's party?", Jess begins to interrogate me, staring me up and down with a pointed stare, wide-eyed and shocked.

"Uhhh… yeah. Aneeka invited me and said I could bring a few people"

"Bella, please, please, I'm begging you. Let me come with you. Oh, please, her parties are meant to be incredible. Please, you owe me one!", she speeds through her sentence, I worry that she's about to get on the ground and start begging me.

"Sure, you can come Jess", I look to Angela and she smiles.

"Oh my God! What will I wear? Oh, Lauren will be so jealous!", Jess claps her hands together in glee.

"Angela?", I ask.

"Oh, Ang! You have to! We can all get ready together! That'd be fun", Jess suggests.

Angela sighs. "Only if I can drive", she concedes.

"Oh my God!", Jess exclaims, "yay!".

"You sure you okay with that, Ang?", I ask nervously. Although I don't love the way Jess asked Angela, it would actually be much easier to get ready at hers and then go together. I know I'd talk myself out of it if I had to go alone.

"Oh, why not? It can't be that bad, right?", she looks to me for reassurance.

"Right", I try to reassure her but I hear the doubt in my own voice. Feeling a gaze on me, I look up and meet Tara's eyes, she raises an eyebrow at me. "I'll see you two in class tomorrow?".

Angela and Jess look to each other.

"Sure, Bella, I'll text you what time to come over Friday", Angela says.

"Great, thanks", I smile down to her and make my way over to Tara's table.

As I approach it, I notice the empty chair.

"We saved you a seat, Bella", Aneeka smiles at me. Tara shoots her a look. "Sorry, I mean Isabella", she smiles apologetically.

I sit down across the table from Tara, it's just the three of us at the table and I feel as though there's a reason for that.

"So did you sort of your uniform and registration", Tara asks me as she takes a drink of water.

"Uhhh… yeah, I sorted it all this morning", Tara's gaze is penetrating, "it should all come in a few days", I say quickly.

Tara muses to herself. "Okay, well it'll be good for you to watch the first few practices anyway", a tight smile breaks on her perfectly made up face. "And the party? You're coming?", her tidy eyebrow arches.

"Yeah, I'll be coming with Jess and Angela", I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Perfect".

A silence falls over us.

"You can meet Tara's new boyfriend, Bel – I mean, Isabella. He's a college boy, he's so good looking".

"I'll show you which guys are worth your time, Iz", Tara says to me, chewing on a carrot slice.

No one has ever called me 'Iz' before, I prefer Bella but to be honest, maybe this is good. A new identity.

"I'm not dating", I say firmly.

"You don't need to be dating", Aneeka winks at me. It takes me a second to realise what it is that she exactly means. They both laugh when my jaw drops open slightly.

"Oh, we're going to like this one, I can tell", Tara laughs. "Come on, Aneeka", they get up from the able in unison. "Iz, we'll see you at practice. Don't be late", and together, they walk to their next class.

I look around, the cheerleaders are all gone and across the room Lauren is crying on Jess's shoulder.

A high school party? With cheerleaders? Oh, goodness! The stereotypes... I wonder what we can do about that... hm... Just you wait, folks! Also... if you don't hate this, review, please?