A/N:

HELLO AGAIN! Didn't think you'd hear from me so soon, did you? SURPRISE! Ha-ha, but seriously, I'm getting back into the swing of things so hopefully you will hear more from me until the story has run its course. I'm glad you love Eli as much as I do, she is truly one of my favorite OC's I've ever invented with my imagination. So thank you for all of the kind words and support so far, I seriously appreciate it. Also, please review! Even if you just say a small sentence, it will definitely help get a new chapter out much faster!

REMEMBER, YOUR WORDS KEEP ME INSPIRED!

Lastly, I have created a poll for the actress who would best portray Eli. So vote, so I can see who would best embody her. The link is in my profile!

Dessie Out.

Eli POV

After having Patrick stay at the house for the weekend my mood was elated. So much so that it carried itself into Monday. While Bella had a sullen attitude I was jumping for joy. She couldn't understand as to why I was so happy. I forgot how polar opposite we were sometimes, you would think we wouldn't be friends with our somewhat opposing interests and outlooks. But hey, stranger things have happened.

Besides Pat, we had a visit from Billy Black and his son Jacob. They stopped by to welcome us both home, saying Charlie couldn't shut up about us. They also brought over Bella's homecoming present, a very old truck, which Bella seemed to love. I could only stare at the older vehicle, wondering how it lasted this long. Luckily, my wondering ceased when Jacob (who obviously had a crush on Bella) explained that he fixed it up. I never realized how oblivious my childhood friend was until she ignored the young boy's slight flirting.

'Heh, what do you know? Dear god the boys are going to be much worse with her than they were for me.'

I can see it now, running each other over for a chance to be her Beau. I sighed internally, knowing that I would have to play bodyguard. That is the last thing I wanted to do. Because if we're being completely honest (which I am), Bella couldn't assert herself to save her life. And I hope that changes, being her meek little self will get her into worlds of trouble.

I had since been ready for school, way earlier than I expected. I was showered, dressed and ready to impress. I'm still not sure who I'm trying to impress but regardless, I look cute as hell. I was wearing a charcoal gray cashmere sweater paired with white skinny jeans and my trusty combat boots. As for makeup, some cat-liner and mascara with a touch of cover up for my scar. Since the accident I've been overly self-conscience about it.

Shaking my head to make those troublesome thoughts disappear I made my way to Bella's room to wake her up. I opened the door, walked inside and crouched down onto the side of her bed, before shaking her awake. She stirred for a moment before turning to look at me. I smiled at her before wishing her a 'good morning' before leaving the room in search for my breakfast. I walked down the stairs and into the foyer before entering the kitchen. Charlie was sitting at his normal spot, sipping his coffee and reading the newspaper. I patted his shoulder before grabbing a bowl and some cereal, making a simple breakfast for the day to come.

I moved to sit next to Charlie, settling myself into the seat eating quickly and quietly. After 5 or so minutes, Bella joined us choosing an apple with a bottled water as her nutrition for the day. I frowned, I was definitely going to make sure she ate more later on. Charlie then gave his daughter a quick rundown that was strangely similar to the one he gave to me before excusing himself to go to work. Bella and I finished eating before returning upstairs to grab our bags. Once we were ready to roll out we exited the door before locking it and headed to our cars.

We had decided to ride separately, that way I could lead her in the right direction to the school. Not that it was difficult to find, but if it made her feel better, then I was willing to do it. She pulled out and waited for me to do the same. Once we were backed out I switched the car from reverse to drive, then headed off to school. Bella followed closely behind, which I was sure she'd do for the next couple of days. She was not a people person, especially those who would stare at her or even try to talk to her. She preferred solidarity, which was fine. But the thing is, you can't go without human contact for very long. At least that's what I believe. If you were to leave me by myself I would probably go insane.

Once we arrived to the school and found the only two designated parking spots meant for us, I killed the engine of my car before swinging my bag over my shoulder and stepping out into the parking lot. I shut my door and waited for Bella to do the same. She did so, very quickly mind you. And as you would expect, everyone's eyes were fixated on us. I didn't mind but I could tell that she did. So I patted her shoulder and nodded my head to tell her to follow me, she did so with no debate. We were about half way to the front door before I felt a weird sensation. Everyone was staring but I knew that the people who were watching weren't like the other students. I could tell it was coming from the Cullen's and Hale's. How I knew that, I am not sure.

I turned my head in the direction in which they were parked and offered a smile and a wave. Which they returned, well.. All but two of them did. Edward and Jaspers attention was zeroing in on myself and Bella. For what reason, I honestly couldn't tell you. You could tell that Edward was more focused on Bella while Jasper looked at me. I felt my mask set into place. The blank expression adorned my features before turning back towards the main building and heading inside. Bella being Bella, she didn't even notice. And that could be dangerous.

'What was that all about?'

I zoned out, trying to comprehend the strange situation at hand. Why did that seem like such a serious stare? Why were they staring at us like that? It's not as if Bella and I are show stoppers or something. We are very ordinary individuals.. Well, that's not entirely true, Bella is a bit weird as well as awkward. And me, I'm dealing with trauma and trying to do the best I can. My thought process leaves me by the time we make it to the office. Bella gives her name to Ms. Cope while the older woman gives her the teachers slip to sign and a map. She wishes us a good day while the two of us leave the main office. We only make it down the hallway before Eric stops us.

"You must be Isabella Swan!" He exclaims, happy to be the first to openly talk to her.

"Bella." My longtime friend corrects him. She never did like being called by her full name.

"I'm Eric, the eyes and ears of this place. Anything you need? Your guide? Lunch date? Shoulder to cry on?" He says, attempting to be charming. Bella shakes her head before turning to me, I clear my throat to get Eric's attention.

He then turns to me, looking a bit guilty. "I apologize for the way the others acted the other day, it was rude of us." He says, sincerely. I look to him, a tad surprised. I'll more than likely only get an apology from him and Angela. I am aware however that it's not me they should be apologizing to. But the Cullen's and Hale's. I look him in the eyes before waving him off and shaking my head. Non-verbally saying "It's no biggie". I'm not one to hold a grudge, I hope the wont repeat what happen in front of Bella. He smiled brightly, happy to have been forgiven. He then turned his attention back to Bella and make a comment saying she'd be front page news, to which she objected to. Bell's was never one for the spotlight.

'I'm glad that some things never change.' I mused.

Eric and I then made a move to help Bella find her next class, once she found the right room we went our separate ways. As fate would have it, the only period we had together was lunch. But other than that, she was on her own. It would seem as if someone was throwing her to the wolves, and by wolves I mean nosy and hormonal teenagers. I shuddered for her, wishing her luck since there was no way I could help her for the time being. I made it to first period with only seconds to spare before taking my seat next to my favorite pixie.

Alice was definitely happy to see me and could barely keep her excitement contained. She's like an energizer bunny I swear. Who in the world could be that chipper. She has to teach me her ways.

"So how was your weekend, Eli?" She asked.

"Great actually, thank you for asking. What about yours?"

"About the same, received some news that I am really excited about and I hope it doesn't fall through." She says, almost staring off into space.

I smiled at her being in a dream land, happy that whatever news she got made her this lively and joyful. We then started on the lesson that the teacher going over.

~Time Goes On~ (Approximately 2ish hours or so.)

I had managed to get through the first three periods of school, I was hoping for the day to hurry up and end. As expected, Bella was the talk of the town. Oh how she must be feeling knowing everyone just wants to bask in her presence as if she were the sun itself, er, herself. I can call the sun a she, right? Meh, never mind. I have to stop thinking weird things, it could get me in trouble. Like right now, I'm about to be late for history! I dash quickly as to not be late and to make it into the classroom before the bell rings. I totally made it, by the way!

I sit in my assigned seat next to Jasper 'Whiskey Eyes' Hale. Yes, that's my nickname for him as of right now. I start to take out my required books and pencil before sparing a glace over at the real life Adonis, to which he looks over and smiles at me.

….

….

….

….He. Smiled. At. Me….

(Immediate internal flat line insert here)

I know I told him he should smile more often but I didn't think he would do that in my general direction, let alone directly at me! I could feel my face or more specifically my cheeks heat up a little. Am I BLUSHING?! What the hell! I quickly look away, determined to hide the color that my traitorous cheeks painted on themselves. I guess Jasper noticed because he started chuckling at my reaction. I did not dare to look him directly in the eye so I peeked through my veil of hair, the smile had since widened, showing his pearly white teeth. I could feel my breath catch in my throat.

'Is he trying to kill me?' I wonder to myself.

I calm myself before flipping my hair back and turning to face him once more. I cock my head to the side while giving him a smile of my own. Sky blue orbs met dark honeysuckle in an enticing manner both pairs shone with amusement.

"That's a good look on you." I said to him while giving him a playful wink. And I giggled internally with pride as his eyes widened a fraction as his lips quirked, a look of astonishment adorned his face and I couldn't help but laugh. He laughed with me realizing I was just paying him back. I noticed quite a few students were staring, I could feel their gazes. Some stared with bewilderment while others stared with jealousy. Although Jasper and I paid no mind to it.

After a couple minutes the teacher went over some of the content for this week and the next. The topic? The Civil War. We glossed over the main points and battles during the class and we were notified about an upcoming project. We would work in groups of two, picking a battle to write about. I wasn't the least bit interested in working with someone else. Thankfully Jasper did something about it.

"Would you like to work together, Eli?" He asked, almost hesitantly.

"Why, yes, I would. Thank you for offering, Jasper." I replied

"You're welcome, Ma'am." He replied while donning a crooked smile.

I could feel the light wings of butterflies, they were tickling the bottom of my stomach. Why does he do this? I know he can't possibly tell with my poker face in place but when he says and does things like that my body goes haywire. How could he have this effect on me?

'Maybe it's because you LIKE him!' The devil on my shoulder teases.

'Well, nobody asked you. And I like him as a friend. Nothing more!' I say.

'Denial is not just the name of a river in Egypt, Elissa!' She rebuts.

I shake my head slightly, because damn it all to hell, she's right. I really don't want her to be. I consider Jasper to be a friend, my friend. I don't need to complicate things by catching romantic feelings for him. Especially when I know so little about him. Even then. He and his family avoid people, even those who could be potential friends. So why would I risk a very gratuitous friendship over this little crush? It's simple, I won't. Besides I feel as though the man (Yes, MAN, not boy.) sitting next to me deserves to have one person around him who doesn't intend to be with him romantically. Surely he'll find someone in the future that will spark his interest.

'Even when I feel a little strongly for a person I will still let it slip away. If that doesn't make me a decent person I don't know what will..'

And with that final thought, fourth period comes to an end. I gather my books and place them into my bag as everyone else files out of the classroom. I was expecting to be the last one out, but that assumption proved to be false when I saw that jasper was waiting… He was waiting for me? I must have looked a little confused because he sent me a reassuring smile as he walked me out of the classroom. We were walking to lunch. Together. Jasper and I.. Today is proving to be a little strange. The walk to the cafeteria was proving to be a little too quiet for my liking. Because the next thing I knew, I was starting a random conversation.

"So, Jasper, I realized that I don't really know all that much about you." I said, testing the metaphorical waters.

"That is correct." He said with a slight smirk.

I scoffed. "I don't want to ask you a lot of heavy questions so I'll go for the more cliché ones, okay?"

"That sounds reasonable." He chuckled.

"What's your favorite color?" I asked. You can tell a lot of a person based on their favorite color.

"Hm, I'd have to say blue." He said thoughtfully, after a moment he asked "What about yours?"

"I'm rather fond of lavender or periwinkle. Those are in my top five." I said, laughing a bit.

"May I ask a question?"

"Yeah, go ahead J." I said.

He stopped walking for second, looking at me somewhat curiously. I stopped, backtracking to make sure I didn't overstep and boundaries.

I looked at him before asking somewhat apprehensively, "What?"

"You called me J."

"I'm sorry.. If you don't want me to call you that it's fine. I normally don't go around giving everyone nicknames I just.." I started to panic a little but then I felt a cool wave of calm envelop me, stopping me mid-rant. I looked at his face, trying to survey his expression.. He looked somewhat happy?.. I guess.. I can't be sure.

"It's okay Eli, I just don't have a lot of nicknames that are used. You can call me J or Jazz. Either is preferable." He said smoothly.

I raised an eyebrow a bit, processing this newly discovered information before breaking out a million dollar smile.

"Okay, Jazzy J.!" I said trying to contain the laughter threatening to spill past my lips.

He rolled his eyes but he did smile, so it was all in good fun.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. What's your question?" I asked, very curious.

He sighed deeply before he spoke. "Are you happy here, Eli?"

I didn't even have to think about that question all that hard.

"Yes." I answered. "As long as I'm with the people I care about, I'll always be happy."

He smiled at me once more. "Good, because I want you to stay happy Elissa." He said.

I had meant to ask why but he was already walking to where his family sat. I decided not to press for information, at least not yet. I know I'll find out sooner or later. I made my way to the table that I had been sitting with Angela and Eric, as well as the others from my previous school day. Bella was also seated there, which had me worried. I swiftly moved towards the seat next to Angela considering that everyone else at the table was crowding Bella. I sat down only to here that Jessica was telling my sister about the Cullen's and Hale's. Giving her the almost exact same rundown that I had received my first day. I looked over at Bella, she was hardcore staring at the table to which they were seated. But she has her focus on the bronze haired Edward Cullen. I could see that once he figured out she was staring he looked at her as well.

Bella being Bella, quickly looked away. Now the entire table was looking at Bella. Most were intrigued glances but Rose's looked like she was going to blow a gasket. Why does she look so mad? Maybe I can ask her later.. Much later. I gave the family a friendly smile and waved a little. Ali and Emmett returned my wave, smiling as they did so. Rose perked up and smiled at me then turned her attention to Emmett. Edward smiled slightly, nodding. And as for Jasper, he just stared.

I unfortunately had to turn my attention back to the group sitting around me as Jessica mentioned my name. She told Bella about how the only person the Cullen's and Hale's interact with is me. I scowled at the brunette teen, her and her big mouth. Because thanks to that comment Bella is now looking at me with questionable eyes. She is going to ask me about them and I don't want to. Not because I don't trust her but it's simply not her business. Luckily the subject had dropped and I could breathe a little easier. I finished my lunch listening to Jessica prattle, the boys hitting on Bella and Angela asking me about the class that we both have.

~Time Goes On~ (About Three Class Periods Later)

My last two classes were fairly simple so all that was left for that day was study hall. I headed back to the cafeteria to hopefully just relax. Seeing as how I don't have that much homework and because today has been somewhat stressful. I knew there would be a lot of commotion in regards to Bella's homecoming but this was straight up ridiculous. Until everything decides to calm down this is how every day is going to be. I'm definitely not looking forward to it.

I walked to my seat across from Rose seeing that she also was not planning on doing anything as well. She was openly scowling at noting before I sat down. I smiled at her again and she sort of smiled back. I was going to leave her alone but she apparently had other ideas.

"Hi, Eli." She said lightly.

"Hey Rose, are you alright?" I asked.

"Yes and no but it's nothing to worry about." She reassured.

I nodded letting it drop. "How was your weekend? Do anything fun?" I asked.

She smiled before answering, "Well, me and Alice went shopping."

"Sound like fun." I said.

She hummed in agreement before her eyes flittered over to me.

"Would you like to go with us sometime?" She asked, waiting for my reply.

My jaw dropped a little before I realized that she expected an answer.

"Yeah, sure. I'd like that. I don't get to go shopping all that often so it'll be nice to check out the shops around here." I said quickly.

It's one thing to be friends while at school but outside of school, this must be unheard of for her let alone the rest of her family. This is a big step for her and them. She gave me her number so we can make plans for this weekend. We then went on to discuss what we like as far as styles go these days. She also gave me some great tips for makeup, not that there was anything wrong with my technique of course she just said test the waters. Try something new, in a sense. And I think she's right. By the time the period ended we parted ways, so I set off to find Bella. I knew she'd be at the office returning the paperwork and such.

I was correct in that assumption, she was walking down the hall to get to the office, and she also seemed a bit distressed. I walked in front of her to make her stop and look at me. She did, rather alarmed. She didn't even notice that I was walking up to her.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing El, Edward Cullen was just being weird. Do I smell bad?" She asked.

I frowned at her question. "No you smell fine, why?"

"In class he kept putting his hand over his nose, like I smelled repulsive or something." She said while shaking her head. You could tell she was trying her best to not let it get to her. She was failing miserably though. We then began to walk to the office at a leisurely pace so she could collect herself. Once she got to the door I told her I'd wait outside for her. She went in as I leaned against the wall. I sighed, wondering what the fuck happened as said boy stormed out of the office, looking upset.

'What bug crawled up your ass!?'

He then stopped for a second, then continued his way out of the school. I scoffed then went to look inside for Bella, she handed Ms. Cope the papers and made a b-line for the door, I followed. We headed out the front doors to our designated cars when she stopped to look at the Edward and the other. I heard her mutter something like "Jerk" Before she opened her car door and started her engine. I followed suit, she apparently wasn't going home but to the diner. Charlie probably go off of work early and wants to have dinner.

We pulled into the parking lot, turned off our cars and headed inside. Al I could think was that she must've had a weird first day.