AN: I am so sorry this chapter has taken so long. School holidays have started so I haven't been home… So this one's nice and long :D
Disclaimer: It's not mine, well except for mean and nasty Victoria.
Bella's POV
I leant against the front door and sighed. The pain in my hip was nearly unbearable.
"What's that?" my eyes snapped open. Victoria stood in front of me.
"What's what?" I whispered.
"On your hand." I looked down at my hand to discover Edwards number still scrawled on it.
"It's my lab partner's number. We have to work on an assignment together."
"You little tart you're lying to me. Going off to meet some boy are you?" She snapped.
"No I'm not." I cowered.
"How dare you lie to me." She yelled before bringing her hand up and slapping me across the face.
"I'm not I swear." I whimpered. She sneered.
"You have chores to do.," she said before leaving the room. I brought my hand to my face and winced when I touched the tender flesh. I had to find some ice or there would be a bruise and too many unwanted questions.
-xXx-
I had just finished the last of my chores when I realised I still needed to ask Victoria if I could go to Edwards to start our project. I walked into the living room where she sat watching one of her soaps.
"Victoria." I said.
"What?" she snapped, clearly annoyed I had interrupted her.
"I really do have to go to my lab partners tonight to work on a project."
"If it'll get you out of my hair for a few hours, besides I have a friend coming over." She said smirking.
"Thankyou." I said, quickly leaving the room before she changed her mind. I knew what she meant when she said friend and I didn't want to be there to witness it. I went to call Edward for directions.
"Hello."
"Hi Edward?"
"Yes."
"It's Bella; I'm calling for the directions."
"Oh right. I live just outside of town, the driveways sort of hidden in between the woods. You know it would be a lot easier if I came and got you." I hesitated I had never been good with directions, and I had a feeling now wouldn't be any different.
"Ok." I said and gave him the directions.
"I'll meet you on the corner."
"I can meet you at your house." He said.
"No, meet me on the corner." I said before hanging up.
-xXx-
I stood in front of the bathroom mirror and carefully peeled off the bandages I had applied that morning. They were covered in blood; the cuts were too deep and needed stitches. I knew I couldn't go to a hospital, so instead I gathered up a needle and thread. After sterilising the needle, I went to work sewing up the cuts. After nearly nine years of doing this it was second nature to me, the pain however still got me every time.
After putting on another T-shirt I headed out to meet Edward, slipping out the backdoor to avoid Victoria and her 'friend' who had just arrived.
-xXx-
I had stood on the corner of my street less than two minutes when a silver Volvo pulled up beside me.
"Hey." Edward said after rolling down the window.
"Hi." I said. He jumped out of the car and walked around to open the passenger side door. I smiled at him and got in.
"So." He said when he got back in next to me.
"So." I responded uncomfortably.
"What kind of music do you like?" he asked starting the car.
"Anything that sounds good."
"I think I have some of that, check in the glove compartment." I looked through his CD collection, surprised to see the range of music he liked.
"You like Clair De Lune?" I asked.
"Yes it's one of my favourites." He smiled. We spent the remainder of the ride comfortably discussing music we liked and didn't like.
-xXx-
He wasn't kidding when he said his house was hidden by the woods. If I had been alone I would never have seen the turn off to his driveway. We pulled up outside a large white house. He quickly stopped the engine and came around to open my door.
"Well you a real gentleman aren't you, I didn't think men opened doors anymore." I laughed.
"Well this man does." He smiled.
"Well I guess your parents raised you right."
"Come on, now you get to meet my family." His smile grew.
"Haven't I already?" I asked nervously.
"Well alright then my parents. Breathe Bella. You'll be fine." He said when he noticed the look of what I'm sure was absolute horror on my face. Right because I'm sure breathing is going to make me feel so much better…
We walked inside.
"Hey Bella." Alice said, coming out of a room on my right.
"Hi Alice." I smiled.
"So Bella did you want a drink or anything. You haven't had dinner yet have you?" Edward asked.
"No, I forgot." I said.
"Oh that's good because my Esme's cooking up a storm." Alice laughed.
"Esme?" I asked.
"She's our adopted mother." Alice told me.
"We're all adopted." Edward added.
"So are any of you blood related?" I asked.
"Rosalie and Jasper are twins, they're Esme's niece and nephew." Alice told me.
"Oh."
"Didn't you think it weird that we were all siblings but al the same age and all looked different?" Edward asked.
"Well to be honest I never really thought about it." I grinned sheepishly. Edward and Alice laughed.
"So how did your talk with Coach Clapp go?" Alice asked.
"My what?" I asked.
"The reason you left me outside the locker room." Oh shit…
"Um yeah that went well." She eyed me suspiciously.
"Oh Alice, could you let the others know dinner's ready." A woman asked coming out of what I presumed to be the kitchen.
"Sure thing mum." Alice said before heading upstairs.
"You must be Bella, I'm Esme." She said.
"Hi."
"I hope your hungry, I got a little carried away today." She said before heading back the way she came. I glanced over at Edward. He smiled.
"Esme likes to cook. Come on." He said, heading after her. I followed and was lead into a fancy dining room. He led me to a chair, which he then proceeded to pull out for me, to which I just laughed. He had just sat down next to me when the other Cullens came through the door.
"Hi Bella." Emmett said sitting across from me.
"Hi Emmett." I greeted him. A rather handsome man walked through the door, spotted me and walked over hand outstretched.
"Hello Bella, I'm Carlisle. Edwards father." I shook his hand.
"It's nice to meet you sir." I said.
"Please call me Carlisle." He told me.
"So Bella did you rethink Friday night?" Alice asked.
"Oh um. I guess I could ask." I said unable to think of a good enough excuse.
"Oh I thought you said you were busy?" Rosalie asked. Not again.
"Well I was but my stepmother's going on a date, so she cancelled." I lied.
"Your stepmother's going on a date. I'm confused, shouldn't she be married to your dad?" Emmett asked.
"She was. He died eight years ago." I said.
"Oh Bella I'm sorry I didn't know." Emmett said.
"It's ok." I smiled at him reassuringly.
"I hope you like Mushroom Ravioli Bella." Esme said as she put a plate down in front me.
"Oh yes, thankyou." I said. After she had served everyone, the table fell into a comfortable silence as everyone ate.
"So I learnt a valuable lesson today." Alice said smirking. Everyone looked at her. She laughed.
"When Bella says duck, she really means duck." I smiled.
"I did warn you plenty of times before we started playing that I am hopeless at sports. You were the one who wanted to be my partner, and the one stuck with me for the next two weeks." I smiled. Her eyes widened in shock.
"Two weeks…" she said weakly. I bit my lip trying not to laugh. Everyone around the table however broke into laughter.
"Oh Alice you should see your face." Emmett laughed.
"You're not the one who's going to end up with a swollen head." She frowned. Which just made us all laugh harder.
-xXx-
After dinner Edward and I sprawled out in the living room.
"Ok so we have to figure out which cancer we're actually going to do, any suggestions?" Edward asked.
"Um, what about the Leukaemia's?"
"Ok." The next hour we spent getting together all the vital information for our project.
"Hey guys, do you want to watch a movie?" Emmett asked coming into the room followed by Alice, Rosalie and Jasper. Edward looked over at me. I looked over at the clock on the wall. It wasn't late, so I nodded. We all sat around on the various lounges and settled down to watch the movie.
Edward's POV
"Well that was an awfully long and boring movie." Rosalie said, standing up and stretching.
"Looks like Bella agrees with you." Emmett said. We all looked over at Bella who had fallen asleep sometime during the movie.
"What do you think we should do, wake her?" I asked.
"No, I'll ring her stepmother and let her know Bella can stay here. Edward do you think you can get her upstairs?" Esme asked. I walked over and gently picked Bella up. She was incredibly light, like someone who hadn't eaten in awhile. I walked up the stairs and placed her on the bed in one of the guest rooms. I pulled the covers gently over her and quietly left the room. Outside esme had just reached the top of the stairs.
"I couldn't get a hold of her stepmother, but I left a message on the machine." She told me. I nodded.
"Goodnight edward." She said.
"Goodnight." I said heading towards my room. My dreams that night were filled with nothing but Bella.
AN: So what did you think? Please review and let me know : D I'm sorry if there are a lot of spelling mistakes, but it's 4 am and I am ready for bed.