OMC, all of the reviews have been amazing. I love to read the feedback you guys have been giving me.

And if you haven't noticed already, every Sunday I am going to try and update a new, long, juicy, chapter.

But I am going to try an update on Wednesdays or so also.

So keep your wonderful thoughts coming my way!

Thank you!

-Cullen-Style

Chapter 7

I woke up Saturday morning around 9:00 and groggily went to go check in on Rosalie and Alice; if they weren't back by now I was definitely calling them… and if they didn't answer, hunting them down. Luckily, they were sound asleep- more like out cold- in their beds. I spent the morning cleaning up a little bit and I did some laundry in the main room down stairs.

Being around lunchtime, Alice and Rosalie weren't up yet so I decided just to go down the cafeteria and eat by myself… but I didn't have to do that. Tristan was already there and eating with some of his friends.

"Hey Bella!" he called while I was standing, waiting in the lunch line. I saw him get up from a crowded table, full of seniors most likely, and walk over to me. He greeted me with a kiss on my cheek. I blushed when I saw all of the student body watching us with interested eyes.

"Hello," he smiled down at me.

"Hello," I replied grinning up at him in return. It was my turn in the lunch line and me having my crutches and all, Tristan got what I asked him to get which was a piece of pizza and a bottle of water. Tristan gave me a disapproving look.

"That's all you're going to eat?" he questioned. I looked around, confused.

"Yes?" my statement sounded more like a question.

"Bella, that is like… how much a 1st grader would eat," he said dryly. I felt my mouth drop; this was how much I normally ate. I closed it quickly and decided to play with Tristan's mind for a little bit.

"Fine," and I steered away from him, walking away. I immediately felt a hand on my arm, restraining me from hobbling any further.

"Bella, wait… I'm sorry. The amount of food you intake is none of my business," Tristan said rolling his eyes, not at all sincere. I think he knew that I was just pretending, but I shook his hand off and continued.

Suddenly, Tristan jumped into my path, still with my tray of food, completely blocking where I wanted to go. He took a step closer to me so we were almost touching. His blue eyes were intense; I couldn't blink or look away.

"I really am sorry… please forgive me," he breathed, whispering. I felt an involuntary smile slip onto my face.

"Fine, you're forgiven," I huffed. Tristan smiled a bright, white smile. There was an awkward silence… the cafeteria was almost quiet. Murmurs and whispers rang through the building still.

"Can I kiss you then?" Tristan whispered, chuckling. I bit my lip and faked deliberation.

"I don't know, let me think…" I tilted my head to the side. Tristan didn't give me any time to think because his lips were on mine. His warm lips moved with mine softly… we could have kept it going for hours but a loud voice broke through our trances therefore breaking us apart.

"YEAH TRISTAN! PLAYER, PLAY ON!" My head instantly followed the voice and my eyes found the person who yelled out. The guy was huge, probably 6'7" and 220 pounds. My guess was that he was on the football team.

"Come on, man! I was just getting into it!" Tristan yelled back and every one in the cafeteria, including me began to laugh. Tristan led me over to the table where he came from and helped me into a seat. Another guy moved so Tristan could sit next to me.

"Guys, this is Bella… Bella this is everybody." Tristan gestured to all of the people at the table… there was about thirty people there. I waved, shyly, and then all of the students at the table went back to normal, chatting with the people near to them and eating. I ate while Tristan stayed quiet, watching me.

"Hi, I just wanted to introduce myself. I'm pretty sure that we have Pre-Cal together, my name is Angela," this tall, pretty blonde held out a hand for me to shake. I quickly shook it smiling.

"Hi, I'm Bella." We talked for a little bit, she seemed really nice. She was easy to be around. I just got done with my lunch when Tristan interrupted me and Angela's conversation.

"Bella, take a walk with me?" he asked and stood up with a hand ready for me to grasp. All of the girls faces at the table softened. Tristan was so sweet.

"Sure," I smiled and he helped me up and we exited the cafeteria, eyes on us. Once we were outside Tristan led the way. We were walking randomly through the campus; Tristan had his hands stuffed in his pockets awkwardly. We got to a pretty statue that was spurting water and he sat and patted the seat next to him, I sat down.

"I need to talk to you," he said nervously. I immediately was worried… we all know how things like this ended, did I do something wrong? I stayed silent.

"Homecoming is next Saturday and I just wanted to tell you that I can't be your date," he said softly. I blinked once before regaining my composure.

"Okaaay, you want to go with another girl to homecoming, is that it?" I asked, very offended. Tristan looked shocked for a moment and then started backtracking.

"No! No, Bella! It's just that I was nominated for Homecoming King and as a school tradition- a stupid, idiotic, tradition- I have to ask another girl nominee to the dance. Believe me when I say that I do not want to do this, it's a dumb tradition that I am being forced to stick to!" he explained while ranting a little.

I understood, though. And he seemed stressed about this already, I could trust him. I gave him a small smile,

"Don't worry about it." Tristan exhaled deeply, relieved that I wasn't a drama queen.

"Really? You are okay with this… we don't have to go at all if you don't want to," he suggested but I could tell from his eyes that he wanted to go.

"No! I'll find another date for the night, everything will be fine," I reassured.

"Another date?" Tristan raised his eyebrows at me, suggestively. I rolled my eyes at him, he was so silly.

"Yes, Mr. Jealousy, another date. You have one, remember?" I reminded him. Tristan nodded,

"Yes, I do. But can I you promise me something?" he asked, looking deep into my eyes. Involuntarily, I said yes.

"You have to promise me that I get to approve your date and have a minimum of 3 dances with you at the dance," Tristan demanded, though not aggressively; he was smiling widely.

"Of course," I agreed. Tristan kissed me hard on the lips.

Tristan walked with me back to my dorm after I told him that I needed to check up on Alice and Rosalie. After saying… or kissing… our goodbyes he left for football practice. I walked through the bathroom to Alice's bedroom, I found her sitting up in her bed… doing nothing.

This was odd… Alice doing nothing was, I thought, impossible. But Alice was just sitting up in her bed staring at the wall across from her, she looked deepfully thoughtful. I sat down on her bed and waved a hand in her line of vision,

"Alice?" I asked quietly, still mesmerized. She broke out of the trance instantly, shaking her head side to side to clear it.

"Oh! Sorry, I was thinking about a lot of things… I guess I just got lost in them," she gave me a bright, wide grin. She looked so upbeat… more than normal, actually.

"Sooooo, what did you do last night?" I asked, giving her a redolent look. She blushed… she actually blushed! I thought that I only did that!

"I don't know… stuff," she giggled girlishly. I gasped, interested in the things that she was hiding.

"Who did you do… 'stuff' with?" I asked. Alice immediately gave me a disgusted look.

"No! Not that kind of 'stuff' just hang out kinda 'stuff'," she clarified… she made no sense.

"So who did you hang out with?" I asked after a long time of me thinking through Alice's previous statement.

"Somebody," Alice mumbled and shrugged. If she didn't tell me soon, I was going to explode!

"Tell me! Please, Alice, I'll be your best friend," I begged. Alice broke up into laughter as did I.

"You know you are already my best friend and because of that I'll tell you," she smiled brightly, lighting up the room. She always had the talent to do that. I waited, excitedly, but silently for her story.

"Okay, so you know how you had a date with Tristan, which we are going to talk about after this?" she looked at me, I nodded.

"Well, Rose and I had nothing to do and were sitting around here when Jasper and Emmet came up. We all hung out here for a while and then they took us out to ice cream… and I know how it doesn't sound like much, Bella…but I think it was the best night of my life," Alice told me with a small, yet pronounced, smile on her lips. The way she said it… it sounded so… loving?

I remained soundless, hoping Alice would continue, she did after a moment.

"Jasper is so sensitive and understanding. When we were talking and I told him how I've been kind of stressed lately, he could respond to it so well… I swear that he knew exactly what I was feeling," Alice seemed like she was talking to herself more than me.

"And Rose?" I asked. Alice just laughed once before replying,

"To put it one way; Rosalie was shy last night with Emmet," Alice giggled. My eyes went wide… Rosalie was always the one comfortable with guys, her being shy was something that I had never seen before.

"She likes him…" I affirmed and took another brief look at Alice.

"And you like Jasper…" I stated. Alice nodded furiously.

So far, in Forks, Piggyback rides were not hard to come by and love seemed to be everywhere.

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By Wednesday, nearly everybody in the entire school understood our agreement. Wednesday was also the day when boys from every grade began asking me to Homecoming. The first one to ask me was… well I didn't exactly know his name until I asked.

"Hi Bella!" a tall brunette boy asked me in English, Edward gave him a cold look.

"Hi?" I replied, unsure of who exactly he was, or how he knew my name.

"So I was wondering if you would be my date to Homecoming?" he asked, very confident. I could have sworn that Edward, beside me, snorted. I gave him a quick look and the amusement in his eyes assured that he had snorted.

"Who are you again?" I breathed to the stranger. He stranger smiled like I had said a funny joke.

"Tyler Crowley, I'm a junior also," he smiled a… Barbie like smile.

"Oh," I said quietly. This was an extremely awkward silence.

"So do you want to go with me? I'm sure we'd have a good time," he said… I thought that I heard double meaning within his words but I ignored it. Luckily, the bell rang. Tyler didn't budge, insisting an answer out of me.

"I'll get back to you," I forced a fake smile on my face and he reluctantly took a seat on the opposite side of the room. I slumped into my seat and breathed loudly.

"Well that was amusing…" Edward chuckled, not looking up from his book that he was currently reading.

"Ha ha, very amusing because I am just overjoyed with happiness right now," I said; sarcasm filing my tone in the extreme. Edward's mouth just turned up into a smile on his face, eyes glued on the novel he was reading. Interested, I twisted my head downward to see what he was so concentrated on. How to Get the Girl for Dummies… classy, Edward. I snorted, this caught his reaction and he turned towards me with a questioning look on his face,

"What exactly is funny?" he asked, though he already knew. I raised my eye brows,

"Your book… I never would have thought that you needed help getting the ladies; thought that you were a 'playa playaaa'?" I said while kissing my fingers and making a peace sign like the rappers in the music videos. Edward looked at me, completely stunned and busted up laughing. After about five minutes of laughing he finally calmed himself to talk.

"I need extra help for homecoming… I don't exactly know if she wants to go with me, so… you know," he seemed a little down when he said this. Who wouldn't want to go with Edward, he was gorgeous, funny… smart and down to earth. If anybody said no to him, they would be insane.

"Well I'm sure you'll do fine," I tried to reassure him. He looked at my eyes, there was something he wasn't telling me… but the teacher now was looking directly at us and we had to divert our attention.

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During passing period to Pre-Cal another four boys asked me to homecoming… 4 freaking guys?! I had a gut feeling that Tristan was not going to be happy no matter what our agreement was. When I got to my classroom, I got out a blank spiral notebook and quickly wrote down their names before I forgot them.

Brady Devons… Weston Saile… Ryan Conings… Dylan Havick… and Tyler Crowley. This was going to be a long day.

During lunch, while I was eating with Edward outside 3 more guys asked me to be their dates… one even had 'I love Bella' painted on their chest… I think I got bruises from hitting my hand repeatedly on the cement table, laughing so hard. I remembered his name… Alex Craft. That kid had a sense of humor.

Another boy, who was a freshman reportedly, sneezed on me three times while asking me to the dance! I didn't even bother writing his name in my notebook, freshman or not. He only came up to Edward's elbow and looked anorexic… scrawny might be a better word to use… but he was just so… little!

Edward stayed with me the entire time, laughing his butt off. When Alex Craft asked me, Edward actually fell off of the bench on to the grass and started rolling on the ground. When the bell rang, indicating that lunch was over Edward and I walked towards the Biology room… still laughing.

I thought I was going to pass out when Mike Newton asked me… he brought flowers. I found it difficult to say no to that kind of enthusiasm… but I managed. I didn't write his name down… mostly because when I did Edward used his own pencil and erased it. I tried to write his name down 3 times.

Finally, my last class of the day came around… Art. The one class that I had with Tristan and I had to give him my notebook. Thought if I gave it to him now, he could at least read the names during Art class.

When I was walking to class, it began to rain. Tristan was outside of the door leaning casually against the wall, waiting for me. I half ran towards him, determined to get out of the rain and under the overhang.

"Hello beautiful," he greeted me and gave me a small kiss on the lips, I smiled half way through it. He pulled back and chuckled lightly.

"I have something to show you," I said, secretively while opening my book bag. Tristan leaning his right shoulder on to the brick wall, putting his left hand in his expertly faded and destroyed jean pocket. I found my red notebook and handed it to him; he pulled his hand out of his pocket and opened it. Reading it for a little over 2 seconds, he sighed, closed it and moved to stand in front of me so my back was against the wall. He handed me my notebook and leaned over me so his forearm was supporting him on the wall behind me.

"You do know that I don't think that any one of these guys are good enough for you, right?" he whispered, clarifying. I raised one of my eye brows,

"Really? Then who am I supposed to go with? Should I just stay home and let you have all of the fun?" I replied, unserious. Tristan smiled ruefully,

"I guess I can let you go… but I'm not sure that I can trust anybody enough to take care of you."

"I'm sure… did you even read the list that I worked so hard to keep updated?" I asked innocently.

"Do you think that after the brief glance I gave it that I would be able to read through all of the names… I mean there must be a hundred on there," he laughed.

"Are you going to read it?" I asked, wondering if he would live up to his promises. Tristan nodded solemnly,

"Yes, and unfortunately I have to accept some of these boys. I am extremely jealous, they get to go with you to the dance," he sighed sadly. I tried to give him a comforting smile, but I was just as disappointed as he was.

"I am dissatisfied too… I don't get to go with a man," I faked horror, which made him smile. The bell rang, which meant we had two minutes to get inside so Tristan took the red notebook from my hands reluctantly.

He took his bigger hand into my smaller one and together, we entered the classroom.

Edward's POV (And you thought that I never would! Shocker!)

After my final class, I walked back to my dorm room, thoughtful, today was an interesting day. Pushing the button for the elevator, I felt somebody else's presense behind me, I hoped it would be her… but as lucky as I was, it wasn't

"Hey Edward!" the curly brunette practically bounced up and down. I was slightly fearful.

"Hello…" I said unsure of what exactly was happening. I noticed that she talked extremely fast.

"So I was wondering if you were going to Homecoming next Saturday..." she left off, suggestively. Oh, so that was what this was getting at. I felt bad for what I was going to have to do, I really did.

"I'm not sure yet," I answered… it was completely truthful in my defense.

"Oh, well… would you like to go with me?" she asked, I could practically feel the hopefulness radiating off of her small body. Quickly, I came up with a good excuse; I was usually a good talker. Last December I talked myself out of a $300 speeding ticket. Emmet and Jasper said that I was groveling… but I wasn't. Okay, so I was begging a little bit, just because I said,

"You have a good Christmas, officer!" when he was leaving.They still thought it as funny and retold everybody the story around Christmas. But back to the small and scary little girl…

"See, my dad might need me to visit home that weekend, but he isn't sure yet. It depends on my grandmother's health condition. I honestly have no idea if I am going to be able to go to Homecoming at all. And I would feel horrible if I agreed to be your date and then had to abandon you on such short notice…" I said, turning on the acting skills. Okay… so I was completely lying now, but I really didn't want to hurt her feelings.

"Oh… I'm so sorry about your grandmother. I'll see you around sometime then," the curly haired girl said and then left.

The elevator door was still wide open so I got inside and pressed the button for my floor. As much as I liked elevators, I believed that because of machines like these, as a whole, us humans are more unhealthy. But I couldn't be worrying about things like that… STUPID EDWARD!... I had bigger things to deal with.

The metal elevator doors opened and I walked through the hallway, unlocked my dorm room, and went immediately to the small kitchenette.

What to eat today?... I thought as I examined the contents of our refrigerator. Left over half of turkey sandwich… toaster strudel… finding nothing in the least bit appetizing, I check what time it was… 2:53. Only 3 hours and 7 minutes until dinner is served. I grabbed a bottle of orange juice and went to my room.

My room was a green color, with sleek metal furniture. I liked it for the most part, I needed more wall space for my CD's, but hey I could live with it. I but my back pack on the right side of my desk, it's normal spot, and then turned on my lap top that was sitting on my desk.

I sat on my bed, waiting for it to start up, and looked at my wall of CD's that was in front of me. What to do with my dilemma? Looking over at my computer screen I went back to my desk and sat down in the swivel chair.

Typing faster than the normal person, I typed in my password to unlock my desktop and clicked on the Internet icon. I went to my email and deleted all but one, from my Dad.

"Edward,

It's your old man here in sunny California. So I met a new coworker at work today… he's a very active and involved Alumni member from… guess?! That's right UCLA! I know, I know, you want to send in applications to a bunch of different colleges, but I have a feeling you would like it there. I mean, it's close to home, your mother would be ecstatic, and the educational aspects of it are phenomenal. Are you sensing PAC 10? Cause I am. Get back to me soon,

-Dad"

I sighed and deleted that one too… maybe I didn't want to be close to home… maybe I want to go to school in… Ukraine! All right, maybe I didn't want to go to school in Ukraine, but I most surely could if I wanted to.

I closed that page and opened iTunes, hoping that there was something in their 'Just For Me' suggestions that I didn't already own. Moments later I heard Jasper come in.

"Edward?" he called, Emmet wouldn't be with him, he was at football practice, getting ready for the next two Friday's games.

"In my room!" I called back, closing iTunes and closing my computer. Jasper stuck his head in the door, eyes excited.

"Did you ask her?" he asked, just as hopeful as that girl that had asked me to the dance in the main room earlier. I shook my head.

"Ah, come on! You better hurry up, I know at least 4 more seniors that are going to ask her soon…" he informed me. I snapped my head up at him,

"Are you serious?" I asked, my voice low. Jasper nodded, sheepishly.

"I don't know… she doesn't like me that way…" I stated, I was never this insecure… until I met her.

"Yet," Jasper corrected. I shrugged, if every single upper class man was going to ask her to the Homecoming… what chance did I have compared to some Seniors.

"She's not going to say yes…" I said while shaking my head side to side, the desk chair moved back and forth with me.

"Edward, you were the captain and starting point guard of the Varsity basketball team as a sophomore… you are pretty much in the bag for All American this year. Hey, today, I overheard this girl in my class tell her friend that 'When you look into his eyes, it's like falling into a world of emeralds'! I mean who just says that! She'd be crazy if she said no," Jasper was pretty much yelling at the end of his little speech. I pinched the bridge of my nose with my pointer finger and thumb.

"That's not the problem, Jas," I breathed. He looked at me speechless; he looked at me like I was a psychopath.

"They have an agreement where Tristan gets to 'approve' of her date and also dances with her for a couple of songs during Homecoming," I explained, eyes closed so I didn't visually see his reaction.

"And that's your problem?! Tristan has no problem with you! You're one of Emmet's best friends, who's on the football with him. Emmet loves you, and you have a great reputation… why wouldn't he let Bella go with you?" Jasper ranted. I opened my eyes and gave him a exasperated look,

"Doesn't that seem like the problem?" I explained, "Why would be let Bella go to Homecoming with another guy who is just as great as he is?"

This time Jasper looked sympathetic,

"He likes her, Edward. I can tell… everyone can tell. He's really into her; somebody who truly likes somebody else won't let them down… he's going to be cool with you," Jasper said quietly. I nodded, understanding what he meant and then Jasper left to go to his own room across from mine.

I stayed facing the doorway, moving my chair slowly side to side while thinking hard,

You can do this, Edward… You can do this…