A/N: I do own a copy of Twilight; however, I don't own the actual rights to said book … :(

As always – many thanks to all my reviewers! You all are amazinggg!! 416 reviews! 85 for last chapter! That's awesome! Maybe one day I can get 100 … but heck, 85 is great! AHHH!! hugs you all Hope you like the chapter! …

Chapter 8: Good Morning, Beautiful

BPOV

He beat Mike up for me, he fought for me. I kept repeating his words in my head, "No one hurts you and gets away with it."

When he said that, I could have sworn I saw something different in his eyes. Passion? Love? It couldn't be I thought to myself shaking my head. I looked at the boy lying next to me. He was as far away as possible, with clenched fists looking as if he was in actual pain. Was it that horrible to have to sit on the same bed as me? I thought and then realized, there was no way he liked me as anything more then a friend, if even that. I was soon pulled out of my thoughts when the movie turned began.

I watched the screen in horror, realizing that the main characters name was Mike. I hadn't seen the movie before, but Alice was always talking about it, surely she wouldn't have picked the movie if she remembered the main characters name was Mike, would she?

"Oh my gosh, Bella." Alice said, pausing the movie a couple minutes in "I feel like an idiot, do you want to watch another movie?" I knew she was referring to the characters name.

"No," I said, gulping hard, "It's ok; it's just a name, right?"

I could see the outline of her head nodding in the dark and could almost feel her eyes staring at me, trying to see if I meant it.
"Really, please continue the movie." I said, reassuringly.

"Ok, hold on" she said going back to the main menu and changing it to directors cut, "The ending is better," she said answering all our unspoken questions as to what she was doing. As soon as she was done, the movie started again.

It didn't start off too badly, Mike was just trying stay in room 1402 since he heard that it was haunted; however, things soon took a turn for the worse.

When Mike finally got into the room he scanned the walls with a machine and it started to show the past deaths in the room, as well as blood, a lot of blood. Ew. I scooted towards Edward, unconsciously, and searched for his hand. Once I grabbed onto it, I squeezed it and focused my attention back on the movie. Then suddenly, it showed a man in the corner, hung and looking disgusting, I gasped and then Edward squeezed my hand reassuringly.

Shortly there after, Mike's hands were slammed down on by a window and got extremely bloody. I moved closer to Edward, fitting into his sides when I heard him take a deep breath, clearly freaked from the movie too.

I was ok, if you could call it that, until Mike was trying to escape from the room and then fell down from the vents after seeing a dead body, I screamed and actually jumped, landing closer then ever to Edward. I put my head on his chest and breathed in deeply his scent which calmed me.

I felt Edward stiffen beneath me and suddenly I was glad the room was dark so no one could see how red my face was. It was just then that I realized our current position; I was practically lying right on top of Edward, in a dark dorm room, on a small bed. I tried to quickly move back to my side of the bed, but felt Edward arms wrap protectively around my waist.

"It's okay" he whispered into my ear and then his hands brushed away the hair from my face.

It was official; I could no longer concentrate on the movie. All I could think about was how good it felt to be this close to Edward and the lingering tingling feeling on my face from where he had just touched it.

I looked over at Alice's bed to see her and Jasper in a similar position as Edward and me, only they were looking longingly into each others eyes. I looked away, embarrassed to have witnessed such a private moment between them and concentrated again on the man oh so close to me.

What I would give to feel his lips on mine right now, to feel his hands through my hair, to be able to put my own hands through his own copper colored hair. I sighed and decided before I lost control to focus on the movie again.

I tried; I really tried, to focus on the movie. But it was so hard; I ended up staring at the screen, jumping or gasping slightly at the scary parts, but for the most part I was in a daze. I was getting tired, too, very tired. It was like the entire day's events were just now catching up to me, so I decided to close my eyes for a little.

I awoke to the sound of birds chirping from outside my window and the sun shinning in, hitting my closed eyes making me see red. As usual I lifted my hands, to brush through my hair and stretch when I suddenly felt something, no someone. I opened my eyes quickly and glanced next to me to see none other then Edward Mason. He must have fallen asleep too last night. He looked so peaceful, and has a small smile on his lips, looking quite like an angel, especially because of the way the sun was hitting him. His arm was draped over my waist and I was pulled close to him, close enough to smell his shirt and cologne. I smiled, then blushed, realizing how awkward this would be if he were to awake right now. I glanced at the clock next to my bed to see it was 9:20 AM, so early.

I then saw something move out of the corner of my eye and before I knew it, Alice was standing over me, grinning widely.

"Someone looks comfortable," she whispered, still smiling broadly.

"Alice, help me please." I said, almost begging, "This will be beyond awkward if Edward wakes up and sees us this close, let alone if he hears us talking about him."
"Oh, I doubt he'd mind that much if he awoke to this." She said, while I narrowed my eyes.

"What?"

"Come on Bella! He likes you! Get that little fact through that thick skull of yours already will you?" she tapped on her head lightly, and then glanced at her watch "Oh, got to go, Jasper is meeting me for breakfast in ten minutes, we'll bring you two something back." Alice winked and then skipped out the door.

And with that she was gone, leaving me alone to deal with Edward. I tried to wiggle my way out of his arms, only to be pulled back in closer then before and to have his grip tighten around me.

I sighed, and then decided I might as well enjoy this while I could and then pretend to be asleep when he woke up.

I snuggled into his warm, strong arms and sighed in contentment. Then glanced up at Edward again, and gently pushed some hair off of his face, as I did so he smiled then shifted and opened his eyes.

"Good morning beautiful" he said, staring down as me.

"Um, h-hi," I awkwardly stuttered, I was supposed to be pretending I was still asleep!

"I must say, this is a great way to wake up in the morning," he chuckled and rubbed his eyes.

"Yea, um, I guess we both fell asleep last night while watching the movie." I said, stating the obvious.

"Suppose so," he said looking at me strangely.

I shifted nervously under his gaze then got up out of bed "Alice and Jasper are bringing us back breakfast, so, um, I'm going to go shower real quick, you can turn on the TV if you want or read a book" I said pointing over to my enormous collection on my desk.

"Impressive," he said nodding "Still like to read I see."

"Yep," I said shortly, "Well, be right back." And with that I left the room carrying my bathroom supplies and quickly ran to the bathroom.

Once I got there I stepped into the shower, undressed and tried to clear my mind. The water was cold, ice cold, but that was exactly what I needed. After five minutes I stepped out, dried myself off and changed into a dark blue t-shirt and my favorite blue jeans, knowing that Alice would most likely make me change later into something she deemed better later on anyways.

I looked at the mirror and sighed, what would he possibly see in me? I thought as I mindlessly ran my fingers through my hair realizing I left my brush back in the room. After my hair was detangled for the most part I took a deep breath and walked back into my room to find Edward lying on my bed reading one of my guilty pleasure romance novel books. I blushed.

"Of all the books you could have chosen, you chose that one?" I said, trying to make a joke out of it.

He turned his head and raised an eyebrow "I didn't know you liked these beach reads." He said, still flipping through the book.

"Yea, well, they are my guilty pleasure. Alice bought me one as a joke, and I actually ended up liking them." I said, walking towards the mirror with my hairbrush. As I was brushing my hair Alice and Jasper walked into the room, and the smell of syrup filled the air.

"Edward, man, I didn't know you liked to read those kinds of books!" Jasper said, laughing "First Mike, now you, who's next!" He said throwing his hands up in the air in mock horror.

Edward looked down at the book he was reading and then said, in a voice perfectly mimicking Mike's "Um, well you know, I was um, just reading it for fun, you know?" and Jasper burst out laughing.

"Dude, you sounded just like him" he said as he slapped him on the back and then said "We have food!"

Edward got up from off the bed and sat on the ground, where I then sat next to him as we were handed food.

"Pancakes, bacon and melon for Bella," Alice said listing off my favorite breakfast foods. "And waffles, waffles and more waffles for Edward."

"Thanks," I said as I cut my pancakes while I watched Edward stuff the waffles into his mouth, whole.

"So, how has your morning been?" Alice said glancing between Edward and me.

"Ah, good," Edward said between mouth-fulls.

"Hm, well that's good" Alice said, exaggerating the good. "Oh, Bella, before I forget, we got an e-mail this morning from Rose"

Rose, that name sounded familiar, but why? I couldn't place the name so I asked after a brief moment "Um, who's Rose? Name sounds familiar, but isn't ringing any bells."

"Rose, sorority Rose. The girl we talked to at the booth that one day about joining a sorority on campus. Remember now?" Alice asked.

I did remember, completely forgot until now, but none-the-less remembered now. "Ah" I said as I started to work on my melon.

"Yea, well anyways, turns out she is going to be our Rho Chi! We are meeting her at noon," she said nervously, "So hurry up and finish because we have to get ready!"

"You girls are rushing?" Edward asked.

"Yep," Alice said, looking through her clothes and picking out a simple sun dress with white heals. "Aren't you?"

"Well, we weren't really thinking about it-" Edward started when Jasper interrupted him

"-But if you are, we will. I think that guy, Emmett, the one we ran into a couple days ago is the president of a frat, we'll talk to him about it." Jasper said to Edward while looking at Alice smiling.

"Great!" Alice said, and lightly kissed him on the lips.

"Okay," I said, quickly finishing the last of the melon and bacon and taking a sip on the orange juice. "Done" I said proudly just as Edward was finishing up his last waffle. How had be managed to eat six waffles in the time it took me to eat two pancakes and a little melon and bacon. I couldn't help my think to myself. Boys.

Alice was going through my dresser and closet, searching for the perfect outfit, throwing clothes blindly onto the bed that she thought were possibilities when Edward said "I'll take that as our cue to leave" he gestured to the clothes on the bed and the others mid-air. "Bye Alice, Bella thanks for breakfast." He said formally as he and Jasper walked out of the room and shut the door.

"Now, you need to an outfit that is cute and mature but says that you like to have fun." Alice said talking to herself, "I'm thinking this shirt paired with black leggings" Alice said to me this time, pointing to the shirt on the bed. It reached about mid-thigh and was pink with black dots. I threw her a questioning glance, but put the outfit on anyway. I didn't get a chance to look in the mirror because as soon as I was dressed and Alice gave it an once-over, she started to do my makeup. "Just a little something to make your features pop," she said while putting on a little mascara and lip-gloss. "All done" she said stepping away from me and smiling.

I got up and looked in the mirror to see that I looked great, the long shirt clung to my body loosely, just enough to show that I had a good figure, but not tight enough to make me have trouble breathing and the little makeup gave me the natural look I love.

"I wanted you to be comfortable," Alice said, "No point in you looking hot if you weren't going to be comfortable in the clothes, especially today."

I nodded and thanked her and she began to work on her own makeup touchups. She'd already put on makeup when she went out for breakfast with Jasper earlier, so all she had to do was apply a little more lip-gloss and she was done, looking magnificent as always.

"Alright, let's go" Alice said glancing at the clock showing that it was 11:45. "Better a little early then a little late."

I nodded in agreement, picked up my purse and followed her out the door and down the hall.

"She said for us to meet her at the field" Alice informed me, and grabbed my hand and we walked down the sidewalk.

"Nervous?" I asked, knowing full well that whenever she grabbed my hand she was nervous or scared.

"A little, yea" she admitted timidly, "I mean what if she doesn't like me? Or I end up being the only girl rejected from all the sororities?"

"That is not going to happen, Alice." I said, squeezing her hand "If anyone will get rejected it'll be me. They are going to love you, I promise."

"They are going to love you too, dork." Alice said letting go of my hand and hitting me playfully on the back. "There she is" Alice said pointing to Rosalie sitting at a table surrounded by three other girls.

We made our way over and once we got there the blonde beauty looked up at us and said "Alice, Bella welcome, please sit" she gestured to two seats that we immediately took. "This is Sandy, Claire, and Katie" she said pointing to each girl as she said their names.

"Nice to meet you" Alice and I said simultaneously.

"We are just waiting for," Rose looked down at a list "Lauren and Jessica then I'll start talking about the various sororities on campus and what they have to offer as well as the process of rush. Until then feel free to talk among yourselves."

The girl next to me, Claire, turned towards me and said "So where are you from?"

"Um, well I've moved around a couple times as a kid, but the last place I lived was Michigan, that's where I met Alice" I said pointing to Alice who was busy talking to Sandy. "How about you?"

"Georgia," she said matter-of-factly "My grandmother and mother were both in sororities down there and I'm supposed to continue the tradition up here I guess."

"Yea, Alice wanted to rush so I decided to join her." I said, leaving out the part about being practically forced to join her. Just then two girls walked up and sat down behind me.

"You must be Lauren and Jessica," Rose said looking at her watch "I must stress the importance of being on time to meetings, ladies; showing up five minutes late is not going to impress any sorority on this campus, or anywhere."

I smiled at Claire and turned back so I was facing everyone at the table, and froze.

Sitting in front of me was none other then the girl in the pictures with Mike. Alice evidently also noticed this since she was glaring at her and coughed slut under her breath, quietly enough for Rose not to hear but the girl definitely heard and returned Alice's death glare until Rose announced that we would go around the circle and introduce ourselves.

I didn't pay attention much during the introductions although I knew I should have. I just kept thinking about how horrible it was I was going to have to be nice to this girl and face the fact that we may even end up being sorority sisters, the idea made me want to gag. The only thing I remembered when the introductions were done was that the girl in the pictures name was Jessica and she seemed just as slutty as the pictures suggested she was.

After the introductions were complete, Rosalie talked briefly about each sorority on campus and then said that there is going to be a party next week where we would go to each house and mingle with its members and then pick a house we liked the most. It all seemed simple and straight-forward enough, and soon the meeting was over.

Alice stood up and shook Rose's hand, thanking her for meeting with us today and I followed suit and we quickly walked away.

"Can you believe that Jessica is in our group?" Alice said her name with venom.

"I know," I said, still slightly dazed by the fact "Maybe she didn't know Mike had a girlfriend." I said, not believing it myself but wanting to hear Alice's opinion.

"Please" she said, dragging out the word so that it was two syllables, "did you look at her? Hear her speak? She is the type that would totally stoop to the level of making out with a guy that had a girlfriend. It probably makes it all that much more fun for her, actually"

"Probably, Rosalie had to have seen how fake she was, right?" I thought out loud to Alice.

"Yea, Rose did not look impressed at all with neither her nor her friend," Alice said and then suddenly smiled and said "On a brighter note this party next week sounds like the perfect reason to go shopping. Not that you ever need a real reason… but still."

"That is a brighter note?" I said, grunting, "Alice, I hate shopping. Can't you just go while I stay here?"

I was expecting Alice to say no right away, so when she didn't I got confused and stopped walking. She stopped with me and started to stroke her chin like an evil genius. "Well …" she began "there is one circumstance that I would let you skip out on shopping."

"What!?" I practically shouted "What is the circumstance! I'll do ANYTHING!"

Her smile widened "Anything" she said quoting me, "Okay then, I'll let you out of shopping if, and only if, you have a date instead."

I gaped at her, mouth hanging open, "Alice, I don't think I can find a date for today on such sort notice. I mean, I don't know anyone really yet." I said softly.

"Oh, you know people and I can think of one person who I know for a fact is free tonight and would probably love a date with you."

"Oh really," I said sarcastically, "and who would that be, Alice?"

"Edward of course"

"Wh-what?" I stuttered, "Alice get this through your thick skull," I said mimicking her words to me earlier "we are just friends, old friends." No matter how much I'd like to be more I added mentally.

"Well, it's either you ask Edward out or you come shopping with me" Alice said and then begun to walk again.

I groaned, but followed her and weighed my options on the way back to our dorm to pick up our book bags to go to our afternoon class.

On the one hand, I would do just about anything to get out of shopping with Alice, especially since I just went so recently. On the other hand, though, asking Edward out could make our very fragile friendship awkward and possibly ruin it forever.

"Oh, and Bella?" Alice said when we got to our dorm and picked up our backpacks, "I heard the winter clothes are finally in all the stores, so I think we'll pick out our entire wardrobe for this season. Meet you back here after class either way you decide" She winked at me then walked out our dorm.

That was it; no way was I going wardrobe shopping for the entire season with Alice. I took a deep breath, pulled out my cell phone and dialed Edward's number. He picked up on the second ring.

"Hello?" he said.

"Edward, hey, it's Bella, what are you doing later today?" I asked in what I hoped sounded like a casual voice.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and as always please review if you liked it, hated it or even just read it (which I know you did if you've gotten this far!) Also, please take a minute to go vote on my poll on my homepage (is that what you call it?) I'm curious as to whether you all want Jake in this story at all or not… Also, are you all interested in hearing EPOV during the movie? Or do you want the next chapter to be a continuation from this one? Review please!