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

This chapter is dedicated to Switz for Kelsey for guessing something later on in the plot… and to blackbloodcat who was my 600th review and to iluvjasperhalemorethanedcullen who is the reason I'm updating so quickly … hope you like this chapter and that you're enjoying your spring break! And last, but certainly not least … to my sister!

Random tangent: I'm assuming most people have facebook, am I correct? Well, if you don't let me briefly describe the applications… basically they are tests you can take or weird groups you can join, etc. So today I was checking my applications and guess what I got from a friend!? A VAMPIRE SLAYER INVITE! I was horrified … and proceeded to message my friend a long e-mail telling her how all vampires aren't evil and that she could be slaying EDWARD for all she knew… not that she COULD (he's way to skilled) Anyways just wanted to share that little tidbit of information … I know, I know – you're life is now complete having heard that little story! bows HA! Kidding… on with the story!

Chapter 11: Causa Latet Vis Est Notissima

EPOV

I was on cloud nine, no cloud eleven when I walked into my room to see a frantic Jasper.

"Where have you BEEN!?" Jasper shouted. Well there goes my good mood.

"With Bella, remember my date?" I asked, walking to my side of the room.

"Why didn't you have you're cell phone with you?" he asked, calming down slightly.

"I do…" I said, worried for Jasper's sanity.

"Why didn't you pick up the fourteen times I called you then?" he asked, pointing to his phone.

"Oh," I took it out and saw it was on silent, opps. "Sorry, it was on silent, what's with the twenty questions?"

"Emmett" he said, stressing his name, "texted me and said we have to meet him out behind the frat house at 11."

I glanced down at my watch, it was 10:45. "We still have a little time to get there," I said, trying to calm Jasper down more.

"Right, right," he said, "The text said to bring 'a blanket, water but leave our cell phones.'"

"That's … odd" I said, trying to figure out what we could possibly be doing, but quickly got my comforter and a bottle of water and headed out the door with Jasper.

"We gotta run, I think Emmett will kill us if we are late." Jasper said, as he started to quicken his pace.

"Right behind you," I said, temporarily forgetting about Bella.

We got to our destination right on time.

"I was worried you boys weren't going to make it," Emmett said to us then ordered us to join the circle already formed with others. Emmett moved to the middle of the circle and stood with a flashlight turned towards himself.

"Alpha Sigma Phi is a respected and honorable fraternity." He said with a straight face as he began his speech. "Our legacy goes back to the nineteenth century; we turn boys into men and men into greater men." He paused "Aw, hell – who am I kidding? We party, we have fun, but we are responsible while doing it. IF you end up getting past initiation you'll truly be part of a great brotherhood."
"What are we doing out here?" a boy about 5'8 asked, interrupting his speech.

"That's a good question," Emmett said, "Not exactly the best timing," he said shooting the boy a glare, who in return cowered, "but I guess I can save the rest of the speech for later. Tonight, boys, you'll be sleeping outside our lovely house." He said pointing to the yard.

"B-but, it's supposed to be freezing weather tonight." A short red-haired boy said.

"Are you saying you're scared of Mother Nature and a little cold?" Emmett mocked the boy.

"N-no, sir, I was simply pointing out that we could freeze to death!" he said dramatically.

I rolled my eyes, I couldn't help it; we weren't going to freeze for goodness sake. It wasn't that cold outside.

"You are free to leave, Collin, any of you are, but consider yourself revoked from this fraternity. Perhaps you can join the sorority down the street." At that many of the guys around me started to snicker.

Collin huffed, and said "I don't see the point of this…" but stayed where he was.

"Causa Latet Vis Est Notissima" Emmett replied offhandedly and then said "Alright, boys, have fun tonight." and with that he walked inside the house, when he reached the door he turned around and said "Don't try leaving … we will be watching." Then he closed the door, leaving us alone.

I turned to Jasper and we both started to lay down our comforters while listening to those around us complain.

"What was that he said?" a boy with a green stripped shirt asked.

"Not sure, sounded like Latin though," another guy replied, "Man, I can't believe we have to sleep out here."
"It could be worse," I chimed in. "All things considered this isn't nearly as bad as some horror stories I've heard of rushing."

I glanced at Jasper who nodded his head in agreement and settled down into his self-made bed for the night.

I followed suit and soon all the guys were wrapped in their blankets. Some fell asleep quickly, others stayed up talking to each other.

Jasper and I remained awake, but lost in our own thoughts. Only answering questions that we directed towards us, soon the others got the hint and left us out of the conversation as a whole.

Bella's face occupied my thoughts, her soft angelic features, her adorable blush, her deep chocolate brown eyes and her perfect lips. And oh, how those lips left against my own. I smiled remembering the previous few hours, and couldn't wait for our next date.

I wondered to myself how I could not have seen how beautiful she was when we were younger. I mean, we hung out so much when we were kids, but not once had I had the urge to kiss her. Well, actually that is a lie, I did have the urge once, but I passed it off for me having a temporary lapse of judgment.

-Flashback-

I stood at my assigned post, waiting to tag anyone who came by me. It was a slow game so I decided to look over at the girl's side of the yard and saw Nick jumping for the girl's flag when suddenly I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.

Bella. And she had our flag! I took off towards her immediately and although she tried running as quick as possible, I easily caught up to her.

Just as I was about to tag her, she tripped, as she often did, sending herself flying towards the ground. I didn't have time to stop and soon found myself lying on top of her, gazing down into her eyes.

I grinned down at her, realizing how beautiful she was when the light hit her as it was doing then and I felt an internal tug to kiss her lips that were more noticeable then ever.

"You can get off me now Masen," Bella said to me, noticing that I wasn't getting up on my own accord.

"Oh, right sorry Bella," I said, shaking those thoughts out of my head and offering her a hand to help her up, "Off to jail with you now!" I said, trying to seem normal.

-End Flashback-

I remember thinking after that maybe I hit my head on the fall down or something, which resulted in my disturbing thoughts.

It didn't matter much anyways, seeing as though shortly there after Bella moved away and I soon focused my thoughts into basketball and as the years progressed, many other girls.

None of those others girls compared to Bella though. Ah, Bella. I began to think of her again, and fell asleep peacefully; with what I am sure was a huge smile on my face.

I woke up to the sound of ringing bells. Why in the world am I hearing bells? I thought to myself as I slowly opened my eyes to see Emmett hovering over me. "Wake up Mason, you too Hale." He said to Jasper and me.

I quickly sat up and saw a group about half the size of last night sitting around me. I threw Jasper a confused look and he simply shrugged, confused as well.

Then suddenly I felt the air move across my body and realized how cold I was. I was shivering and noticed my fingers were numb. I wrapped the blanket around myself tightly as Emmett began to speak.

"As I'm sure you've noticed, many of those you were here last night are no longer present." Emmett said, "You may be wondering where they are. I am sorry to report that they are no longer going to be continuing the process of joining this fraternity."
I looked around and noticed that Collin as well as the boy in the green stripped shirt were missing, along with most of the guys who were talking with them.

"Seems they can't handle a little bad weather," my teeth were chattering now, how had I not noticed I was this cold earlier? "If you will all get up and follow me please, I have coffee brewing inside and a gift for each of you."

At the mention of coffee I jumped up and ran to the door Emmett was now holding open, just beating the other anxious guys behind me. I quickly filled myself and Jasper a cup of the steaming hot coffee and stood to the side while others filled up their cups.

"Thanks," Jasper said as I handed him the coffee and we both took a big gulp, burning our tongues but not caring.

"When you are done, please make your way to the living room to receive your gift." Emmett said and walked into the living room leaving us to get warm.

After two cups of coffee, Jasper and I finally were able to feel our toes and fingers and stopped shaking so we made our way into the living room with the rest of the pledges.

"Congratulations," Emmett said, smiling, "You have made it past the first initiation test."

A few of the guys high-fived each other and then Emmett continued "There will be two more tasks, both increasing in difficulty. Last nights test was simply to test your will; your desire to be in this fraternity. You all have proven that you want to join our brotherhood, and for that I commend you. Please step forward when I call your name to receive a pin."

When he called my name I stepped forward and then back after the pin was attached to my shirt. Jasper's name was called three after mine and he did the same thing.

After all the pins were distributed, Emmett said "This pin is to be worn at all times, if I or any of the members of Alpha Sigma Phi should see you without it, you will be refused admittance to our fraternity. That being said, this pin is a pin of honor and by wearing it you represent not only yourself but our fraternity as a whole. If you should be seen doing anything this fraternity would deem immoral or inappropriate, you will be refused admittance as well." He laughed "But seriously, you'd have to do something horrible for that to happen, we aren't exactly very moral."

A few laughed nervously at Emmett's joke but became quite when he began to talk again "Well, you are all free to go and remember: Causa Latet Vis Est Notissima."

"Man, am I tired," Jasper said to me as we made our way back to our room. "I hardly got any sleep last night, what with all the complaining going on."

"Really? I hadn't noticed it," I said honestly, "but I agree with you, some of those guys were such pansies."

"Yea, you seemed kind of off in your own world there for a little before you fell asleep, anything up?" Jasper asked, ever observant.

"Nope," I said quickly.

"I hope Alice isn't freaking out to much, I was supposed to call her last night. Think she'll be mad?" Jasper asked me, concerned.

"I think she'll be more worried then angry," I reassured Jasper, "Just explain that it was for the whole rushing thing she so badly wanted us to do and I'm sure you'll be forgiven."
"Hopefully. So Emmett seems like a pretty cool guy, don't you think?"

"Yea, it's weird seeing him so serious though, when we met him in his room he was so laid back." I said, laughing.

"I know, I think he's trying to seem like he is a real serious guy, we aren't falling for it though." Jasper said, laughing with me. "Hey, I'm going to run off to Alice's dorm real quick to say hi and explain to her about last night, want to come? Bella will probably be there."

I wanted to see Bella, but I definitely did not want Bella to see me looking how I probably looked, sleep deprived and filthy. "No thanks, I'm going to go shower. I'll call you after I finish though and maybe I can meet up with you guys."

"Sounds good," Jasper said taking a left at the corner towards Bella's dorm while I continued to walk straight to my own.

I went into my room to get my towel and shampoo and then walked to the shower.

After I was done showering I wrapped the towel around my waist, because I hadn't bothered to bring clean clothes with me, and headed back towards my dorm.

When I opened the door to my room I saw a familiar strawberry blond sitting on my bed, or more well, um, lying down on it.

"EDDIE!" She screamed and jumped up and hugged me. "I missed you SOOO much!"

A million thoughts went threw my head at once. 1) What was Tanya doing in my room? 2) Why is she still hugging me? 3) What would Bella think if she saw us right now? 4) Bella! I need to get this girl off me. 5) Ok… definitely still hugging me.

I managed to get myself out of the hug and greeted Tanya politely.

"Hey Tanya, nice seeing you again… What a surprise." Surprise didn't even begin to cover it. I noticed she was staring at my chest longingly, "Would you um, mind if you stepped out for a minute so I can get dressed?" I asked.

She continued to stare at my chest but said "Sure, no problem." But made no attempt to leave.

"Actually, I'll just take these," I said holding up my clothes, "And change in the bathroom, be right back."

I ran out of the room and to the bathroom, where I quickly changed and then took a deep breath and made my way back to my room.

When I entered again, Tanya was sitting in the chair for my desk; I closed the door and locked it.

"So, Edward, did you miss me?" she asked hopefully.

"Um," I paused, honestly I hadn't thought about her since I left, but I wasn't going to tell her that, "Course I missed you. How's you're senior year in high school going?" I asked.

"Alright, I miss you though! I actually sent you an e-mail a couple days ago, did you ever get it?"

Yes I had gotten it, but I never responded because she wanted to get back together… and I didn't' want to respond to it… oh crap!

When I didn't answer she continued "I really really miss you Eddie," I cringed at the name, "We went so well together, and no other guy measures up to you. So I was thinking we could, you know, try the long distance thing. The drive up here really isn't too bad, so I could make it at least once a month, and then I figure you could come back home once a month too, we could make it work."

She sounded desperate, almost pathetic, how should I break this to her kindly?

"Tanya…" I started, "We went on two dates, I wouldn't exactly consider that a serious relationship-"

"I know," she interrupted, "but they were the two most amazing dates of my life."

She was making this extremely difficult. "I think you should focus on guys back in high school, you don't want to be dating me. Really." I said.

"I don't want any guy back in high school, they are so immature. I want you" she started to inch her way towards me.

I backed up in response, "I think we're better off as friends, Tanya." I said, hitting the wall.

She continued to inch towards me, until she was right in front of me, having me cornered.

Move her, my brain was shouting at me, you're stronger then her! Just push her lightly out of the way. Bella, remember Bella.

That is what my brain was saying, but my body was saying something completely different. I had always been physically attracted to Tanya, that's the only reason I dated her in the first place, as shallow as that sounds. So having her pressed up against me, wasn't necessarily a bad thing for my body.

"You don't mean that," she said, brushing her fingers up the side of my stomach, up my neck and then she traced my lips with her fingers. "Eddie…" she said as she began to move her mouth towards my own.

Eddie, Eddie!? That snapped me out of my daze, and I quickly turned my head so her lips hit my cheek, the cheek that Bella had kissed last night.

"Edward?" Tanya said, sounding hurt.

"Look, Tanya," I said, moving her to the left so I could get out of the corner. "You're a beautiful girl, and we had some good times in the past. In the past." I repeated slowly, making it clear it was to remain in the past.

"You've met someone else, haven't you?" she said slouching slightly.

"Yes," I said.

She didn't meet my eyes, but said a simple "Oh".

"Look I think it's best if you leave," I said, walking towards the door.

She grabbed my wrist to stop me from moving, "We can stay friends though, right?"

"Of course," I replied honestly.

"Really? Because most people say 'we'll stay friends' but never do." She said sadly.

"Really, I promise." I said, she then let go of my hand and walked towards the door by herself. "Sorry for showing up like this, unannounced." She then opened the door and walked out into the hall, bumping into a girl on her way out.

"Oh, sorry." Tanya said and kept walking.

"No problem," I heard the girl say in return, in a voice that sounded all too familiar. I turned and looked at the door and saw Bella standing in the doorway.

As soon as she made eye contact with me, she turned sharply and started to run down the hall with me following quickly behind.

A/N: Sorry for the cliffy … actually no I'm not! EVIL LAUGH! Ha, kidding. Hope you liked the chapter! And sorry for typos... :( Please review, think about it – it takes you like a minute to review … while it takes me hours to write these chapters for you! And yes… I write them for you, so why don't you write a review for me?! We'll call it even then :-P Also… go answer my new poll please! I'm curious! The Jake poll is finished… and the majority of you voted for Jacob not be in this story … and I'm a woman of my word so he won't be! Anyways… remember to review! I've been updating faster because you all are reviewing a lot, so keep it up please!!