All characters belong to Stephanie Meyers

Ch. 6

Over the next nine months, Bella found herself trying to figure out her place in Forks High School. Tanya had become friends with Rosalie and her crowd and now gained more pleasure in making life hell for Bella behind Edward's back. Edward still claimed that Bella was his best friend, but had begun hanging out with her less and less.

For her birthday in September, Edward gave Bella the new bat she'd been lusting over. When she unwrapped it, Bella was surprised to see that it had been customized with a pink handle and pink and purple flowers swirling around the entire bat.

"Tanya helped pick it out. She said girls like pink and flowers and stuff like that," Edward explained.

Forcing on the smile she'd recently adopted, Bella thanked Edward for the gift. When he left, she threw the bat in the back of her closet, knowing she'd never be able to use it. If she showed up to practice with that bat, she knew none of the guys would ever take her seriously. She might as well start using a pink glove and decimate the rest of her reputation on the field.

For Christmas, Renee and Phil came up to Washington to spend the holidays with Bella. Like every Christmas, Renee begged Bella to spend the whole summer with them, but like every other Christmas, Bella declined. She promised Renee she'd be down for two weeks at the end of the summer after baseball season. When they left a few days after Christmas, Bella couldn't help but feel that Phil had been a little distracted, but decided it was due to being away from home.

New Years came in like an ax to the neck. Tanya insisted that Edward throw a masked party since Esme and Carlisle would be out of town that night attending a hospital benefit. When she received the invite, Bella laughed and decided to attend just to see Tanya make a fool of herself.

Knowing Charlie still had a large box of Renee's clothes in the attic, Bella scoured through her mother's old clothes. Most of it was soccer mom wear, but the last piece was a long, flowing dress from the 70s. It was the first dress Bella had ever fallen in love with and immediately developed a costume. After running to the dollar store to pick up a domino mask, she assembled her costume.

The morning of the party, Bella washed and braided her hair to make it wavy. Around 9, she slipped on the dress, took out her braids, added a headband and accessories, and took a look in the mirror. Bella barely recognized herself, smiling as she finished the look with a green mask.

When she arrived at the Cullen's at 10, the party was in full swing. Bella was handed a cup of beer when she walked in and immediately started looking for Edward. She finally saw him sitting in a chair dressed as Caesar, complete with Tanya dressed in a tiny toga draped across his lap. Bella felt bile rising in her throat and downed the beer to keep it down.

One hour and 6 beers later, Bella found herself feeling a little drunk. No one had yet to figure out who she was, and Bella found herself engrossed in conversation with James Daniels, star quarterback of the football team. 10 till midnight, Bella caught Edward staring at her and started giggling. Just before midnight, Tanya announced that it was time to remove their masks and kiss whomever they were with.

As the ball dropped Bella removed her mask, took one hard look at Edward, and spun back around to kiss James. James was surprised to see who was kissing him, but quickly forgot about it. The kiss didn't last long before Bella felt someone grabbing her shoulder and pulling her away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" yelled Edward as he pulled her through the crowd and outside. As soon as they were out the door, Edward le go of Bella's arm and ran his hand through his hair. "I should call Charlie and take you home. God, Bella, you're like my little sister! What were you thinking?!"

At the phrase "little sister," Bella raised her hand and slapped Edward across the face. Seething, Bella screamed, "Little sister? LITTLE SISTER! I am NOT your little sister! I'm your best friend, or at least I was. We don't hang out anymore and when we do you always bring Tanya with you! Why is it ok for you to make out with her, but I can't kiss someone else? You hypocrite!"

As Bella turned to leave, Edward just stood there in shock. Bella didn't look back once to see if anyone had gathered or witnessed their scene. She just didn't care anymore.