Long ass AN at the bottom so I'm not saying anything now… thanks for reviewing!

I picked the book up gingerly and stared at it for a moment. Edward Masen. Ugh, it was embarrassing how I got a thrill out of just seeing his name written.

I ended up holding onto Edward's textbook for the duration of last period. By the end of the day I had a plan formed.

"Hey, Bella—hey, where you going?" Emmett called in confusion as I rushed by him in the parking lot.

"One sec!" I said over my shoulder. I barged into the main office, startling poor Ms. Cope.

"Hello, dear, can I help you?" she asked.

Okay, Bella, just say what we practiced. I groaned internally, why couldn't I be a better liar? "Yes, you see… I have something of Edward Masen's that he forgot today and it is urgent that I return it to him." That didn't sound too bad, I thought smugly.

"Okay, well leave it here and—"

"No!" I yelled. I was really scaring Ms. Cope. "Sorry. I meant…" Think, think, think… "Edward needs me to return this to him but he forgot to give me his address so that I could deliver it to him. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to give me his address," I said sweetly. I made my eyes widen to give me a look of innocence. That might have been putting it on a little strong.

"Hmmm," she hummed. "I don't know if that's school policy…"

"Please, Ms. Cope?" I begged. "He really needs this back."

After deliberating for a moment, she finally gave in. "Oh, all right. What's the harm? Edward Masen, did you say?" she asked as she turned to her computer screen.

"Yes," I gushed, ecstatic that I just pulled that off.

"Hm," she said as she stared at the screen. I didn't bother to ask as she wrote the address down on a post-it note.

"Here you go, dear."

"Thanks!" I said with a wide grin as I plucked the paper from her hand. I dashed out of the office and headed right over to Emmett's jeep where he and Jasper were leaned against, conversing. When they saw me, they both pushed off of the vehicle simultaneously—which was kind of amusing—to stand straight with confused looks written on their faces.

"What are you up to, Swan?" Emmett asked suspiciously but not completely serious.

I bit my lip in thought. "Emmett… how much do you like me?" I asked angelically.

"Sorry, Bella, but my heart belongs to Rose," Emmett stated immediately and yet jokingly.

"Ewe, no!" I exclaimed childishly. "That's not what I meant."

"Well then what the heck are we talking about?!"

Jasper rolled his eyes, "Calm down, Emmett."

"Emmett," I said, reclaiming his focus. "Will you drive me here?" I asked as I stuck the neon pink post-it note in his face.

He glanced at it for a second before rounding on me. "Why?" He was back to being suspicious.

I grinned sheepishly as a blush rose to my cheeks. "Um, okay, well… I have Edward's textbook," I held it up as proof. "He must have forgot it in Bio and I want to give it back to him," I said innocently.

"So put it in the lost and found!" Emmett said bluntly. So my innocent face didn't work as well on Emmett.

"Please, Emmett!" I pouted.

Jasper smirked from behind Emmett. "I see how it is." He had a knowing look on his face that didn't make me doubt his knowledge. He was just good at picking up on people's feelings. I gave him a wide-eyed stare telling him silently to not utter a word.

"What?" Emmett asked in a whiny voice. "Tell me!"

"I just have the strong urge to give Edward his book back! He may really need it!" I said frustratingly. "You never know!" I added in a weaker voice. They didn't know! For all we knew, Edward could be a very studious person—though he apparently missed a lot of school—and would be upset to know that I didn't return his textbook to him straight away. At least that was the story I was going with.

Secretly, I just wanted to know more about him—actually, anything about him. And I figured seeing where he lived would give me some insight. I was desperate and questioning my sanity once again at this point.

"Ohhhh," Emmett finally drawled. He sent me an impish grin. "You got the hots for Masen, huh?"

"I don't have the 'hots' for anyone!" I growled defiantly. Damn it, I thought, I'm so obvious even Emmett figured it out.

"Okay, Bella, I'll take you," he agreed.

My eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah, I want to see how this turns out," he laughed. My face fell. That wasn't very reassuring. "Coming, Jazz?" Jasper was chuckling as well as he helped me hop up into the colossal jeep.

"Here," I thrust the paper into his hand, not even bothering to hide my excitement. I didn't care that they knew; I trusted these two like they were my brothers.

Emmett was still laughing. "You know, Bells, everything has gotten a lot funner since you moved here. Amusing, at the least."

"Y'know," I chirped from the back seat, "I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"As you should."

The drive was fairly short as we laughed amongst each other. And I was surprised when the jeep came to a stop.

"No way…" Emmett said in astonishment. "You sure know how to pick 'em, Bells."

"Are you sure this it, Emmett?" I asked as I grabbed the paper with Edward's address from him. I doubled checked it with the place we were at. Nope, this was it.

We had pulled up to a trailer park.

"Wow," Jasper mused from the passenger seat.

I was ashamed by the immediate pity I felt. Who was I to be pitying anyone? I didn't know his story and besides, there was nothing wrong with living in a trailer. Although not ideal… obviously, I was very confused and my jumbled thoughts weren't helping. I was definitely caught off guard on this one.

"Are you sure," I asked out loud again, though not meaning to.

"Your doubt in my intelligence really hurts, Bella," Emmett retorted.

I rolled my eyes as I jumped down from the jeep. Taking a better look at the park, it really wasn't that bad. I know in some movies trailer parks are portrayed as grungy, dirty places but all the lots in the park I was standing in front of were relatively looked after and kept well.

"Well then," I said just for the sake of noise. Emmett and Jasper were unusually quiet—well, it wasn't as unusual for Jasper. I went to walk into the park when I noticed they moved forward as well. I stopped immediately. "What are you doing?" I asked incredulously.

"Uh, walking," Emmett said in a duh tone.

"You're not coming with me," I said like they should have known that to begin with.

Emmett crossed his arms over his chest. "And why wouldn't we come with you?"

Because I don't want you to embarrass me! I thought, Trust me, it's not like I need the assistance in that department.

I sighed and Emmett saw my lack of fight in me. "Come on, we need to protect you from all the trailer hobos lurking about."

"Yeah, do us a favour and not say something like that while we're in there, okay?" Jasper asked as he quickly walked ahead with me, leaving Emmett behind.

"Guys," Emmett whined from behind us. "Wait up!"

It was oddly peaceful in the trailer park. It wasn't that loud and as we walked along one road lined with the trailers I saw how some of them looked like just regular bungalow-type homes. And just as beautiful.

The peaceful quiet was soon ceased. I looked back to Emmett to see him suppressing laughter but it was escaping. I gave him a confused look and that's when the singing began.

"Trailers for sale or rent, rooms to let fifty cents," Emmett snickered. "No phone, no pool, no pets, I ain't got no cigarettes," he sang louder. "Everybody!" he called, though no one joined in on his singing.

I looked at him, horrified. "Jasper," I groaned. "Shut him up."

Jasper was… chortling? "I'm sorry, Bella," he said between laughter.

"I'm working with imbeciles here," I muttered as my eyes darted around the trailer park in case someone over heard Emmett's so called singing.

"…I'm a man of means by no means, I'm… king of the road," Emmett was still laughing, clutching his stomach as I noticed that we were approaching Edward's home.

As I walked closer I took in the trailer. The siding's paint was peeling in some places but the garden in front made up for it. Of course it wasn't very large, but it held beautiful, bright flowers that instantly brought a smile to my face. That smile vanished, though, when I was brought back by Emmett's horrendous singing.

"Shut up," I hissed at him. "We're here."

He managed to sober up for the most part and I walked up the steps to Edward's door. For one moment I had a second thought and questioned my reasoning for being here but I had no time to turn back around; Edward had opened the door before I even knocked.

Edward's expression was of pure horror and as he appeared in the doorframe, his eyes bulged. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. I heard Emmett scoff from behind me and I tried to not roll my eyes. I could tell he was taking on his 'big brother' stance at Edward's bluntness and slight rudeness. I didn't take offense though; it was a reasonable reaction to seeing three schoolmates show up on your doorstep unannounced…

"Uh…" I shook my head to regain my thoughts. "I-I have your Biology textbook… you forgot it… so I brought it to you," I said lamely. Blood was pulsing in my cheeks and ears as I held out his book to him.

I watched as Edward ran a hand through his messy bronze locks as, I assumed, he took in what was happening. He visibly swallowed and then seemed to stand straighter, collecting himself.

Without warning, he snatched the textbook from me and shut the door… if he said a thank you, it was too quiet for me to hear.

A moment passed where the three of us didn't say a word as we just stared at Edward's trailer. Jasper was surprisingly the first to break.

"How did you even know that song?"

Emmett shrugged. "I'm a man of many sides."

The next day I was worried. It was a very self-centered reason but I still thought it. Edward wasn't sitting at his table at lunch and I was thinking it was because of me.

And as I arrived in Biology he wasn't sitting in his spot beside mine either.

But finally, just as the bell was ringing, Edward walked through the door. He looked more beautiful today, if that's possible. His hair was even messier, which I loved and he looked more rested; the purple bruises under his eyes had vanished.

Seeing Edward this well, the guilt or whatever I had been feeling flew out the window but as he saw me and his eyes seemed to tighten, I wasn't quite sure what to think or feel.

He sat down without a word, which wasn't abnormal but I felt the need to say something, to justify my previous actions.

"Edward… I— " He cut me off.

"Bella, I don't owe you an explanation but… I know you're thinking I'm just some trailer trash and—"

"What?" I gasped. Edward, up until now, had been staring at the lab table as he talked, but as I spoke he turned to give me a look of confusion. "How can you assume that? You don't even know me!" I exclaimed. Luckily, Mr. Banner hadn't started the lesson yet so it was still relatively noisy in the classroom. I lowered my voice nonetheless. "I'm not thinking anything about that," I said angrily. And it was true. My thoughts weren't centered around the fact of Edward living in a trailer park. I was only worried that I had pushed him over the edge for disliking me by showing up at his home since he obviously didn't want us there.

"Why did you even come?" he snapped defensively.

"I was trying to be a good person!" Sort of a lie. "I thought you'd want your stupid textbook back!" Kind of the truth? I shoved the cause of our problems—the Biology textbook—closer to him for emphasis, which he had set atop the table. I had to gain control of my voice again. "Look, I'm sorry I went, okay?" There, guilty conscious gone. Now we can go back to ignoring each other and everything will be just fine. But even as I thought that, I knew I didn't truly want that. I wanted to get to know Edward, I wanted to befriend him at the very least but obviously he didn't want that so I wasn't going to make things anymore awkward by pushing myself on him.

I turned around to the head of the class after I said that, not looking at him again throughout the period. But it was extremely hard as I saw Edward look over to me every once and a while from the corner of my eye. I just didn't get him.

The bell rang for the end of the class and I tried to make a quick getaway but it was foiled. In my rush to leave, I tripped on the threshold. I prepared myself to meet the floor but it never came, rather two strong arms caught me around my waist. Straightening me so that I was standing on my two feet again, the owner of the arms turned me around so that I had no choice but to look at them. I already knew who it was, though, without looking at them. No one else could generate such a strong electric force in me, emanating at where we were touching.

Edward, I thought with a sigh.

We were standing close, his vice-like arms seemed to make sure of it and I was looking straight into his green eyes. I had never noticed how long his eyelashes were before…

Mumbling a thank you—at least I said thank you—I quickly pulled myself away and tried to leave again. I made it to the hallway but he was right on my tail. He caught my wrist and spun me back around to face him.

"Bella… you're right," he began. I raised my eyebrows and Edward graced me with a small smile that was actually slightly crooked, turning up more on the left side of his face. "I know little about you… but I'd like to change that."

Emmett singing Roger Miller was one of the first scenes I imagined when I thought of this story. Sad, but true. It's also kind of an insider, I suppose. My best friend went through this phase where she was obsessed with the artist… it was mildly frightening. So, how'd you like it? The ending? Hopefully you'll like it and it'll also be picking up now that the cat's out of the bag.

I feel corrupted. I finally watched Hannibal Rising, though I have always loved Silence of the Lambs. I knew that a lot of people had this obsession over Gaspard Ulliel playing Edward and I basically thought those people were on crack (that's my comeback for anything, don't take it seriously) … I guess I never actually looked at him. Well, boy have I seen him now. So, I watched Hannibal Rising and… it's basically love. I've watched the movie five times since I watched it a couple of days ago… allll for Gaspard. I will definitely be taking French class more seriously this year so I can understand his French films without subtitles—I watched A Very Long Engagement yesterday; beautiful, though I couldn't look at him as much because I had to read the subtitles.

But anyway, now I have difficulty picturing Edward in fanfiction as anyone BUT Gaspard. I feel bad for Rob now… poor guy. The hilarious thing is… now I CANNOT picture Gaspard in a trailer park for my story… and yet I could picture Rob! Isn't that at all sad?! The poor fellow! I don't know what to feel right now. Though, I will make myself picture Gaspard. Anyway, hence, I feel corrupted. That was my story of the day.

GAH, I'm terrible for writing such long Author's Notes but I have the motive to ramble nothingness on here. Iunno. Hey, guess what? My sixteenth birthday was on the 19th. Y'know what would be a radtacular (take that, asyouwish16, ha) belated birthday present? A review! Much appreciated. And, I think the voting for the Awards is closed now… so I would just like to thank anyone who voted for MboH!