Let the Games Begin

A/N: Hello, all! I'm back again! I have a small announcement. I will be starting college next week, so the updates might slow down a bit. They might be every two weeks instead of every week. But don't worry, Edward and Bella's story will continue on.

Thanks for all of the reviews! They make writing this story so much more fun. :)

Chapter 8
Never Leave Your Phone Unattended, You Might End Up Getting Chased By Harpies

(BPOV)

I couldn't help but blatantly stare at him as he sprinted up and down the field with the masculine grace of a jungle cat. He was aggressive as he attacked the ball, stealing it from right under the opposing players' noses.

While he was the only one that I could focus on, he never acted like he was the star of the show (well, he was the star of my show at the moment, but we won't get into that right now). He played fairly, never hogging the ball like some of the opposing team's players seemed to do. Edward played well with his team which led them to a victory of 4-1.

I'm going to assume that the team did well considering the score of the game, but this is me we're talking about here. I know abso-fucking-lutely nothing about sports. Throughout most of the game, Rose and Alice were trying to explain bits and pieces of the game to me, but I had no fucking idea what they were going on about. So I just nodded and pretended that I understood whatever the fuck they said.

I'm the girl that trips over the floor and gives all of the horny school boys an unscheduled peepshow when I fall on my face, so you can see why anything that has to with physical activity is something that I stay the hell away from.

And don't think that I didn't see all of the shocked looks from all of the students when I walked in with Rose and Alice. They all knew that this was something that I wouldn't have come to unless I was forced. I guess I just gave off that vibe.

Oh, another reason that I avoid sporting events: jocks. Now I won't say that all jocks are steroid pumping douche bags, but there are some that just happen to fit that description. So when one of the guys from the team decided to embrace his inner douche, I promptly flicked him off and went about my business.

My eyes flickered over to Edward. He was sitting on the bench, a wide smile on his face. His face was still flushed from the game and his hair was damp with sweat. His eyes were sparkling as he celebrated with his team.

It kills me - that's right, fucking kills me - to say this, but I'm attracted to a jock. There. I said it. Edward Masen is a god among men and he's just fucking beautiful.

Now if only I could get over the fact that my parents would love him. He's smart. He's handsome. He goes to a prestigious school. He plays sports. He's president of the junior class.

He's like my parents' wet dream of the perfect guy. And I say that with much horror and disgust.

His eyes glanced over at the bleachers where I was still sitting with Alice and Rose as they waited for Em and Jazz. His eyes locked with mine and he smirked and winked at me.

I try to keep myself from reacting to that, but my God, he was just too sexy for his own good. I felt mortified when I felt heat rising in my cheeks.

What was wrong with me? I didn't blush. Ever. Nothing embarrassed me. At all. I would say the stupidest shit sometimes and not bat an eyelash, but one wink from Edward Masen and I light up like a pre-teen who just discovered the workings of sex. No! That shit needs to stop right now.

I sent a little scowl his way and his smirk only got bigger before he turned back to his teammates.

Now enough about me. What was up with him? Yesterday, he was all Mopey McGrump-Grump, and then he seemed to get angry for some reason (okay, I know what reason. I was the reason, but whatever. Someone needed to wake his ass up.), and now all of a sudden he's smirking all sexy like and playing flirty little eye games with me? If I didn't know any better, I would say he was bipolar and the docs gave him the wrong amount of meds.

Finally, the coach wrapped up his talk with the guys and they all headed towards the locker room. A little while later, they all came out, their hair wet from the showers and in normal clothes.

Edward was talking with Em and Jazz about something as they all came over to the bleachers. Emmett and Jazz went straight to Rose and Alice who greeted them with smiles and kisses.

I looked away from the couples, not wanting to intrude on a personal moment. I turned away and there he was, standing right in front of me, his arms resting on the railing in front of me.

"Hey, Bella," Edward said, looking the picture of ease, a smirk planted firmly in place.

I hummed at him, trying to look as uninterested as possible. But, damn, he looked nice. He was wearing a blue t-shirt with St. Alex's emblem on the front pocket that stretched across his muscular chest. The sleeves hugged his biceps (his very nicely toned biceps) loosely. His dark wash jeans hung low on his hips and hugged his legs just enough for you to tell that he was hiding something good under there. You wouldn't think that he was hiding all of this godliness under those standard issue white button-ups and khakis that the boys were required to wear.

His hair was damp from his shower and it hung sexily into his eyes. On occasion he would flick his head to the side, trying to get it stay out of his face. This boy was unreal. He could totally be in a shampoo commercial with that move.

"Nice shirt," he said, his smirk growing wider.

I looked down at it and spotted the number six on the front. I rolled my eyes. Of course, Alice would give me a shirt with his number on it.

"I wasn't exactly in my right mind when I put this on," I said, my tone bored.

He nodded indulgently, the smirk still there. "Right," he said. "Well, right mind or not, you're still wearing it and I kinda like that."

He likes it? What the fuck? I kept a bored look on my face so to not alert him of my shock. "And why is that exactly?"

"It keeps all of the others away from you," he said. "One look at that name on the back of your shirt and they all run the other direction." He had a very satisfied smirk on his face now.

"And what if I said that I wanted the others around?" I asked him, leaning forward so that my face was closer to his.

He just chuckled and leaned in just a little closer and when I say a little, I mean he was very freaking close to me. I tried to control my breathing. He was just inches away from my face, my lips. "Well, then you'd be lying because I've seen the way you act around everyone else. And you've yet to punch me, so I'm going to assume that you like me, at least a little bit."

I took a steadying breath. "That can be easily rectified."

He didn't look bothered by the fact that I had just threatened him. In fact, he just chuckled again. "Whatever you say, baby."

Did he just call me "baby"? He did. I should have punched him just for using a pet name on me like I would have if anyone else had, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Actually, I liked it. I liked it a lot. And that scared the ever loving shit out of me.

He had stumped me. Or rather, I had stumped myself. I couldn't think straight whenever he was around. I'm so jumbled up inside because of him that I couldn't even think of an appropriate comeback before someone called his name.

He waved them off, letting them know that he was coming without moving from his current position.

"Someone wants you," I informed him. He didn't need to know that it was me that wanted him. And fuck, if I didn't want him so fucking badly.

He just smirked again, like he knew exactly what I was thinking. My eyes widened when he moved forward just a bit more so that his face was a mere inch from mine. "I'll see you around, baby," he said softly, his sweet breath fanning across my face. And then he kissed my cheek softly before heading off with a group of guys from the team.

I just stared after him in shock. I couldn't move. He had shocked me into stillness.

Seriously, I couldn't move. The feel of his lips on my skin just sent my mind into a tailspin. The same tingling feeling that I felt a few weeks ago when I kissed him was buzzing around in my stomach again.

I finally shook my head a little to clear it. I really needed to get ahold of myself. All he did was kiss my cheek. Guys kiss girls cheeks all the time. It doesn't mean anything.

Gah! This really needed to stop. I was going fucking insane over a guy that could never like me in a million years. Sure, he called me "baby" and kissed my cheek, but that doesn't mean that he likes me.

He was only doing those things to mess with my head and I wasn't going to let him do that. He doesn't get to do that. He didn't get to make me act like a pre-teen fangirling over some boy band.

If he was going to try to mess with mine, then I was going to fuck with his. He'll never know what hit him.

~x~X~x~

After the game, we all headed to the cafeteria for dinner. I sat down next to Alice and started nibbling on my food while she talked to Jazz. I was waiting for her to take a breath before I started working on my plan.

I could see Edward at his usual table, joking around with his friends. I couldn't keep the slightly devious smile off my face, but I pulled my face back to its usual bored expression. Thankfully, no one caught that. They probably would think I've finally fallen off my rocker.

Edward's entire table burst into laughter, probably over something that one of the guys said. Most of the cafeteria glanced in their direction, but didn't make too big a deal out of it. Alice looked up to see what the commotion was. Alice just smiled a little and shook her head. It was exactly the in I needed for this conversation.

I leaned over to Alice and asked quietly, "You're close to Edward, right?"

Alice smiled and nodded. "Yeah, we grew up together. He's more like another brother than a cousin actually."

I nodded. "So what's his deal? He's kinda hard to read." Ain't that the truth.

Alice gave me a slightly suspicious look. "Why do you want to know?" she asked, a devious smile of her own on her face. God, she probably thinks that I'm into him or something.

You are into him, you twit. You just don't like to admit it.

"I'm just curious," I told her. "I mean, he's in half of my classes and I sit next to him in most of them."

There. That seemed like a reasonable enough excuse.

She gave me a sideways glance, but didn't question my motives anymore. "He's actually pretty quiet. I mean, he's not an introvert or anything, but he likes to keep to himself. He doesn't really like to get a lot of attention from people." She giggled. "Especially girls. I think it's rather funny considering his status here. Everyone thinks he's a manwhore or something with the way all of the girls tend to cling to him, but he hasn't gone on a date since the beginning of freshman year."

Two thoughts ran through my head.

The first:

I could work with this.

The second:

Really?

"Really?"

"Yeah, he actually went on a date with Tanya before he realized what a dirty whore she was. That turned him off dating like that." She snapped her fingers.

Tanya? He went on a date with Tanya? Seriously? "I guess that's understandable."

She snorted. "Yeah. He never dated after that. I mean, it's not like any of the other girls were any better. They all wanted to be like Tanya, so he didn't exactly have any good options."

I glanced around the cafeteria and I saw what she was talking about. Every single girl looked like she had stepped off the set of 90210 or Gossip Girl. It was a rather disturbing sight. "Yeah, I see what you mean."

Alice nodded sadly. "They all want to be with him, but none of them are interested in getting to know the real Edward. All they see is the good looking student council president or the jock. They only want him because of his popularity."

That was actually kind of sad. Not being able to tell who was genuinely interested in you for you had to be hard.

"Now, don't think he's miserable or anything. He's actually quite happy and stable in most aspects of his life. He's actually a bit of a prankster too. He loves to mess with people, especially people that he knows that he can get a reaction from."

Don't I know it. He had been fucking with my head since the very first time I saw him. Well, the tables are about to turn, Mr. Masen. Just you wait.

I looked over at his table again. He was looking over here and his eyes connected with mine. That smirk that he was so fond of slipped onto his face.

I didn't want to give him any satisfaction, so I gave him a small smile and fluttered my fingers at him inconspicuously. He just shook his head at me before throwing a wink at me and turning back to his friends.

Oh, he was so going to get it.

Just you wait.

~x~X~x~

Later that night, while Alice was in the shower, I pulled her phone from out of her purse and typed in her password.

Yeah, I have her password. She gave it to me.

Don't give me that look.

Ok, fine, I may have looked over her shoulder while she was typing it in earlier today, but whatever. It's for the greater good. It's not like I'm going to go around and pass it out to people. Alice is my friend and she's going to be my accomplice (unbeknownst to her).

No one will be harmed (except for maybe Edward's ego). Okay, no physical harm will come to anyone.

It'll be all good.

I scrolled quickly through her contacts and found Edward's number. I programmed it into my phone and placed Alice's phone back into her purse where I found it.

Phase one is complete.

I laughed at myself. I really should have the Mission Impossible theme playing in the background. I'm pulling some serious covert ops. here.

~x~X~x~

Now I had to find a way to get Edward's phone without him knowing. I couldn't do it today considering it was Sunday and I usually spent all of Sunday sleeping and doing homework that I probably should have done earlier.

So that left Monday.

I woke up as my disgruntled self on Monday morning as per usual. Got dressed, went to breakfast, found an IV to get enough caffeine in my system so that I could function...

I trudged slowly through first and second period, all the while trying to think of a way to get Edward's phone away from him.

It's not like I could just ask him for it or steal it out of his pocket. I was going to have to go into ninja stealth mode if I wanted to pull this thing off.

I walked into Lit and found that Edward was already there. He was at the front of the room talking to Jazz and Alice about something. His friends were up there with him as well.

I snuck into the room, and thankfully, he didn't see me.

As I put my stuff down I noticed that his messenger bag was sitting next to his desk. And sitting right there in the open pocket of his bag was his phone.

I glanced around the room and no one was paying attention to me, so I quickly pulled his phone out of the bag. The screen was still lit up and the phone was unlocked.

Oh, baby, you are making this way too easy.

I downloaded the new ringtone that I was going to use and quickly changed it. I made sure that the volume on his phone was turned all the way up and then slid it back into the pocket of his bag.

Mission complete. Now I just had to wait.

This was going to be fucking awesome.

(EPOV)

Maybe it was wrong to tease Bella like I did after the game today, but I don't regret it. She was trying so hard to keep that bored look on her face that she's known for, but I saw right through it.

She was shaken up a little bit. I just couldn't resist messing with her a little. Her reactions were never what I expected and I liked that.

And when she moved her face just a mere few inches from my face I couldn't help but kiss her, even if it was just on the cheek. I wanted to feel that electricity that ran through me when we kissed last time.

I had never felt something so amazing before, so just a little zing made me feel energized.

And the look on her face afterwards was priceless.

~x~X~x~

My Sunday was spent doing homework and sleeping off the game. I'm always exhausted after a game because of all of the extra energy that builds up during it, so I sleep like the dead for the next day and a half.

Well, I was supposed to be doing homework and catching up on sleep, but just as I was about to tackle some pre-cal homework before an afternoon nap, my phone started ringing.

I looked down at the caller ID and saw "Mom" flashing across the screen. I sighed. I debated whether or not I could get away with not answering, but then I remembered the last time I didn't answer one of my mother's calls.

Let's just say that it didn't end well and the sound of my mother's scolding and the highly amused look on my father's face (I don't know why he was so amused. He got told off more than I ever did. Maybe he thought it was funny to watch it happen to someone other than him. You never knew with my father.) were still ever present in my memory.

I took a deep breath and answered the phone.

"Hey, Mom."

"Hello, darling. How're you doing? How's school?" my mom asked.

"I'm doing fine. School is school. The teacher's are boring and can't hold the attention of anybody for more than a second. I could probably teach some of the classes better than they could," I sighed.

Not that I'm trying to sound conceited or anything, but it's the truth. The teachers here seem to think that we're all idiots and teach at an elementary level. Seriously, I learned most of this shit back in middle school.

My mom laughed. "I have no doubt, dear. You've always been the smart one, no thanks to your father," she teased.

I laughed when I heard my father's muffled reply of "I heard that."

"Anyway, I called for two reasons. First, I heard you won your game yesterday. We're so proud of you, sweetie. I'm sure you did wonderfully as usual."

"Thanks, Mom. It was a good game."

"That's good to hear." And then she dropped the bomb. "Oh, and the second reason was that your father and I and your aunt and uncle are coming to California for Thanksgiving this year. I figured we could use a change of scenery every once in a while."

I was silent for a moment.

Now, I loved my mom and dad dearly, but sometimes they liked to buy first class tickets for the crazy train. These moments in time usually leave them with a plethora of embarrassing stories about me that they like to tell their friends (and sometimes my friends when they're around).

"Oh, okay," I finally said. "Cool. I'm sure Ali and Em would like that too."

"Now, darling, don't be embarrassed," she laughed. I swear my mother could read my mind. "We'll keep ourselves under control, I promise."

I let out a breath. "Okay. I can't wait to see you."

Hey, don't mock me. I'm a momma's boy. Get over it. It comes with the territory of being an only child. If it's a crime to miss my mother, then slap me in some handcuffs and take me away.

"Me too, sweetie," my mother cooed. She paused for a split second before asking, "Now, are you dating anyone?"

Elizabeth Masen, everyone. Subtle as a gun.

I sighed and slumped down into my chair. "No, Mom, I'm not dating anyone."

"Is there anyone who's caught your eye?" she pressed.

Bella immediately popped into my head, but I quickly shook that thought away. If my mother found out that I had even the slightest fluttering in my stomach over a girl, she would go into a frenzy trying to plan our wedding and naming our children.

"Nope, no one," I said.

Mom sighed. "Alright, dear, if you're sure."

"I'm sure," I said, trying to sound as adamant as possible.

"Alright, well, I guess I'll let you go now. We'll see you soon, darling. I love you."

"Love you, too," I said before saying goodbye and hanging up.

I groaned and let my head fall with a thunk onto my desk. A conversation with my parents always left me a little scatterbrained afterwards.

I sat up after a moment, took a soothing deep breath and turned back to my pre-cal.

~x~X~x~

On Monday everything is back to normal. And by normal I mean, rolling out of bed, making sure I put on a clean uniform and not the one that I threw on the floor last week, heading to breakfast to mainline some coffee, and then trying not to fall asleep in my classes.

Finally, the bell rang for Lit (a class that I usually manage to stay awake in) and I headed into the classroom. I threw my stuff down and then headed to the front of the room to talk to Alice and Jazz.

"Hey, Eddie," Alice chirped. I shot her a look but didn't say anything. She was probably the only one who could get away with calling me that without get some sort of verbal smack down.

"Hey, Ali. Jazz," I greeted them. "Mom called. Did you know that everyone's coming here for Thanksgiving? I thought we were going home."

Alice's face lit up and she had an odd sparkle in her eyes. "Really? Awesome!" She was up to something, but I didn't have it in me to care... yet.

Seth and Jared came over a few minutes later to talk about the game until the bell rang and we all headed back to our seats.

I didn't notice when Bella came in, but there she was, sitting at her desk. She had a slightly devious smile on her face, like she had just done something incredibly evil and underhanded. It really wasn't a stretch when it came to her. I had no doubt that she was a bit of an evil mastermind when she wanted to be.

I sat down at my desk and gave her a sideways glance. She just smiled and turned back to the front of the room.

Alright...

Mrs. Young came in and gave us our assignment (an in-class essay. Woo...) and told us to begin.

We had been in class for about ten minutes and all you could hear was the scratching of pen across paper until...

If you want my body and you think I'm sexy

Come on, sugar, let me know

Everyone jumped when the loud music blared through the room. Everyone was looking around for the source of the noise including me... until I realized that it was coming from my bag.

If you really need me just reach out and touch me

Come on, honey, tell me so

I think all of the blood left my face. That was definitely not my ringtone, but it definitely coming from my bag.

I tried to ignore it, hoping that it would stop before someone realized it was coming from my phone.

If you want my body and you think I'm sexy

Come on, sugar, let me know

Mrs. Young finally pinpointed where the noise was coming from and I think I nearly died of mortification. She raised a slightly confused eyebrow at me so I quickly reached into my bag and fumbled with my phone until I could shut it off.

If you really need me just reach out and touch me

Come on, honey, tell me-

"Um, Mr. Masen, I think you know that phones aren't allowed in class," Mrs. Young said, her tone slightly off. I don't think she had ever had this problem before (not the whole phone going off in class thing, that happened all the time. I was talking about the whole phone going off in class with a slightly provocative ringtone).

"Yes, ma'am," I choked out.

The room was quiet for a second and everyone's eyes were on me. And then one of the guys started to snicker and then all of them started to. The girls were giggling stupidly (except for Bella, who snorted).

And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. "I think you're sexy, Edward," Jessica, one of the girls at the front of the room (and one of Tanya's pack), said, throwing a wink in my direction.

Oh. My. Fucking. God. Can I just die now and save myself from any further humiliation?

My face flamed bright red and I sunk down in my seat and covered my face with my hand while the guys in the class just laughed harder.

"Now, that's enough of that," Mrs. Young said, getting everyone to focus back on the task at hand. "You've got twenty-five more minutes to finish."

Everyone quieted down after that, but you could still hear the occasional snicker from the guys in the class. I felt eyes on me all period long. I looked up once and saw almost every girl's eyes on me (except for Alice. She's my cousin, for God's sake), eyeing me hungrily. I looked down quickly and focused on my essay.

I scribbled the last of my essay just as the bell rang and, as fast as I could, I gathered up my belongings and handed my essay to Mrs. Young.

I heard a snicker from next to the door. I looked up to find Bella standing there, the very same devious smile on her face from earlier, only it was much larger this time. She fluttered her fingers at me and then winked before turning and walked out the door.

I clenched my jaw in anger. She had done that. She had embarrassed the fuck out of me in front of the entire class.

Oh, she was so going to get it for that.

Seth came to the front to hand in his essay. He gave me a "what the fuck was that?" look, but I just kept looking at the floor.

As I waited for him, girls giggled as they left, saying things like "bye, sexy" and "I want your body" as they passed. I don't think I've ever been this fucking embarrassed in my life.

Seth finally joined me and we headed towards fourth period. "What was that?" he asked, blunt as always.

"I don't know, but that was not my ringtone. Someone must have changed it," I said, keeping my eyes on the ground. I didn't tell him that I knew Bella did it. I wasn't even sure how she did do it, but that didn't matter anyway. That shit wasn't going to happen again.

We parted ways as he headed towards his class and I walked into mine.

News of my complete mortification spread pretty freaking fast. I got smirks and snickers from the guys and giggles and winks from the girls.

I walked into lunch, my head down, hoping to God that no one said anything to me.

Apparently, I had run out of luck for the day.

I exited the lunch line and was walking to my table when I felt someone grab my ass. I just about jumped out of my freaking skin. I whirled around to find several girls smiling in what they thought might have been a seductive manner. I just felt nauseated.

I whirled back around and nearly ran to my table. "Edward, why don't you come and play with us? We really want you to," one of them called after me while the others cackled. I just walked faster. I avoided any other gropings for now and sat down at the table.

"Man, what's up with the aggressive females today?" Sam asked. "They seem to think you're looking for a little something."

"Eddie boy here had an unfortunate incident with an ill-timed phone call and a prankster during third hour today," Ian informed everyone at the table. Of course he would know this.

"Apparently, he wanted to get the message across that he was ready for a little action," Seth said, snickering like the fucker he was. I glared at him, but he only laughed louder. Dick.

"I don't want any action," I grumbled.

Okay, that was a lie. I really wanted for some action to happen between Bella and me, but seeing as she was out to get me, I don't think that would be happening anytime soon.

"Riiiight," they all intoned. I just sent them another glare.

All throughout lunch girls walked by our table. They either giggled or tried to flirt (yeah, those got turned away real quick). Some of the bolder ones ran their hands along my shoulders or tried to moved them down my sides.

Thankfully, the guys helped me out and kept the harpies at bay for the most part. I seriously didn't think there were that many determined girls at this school.

When the bell rang signaling the end of lunch, I stood up slowly, looking around for anyone heading my way.

I threw my bag over my shoulder, positioning it over my ass so that I wouldn't have anymore surprise attacks from behind.

I must have looked freakishly paranoid and I will admit that I was. I don't like having this much attention on me, so when they start coming at me in droves, I tend to panic.

I ran into biology and sat down quickly. Girls came up to me and, again, tried to flirt, but I just ignored them. Rude? Yes. Necessary for my sanity? Definitely.

Bella came in later, but didn't say a word to me. That was alright with me. I really didn't have anything to say to her that wouldn't end up in a shouting match.

Class started and everyone's attention shifted for the most part. I still felt people staring at me throughout the entire class though. At least they weren't trying to grope me.

The bell rang and everyone got up to leave. Bella left quickly without having uttered a single word to me.

I was about to leave when I saw a piece of folded paper sitting near my notebook. I hesitantly picked it up, not sure if I wanted to know what was written on it.

I took a chance and opened it up. I think I fucking growled in anger when I saw what was written.

There in Bella's slightly messy but still girlish handwriting was a two word message:

Bye, sexy.

Today was just not my day.

~x~X~x~

I stormed into the locker room after classes were over and threw my bag into my locker. I changed into my practice gear, fuming the entire time. I just wanted to get out on the field and kick things.

"Dude, why so hostile?" Jasper asked.

I huffed and tried to calm down a bit before I started yelling at people. "I have been violated so many fucking times today," I ground out, cringing as I remember every rub and groping attempt that came my way.

Jasper and the rest of the team looked like they was trying to keep themselves from laughing, so I just let out a resigned sigh. "Just let it out." I glanced around the room. "All of you."

The entire room exploded into laughter, like rolling on the floor laughter. I just waited for them to finish.

Once they started to quiet down, I looked around the room. "Are you all done now?" I asked, arms crossed over my chest, eyebrow raised.

They all snickered, but nodded.

And then Emmett burst into the room, a huge fucking smile on his face. "Hey, sexy, can I have your body?"

The team collapsed into another laughing fit.

Oh, yeah, she was definitely getting it.

A/N: Aww, poor Edward, getting too much attention from the girls. Haha. Don't worry, he won't be too traumatized. And we also met Eddie's parental units (kinda). Thanksgiving is bound to be a fun time right?

Anyway, reviews make everything better. Even Edward's bruised ego. ;)

Until next time,

Cat :)