Let the Games Begin

A/N: Ok, everyone, I'm sorry this took so long to get out. College life is definitely different from high school, so I'm still adjusting. Please bear with me here. I'll try to get chapters out as fast as I can, but they probably won't be on any sort of schedule.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I love them all. They make me want to write more.

Chapter 9
Who Needs Friends When You Can Have Stalkers?

(BPOV)

Now that I think about it, setting a ringtone on Edward's phone that I knew would draw attention to him was probably a bad idea.

You wanna know why?

Well, I'll tell you.

Now, don't get me wrong, this prank was awesome and it got me some good laughs. That is until I started feeling this weird burning in my chest. At first, I didn't understand what was going on.

I thought maybe I was having heartburn or something, but that seemed stupid, so I just shoved that thought out of the way.

I figured out what was causing the burning later that day. I was pushing the food around my plate at lunch, not really feeling up to eating anything. Alice was going on about something to the rest of the group when a not-so-masculine yelp rang out from the other side of the cafeteria.

Everyone started and looked up to find out where the noise had come from. I held in a snort when I saw Edward's face flushed with embarrassment. Some girls were talking to him, their eyes batting madly with slutty smiles on their faces. He said something to them and then scurried off to his table.

I know I shouldn't laugh because I knew that he was uncomfortable with all of the attention that he was getting from the female population of the student body, but seeing the most unflappable person at this school start impersonating a tomato at the mere touch of a female was kind of funny.

I finally lost it and snorted into my hand. Everyone looked at me, but I just smiled at them innocently.

"What's up with Eddie?" Emmett asked as he eyed Edward's table. "He's acting kinda weird."

"Didn't you hear?" Alice asked, leaning towards Emmett and Rose, who hadn't heard the story yet. "Edward's phone went off in Lit today."

Emmett looked confused. "And? That happens all the time. And isn't Edward's ringtone some rock song? It's not that embarrassing."

Alice giggled. "Yeah, but someone changed his ringtone. So here we are in the middle of writing an essay when Do Ya Think I'm Sexy? starts playing."

"You mean the song from the cookie commercial?" Em asked.

Alice rolled her eyes. "Yes, Em, the song from the cookie commercial. Anyway, I thought that it was just some douchebag's phone because I mean, come on, who else would have such a narcissistic ringtone. Then I turn around to see who's it was and Edward's face is bright red and he's trying to turn his phone off." She giggled again. "You know that Edward doesn't like to have a lot of attention on him, so that was just horrifying for him."

Rose and Em nodded in agreement. "That's it? Well, worse things have happened to him."

Alice and Jasper shook their heads. "Unfortunately not. It was really quiet in the room and everyone was staring at him, and then to make it worse, Jessica called him sexy in front of the entire class, and you know that's never a good sign," Jasper threw in.

I didn't know about the whole Jessica thing. "Why is that bad?" I asked.

"Because Jessica is basically the second biggest slut here. If Tanya's had you in her grasp before, chances are that Jessica's right behind her waiting to snag any of the mourning morons that are crying over Tanya," Rose said, a look of disgust on her face.

"Oh. Poor guy."

I really don't know if I should feel like a bitch right about now, but I really couldn't bring myself to think that. He started this whole this mess. Payback's the bitch, not me.

"I blame it on genetics," Em said.

"And why is that exactly?" I asked.

"Because, for one, I'm hot stuff. Who wouldn't want this?" he asked, gesturing at his body and flexing. I snorted at him and everyone laughed. "And, secondly, Tanya and her STD squad have gone after almost every guy at this school. Including me and Jazz. Thankfully, we had Rose and Alice to keep them away, but that didn't stop them from trying."

"Tanya was very persistent when it came to Em," Rose said, her nostrils flaring in irritation. And then a wicked smile slid across her face. "But I knew how to take care of her."

"And then when Eddie showed up freshman year and Tanya found out that he was my cousin, she finally gave up on me and tried to sink her claws into him. And when he stopped dating her - well, I wouldn't call it dating per se, but whatever - the STD squad started in on him. So I guess you can see why he's a little skittish when it comes to girls."

Oh my... okay, now I feel like a bitch.

It wasn't just attention that made him uncomfortable, it was attention from girls that made him uncomfortable. And I basically just taped a sign to his back that read Do Me.

Huh... that would be funny... No, no, I'm not going to embarrass him anymore... well, not in front of girls anyway. I never said anything about boys. He seemed fine when he was around his friends or his teammates.

The bell rang for the end of lunch and everyone got up to head to class. I glanced over at Edward and I couldn't help but laugh as he nearly ran out of the cafeteria towards class, his messenger bag covering his ass. Like that would stop one of these sluts.

In bio, I didn't talk to him. I knew that he knew it was me that changed his ringtone, so I knew that if I said anything to him, he probably wouldn't take it too well. That, and I liked to watch him squirm.

And I may have messed with him a little more when I left him the note, but I just couldn't help myself. It was just too much fun to fuck with him.

For the rest of the day, I heard girls talking about Edward. Some of them were actually plotting how they could get Edward to go on a date with them. Some of the more... creative ones were trying to find ways into his room.

I should probably warn him about that...

I may or may not have laughed in their faces. From what I heard, very few things could get Edward to change his mind about the whole dating thing.

But as I watched them all talk about him and a few of the bolder ones actually go over to him and talk to him and run their hands all over him, the burning came back. The longer I watched the stronger the burn.

And then I knew what I was feeling.

Jealously. I was jealous that those girls were touching him and talking to him. I wanted to be the one touching him and talking to him. I wanted to flirt with him (well, minus the whorish body rubbing, but you know what I mean). I wanted to be with him, but I just couldn't bring myself to tell him that.

So, I guess embarrassing him was the next best thing. I know, it's a totally kindergarten way of thinking, but hey, it got him to talk to me.

I walked back to my room and I threw my stuff down onto my bed. I flopped down onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling.

My phone started buzzing in my bag, so I dug it out and looked at the screen. "Satan's Mistress" (a.k.a. my mother) was flashing across the screen.

I groaned and threw the phone onto the desk, ignoring it completely. I was in a decent mood today. I didn't need her to screw with me and ruin the rest of the day for me.

The phone stopped buzzing and I let out a sigh of relief. And then it started buzzing again.

"Gah!"

I ignored it again. And then it stopped. And started right back up again. Damn it! That woman couldn't let me have any peace, could she?

"Yes?" I growled into the phone.

"Don't take that tone with me, young lady," she scolded me in that annoyingly snobbish tone that she had mastered at a young age.

"Yes, Mother?" I said, my voice bland. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, Isabella, your father and I have booked a flight for you to come back home for the long weekend. We want you to meet some people-" I tuned her out.

When my mother said that she wanted me to meet people, she meant that she wanted me to meet the sons of all of her high society friends. Sons that acted exactly like every other entitled douchebag in the world.

Well, that definitely wasn't going to happen. I already had to deal with the idiots around here. I wasn't going to go back to Seattle to deal with the same douches that I left behind when I came here.

"No," I said, interrupting her.

"Excuse me?" my mother asked, sounding appalled by the fact that I had interrupted her meaningless chatter.

"No, I'm not coming back to Seattle so that you can parade me around in front of all of your friends' sons. You're an idiot if you thought otherwise," I told her, my tone filled with finality.

"Isabella Marie Swan, you will come back to Seattle and you will meet these people. They are going to be the ones that give you the future that you need," she ordered.

...The future that I need. What about the future that I want? What if I don't want to live a life of privilege? What if I want to do something with my life other than sit around as some trophy wife?

And you know what? I do want to do something with my life. And meeting a few snobbish frat boy wannabes is not going to change my mind.

"Well, that's just too bad for you, Mother. I don't give a damn about what you want. I'm not coming back to Seattle. And you can't control me," I told her angrily.

She was quiet for a moment. "Isabella, a car will be there next Saturday to pick you up and take you to the airport. You will be on that plane and you will be here for the gala Saturday night."

"Don't hold your breath," I said before hanging up the phone without waiting for a response. I turned my phone off so that she couldn't call me again to rant at me for being "impolite."

I sighed and flopped back down onto my bed. My God, she drove me fucking insane.

And there was definitely no way that I was going to be on that plane next Saturday. She can go to hell for all I care. I wasn't going to be used as a pawn in her high society games anymore.

The rest of the day was used to finish up my homework. After my mother's phone call from hell, I wasn't in the best of moods. Alice noticed when she came back to the room, and thankfully didn't say anything.

The next day, everything seemed normal during breakfast. That is until I saw Edward walk up to Newton and say something to him. Newton gave him an odd look, but got up from his table and they both walked out of the cafeteria.

What the hell was that about?

(EPOV)

So after that horrendous fuck-up of a day, I wasn't exactly in a very forgiving mood. So when I saw Bella the next day at breakfast, I may have snapped a little bit inside.

Just the sight of her made me want to hit something, preferably something Newton-shaped.

What? It's not like I'm going to hurt Bella. I don't hit girls. That's just not right.

But that doesn't mean that I can't mess with her a little bit... or a lot considering the cringe-worthiness of yesterday's stunt.

So when I saw Newton walk into the cafeteria and sit down at his table, I couldn't stop the devious and slightly (alright, very) evil smile from slipping onto my face. I quickly wiped that away before any of the guys saw it. They would have thought that I had finally fallen off my rocker.

I got up and started towards Newton's table.

"Hey, where're you going?" Seth called after me.

"I'll be right back," I called back. As I walked up to Newton's table, his entourage of imbeciles noticed me before Newton did. Their eyes widened in shock and they all started fidgeting as I got closer to the table.

I almost snorted in their faces. You would think that I put a beat down on them on a daily basis with the way they were acting right about now.

I stopped behind Newton and cleared my throat to get his attention. He turned around and he looked shocked to see me there.

"Newton, I need a word," I said before he could say anything.

"What for?" he asked warily. He probably knew that I was up to something because, believe you me, I wouldn't be talking to him without some sort of reason.

"I'll explain," I told him. I motioned towards the door. "Come on."

Newton hesitantly stood and followed me out the doors of the cafeteria.

"What's going on?" Newton asked as soon as we made it outside and away from the prying eyes of every single person in the cafeteria.

"I wanted to apologize for going off on you a few weeks ago. I shouldn't have done that. I was having a rough day," I said, lying through my teeth the entire time. He completely deserved to be decked, but I'd let him believe that I was remorseful for the sake of my plan.

"Really?" He still seemed wary, but he seemed to believe me.

"Yeah. I wasn't having the best of days and I just sort of snapped. Sorry. We good?" I said, playing it up big time.

He hesitated for a second before nodding. "Yeah, man, we're good." My Lord, he's an idiot. I can't believe he actually bought that line of shit.

"Great," I said. God, this conversation was getting painful. "And as a token of my appreciation, I have some information that might be of some use to you."

He seemed intrigued now. "Really? What?"

"Well, I've noticed that you've been trying to get the attention of a certain brunette for a while now. Am I right?"

He nodded, his eyes lighting up at the mere thought of her. "Yeah, Bella." A dirty grin spread across his face. "Damn, she's one hot little firecracker, if you know what I mean." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and I had to keep myself from a) gagging and b) decking him all over again for thinking about Bella like that, but I controlled myself and gave him a slight grin in return to appease him.

"Yeah. Anyway, Bella's like best friends with my cousin, so I overheard some things that they were saying." Lies, all lies.

"Really?" he asked. He seemed unnaturally excited about this. Ugh. He face changed then, his expression turning wary. "But don't you have a thing going with Bella?"

"What? Me and Bella? God, no. In all honesty, I don't think she likes me all that much," I told him.

Well, I know that she likes me better that she like you, you creepy son of a bitch, considering the fact that she's yet to punch me in the gut multiple times.

"Oh," he said, sighing in relief. "Okay then. You were saying something?"

"Yeah. I overheard Bella say that she's just playing hard to get. She does this with all the guys that she likes."

"Really? She goes all Rambo on every guy that she likes?" he asked, cringing a little as if he was remembering being hit my her. I almost laughed right then.

"Oh, yeah. She likes it rough," I told him. I smirked and he lit up again. God, this guy really needed to find something else to do with his time other than stalk girls and watch bad porn.

Not that I know what Newton does in his spare time, but he seems the type.

Anyway...

"Wow," he sighed. "So do you think she'll go for me? I mean, guy to guy, what do you think?"

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. You're definitely her type." Yeah, the type that she kicks in the balls while she laughs in your face.

"Awesome! Thanks for the info, man," he said before turning to head back into the cafeteria, a huge smile on his face. He was probably running off to tell his friends about his "discovery".

I snickered to myself as I made my way back into the cafeteria. I looked over at Bella's table and saw her looking at me suspiciously. I smirked at her and threw her a wink. She scowled at me and I chuckled to myself.

I glanced over at Newton's table and saw him talking to his group and they were staring at him in complete shock. I couldn't stop myself from laughing as I walked back to my table.

I sat back down at my table and then everyone jumped up. "What was that about?"

"Nothing," I said, leaning back into my chair. "Just a little payback."

"Payback?" Seth asked, confused. "For what?" He paused and then his face lit up in realization. "Did you figure out who changed your ringtone?" I nodded. "Who was it?"

I shook my head and smirked. "You'll find out soon."

The bell rang and everyone got up to head to class. I grabbed my stuff and headed to class.

I didn't hear anything about Newton all morning and he didn't make his move during Lit either. I knew he would though. He wasn't exactly the patient type. Thank goodness for me, I actually had a little bit of control, so I was just waiting for him to make his move.

Was it wrong to set this creep on Bella?

Probably, but I really couldn't bring myself to feel too bad because, you know, she set the entire female half of the student body on my ass yesterday.

I didn't feel as bad about setting Newton on Bella after I remembered the feeling of getting violated all day long.

I shuddered. That was going to take some serious therapy to get rid of that fuck-up of a memory.

I couldn't hold back the chuckle that slipped through my lips as I saw Newton get up from his table and head towards Bella who was just coming out of the lunch line with her headphones in her ears (and walking right by my table). She obviously wasn't paying attention to her surroundings because she was bobbing her head to whatever she was listening to, her eyes focused on the ground as she walked.

She was passing my table on her way to her table when Newton stepped in front of her. She looked up at the last second and skidded to a stop. She pulled a headphone from her ear and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked, her tone full of irritation.

"Yes, you can, baby. You can help me with a little problem I have." He smirked at her in what he probably thought was a seductive manner, but in reality he just looked like a douche. I snorted into my drink, hoping I could hide it. Little. Ha!

Bella didn't look amused. "Sorry, I don't think I'm the best possible candidate to help you with your little problem, but I'm sure the cheerleaders over there would be happy to help."

Despite her obvious rejection, Newton just kept right on going. "But, Bella baby, you're the only one with the specific skills that I need."

Her expression slipped back into it's typical unamused state. "I'm sure."

"So, come on, baby. We can go somewhere private and you can help me out," he said, reaching for her arm. I tensed a little. I should have known that he would have tried to touch her. Damn it, this was a stupid plan! I should have thought of something else.

My worrying was all for naught though because the next thing she said just about made my day. She gave him an obviously fake smile - well, it was fake to everyone with a brain, which ruled Newton out right then and there. "Who needs privacy? We can handle this right here."

Newton looked like all of his Christmases came at once. I didn't even want to know what was going through his pervertedly kinky mind. "Oh, yeah? Who knew you swung that way?"

Her smiled faltered for a second, turning into a grimace of disgust, before she fixed it again. "Oh, definitely," she said.

"Awesome, baby. Let's give it a go then," Newton said excitedly.

Bella smirked at him. "Alright, if you really want to."

Newton nodded excitedly. "Definitely." Newton stepped forward a bit, moving into Bella's personal space.

"Okay then," Bella said, shrugging one shoulder. And then she quickly brought her knee up and connected it with Newton's balls.

He yelped and fell away from her and onto the floor, doubling over in pain. All of the guys in the room who were watching (which happened to be everybody) flinched and instinctively covered their balls.

"Shit, that's gotta hurt," I heard Seth mutter under his breath. I nodded, agreeing with him, even though I was laughing on the inside at the sight of little Bella taking down Newton with one blow.

Bella bent over him as he whimpered and gave him a small smirk. "I hope that helped you with your little problem. Just let me know if you need anything else."

And then she turned and walked over to her table where Alice and Rose were laughing their asses off.

I got up and leaned over him and pretended to be sympathetic. "Sorry, man, better luck next time."

He only whimpered a little.

As amusing as I found this entire debacle, I didn't like that Newton kept calling her "baby". I called her "baby". She actually looked pleased when I called her that (not that she would ever admit it). When Newton called her that, she looked like she wanted to blow chunks on his shoes and then slug him in the face.

For some reason, I think she liked me better. Now what reason could that be... Oh, yeah, I'm not a slimy pervert.

And I definitely didn't like the fact that he had essentially propositioned her in the middle of a cafeteria full of teenagers. I knew that he was going to try something, but I didn't realize how big of a pervert he actually was. I mean, come on, he was actually okay with going at it in the cafeteria surrounded by the entire student body. That's just fucked up.

Newton finally pulled himself together enough so that he could crawl out of the cafeteria. Once he was out the door, I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore. I busted out laughing, all of the guys joining me.

"Dude, that was priceless!" Seth laughed.

"Don't I know it," I said, unable to keep the proud smirk off my face.

"Dude? Did you set that up?" Ian asked, shocked. "That's why you were talking to Newton this morning?"

"Yeah, you know. Two birds, one stone," I said, shrugging as I leaned back in my chair.

"Wait. Two birds? Newton and Bella? I can understand Newton, but what did Bella do that caused you to want to set Newton on her?" Seth asked.

I scowled a little. "How about we take a trip down memory lane and revisit yesterday? That little stunt was pulled off by none other than Miss Bella Swan." I scowled a little at the memory.

"Man, as much as I know you're going to hate this, I think you've met your match," Seth said, glancing over at Bella's table. "You realize that when she finds out that you set her up like that - and you know she will - she's gonna get you back."

I smirked then. "Exactly."

(BPOV)

Alright, that was probably the most disgusting thing I have ever witnessed.

Whoever thought it would be funny to let Newton think that he had any sort of chance with me was out of their fucking mind.

When I got over to my table, Alice and Rose were laughing their asses off. Jasper and Emmett, on the other hand, looked a little scared.

"Bella, that was epic," Rose said after she calmed down a little.

"You are my hero," Alice giggled.

I just shrugged, a smirk on my face. "Thank you, thank you. But seriously, that dude needs to figure out the meaning of personal space. He was all over me." I shuddered. "He got what he deserved."

Emmett and Jasper shuddered a little. "I will never get on your bad side," Jasper vowed. Emmett nodded along with him.

I laughed. "I have no doubt about that."

"But in all seriousness, what the hell was running through his mind then?" Rose asked. "He's been punched enough by you to know that you're not interested."

I rolled my eyes. "You would think so."

My eyes flickered over to where I had left Newton laying and I noticed that he was slowly making his way towards the door. I rolled my eyes at him and my gaze locked onto the table that I had left him by.

Edward's table.

Edward's table that was currently missing an Edward.

"Looking for someone?" a voice whispered into my ear from behind.

I jumped and whipped around to find Edward standing behind me. He smirked down at me. "No," I snapped quickly.

"Oh, my mistake," he said, his tone full of sarcasm. He pulled the empty chair out that just happened to be next to me and sat down, propping his feet up on the table.

I may or may not have drooled a little at the sight of his Chucks. That boy could definitely rock a pair of Chucks, even if he did act like an ass.

"Can we help you with something?" I snarked at him to keep myself from staring at him like a lovesick fool. Which I wasn't. Definitely not.

"Can a guy just come to talk to his friends and family without having some sort of ulterior motive?" he asked, his face the picture of innocence. Which he definitely was not.

"Maybe a normal guy, but let's face it, you're not normal," I snarked.

Edward pulled his feet from the table and covered his heart with his hand, a smile on his face. "Why, thank you, Miss Swan. I'm going to take that as a compliment. I mean, who wants to be normal."

I rolled my eyes at him, crossing my arms over my chest. "Whatever," was my brilliant closing statement.

"Anyway, I just came over here to tell Em and Jazz that practice has been extended today until six," Edward said, his tone business like.

Em and Jazz groaned. "Ugh, why?" Emmett whined, which was kind of funny considering his size.

"Coach wanted to run through some new plays," Edward shrugged.

Jazz and Em grumbled a little bit as Edward got up. "I'll see you guys later. Rose, Alice. Bella." He smirked at me. "It was lovely speaking with you. See you in bio." I huffed and rolled my eyes at him which only earned me a chuckle from him.

He got up and started to walk away, but he turned around abruptly. "Oh, Bella."

I took a deep breath and turned to look at him. "Yes, Edward?"

He smiled innocently (well, as innocently as the spawn of Satan could). "I almost forgot to tell you. Newton wanted me to let you know that he forgives you and he's looking forward to your next chat."

My mouth fell open. Oh, no, he didn't. Yes, he did.

He was the one that set Newton on me. Of course he was. Only he would.

His ever present smirk grew wider when he saw my look of realization. He was waiting for it, the bastard. He so knew what he was doing.

"Have a nice day, Bella," he said with a wave of his hand. Then he turned around and headed towards the cafeteria doors, throwing me a wink over his shoulder.

I turned back towards the table and everyone was staring at me.

Emmett was the first one to break the silence with a snort. "I can't believe he pulled that. I mean, he actually pulled it off."

Jasper snorted. "Em, you know better than to underestimate Edward. He's gotten you a numerous amount of times. Don't you remember the baby powder incident?" Emmett scowled then, remembering the particular incident.

Alice and Rose laughed then. "How could you forget that?" Alice said. She turned to me to explain. "A few years ago, Edward spring loaded Em's toilet seat back home, so that when Em lifted the lid that it would shoot baby powder all over him. Em came down the stairs covered from head to toe in baby powder." Alice and Rose started laughing again.

Emmett grumbled. "That shit wouldn't come off for days."

Once everyone was calm again, Rose turned to me. "Now, I know that you and Edward haven't been getting along, but why is he pulling stuff on you. He usually saves stuff like that for these two over here." She gestured to Em and Jazz, who just shrugged.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. "I may or may not have been the one that changed his ringtone yesterday."

All of their jaws dropped. "Are you serious?"

I nodded, giving them an innocent shrug. "He annoyed me. I did something about it."

They all looked in between each other. "You just started a war."

I smirked deviously. "Exactly."

A/N: Alright then. The war has begun. Woot woot! And we heard a little more from Renee (the bitch). Ain't she a blast?

Next chapter will be up as soon as possible.

Please review!

Later,

Cat :)