Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, kay? The plot, though, is mine. :)

AN: First off, sorry this took so long (by my standards at least :P) Thanks for being patient. :) I've been really busy. Also, I'm having problems with the beginning of this story. The "real" plot, I like, but I'm not crazy about this little bit, I'm afraid it's turning into the type of fanfics I er. . strongly dislike. So, I didn't really want to do these chapters, but there's something that needs to happen and can't be explained as well in a flashback. So I hope these next few chapters aren't too painful. (please stick with me, I promise it gets better :D) But, that aside, thank you all so much for all the reviews! 12, for chapter one alone! :O Keep it up guys, you're fantastic! :)

Now, read on!

After trig, Edward walked me to the door, then headed up to Functions on the first floor, while I went outside to the portable where I took English. As I stepped out the doors, I really noticed for the first time the bite in the breeze that blew across the yard, whipping the last few of the fall leaves into miniature tornadoes in the corners of the parking lot. It was hard to believe that it was almost winter - late November - and I'd been here for almost three months.

I hurried towards the little huddle of rectangular buildings with their cream-coloured vinyl siding, pulling open the door of the one marked with a number six, and stepping into the warmth, where I saw what was probably the least likely friendship I'd made at Mapledale turning to wave at me from a pair of desks near the back of the room.

I smiled back, and went to sit down next to Katrina Taube, again puzzling over our unlikely friendship. We'd wound up sitting beside each other on our first day, because our teacher, being impressively uncreative, had assigned us seats alphabetically by last name. From almost day one, I'd been a little wary of her. She was decidedly pretty, with her pale skin, silver eyes, and long curtain of knife-straight silver-blond hair, not the kind of girl who'd ever made great efforts to be pleasant to me, and, if I needed more reason to mistrust her, she was one of the gaggle of girls that made up Rosalie Hale's ever-present entourage. I'd tried to keep my distance from her, until we were assigned to work together on a project. Then, I'd really gotten to know Kate. she was a lot nicer than I would've pegged her to be from who she spent her time with - she'd actually apologized to me for Rosalie's behavior, although she'd only been able to give me the same reasoning for it as Angela. As for Rosalie herself, she was still at me whenever there was a chance, but the frequency had lessened a little with time.

So I was now, as I'd never believed I would be, friends with one of Rosalie's cronies. We didn't have much to do with each other outside of english, but in our shared class, we talked. "Hey Kate,"

"Bella," she checked over her shoulder to see if the teacher would notice or care we were talking, the turned back to me. "How's it going?"

"Fine." Thinking about our friendship had, of course, got me thinking about Rosalie, which always put a sour taste in my mouth.

Like most people who knew me, she knew that there was pretty much only one thing that could put that look on my face.

"Rose?" she asked.

"Sort of. Kate, when's it going to stop?" I hadn't meant to say that, but the thought that had been in the back of my mind for weeks had just slipped out.

She sighed. "Knowing Rose, not for a while. The only thing that'll really cure her," she laughed at her own phrasing "is Emmett Cullen, but god knows that's never going to happen." She rolled her eyes.

"Wait, Emmett?" This rang a dim bell in my memory. I knew from Edward - although he'd made me swear not to spread it around, because Emmett would kill him - that Em was hung up on Rose, but I hadn't known the feelings were returned. It showed how much she bothered me that I actually considered trying to set them up, just to get her off of my back.

"Of course." Kate replied.

"But that's great!" I exclaimed in a whisper. "Emmett likes her too, we could-"

"Well, obviously." she interrupted me, rolling her eyes. "But that doesn't change anything. They're both too pigheaded to ask the other out. Like I said, at this rate, it'll never happen." The teacher called us to order then, and we had to stop ,our whispered conversation.

I was still thinking about what Kate had said as I left English. In a way, it served Rosalie right, that her pride and giant inflated ego would be what was standing in the way of her happiness. But it also made sense now, why she was so bitter. Maybe the thing with me wasn't about me at all, but that she resented us, two people who wanted to be together, and were. It was something to think about, all right.

I was trying to stop myself from thinking up plans to get Emmett and Rose together - she didn't deserve my help, I thought stubbornly, even if it would make life easier for me - when I got to the door of my next class - Bio, and saw that there was a notice taped to the door. was away, it said, so we had a free period. I smiled. That was a nice turn to the day. I liked Biology, but I also knew that Edward was in Design right now, a class with a pretty laid-back teacher, and it would be easy for me to go and visit him.

I headed up to the area of the third floor where the art rooms were, but when I got to the door of Edward's class, I froze. There was pretty big window in the door, and through it I could see his class, spread out around the round tables, working on their various projects. Edward was at a table with some sketches spread out in front of him, and a pencil in hand, but he wasn't alone. Sitting next to him was a girl I vaguely recognized from my Chem class, and they had their heads bent together, talking.

In a daze, I turned, quickly walking in the opposite direction. I was out on the front lawn, in that bitter wind again, before I'd calmed down enough to rationalize with myself that it was probably nothing. They'd had papers in front of them, maybe he was just helping her with her work. But it didn't really help much.

I told myself that it was because I was tired, and I had that Macbeth essay to write that I got Emmett drop me off at my own house that night, telling Edward to go home, but I knew I was still stewing over what I'd seen. Most of me was saying it was nothing, but there was a little, insecure part of me, that wouldn't listen.

The next morning, it was easier to believe that I'd just been being silly, and I felt badly for what I'd done last night, the hurt look in Edward's eyes when I'd sent him away without an explanation. So, after breakfast, I donned a coat and hat - it really was getting cold now - and set off for the Cullen's house.

Esme answered my knock. "Bella! Come in, honey."

I hung up my coat on my in the closet, long ago having been told by Esme to treat he house as if it was my own. "Edward's upstairs?" I asked, already with my foot on the bottom step.

"Oh no," she answered, as if just having remembered. "He went out a few minutes ago, said he had some errands to run. Would you like a cup of tea? I don't think he'll be gone long."

"Okay."

I sat with Esme, drinking tea as we talked, and I would have enjoyed it - I really liked Esme - if not for my suspicions that were creeping up again. I tried to beat them back - was I going to become one of those girlfriends who demanded to know where their boyfriends were at al times? - but I wasn't very successful. I'd just taken it for granted that he always told me everything.

My doubts mostly disappeared when Edward got back, flushed from the cold, about half an hour later. He looked completely normal, and happy to see me. But when I asked him where he'd been, he wouldn't go any further than "running errands". Again, most of me was able to brush this off, but the other part of me was still thinking about it as I went to bed that night, not falling asleep until early in the morning.

AN: So, I'm not all that pleased with the way the chapter starts, but other than that I'm relatively satisfied. And. . .duhn duhn duh. . . Is Edward *gasp* cheating on Bella? What? Read on to find out! :) So, as always, I hoep you enjoyed, and please review! :)

-Hannah

Ps. Yes, Katrina is Kate of the Denali clan. :)