HEY MY LUVLIES! I lied to you. This is the last chapter, except the epilogue. But I'm going to be writing another story real soon! Probably one with my beta (she really is awesome) so, get ready for your ending, people!

The next couple months went like this:
rehearsal
rehearsal
movie with Bella
rehearsal
coffee with Bella
rehearsal
rehearsal
spying on Bella and Alice
rehearsal
and, of course, some rehearsal

Oh, and some schoolwork when I could find the time.

Practicing for the play had been...interesting. Ms.Tinnian had become very paranoid after Bella 'accidentally' pushed Mike off the stage. Nobody was allowed within a foot of Bella's 'personal space' at any time on stage. Of course, this made it impossible for us to kiss on-stage. Our psycho drama teacher just told us to 'wing it' on show night. I desperately wanted to 'rehearse' kissing my angel during one of our private sessions, but how exactly are you supposed to bring that up?

"Hey! I know I'm supposedly gay, but can we make out in my room...for the benefit of the school?"

It just doesn't work.

So, there we were on the night of the play. Twenty minutes until the curtain was supposed to go up. Set painted. Costumes sewn. Make-up on. And Kate Monster... missing. Needless to say Ms.Tinnian was having a BF (that's bitch-fit for all of you who don't watch Wayan's Brother's movies).

"Where is she? She is doing this to me on purpose, isn't she? She wants to ruin my reputation! She hates me! Well, we will just see if she gets invited to the after party! No ice cream cake for her! No sir! Just wait..."

I left her to her rambling, and went to go look for Bella. I found her in the schools garden, sitting on the bench, my favorite place in the whole school. She looked very frazzled. I sat down beside her.

"Hey, Bella"

"I can't go out there." she said, in monotone.

"What?"

"You don't understand, Edward! You have gone to this school for years, people know who you are, but me, I'm new here. If I mess up out there, that is all people will remember of me until I graduate. I just keep replaying it in my head. I'm going to go out there, and fall off the stage, or break the scenery, or I'll miss when I lean in to kiss you" my heart skipped a beat "and then people in this school will never shut up about it. I'll constantly be 'the girl who broke her leg in front of everyone' or 'that chick who broke the cardboard tree in half', or 'the girl who licked Edward Cullen's cheek onstage!'" my heart skipped another beat and I involuntarily chuckled, accidentally "See? You're already laughing!" I stopped "Just let Jessica do it. She wanted it more, anyway."

"Bella, you can't be serious? You've dreamed of this part! Don't you remember telling me about wanting to be on Broadway one day?" she nodded "Well, this isn't quite New York, but it's a start, isn't it? Besides, we both know that Jessica can't carry a tune in a bucket" she giggled, a sound which has become my favorite in the world "Ok, now, onto your 'main concerns'. You haven't even gone near the edge of the stage since the Mike thing. I'm very proud of you for that. Off-stage, you may have the grace of a baby giraffe" she pouted "but onstage your one of the least clumsy people there! And you're worrying about breaking the props? That stuff is made with the hardest plaster available! I'm pretty sure it's the same stuff they use to make mash potatoes" she giggled again "and about the kiss thing..." My heart skipped yet another beat. That really, couldn't be healthy "... I agree that it is really...too bad that we haven't gotten to...rehearse... the kiss but... maybe..." I trailed off, and Bella looked around the garden, obviously thinking. It seemed like an eternity before she spoke again

"You know, sitting on this bench is probably my favorite thing to do in this school." She looked at me. "Except spending time with you..." She leaned slightly into me, I leaned into her, our lips were just about to meet, and then...

"EDWARD! BELLA!" Jessica's shrill voice rang out across the garden. I groaned internally "I can see you to out there! The curtain is going up in two minutes! You have to get in here!"

I grabbed Bella's hand and helped her up. My heart was beating a mile a minute. "We should probably get back in there..."

"Yea. We should "she didn't sound happy about it either, which cheered me up slightly. We walked backstage, where Ms.Tinnian was apparently still in the middle of her rant. Bitching to anyone who would listen.

"Edward is missing too! My two lead actors! WE CAN'T HAVE AVENUE Q WITHOUT KATE AND PRINCETON, PEOPLE! Those ungrateful little sons of...Bella! Edward!" she finally noticed our presence. "Thank god you two are back! I was so worried about you! Are you okay?"

I rolled my eyes at Bella. "Yes, we are both fine, thank you for worrying"

"Great! Now get out there!"

Bella, Alice, Jasper, Eric -shudder-, Angela, AJ, Patrick and Trevor and I all wished each other broken legs, and the curtain went up.


Finally! The act I had been waiting fro for two whole months! Act I, scene 7- The kiss scene. I must say, first, that watching Charlie see his little daughter singing about screwing her classmates was hilarious. His face turned this odd shade of puce...

The song ended, and our lines were said.

I can tell just by looking that you've got it hard
for me! For me!
For me! For me!
For me! For me!
I can tell just by looking that you are especially hard for me!

-Blahblahblah- some flirting, then, the magic lines

PRINCETON... I think you look really
beautiful tonight.

KATE: Oh Princeton! You look so handsome I could eat you alive!

And she leaned into me -again- and kissed me.

This was what a first kiss should be like. The second her lips touched mine, I thought I was in a different place. The kiss was all that mattered. The play, the audience, our parents, they meant nothing. If there was ever any doubt in my love for Bella, it just flew out the window. Here, now. This was the only place I wanted to be. For all of eternity.

And all too quickly she pulled away and it was over. The Rest of the play went off without a hitch, not that I really cared anymore.


The after party was only for the actors and Ms. Tinnian. The PTA, most of the parents, and the principal were literally trying to beat down the door. Luckily we had barricaded ourselves in. We were standing around eating pizza and ice-cream cake, drinking Pepsi (Ms. Tinnian was downing wine) and laughed as we listened to the angry people outside the door yell at us. Apparently no one had actually bothered to read the play before approving it for the school.

"JANE TINNIAN!" the principal yelled "YOU ARE FIRED….AGAIN! AND DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO USE ME AS A RECOMMENDATION!"

Trevor's mother was just being embarrassing. "Trevor, sweetie, I'm sorry that the evil lady threatened you into doing this awful play! Baby, if you open this door I will make you my special nummy cookies when we get home! Come on, honey bunchkins!" I felt bad for the kid, but I was wondering where Ms. Smith got the idea that we had been threatened.

The head of the PTA, on the other hand, well, she was just pissed off, she kept yelling "DEMON PLAY! OUT CHILDREN ARE GOING TO HELL! WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN?" she was being slightly reminiscent of Reverend Lovejoy's Wife.

So the eleven of us were sitting on the folded plastic chairs and talking when somebody (namely Alice) got up the guts to finally ask.

"So… Ms. Tinnian? Would you mind telling us how you got fired?

"Ugh! Don't even get me started on that! They were forcing me to teach English last year, due to budget cuts. So it was really their fault when you think about it. The school board told me I had to give the kids do a normal study, and apparently the book I chose was a 'demon book from hell that would corrupt our children.' I really wish that the head of the PTA would get that broomstick out of her ass. So I got fired for choosing a 'demonic' book."

"Umm… Ms. Tinnian?"

"Might as well call me Jane, now, I'm not your teacher anymore."

"Ok, Jane? What book was it?"

"Oh, 'Twilight'".


About an hour later, we were still in the room. The pizza was cold, the ice cream cake melted, the Pepsi flat, and Jane wasn't sharing her wine. They had shut off the power to the room, and we all had to go to the bathroom. Jane kept saying how fun this all was, like the protests back in the sixties, but we all knew that we were still there because we were afraid of the principal suspending us, Mrs. Smith force-feeding us cookies, and the head of the PTA beating us to death with that broomstick that was currently residing in her ass.

I looked around, trying to sneak another peek at Bella, when I realized that she wasn't there anymore. I voiced my concern.

"Oh, she left about ten minutes ago," Jane slurred "She said that she needed to go do something, she was tiny enough to crawl out the window up there, so I let her go"

Fuck! "Is there any other way out?"

"Just the window, and your too big -no offense- to get out of that."

"It doesn't look to small..."

"Only the bottom half opens, the top is locked, and I don't have the key."

I was desperate. I had to catch up to Bella before she got home. I seriously doubted that Charlie would let me on the premises. So, I did the only logical thing in my mind.

I took a chair and smashed it through the window.

The principal was yelling even louder now, wanting to know what the crashing was, threatening to expel anyone who damaged school property. I was worried for a second, before Jane winked at me and told me that she would take the blame for it

"I can't let you do that!"

"What is he going to do, fire me? Just go!" and I did.


Bella wouldn't go home yet. She wouldn't want to face Charlie, I thought to myself. It was a good thing I knew her so well. I knew exactly where she was. I walked to the garden (our garden as I would now think of it) and sure enough, there she was. Sitting on the (our) bench. I sat down beside her.

"Hey"

"Hey, Edward"

"So... "I struggled for something to talk about, "Did you see Charlie's face when you sang 'Special'?"

She smiled, but I could tell her heart wasn't in it. "Yeah, that was great" it was quiet for what felt like an eternity.

"So...you left."

"Yea..."

She wasn't making this easy on me. "Do you mind telling me why?"

"I just couldn't be in the same room as you anymore."

I swear I could hear my heart shattering. She hated me. She didn't want to be around me anymore! How could I go on?

She must have seen my face fall (or she heard my heart shatter) because she tried to backtrack her words.

"Edward! That's not what I meant! I mean...I was watching you," She looked me in the eyes, finally, "and I could barely keep myself...from doing...this"

She leaned in to me, and I prayed to god that she would kiss me for the second time that night

And she did.

A/N-so, the epilogue is coming!
So, thnx to my reviewers from last chapter! Even if you did only do it to get a sneak peek):

Hyacinthgirl18
ISolmelySwearThatIAmUpToNoG...
Black Rose812
evasivelove
Pretty-in-Pink-girl
evrythinuned
JulietsInsaneNurse
tinkscute

Sorry if I missed you, it's hard to keep track with my computer malfunctioning
keep your eyes posted for the epilogue! It will probably up within 2 days; it might even be up tonight, if my ipod battery holds
xx
Lucy

Beta note! (Which I actually do force her to write): Awww. I loved the way this panned out. It was defiantly the best ending I could have hoped for. And what about Tinnian? I loved the reason for her getting fired. That was pure genius ;-) (a/n- of course it was pure genious, she helped think of it :P)This was my favorite chapter. It was supportive, romantic, and funny in all the right places.