I realize I know nothing about cars or how to fix them, and hoping I can get away with being vague, cheeky I know, but engine's confuse me. So Yea, I googled and then used technical terms I didn't understand. It's probably just my twisted mind, but it sounds really dodgy!

Copyright rests with the wonderful Stephanie Meyer, or perhaps her publishing company, but definitely not me.

Chapter Ten

Not long after starting school in New Hampshire, I was moved from the eighth to the ninth grade, which was fine by me. It's not like I'd made any friends in my grade since we'd moved here, and if my other schools were anything to go by I wasn't likely to here either. In fact, if anything I was less likely to make friends here since my family was hanging around like a bad smell. Edward insisted on meeting me after class to walk me to my next one because he insisted that the boys were thinking inappropriately about me. They were freaking thirteen! How bad could it be? It was insisted upon that I sit with them in the cafeteria at lunch, despite the fact that no one else in my grade sat with the senior high school students, and those who did have siblings stayed as far away from them as they could. Then there was the fact that Dad was making Edward point out the boys having unsavoury thoughts about the females in my family, particularly me, and Dad was having fun glaring them down. He even growled at some poor kid who apparently walked to close to the back of my chair, the boy in question squeaked higher than I thought possible and ran for the hills. Mom wouldn't let me eat cafeteria food insisting it had too many preservatives in it to be healthy and had instead made me an organic lunch. To make matters worse, as we were leaving she tried to wipe something off the corner of my mouth with a tissue, and the kids behind me all heard as I called her 'Mom' trying to get her to stop, which wouldn't have been such a big deal if she wasn't supposed to be my sister. Jasper just looked in pain as he always did around humans other than me, who he was apparently immune to, and Alice wouldn't stop whining about me not letting her dress me.

Even after my grade change, I heard whisperings about my family in the hallways. They always centred around how weird we were. A number of times I heard my name being said, usually about how I didn't quite fit with them, and how I must be the ugly duckling in the family. I'm not going to pretend it didn't hurt, because it did. At the time I was still in my comfort over appearance phase, not to mention that awkward fourteen year old girl stage, and was damned if I was going to let them get to me. But it was slowly wearing me down. I was lonely. I wanted friends outside of my family. I wanted someone to think I was special, and not just the odd one out in my super perfect family.

Things came to a head one day in PE. I had just been told to sit volleyball out after nearly Knocking Out my partner, and was heading to the bleachers on the other side of the gym when I heard Mom's name. Two boys the year older than me were talking about things they'd like her to do to them and how they'd heard from some of the senior guys that she put out. The rational part of me told me that it sure as hell wasn't true and that Mom could more than protect herself from that kind of talk, but I was angry and wound up, so I rounded up on the guy who was talking about what he'd like my Mom to do him with her mouth, and punched him so hard the crack of his nose breaking reverberated around the gym. And that was the second time I broke a guy's nose.

Needless to say I was dragged off to the principle's office where Alice came to meet me having not seen the incident until it was too late, but knowing where I would end up after. Carlisle was called and got me out of a suspension, instead, I was faced with two weeks of afterschool detention with the seniors. And therein lay the problem. Had I still been in the eighth grade, I would have had detention with the juniors, but because I was now in the ninth, I was lumped in with the seniors, and that was where I met James.

James had shoulder length blonde hair which he wore tied at the nape of his neck with a black band. He wore dark jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket, there was a silver stud in his right ear, and I could see a tattoo peeking out from under the sleeve of his t-shirt. He was a sophomore like Alice and Edward, but I later found out that he had been held back a year, which was how he was able to be the only sophomore with five o'clock shadow and a driver's license. He had piercing blue eyes, and when I walked into detention on that first day, it felt like he could see right through me. Except for the fact he wasn't paying any attention to me whatsoever, and was actually already staring at the clock which hung above the door. He was like my own personal James Dean. Blame the teenage hormones racing through my system, but I officially had my first crush. Unless you count Edward, which I try not to.

It was the first day of the second week of detention that we finally spoke properly. The first time being when I pretty much fell into his lap having tripped over my own feet on my way into detention on the third day. We had been let out early when the supervisor got an emergency phone call, and Alice wouldn't have seen it soon enough to dispatch Edward quicker than she did. That coupled with the fact he had to stick to speed limits meant that I had to wait around to be picked up. Everyone else had left the school parking lot when I saw James kicking the car I had been admiring in the parking lot since we arrived. It was a beautifully restored, sleek, black 1970 Chevy Camaro. At least, it was beautifully restored on the outside. The engine wouldn't be much different to my Baby which was sitting in the garage at home. Recognizing my chance, I threw my shoulders back and headed over to him.

"Engine troubles" I asked.

He looked up at me with those cold blue eyes. "Yea, the carburetor's playing up, looks like I'm gonna have to wait till I can get one of my boys to come give me a hand."

"Maybe I can help?" I responded.

"Doubtful little girl, what are you gonna do, offer me a ride home with Mommy and Daddy when they come to pick you up?"

"Do you have a tool kit?" I asked, trying to keep my tone icy and knowing I should have been insulted. I knew full well he had a tool kit as he took woodwork, yea I was a stalker, I'd sussed him out.

He silently removed one from the back seat and handed it to me, eying me curiously. I put the hood up, grabbed the number seven wrench and unscrewed the wadget, instructing him to hold the cam shaft clamp in place while I removed the fleem bolt. It was freaking warm under the hood of the car, so I removed Edward's hoody which I had stolen that morning to wear and continued to work. I pulled up the manifold, and inserted the cam shaft and asked if James had any lubricant. He raised his eyebrow at me, smirking, but pulled some out of the tool box. I squirted some of that down the manifold, removed the shaft, wiped away the built up grime on the hem of my tanktop and put it back together.

"Try start it now" I said as I shut the hood.

James jumped into the front seat and gunned the engine which roared into life just as Edward's Volvo pulled into the school carpark.

"Thanks for the help little girl, I'll see you in detention again tomorrow" he smirked at me again, lighting a cigarette, before roaring out of the parking lot.

"What the hell are you doing Bella?" growled Edward as I jumped into the passenger seat of the Volvo.

"Um, detention got out early, I was waiting for my ride home and that guy James was having car troubles so I helped him out, why?"

"He's bad news, stay away from him Bella" Edward said menacingly.

"What the hell Edward, you can't tell me who I can and can't hang out with! Christ. Besides, we weren't even hanging out, I helped him get his freaking car started! He doesn't even know my freaking name! He hadn't even noticed me before tonight" I fumed

"Oh he knows your name Bella, and trust me he's noticed you. It would be freaking hard not to in that little outfit, where the fuck is your jersey?" he seethed.

I looked down at myself and suddenly felt mortified. I was wearing a tight, white tank top with a black bra underneath and skin tight black jeans. I was fourteen, and had begun filling out the year before. The constant drizzle in Mt Washington had rendered my white tank pretty much see through, and the black bra was displaying my assets a little too inappropriately. A slither of belly was visible between the bottom of my tank and the waist of my low riders, and my belly button decoration hung out the bottom of my top. There were grease smears all across the bottom of the white top. The outfit, while not at all inappropriate with Edward's giant sweatshirt covering me to mid-thigh had taken on a totally different tone once the hoody was removed, something I hadn't envisioned doing when I left the house this morning. And Edward's hoody was at this moment taking a ride in James' Camaro, leaving me to walk into the house and face my family dressed like this. Fuck!