Chapter Three! Just heat in the microwave for ten seconds and enjoy!

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I'd like to give a quick thanks to marshie01 for reviewing! I appreciate it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.

I looked down at the ten dollar bill in my hand with my mouth twisted into a grimace.

"Honey, just take it. You did a wonderful job with the boys." Grandma said sincerely.

Emmett and Edward had bolted as soon as they had received their money, and I couldn't help but sigh with relief after they were gone, the door locked safely behind them. It was like the air had lost the edge to it, the tension. It also helped that my grandfather went to bed ridiculously early. It had been seven-twenty when he hobbled off to bed.

"I really appreciate you trying to make friends," she added, patting my hand and closing it around the valuable paper. Her nose wrinkled as she looked at me, though. "And wash your face, will you? That dirt is driving me crazy." And with that, she went up the stairs. A door closed a second later, and I knew she was going to sleep as well.

I felt the money in my hand, and shoved it into the pocket of my jeans, trying not to be too disgusted. I wasn't generally a gift person, and receiving money from Grandma only made me feel like I was using her. Even if she had given the Cullen boys ten extra dollars each.

As if I wouldn't notice.

I sighed, then started up the stairs, deciding to take a shower and get rid of the nasty feeling that crawled all over my skin. It had been a while since I'd done any manual labor, and while it felt good to stretch out my muscles, the sweat that came with it was not appreciated.

So I bolted up the stairs, ignoring the creaking protests of the boards as I went. I closed the door to the guest room and stripped down, grabbing my blue robe from my backpack and pulling it on, shivering in the sudden chill. During the day, it was scorching hot, but it got amazingly cold at night every now and then. I walked down the hall and into the second bathroom, feeling happy in being almost alone. But as soon as I got into the shower and turned on the water, something was definitely wrong.

I looked around the tub, on all of the corners, and saw, to my utter disbelief, that there was only one bottle of shampoo. No conditioner, no soap, not even a bottle of body wash. I felt my heart sink as I stared at the unfamiliar brand, lifting it and furrowing my brow hesitantly. I opened the tab and took a sniff.

Oh God. It smelled like old lady.

I grimaced as I put a dollop of the questionable goop into my palm, stared at it for a second - as if that would somehow help my situation - and put it into my hair, scrubbing it thoroughly. It smelled worse and worse as I went, but my hair felt cleaner, so I wasn't about to complain - I even washed my whole body with it, deciding that if I was going to smell awful, I might as well do it all the way.

After I got out of the shower, I toweled off and put my robe back on, staring at my reflection in the mirror. My eyes started at my exposed collarbone and went up, so I was looking myself in the eyes. I braced my hands against the counter and stared at the stranger in my skin. She looked just like me, except she wasn't - she was everything my father believed I was, and now I was starting to see her too; the bags under her eyes, the cracks in her lips, the anger burning in her eyes.

It was getting hard to find myself in her.

Running a hand through my hair and sighing, I shut off the light and went back into the guest room, falling asleep the instant my head hit the pillow.

----------

A few days later, my situation hadn't improved by much. The Cullen boys kept coming over every night, right after dinner. I stopped offering to help, instead opting to sit on my ass in the guest room and wait for them to finally leave. Emmett always said hello to me, winking or smiling. Edward, however, ignored me whenever he possibly could. That suited me just fine; if it was up to me, I would just do all the yard work myself and keep them out of the house entirely.

But whenever I talked to my grandma about this, she would always say the same thing.

"It's good to have young, strong men around the house, Bella." And then she would wink at me.

Ugh. So was she supposedly having them over every day for my sake? I didn't know anymore.

Grandpa was still being a royal pain in the ass. He called me Isabella all the time, even if it was just to acknowledge my presence. I would call him Peter right back, though - something I knew bugged him more than it bugged kept watching me with these speculative eyes, like he was just waiting for the opportunity to bust me on something. I hadn't done anything, though. There wasn't anything I could possibly do.

I was convinced that I would die of boredom.

I sat quietly in the living room, watching the television with a great amount of confusion. Grandma had shoved an old tape in the VCR and insisted that I watch it with her. The movie was called Weird Science, and boy was it crazy. Two nerds somehow brought a doll to life, and she had the hots for the dark-haired one. It didn't make any sense to me, but I was a very logical person - it took a lot of realism in a movie to impress me.

Grandma laughed a lot, something about her that was both sweet and annoying. I barely cracked a smile throughout the whole torturous experience.

"So?" Grandma asked when it was over. "What do you think?"

"I think that that was the stupidest movie I've ever seen."

Okay, how rude can I get? Did that really just come out of my mouth?

To my total surprise, she laughed again, throwing her head back and shaking her head a little. "I know hon; I'm trying. I know we aren't the most technical relatives you have, and I'm sorry for that." Her eyes softened as she went on, "I'm just trying to make this visit as fun as I can."

I started fidgeting in my seat. She was getting all heart-warmy, and I wasn't good with that kind of thing. It made me nervous. So I changed the subject, asking, "Why don't you guys buy a new TV? You and Gran - Peter, I mean - both had good jobs and made a steady retirement fund. You should have more than enough for things like that."

She shook her head. "Your grandfather is the stubbornest man I've ever known. He doesn't want to upgrade because he feels that if we buy new things, then our house will become a target for thieves." She met my eyes and shrugged. "That's just how the man works, and it's fine with me."

Her voice was very loving when she said the last few words. She truly did love him - and I knew he loved her back. But it was still irritating hearing her talk about him like all he ever does is treat people with love and respect. Obviously, he stopped trying with me, because I hadn't heard him say "I love you" to me since I was in eighth grade. No matter what she said about him, he was still rude and obnoxious.

It was so relieving to know that he had gone out again. I really didn't like having him anywhere near my proximity.

The doorbell rang suddenly, making me jump about ten feet in the air.

Grandma took a deep breath and went to the task of getting to her feet. Watching her struggles was too hard, so I stood up quickly and walked towards the front door, opening it smoothly.

Our visitor was not who I was expecting. I had thought maybe Peter was home, or that Edward and Emmett were back for more chores. But no - it was a girl, close to my height, with long black hair up in a ponytail. Her bright blue eyes widened when she saw me, looking startled.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Um... are you Isabella Swan?"

"Bella," I corrected automatically. "Yeah."

She smiled widely and started bouncing up and down. "Omigosh, this is so great! I'm so happy to finally meet you!" Without warning, she thrust open the screen door separating us and embraced me in a warm hug.

Awkward level: veeeery high.

I was about to ask her what the hell she was doing, but before I could she released me, stepping back out onto the porch. "My brothers have told me so much about you!"

Shit. By brothers, she has to mean the Cullen guys... so... wait, why is she so happy to see me if Edward has told her all about me? Did he spare her the loathing that we share?

Once again, she cut me off, suddenly grabbing my wrist with her hand. "C'mon, let's go! I have the whole day planned out for us!"

"What?" I asked incredulously. "What do you mean?"

She looked taken aback, dropping my hand suddenly. "You mean you don't know? Your grandma told me that you would be free today, so-"

"Grandma!" I exploded, sprinting back into the living room. She sat there on the couch, smiling knowingly. That only made my disbelief rise. "You set up a playdate for me? I'm not five years old, you know!"

She rolled her eyes. "Stop being so dramatic. Just go with Alice and have fun."

I felt my hands curling into fists without being aware of commanding them to do so. "My idea of fun is not-"

A booming laugh from behind me caught me off guard, making me spin around on my heels to find the source.

It was Emmett, hands in his pockets, towering over his sister in the doorway. He grinned as I grew more and more confused. "Yo, Bells. Ready to roll?"

This was all getting to be too much. A day out with one girl I could probably handle easily - with Emmett added to the mix, however, there were bound to be many more awkward moments and dirty jokes.

I was speechless. I had truly no idea how to get out of this one.

Alice broke the small moment of silence. "If you're coming, you'd better hurry. Edward gets a little moody when he leaves the car engine running too long."

I couldn't help what I did next. It was totally instinctive to scream as loudly as I could and run up the stairs.

Yeah, right.

----------

I sat in the backseat of the Cullens' blue van, my arms crossed in anger.

No matter how many times I went over it in my head, I found it unfair how easily I'd been forced to come along. I had expected Alice to just walk away after my outburst, Emmett following suit. Instead, Grandma had told them to just take me, and then I was running and Emmett had me over his shoulder, barely breaking a sweat. Alice had laughed at Edward's expression when he saw us emerge from the house, me kicking and thrashing, trying to escape.

After Emmett had easily shoved me in, I had just given up, scowling and buckling my seat belt.

Part of me wondered if I did it on purpose - had acted like a whiny baby to get attention. That was very likely, since I wasn't really angry at all. Somehow, I felt happy that they had brought me, even after I'd acted like a total brat. But I wasn't about to show them that.

"Where are we going, anyway?" I asked Alice, turning my head to look at her next to me.

She cocked her head to the side. "Edward, where are we going first?"

"I thought you had it all planned out," he muttered.

She laughed, smiling over at me. "Do you know the area at all?"

I shook my head. "I haven't been here for a while. I only remember that park a few blocks away from my grandparents' house..."

"We could head to the arcade first," Emmett offered.

"Arcade?"

Edward looked at me in the reflection in the mirror, his eyebrows raising. "You sound like you've never been to one."

I bit my lip and looked out the window.

There was a collective gasp from the two other passengers in the van, and I couldn't help but stick my tongue out at them. Emmett retaliated, putting his thumb to his nose and wiggling his fingers. Alice just stared at me like she couldn't quite believe it.

"So what - I've never been to an arcade - what's the big freaking deal?" I snapped.

"The big deal is," Edward said, "you obviously haven't lived yet."

"You people are so strange," I scoffed.

Emmett turned around in the front seat to look at me accusingly. "What do you mean, 'you people'?"

Alice and Edward burst out laughing. I managed a smirk, but it was hard to find what he said funny when he was still staring at me so seriously. He cracked a smile, though, and laughed himself, turning back around to face the road before us. It went quiet again, which I was happy with, but it wasn't bound to last long.

We finally pulled into a parking lot, which was clustered with several assorted businesses. The lot was crowded as hell, and we drove up and down several rows, not spotting any available slots.

"Oh, over there, Ed!" Emmett frantically started pointing towards the next row, really getting into the motion.

Alice shook her head. "Someones already pulling up to it."

"Oh no, they don't." Edward growled.

And suddenly we were going about eighty, skidding around the corner and shooting into the next row. I screamed, but I wasn't alone - Alice was too, and we were clutching onto eachother and the seats. Edward just went faster, slowing down barely enough to slide easily into the empty spot.

"Holy shit! Are you trying to kill us?" I asked.

He just grinned in the rear-view mirror.

We got out of the car, the other person driving by, giving us a nice view of his middle finger. I was shocked. I wasn't used to Phoenix by a long shot. Sure, Tuscon had finger-flippers, but we did not have this kind of brutal parking space battle. Then again, I mused, there probably aren't any crazy people like Edward there to instigate them.

Emmett laughed again - something I was beginning to realize he did quite often - and said, "Well, shall we?"

They all started walking up to the strip mall, and I followed hesitantly behind. This would be one of the usual moments when I would put my ear buds in my ears and listen to my music as loud as it would go. My parents would think it was because I was trying to ignore them, to get out of spending time with them when we went out to eat or something. Neither of them bothered to try and find out the truth.

We entered a store that was called, "Crazy Mike's", and the name of the place did nothing to settle my discomfort. I literally gaped when I saw the inside.

There were a few tables and chairs, like any other restaurant, off to one side; the other, however, was dominated by four rows of arcade games, all lined up and beeping. A buffet was set up on the opposite wall, where a few people had lined up to get food. The strangest thing to me was the waiting staff; they were all wearing a bright neon-green alien suit.

"Hey, Em, Ed!" A male voice called out. I turned my head towards it and gaped even wider. There was a guy standing there, his face painted the same color as the rest of the alien suits. A springy antenna protruded from the top of his head, bouncing into his face every few seconds. Obviously fake rubber tentacles were attached to the suit at his waist line. "Glad you guys are here! I haven't seen you in forever, dudes!" He did that weird fist-bump that some guys do. "Take a seat, it's on the house."

"Awesome!" Emmett exclaimed, running over to an open booth. Edward followed after him. The green man didn't give time for Alice and I to join them.

"Ladies, how goes the summer?"

Alice sighed shortly. "Fantastic. Kindly leave me alone."

Her coldness towards him startled me. For me, it would be normal to say something so bluntly like that, but for a bubbly person like Alice, it seemed out-of-character.

"Bella, c'mon," she huffed, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the boys. Emmett smiled apologetically at her, but she just looked away.

"Sorry. I thought he was off duty today."

I stared at Alice in question, which she met with an even look. "That freak over there is my ex. Mike Newton." She shuddered. "I have no idea what I even saw in that idiot!" She threw her hands into the air dramatically, slumping down into the booth.

Wow, her ex? I looked back over at Mike, standing by the entrance, looking sheepish. I wondered what he had done to break them up.

Edward shook his head. "Can we just eat? This drama is already draining me."

"Insensitive turd," Alice muttered, standing up and shoving her brother's shoulder - but she smiled.

We ate at the buffet, even though I wasn't sure Mike's promise that it was on the housewas very legit. The food was average, at best, but it filled me up. After eating, the four of us walked over to the arcade section. Alice handed me a cup full of quarters, chuckling at my aversity to accepting the few dollars. She skipped off, leaving me in the middle of beeping machines and guffawing teenagers.

I decided that while I was there, I might as well try to play something, so I went up to the first machine I saw and shoved a quarter in.

The screen showed a big maze, with little yellow dots everywhere. At first, I didn't know who I was supposed to be controlling, so I sat there mashing buttons until the yellow guy suddenly folded in on himself, disappearing completely.

A sudden burst of laughter sounded behind me, and I turned around slowly to glare at the all-too-familiar voice.

"Shut your hole, Edward." I hissed.

He grinned unashamedly at me, moving closer. "I knew you were going to suck, but I didn't think it would be this pathetic."

I felt my face get hot. Pathetic? Is that what he saw when he looked at me? Some stupid girl who couldn't even wrap her mind around a simple videogame? An imbecile that couldn't find her place in the world - not even amongst people of her own age?

Well, part of me thought he was right.

"It's my first time playing this game," was my lame excuse.

He raised his eyebrows and looked at the screen. "Pac-Man? You've never played Pac-Man?" He looked back down at me, almost condescendingly. "Seriously, what do you do all day?"

I shrugged, turning back around. "If you're just going to stand there and mock me, then go away." I inserted another coin into the machine, pressing the bright red START button. Once again, I was playing some mindless game that didn't even make sense to me. I looked down at the controls. There was a rod that came out from the middle of the board. I took a hold of it and moved it around, and to my amazement, the brigth yellow guy started moving what ever way I shoved it. I smiled at my discovery.

My excitement dried up after I died within the first thirty seconds.

"You realize you're not supposed to run into those other guys, right?" Edward asked. I jumped - I hadn't realized he was still there.

"Why not?"

"They kill you."

"That's stupid - I'm bigger than they are, so why-?"

"He can only eat them when you get those," he said, his hand coming into my view and pointing at the bigger circles in the corners.

I furrowed my brow. That doesn't make any sense! Why would it make a difference? But I didn't voice my questions. I hoped that if I kept quiet, then Edward would go away and I could attempt to enjoy myself.

After I started another round, I still felt his presence behind me. It was unnerving, having him watch everything I was doing. It made every mistake that much more humiliating.

Fifteen minutes later, Pac-Man shriveled up for about the fiftieth time, and I groaned, smacking my fist against the screen. "You stupid yellow thingy! Stop dying! I'm almost out of quarters, dammit!"

Apparently the arcade was making me go insane.

Edward sighed heavily. "You're embarrassing me."

I twisted my head around to glare at him.

He smiled a little bit. "Here, I'll help you out. Put another quarter in." He said, stepping closer to me - way too close for my own personal comfort.

But I really wanted to get past level one, at least, so I kept my mouth shut and slipped another quarter in. Obviously another reason why I was going insane; never in my right mind would I let Edward Cullen within a two-meter radius of my person.

Edward reached around me, pressing the START button. His other hand came around the other side of me, grasping the rod firmly.

He had me trapped against the machine.

Oh crap. Oh crap! Oh crap!

...

Why did part of me like it?

He murmured instructions into my ear as he moved Pac-Man expertly across the screen, informing me on how to best go about collecting the little orbs. I wasn't paying any attention, though. I was too preoccupied with his breath, smelling somehow minty, and how his chest would brush against my back every now and then. I would respond whenever was necessary, grunting and nodding in affirmation. But Pac-Man was the last thing on my mind.

Wait. Just hold on one damn second. Don't I hate this guy? Isn't he supposed to be some cocky bastard that treated me like dirt the first time we met? Where did that guy go, and when did this gentlemanly Edward show up in his place? Does he have a multiple personality disorder? A twin, maybe?

He suddenly stopped moving the rod, letting poor Pac-Man die. I furrowed my brow, turning my head to look at him. He was so close, and I could finally see that his eyes were a deep, foresty green. His lips looked moist, opened slightly, his sweet breath fanning across my face. I registered all of this in one second, and in the next I was going to inch away, because I was supposed to hate him and thinking about him like this was not helping me. But I didn't get the chance.

He leaned forward and kissed me full-on the mouth.

Confused? Yeah, me too. Edward just does things without the author's consent sometimes.

Just a short note... most of the places in my story are going to be made up, since I'm lazy and don't feel like trying to remember every fun place I've ever been to in Phoenix.. except maybe the Phoenix Zoo - I went there a few weeks ago, and it was so much fun!

Asta-la-bye-bye!