Okay, I know some of you might be a little antsy with me 'cos I've been off for three days; sorry, silly school and silly cycling camps. And now I have a twisted wrist too!! At least I can still (semi)type. So, I hope this chapter comes out right. And now, as always;
The Reviewers!! (As in; if I had Award Badges to give out, I would give them to the following people)
Music ADD, Child-Of-God13, smile for the paparazzi, CrazZy-BunNy, mrsjacobblack91, PoUrThEcHaMpAgNe.O.O., Ghosts in the Snow, beggingtobebitten, x-aly-x, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, jennifier potter, BellaAtHeart, Intoxicated By His Presence, vampiressuck, Muff'Nbutter, A - Mizzle, chrissyhale, joellen818, dollegirl.
Special Mentions:
Music ADD: hahaha multiple personality disorder, that's gold lol
Child-Of-God13: Ooooooooohhh, you might be close!! I like how you worked out like this whole sequence of events in your review, I was impressed at your clarity of thought! We shall see if you're right in shakes Magic 8 Ball ... 'in due time'... ooooooohhhhh!
smile for the paparazzi: YES! This is definitely a BxE!! No doubt!
CrazZy-BunNy: Fifty points!! Yes, Bella and Jake are becoming closer. We shall see how Mike and Bella feel about each other soon enough, don't worry about that. And Jasper and Alice? Well, we shall see, hehehehe (I'm feeling weirdly mystical tonight, has anyone noticed?)
mrsjacobblack: lol, Jasper wandering around with a shoe sticking out of his butt IS awfully tempting...
PoUrThEcHaMpAgNe.O.O.: You changed your name!! Love it, very sweet and (cruddy pun intended) "bubbly", hahaha, laaaame. I like sweet Jake too! (.)
beggingtobebitten: A change of schools for Edward? Quite creative, but we'll have to wait and see if it happens :-)
x-aly-x: We shall learn more about Jasper, but not for a little while unfortunately. And Jake, we'll find out about his and Bella's past soon. Patience, my dears!
AlwaysBettingOnAlice: Fifty points to you too!! Your view on the bet is correct. But when does it happen, I wonder?
jennifier potter: Lol, Jake confuses himself, I promise. As for the elementary crack, you're spot on, it is silly. But sweet in a weird, weird way.
BellaAtHeart: Welcome to the 'special mentions' section! I hope you'll enjoy your stay... try the chicken, chef's special... Now. I loved your review! It was heaps funny. It was nice to see such enthusiasm after getting too little sleep last night (are campsites always so darn uncomfortable?!) Charlie and Mrs Newton? Hahahahahah, weird pairing, weird lol
Intoxicated By His Presence: hahahahahahahaha, "ahh well jake, you can have leah!" I've been trying to pedal that theory to my friends for aaaaaaages, but no, they wont have a bar of it. It would be awesome if he did, though, but he obviously can't because he's already seen her while he's been a werewolf and by the last scene in Eclipse; he doesn't tolerate her all too well either.
vampiressuck: Oh my Carlisle, I think I blew a hole in my lung while I was laughing at your review; how could I miss the double meaning to your screen name? Shame on me, shame shame shame lol. Thanks for your review!
Muff'Nbutter: this chapter, you'll find out about the Athletics Day in this chapter... hehe...
A - Mizzle: Ally, you're a crazy gal! Love ya. At the risk of sounding like an utter and complete tool, I shall try and decipher the craziness in your review; thankyou darling, I do love my reviewers!! They keep me goin :-) and I love answering individual reviews here; it's funner this way, and I can do them all at once. Plus, if someone doesn't care they can skip it and read the chapter!! Win - win situation, eh? The sequal's coming Ally, it's coming. I want to make it good before anyone sees it. And my readers have to want it too, otherwise there'd be no point in writing it, would there? A tree makes no sound unless there's someone to hear it fall, isn't that right? As for that Ally character, she's based on someone ultra-cool that I know... I THINK she might have an alias under the pretence of 'A - Mizzle'? Maybe?
chrissyhale: Very observant, you're right! Bella does miss Jake.
dollegirl: Thankyou for reading! I'm really glad you stumbled across this, cos now you can join my reviewing army if you like? Feel free to ask questions!! You have a cute pen name too, btw :-)
Okay, they're the review answer thingo's done. So, now for chapter Eleven. Guess what? BELLA AND EDWARD FINALLY MEET!! I know you're practically wetting yourself with excitement, so read on my lovelies...
Chapter Eleven: Twenty Questions
"Alice, stop stressing. You look fine!"
I tried to tug her away from the mirror in the girl's bathroom, but she planted her feet and kept on pulling at the oversized grey t-shirt with "GO SPARTANS!" written in bold type across the chest.
"I look like a hobo, Bella, and it's all your fault!" She turned to me with a sooky expression on her face.
"Well, if it's my fault that you're running then it's your fault that I'm managing your team, Little Miss Brandon. Do don't come crying to me about being unfairly signed up for things! And on a Saturday, too!"
I tried to be serious, but couldn't do it. Alice's sulking face was just too funny, even if I knew she was furiously angry at her clothes.
"Why do you get to wear a slightly more stylish jacket all day, when I have to wear this circus tent?!"
"Because all I have to do is stand around and yell at you to go faster. Now, speaking of which, we have a bus to catch. Get your butt out of here," I said, pushing her toward the graffiti covered door, "unless you feel like running to Seattle with me on your back."
Still unhappy with her outfit, Alice turned for the door and shoved it open with more force than was necessary for the old hinges. The door flung open and smacked loudly into the wall on the other side before Alice caught it on its way back and stormed out toward the bus.
When I got to the top of the coach steps, she was still searching for an empty seat. I noticed that there weren't many people on the bus; there seemed to be around twenty or twenty five - and most of them were occupying a seat to themselves. Jasper, Jake and James were draped across a few chairs at about the half-way mark. I chose not to look at them. Alice chose the same course of action as she scanned over the heads for her brother, who she could hear but not yet see. Someone sat down ahead, clearing our view, and we saw them.
Up the back I saw Emmett lounging across the back seat, and Mike sitting beside him with Tyler trying to tug his jumper out from under Emmett's butt. I smiled and followed Alice's quick little steps to join the three of them on the faded red leather seat.
Alice smacked Emmett loudly across the leg to make him move for her, then she smacked him again as she yanked Tyler's stretched jumper to freedom. He gave her an appreciative look before cradling the jumper to assess the damage. I slid in between Emmett and Mike, who was by the window. He kissed me on the cheek before accidentally catching me in a human sandwich Emmett was making between himself and the window.
"Ahh!" I yelled, sure that my ribs were bending in ways that they weren't meant to bend. Emmett just laughed, so I grabbed his arm and pinched with what I had of nails. He jumped a little bit, but was laughing when Mike unstuck himself from the window so I assumed I hadn't done as much damage as I'd liked.
"Hey, sweetie," Mike said in a sickly voice. I grinned and tried to reply in a similarly gushy tone.
"Good morning, handsome."
"Are you feeling better today? You were looking a bit upset yesterday, but I didn't want to say anything in case you didn't want to talk about it."
Oh. So he does have a brain… I just don't think about things properly before I get mad for no reason.
"Yeah, much better! Sorry about that. It was nothing." I moved a little closer and hugged him around the middle, to which he hugged me gently back. "It's still too cold today, though."
"Yeah, that's true. I wish I had one of those jumpers, they look really warm." He started playing with my collar.
I smiled and laughed, smacking his hand away and puffing my chest out officially as I said, "Only Team Managers can wear these, Mister Newton. So you're just going to have to slug it out on the field while I stay warm and cosy on the sidelines, yelling at you to get a move on."
The bus rumbled to life under us then, and there was a small cheer from the students. Coach Clapp rose up the stairs with a clipboard in hand and started ticking off names as he passed seats. Mike held my hand in his between us, invisible to anyone looking on from the outside. I giggled as he squeezed my hand in time with a heart beat, getting faster as Coach Clapp approached.
"Good morning, kids, hope you've all brought your school spirit with you!" Coach Clapp said, too much enthusiasm coating his tone for a teacher who was forced to work on the weekend. Mike's hand was beating in a pulse so fast that a real heart would have passed out from the effort by now. The Coach looked brightly at our faces as he ticked off our names, looking at Emmett like he was a star and giving Alice a shy "Good morning, Miss Brandon" before he turned away and scurried back to the front.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Emmett started laughing and tried to splutter words out to Alice between intakes of breath and outbursts of stifled laughter. "Did he blush over you?!"
"Shut it, Emmett, if you appreciate the state of your shoe-print-less butt."
Emmett immediately quietened down, scared by the possibility of a pointy heel. I laughed quietly, because both Mike and Tyler had cringed at the mention of the punishment.
"Alright then, competitors!" Coach Clapp thundered through the bus's microphone. "We'll be picking up the Port Angeles High kids soon, don't try and maim them too much before the events start. Play nicely, children!"
I noted that his parting line was one of his favourites, because he had said the same thing when Alice had been partnered with Tyler, and me with Mike, during our kickboxing Gym class. The Coach scratchily put the microphone back into its holder.
"Alice?" I called over the boy's knees to the other end of the six-seater chair (five-seater with Emmett on it).
"Yeah?" she called back.
"You're going to talk to Leah when she gets on, aren't you?"
"Yeah! What else? Stare and admire from afar?" Her head appeared around Emmett's front and I smiled at her, seeing the hidden question in her reply.
"Yeah, not hiding and admiring from afar."
"Good."
A while later, the boys discovered a ball of rubber bands from somewhere so Alice and I claimed our own safe seat further forward from impending the war zone. Most of the other guys had seen the stupid display and were steadily sneaking back to join in, so almost all the seats on the first half of the bus were empty.
Alice pointed to a chair on the left side of the aisle, and said that she would sit there with Leah. Her reasoning was that Edward and me should get to know each other without anyone else eavesdropping.
"But how will I know which one he is? And how will you know who Leah is?"
Alice rolled her eyes dramatically at me, almost up to my own professional standard. "Photos, Bella, remember them?"
"Oh yeah. By the way, why didn't you let me see-?"
"Ooooh I think we're here!" She hopped up excitedly and looked over my head out the window to the unfamiliar school buildings slowly crawling by the window.
PORT ANGELES HIGH SCHOOL
The sound of exhaust breaks cut off every conversation, and the bus shuddered to a stop. Alice was somehow leaning in every direction, so I chose to stay in my seat rather than get a concussion from her elbow or something.
"Like I said, play nicely," Coach Clapp warned as the doors creaked open. Alice had lasered her attention to the front of the bus, so I pulled myself up over the seat and peered carefully at each of the Port Angeles students as they climbed aboard.
The first thing I noticed were the rowdy kids who pushed in line to get on the bus first. Second was that the quality of the Port Angeles High sports outfit was far better than our own. I could almost feel Alice's jealousy rolling off her. Theirs were dark uniforms with gold piping along the arms and up the ribs; they each had full tracksuits on and from what I could see they all appeared to even have matching shoes.
"Wow. Rich kids, or what?"
Alice ignored my comment. "I think that's Leah," she said as a girl with coppery skin and lovely long black hair stepped onto the bus. The girl, who was pretty much confirmed to be Leah when her face lit up at the sight of Alice heading between the bags for her, waved enthusiastically. They hugged and Alice pulled her down into the seat she'd previously pointed out. Just as Leah was taken out of the picture, I saw someone I prayed like anything was Edward.
He had dark brown hair, but when he passed a square of rare sunlight coming in through the window, it shimmered metallically. It then looked bronze to my eyes rather than brown. His skin was light, but it looked warm and had olive undertones. It looked very smooth and I wondered if it felt just as lovely. He was tall, having to duck slightly to avoid hitting his head on the bus ceiling. His legs were long and lean, just like a runner's should be. His shoulders were broad and though he was wearing a thick jumper I could see that he was very well built.
He had been looking down to avoid tripping over the waterfall of bags that had carelessly been thrown into the aisles as people had walked on, but then he looked up to speak to Leah. Green. Beautiful. More beautiful than a guy's eyes should be; nay, more than any human's should be. They swirled with thoughts, and dreams, and conversations, and life, and a real, visible soul. I was totally fixated, staring more than even a stalker was entitled to – and then he looked up directly at me and Alice started bouncing around her chair.
He smiled, and I grinned, dropping back in my seat and feeling like my legs were made of rubber. I quickly snuck a glance over my shoulder to Mike, who was still flicking rubber bands carelessly at Emmett, and then saw him dive behind a chair to avoid an army of shots from James and Jasper. I turned back to stare some more at Edward, but I found he was much closer than I'd expected. Somehow he'd manoeuvred his way over without falling, and was standing beside the seat.
I wriggled across to let him sit down beside me.
"You must be Bella," he said, holding out a hand while using his other to swing his large sports bag onto an empty spot in the aisle. I nearly made a googly noise like a child when I heard his voice. It was… indescribable. I felt a million thoughts swirl through my head, mostly stupid and fanatical and unlikely .
"Bella, yes. You must be Edward." I took his outstretched hand. It was leathery but soft; muscular but tender; and much larger than my own but far gentler.
He sat down then, and I felt myself flush a little at having this near-perfect stranger (who wasn't really a stranger) so close beside me.
We looked at each other for a moment, and I cracked a smile, which he returned. I found tons of questions flying through my head, most of them inappropriate, but I managed to catch one thought before it flitted out my ear.
"Nice uniform," I commented, eyeing his dark threads.
He laughed, a lovely melody which immediately took a place at the top of my 'Favourite Sounds' list.
"They're new," he said, picking at his jacket. "Our coach wanted to show up your school, though apparently, that's not too hard if what Alice was wearing is any indication." He laughed quietly again.
I was so in awe at the sound of his voice that I completely forgot to be insulted – even though his tone indicated no nastiness. "Oh, yeah, me too."
Oh. My. Gosh. I will happily jump out of the window. That made no sense at all! You stupid fool! What on earth was that?! I mean seriously, 'oh, yeah, me too'?! That makes no sense!
"Umm, yeah." He smiled at me like he was seeing something more than my boring face and my comparatively bland jacket.
"Did you get my letter?" I asked then, and the bus rumbled to life under us, the Port Angeles coach yelling something from the front. I wasn't listening, and apparently I wasn't the only one because the noise around us didn't cease in the slightest.
He reached down into his bag, revealing a water bottle. He raised it to his lips and I felt my heart speed up at his movement. "Yeah, I got it on Thursday. I've already put my reply in to be sent, so I can't give it to you sorry, but I think us being able to talk to each other is a good alternative anyway!"
"Ha," I laughed stupidly, still caught in the wonder of his face, his voice, his laugh, his presence, his smell...
His smell. It reminded me of something I couldn't put my finger on, but it was lovely and sweet. It was smooth and velvety, yet soft and pure like milk. Just like his flawless skin, which was far too close to me – I was currently losing the mental battle to not reach up and touch him.
Ah! I internally hit myself. I have a boyfriend, less than fifty feet away; and here I am thinking about touching a stranger's face! This is insane! I firmly sat on my hands as I waited for his next words.
He looked around the bus, and laughed softly when he saw the guys up the back flicking rubber bands around. "They your friends?" he asked, looking from the boys to me and back again as he spoke.
"Yeah. The big one is Emmett–"
"Wow! You weren't kidding when you said he was massive. Sam's got nothing on that guy! Where is he, anyway?" He more or less said the last question to himself, so I stayed silent while he scanned the front of the bus for his friend. "Sam!" He suddenly yelled, and I felt irrational goose bumps creeping up my arms.
A blonde guy turned back to see Edward, a smaller guy caught in a head lock under his arm. I laughed beside Edward at the sight, and Sam looked at me, then smiled.
"What?" Sam called back, using his free hand to give the helpless guy a noogie.
"Drop him, Sam; he's less than half the size of your head!"
"Nope," Sam said, smiling cheekily.
"Tell that guy to pinch Sam's arm. It works when Emmett's sandwiching me." I whispered, looking up at Edward. He smiled at me then turned back to Sam and his victim, who was now wriggling frantically as Sam started yanking single hairs from his head, laughing mischievously.
"Paul!" The head stopped wriggling. Sam looked suspiciously at Edward. "Pinch him!"
A moment later there was a great yell as Sam released the head, rubbing a spot on his arm. I laughed, as did Edward, and Paul straightened up to rub his neck.
"Thanks," he said to Edward, then leaned back in his seat.
"Well, that's Paul and Sam. I don't know where Jared is, probably with Kim or something." Edward sat back in his chair and turned to me with a smile on his face.
"Like I said, you've got interesting friends!" I laughed and he grinned at me.
"Well, they do make me feel normal." He turned to the back seat again. "Who are the others?"
I turned reluctantly away from his face and followed his gaze. "That's Tyler, the one with his arms over his head. The big one, like I said, is Emmett. The blonde is Mike. Umm," I said, looking around for other people I knew so I could get my guilty mind off of Mike. "That's James and Jasper, the two sitting there by the yellow bag, and behind them is Jacob."
Edward was nodding as I pointed everyone else I knew out. "I know a fair few of them, just by name mostly."
"Who did you come with?" I asked, turning back to the front where the Port Angeles High students were seated.
"Well, Leah, obviously," he smiled at me as he looked back to his other friends. "There's Paul and Sam, and Jared is…" he looked around again. "Oh! There he is," he said, pointing to a dark-haired boy sitting next to a girl with curly hair a few chairs in front of Alice and Leah.
"Whoa. Pretty," I commented, seeing Kim.
Edward laughed, and I looked questioningly at him. "Jared will be pleased to hear you think he's pretty," he clarified.
"Oh, no, I meant –" I started, getting flustered.
Edward abruptly patted my leg. "Chill, Bella, I know. I'm just messing with you."
He left his hand on my leg a second longer than I would have expected, but he didn't seem to think it was out of line because he started talking again without any embarrassment.
"So, shall we play twenty questions?"
"What?" I asked, genuinely confused by the proposal.
"Twenty questions," he repeated. "Have you played before?" he asked, looking at me like I was a little bit strange. Ha! He think's I'm the strange one – and he's the eighteen year-old suggesting a round of twenty questions!
"Oh, yeah, I know how to play. I just thought it was a bit random is all."
"Okay, cool. Shall I start?" he said, twisting in the chair to face me better. I flattened my back against the window to give myself more room, but he just slid into the small gap I had put between us. Not that I had a problem with that.
"Go for it."
"Right then, umm," his eyes scanned over the bus' ceiling as he thought. "What's your favourite colour?"
"Very original," I laughed. He just smiled at me and waited for my response. I thought for a moment, then decided that today blue was my favourite colour. Blue skies... blue is the colour of First Place... blue is the colour of calmness, and I needed a good dose of calm with this guy next to me. I turned to him, and was momentarily stunned by his eyes, causing me to blurt my real answer. "Green," I said. I suddenly rushed to correct myself. "I mean blue, blue is my favourite today."
He smiled, but didn't look like he'd picked up on any suspicious behaviour. I could feel my cheeks starting to burn. "My turn?" I asked.
"Yep."
"Okay, um, what's you're favourite colour?"
He smiled cheekily. "Nuh uh, you can't copy any questions."
"Darn it. Umm, err," I looked down at my hands for a moment. "What do you want to do when you leave school?"
"That's easy!" he said, happy that it wasn't a difficult question. "I want to be a doctor. Most of the men in my family are doctors, and I know that they wouldn't go against me if I wanted to be something else, but I like the idea of helping people for the rest of my life."
I felt my heart melt a little bit at his words, but tried very hard not to show it.
"Wicked, I think you'd make a good doctor!"
He smiled. "Thanks."
"Okay, your turn."
"What's your most embarrassing moment?"
I went a little pink at the thought of my most embarrassing moments, but knew he would probably see me embarrass myself at some point today anyway. "Well, I don't even know where to start. There are just so many to choose from!" I joked, trying to push away the mortifying memories.
I knew straight away what my most embarrassing moment was, but it didn't stop my memory throwing in unpleasant snapshots of other particularly red-faced moments.
During a sleep over at Alice's house, I had talked about some rather embarrassing things in my sleep and Alice had been silly enough to record it for her own amusement. She hadn't remembered that Emmett has a habit of going through her things when he's bored, and when he heard about my sleep-world fantasies he had proceeded without regret to tell Mike all the details. It had been constantly awkward for the next three weeks – particularly since Mike and I weren't going out yet.
Another came to mind; when during the school dance two years ago I had stood up to dance with Alice because none of the guys were asking us, and I had managed to tear down all the decorative posters and banners along with breaking half the lighting equipment by just tugging on one rope when I'd stood from my chair.
The worst, though, was when I had been chosen (I still don't know how, or why) to be in the school musical. I'd survived the practices alright, but on opening night I did a repeat of the school dance incident and knocked all the props over – even sending a large wooden door crashing down into the orchestra pit, not only breaking half the percussion equipment but knocking out the conductor too.
It certainly was a night to remember.
And I didn't really want to tell Edward that, because I was sure he would just think I was some stupid girl who couldn't see past her own nose not to mention her own feet, so I replied with, "I sleep talk. It's very embarrassing, thought I can't tell you exactly what I've done because I fortunately wasn't conscious for it."
He started laughing, like I had expected, but it wasn't malicious. "Oh, that's nothing. I've had heaps more embarrassing moments than that. With my friends behind me, there's nothing I can't do!" I laughed along with him, but I didn't want to ask him what his worst moment was because sometimes, it's better not to know.
"My turn again." I thought for a moment, thinking about what I wanted to know about Edward. I decided that even thought we hadn't been talking for that long; hadn't even known the other existed for that matter – but I felt that I could ask him something mildly personal. "Do you promise to be honest?"
"Yeah, I promise," he said, holding his hand over his heart in a mock declaration.
"Promise?" I stressed, and he nodded. "What happened between you and your last girlfriend?"
He tensed for a moment. I expected him to tell me to shove off, it was none of my business, or that he'd rather not say, or that she'd cheated on him or something dramatic like that. But he didn't. He just cleared his throat, and said, "Things just got in the way of our relationship."
"Oh. Well, it's her loss then, isn't it?" I said nicely, and he looked up at me. I saw a strange expression on his face, but he blinked and it was gone before I could decipher it.
"Yeah, but if it's her loss than it's my heart that went with her." He grimaced.
My heart twisted to a painful degree. It was like I was feeling his hurt… and it hurt.
"Seriously, Edward, if she wasn't willing to get past whatever got between you two, then she didn't deserve you to start with!"
He laughed, and the sound was slightly shaky. "How do you know that? I could be a blood sucking vampire, Bella," he mocked, leaning over and pushing his face into my neck. This movement by Edward would have normally have been considered out of line; invading my personal space and what not. But he was warm, and smelt very nice. But I couldn't concentrate on that for very long. I giggled furiously; I was very ticklish.
"Ah!" I giggled, "Stop, stop! Okay! You're a very scary vampire!"
He leaned back and grinned at me. I was still giggling, and he saw my weakness. Slowly, and so he knew I could see it coming, he extended one hand toward my ribs. I squealed and pushed myself up against the window, giggling uncontrollably even though he wasn't even touching me yet. "No!" I squealed, but his other hand shot out and caught me around the middle.
"No escape, Bella!" he said mischievously as I writhed in his arms, breathless from the laughter. I was squirming so much that I fell off the seat onto the floor, trapped between our seat and the one in front. Edward smiled devilishly down at me, and I looked up at him, knowing what he was going to do.
"No! Mercy, mercy, I'm begging you, no more!"
He laughed and reached down, but instead of tickling me to death he pulled me back up. I breathed heavily, jumping and squealing whenever he moved as he waited for me to get my breath back. Eventually I was able to hold my own, and I turned to him, remembering our game.
"It's your turn, Edward."
"Oh yeah. I'd nearly forgotten about that." I saw his expression change, and I was quite sure what he was going to ask me next. "What happened between you and your last boyfriend?"
"No copying questions!"
"Oh yeah." He thought for a moment. "Then, do you have a boyfriend?"
"BELLA!" Called a familiar voice.
"Yeah, Alice?" I called back, thankful for the interruption. I heaved myself onto my knees to look over the top of the seat in front and see where she was.
"We're here!!" She pointed out the front of the bus to the stadium in the not-too-distant-distance.
"Wicked!" I called back, then fell back onto my folded legs to talk to Edward. "We're here," I said in a quieter voice.
"I see," he said, leaning around the seat.
"What events are you in today?" I asked him, curious to see if he was just a runner. That and, any excuse to get the topic away from boyfriends was a good one.
"Um," he said, leaning back into the seat to speak to me. "The relay, the hundred metre sprint, two hundred and eight hundred events, and the long-jump, all for Under Twenty-One's."
"Wow," I said, impressed. I vaguely noted that Mike was also competing in the long-jump, which meant I had a good excuse to stare at Edward- wait. I did not just think that.
I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend.
"Cool. I might come and watch that. Someone I know is in the long-jump too."
"That'd be cool! You should. And I don't think you've got any choice but to be at the running events anyway, you'll have to be prepping your own lot to give them the courage to try and beat the ever might Port Angeles High School!" He added the last part with a body-builder style pose, and kissed his bicep as he flexed it. I had been right, he was buff.
"'Try'? Ha! We'll wipe the floor with your people, Edward!"
He smiled a lovely crooked smile. "What ever, Miss Swan. I'll be seeing you out on the battle field!"
Everyone was thrown to the left as the bus turned into the stadium car park, and I discovered that I had found a new contender for the number one spot on my 'Most Embarrassing' list. I was thrown violently into Edward, who thankfully remained on the seat. When I straightened myself up, I was sitting on his lap in a place I really shouldn't have been. He had his arms tightly around me because I had come very close to getting a concussion from the corners of the bags littering the aisle, and I had grabbed onto the first thing my hands had seized. My hands were clutching his shoulders with a vice-like grip and my face was inches away from his.
All this was realised in a split second, and I jumped like I'd been electrocuted to get off him before anyone saw. My face flushed red and Edward laughed quietly as I pulled myself back into my own seat, muttering my apologies.
"It's alright, Bella, it happens."
"Sorry," I repeated, looking down in the hope that my mortified face would be less obvious that way.
"Port Angeles kids off first," Coach Clapp's voice boomed through the well-abused speakers.
"That's me," he said, standing up along with all the other well-dressed kids and grabbing his bag from the floor. "Maybe I'll see you again today, yeah?"
"Yeah," I said, still horrifically embarrassed.
"Bye, Bella." He waved and joined the line filing off the bus.
In an instant, Alice was next to me.
"Wow, way to throw yourself at him," she joked with a pixie-like grin.
"Shut up, it wasn't my fault!"
She just kept laughing, so I hit her in the arm.
"Right, now Forks students. Our seats are on the far side of the auditorium. Please make your way over there and we will take the roll as you file off the bus in an orderly manner."
Everyone else immediately jumped up and started shoving their way off the bus, so Alice and I clutched our bags to our chests. We didn't fancy finding them with their contents' crushed to dust after the herd had passed.
"Let's go," Alice said once we were some of the last on the bus.
I got off and was immediately swept up in a hug from Mike. "Hey!" he exclaimed.
"Hey, you," I said, leaning to kissing him on the cheek. He turned his face to mine and caught me in a proper kiss, which I didn't mind, until Coach Clapp's voice thundered right in my ear.
"Good to see the two of you getting along so well!" He was faking happiness, and I could see the maniac glint in his eye. Uh oh.
Mike dropped me, clearing his throat and standing in a way that was expectant of a yelling-at.
"Newton," he said unsympathetically. "There are a few boxes on the bus that I could use a hand with. And I think there are plenty of other jobs to be done during the day between your events, so don't go too far will you?" Mike sulked as he headed for the under-carriage of the bus. The Coach thrust a box into his arms and he nearly fell under the weight.
"Heavy stuff!" Emmett yelled excitedly from somewhere near the gates. He bounded over and looked at Coach Clapp. "Can I help?"
"If you really want to," the Coach said, raising a bewildered eyebrow. He saw Alice and I still standing there, and motioned with his hands for us to get a move on. "On your way, ladies," he ushered. Alice didn't even get any special treatment, and I think she was just as surprised as I was.
We turned to the gate, and with a sympathetic look at Mike and an amused one at Emmett (who was hidden behind at least three of the same boxes that Mike was struggling to hold up one of), we went through the high wrought-iron gates into the stadium.
Okay! So Edward and Bella have met... what do you think? I'll update as soon as I can!
Love you all :-)
-Shaps