Okay everyone, usually I read through my chapters before I post them as the last step in the editing process; but as you will be able to tell, this chapter is exceptionally long. I'll warn you now that it'll take a little while to read through, so hopefully you're not putting something important to the side in order to read!
Thanks, as always, for your wonderful reviews! And the suppliers of those reviews are:
Ghosts in the Snow, CrazZy-BunNy, xx Phyre xx (x2), jennifier potter, edwardluva234, beggingtobebitten, dollegirl, Lianna Weschester, yaaaay, okiegirlforever, mrsjacobblack91, Princess-Tinkerbelle, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, x-aly-x, laibballfan, smile for the paparazzi, booknerd14, RedK-UK, PoUrThEcHaMpAgNe.O.O., tthrai01, Kevin the Cornbread Slice.
Special Mentions (these will have to be shorter than usual; long chapter!)
CrazZy-BunNy and booknerd14: I'm sorry, but I won't be putting in any Edward POV's in for a little while. I promise it'll be there though; and you'll also see Bella's point of view on the same situation. It'll be good, promise!
xx Phyre xx: Nope, no vampires in this fic; thought perhaps in a sequal if you guys want one once this is done. Your other comment is very observant; but you'll have to wait to see if you're right or not. And the BellaxMike thing will end soon enough! Don't worry, it's coming. :-)
jennifier potter: Ahhhh! Put down the crowbar! I don't want to die by merit of a blunt object!! And, well done with the event observation.
beggingtobebitten: We shall see who wins Bella; both metaphorically and literally, in this chapter!
dollegirl: I read my reviews today in design class because I was bored and had finished my photo-shop work, and as I was scrolling down some of my friends started reading too. When I read your review, I was laughing so hard I was actually crying! Seriously, my teacher thought I was in pain or something. My friend Chloe was totally inconsolable. Your crack about the bus hitting Mike was, clearly, GOLD; but even funnier was when you wished Jasper would stand with him if he's going to continue to be a jerk. Oh my gosh. I even started laughing again when I read my email-alert thingo. Haha. Loved it! Thanks, it made my day wickedly awesome!
Lianna Weschester: yes, be patient my dear, this is most certainly a BellaxEdward story.
okiegirlforever: Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it :-) Yes, later in the story there will be M content. I'll put a warning on the chapter just so people are aware, but it's not coming for a while. Oh, and I got my wisdom teeth cut out a few months ago, so i feel your pain. Just think of how nice it will be in a few days when it doesn't hurt to think!
mrsjacobblack91: Don't worry, Edward didn't see Bella and Mike together.
Princess-Tinkerbelle: Hahahaha, I love your reviews, they crack me up. They're awesome! And, brownie points are awarded for long reviews, so you're in the clear. And, my wrist is getting better thankyou, I almost hit someone who was being a pain today though; I guess it's a good sign that i'm willing to use it, right? Lol. Oh well. It's funner when people review like they know me, so don't stop!
AlwaysBettingOnAlice: just loved your review; I was all gushy after reading that (and the teacher thought I had just been cyber-proposed too). What the fruit?! Haha. I'm weird, I know.
x-aly-x: There's more nasty Jasper in this chapter! (Does that rhyme?)
smile for the paparazzi: Oooooohhh, you're an observant one. That line is VITAL later on in the story, so don't forget it. :-)
Wow, I really suck at trying to keep things short. Oh well. Here's the chapter where we get to properly meet all of Edward's friends!
Chapter Twelve: Carnival
"Ugh," Alice complained as she pushed down the folding stadium seat and watched it flip back up. "How many people do you think have farted on this chair?"
I laughed at her and sat down uninhibited on the chair beside hers. "Stop worrying, Alice. You'll get lines on your face."
She immediately smoothed her expression and sat down normally – but I didn't miss the wince she made as she made contact with the flimsy plastic.
"Where are the Port Angeles people sitting?" I asked her, my thoughts focused annoyingly on Edward. I knew she picked up on my tone, but thankfully didn't comment on it.
"I don't know. We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled."
"Yeah."
Emmett came weaving through the seats a few row in front of us, with no more than five boxes balanced in his arms. Mike followed along behind him, red-faced and puffing, staring at the ground as he tried not to fall. I would have laughed if Emmett hadn't beaten me too it.
"Come on, Mike! They're not that heavy!"
Mike glared pointedly at him and took the three steps necessary to put his box down next to Emmett's stack. "Some of us, Emmett, do not live on steroids!"
Emmett just laughed and hit Mike lightly in the arm. "And some of us don't spend our time whining about-"
But we never heard what some of us spent our time whining about, because Coach Clapp slapped his hands together and paced back and forth in front of our little student group. Everyone stopped chatting and sat down, knowing that this was the only speech they were going to have to sit through today – if they were quiet.
"Okay, competitors! Today's the day! I want you to all go out there and do your best for the school. Hopefully I'll be hearing compliments on how well you're all behaving yourselves, right Mr Brandon?" He directed his attention to Emmett, who was eyeing Tyler's exposed boxer elastic with twitching hands. A wedgie was in order, no doubt.
"Yes Sir!" Emmett saluted the Coach grandly, who took it as a serious gesture and saluted back before continuing his pacing. Emmett's hands inched closer to Tyler's waist, and I tried not to look.
"Right! Now, today is all about friendly competition, so no sabotage, no matter how tempting it is. Resist the devil! Now, each of your timetables for the day are here, so come and get them soon, the events start at nine-thirty. The time is now-" he looked down and consulted his watch, "-ten minutes past nine. You have twenty minutes to organise yourselves! All running events are at the end of the day, so if you've got nothing better to do I suggest you come and support the school. Go team!" He exclaimed, punching a fist into the air.
An embarrassed silence hung in the air for a moment, but then it was broken by Tyler's yelp of pain and the sight of him being lifted up in the air by Emmett – by his underpants. There was a ripping noise and everyone cracked up laughing. Emmett couldn't hold him there because he was laughing too much, so he set him down, and Tyler was a brighter shade of red than I think I've ever achieved. I noticed then who he was sitting next to, and that Ally was smiling with Tyler, not at him. In my head a chorus of 'awwwww's sang out.
I leaned forward to speak to Ally, both because Alice was inconsolable in her laughter and because Ally was looking a little awkward at the situation. I felt the urge to save her.
"Good morning, Ally," I said, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned at the sound of my voice and smiled shyly.
"Hey Bella, how are you?" She smiled wider when she saw Alice struggling for air beside me. I looked at Alice and shook my head in mock disgust.
"Really good, actually, but I did kind of fall on someone from the other school when the crazy bus driver swung the coach into the parking lot. It was sooo embarrassing!"
She laughed along with me. "Oh, that would suck. Did you know them?"
"Yeah, it was the guy I've been writing to for my pen pal thing for school."
"Oh!" she said, and she twisted around further in her seat, holding onto the back of the plastic so she wouldn't slide off. "You're doing that too?"
Beside her, Tyler got up and announced he was going to the toilet before he walked away in an uncomfortable fashion. Beside me, Alice, who had only just managed to control herself, erupted in a fresh wave of giggles and fell off the seat again.
"Yeah," I said, trying to keep my thoughts on track. "He's really cool. Who'd you get?"
"I got a girl. Her name's Kim."
Wow. Small world.
"No way!" I exclaimed, slightly weirded out at the coincidence. "She's dating my pen pal's best friend."
"Really? That's pretty cool, and bizarre," she added.
"No kidding."
"So you fell on him," she said, reverting back to the main point of the topic.
I laughed nervously and tugged at my collar, pretending to be horrified at myself. "Yeah. It was terrible, and he was so nice too, ahh! Why do I always have to make a total ass out of myself?!"
She laughed at my theatrics, and ignored my rhetorical question. "So Mike's okay with this?" she asked tentatively.
I wriggled in my seat. "Well, you see, he kind of doesn't know."
"Oh, Bella, bad idea," she said, shaking her head slightly.
"I know," I said, hitting myself in the forehead with the palm of my hand. "But what am I meant to do? I can't really bring it up, and even if he doesn't care I'll still feel guilty."
"How did he not see you sitting with this guy this morning?"
I was about to answer when I was hit sharply in the ribs by Alice's elbow. She indicated with her eyes to look behind me, and it was lucky I hadn't answered Ally because Mike was approaching at a pace that would have heard my words.
"Hey," I said, smiling as he approached.
Mike opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by Coach Clapp. "There are more boxes to be found, Mr Newton!"
I looked at Mike with a sorry expression, and he returned it. "See you sometime soon, hopefully."
"Newton!" Coach Clapp yelled again. Mike rolled his eyes and headed back along the path to the bus.
"Do you want to get our timetables, and then go for a walk?" Ally asked me when Mike was out of earshot.
"Yeah," I said. I turned to Alice. "Alice? Do you want to go for a walk?"
"Nah, I'm feeling kind of hungry. I was so disgusted with these clothes this morning that I didn't have time for breakfast. I'll see you a bit later on, though."
"Okay."
Alice pulled her purse from her bag and dodged the scattered legs and bags as she hopped her way to the canteen, taking the longer but clearer route. The canteen was situated a little further along the stone path past our area.
"Okay, Ally, let's go."
I got up and turned to leave, then noted all the obstacles in my path – including the three J's at the end of the row throwing things around (already).
"Jump over to my row," Ally suggested sympathetically. I looked at her like she was a genius before carefully swinging my legs over. Ally knew me well enough to catch me – otherwise I would have had another bruise to add to the list.
"Thanks," I said once I'd straightened up. Ally led the way out the row, which had far less obstacles. We were just passing Jacob, Jasper and James when something almost hit my arm, whizzing down the rows of seats to the trackside rows. I slowly turned and gave daggers to Jacob, who looked back innocently.
"What! It wasn't me," he pointed to Jasper, who was grinning like an idiot and spinning half an orange in his hand.
I opened my mouth to scold him, when suddenly the half-orange which had hit me was flying toward Jasper, and smacked him squarely in the head. I burst out laughing along with the audience I hadn't realised we'd had, and Jasper picked up the orange from the floor, glaring at it.
"Nice shot, Coach!" I called over my shoulder, trying and succeeding to confuse Jasper. Coach Clapp obliviously waved up at us and went back to the papers he was playing with. Jasper increased his grip on the orange-bomb so much that it burst in his hand, spraying juice all over Jacob, who was laughing hysterically.
"Nice shot, Jasper," I commented seriously as we departed. Once my face was turned away from them, however, Ally and I both burst into laughter. I scanned the crowd below for the real assassin, but didn't see anyone I knew – or anyone who would be game enough to throw that orange at Jasper.
We descended the steps down to the Coach's table, and as Ally asked for her timetable I dared to sneak a glance back at the three idiots. Jasper had evidently forgotten about the incident, however, because he was aiming at some people in the canteen line. I turned back at the sound of my name.
"You don't have a timetable, Miss Swan."
"Oh." I said. "Can I have a piece of paper telling when I need to be down here for the team manager's gig, then?"
"Sure thing," he said, seizing a scrap and writing some details messily on it. He handed it to me, then looked up in alarm as a scream echoed around the stadium.
I whipped around at the sound of the voice, and watch as Alice stormed down the few stairs required to reach Jasper. She was holding a half an orange in one hand and looked furious. I knew I wouldn't be able to get there quickly enough to stop her, so I watched with Ally from the bottom of the stands as Alice shouted something unintelligible at Jasper, who looked back with a smug expression on his face. I noticed for the first time that there was a wet patch on the front of Alice's shirt where the orange had hit her. I giggled as Jacob subtly leaned back, giving Alice full range for her quivering fist.
Jasper said something then, and Alice reached breaking point. Her hand appeared out of nowhere and slapped Jasper across the cheek with a crack like a whip. Behind me, Coach Clapp quietly laughed. Several of the witnesses started cheering and clapping, most of them laughing, including Ally and I.
Alice turned to walk away, but then must have remembered the orange in her hand. She raised it over Jasper's head and squeezed, showing his stupid head with juice. She wiped her hand on her shorts and said something sharply before turning and heading back to her place in the canteen line. The people in the line parted for her to let her to the front, and she seemed to be getting a lot of praise from them.
"That's not something you see every day," Ally said from beside me.
"You're not wrong," I said, turning to her and shoving my scrap of paper into my pocket.
"Ready for that walk?" she said, holding out her arm like a gentleman should when inviting a lady to walk with him. I linked my arm with hers and we grandly headed across flat ground to the grassy slope around by the long-jump pits so we could sit and talk.
"So, what was this you were telling me about your pen pal?" she said, sitting down beside me.
I pulled my knees to my chest and leaned my arms across them. "Well," I began, thinking about how to explain my situation. "I've been writing to him for uh, two weeks I think. And he was really funny and interesting and I felt really stupid because I would get excited when ever a letter would come from him."
Ally laughed. "Don't worry; I get excited when I get them on Mondays too."
I sighed in relief. "Good, then it's not just me."
"So about this morning, Mike didn't notice who you were sitting next to?"
I remembered our conversation topic before Mike had appeared and was relieved to find my train of thought had not deserted me. "Yeah, I was pretty worried about that. But I think that ball of rubber bands they were flinging around at each other was more than enough of a distraction."
"Oh yeah," Ally laughed, "I saw them with that. I was going to move back next to Tyler but he was having too much fun! I couldn't spoil it for him."
"Hey," I said suddenly, remembering something Tyler had said. "Weren't you and Tyler going to spend today together?"
"Yeah, but it's not like I haven't seen him yet." She looked over my shoulder at the chairs where the school was seated. "Plus, he's probably still tending to his battle wounds." She added the last part with a giggle, and I laughed too.
"That was a wicked wedgie, I have to admit," I said, hoping I wasn't saying the wrong thing. Fortunately, Ally just laughed and nodded her head in agreement.
We were both silent for a moment, enjoying the feel of sun on our faces. I looked across the running track to the grass area in the middle where the javelin and shot-put and other events were going to be staged. I made a mental map as we sat in a comfortable silence, thinking about where I could stand to get the best view of the runners. My mind was wandering into dangerous territory at the prospect of staring at certain people uninhibited, when Ally thankfully interrupted my thoughts.
"So how are you going to tell Mike?"
Damn. I hadn't thought about that, still.
"To be honest, I have no idea. I'm just hoping he randomly says to me, 'Hey, Bella, I would be totally fine with it if you were writing to a guy for this pen pal thing' and I would reply, 'well, that's marvellous, because I am writing to a member of the male species, actually' then we would skip off into the sunset and bake cakes together."
"You're really weird sometimes, you know," she smiled and shook her head at my craziness.
"Yeah, true. But it makes you feel extremely normal, doesn't it?"
"Yep."
We sat in silence for a moment.
I turned to her. "What should I do?"
She looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. "I really don't know. This is something you're going to have to work out yourself Bella, you know Mike better than anyone."
"Hmm." I looked at my shoes and tapped my feet on the grass.
"You know what?" Ally said suddenly, and I turned to her, hopeful that she had thought of a method of explanation.
"What?"
"My butt's wet. I think we should move."
She stood up and turned around, displaying an impressive wet patch.
"Damn it," I said, realising my back-side felt kind of damp too. I stood up and turned, and Ally laughed.
"Yep, welcome to the club."
"Shall we go back?" I tried to look over my shoulder at my behind, but ended up turning around in circles like a dog chasing its tail.
"Yeah, if we stay out here we're going to end up sitting on something that's been rained on in the last twenty-four hours."
"True. Let's go then," I turned and walked back along the sloping grass with her. As we approached our seats, I saw Alice sitting with her knees up on the chair in front and concealing something in her lap as she chewed on a bar of some kind. Jasper, Jacob and James were gone, so I invited Ally to sit with us.
"Cool, thanks," she said, following me as I tried to weave between the bags.
Almost everyone had left for food or their events or something, and there were people slowly leaking out onto the field, picking up javelins and tying their shoe laces. I scanned the ground for Edward, but didn't see him. I hoped the disappointment wasn't too clear on my face.
"Alice, you're totally obvious."
"What?" she said, looking up from the shiny silver phone in her hands.
"It'd be apparent to a monkey that you're texting when you're not meant to be," Ally interjected, and I laughed.
"Oh well, I could sweet talk myself out of murder if I had the chance," she said, taking another bite out of her bar.
"Speaking of murder," I said, remembering her blow up at Jasper. "Give us the details on what happened with Jasper and that orange."
She looked at me with a devilish smile and straightened up in her seat, flipping her phone shut and shoving it into her pocket. I noticed that she'd changed her shirt, but couldn't dwell on it too long because she started her tale.
"I was standing in the canteen line, talking to this really cute guy from some school down south, when something hit me. I looked down and saw half an orange at my feet, then heard those stupid idiots cackling. I picked up the orange and went over there, intending to shove it up Jasper's nostril if I didn't get an apology.
"So I walked up to them, and Jacob and James shut up straight away. Jasper kept guffawing at me, so I told him he was a jerk and that not even Lauren would consider dating someone as slimy as him. He said 'too late' and I got really pissed at his attitude, and my hands started to shake. I said he was a stupid jerk and that he ought to jump off a cliff of some sort, or to crawl back into the hole he came out of. He kept that stupid grin on his face, and then I couldn't stop myself from smacking him as hard as I could across the face. It felt damn good, too. And I knew I had made my point, so I turned to walk away, but remembered the orange was in my hand, so I squeezed it all in his hair and said 'I think this is yours' before I turned and walk away."
"Way to go, Alice!" I congratulated her.
"Thanks," she said, smiling. "So I went back to the canteen line, and the cute guy was gone. I was really annoyed, but I got to go to the front of the line for my psycho behaviour, so it all turned out okay!"
Ally and I giggled and smiled. "Was he cute?" Ally asked.
"Yeah, I reckon. What did he look like?" I added, indicating my interest in the random canteen-line guy.
"Hell yes!" Alice exclaimed. "Black hair, tall, buff, really handsome and funny. And he asked for my number!"
I gasped in awe, as did Ally. "Did you give it to him?" I pressed.
"I was about to, when an orange hit me."
"Oh, Jasper is so annoying!"
"No kidding," she said, sulking. "But if he really wants my number, he can come and find me again."
Damn Alice and her foolproof confidence. I wish I could borrow it for just a day.
Ally suddenly jumped and pulled her paper out of her pocket. She scanned it and had a slightly panicked expression on her face before she looked to Alice and I.
"What's the time?" she asked, somewhat urgently. Alice whipped her phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen.
"It's five to ten."
"Oh, sugar! I'm supposed to be doing my event in five minutes! I've gotta go guys, I'll speak to you later!" And with that she ran full-pelt to the end of the row, down the stairs to the gate and cut across the field to the sand pits I had seen before. She skidded to a half in front of someone holding a clipboard, and she was still speaking to them when I decided to do some reading.
I reached into my bag and my hand hit some item of material which was slightly sticky. I pulled out Alice's school-spirit shirt and held it up to see the horrible orange-juice stain on the front.
"You didn't expect me to put that in my bag, did you?" Alice said in a mock Barbie doll tone.
"Oh, no, Alice never." I balled it up and threw it at her. "You loser. Why is this in here?"
"I didn't have any room left in my bag because I brought so much deodorant."
I pursed my lips in thought, then nodded my approval. "That was probably a good idea."
She nodded and started typing into her phone again. I pulled my bag onto my knees and kept digging around for my book. I finally revealed it, and was about to open it when I felt a pair of hands cover my eyes.
I laughed, and opened my mouth to tell Mike to stop being silly when Alice piped up beside me.
"Hey, Leah! You got my message?"
I quickly shut my mouth and raised my hand to move the hand away. It was Edward.
"Hey," I said, swallowing hard at the realisation of the screw-up I had been about to make. "What's up?" I asked, twisting around in my seat to see him better.
Leah and Alice got lost in their conversation and I was feeling slightly self-conscious. What if Mike sees this?
"Pretty much nothing. I've got almost all the day until my real events start, but I've got long-jump at eleven."
"You're lucky," I said, and he kneeled down on the other side of the chair to be at my height. "At least you've got something to look forward to. I have to wait till the running events, and even then I'll just be standing around."
"And yelling at your team," Edward prompted.
"Right. And yelling at my team." I smiled.
"You should come and watch me then!" he suggested, standing up and jumping over the seat to sit next to me. I felt my heart speed up at his movement, and I internally kicked myself.
I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend.
"I have a b- I mean, I was planning on coming over and watching it. I'll be watching, uh, a friend, in that event too."
He didn't seem to pick up on my almost-fatal slip up, and was smooth and quick with his reply.
"Cool. I'd better be seeing you there then." He smiled and looked at Leah for a moment, but saw that she was deep in girly, giggly conversation with Alice so he turned back to me. "What's this?" he asked, lifting up my book from my hands.
"It's about this girl who gets sucked into a cult," I said, admiring the blood-red flower on the front of The Passion Flower Massacre.
"Good book?" He asked, turning it over in his hands to read the back.
"Yeah. One of my favourites."
"Hmm." He flipped it back to the front and handed it to me. "I might have to borrow it from you some time."
"Sure," I said. I felt my heart kick it up a notch at the thought that he had almost promised to see me at least once again. I tried to mentally squash down the thoughts without looking in pain.
"So you have nothing to do until this afternoon," he clarified, watching my face carefully. I slowly shook my head, and he smiled brighter than before. "Wicked. You have no reason to avoid meeting my friends then!"
"Why would I need an excuse?" I asked, slightly worried.
Edward stood and brushed a hand through his hair. The sun caught the shimmering tones, giving him a halo of light. My heart stopped.
"Uh, no reason." He dropped his hand I felt my heart rushing to make up lost time. "Shall we?" he said, stepping over the chair to walk away so he wouldn't have to step over Leah and Alice on our way out.
I felt a slight sweat break out at the thought of trying to hop a row up. Down was one thing, but going up was far more accident-likely. Regardless, I stood and tried to be graceful as I swung one leg up over the chair. Success, I was half-way there.
…and I just jinxed it.
As my right leg tried to join the left on the other side of the row, I overbalanced and fell to the side, but didn't feel the impact of the edge of the plastic seat on my head, I just felt a pair of unreasonably muscular arms catch me and pull me gently up.
"Thanks," I said, straightening my clothes for longer than was necessary because my cheeks had turned a new shade of red.
"No problem," he said, smiling and leading the way toward his school's area, which I couldn't yet see.
"See you later, guys," said to Alice and Leah as I passed. They each looked up and smiled as we passed, but buried their heads into their conversation once the gesture had been made.
"So, where are we headed?" I asked, catching up to Edward.
"Around by the doors, I think it is. I'll know it when I see it," he said, smiling over his shoulder at me.
"Cool," I said, feeling slightly self-conscious again.
"You know, Bella," Edward began as we neared the sea of dark track suits which must have been his school.
"Yeah?" I said, to show I was listening.
"We didn't get to finish our game of twenty questions."
Damn it. Why does everyone have a good memory for things I'd rather avoid? "Oh."
"So, do you have a boyfriend?"
I looked down at the ground as we walked. I decided that he was going to find out eventually anyway, so I might as well tell him now, and he could run for it on his high horse if he wanted to. Better sooner rather than later anyway.
"Yes."
"You do?" he said, but I was unable to read his expression.
"His name is Mike. He was the blonde guy on the back seat of the bus."
"Oh, okay." We walked in silence for a minute, slowly getting closer to people I could see now looked like Sam, Paul, Jared and Kim. "He doesn't know about me, does he?"
I was a little jolted by this question, wondering if Alice had said something, but there was a part of his expression which said he had come to the conclusion on his own.
"Well, yes, he kind of does, but he doesn't know you're not a girl."
"Oh." He looked at the ground as we walked.
"Yeah. 'Oh'."
I saw Sam then, and he was looking in our direction. "Edward!" he yelled loudly, causing several random people walking past to look at him in alarm, then to redirect their attention to Edward.
"Oh, he is such a loser sometimes." Edward said quietly to me. "What?" he yelled back at Sam.
"Nothing!" Sam shouted, grinning like an idiot. "I just like making people look at you!"
"Ugh," he said quietly to me, and I laughed just as quietly.
"Bella, right?" Sam said as we approached. He held out a hand.
"Yep," I said, shaking it. My hand was lost in the shake with his massive one, and I noted that even though Emmett was bigger; it wasn't by much.
Sam was about half a head taller than Edward; and twice as wide across the shoulders alone. Edward was about one and a half of me, so Sam was absolutely gigantic! I had never really thought about how big Emmett was, because I'd known him for years, but I remembered the days when I was scared of him. That was before he had gotten his butt kicked by Alice, of course.
Seeing a man get beaten by a girl less than a third their size in every dimension was bound to bring down their scary-factor.
"I'm Paul," a sandy-blonde haired guy said, reaching around Sam to shake my hand kindly. He seemed like the kind of person who would be calm one moment, but completely lose the plot once angered in the right – or wrong – way. I smiled and mumbled a 'hello' back.
A girl with curly hair I recognised elbowed Sam sharply out of the way. Ah, there we go, scary-factor lowered.
"I'm Kim," she said, smiling widely and very whitely.
"Bella," I responded.
"Oh, we know. Together Leah and Edward haven't shut up about you two. Plus, Edward did give Jared a killer bruise on the leg over something he wrote on a letter from Edward to you, so for me to forget your name after that would have been an achievement!"
I laughed with her, and she dragged another dark-haired guy out of his seat. "Ow!" he protested when Kim smacked him across the arm when he wouldn't move.
"Be polite and say hi, Jared!"
"Hi Jared," he said mockingly, not peeling his eyes away from the hand-held game in his hands. Kim smacked him harder across the arm and he winced.
"I'm injured enough already!"
"Hello!" I said brightly, hoping to make him feel like an idiot to find acceptance with Edward's friends. It worked.
Jared looked up while Kim smiled an 'I told you do' look. I held out my hand and he shook it, going slightly pink when he realised I'd witnessed the whole scene.
"Hi," he said, and I could see him internally cringing.
"Right, well, this is great. Good on you Jared, way to make a first impression." Edward joked, pulling me over to what must have been his chair, because when I sat down he started rifling through a bag at my feet.
I couldn't help but feel disappointed when he dropped my hand once we'd fought through the curious people I'd just been introduced to.
"Where's Leah?" Kim called suddenly, trying to get Edward's attention. He was still digging through his bag so I answered for him.
"She's talking to Alice over near the canteen," I called back, and Kim rolled her eyes.
I heard her say quietly to herself, "Great. Now I can spend my morning with these fools." I laughed as Sam sat down on the back of one of the plastic chairs and snapped it clean off. He picked up the broken piece, shrugged and tossed it under the chair before continuing like nothing had happened.
"Does he do that much?" I asked Edward.
"Hmm?" he replied absent-mindedly.
"Don't worry." He buried his arm into his bag, and I couldn't hold in my curiosity. "What are you digging in there for?"
"Money," he said simply. "Ah ha!" he said suddenly, yanking his hand out of the bag and revealing a ten dollar note.
I laughed. "Are you hungry already?"
"Boys are always hungry, Bella."
I guess I already knew that, but hadn't taken any notice before. "That's true."
"Are you hungry?" he asked, and I could tell he was about to offer to buy me something.
"Nope," I said, but my stomach chose to grumble its protest right at that moment.
"Sure you're not. Come on," he said, grabbing my hand again and shoving his way through Sam's huge form when we reached the end of the row.
"Canteen," he called over his shoulder simply. I found my hand empty again.
"'Kay," Kim called back.
We walked in silence, and I tried to avoid thinking about Mike. I should have been sneaking around to see him while Coach Clapp wasn't on his back, but I didn't really want to. Besides, getting to know a new person, no matter whether they were a boy or girl, was a good reason, wasn't it?
"So, what do you want?" Edward said, and I realised we were at the canteen. I threw a panicked look over my shoulder, hoping like anything that Mike wasn't around.
"I'm not hungry," I said again.
"Uh huh, already heard that one. What do you want?"
I sighed, convinced that Mike wasn't anywhere within view. Edward was clearly not going to let me away from here without some kind of food in my mouth, so I pointed to the red frogs.
"One of them," I said, smiling cheekily.
"No sweets before lunch, missy," Edward said, mocking a parent-voice.
I rolled my eyes, then looked up to scan the menu for the cheapest thing I could see. "Okay then, umm, I'll have a pop-top."
"Okay."
He ordered some food for himself, and handed me a pop-top as we turned back to walk the path to his camp. I suddenly saw a blonde haired-someone talking to Alice with their back to us, and I nearly choked. Mike! I ducked quickly behind Edward, who didn't change pace, but said neatly between chews of his sandwich, "Boyfriend?"
"Yep," I whispered, keeping an eye on him. He suddenly stood up sharply, and I saw that it wasn't Mike at all. It was Jasper, and he was holding his face like he had been slapped.
"Go Leah!" Edward exclaimed.
"What?" I said, confused. I straightened up and took another sip of my drink.
"She's got a good hit, that girl. I think it has something to do with being friends with Sam. Our girls keep us in line, good and proper."
"So do we," I said, admiring Leah as I watched Jasper holding his face back in his seat. "That idiot never learns," I said to Edward.
"Yeah, I know. At least I've got a good aim."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, but he was halfway through a big bite. I waited for him to finish, but he didn't seem to be rushing, so I rolled my eyes and waited.
By the time he was able to answer, we were back to the Port Angeles area. I led the way to the seats this time, and Sam didn't require a jab from anyone to move out the way for us.
Edward finally swallowed and I waited expectantly.
"I have a good aim," he explained.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
He looked at me like I was missing something extremely obvious. "Your blonde haired friend who got taken down a hitch by Leah? I chucked an orange at him before, when we were walking past. Got him right in the head. It was great!"
"That was you!" I exclaimed, realisation painting my face.
"Yep," he said, taking another bite of sandwich. "But I didn't want to be seen otherwise he probably would have come and killed me, and Sam wasn't with me and Paul."
"Well, good shot."
He took another bite. "Thanks," he said thickly.
I sipped on my drink while he finished his sandwich, and as I heard the sound of his coke drink fizzing open, I looked over to him.
He really did have a lovely face, whether I was allowed to be impressed by that or not. His nose was straight and model-like, as was the rest of his body. I couldn't help but feel my thoughts wondering to what his arms could really lift if he were able to stop me falling so easily; and without breaking a sweat. His eyelashes were unusually long for a guy, but they suited him. His eyes were a lovely shade of green, and his hair remained in a constantly tousled state. I forced myself to look away before he caught me staring, and I nearly fell off the chair when he spoke.
"Finished?" he asked, indicating my empty pop-top.
I gulped "Yep," I said as normally as I could. "Where's the bin?" I looked around me but couldn't see one.
"We don't know. Here, I'll take it for you; I don't think you want to walk around with that in your hand all day." He took the empty plastic bottle from me and dropped it into his bag.
"Thanks."
"You ready to go watch some long-jump?" he said, pulling his sleeve up a little to see the time.
"Sure," I said, putting my feet down from where they had been against the seat in front of me.
Edward screwed the cap back onto his drink and held onto it as he stood, stretching. I got up and lead the way out, again not having to get Sam to move, thought I was sure I saw Kim's elbow do some of the moving for me. I smiled at her as I squeezed out of the cramped space, and she smiled knowingly back.
"Have fun, guys," she said as Edward passed her. She winked conspicuously and I laughed.
"He doesn't need any luck, Kim, he always wins," Jared said from his seat behind us.
I turned to Edward. "Do you always win this event?" I asked.
"Nah, not all the time."
"Why did Jared say you always win, then?"
"Dunno," he said, shrugging; but I could feel a slight stiffness to the movement, like he wasn't being truthful. I let it slide, however, because he brought up a new topic. "So how long have you and your boyfriend been going out for?" he asked politely, like it was a question about the weather.
"Oh, a while. I think it's approaching six months now."
Edward looked at me, impressed. "Wow. That's a fairly long time."
He looked forward again, but I could feel the tension in the air. "What?" I said, worried by his reaction.
"Nothing."
I wasn't convinced.
"Seriously, what is it?"
"I was just... thinking about, um, whether you are, um, happy with your relationship?"
It sounded like he'd changed his sentence at least three times.
"Just say it Edward, come on. I'm a big girl, I can handle it."
I waited for him to speak, and he took a long while, but I refused to be the one to break the silence. We had arrived at the long-jump pits when he finally talked again.
"I'll tell you what. In one week, if I haven't already worked out the answer, I'll ask you again." He watched my face carefully. I felt frustrated, but I tried to not let it show. I figured this was the best deal I was going to get. "Deal?" he asked, holding out a hand. He really had a thing for hand-shaking, and holding, and brushing against mine while we would walk beside each oth-
"Bella!" called a voice. I kept my eyes on Edward, not willing to let him off the hook.
"Deal," I said quickly, seizing his hand and shaking it once.
I found myself swinging around in the air then, and screamed at the sudden movement. Mike set me down again, and kissed me wetly on the cheek.
"Yuck!" I exclaimed, wiping my cheek with my sleeve.
I realised Edward was standing there, smiling for some reason. He had that annoying look on his face Alice sometimes had which usually meant she knew something I didn't.
"Mike, this is Edward, my pen pal." I saw Mike balk as he remembered the 'girly' writing on my letter.
"You didn't tell me you were writing to a guy," Mike said, holding out a hand to shake Edward's. I was sure I heard jealousy in his voice.
"You never asked." He was about to protest but I interrupted him. "Edward, this is Mike."
"I'm her boyfriend."
I rolled my eyes so only Edward could see. His smile got bigger and I felt a twinge of confusion. Why did that make him smile more?
Behind us, I heard a loud whistle. An official voice boomed from over by the sand pits. "Boys Under Twenty-Ones long-jump! Over here, please!"
"That'd be you two," I said, and Mike let go of me, turning back to the pits without a word. "Good luck!" I yelled after him, but he didn't appear to hear. "Well, good luck to you as well, Edward." I held up my hand and he slapped it in a high five before he walked gracefully over to the person with the clipboard.
I sat down on the grass and found myself in the company of Ally, who appeared out of nowhere beside me.
"Where've you been?" I asked, noting that she was panting slightly.
"I just finished the girls' long-jump."
"It started at ten! That took ages!"
"Yeah, it did, only because the stupid measuring guy got everyone's lengths wrong." She looked at me with an extremely annoyed expression on her face. "Twice."
"Oooh," I cringed. "Did you punch him?"
"Oh, trust me, I would have loved to. His head was so thick that I don't think he'd have felt it though."
I laughed, and Ally started playing with her hands, like I'd do if I was nervous or worried about something.
"You alright?" I asked, leaning on my knees.
"What?" she said, looking up. "Oh, yeah I'm fine."
I nodded, not believing her, but trusting her to tell me if she wanted to talk about it. A moment later, right on cue, she turned to me with a thoughtful face.
"Bella," she started, and I simply turned to her to show I was listening, not wanting to break her stride. "I was thinking about me and Tyler while that measuring idiot was trying to take down our scores."
"Yeah," I said, indicating my interest.
"And I know I've only been going out with Tyler for a day or two, but I was wondering how long into the relationship you're meant to say 'I love you'."
I pondered this for a moment. "Well, I think it depends on the people. Some people know they love each other straight away, and they aren't hesitant about saying it, where as some other people take a little longer to make sure so they don't get hurt."
"Oh." She looked down at her hands again. "How long ago did you tell Mike you loved him?"
I was taken aback by this. Not that she had asked, not that it was a personal question I didn't want to answer, but because I didn't have an answer. I had not told Mike I loved him, and he had not said it to me. It was just a step that we'd skipped over, and I felt a slight panic at the realisation.
"It's okay," Ally said, thinking that my silence was because of embarrassment rather than a lack of answer. "You don't have to tell me, I was just curious is all."
"Thanks," I said, and my throat sounded hoarse for some reason. "If you love Tyler, you'll know when you love him, Ally. Don't worry about it." I said, looking up at the long-jump in an attempt to distract myself.
Another whistle sounded from the same person as before, and I watched as the first person took the mark for their run up.
I watched in silence with Ally lost in thoughts beside me, waiting for Edward or Mike to step up to the mark. Finally, Mike appeared and started running. I clapped to myself as he flew through the air, getting a pretty big jump which I would have guessed to be about two metres.
Weirdly, Edward was next. He took a long run-up, and I realised he was totally right about being unmatchable when he ran. His legs showed no effort and rather than flying messily through the air over the sand, he seemed to glide, and when he landed he caught himself well and finished in a standing position while a sour looking Mike walked back to the end of the line, wiping sand from his tracksuit.
Edward's leap had been huge, at least another foot and a half longer than Mike's. I was very impressed, but tried not to show it.
Mike's next just was pretty much the same, though I thought he got a little extra distance than his first.
Edward's next jump was so beautiful to watch that I forgot to see where the measuring person pulled the rope to, but I assumed his leap was just as good if not better than before because Edward had a smile on his face as he headed to the back of the line.
Mike seemed more determined at the realisation that this was his last jump. He was running extra-hard, and looked impressed with his score when he waltzed over to the guy with the clip board to check his best jump.
I watched Edward, who was the last person to go, and actually clapped a hand over my mouth as he emerged from behind someone.
He was standing on the spot, waiting to be told to go, with his shirt and jacket off, wearing just a singlet with 'Port Angeles High' across the chest. I hit Ally hard in the arm beside me, and she complained until I pointed to where she needed to be looking.
"Whoa," she said, her jaw hanging open. I closed it for her, not removing my other hand from my mouth.
His muscles were ripped. His arms were broad and strong and perfect and olive-coloured like the rest of him. His chest was muscular, and broad, but not overly-big like the weird weight lifters on television. His stomach was impossibly flat and muscular, but not to a weird degree, and I still couldn't look away.
"Snap out of it," Ally hissed at me suddenly.
"I don't want to," I said in a stupidly dreamy voice.
"Bella!" she warned, but I didn't look away. "Oh, hey Mike! How did you go?"
Okay. Time to snap out of it. I looked away from Edward's glimmering form and concentrated on the comparatively plain Mike Newton walking up the mound of grass to us.
"Pretty well, I think I'll come second."
"Well done! What was your best jump?" I said, standing up to give him a hug.
"Two thirty," he said. Two metres thirty centimetres. Whoa, he could jump clear over me if I were to lay on the ground.
"That's awesome!" I exclaimed, hugging him again.
The whistle went behind him, and the same voice as before announced the beginning of the Under Eighteen long-jump. Mike pulled back and wiped a bit of sweat from his head.
Ugh. How attractive.
"I'm gonna go and get a drink."
"Alright," I said, sitting back on the grass.
"You're not coming?" he said, hesitating.
"Nah, I've got a bit to talk to Ally about. I'll see you soon, anyway, it's nearly the lunch break."
"Okay. See ya, Ally." He waved as he headed off along the slanted grass toward the canteen area.
"Does that mean I can't join you?" Edward appeared by my side and I jumped a foot in the air. I was disappointed to see he was wearing a shirt again.
"Oh, Edward, don't do that!" I said, hitting him in the arm.
"Ouch! Trying to eliminate the competition, are you?" He sat down next to me and waved to Ally, who waved back before looking away in a manner only recognisable to girls which meant she was incredibly impressed with his looks. I tried not to laugh.
"I don't need to eliminate the competition," I said smartly. "I've got Alice for that."
He laughed. He was close enough for me to notice that he hadn't broken out in any kind of a sweat, and that he still smelled lovely.
"What's the time?" I asked Ally. It was more of a way to get her to look at me so we could silently communicate our girly thoughts.
Her eyes were slightly wider than normal, and she looked down at a watch that wasn't there. "It's nearly midday," she said, and I knew that that was code for 'Edward is hot'.
"Oh, okay. Can I see?" She held out her hand, and I blocked the view with my body so Edward wouldn't catch us out. "Oh yeah. Definitely midday," I winked at Ally and she nearly started laughing.
"Time for food then!" Edward said, standing up. He held out a hand to help me up, then did the same for Ally, who looked at him like he was a particularly delicious piece of chocolate.
"Isn't that Tyler?" I said, looking over Ally's shoulder. She turned around and saw someone running toward us.
"Yeah, I think so." She took a few steps toward him, and I started laughing as Tyler swept her into his arms and spun her around while she screamed loudly. "Put me down!" she yelped, clutching his shoulders with all her strength.
I doubled over with laughter at the priceless look on her face. Edward was smiling with amusement beside me.
"I'll see you later, Ally," I said as Tyler leaned in and kissed her while she was still in his arms.
Edward and I took about ten steps away before I bumped intentionally into him and said, "Awww! Aren't they cute!"
"If cute means 'on the honeymoon stage', then yes, they're very cute."
I shoved him in the shoulder. "Spoil sport."
"That's my name!" he said as he puffed his chest out proudly and pretended to hold suspenders that weren't there. He dropped his hands and we kept walking in silence; I was trying very hard not to slip on the grass and go for a painful tumble down the hill.
"How did you go?" I asked after a few minutes.
"Huh?" Apparently he had been lost in his own thoughts, too.
"In the long-jump. How did you go? Mike said he got second."
"Oh, that." He blushed, and I felt proud of myself for making him blush for some silly reason. "I um… did pretty well."
"Well, what place? I saw your jumps; you're really good at it, so whoever won must have been pretty flippin' good to beat you."
He reddened slightly, and something so obvious clicked I almost hit myself in the head for missing it.
"You won?"
"Yeah," he said, kicking a loose rock with his foot.
"That's great!" I said, clapping and jumping up and down on the spot. Too late, I realised my footing had been lost and I was on my way down the hill when Edward caught me. Again.
"You've got a talent for doing that," he said, pulling me upright. "Here, walk around my other side," he said, pulling me around to his left.
"Thanks," I muttered, embarrassed at my stupid feet. "I can't believe you're still hungry," I commented as his stomach grumbled audibly.
"Hey, what can I say? I'm an eating machine!"
I rolled my eyes as he jokingly flexed his arms and made macho faces, but I couldn't keep the silly grin from sneaking across my features.
"I need to go grab some more money, so I'll see you a bit later?" he asked once we'd passed the canteen line and were standing at the top of the stands behind my classmates.
"Yeah, sure. See you later."
He held out a hand for an exaggerated high-five and I laughed as I slapped palms with him. Then he was gone, battling through the crowd of people flooding over to the canteen line.
"Alice?" I called, walking down the steps and keeping my eyes peeled for her spiky black hair.
She turned around at the sound of her name and I saw Leah was still sitting with her. I waved to Leah, still too far away to voice my hello, and she waved back along with Alice.
I eventually plopped down in the seat beside Leah, happy that I didn't have to pass the three J's on my way over. I quickly looked past Alice and Leah and saw that the three of them had their heads together, and were actually talking seriously to one another. Feeling slightly shocked that they were capable of proper speech; I leaned back in my chair and waited for Alice or Leah to present a break in their conversation so I could ask for one of them to pass over my bag.
"…won't say anything. So I'm thinking I'll just have to tell everyone for him, I mean, it's not really that big of a deal, is it? We've known each other for ages," Leah was saying, but I hadn't caught the start of her little rant so I didn't understand.
"What's this?" I asked, intervening into a moment of silence in their chat. They both looked at me and I instantly felt rude for asking about something I probably had no right to know about.
"Leah was just telling me about her Dad's barbeque that he's trying to organise, and how shockingly badly he's doing about making a surprise for her mum." Alice nodded to Leah for her approval, and Leah cottoned on straight away.
I knew better than to point out how obvious the lie was. "Okay then. Alice, could you pass me my bag?"
"Yeah, sure." She reached over and pulled it up, and thankfully nothing fell out of the open zipper. "Here," she passed it across Leah's knees, who leaned back out of the way for her.
"Thanks," I said, taking it from her and pretending to busy myself in the bag. I found a banana and carefully peeled it, trying to ignore the voices beside me discussing fake barbeques.
When I had managed to lose myself in The Passion Flower Massacre, finally, I was interrupted.
"You're reading that, again?" Mike's voice came from just beside and behind me.
"Yep," I said, snapping it shut to look at him. "No more jobs?" I asked, thinking he was free for the lunch hour.
"Ha! I wish! He's giving me ten minutes to try and inhale my food, then I have to go and wash the damn bus. Does he not realise I actually have events to go in?"
"I think he does, but it's the spare seconds between events he's worried about!" Mike sulked at my words and I patted him on the cheek. "It's all good. He'll get over it eventually." I took another bite from my nearly-finished banana and looked across the grounds, again impressed by its size.
"Well, I hope he doesn't expect me to win much today, because I'm stuffed." He looked around, and I didn't know what he was looking for until he spotted something a few rows forward. "I'm gonna go get some lunch from the canteen. I'll see you soon, I hope." He kissed me on the cheek and leapt over the rows of seats until he reached his bag.
I laughed as Emmett snuck up beside him and caught him in a headlock, then yanked the twenty from Mike's exposed hand and bolted for the canteen. Once the two of them were out of sight I turned back to my book.
I decided to flip back to my favourite part, where Matilda was describing the flawlessly attractive Matt, but found myself unimpressed at the description because I could think of someone who was far better looking without even trying.
I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend. I have a boyfriend.
I looked up and noticed that Alice was now sitting beside me, and Leah was gone. Alice was munching on her sandwich, her eyes exposing the depth of her thoughts. She looked up at me after a moment of watching her, and smiled absent-mindedly.
"So, when do the running events start?" I asked, squirming in my seat to try and find my comprisable timetable. Alice whipped her own effortlessly from her pocket and read it quickly.
"Umm, my first event is at one o'clock."
"Okay. You've got ages then." I finally produced my timetable and saw that I was meant to be down to 'cheer' the team on at one as well, so I wasn't going to be late if I stuck with Alice.
"Lunch ends at one. We'll be fine." She kept chewing on her sandwich, but pulled out her phone. I caught her scanning through her 'L' contacts and assumed she was about to text Leah, so I quickly looked away and started burying myself back into my book.
Somehow, I managed to not be distracted for a long while, and got quite close to finishing the book (though to be fair, I did skip the parts I didn't like all that much). Alice suddenly knocked me in the arm, and pointed with a mouth full of food down at the running track where people were starting to gather. I shoved my things back into my bag and remembered to zip it shut before being shepherded out from between the seats.
"Alice," I said, noticing her shirt again because she'd removed a jacket I guessed Leah had leant to her because it had 'Port Angeles' scribbled across the back; "Where did you get that shirt from?"
"Oh, this," she said, looking down and pulling at the dark maroon material and the 'Dickies' label across the front. "Jacob gave it to me after my other one got juice on it."
I balked. "What? Jacob gave you his shirt?"
"No, silly," she said, laughing and letting her arms swing by her sides. "Jacob gave me a shirt, not his shirt."
"Whose is it then?"
"I dunno, I didn't ask."
I frowned slightly, but kept my lips together. Lending Alice a shirt was uncharacteristically kind of Jacob Black.
"Good, good, our star runner is here!"
I didn't even need to look around to know it was Coach Clapp who was happy at Alice's appearance.
"We've got to get into the zone, sir, try and keep it down," Emmett said seriously from behind the Coach, who was bouncing around the red running track with way too much enthusiasm for anyone – let alone a teacher.
"Oh, sorry, Mr Brandon,' Coach Clapp said in a whisper before retreating away.
I looked at Emmett, who gave us the thumbs up. I laughed quietly, and barely contained a louder laugh as he seized Tyler's leg (who was stretching against the fence) and started swinging him around. I sat down on the chairs lining the wall of the track, and Alice sat on her folded legs beside me.
There were people everywhere, but most of them were standing around talking or stretching or doing up running shoes. Alice was bouncing around beside me, excited again about something, then jumped up suddenly and sprinted (more quickly than I've ever seen before) into a crowd of dark tracksuits.
Alice was squealing and chattering happily to Leah, who she had dragged a few feet from her band of school mates. But Leah wasn't the only one who'd broken away from the throng.
It took me a moment to work out who was walking over to join me, but once I had worked it out my heart started kicking me in the throat. I swallowed hard and smiled as Sam sat beside me and Edward took Alice's empty chair. I noticed she was now jumping up and down on the spot with hand hands in Leah's. Leah was watching her with a laughing smile on her face.
"Hey, guys," I said, smiling at Sam and Edward in turn.
"Sorry, Bella, but you're the enemy now. We can't speak civilly anymore." Sam looked at me seriously and I believed him for a split second.
"So why are you sitting beside me?"
"Just trying to psych you out," Edward whispered from my other side.
"Uh huh."
"Yeah, so this means we're going to have to just sit here and say nothing for a while." Edward looked at me seriously and I rolled my eyes.
"Alice," I called out, and she spun around. "Could you come here please?"
I half expected the guys to run for it, but they didn't, they both just shrunk back slightly in their chairs. Leah came over with her and both girls stood in front of us, looking entirely non-threatening to me – but the fact that Leah had her arms cross and Alice had hers on her hips would have been a little scary to the boys.
"Are these guys giving you some trouble, Bella?" Leah said quietly. Sam didn't even try and hide his cringe as Leah eyed him with suspicion.
"Just a bit. Would you mind taking care of this one for me?"
Leah nodded and reached forward to seize Sam's ear, who winced and struck up a chorus of 'ow ow ow's as he was dragged unceremoniously back to the sea of dark uniforms. I looked at Edward and raised my eyebrows at him, asking if he wanted to be removed in a similar manner.
"I'll be good," he declared, throwing up his hands in surrender and smiling cheekily at me.
"Thank you Alice, I'll call you to help me out if I need help handling this one," I said, jabbing my thumb in Edward's direction.
Alice nodded and walked back to Leah, who was laughing as Sam rubbed his ear.
"I don't think anyone could handle me," he said sneakily. I rolled my eyes.
"When does your first event start?" I asked, wondering how the boy's and girl's events were being separated.
"Mine starts at one," he said, not needing to check his scrap of times and events.
"One?" I said, confused. There must have been a mix up. "Are you sure?"
He pulled his paper from his pocket and showed it to me. I saw that it was right, his event was due to start at one.
"Huh," was all I said, wondering if maybe Alice's was wrong.
There was suddenly a horrible screeching of static in the speakers all around the stadium, before a scuffle was heard through the amplifiers.
"…give it to me, Alex, thank you." The man cleared his throat and spoke directly into the microphone. "Good afternoon, everyone! Welcome to the twenty-sixth annual Inter-School Athletics Carnival, here on this lovely Saturday in Seattle… Now. To start with, we have the Under Twenty-One and Under Eighteen one-hundred metre sprints. I understand that there was a lack of willing runners this year, so for both events both boys and girls have been assigned to the same running slot to save time. Runners, please be ready in five minutes to take your places. That is all."
There was more static as the microphone was turned off. Edward and I turned to each other at the same time.
"I'm running against Alice, aren't I?"
"You're running against Alice."
"Crap."
I smiled, but managed not to laugh as I saw the possibilities sweep across his face.
"Do you know how humiliating this will be if I lose?"
"Oh, it's not that bad. Alice may be a girl, but she's just as fierce as men on the field."
"That really doesn't help you know."
I laughed. "I know."
Edward started pulling off his tracksuit pants then, and I nearly fell off my seat as I turned away, embarrassed. Edward laughed when he realised I was covering my eyes with my hands.
"I'm wearing shorts underneath, Bella."
"I still think it's a better idea if I don't see you getting undressed, Edward," I replied in the same tone.
"Okay," he said, and I could hear the shrug in his voice. "Your loss."
A minute later he still hadn't told me if he was finished changing yet, so I reluctantly asked.
"Done yet?"
"Yeah, I'm dressed now."
I removed my hand from my face and looked beside me for him, but had to redirect my vision to the ground, because he was sitting, stretching.
"Can't risk an injury, can we?" he said when he noticed I had my eyes open.
"You really could, if you were feeling sympathetic to the other schools. But hey, I'll never understand male competitiveness."
"And I'll never understand girls' and fashion," he said quietly, looking at Alice as she strode over, wearing tiny bike shorts and the same Dickies shirt Jacob had leant to her.
"Good luck," she said, holding out a hand to Edward, who was still on the ground.
"From what I've heard of you, I'm going to need it," Edward smiled, taking her hand.
Alice nodded and headed back to where she'd come from, and I noticed for the first time that our respective school friends had melted together and were happily chatting to each other, despite obvious school rivalries. As I watched, Paul was caught in a headlock by Emmett.
"Paul's not having the best day," I commented, watching as Emmett let him go then ruffled his hair as Paul stumbled to keep himself vertical.
The loudspeakers crackled again, and the same voice as before announced that the runners should be taking their places now. Everyone cleared the track, and Edward headed down to the starting blocks at the other end of the running lanes once I'd given him a hand-slapping 'good luck'. I noted for the first time that I was sitting just in front of the finishing line, and that this would give me a good advantage to see who was going to come first.
Alice headed down the other end with Edward, as did six or so other people I didn't recognise wearing various uniforms. Alice and Edward stood in lanes beside each other, and on Alice's other side stood a tall guy with black hair. Alice seemed to recognise him and I wondered if he was the cutie from the canteen line.
"READY?" boomed a voice from the other end of the track. The same person raised their hand and pointed a cap-gun into the air. "SET," he shouted, then the gun went off with a loud BANG.
The cheering around me, both from the stands behind and the spectators standing on the edge of the track, was deafeningly loud. I couldn't tell from my angle who was coming first, but as they got closer I could see that Edward and Alice were neck and neck for first place. Coming second was a well-built girl with her cherry hair in a high pony-tail, third was the black-haired guy, forth was a slight-looking guy with black hair, next was a tall girl with corkscrew-curls flying out behind her and the remaining two green and yellow uniforms were bringing up the rear. The announcer hadn't been joking when he'd commented on the lack of people competing.
I snapped back into reality when I saw that the finishing ribbon had been broken, and that it was very close between Edward and Alice. I stood up to get a better view, and saw that Alice and Edward's respective time keepers were arguing over something. Alice was dancing around on the spot, obviously on a high from her sprint, and Edward was standing beside her, watching calmly as she cirlcled around him, chanting something.
They were then called to the time-keepers table, but I didn't see any more because people started sprawling onto the track again and my view was blocked.
I waited patiently, and Alice soon came skipping through the crowd to sit beside me.
"Guess what?" She said, clearly excited.
"What?"
"We drew," Edward interrupted, appearing from within the crowd.
"Wow, way to go Alice!" I congratulated her, slapping her heartily on the back.
"Oh, thanks Bella, I feel really special now!" Edward said, pretending to sulk.
I rolled my eyes at him, but smiled. "You did really well too, Edward."
"Thankyou." He smiled a heart-swelling smile and I had to look away before the building giddiness got the better of me.
"Come on Bella, you should be organising the relay team or something," Alice said, pulling me by the hand towards the gate leading up to the stands.
"Okay. See you later, Edward!" I called over my shoulder, and I saw Edward's smiling face disappear as I was shoving my way through the crowd.
Alice managed to keep me successfully occupied with small duties for a long time, and I didn't see anyone for about an hour; not Ally, Tyler, Emmett, Mike or Edward. I had to keep hitting myself in the leg as punishment every time I caught my thoughts wandering to Edward.
"Right, now, go down and make sure everyone who's in the relay is where they're supposed to be," Alice instructed, shoving the folder into my hands and giving me a gentle push toward the gate.
The same tired voice droned through the loudspeakers that the four-person relay was about to begin, and that all competitors should start taking their positions. I went down and started searching for everyone, and found Emmett easily as he was towering over the rest of the group.
"Emmett," I said, smacking him high on his shoulder to get his attention. He turned around and listened without speaking. "You need to be over the other side of the track." He started heading over, so I called to him, "You'll be getting the marker from Ally, and giving it to Alice!"
He signalled over his shoulder by giving me the thumbs up to let me know he'd heard me.
Ally appeared by my side then, and I looked down at my little diagram. "Ally, you'll be here," I said, pointing to the second runner's place.
"Okay. Do I go now?" she asked, and I nodded. She looked back at the diagram. "So, get it from Tyler and give it to Emmett. Okay?" She walked away to her place on the track, and I started my search for Tyler.
"Tyler!" I yelled, seeing him standing with Alice, Jared and Kim. "Tyler," I called to get his attention.
"Yeah?"
"You're the first runner. Go over to the finishing line, because that's where you need to be." I gave him a push and he looked completely lost. "Ugh," I said, feeling frustrated. "Go over there," I said, pointing to the timekeeper's tent. "Get the stick or whatever that you have to run with, and give it to Ally when they tell you to."
"Okay," he said brightly, understanding.
"Get your phone out of your pocket!" I shrieked at him, seeing it flying back and forth in his pocket as he walked. He grinned and turned around to throw it back to me, but Alice was nice enough to jump in front of my already full hands and snatch it out of the air.
"Here," she said, dropping it into my jacket pocket.
"Thanks," I said, exasperated. "Now, you need to be-" I started, but Alice cut me off in a calm voice.
"I'm the fourth runner, I need to be over there," she said, pointing, "and I receive it from Emmett. Don't worry Bella, we'll do fine." She patted me on the arm and headed over to her place, still exerting calm-vibes.
I stood like a rabbit caught in the headlights for a moment, then snapped out of it and rushed over to where Tyler was standing, waiting to start. Just as I put my clip board down and the jitters were beginning to build, I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of the starter's whistle.
"PLACES!" he yelled, fixing his earmuffs over his head. Tyler held the titanium rod tightly in his hand and put one foot up to the line. I noticed that the first of the Port Angeles runners was Leah, and that there was an assortment of boys and girls as each team's first runners.
"READY?" shrieked the man with the cap-gun, and I swallowed convulsively, even thought I wasn't doing any of the real work.
"SET!" he yelled again, and everyone at the starting line crouched a little lower.
BANG! went the gun, and they were off. Tyler was extremely fast, and was only outdoing the other runners by a small distance.
He reached Ally first, and she was off like lightning, fortunately not dropping the rod as she tore up the track to Emmett. Port Angeles' second runner, Paul, was close behind her, but Ally was increasing the distance between them every second. I was proud to see her doing so well.
Emmett may seem bulky on his feet, but he was very fluid on the running track. Unfortunately, however, not quick enough to outdo Kim, who was pushing herself and had half a body-length advantage on the boy when each of them gave their rods to their last runners; Alice and Edward.
I actually stopped breathing as the two of them ran all the way around. Alice managed to work her little feet fast enough to catch up to Edward. The both of them were moving so quickly that they were almost a blur. I was about to squeal with frustration at drawing again, but Alice managed to produce something magnificent and just got ahead of Edward, causing the small population of Forks students to scream and stamp their feet with our marginal victory.
I leapt up from my seat and weaved my way to Alice, who was laughing beside Edward. Edward had his hands on his knees to hold himself up, and I didn't realise why until I saw what Alice was wearing on her feet.
"Alice!" I shrieked, staring at her feet. "You ran in heels?!"
"And she beat me!" Edward exclaimed, and I saw that he was leaning on his knees not from tiredness but from laughter.
"You-" I started to threaten, but couldn't finish my scolding sentence. "You are brilliant!" I leapt forward and hugged her tightly, shocked that she was faster in pointy-toed heels than in a pair of runners. "Incredible," I said as I pulled back and looked at her feet.
"Well done, Alice," Edward said, and he extended a hand to her. I smiled, aware that most of the male population would have been furious at the simple idea of being beaten by a girl. And in heels too!
Emmett appeared then, and Alice was suddenly squealing and beating her fists on his back as he swung her around. Emmett struck up a tune of 'she's a jolly good fellow…' and carried her away to the group of our friends, leaving Edward and I alone.
"Congrats," I said sincerely, holding out a hand. He stared at it for a moment, then looked up to my face.
"I couldn't help myself," he said, instantly confusing me.
"Huh? For what?"
"For this," he clarified, seizing me around the middle and slinging me over his shoulder to follow Emmett. I started laughing hysterically, too weak with laughter to fight, because my ticklish factor had been re-awoken when he'd grabbed me.
When he finally set me down, I slumped to the floor, gasping for air between giggles.
"Is she alright?" Tyler said, leaning down to peer at me.
"Just triumphant," Edward replied solemnly, trying and failing to pull me up.
A minute later Coach Clapp announced it was time to get back onto the bus, so I forced myself to sober up, and Alice helped me find my bag because every sudden movement would cause me to burst out in automatic giggles again.
I sat down near the same place I had been this morning, and expected Alice to sit by me, but found the Edward beat her to it. I wriggled over to try and keep some personal space between us, but like this morning, every time I created more room he just moved to bridge the gap.
"I'm really tired," I said suddenly, looking out the window at the lights of the city starting to come on.
"You've been doing a lot today," Edward said obviously, and I felt his laughter shake the chair.
"Shush, you-" I threatened, but it was cut off by my yawn.
"Go to sleep, Bella," he said. I turned around nervously but Edward pushed me back into the seat. "They've resumed their rubber-band war. Don't worry."
"Okay," I yawned again. Then the last thing I remember was leaning against the window as I fell asleep, and knowing that my shoulder was going to be very sore from the ridge along the wall of the bus when I woke up.
Well! That was extremely long, no? I hope you all enjoyed it! Give me your feedback, as always, in reviews!
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-Shaps