Hello! Oh my goodness, over 180 reviews, you guys are trippin' me out!! (Yeah, that was my lame attempt at using the 'cool people' language lol.)
And the foreverly awesome reviewers are:
mrsjacobblack91, Screams-At-Midnight, Muff'Nbutter, Ghosts in the Snow, dollegirl, Rawliin, Intoxicated By His Presence (x2), sweet333249, CrazZy-BunNy, Rommy, PoUrThEcHaMpAgNe.O.O., mari alice, Lianna Weschester, lostchildslight, Child-Of-God13, x-aly-x, tthrai01, AlwaysBettingOnAlice, booknerd14, edwardluva234, smile for the paparazzi, yaaaay, BellaAtHeartt, pierce.me.through.with.sadness, jacob is the new black, jannifier potter, bedwardforever, laibballfan, AlwaysAround888, Reality's only a State of Mind.
Special Mentions:
Screams-At-Midnight: Haha, 'pea sized brain', love it!
Muff'Nbutter: Fifty points! Your assumptions are correct :-)
dollegirl: Bahahaha, I love how you creatively come up with ways for Mike Newton to die in each review!
Rawliin: Aww, thankyou for such a sweet review! I'm the same; I can't walk in heels either. But I try, I really do!
Intoxicated By His Presence: I liked your insight on the Jacob/Leah imprinting thing! It's good to know I'm not the only one who thinks that way :-)
Rommy: Aww, thank you Rommermann! I'm going to fail this upcoming exam regardless; so I thought I might as well update!
mari alice: Very insightful review, maybe you'd share Alice's power if you were turned, eh? Lol.
Lianna Weschester: I reckon! I loved the steroids crack too - when I thought of it I was like "Go Team Shaps!"
Child-Of-God13: Oooooohhh, you're soooo close to being right!
x-aly-x: Lol, your review made me laugh, especially when you mentioned the thing about falling off the chair onto the floor! Bella's too shy to ask for Edward's number, plus she has a boyfriend and wouldn't it be a little suss if she did that too? Lol. I'd be soooo scared that my boyfriend (however boganistic he may be) would find out!
AlwaysBettingOnAlice: Mike is going down soon! Soon, I promise! I'm from the merry old land of Australia, so yeah, I talk weird lol. And I mess around with like metres and feet measurements and stuff all the time!!
yaaaay: Aww, thankyou, I was a bit proud of my Emmett projection :-)
BellaAtHeart: I love watching guys do long jump, they're strangely graceful or something and it's just beautiful. I hope that doesn't sound too weird!
pierce.me.through.with.sadness: Fifty points to you too!! Your observations were correct, and you'll be hearing about the sleep talking soon lol
jacob is the new black: I love your penname!! It's great :-) and yes, there will be AlicexJasper in this story, but not for a little while. She still hates him right now.
jennifier potter: Hahahaha, assorted blunt objects... well, I guess you're smart for not identifying it in case force is necessary and the police do a bit of researching!
Reality's only a State of Mind: Aww, thanks for your gorgeous review!! I felt all smiley and stuff after reading it, lol. You're half right about the shirt observation, Bella and Mike will break up in the next few chapters, and Coach Clapp only loves Alice. I thought it would be an amusing touch to add in a weird teacher-crush lol.
Well, here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it even though it's not as long as the last one!! Sorry if I sent anyone to sleep, by the way, lol. Remember to review!!
Chapter Thirteen: New and Old
Dear Bella,
Hey again! I hope you're feeling better – you looked a little sick when I had to wake you. You know, to get you to let go of me so I could get off the bus at school on Saturday? I hope everything's okay now though?
As you can obviously tell, I managed to persuade our Coach to let me get hold of my letter from the front office when we got back on Saturday so I could write you a more up-to-date one, and here it is!
Speaking of Saturday, how wicked was it? I can't believe Port Angeles won over all, it must have been all me (sarcasm!). But seriously, how weird was that? I was sure one of the private schools was going to clean up. There weren't even that many people there, it was really strange.
I forgot to tell you why Leah wouldn't allow Alice to show you those pictures she sent – but when I asked her about she said something lame like 'I wanted you two to get to know each other face to face rather than worrying over pictures' which I guess isn't that lame when you think about it… but still! How superstitious does she want to be?
Well, since you fell asleep pretty quickly on the bus on the way home, I didn't get the chance to tell you how every one else went. Paul got third in the javelin event – Sam came first. I think your friend Emmett came second – but apparently that was because he insisted on throwing it as high into the air as he could as opposed to how far forward he could get it.
Oh well, it sounded like he had fun doing it! Um, everyone else did pretty well, Leah and Kim were furious at the measuring-guy for their long-jump event, apparently he stuff it up more than once. I was scared of them for a good hour after that.
Uhh, I can't really think of anything else – it IS Sunday, after all! Saturday was a long time ago, in my opinion.
I've got to keep this short, I've got homework to catch up on, and tomorrow I'm going to have to wake up early so I can get to school in time for your teacher or whatever to collect our letters to take over to Forks. I hope this gets to you on Monday; otherwise I will have wasted a morning by not sleeping-in!
Sorry for the dodgy reply! Hopefully your brain is working better than mine.
Speak to you soon, have a good week,
Edward Masen.
(PS, Do your clothes smell like boys now, after that bus ride home?)
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Tuesday after Athletics Day
Bella,
I'm so, so sorry about Saturday. Coach Clapp was being a total dingus, and, well, I don't really have an excuse good enough for the lack of time we spent together at the Athletics thing. Do you forgive me? :-)
So, now that I've started writing, I can't think of a lot to say, even though I had tons of stuff in my head when I got this bright idea. Well, I didn't actually get the idea, Angela gave it to me but told me not to say that – whoops – oh well. I don't think you really mind that I didn't think of it, do you? Because I'm actually doing it myself, right?
Anyway. I'm making myself sound like a twit, so I'll get to the point.
I know that since our parents had dinner together, things have been a little weird between us, and with good reason. I acted like a jerk, and I'm sorry. I should have stuck up for you in front of my parents, but I just froze, and I didn't know how to react properly so I took it out on you, which was totally wrong of me. I'm really, really sorry Bella. I know that you would probably say its fine, that you'd forgotten about it, and that there's nothing wrong if I'd apologised face to face, but I didn't want you to do that because I really want to apologise.
And considering you didn't really give me the time of day yesterday at school, I'm guessing there's more going on in your pretty little head than I'll ever understand, being a guy and all. But I'd like to, one day, maybe?
Anyway, I just want you to know that I'm really sorry, and I'm going to do my absolute best to make it up to you.
I'll speak to you soon, beautiful,
Mike xoxo.
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Dear Edward,
It was good to get a reply – well, an up to date one anyway. It would have been funny to read something you'd written before we'd actually met, thought I wouldn't mind reading it anyway…?
Saturday was much better than I'd hoped. It didn't rain, which is always a plus, and not only that but the weather was kind enough to actually reveal the sun!
Oh, and I told you Alice could kick your butt in heels! I wonder who put her up to the challenge, was it you? Because if she had hurt herself, I would have put the fool into a coma on her behalf. Not really, but you get my gist! I shouldn't have said that, because if you actually put her up to the challenge, there's no way you're going to own up to it now!
Oh my goodness. I'm so, so sorry about falling asleep on you. I hope I didn't sleep talk; that would have been mortifying! Seriously, tell me if I did. I want to know if I have reason to cringe every time someone mentions a bus now. Alice won't tell me if I said anything, so please be kind…?
Well, this has to be a first. I am writing this reply to you out of school hours! No lesson is taking a hit – though I'm using this as an excuse to avoid doing my calculus. I hate that subject. I cannot wait until my life is totally calculus-free. Instead of sneakily writing when the teacher isn't looking, I'm outside on my favourite wooden chair with a million layers of clothing on. Charlie – my dad – has got his friend Billy over and his son is with them. I'm not really looking forward to having to deal with him, as we're not the best of friends, so dealing with the cold outside seems better than staying in the same room as Jacob Black.
Ugh. I think I just heard Charlie calling my name. Hopefully he's going to tell me they've left – nope, no such luck. Jacob had just appeared and looks like he wants to read what I'm writing.
This is Agent Klutz, signing out, (where did that come from?)
Bella Swan.
(PS, Yes, my clothes did smell horrible, but I managed to make it go away after the fifth load through the washing machine was done.)
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"Hey Swan," Jacob said, sitting down beside me.
"Jacob," I said stiffly, hoping to repel him with my lack of communication. I carefully folded my letter and put it down on the table beside me, out of Jacob's curious reach.
"How are you?" he said politely, and I was thrown off balance at his niceness. I turned to him and sighed.
"What is it, Jacob?"
He looked at me innocently. "What? Can't a guy come and say hello to his father's best friend's daughter?"
"After years of pretending I don't exist, I would think not," I said, crossing my arms and looking away stubbornly.
"I do talk to you!"
I turned to him and laughed mockingly. "Yeah, trying to crack onto me doesn't count. You're not the same person you used to be, and frankly, I don't want to know the new you."
He was silent, and I looked over to him, feeling a mixture of irritation and regret and annoyance at the pained look on his face.
"Fine. If that's how you want it."
He rose to go back inside, but I'd spoken before I was able to stop myself, like it was a reaction rather than a real apology.
"Jake, stop. I'm sorry. That was a bit harsh." He stopped and turned, smiling a faintly recognisable grin. "So, tell me a story," I said, huddling into my chair and hoping to listen rather than contribute to the conversation I'd just thrown myself into.
"What do you want to talk about?" he said, leaning back in his chair and pulling his coat tighter around his body.
"Um," I said, thinking as I watched the little bugs zoom into the porch light then fall to the ground, dazed, before getting up and repeating the exercise. "How was your Saturday?" My mind seemed to be living in that day and it was hard to change the habit.
Jake shifted in his chair and I smiled slightly, knowing he was feeling a bit uncomfortable, and so he should be. "It was pretty good. I forgot to go to my event, but it was only javelin and I know Emmett would have won that anyway, so there wasn't really any point."
I smiled at him by reaction, thinking of how similar he was to me - with the assumption of Emmett being victorious, that is. He continued talking, and I closed my eyes, watching the little pinpricks of light dance behind my eyelids.
"Jasper came first in the high jump, I think it was, and James got second or third in the hurdles. I didn't go and watch them because I was talking to Alice for a while when the two of them were gone."
I sat up suddenly. "What?"
"When Jasper and James were at their events, I was talking to Alice," he clarified.
I thought for a moment. Alice said Jacob had given her a shirt – I ought to have guessed that he wouldn't have done such a nice thing in front of the others. "When was this?" I asked, trying to think where I was when their conversation would have taken place.
"It was just after she got hit with the orange, so some time in the morning."
Hmm. I must have been talking with Ally then. "Okay. What did you talk about?"
"Well, I gave her one of Jasper's shirts-"
"What?!" I yelled, nearly falling off my chair with shock. "Jasper's shirt? Did she know it was his?" I almost yelled at him across the small space.
"Calm down!" he said, pushing me back into my seat with one hand. "Yes, she knew it was Jasper's, and she actually asked to make sure it was his. I think she had a fair point, he was the one to throw it and get her shirt all sticky in the first place."
My mind whirled. What the hell? Alice requesting a shirt of Jasper's?
"Huh. Alright then, keep talking." I tried to make myself shut up by clamping my mouth together tightly.
"So she went to the toilets and came back a second later with the other shirt on." He tightened his grip on his jacket and looked over at me in the available light as he spoke. "We kept talking, and she said she promised to come to the party Jasper and I are throwing in a few weeks, and she asked if she could bring some friends with her, and I said that was fine as long as they didn't plan on torching Jasper's house. She laughed and told me that no, they were tame and wouldn't be lighting anything on fire.
"So we were talking for ages, until her little friend with black hair came over and I got hungry so I left. When I came back Jasper was there, and he was muttering to himself holding his face where he got slapped for being a jerk. I just laughed and told him that he wasn't going to get anywhere in life if he kept pulling out crappy one-liners."
I laughed, feeling myself get back into the comfortable groove Jake and I had had years ago.
"What did you do?" he asked me, sounding genuinely interested.
I didn't really know what to say to that. I decided to be truthful, but bend it slightly.
"I met up with my pen pal from Port Angeles, and spent a fair bit of time over at their school's area getting to know some new people. Alice and Leah, her pen pal, spent most of their day together, and I also went and watched Mike at the long-jump event. Coach Clapp was on Mike's back all day because he caught me and Mike together in the morning so I didn't see a lot of him. It was pretty uneventful. Except for in the afternoon, when the running races were on and Alice goes and wins the relay event for us in heels of all things. I couldn't believe it!"
Jake started laughing. "She actually did it? I thought she was just joking when she made that bet with Jasper. That's heaps funny!" he said, still laughing.
So Jasper's the culprit. I should have guessed; Alice was never one to turn down a bet.
"That silly girl. She could have broken her leg or something."
"It is Alice though. She might as well have them welded to her feet."
I grinned, surprised that he knew so much about her. Maybe he likes her? Let's find out, I thought to myself.
"So, Jacob, who do you have your eye on these days?" I asked, watching him carefully to see if he was going to lie or not. He seemed thoughtful, but I didn't see any traces indicating an untruth when he replied.
"No one, really, there aren't a lot of decent, available girls."
Okay, so he didn't have a thing for Alice. "Aww, come on, there are girls out there. You just have to keep your eyes peeled for them," I said, trying to sound encouraging.
"All the good ones are taken," he said regretfully. I picked up on his tone and tried to steer the topic away from where I thought it was going.
"What about Jessica? Or Lauren? They're both, uh, very… nice?"
I didn't even sound convincing to myself; far from it in fact. Jake laughed and looked over at me.
"Nice try, Bella, but I really don't have my eye on anyone. Plus, it's high school, and not a lot comes out of high school relationships anyway." I thought I heard regret in his voice, but before I could think about it too much, Charlie scared the life out of me by banging the screen door open.
"…just get them now!" he called over his shoulder to who could only be Billy. "Hey, Jake," he said brightly. "We need a hand carrying your dad's chair out to the car."
"Sure thing, Charlie," Jake said, standing up.
There was a muffled call from inside the house, and Charlie disappeared through the door again. I could feel the unrepeatable moment between Jake and I disappearing, so I decided to throw aside my inhibitions for just a few seconds. I stood up and called Jake back just as he was reaching for the door handle.
"Yeah?" he said, turning back.
I threw the blanket I'd been holding around myself to the ground and jumped forward to hug him, feeling inexplicably happy. He took a moment, but hugged me back, though not in the way we used to when we were best friends.
"I'll miss you," I said, pulling back. I let go of him quickly and could feel the embarrassment creeping into my cheeks so I bent down to retrieve the blanket from the ground to hide my face.
"Me too," he said. I could tell he knew exactly what I meant, and that he also knew how things were going to be once we saw each other at school the next day. He smiled then, no; it was more of a grimace, and turned back to the door. "Might see you later, Bella."
"Yeah," I said. Then Jake was gone. I found myself alone again, with the bugs flying mindlessly into the light.
--
The next morning at school I dreaded the fact that Calculus would be beginning my day and Gym would be ending it. The rain had unavoidably returned, and I found myself sneezing up a storm as I pushed open the front office doors. As usual, there was barely anyone there, but Mrs Cope smiled in a mild morning manner as I strode to the little blue shoe box and dropped in my letter. I felt very glad that I'd thought to hold it under my jacket on the way over, otherwise Edward would have a very hard time trying to decipher my messy writing if it were smudged too.
Well!! Some of your suspicions were confirmed in that chapter, and I hope you're happy with where the story is going. We'll find out what Bella said while sleep-talking soon, in Edward's reply (about three chapters away). I'll give you all a teaser of the next chapter here:
"I carefully opened the door, which was open, and locked it behind me before trying to be quiet as I shrugged out of my jacket and hung it onto the only available peg. I balked as I saw an unfamiliar jacket there on the usually vacant end peg, and looked more closely, realising with a sick feeling in my stomach that Charlie was not the reason the kitchen light was still on."
Ooooohhh!! Exciting!!
Review, and let me know what you think!
Love you all!!
-Shaps