Hey hey everyone! I'm so glad that you're all still sticking with me and my lame story line... sigh... but your reviews are such a light on my otherwise rainy day (literally, it's raining and very windy outside - I'm not depressed! I'm fine and hypo as always haha).
I got an overwhelming response of 'yes' for the lemon issue - with two or three people not too keen on it. I'm not sure yet whether it'll happen, but keep an eye out. And I'll add a warning before and after it, too.
And the reviewers are:
Screams-At-Midnight, Intoxicated By His Presence, sunybee, CullenLove, luna365, Erika Baby, Ghosts in the Snow, jeezlouise16, King of the broken hearted, bedwardforever, Music ADD, EAMC620, edwardsfavoriteflavor, laibballfan, ivmar2990, musicormisery4105, Grillllz, LookAfterMyHeart, Vampires-Rock4eva (x9), booknerd14, FrEvrNvrLasts, Bethany Knight, 143twilighter, twiroselight, FearLover, HarvestEclispe31, jacob is the new black, LivforLove, yaaaay, halokat, Bleaktwilight, AlwaysAround888, Gtimes3, Sing-my-heart-out, Michelle62092, twilightaddict26, BellaAtHeartt, Bellefire253, Dustfinger's cheering section, beggingtobebitten, McCullen, pierce.me.through.with.sadness, books and bojangles, Princess-Tinkerbelle (x3), Shining Eclipse, Rhiannon Summer, dark-star.mystery, AlwaysBettingOnAlice (x5), Ghosts in the Snow.
Special Mentions:
Just a quick note on the basis of everyone's reviews - I've been receiving questions asking why Bella was being a big time sook about getting kissed on the hand by Edward. There are several reasons for this - but mostly it's because she's angry at herself. She actually thought she had a chance with him, and instead of taking the perfect opportunity to kiss her... he goes for her hand! What would you feel like? Rejection hurts, no matter where it comes from.
Plus, Alice and Ally and Angela have all been encouraging what Bella believes to be delusions (that Edward likes her too) - which doesn't help. Now, I know that you're all probably getting annoyed with her emotional states - but have a little tolerance, please? She's just a seventeen year old girl. And if she wasn't Bella and you all didn't know that Edward loves her regardless of what happens, you'd all feel a little muddled if you were in her situation.
-Deep breath-.
Okay, that's my ramble of the moment. But thank you so much to the people who've been sympathising with hormone-fuelled little Bella :-)
Screams-At-Midnight: Well, Alice and Leah have been debating the whole time as to whether to just tell Edward and Bella how the other feels, but they always end up not doing it because as much as they love to meddle, it's not their place. They think that if Edward and Bella get together they're going to have to find a way for themselves. But Alice, being Alice, got fed up and decided to force them to see each other again, hopefully alone.
luna365: Yep, the letters will continue :-)
musicormisery4195: OH! Brilliant! I didn't even realise the whole relation to Cinderella thing - nice pick up!
booknerd14: A 'sook' is someone who complains or acts like a little kid - you could replace 'sook' with 'baby' in my story and I think it'd still make sense lol.
143twilighter: Lol, the toothbrush just fell in the shoe I think... I just thought it was an amusing something to add...
jacob is the new black: Haha, rusty angel, I thought that was pretty clever myself... :-)
Gtimes3: Heh, I love randomly reverting back to when the three of them were little and stuff... OH MY GOSH YOU JUST GAVE ME THE BEST IDEA EVER! Read at the end Author's Note to find out ;-)
Bellefire253: Nope, the Masquerade Ball is the Saturday of the upcoming week. That chapter will appear soon :-)
books and bojangles: Hahaha, I love your ranbles - they're very interesting. Especially the thing about watching 'Moonraker' and going through an old photo album!
Princess-Tinkerbelle: Oh, I feel special with my little old story-o now, cos you read it as soon as your were un-grounded lol. Hahaha, I'm glad you're back to not liking Mike again! It seems that guy just belongs in the 'Not Liked' box. And just for you, I'll add an 'xo' on the end of Edward's letter to Bella :-) Edward's not a stalker, lol, that would just be a very strange and random twist to the story if he was! Not to mention creepy! Emily won't be in this story, so Sam and Leah are all good.
Shining Eclipse: Yeah, I could just reply to them personally - but what fun is that? Besides, I think people like being mentioned in the story's actual chapter - and this way if people have questions that I've already answered then I can just refer them to read that reply instead of writing a whole new one. And if people don't want to read it, then they can just skip all the bolded stuff :-)
AlwaysBettingOnAlice: Bella does realise about Carlisle, yes - but she only really properly picks up on it in this chapter. Your reviews made me laugh, they're so cute and crazy and stuff - just like Alice Cullen! Hope you enjoy this chapter :-D
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Again, thank you all for sticking with it and reviewing all the time, you're awesome!
Chapter Twenty-Four: Memory
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Dear Bella,
Hey, how are you? I hope you had an awesome weekend. I had a really good time getting to know you, and your friends are really cool too. Except for the episode with Emmett and the jelly – but we shall not mention that. Oh, and you left your shoe here. How do I know it was yours? Well, um, there was a note tied to it which said 'Bella Swan's shoe'. I think Alice might have had something to do with it.
Well, since you know what I did with my weekend already, I'll tell you what happened after you guys left.
Rosalie and Emmett left about ten minutes after you guys did – not much to report there. Tyler and Ben played about fifteen rounds of Thumb Wars to see who would drive home. And they gave Paul a lift too. Those three are becoming almost inseparable! They're all so funny and weird sometimes, they remind me of myself when I was a plastic-sword wielding (and Star Wars obsessed) kid. Anyway, Sam and Leah gave Jared and Kim a lift back to their places. But before Jared left, he insisted we all do the dishes together for some bonding time. Jared is really weird sometimes too. But he wouldn't drop it so we did the dishes together. It never occurred to me that he would know how to give bruises with a wet tea-towel when I wouldn't – but I'm a fast learner. He'd better be in as much pain as I am when he sits down! I wonder if it's possible to write a word or draw a picture with bruises? Hmm. I'll look into that and let you know.
What did you do on Sunday? I did a fair bit of homework. And I went out to dinner with my parents – it's still weird to think of them like that! I'm not into the habit of calling them 'mom' and 'dad', and I don't think I ever will. They're just going to have to deal with me calling them Esme and Carlisle! By the way, I'm really sorry about you not being able to meet Carl, he's a really cool bloke. He never gets angry – it's quite weird. But he told me he works in Forks, so maybe you already know him? His name is Carlisle Cullen and my Aunt/Mother's name is Esme Cullen.
Bella, there's something I want to talk to you about, and I don't think I'd be able to say it right on the phone or anything and I couldn't think of what to say around you on the weekend, so forgive me for saying this in a letter.
I got dared to kiss you. I didn't want to do it because I didn't want to offend you, I mean, you might never have talked to me again! And that would be horrible, because I love being friends with you. I don't know how boring life would be if I hadn't picked up your name for this Pen Pal project. Seriously, being friends with you has definitely had its perks – I mean, I got free lollies in the cinema because of Emmett, I've met Alice and Tyler and Ally and Ben and Angela all because of you. I found out about Sam and Leah because of you! Lots of good things come from being mates with you, so I didn't want to screw it up because of a dare. I hope you know what I mean and you're still going to talk to me…?
Anyway, I think there are more important things you could be doing with your time – washing the dishes, for instance. Hop to it! (Joking! :-D)
From the leader of Bruised Butts United,
Edward Masen xo
--
Dear Edward,
Hey! Good to hear from you. My weekend was pretty good, thanks, and it's good to hear yours was good too.
I said 'good' too many times in that sentence. Sorry.
All Sunday I spent my time trying to catch up on school work. It was terrible! I've never wanted so badly to burn my calculus book. Honestly, wouldn't it just be easier to leave it to the calculators to do it?! It's not like anyone actually goes through and does every single silly equation by hand anymore. It's the age of technology, people!!
So you went out to dinner with your parents? I'll bet that was fun, haha. But seriously, did you enjoy it? Was it awkward? Are you still mad, even a little bit? I would be. Sorry if these questions are out of line, by the way. I don't mean for them to be, I'm just, well. I'm just good at asking stupid things at just the wrong time. But I don't think you'll mind, will you?
Oh. My. Gosh. You dad is Carlisle Cullen? The Carlisle Cullen?! He's my school principal!! Whoa. That's really weird. Crazy, in fact. Does he know who I am? Should I say hello to him now? Oh my goodness Edward, why did you tell me that! I could have gone and lived my life in blissful ignorance for ever and ever (that's the best kind of ignorance, by the way). Oh well. I'll deal. He's a pretty cool guy, so it's not like he'll quiz me on my grades when I come to visit, will he? (Lie to me if you have to. My nerves are on edge. Alice gave me an energy drink because I was tired this morning, but now I'm bouncing off the ceiling. Can you tell? I can. But that's because I'm right here and I'm me. Okay, that was quite strange of me to say. Scrap that. I have an English essay to write in an hour today for class. It's going to suck; I'll have the worst hand cramps ever! Have you ever done that? I tried to write for an hour straight on the weekend and- Okay. Sorry. I'm babbling. Back to whatever it was I was talking about before…)
Oh, the Dare thing, I've completely forgotten about it! 'What Dare?' I shall say when ever some one mentions it. Because it was just a Dare, right? Right.
Oh my gosh. How sweet were Ben and Angela on the weekend? They totally love each other. And Alice didn't even do any setting up! (I think.) Hopefully he'll ask her out soon. Then her and Ally could go on double dates with their boyfriends! Wouldn't that be sweet?
Anyway. I think Coach Clapp is starting to suspect I'm not doing the class work – because I'm actually doing something and no one else is. I'll blame you if I get a detention!
I hope this wears off soon. I have to do an oral presentation for History and I don't really want to talk so fast that no one can understand me.
Hyperactively yours,
Bella Swan xo
P.S. I'll try and get the shoe from you soon. My load of homework will stop me from coming to Port Angeles – so can you come down? Actually, it's not that important. Just bring it with you this Saturday to the Ball – if you don't know what that is, consult either Leah or Alice. I'm sure they'll be planning something for us (our groups, I mean, not you and me alone…) Right. See you later, have a good week!
--
It was unusually freezing when I got out of my truck at school. Usually the middle days of the week were the nicest – the real rain usually kept itself under wraps until the weekend (when it could properly ruin people's plans).
Regardless, I hopped out and tried to be quick as I jammed the key into the lock, then ducked my head and ran toward the nearest shelter source I could see. Fortunately, there had been an open spot close to the front office, and so I was now trying to shake the drops of water from my plastic outfit before pushing open the doors and fully appreciating indoor heating.
Mrs Cope was sitting at her desk behind the main counter, and another two women were quietly clattering their fingernails against their keyboards on other desks. I'd seen them around the school before, running errands and such, but hadn't had any interaction with them other than that. One of the ladies had her dark hair thrown into a pony tail and was still wearing her marshmallow jacket; the other looked to be pushing her late-forties but had blonde pig tails. Somehow, it looked good on her. She looked up from her desk and smiled at me, and I could see that she was one of those people who look eternally young - yet you still knew how old they were. It was an exact kind of demeanour to possess. I smiled back and stepped forward, directing my gaze to Mrs Cope.
I cleared my throat unconsciously and Mrs Cope's head instantly snapped up. Her expression changed infinitesimally when she realised who it was, but I couldn't pick how. I let it go.
"Good morning," I said.
Mrs Cope's chair groaned as she stood up and came over to the counter. "Can I help you, Miss Swan?"
I realised that I hadn't needed to disturb her to simply drop my letter into the shoe box, so I scrambled for something to say.
"I was wondering if I need permission or anything to put up fliers around the school," I improvised, thinking of the Masquerade Ball this Saturday night.
Mrs Cope laughed, and reminded me of Santa Claus in her jolly nature. Not that I'd ever say that to her, though.
"No, dear, you can put anything up but if it's not appropriate then there will be punishment. But I'm sure you wouldn't put anything silly on the noticeboards, would you?" She laughed again and I smiled at the mental image of her with a pointed red hat on her head, the white pom-pom swinging back and forth as her belly rumbled with 'ho ho ho!'s.
I remembered the poster Jasper had put up of Alice a few weeks back and wondered whether I should point out to her how easy it was to put 'inappropriate' material on the school notice boards. Not worth it, really.
"Okay. I'll just drop in my letter then, and be going."
I pulled the white square from my bag and posted it into the blue shoebox. Mrs Cope went back to her desk and her chair groaned again as she sat. Another Christmas-related image came to mind but I stifled it and turned to leave.
Suddenly, I was three feet from the school principal. Crap!
"Bella!" he said, like he'd known me since I was a little toddler rather than because I was the Chief's daughter.
"Good morning, sir," I said, frantically casting around for conversation topics. What was I meant to say to Edward's father?!
"How was your weekend?" He seemed nice enough.
What do I say? Do I lie? Does he know I was at Edward's? Of course he knows. How could he not? It's his house. But he wasn't there. Umm… what kind of words do I use? Teenaged words? English-essay style words? What, what, what?! Uh oh. He's looking at me like I'm mentally challenged. Speak now, and sound smart.
"It was good; I saw a movie with some friends."
Technically true.
"Oh, was it a horror movie?"
He knows.
"Yes, it was actually. Sam had to leave half way through, he was so scared. I just hid between Edward's arm and the seat whenever someone was about to be butchered."
Oh no. Should I not have said that? Should I not know that Edward's his son? Ahh! I'll bet he thinks I like his son now. Oh god. I have a crush on the principal's son!
But Principal Cullen laughed and shook his head, and I thought he must have been thinking about the other stories he'd heard about Sam and his difficulties with horror movies.
"Yeah, I'll bet Sam was scared." He looked over my shoulder, then back to me. His face was apologetic. "Sorry, Miss Swan, but I think there's a call for me. I'd better take it. Have a good morning!"
He stepped around me and I watched from the corner of my eye as he took the phone from Mrs Cope – who was grinning so much it looked slightly painful. I realised that I should have replied to his departing words, but it was too late now, and I knew I was going to have to face the outside weather sooner or later.
So I adjusted my shoulder bag and pulled my hood up over my head, then stepped forward to be greeted by a drenching slap of water.
As I headed off to Biology, my thoughts freely wandered.
I thought about the weekend, and every time I did my perverted little mind would think of how excruciatingly perfect Edward was. When he's beckoned me from the door of his room without a shirt on, I'd nearly had to be kicked out by Alice. My limbs wouldn't work and I was extremely lucky that my words hadn't come out in the wrong order, or not at all. Then, he had told me he had been dared to kiss me. But, I reminded myself, you're going to get confused and emotionally unstable if you don't think about the whole situation. Go from the start.
--thinking back to Friday night--
There was a knock on the door, and Leah answered it. She opened it a crack, wary of how often boys liked to play pranks, but then opened it fully. Alice had to shut my jaw for me when I saw who was standing there. And what he wasn't wearing.
"Sorry, Leah." He looked a little uncomfortable as his cousin lightly scolded his appearance. "I won't be like this for long. Can I have Bella for a minute, please?"
He glanced over Leah's shoulder, looking for me. Then his eyes fell to mine and I was suddenly on my feet, striding over to the door. I was shocked at my own boldness, but I seemed to be a possessed woman. However, anything that got me closer to a half-naked Edward was a good anything, so I allowed my unconscious mind to control my mouth too.
"What's up?" I said, trying and failing to sound casual. "What happened to your shirt?"
"Emmett happened to my shirt."
Oh, he was so witty sometimes. I loved witty. I loved hot, muscular, rippling- Hang on. 'Emmett happened to his shirt'? I grinned at him, waggling my eyebrows to point out a second meaning to his statement.
"Get your mind out of the gutter," he admonished, but he was smiling beautifully at me. "Would you mind coming into another room for a minute?"
Even my heart was holding its breath. Uncertain of what I was meant to do now, or if this was some kind of sick joke, I looked over my shoulder to Alice. She was nodding so crazily that if her head rolled off I wouldn't have been surprised. She was waving her hands at me, trying to push me out the door with sheer force of her will. Then, she looked past me and waved at Edward, who had apparently seen her and her obvious encouragement.
I swallowed hard and tried to control my voice while the heavy words left my mouth. "I guess so."
I was massively shocked when he took my hand. It was so warm, and soft, and silky, and reminded me of when I was little and had a teddy with silk-button eyes and I would always sit and stare into its shiny gaze. He led me down the hall, and I heard odd noises coming from one of the rooms, but didn't comment. Edward's hand flexed slightly against mine, and I wondered what he was thinking about.
What's he taking me down here for? What can't he say to me in front of our friends? Oh my gosh, maybe he wants me to be his girl-. Stop, I warned myself sharply. Don't think anything that will later make you sad if it doesn't happen.
Suddenly, just as we were passing the room with the odd noises, Emmett's voice thundered out.
"Edward!" he yelled deafeningly, and I thought he must have been very close to the door to make such a sound.
Edward stopped short and I only just prevented myself from running into him. If I hadn't been staring so much that my eyes were staring to water, I would have run into him.
"What?" Edward called out. He must have been feeling cold because he shivered.
"Make it a proper one! No scared-little-freshman business." Emmett called out. I realised Rosalie was in there, because she giggled. Edward suddenly yanked on my hand and we walked faster down the long hall.
Oh, my, god. Did he mean what I thought he meant?
I didn't notice that every boy in the house excluding Emmett and Edward's elusive father had been following us until Edward was yelling at them from on the other side of a door frame.
"LOOPHOLE!" he shouted, then slammed the door in their faces; their faces, which ranged in expression from dumbfounded to outraged.
He turned to me, and I must have looked just as confused as I felt because he seemed a little concerned for my well being.
"Uh," he said carefully, swaying on the spot the way he does when he's trying to figure something out. He paused for a moment and looked me in the eyes as he spoke again. "I got dared to kiss you, with my shirt off. Is that okay?"
YES, yes, yes, yes!! In what lifetime wouldn't that be okay?!
But I couldn't say anything, my throat was tight and my limbs wouldn't move. I desperately wanted to reach up and kiss him like he'd never been kissed before, to completely jump him even though I barely knew him. None of that mattered though, because I couldn't even blink let alone throw myself onto him. Not that I'd have the guts to do that anyway.
Maybe he's joking?
"Bella?" He waved his hand in front of my face and I blinked a few times, shaking my head to try and clear it.
"Sorry. Dunno what happened." Or, I do know what happened and am just too mortified to tell you. I put my hand to my head as I tried to think whether I'd just spaced out and had had a fantastic daydream or not. "You're supposed to kiss me?" I sounded doubtful, even to myself, because the 'joke' theory was sounding more and more likely as the seconds dragged on.
Edward's face contained pain. Oh god, he's revolted by the mere idea of coming near me…
He whispered his response. "Yes."
I should let him off the hook. I wouldn't want to kiss me either. "On the cheek?" I moved my hand across my skin, trying to cool my quickly heating face.
Edward looked calculating for a moment, then I could see on his face that he'd gotten an idea of some sort. I half-expected him to yell 'FIRE!' and run screaming from the house as a way of getting out of this dare. Maybe he'd actually light a fire first.
He looked blankly at my mouth, then back to my eyes. I'll bet my lips are as dry and cracked as burnt toast.
Then he raised his hand, and I froze.
"Or on the hand, if you'd prefer." He lifted my hand from my cheek and lightly touched his lips to my palm. "There. No pain."
'No pain'? Oh, that's ironic, I thought, feeling my heart shrivel in my chest. Oh, hello Rejection, it's been a while since you've constricted my heart like this. Nice of you to pay me a visit on this fine Friday night.
Then, the most horrid thing happened. My eyes started to well up, so I instinctively looked down, yanking my hand from his grip and wiping furiously at the stupid beads of pain rolling down my face.
"Bella? What's wrong?"
He tried to lift my chin but I pushed his hand away. I didn't want him to see me crying. Being an emotional girl is stupid.
I tried to be quiet as I sniffed; my nose was out to embarrass me too.
"I've got to go." The words came out in a rush, and I turned and bolted for the door.
My lungs yearned for a fresh breath, but when I opened my mouth to take it, a gush of air escaped in an unmistakable sob. My hands were covering my eyes, making it hard to see. I threw open the door and the eavesdropping boys jumped back, shocked at my appearance, so I used the minor distraction to shove through them. I hoped none of them saw – or figured out – why I was covering my eyes and making a break for it.
I sprinted down the hall and slammed the door behind me as I got into Edward's room. The girls were sitting around, talking in whispers in case Edward's parents were sleeping. I started to hiccough, and desperately needed tissues, so I made a beeline for the bathroom, head down. Angela and Alice were behind me in an instant.
"What happened?" Alice spoke first, putting her hand around my shoulders as I leaned over the sink.
Angela disappeared from my out of the corner of my eye for a moment, then reappeared with a box of tissues in hand. I wanted to hug her to thank her, but didn't. I don't know why I didn't. I think an impulsive hug would have been a good remedy right at that moment. Instead, I just reached slowly for the box and pulled out a sheet of flimsy white paper and pressed it to my face.
"Thanks," I croaked.
Somehow, Alice knew that now was not the time for words. She just turned me around and gently pushed me down so I was sitting on the floor, knees at my chin. They both sat either side of me, completely silent, knowing that I would talk when I was ready.
It was at least five minutes of silence broken only by my sniffs and hiccoughs before I spoke.
"He doesn't want me."
They were both silent, a reaction I hadn't expected, so I raised my head. Angela had rested her head on the back of the cupboard behind me, eyes closed. I'd have thought she was asleep if it weren't for the smile-come-grimace playing on her face. On my other side, Alice was looking at me with an indefinable expression. She was mad, sad, concerned, outraged, disappointed and disbelieving all at the same time – all of these on top of several other emotions too.
"Oh, Edward," she mumbled, disappointed, but it was more to herself than either Angela or I. She turned to me, intensity blazing in her eyes. I was a little startled, but covered it before the expression could betray me. "Bella," she said seriously. "He wants you. Trust me. He's just a silly, clueless boy."
I spluttered a laugh, but it was at Alice's comment being completely wrong rather than being right. 'He looked revolted at the mere idea of kissing me, Alice. I think that's a good indication of how much he wants me, don't you agree?' But I didn't say it. I just sighed, and grabbed another tissue.
The rest of the night was a blur of repetitive affirmations from Alice and Angela. I remembered Alice offering to get me some water, and then me seeing the worst possible person through the coincidentally opened bedroom door when she opened the bathroom door to leave. I turned my head away and buried it in Angela's shoulder. Thankfully, Alice closed the door behind her and I was spared that extra bit of humiliation.
After a few hours of being a complete baby, I climbed into my sleeping bag and tuned everything out while the girls watched movies. My two last thoughts before slipping into the dream world were; Please let my eyes look un-puffy in the morning, and Dear God, if you're there, give me some kind of dream to remember in the morning as a compromise for having me heart stomped all over. Thanks.
--Back to reality--
And then I was walking into my biology room, and my stupid, rainy reality was thrown forcefully back in my face. Thanks for the non-existent dream, eh God.
Ahh! I'm so excited! I just got the awesomest idea for a sequal - okay. So this is what the idea is - though it's not much of a sequal, really, but whatever. Here's the idea:
So, there's been references to Bella and Jacob being best friends when they were young, and a play in which Bella and Jasper starred. Also to several other random moments in their childhoods. So, my idea is this - how about I do a story of the time when the play was in pre-production, production, post-production; along with the events along the way...? Let me know what you think.
And, if you're lucky and I'm feeling inspired, I'll also write a sequal set in the time after this story. Yes..?
The other thing that I have to say is that for the next week I won't have access to a computer... but, the next chapter is the Masquerade Ball, so I think it'll be a worthwhile wait. I'll make sure it's an extra long chapter just for you readers :-D
Love you all! Review!
-Shaps