I got home to find Alice lying on the couch with her head in Jasper's lap. She had a damp washcloth draped over her forehead. She looked green. She opened her eyes and looked at me with a 'don't you dare say anything' look in her eye.

I chuckled. "How was your day Jasper?"

He looked down at Alice's face. "Fine. We had a nice time until we actually made it out into Puget Sound."

"What did you do today Bella? I thought you would be home when we got back." Alice asked.

"Um…I was feeling much better, and I went to grab something to eat." I lied. I wasn't going to be able to use the 'sick' excuse anymore.

"Well, I'm glad you are feeling better." She said.

I woke up Monday morning feeling good. No, not good, fantastic! I practically skipped to my classes.

I was walking into my math class when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around quickly to see a bandaged nose and a black eye looking at me.

"Nice to see you again, Bella." Mike said with a smile on his face. I didn't trust him for a minute.

"Hello, Mike." I sneered.

"I wanted to apologize to you. Our first meeting was a bit rough. You know Cullen is wound up pretty tight. I should know, I've known him for almost nine years. I know what makes him tick. You shouldn't hang out with a loser like him. It could get you in trouble."

"I don't know what you are talking about Mike. Just leave Edward alone. He doesn't need you lurking around causing problems for him."

"Ha! Me cause problems for him? Did you see him charge at me the other night? I thought he was going to try and rip my throat out!"

"Whatever"

"Look Bella, I want to make it up to you. Let me take you out. Show you a good time. I don't think Cullen is capable. He's been locked up with a bunch of boys for the last year and a half. I'm thinking that maybe he has probably switched teams, if you know what I mean." He laughed.

"Mike, if you don't walk away from me right now I cannot guarantee your safety." I threatened.

"Whoa! Feisty. I like that." He smirked. "Do you want to know why I didn't press charges on Saturday?"

I didn't answer. Though I was curious.

"I missed playing my little games with Cullen. A new game has just begun, he just doesn't know about it yet."

"Look Mike, I don't know what you're talking about. Just leave us alone. I don't want you to have to get your nose reset." I turned and walked into my class.

All I could think about was what Mike had said. 'A new game' what did that mean? And why on Earth would he ask me out? It looked to me that Jess was his girlfriend. What a jackass.

I was early to Psychology and I waited outside for Edward.

"Miss Swan, can I speak with you for a moment?" a voice from behind me asked.

I turned to see Dr. Price. "Yeah, sure."

We walked down the hallway from the class and into his office. "Miss Swan, I know that you have been spending time with Edward Cullen, and I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Ok"

"I can't really elaborate on what I'm going to say and I hope you can understand what I'm getting at. I don't know how much Edward has told you of his past. He is coming out of a tough time in his life, and I just wanted to let you know that your friendship will be very helpful in his recovery. Unfortunately you had a small glimpse of where he can go if he doesn't have the support of friends and family. I just want you to be careful."

"I understand Dr. Price. I really care about Edward, and I hope he can see that. I want to be there for him, if he'll let me."

"Thank you Bella. Let's get to class"

I walked back down the hall and into the classroom. Edward was sitting in his seat waiting for me. When he saw me enter the room, he smiled his crooked grin for me.

I took my seat next to him. "Hey" I whispered.

"Hey" he breathed before he took my hand.

We walked out of class and into the cool air. We were headed for the library. Edward was going to help me with my math homework again. We sat down at a table near the back. I had my book out and Edward was explaining the assignment to me. Every couple of minutes he would lean into me and kiss my temple or play with my hair. I was too distracted to even hear what he was saying to me.

"Do you know that I haven't heard a word that you are saying?" I giggled. "You are distracting me too much."

"Sorry, I'll keep my hands to myself then." He snickered. Leaning away from me and folding his hands on the table in front of him.

I jutted my lip out, and let out an audible 'Humph'.

"We aren't getting anywhere today." He stood and started packing up my books into my backpack. "Let's get out of here."

We walked out of the library and out to my truck. Edward threw my backpack into the cab and shut the door. "Hey, I thought that we were going somewhere." I said looking at him curiously.

"We are." He said leading me to another part of the parking lot.

We walked up to a black motorcycle, and Edward was grinning from ear to ear. "I've been working on fixing this thing for over a month. It's finally finished. Would you like to go for a ride?" I nodded.

He straddled the bike and handed me a helmet while he put one on himself. I swung my leg over the seat behind him. Edward kick started the bike and it roared to life. "Hold on." He said.

I placed my hands on either side of his waist. "Ready!" I yelled over the engine. He took hold of my wrists and pulled them tighter around him so that my hands could touch each other and took off out of the parking lot. I hugged on to him tighter.

The Seattle weather was dry today, but it was still a little cold to be out riding a motorcycle. Luckily I had worn a sweater under my coat.

We rode around the city streets for a while and then came back to where my truck was parked.

"God Bella your teeth are chattering. I'm sorry; I didn't know that you were so cold."

I was freezing. I'm sure that my lips were blue. Edward put his arms around me and walked me to my truck. We got inside and he started it up, putting the heater on full blast.

"I'll drive you home. You know, I don't have any idea where you live."

"Oh…um…I live in the dorms on the other side of campus." I didn't know what to do. Would he suspect something's up if I refused to let him take me home? Alice may not even be home yet. She had been spending a lot of time over at Jasper's lately. Maybe luck would be on my side and she wouldn't be there.

We pulled up to my dorm and parked the truck. When I got out I scanned the parking lot for Alice's car. Safe.

I took Edward by the hand and led him in the dorm. We sat on the couch and Edward pulled the blanket off of the back to wrap around me, and then wrapping his arms around me too. I leaned into him and laid my head on his shoulder.

I must have fallen asleep because I opened my eyes to find that it was now dark outside. I glanced at the clock and it read 1:30am. I sat up to find that Edward had fallen asleep next to me.

He woke with a start. Confused as to where he was. "What time is it?"

"It's 1:30 in the morning" I replied sleepily. Edward just groaned.

"I'm going to be in a lot of trouble when I get home." He said with his eyes closed and his head leaning back on the couch. "I sort of have a curfew after what happened Saturday night. I'd better get going."

I walked him to the door and snaked my arms around his waist hugging him close. He returned the favor. "I'm sorry that you will be in trouble." I said into his chest.

"I will be fine. Don't worry about me." He said before kissing the top of my head.

I raised my head off of his chest and looked in his face. His eyes met mine and he brought his lips down to meet mine.

"Goodnight." I whispered after the kiss.

"Goodnight Bella. I will see you…" He chuckled. "…later today I guess."

I closed the door behind him and sighed against it. After my 'moment' I pushed off the door and made my way to my room.

I noticed that Alice's door was closed. Had it been closed before?

My alarm went off at exactly 7am. I groaned into my pillow before pulling myself out of my bed.

I gathered up the clothes that I wanted to wear today and walked out of my room and headed to the bathroom.

"Someone has some explaining to do."

I whipped my head towards the living area. I walked slowly over to the couch and found Alice lying back with her feet on the armrest covered in the blanket that Edward and I had used the night before.

"This…" she said holding the blanket to her nose "…smells like a boy."

I just looked at her with panic in my eyes and my mouth agape.

"Bella, Bella, Bella…I came home last night to find you cuddled up with some guy on the couch. Is this the smell of your mystery man?"

"Y-yeah" I stuttered. "We came back here after our study session in the library."

"Hmm…well you'll have to bring him over so that we can all meet him. You know, so we can see if he's good enough for our Ms. Swan here." She said gesturing to me.

"I don't know Alice. I know how overwhelming you guys can be. I don't think that he will like the attention."

"Come on, we'll be nice. All I got to see of him was the top of his head. Does that boy own a comb?" she laughed. It was true Edward's hair was always in'perfect' disarray.

"We'll see Alice." I said just to appease her, and headed off to the bathroom for a shower.

As I washed my hair I was thinking about Edward and how I was going to tell him my secret. I needed to do it soon. It would only get harder to tell him if I waited much longer. I didn't want to hurt him, but I knew deep down that it would.

I decided to tell him over the Thanksgiving break that was in one week. Rose and Emmett were getting pretty serious and she was taking him, Carlisle and Esme home to meet her parents. Alice jumped on the bandwagon and decided to invite Jasper to her home. My dad, Charlie had to work over the entire weekend because they were short staffed at the police station so I wouldn't get to spend time with him. So I told everyone that I really needed to study hard for the finals that were approaching and was going to stay home. They gave me a hard time about it, but I won out in the end.

Everyone was leaving Wednesday after their classes. I would have from Wednesday night until Sunday late afternoon to figure a way to tell him.

This was proving to be the most difficult thing that I have ever had to do in my life.