Tangled Up In Me:

Chapter 6: Hot n' Cold

Monday morning I woke up and got ready for school as usual. Charlie was gone already, and I grabbed an apple on my way out the door.

I got to school and saw Alice was already there, sitting on a bench under the cafeteria awning.

"Hey Alice" I said as I walked up.

"Hey!" she trilled loudly, "How was your date with Garrett!?"

She pulled me down next to her and looked at me expectantly.

I sighed and began to tell her about saturday, leaving out the part about running into Edward of course.

"Oh my gosh! Bell-aa! That is sooo cute!" she said exaggerating my name and the word 'so'.

I was about to agree with her when Jasper showed up.

I felt sort of weird whenever I was just around Alice and Jasper. Like I was intruding on something. The way they always looked at each other, with so much love, I just felt like I shouldn't be watching.

"I'll catch you later Al." I told her.

I got up and started walking around. I hadn't realized how early I had actually gotten to school. I stopped by my locker and grabbed my calculator to check where Edward was and it told me he was on his way to school. Satisfied that he was still safe I continued to walk, not really paying attention to where I was walking.

I ended up in the auditorium. I seemed to be spending a lot of time there lately.

I was laying down on the stage, my feet dangling over the edge of it, listening the my classical music play list when I felt an ear bud disappear. I opened my eyes and standing over me smiling was Garrett.

Usually whoever had torn me away from my music would be on the ground in pain but lucky for Garrett I remembered that I was suppose to be a normal high school girl. And normal high school girls didn't used illegal martial arts on unsuspecting boys.

"Hey" I said smiling back at him. I sat up as he sat next to me.

"So I have it on good authority that you got the lead in the play. Sorry you're going to have to put up with my constant presence." he told me smirking.

"Thing suffering we do for our art." I sighed dramatically. Then I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and we both burst into a fit of laughter.

A loud annoying bell went off then signaling it was time to head to first period.

"What class do you have first?" Garrett asked.

"Gym. And you know how they get if your late." I said jumping off the stage.

"Yea, have fun" he said and he jumped down and headed the opposite way.

We played volleyball in gym today. I loved volleyball back at Buxley, of course we played a little different- exploding balls and an assortment of obstacles were thrown at you- but here I was suppose to be a klutz and horrible at sports.

I walked out of the locker room after changing and went to sit on the bleachers and waited to be put on a team.

I notice that the new girl Jane was in the class now. I also noticed that Tanya walked right past Edward without a glance. What happened there?

Edward just turned and started talking to a guy next to him.

Tanya glared at me and sat down next to Lauren Mallory, a blond girl who hated me for some unknown reason, probably because Tanya did.

I decided to go and sit by Jane and see if I could find out anything else about her while we were waiting for the teachers to arrive.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" I asked while walking up the bleachers.

"No. Go for it" Jane said smiling.

I took that as a good sign and smiled back.

"So how was your first weekend in Forks?" I asked her.

"Boring...I actually did my homework." she laughed and I laughed with her.

She was really nice. It was too bad that I was most likely going to have to take her out.

I don't mean like killing her or anything but at least tamper with her memory so she wouldn't remember why she was here.

"What about you? Did you do anythi-"

She never got to finish her sentence because the Coach Harvey started to talk.

I was on a team with a bunch of people who I didn't know very well, I mean I knew who they all were-there were only like 400 kids in the entire school- but I had never talked to them. Tanya was on my team as well. Edward and Jane were on the other team.

I was standing in the front center position when I suddenly felt a searing pain in my back.

I turned and saw Tanya standing there with an it-was-an-accident look on her face.

That's it. I thought to myself.

"Oops. My bad Bella." she said in a fake sweet voice.

"It's ok Tanya, it happens to the best of us." I replied just as sweet.

She had no idea what was coming.

I could have fought back and hit her in the head-hard-when it was my turn to serve but I would just wait. I had other plans for retaliation.

I looked back trying to focus on the game when I noticed Edward's face. He looked pissed off. But why? I mean I didn't do anything to Tanya she was fine. Then I noticed that the anger was directed at Tanya, not me.

Hm….I'd have to ask Alice about that later.

I walked into English and Alice was already there waiting.

"Hey I have a question for you" I said as I sat down.

"Sure. Shoot" she answered distractedly, she had a fashion magazine on her lap.

Sneaky little pixie girl, from the front of the room it would look like she was following along in her text book when Mrs. Cottingham started the lesson.

"What's going on…." I trailed off as Edward entered the room.

I was finally on good terms with him-well at least ok terms- and I didn't want to mess that up by talking about him right in front of his face.

He sat down and class started then.

"Never mind," I whispered. "I'll ask you later"

She looked at me curiously, and she must have noticed my gaze was not on her but on Edward, because she turned her head and looked at him then back to me and smirked.

What was going on with him?

"Ok class today we are going to do something super fun!" Ms. Cottingham announced. "Today we are going to start reading groups, I will assign you to groups and give you each a book to read and analyze and at the end of the quarter you will be presenting them to the class."

Uh. Oh. This did not sound good.

"Ok group one will be….Edward, Samantha, Erica, John, Patrick, and Bella."

Well that's not too bad I thought to myself.

"Your book will be….oh this one will be good….Pride and Prejudice"

My eyes widened in disbelief.

Edward sent a sly look in my direction.

"Hey Swan now you can actually read the book instead of just watching the movie" she jeered at me.

What was his deal? One minute he was nice the next he was an ass. Maybe he was actually bipolar and they just hadn't included that little fact in his file? Either way it was getting old.

"Hah ha." I glared at him. I didn't have a comeback for that. I was so furious.

After English I stormed out. Not the over-the-top kind that girls pull in movies when they have just had a fight with their boyfriends. It was more of a brisk walk and a bang of the door.

Alice was behind me in seconds.

"So what did you want to ask me?"

I had completely forgotten about that. Edward was only a few feet behind us so I leaned in and whispered to her.

"Oh…um is something going on with Edward and Tanya?" I asked her. I thought I was being quiet, but apparently I was wrong.

"Not that it's any of your business but we broke up, no thanks to you" an all too familiar voice said from behind me.

I stopped short and was hit from behind by Edward. I started to fall face forward when suddenly I felt the impact of the ground, but I was looking into a pair of stunned green eyes instead of the wet green grass I had expected.

Edward was under me and I heard him huff as he lost his breath.

I got up quickly.

"Oh my gosh I'm really sorry!" I said to him and extended my hand to help him up.

"Great" he said brushing off his pants as he started to stand. " First you ruin my relationship with Tanya and now you ruin my new jeans. Way to go Swan. Why don't just stay out of my way." he sneered and I stepped back in response to the venom.

"Fine" I said adding as much venom to my voice as I could muster, pushing him right back down, only this time a little further back and into a mud puddle.

I turned and walked away from Edward's furious face, and Alice's shocked one.

Other people had gathered to witness out little fight but I paid them no attention as I walked into my history class.

What did I just do!?

I heard an aggravated yell from behind me as I was walking away but I ignored it. I couldn't believe I had actually PUSHED Edward into a mud puddle. Sure it was hilarious and he deserved it but I couldn't help but feel bad about it afterward.

I spent the entire class spaced out thinking about what had just happened. Why was I obsessing over this.

I noticed more than once Alice trying to gain my attention but I ignored her because I wasn't ready to talk about what I had done or why I had done it.

Usually when Edward pissed me off I just walked away but for some reason his whole hot and cold attitude towards me pushed me over the edge.

Finally right as the bell was ringing I decided that the next period I would have it out with Edward. Confront him. Tell him I was tired of this 5 year old attitude we had towards each other.

I had the whole thing planned out in my head. I kept repeating it to myself as people passed by me and patted me on the back saying things like "Nice move Bella" and "That was so awesome! I wish I had done it."

Everyone seemed pretty impressed that I had done that to Edward and if I was being completely honest I was kind of impressed at my own boldness but there was still that nagging feeling. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I walked into 4th period and signed in. As I was walking back towards my usual seat I looked for Edwards familiar bronze mop of a head. I couldn't find it. Anywhere.

Crap! Fudge! Shark! A slew of curse words-my version anyways- ran through my head.

I rushed to my locker not bothering to get my planner signed and grabbed the calculator.

"I should really just keep this on me" I muttered to myself as I headed for the girls bathroom.

I got inside a stall and locked it. I pulled up the GPS and found Edward. He was at his house. I mentally laughed at myself for worrying so much. Of course he would have gone home to change. If he intended on coming back at all today. I wouldn't if I were him.

I had just put the calculator back in my bag when the door to the restroom opened.

Instinctively I pulled my feet up and kept as quiet as possible as I listened to the familiar voices.

"So what are you going to do now? I mean you guys are going to get back together right?" I recognized Lauren Mallory's high nasely voice.

"Of course. I just have to make him see what he's missing." I heard Tanya say.

They must be talking about Edward. Hm...so Edward broke up with her. That's weird, considering how he acted this morning. Anyone else would assume Tanya had dumped him.

"Brilliant...but uh...." Jessica Stanley started to stutter, "how exactly are you going to do that? I've never seen Edward jealous over anyone. I mean how could he be. He's perfect...with his dreamy eyes...oh and don't get me started on the smi-...OWWW!"

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud. It sounded like Tanya had wacked Jessica over the head with her purse, which was incredible oversized. There was no one on earth that needed that much room.

"Shut up. I have a plan. So first......" Tanya said as the door opened and their voices drifted further away and the door finally closed leaving me in the silence of the bathroom once more.

I walked out of he bathroom and headed for General Music. I got there a little late but Ms. Jones didn't seem to care and waved me over. As I was walking toward her desk I noticed that everyone else in class was paired off and they all had notebooks and sheet music in front of them.

"Bella. For the next few weeks we will be working on duets. Since you were tardy and Mr. Masen is absent you two will work together. You will either choose a duet to work on, of course you need my consent on the duet you have chosen, or you can work together to compose your own. I recommend the latter as it will earn you a better grade. That is all." She waved her hand dismissively but before I could get two steps away, "Oh, and I will expect Mr. Masen to be up to speed already when he returns."

"Yes. Ma'am...would you mind if I stepped out into the hall to call Edward and to start working on duet ideas?" I gave her my sweetest smile.

"Of course that will be fine."

Once I was out in the hall with the door completely shut behind me I slunk down against the nearest lockers and started banging my head against them.

"Uh....why me? Why? Why? Why?" I probably would have continued hitting my head and asking myself why if I hadn't heard someone heading around the corner towards me.

I looked up in time to see Garrett walking down the hall. He didn't notice me as he stopped at a locker a few feet down.

I opened my laptop to begin working. I would just start looking for duets that Ms. Jones would approve of and give Edward a few options.

"Hey" said Garrett, seeming to have finally noticed me.

"Hey" I answered with a smile.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked looking around.

What? Did he expect to see a spaceship about to land or maybe he was looking for some hidden camera? I couldn't help but wonder why he seemed so jumpy all of the sudden?

"Um....just working on a class assignment...are you ok?" I asked him as he continued to look over his shoulder.

"Yea...yea I'm fine. I uh got to go....back to class.... I'll see you later" then he left.

I returned to my work. Then suddenly something hit me, like a ton of bricks. Garrett left the opposite way he came, and his class was no where near where he was headed. Why would he lie about something like that?

My brain was racing with questions and suspicions. Did the CIA have it wrong? Did I misjudge Jane and Alec when I should have been looking more closely at the people who had been at the school longer than me? There were so many thoughts and theories racing around in my head that I was startled when the bell rang.

I jumped to my feet, grabbed my bookbag and raced to the parking lot. So much was going through my brain at once it was hard for me to focus. One thing was for sure though, I wouldn't be able to concentrate on Biology this afternoon. So I walked to the parking lot, avoiding the school security guard and jumped in my truck to head back to Charlies. I had some serious research do to. Not just about Jane and Alec but now I was forced to add Garrett to my list.

A/N: Okay so now we are all caught up and the next chapter will have EVERYTHING completely new. I hope you guys still like the story. Let me know what you think....and thanks to everyone who has stuck with me this far. I'm going to do better from now on with updating regularly.

Peace....Accident Prone Klutz