A/N: Standard disclaimer applies.

Thanks go to my Project Team Beta beta's for this chapter: Dragonfly336 and Megan.

Enjoy! R&R and leave me some love.

Song rec: Again by Natasha Bedingfield

CHAPTER TWO: DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN

Hands over my head, thinking "What else could go wrong?"
Would've stayed in bed, how can the day be so long?

Never believed that things happen for a reason
But how this turned out, removed all my doubts

So believe, that for you I'd do it all over again
Do it all over again
All I went through, led me to you
So do it all over again, for you

-Again by Natasha Bedingfield

~\\\~

Bella's POV

I waited in the parking lot by my beaten down truck for Alice to arrive. As the Volvo came into sight and parked, I straightened up and readied myself for Alice's exuberance. Alice bounded over to me while I tried not to watch her asshole brother and Jasper get out of the car. Jasper and Alice had been dating for the last ten months and I actually liked to think I had a small part in them getting together.

Flashback

I'd watched Jasper make eyes at Alice for three months and heard Alice confess her big, fat crush to me constantly. She bleated on about them being soul mates and what her wedding dress would look like; it was ridiculous. One day it was enough. I snapped. They liked each other and everyone could see it; everyone but them.

Unfortunately, Jasper was a part of our group. I had nothing against him but the fact that he hung out with us meant his best friend, the devil's incarnation himself, also known as Edward, did too. So, the four of us were just one big happy family. Insert rolling of the eyes.

As I was sitting in the cafeteria one day. I decided that something had to be done. Enough was enough.

Alice had been flirting with Marcus Volturi and in my opinion attempting to enrage Jasper with jealousy. It was obviously working, the poor guy. Leading both guys on was a bitch move. When Alice returned to the table after her shenanigans, Jasper was visibly hurt and trying not to show it. That was it.

I was tired of three months of the non-stop drama because of those two. It was annoying and irrational for two people who wanted to be together to not be together, for no reason at all. I couldn't concentrate in class because Alice's "heart was breaking, every second just a little bit more."I was frustrated and at the end of my rope.

"Alice, stop being mean! Jasper, smarten up!" They both blinked at me, looking genuinely confused, so I just spilled the beans. Only good could come of it at this point in time.

I stood up abruptly and screamed at Alice and Jasper, "For God's sake, everyone knows that you two like each other, so what the fuck are you doing?"

Meanwhile, the whole student body had turned to look at me as I gave my spiel. I barely noticed.

I turned accusingly towards Jasper.

"The proof is right in your eyes by the way you look at Alice and the way you get jealous whenever any guy speaks to her. Ugh, I'm sick of this denial shit!" I turned to Alice now. "Alice, you know you like him and he likes you. So talk about it."

Turning my body, I looked at both of them, with their jaws nearly touching the ground and I concluded my speech. Everyone in the cafeteria sat with baited breath, shocked to see the cool, calm and collected Bella Swan crack.

I took a deep breath to calm myself and my embarrassment. It only just sank in that all eyes were on me as I lost my cool. I hated the spotlight. The hungry-for-drama student body hung on my every word, like vultures swooping in to eat the remains of a warthog in the desert.

Only this time, I was Pumba.

Shit.

I cringed internally at my self-realization and purposely lowered my voice so only our table could hear.

With my parting line, I dragged each syllable out and spoke slowly, as if explaining something to two year olds or an animal.

"He likes you and she likes you, so talk."

With that, in my irritation at myself, I slammed my lunch tray down, startling Edward out of his seat. Any other time and I would have pissed myself laughing, but not today. I was not in the mood.

He seemed to try to restrain himself, but started chuckling behind his hand. Soon it turned into full blown and he was rolling on the ground laughing. I couldn't believe that Assward had the nerve to laugh at me!

I snapped at him, under my breath and stormed out to go calm myself.

Present Time

Needless to say, my confrontation had produced good results.

Alice came over to yell at me later that afternoon, but she was smiling. After reaming me for exposing secrets and breaking the sisterhood code, I got tired and slapped my hand over her mouth.

When I told her to quit it and that it was the right thing to do, her eyes lit up with excitement before she detailed how they talked everything out and were going on a date. That night!

It was a Wednesday. When I mentioned it was a school night, she grinned and told me they couldn't wait until the weekend. I laughed for my best friend through a smug, self-satisfied smirk.

Luckily, my fortune turned around and everything remained relatively normal afterwards. Edward still laughed at me. Alice and Jasper made eyes at each other. Eric Yorkie asked me out daily. We remained the top dogs of the school.

To be honest I didn't really see why I was in the 'popular' group. I could see why the other three were popular, no doubt.

Alice was the beautiful, bubbly head cheerleader who loved parties and shopping.

Jasper was easygoing and had movie star good looks.

Lastly, there was Edward. He was something else. Movie star looks as a description just didn't do him justice. It would be classified as misleading advertising or something. Needless to say, the girls loved him. He practically had an unofficial 'I Love Edward Cullen' fan club. It was made up of his groupies and a few closet fan girls. Also, being the captain and the quarterback of the football team catapulted him to celebrity status at our school.

But I, unlike the other three, was nothing special at all.

I knew it was the other three that made us popular. I was average at best and yet they welcomed me with open arms. Well, two of them did. Granted I'd had the added advantage of knowing Alice and Edward all my life, but the student body didn't know of our history so I think everyone was shocked to see me as the new member of their group. It was the talk of the town for weeks, before being chased out of the top spot at the rumor mill, after "the party of the year" got busted up by the cops.

Although a part of the most popular group, I wasn't spoken to a lot outside of school. Because of other three's beauty, we were the highest on the food chain. We were somewhat the elite or untouchable. We had status and people were afraid to associate with us. I really wished I wasn't popular though. The constant attention drove me bat shit and I thought the whole social structure was incredibly superficial. The other three agreed with me. But it didn't stop the adoration from other students. It mostly sprung from people thinking the other three were better and too beautiful for them. I could understand the intimidation well enough, though.

Jasper was tall, with shaggy, honey blonde hair and sparkling ocean-blue eyes. He was well-built, not all gross and bulky, but had a nice, little amount of muscle packed onto him. He could have been an Abercrombie model in another life. He looked the part, but he was so much better than that. He was sensitive, calming and caring. Being around him made you feel at ease and despite his Brad Pitt looks he was completely kind hearted and down to earth.

Edward and I didn't get along for many reasons. Reasons for more than he'd ever know. Although I tried my hardest not to think of him, I couldn't help but be attracted to him. He was the most beautiful person on the planet. No exaggeration. He was breathtaking. It was honestly devastating. He had the most mesmerizing emerald green eyes with small flecks of gold in them, and tousled bronze-copper colored hair. Some days I was lucky and see him while he was outside. The sun would manage to pick the colour of it up magnificently and hit it in exactly the right way, resulting in it look naturally highlighted and aglow. It was drool inducing. The best part was that I knew for a fact that Edward did nothing to enhance his looks. It was just how he woke up.

Some people had all the luck.

Edward was over six feet. tall, and carved like a sculpture. His face is perfectly angular and he has flawless, unblemished skin. Edward has the most untypical bone structure God could conjure up. He had a defined jaw, square, set and chiselled. His chin was square-like too. He had soft pink lips that begged to be kissed and long, slender pianist fingers. Every line, every muscle, every bone was heartbreakingly perfect. The man was a deity. Doomed to a life of perfection.

Jasper was good looking, sure. But he couldn't hold a torch to the real life Dante.

Today he wore a black button down and distressed jeans. The shirt clung to his torso tightly-so tight you could see his abdominals contract occasionally and his muscles ripple- and complimented his physique. He could wear a brown paper bag and kill the airbrushed runway models. It was strange this being the last day of school here- it brought to me a sense of nostalgia, and my thoughts began to drift towards my first day at SHS.

Flashback to first day of school in Seattle High School: Sophomore Year

I was quietly walking to find my locker while thinking about all of my problems.

As I rounded the corner, he, a beautiful boy-man, was leaning against a locker talking to a beautiful blonde. He had bronze hair tousled naturally to perfection, and seemed disinterested in the chatty girl.

I knew him. It was Edward. As in the same Edward I'd known before I was even born. We'd always had a certain chemistry. The electricity between was electric and even after so long, seeing him again- the fire within me was reignited.

He'd changed also. Edward had always been handsome to say the least, but right now he was the perfect specimen. He'd really grown into his looks.

Seeing him again- it struck something in me. And I realised something had changed. I couldn't quite put my finger on it but the feeling ceased to go away.

He looked up at me at that moment and when his emerald green eyes met mine he took my breath away. In quite the literal sense. His eyes sparkled as he seemed to forget about the pretty blonde and began to stride down the hall towards me.

Edward stopped in front of me. As he reached me I began to draw in deep, ragged breaths. My index finger and thumb pressing into my temples. Strands of hair in his eyes decorated his face as he looked up at me from under his eyelashes. His eyes were smouldering at me and slowly, teasingly his lip curved up into the most devastatingly beautiful crooked smile. I was dazzled.

A second later, the expression vanished and he looked at me curiously before stalking off. He left me gaping in his wake until hot tears started to form and hurt and embarrassment washed over me. It had all been some game; a dare, a joke. Nothing had changed. He didn't regret not talking to me for those years and I was furious.

In that moment I realized- after witnessing his charm firsthand, I knew. He was a heartbreaker. Whether it was intentional or not, he was one.

But seeing him, his beauty... As superficial as it was his beauty had a power over me and I only disliked him more for it. I'd go down gallantly with the ship before I let him see his affect on me. I mean, it was Edward.

So I swore an oath to myself, then and there; to not get wrapped up in all that is Edward Cullen. I promised myself I would stay resilient and I set myself an impossible challenge; to resist the irresistible.

Present time

Resilience equalled ignorance.

And so I continued to ignore him with as much indifference as I could muster and matched what he showed me. I pretended to hate him so that it would be easier to ignore him, but it was still hard. I put myself through torture thinking of the time apart in Phoenix and how he didn't care for me like I cared for him. My pretension eventually began my real hatred and things only escalated from there.

If he wanted to do aloof, then I would. Though we ignored each other we were pretty big on harsh little comments directed at one another. These little jabs usually ended in verbal sparring matches.

I snapped out of my thoughts when the energetic ball that is Alice sprung into me for a hug. We started walking to class, eager to escape any drama on the last day of school.

We had yet to outwardly tell each other our plans for our new high school. I knew that I couldn't go to the same school as her, as much as I wanted to, because that would mean Edward would be there too. I would miss Alice and Jasper but I just couldn't be around Edward.

I figured out where Alice was going though. She, Edward and Jasper were all enrolled at Seattle High School's other campus- I had seen a brochure in her bag. I was looking for her makeup for her and happened across it. It was sad to part with her. Despite her brother, I really did love her. I had a feeling she didn't want to say goodbye out loud. Like saying the words made them more final. But I knew and so I searched around for other good schools in the area and found one. I enrolled and got accepted on a full scholarship. I would go there tonight with Charlie after school let out.

Alice and I had decided to meet at Edward's Volvo to part ways, though she didn't quite use those words. I saw the sadness in her eyes and knew that's what she meant though. When I got there, I found Edward, instead of Alice, leaning on the driver's door. I figured Alice was late, probably waiting for Jasper and decided to sit on the seat near Edward's car, with my back facing him. I was staring at my feet when I sensed another presence. I looked up to see Alice a few metres away frowning, while dragging her feet towards me.

When Alice sat beside me I was afraid to look into her eyes in case a tear betrayed my strong front, so I stared forward instead. The pain and loss I could feel emanating out of her was almost unbearable. We were in tune with each other that way. She always seemed to know what I was thinking. I would swear she was a psychic sometimes. I smiled to myself nostalgically as I remembered all the times she had called me on my lies. My smile turned to a frown when I thought about the loss and gain with the whole situation. I was gaining a lot by finally graduating and leaving this hellhole. But I think I was losing so much more. A stray tear slid down my cheek as I reminisced and begun to grieve.

"Alice, I don't know what to say."

When she didn't answer, I figured she might need comforting too and felt anguished thinking about the little pixie being really upset. It just wasn't right.

"Alice, we can still stay-"

I turned to look at her and couldn't finish my sentence as I tried to read her eyes. Regret, sadness and guilt? What did she have to feel guilty for? As I puzzled over this Edward came up behind Alice and began talking to me.

"Swan. Do you mind speeding this up? We've got places to go," He bitterly snipped.

"Anything to assist you in your "Goodbye Seattle High Booty Call," I shot back angrily.

Didn't he even have the human decency to even allow Alice and me this? Was he so far removed from the boy I used to know?

No, that was not true. Edward was still the same. Absolutely perfect in every way. Except with me, of course.

Still, Alice and I needed this. He owed me at least a goodbye with his sister. If not for me, then for Alice.

Alice snickered beside me, while Edward's mouth hung open in shock. I was glad to have gotten anything from Alice. Our verbal sparring and Alice's restrained reaction was a true summing up of the year at this school and our whole lives really- only when we were younger, we fought over pettier things but were best friends nonetheless.

It was actually pretty lame that everything had come to this though. You'd think, being the last day and all he would have tried to make peace before parting ways. I was so frustrated at his lack of heart when deep down I realized I was just as bad; had I made any effort towards reconciliation with him? No, I had not. I ignored this thought when a wave of sadness washed over me.

Edward stalked off, and after a few minutes Alice and I had bid our tear filled farewells. We'd agreed that this was not goodbye and that we'd stay in touch. I think knowing this wasn't the end made it a little easier.

The Volvo sped out of the student parking lot, when the full force of what had just happened hit me. I just said goodbye. To one of the only people I ever loved. To this school. And this chapter of my life. I would never see most of the people I met here ever again. If I was being honest with myself it was one person in particular that hurt me the most to say goodbye to. Deep down I knew that I was losing more than Alice with this situation. I didn't understand why I was feeling what I was feeling though. I began to sob uncontrollably as I somehow managed to heave myself into my truck's cab. I buried my head in my hands and willed this to somehow never have happened. To go back a year so I could do it all over again.

~\\\~

"The follies which a man regrets most in his life, are those which he didn't commit when he had the opportunity."
-Helen Rowland