You've all been waiting for it so here it is the great prank war continues.

I'm sorry this took so long to get posted (Long winded excuse about: life, family, New Moon, School, and Thanksgiving, getting in the way that nobody really wants to hear) that and I'm trying to work slower so I catch more of my mistakes before I post my chapters. Dosn't mean I'll get them all but hopfully it will be better.

Chapter 33- Operation Switzerland

Pov-Bella

5:35-

Say we're done, say we're done, say we're done. I chanted to myself as I fidgeted in place. I glanced at the clock over the door again, 5:36.

I knew it was only because I was anticipating tonight, but practice today seemed to be moving at increasingly slow pace. Maybe the clock was broken and it really was time to go. I mentally rolled my eyes, even I knew that wasn't possible. Was it? I glanced at the clock again, 5:37. The clock looked like it was moving alright. Kind of slow, but alright.

Say we're done already! I was going to start tearing my hair out here.

"Set up at the middle part again." Maria said rewinding our music a little tapping her foot as she ran over our dance in her head. "Right after the second lift. I want to work on timing some more."

Dang it!

It was Monday and my eyes had been glued to the clock all day. 5:42 and twenty-two second. Diner was at 6:30 and it was time to put our prank in motion. If Maria and Alex didn't let us go soon I was going to have to text Roger and get him to come let us out.

Edward and I had both agreed that telling our choreographers that we wanted to skip out on practice early so we could prank the other dancers wasn't a good idea. Maria and Alex were good at letting us out a little early so we could have a moment to cool down before diner but we would need extra time to set up today and Roger was going to be our back up incase we needed an out. He would come in and say he needed to do an interview quick before dinner and spring us.

Edward shot me a look of understanding as we got into place and Maria started the music again. We'd been working like crazy people all day in the hopes she would let us out early. We'd come a long way since Friday. We could do all of the lifts without falling over and our bruises were starting to heal. I had a particularly nasty dark purple and green one on my thigh which I hoped would clear up before the show. Last thing I needed was more injuries getting aired all over the country. I was already on my way to owning the record for most injuries in the course of one season. I should get some kind of "klutz of the season" trophy.

Edward took my hand as we counted through some of the opening music and then Maria moved along with us as we started the slow steps. Edward had one hand on my waist and I had one on his shoulder as we moved together dancing across the room in a close hold.

"Keep your arms up. Just like that. Edward, point your toes or I'll break them." Marie coached us as we danced following our movements like a hawk trained on a mouse at diner time. One mistake and we were goners.

We made it all the way to the end without Maria stopping us and as the music came to an end Edward let go of my hip and helped me hop gracefully up onto his shoulder. He wrapped one arm across my thighs so I didn't fall off and we hit the ending pose with the last strum of the guitar. This dance was going to look amazing with the lights.

"Yippy!" Maria clapped her hands and bounced on her heels. "That looks so good you guys. I can't wait until you perform on Wednesday."

I ran the fingers of my good hand through Edward's hair as she and Alex talked about what we still needed to work on cleaning. Edward tilted his head back so he could look up at me and I tightened my hold on his hair as I wobbled.

"Having fun up there?" He asked with that sexy little smirk of his.

I grinned and kicked my feet a little bit. "Yes I am. Are you going to let me down?"

He grinned again and shook his head as best he could while still looking up at me. "Nope, you're stuck up there."

I snapped my fingers in fake disappointment. "Darn it." I glanced over at Alex and Maria to see if they were looking at us. They weren't, they were both bent over some of their papers talking about the dance. I took my moment and bent over and press my lips to his.

He smiled into the kiss and I tugged on his hair again as I almost slid backwards off his shoulder. He winced as I regained my balance.

"Sorry."

He shrugged. "It was worth it."

"Ok you two, were done for today. Great work." Edward helped me down as Maria and Alex came back over to where we were working.

They thought we were making very quick progress now that we could do the "lift of death" near the beginning. We grabbed our things as quickly as we could and raced up the stairs. We both tossed our things on my bed and hurried to the laundry room.

I helped Edward pull the washing machine out of the way and we grabbed our bags of things from the super secret hiding place in the wall. We got down to the lounge just as crew member were starting to set up our diner. They laughed when they saw what we were doing but didn't make any attempts to stop us. I had a feeling the crew was enjoying watching the pranks almost as much as the dancers were.

Edward had stolen the pie launcher from Alice's room and when I asked him how he did it he told me some things were better left unanswered. I didn't press the topic right now since I didn't really care how he got it but I was determined to find out someday.

We'd decided in the end that our prank would come in three parts. Who ever opened the door would trigger the flour sack waiting with a tare in it to powder our unsuspecting victims. Part two was the pie launcher. That was my job. And part three was the brilliant part. Edward would be waiting in the hall outside the lounge to hit whoever missed most of the flour and pie with a pillow we'd stolen from Emmett's room.

We realized we were trying to hit too many people since the door to the lounge was kind of small but our main targets were going to be Alice and Emmett.

"Are you ready?" Edward asked as I set the trigger on the pie launcher.

I set our pie in place and tapped the tips of my fingers together trying to look evil like the villain in some old mobster movie. "They won't know what hit them."

He chuckled. "I'll go wait outside."

As soon as he was safe out in the hall I double checked to make sure the flour sack was set and clipped the trigger for the pie launcher in place. I turned on the small black handheld camera Roger had given us on and set it on a chair next to me so I would have my hands free but we wouldn't miss anything good.

I sat down behind the pie launcher and tapped my foot impatiently while we waited for the others to get out of their rehearsals. I jumped when I heard the unmistakable sound of the heavy door to the stairs slam shut and then voices in the hall. I put one finger on the trigger waiting for the door to move and tried to pick out individual voices from the hall.

I could hear Emmett and Leah laughing and to my delight Alice was yelling at them for something. We had them both right were we wanted them, just a bit farther.

"Alice you guys wait up."

I was leaning forward in my seat trying to hear everything that they were saying. The new voice was Jasper and it sounded like he and Victoria were just coming out of the stairs. I listened to them talk and my skin itched with anticipation as they slowly got closer to the lounge door.

"Would you lot get out of the way? You're taking up the whole hallway" Someone ordered, and I jumped again as the door knob spun. The bag of flour twitched as the door swung open and then all hell broke loose in a puff of white smoke.

"Bella don't!"

It was too late. I hit the trigger on the pie launcher once the flour fell and smiled with satisfaction as the pie made contact with one of the figures yelling in the cloud of white dust with a thick splat sound. Emmett's voice rose above the others in volume but it was little Alice using the most colorful words.

I couldn't tell individuals apart but one figure out in front step forward and fell to its knees. Her chest covered in pie and her hair powdered white by the flour Tanya had been the unlucky person who set off our trap. As the flour settled I started to place voice to the other faces.

Emmett and Alice were standing in the hall with Leah and Jasper. They were all dusted with flour but for the most part they were clean. Edward was lying on the floor in front of them, the ripped pillow leaking feathers on him and it looked like he may have tried to push his way past them.

Tanya hadn't said a word and her eyes were locked on my face as I tried to remember how to stand up. Edward pushed himself to his knees and glanced back and forth between us.

"Bella, I tried to stop her." I wasn't quite sure who he was talking to. "It was an accident."

"That was awesome!"

Leave it to Emmett to break the silence that had followed our prank. He threw a fist in the air and then he and the others out in the hall started laughing again.

"You should see your face T. You look good in pie." He said happily hooking his hands under her arms and hoisting first Tanya and then Edward to their feet. "Damn if you hadn't gone first I would have walked right into that. I own you so big."

Tanya still hadn't said a word. Her eyes narrowed as she turned on me and I scrambled to my feet. The feeling of being the mouse trapped in front of a hawk came back and I wasn't sure I was going to get away this time.

"You did this on purpose!" She yelled effectively shutting the others up as all eyes in the room feel on Tanya and I.

"How was this on purpose?" I yelled back instinctively moving to defend myself. "We were trying to hit Emmett and Alice." I explained.

"That's not very nice." Alice said grabbing a plate and passing one to Jasper as they ignored us and started to get their dinners.

"Tanya it wasn't meant for you honestly." Edward said trying to whip the pie off her.

Tanya growled and lunged a step forward at me. I flinched back reflexive and Emmett hooked an arm around her waist, lifting her clean off her feet and stopping her from coming after me.

"How do you know she didn't do it?" Tanya asked pointing an accusing finger at me. "She's never liked me Eddie and this just proves it. I could have gotten hurt; you tried to sabotage me in the competition!"

"No I didn't!"

"It wasn't just her Tanya we were working together." Edward said holding out the pillow he still had clutched in his fist.

"You were helping her! We were supposed to be working together in this competition. You, me, and Emmett were going to be a team and then this girl shows up and ruins everything. I bet she's just using you to get herself ahead in the competition."

"I am not using him!" I yelled at her moving forward, only to have my path blocked by Jasper as they held us apart. Jasper grabbed my arms and pulled me back a step and Tanya tried unaffectedly to get around Edward.

"Hey. Whoa. Time out, Tanya." Emmett set her down and took a step back holding both hands up in front of him leaving Edward alone as he kept her from coming after me. "Leave me out of this."

"You guys were working together?" Leah asked her hands on her hips and she moved to stand closer to Alice and Victoria. All three of them looked confused and Leah looked pretty upset.

"That's not fair." Victoria added scowling at Emmett, Edward, and Tanya. Dancers weren't aloud to work together in the competition. It was twenty on twenty and anyone caught trying to sabotage another dancer would get kicked off. We all knew the rules.

"We aren't working together." Emmett insisted moving farther away from Tanya and Edward. Edward nodded his agreement. "Our partnership ended once we got to Vegas. We know we have to fight against each other."

Tanya huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, pie dripping on the floor by her feet. Lemon cream pie, the yellow color would die her shirt and I did feel bad about that. Then I remembered the camera, we had this entire fight on film. I snagged the little black recorder of the chair and snapped it shut so it would stop recording.

"You recorded that?" Tanya yelled. "You better not let them air that allover the country. I'll never forgive you." I could live with that.

"Tanya we really didn't mean to hit you. I'm sorry, are you ok?" Edward asked.

She shook her head, her curls weighed down by flour and pie making the whole effect look pretty pathetic. Someone let out a low whistle and all eyes in the lounge turned to the door. Jake, Rose and James were all standing in the doorway and I could hear more dancers coming down the stairs. It was about to get crowded.

"What happened in here?" Rose asked stepping carefully over the mess in the door to join the group near the food table.

"Eddie and Bella tried to prank the King but they missed and hit Tanya." Emmett said with a laugh easing the tension in the room. "It was fantastic." He added giving me a thumbs up. "Not worthy of the King but a good show all the same. A for effort."

Edward had pulled Tanya off to the side and I couldn't hear what he said as they talked. He tried whipping more of the pie off her shirt but she got angry and stormed out. He shot me an apologetic look and then ran after her.

"You want some help cleaning up?"

I jumped as Alice appeared at my side. I'd been watching Edward run down the hall after Tanya and hadn't heard her come over.

"Um? Sure thanks Alice. You don't have to."

She shrugged and hefted the pie launcher onto the table so she could check it over. "No problem, it was part of the deal I made with Edward so he could use the launcher."

"Deal?" I asked, Edward and Tanya momentarily forgotten. She nodded and smiled up at me, passing me a towel so I could help her clean off the pie launcher.

"In exchange for using the pie launcher he told me when you were going to do your prank so I could avoid it." She motioned to her almost spotless outfit. "I was trying to make sure Emmett was the first one threw the door but then Tanya pushed past us and set it of early."

Emmett and a few of the crew members helped us clean up the floor and then Emmett and Alice made a formal agreement, in front of the other dancers as witnesses. That the prank war was officially over and they were calling it a tie until after the show. We all agreed that, thou entertaining, the competition was worth to much to be distracting ourselves with anything and the prank war was causing too much drama.

I picked at my food threw dinner, my eyes locked on the lounge door. Emmett and Tanya never came back and when Alice asked if I wanted to watch a movie with her and Rose, after diner in her room, I declined. Edward didn't answer when I knocked on his door so I retreated to my room and took a long shower.

After my shower I piled my hair in a bun on top of my head and changed into my pajamas. I brushed my teeth, cleaned up my room, and was still to antsy to think about going to bed. I flopped down on my bed and had to jump back up and grab the camera before it fell off the other side.

I glanced down at the handheld with the footage from downstairs and felt guilty. We really hadn't meant to hit Tanya. I hadn't been sad when we did. She was right about one thing, I didn't like her. But she didn't like me either so we were even.

I'd wanted to like Tanya at first. She was Edward's friend and I didn't want her to be a source of tension between us but, she had made it very clear that she didn't like me around him and I had a feeling she would be willing to act on that.

I stared at the camera for another ten minute, trying to decide what I wanted to do with it, before erasing the entire thing. Getting pictures of a pie covered Tanya aired all over the country wasn't worth the fight we were going to have later and I knew it was coming. Tanya wouldn't let this go without a few well chosen words and I would be ready to apologies when she confronted me.

Why'd I have to be such a nice person?

"Bella?" There was a soft knock on my door.

I rolled slowly to my feet and let Edward in. He shut the door behind him and leaned against the wall as I flopped back on the bed.

"Is she ok?" I asked, my voice muffled by my pillow.

"Yes." He said.

"Dose she hate me?" I asked.

"Yes." He said and I could hear a chuckle in his voice. "But I have a feeling she hated you before this afternoon. Tanya hates every woman who's ever spoken to me to some degree, you shouldn't take it personally."

I lifted my head and glanced up at him. "What do you mean?"

He pushed himself off the wall and laid down next to me. "Remember when I told you about the time Tanya wanted us to be more then friends?"

He paused so I nodded. "Yeah."

"Well she never really got over my rejection. I tried to be polite about it but, maybe being rude would have made my opinions clearer. Tanya's always hoped I would change my mind and she gets pretty jealous."

"Then why do you hang out with her?" I asked.

"She's been my friend for along time." He said. "She and her two sisters are very close to my family. Esme would never forgive me if I hurt her too badly. She considers them the daughters she never had. Poor Esme got stuck with me and Emmett."

We chuckled and I tucked myself into his side. I hadn't noticed his hair was wet but, he smelt like his shampoo.

"She was so mad downstairs." I said softly.

He chuckled and ruffled my hair. "Tanya's bark is worse then her bite, I promise you that. Her pride was pretty badly bruised but, Emmett and I have done worse to her in the past. She'll get over it and, unfortunately for us, she'll probably get even."

"You have?"

He nodded. "This isn't the first time I've tried to dethrone the prank king." He said playing with a strand of my hair. "This is just the first time I've had help and it made her feel worse because you got it on film. She'll be fine."

Umm? I hung my head off the end of my bed and glared at the camera, which was sitting on the floor were I'd tossed it after erasing the footage. I'd let Tanya guilt me into getting rid of it because I thought she had honestly been hurt and I hadn't wanted to embarrass her farther.

"About the film Edward." I said pushing myself up on my elbows.

He followed my gaze to the camera and then smiled at me. "You erased it, didn't you?"

I blushed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Bella come back here."

I'd rolled off the end of the bed and was lying on the floor by the camera. Stupid camera, stupid Tanya, stupid prank war.

Oof. "Ouch." Edward landed on the floor next to me. His landing hadn't been as smooth as mine and he hit his head on the floor.

"You ok?" I asked.

He glanced over at me. "No I'm not. Your floor bit me." He pouted, an expression that would have brought Alice to her knees.

"Want me to kiss it and make it better?" I offered rolling closer so I had him pinned between me and the end of the bed. He smiled so I pushed myself up onto my elbows again and kissed his forehead.

"There all better."

He rolled himself over so he was hovering above me. "Actually it still kind of hurts." He admitted trying to look pathetic. He was so dang cute.

I kissed his forehead again letting my lips trail between his eyes so I could kiss the tip of his nose.

"Better?"

He shook his head. "Nope, still hurts."

I kissed the end of his nose and let my lips work their way across his check and down until I kissed the side of his mouth. "What about now?" I whispered against his skin, smiling in satisfaction when he shivered.

Then his lips were on mine. My arms wrapped around his back so my fingers could knot themselves in his hair and I pulled him closer, every line of our bodies matching up like two puzzle pieces. When he finally pulled away we were both panting for breath and my quilt had somehow gotten pulled down on the floor with us.

"I think its better now." Edward said kissing me again. This kiss was softer, slower then before, and it only lasted a moment. It was perfect.

"You really shouldn't pick a fight with the floor." I said winking at him. "Trust me on this one, the floor always wins."

"It's not the floor that's against you Bella." He said tossing both me and the quilt back onto the bed. "It's gravity."

I snuggled into his side as he hit the lights and joined me under the quilt. I was already to fall asleep when something from earlier reminded me of one more thing I had to say. I rolled over and flipped the bed side lamp on.

Edward squinted at me in the sudden light sheilding his face with his hands. "What?"

I flicked him in the nose and he jumped away from me.

"What did I do?" He asked.

"Why did you tell Alice about our prank?"

He laughed. "She was going to find out anyway so I figured I'd get her on our side and make us look good. She might be tiny but I wouldn't want to run into her in a dark ally."

"How was she going to find out?"

He shrugged. "If you haven't noticed yet, Alice is kind of freaky with just knowing things."

I nodded, I had noticed. "It's like trying to lie to my mom." I agreed. "You just can't do it."

"At least now she's on our side." He pointed out.

"Your brilliant, but they called off the prank war at dinner. It's officially over and they ruled it a tie."

"I'm impressed, Emmett's never agreed to a tie before."

I smiled. "Alice is good."

He nodded and flipped off the light, pulling me against his side and the blanket over our heads.

"Good night Bella."

~Darkrose

So? . . . . Who loved New Moon? I've already seen it four times and we're going on Wednesday again. WOOHOO!
It was a million times better then Twilight. My hat comes off to the new director and I can't wait for Eclipse to come out June 30!

(Did anyone else notice that Jake was kind of hot?) . . . .(Like you want to fan yourself with your hand and drool, kind of smoking hot.) Maybe it was just me but I'd take a slice of that anyday.