A/N: Hey guys! Sorry about the wait-I promise I'll try to update faster than what I have been doing. Thanks to all who have reviewed and to my wonderful beta lipstickletter. Without her, this story would literally be garbage. Read on.

Disclaimer: I really don't feel good so this disclaimer will not be humorous (not like the others really are-just lame attempts to make someone out there laugh). I don't own a thing in here. Sorry, I just don't.

Chapter Three: Love

Alice was annoyed again today at lunch. Edward had refrained from having any contact with Bella longer than Alice had expected and the future was not set on her becoming friends with the infamous Swan girl…Isabella. Alice preferred when I called her by her first name because it made her seem more like another member of the family. She made me call her by her name, though I refused to call Isabella by her nickname. I hadn't even said a word to the girl and yet Alice expected me to treat her like a lifelong sister. I tried to please my love as much as possible, though it did cause me to venture out of my comfort zone a lot of the time.

I sighed as Edward's emotions got to me again. He was wound so tightly I felt as if I would nearly burst every time I let his emotions get past the wall I had built specifically for him. My hands clenched into fists. I'd much rather have raging thirsts than Edward's emotions pounding on me day in and day out. I tried to distract myself by focusing on Alice. She was looking into the future, her lips set into a delicate pout, her eyebrows forming a very slight crease on her forehead as whatever she saw disappointed her.

"Stay out of it, Alice," Edward hissed to her. "It's not going to happen."

Yeah, right. Just wait and see, Edward, you'll be even deeper in love with her in a matter of days and you'll finally crack, making my wife much happier. Do you know how difficult it is to just sit here and not do anything about my wife's annoyance and anger with you? Apparently, Edward was far too focused on Alice to pay any attention to my rant.

"It makes plenty of sense to me."

Alice's irritation flared up as she snorted. Soon, lunch was over and we all departed for our classes.

Emmett caught up with Alice and me at her locker, almost ready to leave.

"Edward's acting weird," he blurted out.

"He's in love, Emmett," Alice said dreamily. "Of course you act weird then."

"No," Emmett shook his head. "He's acting weirder than normal. He asked me to wait for him for some reason."

"Odd," I commented as Rosalie caught up with us and Emmett informed her of our brother's strange behavior. We walked slowly out to the parking lot, watching Edward block Isabella's way of getting out. A boy—I believe his name is Tyler Crowley—marched up to Isabella's car and knocked on the window..

Edward's amusement was steadily flowing from his car as he paid attention to whatever the two were talking about. Soon, jealousy came crashing upon me before Edward started rocking with laughter. My eyebrows creased together. Was he mentally sane?

"Let's go!" Rosalie hissed when we were all in the car, but Edward continued laughing. "Stop being an idiot. If you can." We rode mainly in silence, with Edward chuckling here and there at his thoughts.

"So do I get to talk to Bella now?" Alice blurted out suddenly and Edward's mood instantly darkened.

"No," he snapped.

"Not fair! What am I waiting for?"

"I haven't decided anything, Alice."

"Whatever, Edward," Alice grumbled, rolling her eyes and settling deeper into her seat.

"What's the point in getting to know her?" Edward muttered. "If I'm just going to kill her?"

"You have a point," Alice said after a second of silence. Edward quickly turned and we were at our house.

"Enjoy your run," Rosalie told him as he flew out of the car and disappeared into the forest. I got out of the car and took Alice's hand, walking into the house and finding Esme waiting for us.

"He's gone running, as usual," I told her and Esme's anxiety faded. She was so happy that Edward was falling in love and she wanted to support him, but Edward didn't exactly want that. Edward didn't really like to be with us much—he much preferred being in his room or somewhere secluded. At least, that was the case. I never knew what would happen now that new feelings were erupting in him.

"I just wish I could talk to her already," Alice sighed, flopping loudly onto our bed. I put my hand on her back and rubbed gentle circles into her soft cotton shirt.

"He'll let you when he's good and ready," I said. "She has to probably talk to him a little bit more, though." I chuckled a little with how anxious my wife could get with something.

"He's not coming back tonight," Alice told me, closing her eyes and let me continue to soothe her.

"Is that so?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Alice sighed with contentment. "He's going to watch Bella sleep." My eyes widened and I stopped massaging Alice, looking at her like she was insane with how casual she had said that statement. She opened one eye and looked at me. "What?"

"'Watch Bella sleep'?" I questioned, raising both my eyebrows. How could he stand to be in the same room as one human all night long? Night was my escape from all the thirst that those ignorant humans forced me to suffer through. And she evidently smelled better to him than any others! Was he just trying to kill her? I didn't like this. I didn't like this at all. Still, Alice's happiness soared when I used Bel—er, Isabella's nickname. I shouldn't be getting that close to her so soon. I didn't even want Edward to fall in love, even if Alice saw it happening. Don't get me wrong, I really wanted my brother to see the joys love could bring to one man, but did it have to be a human? Couldn't he fall in love with another vampire? That would make things much simpler, not to mention keep our family's secret safe.

"Yes," Alice said. "I don't really know why, but he's going to be doing that for a while." My brow furrowed. If Edward were thirsting for her, why would he go into her bedroom and watch her sleep? That would kill both the girl and myself. Maybe he had decided. He was just going to see it my way and kill the girl. No, Alice said that he would watch her sleep for a while. What was he thinking? Alice sighed and lay back down on the bed.

"Now, please continue," she said and I laughed, starting to rub her shoulders.

Edward did not make an appearance when he usually did, just like Alice had predicted. Esme worried slightly, but everything else went the same. I even agreed to another rematch with Emmett. He circled around me like I was his prey, studying my every move with his golden eyes. His muscles tightened and I knew he was about to spring. I acted like I didn't notice and stepped out of the way the last second. He growled.

"Lesson number one, Emmett," I said, smirking at his irritation. "Don't be too obvious about attacking your opponent. Which means don't do this . . ." I demonstrated his tensing of the muscles before springing at him. He easily dodged my half-hearted attack. I straightened and looked at him, waiting for the right opportunity.

Emmett started circling me yet again and I rolled my eyes. I saw a blur in the corner of my eyes and I tensed for an eighteenth of a second. Where had he gone? I swirled around in time to see him running towards me. I held my fist out and let him smack right in front of me with a thunderous crash. Hopefully no one noticed that. Alice peeked out the window and sent me a warning glare with Rosalie right behind her. I put on my best innocent face before I heard footsteps behind me. I whirled around belatedly and Emmett landed right on top of me.

I squirmed out of his grasp, always landing on my feet, as I had been taught for so many years: never stay on the ground more than necessary-don't ever stay on the ground if you can help it.

"Attacking from behind or taking advantage of blind spots is good, but repeating it doesn't do well," I advised as we circled around each other this time. "I keep track of all your movements, Em, and I can easily predict what you'll do next if you continue to use the same moves."

"Quit lecturing me, Whitlock, and let's fight," Emmett growled dangerously through his teeth, a playful gleam in his eye. Annoyance flowed freely off of him.

"Just let the record show, that's Major Whitlock to you. " I said before pinning him to the ground. "I believe I just won."

Emmett hissed as I got off of him, smiling smugly before realizing how early it was in the morning. We would have to go to school soon.

I flew into the house and nearly ran into Alice, who was standing in the middle of the living room, waiting for me.

"Edward will meet us at the school," she said, answering my question before I could word it. "Let's go. We don't want to be late."

Everyone got into the Volvo and we were off, with me driving for once. I had learned how to drive, though I hadn't really found interest in any automobile—I had been taught to just run by foot for most of my upbringing. I swiftly parked the car and saw Edward walk out of the trees. His eyes were scanning the parking lot and didn't look towards us before I had turned my attention to the rest of the high school. Tonight was hunting night with Emmett and I desperately needed it. Alice didn't allow me to go without hunting for over a week now so I had to hunt just a week before this one. If I kept this up, I'd never ever be able to master control.

Lunch came quickly and Alice told me that Edward wouldn't be sitting with us today—he'd sit with Bella. I really thought he was pushing his luck and restraint on this. Eventually, he would snap and I didn't want it to be right in front of a bunch of humans, or in front of me. The smell of her blood was just as good as any other humans' and if Edward spilt her blood in front of me, it might be a duel to the death over who got to have the last drop.

Good luck, I said to him in my mind as I passed, giving him a half smile.

"Keep out of it," Edward hissed as my wife passed by him. Her emotions went from devastated to hyperactive in a fraction of a second. She skipped up to my side and I pulled her seat out for her. She sat in it, smiling gratefully and I sat down, toying with a Clementine that was on my tray.

I swallowed my venom as I remembered how they sometimes used oranges to practice giving injections because it was like human skin. Clementines were close enough. I pictured the needle slowly going into the human skin, puncturing slightly. The human would flinch and the needle would slowly pull out, revealing a tiny drop of blood oozing out of the hole . . .

I hated being this thirsty—it always made me think in strange ways about the humans around me. How I could just kill each and every one of them in the cafeteria in about twenty seconds.

Alice put her hand on my arm and I made eye contact with her. Her worried eyes told me that I could skip out the rest of the day, but I shook my head.

"I can handle it," I muttered. She patted my arm encouragingly before gazing away, picking at her pizza here and there. I sighed, mildly annoyed with her pity. If I was ever going to get better at managing my thirst, I needed to do this on my own. One might argue people to support you would help, I was practically on a journey of self-discovery. A solo adventure. I decided to distract myself by listening to Edward and Isabella's conversation.

"I think your friends are angry at me for stealing you," Edward said casually.

"They'll survive," Bella said, not even caring about her friends.

"I may not give you back, though," Edward said dangerously and Isabella gulped. I balled my hands into fists.

Way to be obvious, dear brother, I hissed to him in my mind. He didn't hear me.

Edward laughed. How could he think this situation funny at all? He was nearly exposing our family's secret over some emotion! His love for her was sweeping over me constantly, and I'd had enough of it.

"You look worried," he said.

"No," her voice broke, making it not needed to have my power to tell she was lying. "Surprised, actually…what brought this on?"

"I told you," Edward murmured. "I got tired of staying away from you. So I'm giving up."

"Giving up?" Isabella repeated.

"Yes—giving up trying to be good," he answered and I clenched my teeth. Alice smiled as she paid attention to their conversation.

"He's finally realizing things, isn't he?" Alice asked. I didn't answer. What he hadn't realized was how I would "accidentally" relinquish control over my thirst and kill the girl if he happened to slip and ruin our entire cover. What was he even planning to do with this girl? She appealed to him, and not just with her blood, but he couldn't tell his family's secret. Not unless he wanted the Volturi after us.

"You lost me again," the girl admitted sheepishly.

"I always say too much when I'm talking to you—that's one of the problems," Edward said, his happiness radiating that she didn't understand anything. Oh, he better be happy that he hadn't spoiled anything.

"Don't worry," Isabella assured him. "I don't understand any of it."

"I'm counting on that."

"So, in plain English, are we friends now?"

"Friends…"

"Or not?"

I couldn't listen anymore. They both wanted to be more than friends—I could feel it. That just wasn't right. Vampires weren't supposed to have any real contact with humans, except for meals—especially if that relationship could spoil the secret and send the Volturi out to investigate.

I accidentally crushed the Clementine in my hand. Juice splattered everywhere. I just slammed it down on my plate. Alice sighed, looking up at the ceiling with disappointment clearly plastered on her face. I didn't care what she thought now—this was dangerous. If Edward stayed away from the Swan girl, the Volturi would surely stay away from us. This was the first time I allowed myself to form my own opinions about things against Alice's opinions.

Class went by slowly, as usual, and I sighed, ignoring the alluring scent of everyone around me.

"Hmm, she does have quite a flavor, doesn't she?" Emmett commented as I got in the car. It was true, I guess. The human scent to me was like how the Swan girl was to Edward. I smelled the air, realizing that I wasn't just imagining the girl's scent. It was in the car, in Alice's usual spot where Emmett was seated. Odd. Rosalie's anger flared up as Edward snarled at Emmett, who apologized.

My mouth filled with venom again as I smelled the air of the Swan girl's delicate scent. She did smell good; I had to give her that.

Alice skipped to Edward's car door, holding her hand out. "I only saw that I was. You'll have to tell me the whys."

"This doesn't mean—" Edward argued and my eyebrows creased together. What was going on?

"I know, I know. I'll wait. It won't be long."

Edward sighed and handed her the key. She drove the Swan girl's—Isabella's—truck to a certain house and Edward followed her. The car went so slow I was amazed I had the patience to actually stay inside the car. When Alice was done, she skipped into the seat right next to me and Edward drove us home.

A/N: Was the length enough to make up for the wait? Please, please review! Reviews are like money to me. I'm writing right now, but I'm not getting paid enough. Would you mind clicking that review button under this and telling me if my writing is good and I whether or not I should keep going with this story?

~Eclipse-Vamp :)