Here's Chapter Three! Are you all excited? Thank you everyone for your reviews. I love hearing from you!

The lovely Ms. Meyer owns all Twilight. I own the beginnings of a baby bump :)

XOXO-Ka

Right Vs. Good

by: JudeOrion

Chapter Three: Drunkeness

I was running so late. I took a short shower and blow-dried my hair as fast as I could. I still hadn't figured out what I was going to wear. I put my hair in a black headband and put on some face powder and mascara then dashed to my room to find something to wear.

Sitting on my bed was a long garment bag. Attached to it was a note.

Bella—thought this would come in handy tonight. Good luck. Alice.

Ok, that was sweet. I hadn't talked to her since Monday, when the fuckfest had taken place, but if I saw her in the halls, she always smiled shyly at me. It wasn't until today that I finally gave in and smiled lightly back at her. The others, however, weren't so lucky in gaining my affection back. Edward continued to stare at me throughout both of the classes he had with me unabashedly. I had enough of it on Wednesday and said under my breath, "If you don't stop eye-fucking me, Edward, I swear I'm going to give myself a cut just to get you the hell out of my classroom!" That caused Emmett to laugh loudly, making the whole class turn around to stare at him.

"Sorry, guys! Edward, dude, tell that joke to the class. The tractor!" he laughed again. I couldn't help but stare at him in shock, shaking my head as the rest of the class burst into giggles. I had to give him points for trying to cover, I guess. On the way out of the class I stopped him.

"What's this about a tractor, Emmett?" I tried to be stern, but to no avail.

"What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor?"

I didn't answer, just raised an eyebrow.

"He said, 'Where's my tractor?' Isn't that great!" He was still laughing on his way out the door.

"Looks like being changed doesn't help mental infirmities, unfortunately," I sighed quietly. Edward chuckled in response.

Looking at the garment bag, I swallowed hard. One of two scenarios would follow my opening the bag. One: It would be perfect. Two: Alice would have tried too hard to make a good impression on me that she would have gone way over the top.

I prayed for the first as I pulled down the zipper. I gasped.

It was perfect. A white top with a lacey scoop-neck lay on the hanger. Underneath was a pink tiered gypsy skirt with sequins smattered along the layers; I wouldn't pick it out on my own, but "really pretty" didn't do it justice. Alice had paired it with some dangly soft pink crystal earrings and white lacey ballet flats. I had to admit, it was perfect. I felt myself growing fonder of Alice despite myself, and decided that I would have to thank her Friday.

I had just slipped my shoes on when a rapping came at the door. Kimber was standing on the other side.

"Hey, girl. What's up?"I asked.

"I was wonderin' if you could help me with this? I don't understand it." She held up a page of her math homework to me. Tucked under her arm was her math book.

"I wish I could, Kimber, but Josh is going to be here in a couple of minutes. When is it due?"

"It's weekend homework. It's due Monday."

"How about you come over Sunday after noon and I'll help you? I still remember a bit from my math class."

"That'd be great. Thanks, Bella." Kimber smiled; it didn't reach her eyes.

"Yeah. Not a problem." I took a closer look at Kimber. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was off with her. Not that she was ever bubbly, but she never looked so unhappy before. "Is everything else ok?"

"Yeah. Everything's good. Well, good luck with your date," she said. She seemed suddenly eager to leave.

"Thanks. Have a good night, Kimber," I responded, completely shocked.

"'Night." She walked across the hall and slipped into her apartment. I was shocked and worried. I really liked Kimber, despite my reluctance to be her chauffer in the beginning. She really was a sweet girl. We talked a lot on the way to and from school, and I found out that she loved to write. Despite how she spoke, she could write with perfect grammar, and had an extensive vocabulary. Outside of school, she had told me that her father, her gran's son, abandoned Kimber, her mother, and her older brother when she was a baby. Her mother and brother were in jail for drug abuse. I was proud of Kimber for not joining the "family business" of making meth.

I left the door open and went to grab my phone from the charger by my bed. I grabbed my favorite coat—long, black, with gold buttons, and perfect for fall and spring weather—from my closet. Another rapping came at my door.

"Bella?" I heard Josh call. I rushed into the hall. There he stood in the doorway, wearing a white button-down shirt and crisp dark blue jeans.

I think my mouth watered just a little bit.

"You ok?" He asked, stepping into my hallway.

Why, was I drooling? Say something, Idiot!

"Hi! Sorry, yeah. I'm fine." I came up to him and grabbed my purse and keys from the table.

"Good. You ready to go?"

"Yep." He bent down and gave me a small kiss on my cheek.

"You look gorgeous, Bella," Josh said with a smile.

"Thanks." I blushed and looked at my shoes. "You look good yourself." I took his outstretched hand and followed him out the door, just barely remembering to close it behind me. I had to really work to get into the truck, as it was so high. I still only knew enough about vehicles to register that it was a Chevy, and it was really tall, new, and black. George Strait blasted from the stereos, and Josh turned it down once we were in the truck.

"So where are we going?" I asked as we bounced out of the parking lot.

"Well…you like cooking?"

"Yeah. I love it. If I wasn't a teacher, I would probably have gone to culinary school."

"Great. Then you'll love this," he said. We went south into town, past the shopping center and took a right before the hospital. Josh pulled into the fairgrounds and was directed to park on the grass.

"What is this?" I asked.

"You'll see." He helped me out of the truck and held my hand as we walked into the exhibit center. About thirty people milled around outside, where food and drink stands had been set up. He led me into the big metal building and gave a man two tickets; a woman stamped our hands. Inside there was crammed with folding chairs folding chairs, and a stage was raised up front. Big flat-screen TV's were attached to stands and placed all around the area.

"What is this, Josh?" I asked again.

He chuckled at me. "Look at the signs."

"Comfort Food Cooking Show?" I asked. Oh. Oh. No way. It was the biggest event for cuisine enthusiasts and housewives all over the valley. Tickets were a good twenty-five dollars a pop, and when I had been married, I had the money but not the time. Now that I was single, it was the other way around. I'd dreamed of going for years, but Mike was always either working late or "working late" by way of Amanda, Nicky's soon-to-be-stepmother.

Way to bum yourself out, Bella. I pushed the thought from my mind.

"Seriously, Josh?" I turned to him and hugged him tightly. "Oh my God, I've wanted to go to this for so long!"

"Good. I'm glad you're happy. Come on, let's get some seats." He led me to the end of the middle column, about halfway back. We would be able to see the chef and the huge screens set up to the left of us. We had been sitting and talking for a few minutes when Josh got up.

"I'm going to go get us some food. Anything you want?" I thought back to the booth set up by one of the local barbecue places.

"Pulled pork sandwich sounds good, please."

"You got it, Babe." He winked.

Those jeans are so tight. Butt. Oh God, what a cute butt. Shut it off, Bella!

"Excuse me, is anyone sitting here?" Asked a sinful voice that wrapped around me like velvet.

No. Fucking. Way.

"Yes, as a matter of fact there is. Go find your own row."

"I didn't mean on that side. Over here."

I still didn't look toward the voice. "Yes. My purse is sitting there." I thumped it onto the metal chair to the left of me and crossed my legs and arms like a petulant child. I resisted the urge to stick out my tongue, but just barely.

"Ok. I'll just sit next to your purse, then." And Velvet Voice did. I ignored him, bodily at least. My ears were pricked to the sound of movement. "So…who was the guy?"

"My date."

Good. You should bristle at that.

"Oh. Who is he?"

"None of your business."

"I'm just curious, Bella."

I swung around at him. "Let me get something straight with you," I hissed. I didn't need to worry about anyone hearing me, it was so loud, and no one I knew was around anyway. "You left me. You have absolutely no business butting in to my life! That being said, you need to leave! I am on a date. You remember, we had a few of those once upon a time, before you got bored?"

At least he had the decency to look guilty.

"So if you please, get the hell away from me!"

"Bella, you ok?"

I spun around in my chair so fast that I almost fell off.

"Josh, hi."

"Hi." He handed my my food. "Who's this?" he asked.

"This is Edward. He's one of my students."

"Hi, Edward. I'm Josh." Josh stuck his hand across me. I couldn't help but sniff his shirt. Mmm…he was all citrus and leather.

"Hi." He clasped hands with Josh and stared at him, almost angrily.

Oh, brother.

"Edward was just leaving."

"Did you come here with your family?" Josh asked.

"No, I came alone. I love cooking, but my family doesn't really do it often."

Well, at least he knew how to do half-truths.

"Why don't you sit here then? That ok with you, Bella?" Josh sat down next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. I shot him a death look.

"Why not?" I mumbled. I bit down on my sandwich.

"Great. Babe, move your purse, so more people can sit in the row." I grudgingly grabbed my purse and kicked it under my seat.

"Babe?" Edward mouthed at me.

"Shutthehellup," I snarled back at him quietly. I promptly turned back to Josh and smiled at him. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and leant in to kiss my cheek.

"Edward? Kind of a weird name…" he breathed into my ear.

"Mmm-hmm," I sighed, happily. I turned to kiss him on the mouth.

Edward chose that time to fake choking on a bottle of water he'd been pretending to drink out of, which made Josh straighten up with a smirk on his face.

Stupid damn vampire.

Admittedly, I sucked at keeping up with housework.

I couldn't walk a straight line if my life depended on it—and it had, on many an occasion.

I didn't hold my drink well.

And I couldn't for the life of me make bread, of any kind.

But I could shut anyone out at pool.

Which is exactly what I had done moments prior to taking twenty off the pool table as the man who put it there cursed loudly.

"Fuck, girl! You are one helluva shot! Where'd ya learn ta' shoot like that?" Cowboy asked me.

"It's one of those things you pick up when your dad's a police chief," I answered coyly. "So, who's next?" I called out to the onlookers who had been jeering at us. They all muttered and the crowd dispersed. I took a swig of my Bud. Only my second one, but I could feel it working…yeah, like I said, I couldn't hold my alcohol worth crap.

"Way to go, Bella. How much did you win?" Josh asked. He sidled up next to me and put his arm around my waist; he nuzzled his nose into my hair and I couldn't help to giggle like some little schoolgirl as he did so.

"Um…I think around eighty."

"Including my cut?" he asked. I whipped around with a smile on my face.

"Your cut? What do you get a cut for?"

"For being your…events coordinator. After all, I'm the one who started the betting."

"Doesn't count." I gulped down more beer. "You didn't think I could do it, so you bet me out. You whored me out…" I giggled again.

"Jeez, Bella, you just can't hold it, can you?" Josh asked.

"Noooooope." I downed the rest and set it on the table next to my purse.

"Good thing I'm driving. Come on, let's get out of here. Wuss."

"I am not a wuss!" I countered.

"You had two beers, Babe! And you're already drunk! You, my friend, are a wuss!"

"Ok, I'm a wuss. How many did you have?" I asked. "Mr. High-and-Mighty, how much did you have?"

Josh held the door open for me. "Two."

"Fuckin' show off," I muttered. I took a running leap into his cab and twisted around to face him. He stood in between my legs and reached up to push my hair out of my face. I'm sure my face was flushed both from the alcohol and the situation. The truck was so high that Josh's head only came up to my collarbone—and he was tall.

I bent down and kissed him roughly. He answered back in the like, wasting no time in running his tongue along my bottom lip like he had a couple of days ago. I opened my mouth and let him invade it with his tongue. It was warm, and tasted like alcohol and the peanuts he'd been snacking on while I was playing pool. His hand ran under my long skirt and he stroked the back of my calf; I'm pretty sure I moaned before grabbing Josh's shoulders and pulling him flush with my body.

We broke apart a few minutes later, both gasping for breath.

"Mmm," I breathed. I nuzzled my face into his neck, inhaling his cologne deeply.

"Agreed." He pulled back and pecked me on the lips quickly, then shifted my legs so I was facing forward, closed my door, and got in on his own side.

I must have fallen asleep in the car, because the next thing I knew, Josh was standing in the doorway, rubbing my arm, nudging me gently.

"Bella…Bella, babe, we're home. Wake up, sleepyhead."

I opened my eyes, swung my legs out of the truck, and rubbed my face. Josh was standing in front of me again when I looked up.

"Didn't we just do this?" I asked, then bent forward to kiss him.

"Maybe. Wouldn't mind doing it again, though." I kissed him a second time. "And doing it again." Another kiss. "And again."

"Don't push your luck, mister. Wouldn't want to take advantage of a drunk woman, would you?" I hopped to the ground.

"I guess not. Tempting, though."

"Don't even think about it, Josh. I gotta work tomorrow. Shit. I have to work tomorrow." God, I hope I don't have a hangover.

"And you have Nicky. You better get inside. Come on, I'll walk you to the door." He grabbed my purse from the dashboard and wrapped his arm around my waist. He took the liberty of unhooking my keys from my bag and unlocking the door.

"Here you are, milady."

"Thanks for tonight, Josh. I had a lot of fun."

"Me too. Can we do this again?" he tucked an errant piece of hair behind my ear.

"Definitely. No bars this time, though. Please."

He laughed. "No bars." He kissed me again and left.

I didn't bother pulling out my pajamas, just shimmied off the skirt and shoes and took off my bra through my shirt. I laid back under my covers and sighed. Tonight had been a lot of fun.

After the debacle with Edward showing up where he obviously didn't want to be, considering the constant wrinkling of his nose and lack of breathing when I chanced a peek at him, we walked to the and Irish pub down the block from the fairgrounds. We had a Guinness and talked for a while when he challenged me to a game of pool…and the rest is history.

"God, I can't hold it," I muttered under my breath.

At least I got a few good new recipes and won a cookbook out of it.

And a few kisses.

I was almost asleep when I felt the particular tingle on the back of my neck.

"Dammit, Edward!" I forced myself out of bed to open the window. "What do you want?" I called to the form in the tree.

"Can I come in?" he asked. I sighed hard.

"For a minute. I need to get to sleep." I backed away from the window and Edward flung himself into the bedroom. Even without a light on I could see his eyes raking my body and growing darker.

"Nice shirt." He smiled that damn crooked grin.

"Shit." I hurried to my dresser and pulled out a pair of sweats. "Ok, what do you want?" I asked when I was decent.

"How did your date go?" he said "date" like it was the dirtiest word in the English language.

"Great. Why'd you crash it?" I stumbled to the kitchen and got a glass of water.

"You're drunk."

Great observation, Sherlock.

"Yes, but that happened after you showed up on my date."

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I don't know why, I just did, all right? I couldn't help myself."

"Do me a favor: help it next time." I set the glass in the sink and went to stand in front of Edward.

"Look, I didn't come here to fight with you. I came because Esme asked me to invite you and your son to dinner Saturday night."

"And you couldn't do it tomorrow in class?"

"I was hoping to talk to you about other things…but seeing as you're in no fit state to do so coherently, maybe we could have this discussion Saturday after dinner."

Ok, I may be an English major, but would it hurt him to use small words when I was drunk at least? It hurt my head to try to figure out what he was saying.

"Yeah, I guess that would be fine. What do you want to talk about?"

"I'll tell you then. You need to sleep now, Bella."

I nodded and brushed past him to the bedroom. I didn't even bother to try to climb under the covers, just snuggled into the pillow. Edward came to stand next to the bed; he pulled the covers up over my shoulders and brushed my hair from my face. The familiar tingle sparked from his fingertips to my face as he touched me.

"Have sweet dreams, my Bella."

And he was gone.

Dreams of any kind eluded me that night, and all too soon my buzzer was going off.

"Noooo….." I grumbled. Stupid morning. I opened my eyes and saw a Gatorade and two Tylenol on my nightstand. I couldn't help but smile. If nothing else at least Edward was still thoughtful when it came to my comfort. I forced the pills down with some of the Gatorade, then pulled myself out of bed and stumbled to the shower. At least I only had a small headache as a token of last night, it should be gone in a bit. The hot water felt good since I had been freezing all night. I would probably have to turn on the heaters today.

I dressed in a blue peasant shirt, dark brown slacks and low black heels. I wrapped a gold cuff around my wrists and put on these fun dangly earrings shaped like the Eiffel Tower that Renee got for me when she went to New York last year. I decided on a red blazer to add a spice of color. The black patent ballet flats I wore almost every day sat next to my front door for me. Fridays were typically casual at school, but I was the youngest member on the staff—students didn't usually take me seriously if I dressed much like them.

I had just poured some coffee into my mug when someone knocked on my door. Kimber was on the other side.

"Hey, you're early."

"Yeah. Can I use your bathroom please?" she asked.

"What's up?"

She pointed to herself. That's when I saw what she was wearing. A mint green tank top and a denim mini-skirt. That was it, besides flip-flops. "Gran got it for me, to make me look like other girls in school—the insane ones. Could I please use your bathroom? I don't want to hurt her feelings, so I put it on, but…I ain't gonna wear this to school. I'll be sacrificed."

I laughed. "Yeah, go change." I was putting my computer in my bag when Kimber came out of the bathroom dressed in Capri's and a band t-shirt.

"That's better," she sighed. For the first time since I'd met her, Kimber had her hair out of her face. It was merely brushed to a part, with most of her hair on the side of her face with the scar, but she didn't seem to be hiding anymore.

"I like your hair like that," I said as I slung my purse over my shoulder.

"Thanks." She grabbed her backpack and followed me out the door—I had to make sure that her grandmother wasn't looking first.

We had developed a kind of schedule over the week. We would head out at a quarter to eight, grab something to drink, and when we got to school I would drop her off at the front entrance so she could go to her locker and I parked the truck. She usually beat me to the classroom and we would spend the time before class in companionable silence. Kimber usually read or did her homework while I prepared for the day.

Today was no different, except in one detail. When I arrived at my classroom door, Kimber was talking with Alice. Or rather, Alice was jabbering at a thousand miles a minute while Kimber nodded politely. She looked at me for help when she saw that I was coming down the hall. I couldn't 't help but smile—I recognized the plea.

"Hello, Alice," I said as I came up behind the girls and unlocked the classroom door.

"Hi, Bella!" she said.

"Ms. Newton in school," I said disdainfully. I really needed to get it changed.

"Sorry, I forgot. I'm so used to your first name."

Kimber looked at Alice with a mixture of amusement and incredulity. She shot me a glance that said, "is she for real?" before she dumped her things at the same chair she sat in every day and swiveled it around to face me. I nodded. Kimber shook her head and snitched one of the emergency Tootsie Rolls from the little glass bowl on my desk.

"So, how was your date?" she was practically bouncing up and down in her flouncy little skirt.

I rolled my eyes. As if she didn't know. "It was good, Alice. Thanks for your advice on what to wear."

Her face lit up in a huge smile. "You're welcome! Did he like it?"

"I think so."

"What did you do?" Alice sat on the edge of my desk and took a picture of all of my family in Jacksonville in her hands to study.

"We went to the Comfort Foods cooking show, then we went to Mully's and shot some pool."

"What's Mully's?"

"Mulligan's. It's an Irish pub next to the fairgrounds."

"So that explains why you look so tired. Bit of a hangover?" Alice teased me.

I rolled my eyes at her.

Kimber caught Alice's attention about something or other and I took the opportunity to pull out my things. Students began to come in and settle in their seats, and soon there were a few people involved in Kimber and Alice's conversation.

"Oh yeah, the best place I've ever been shopping was Milan, hands down," said Alice.

"Milan? Really? What was it like there?" asked Layla.

"Oh, my God, it was A-May-Zing!" Alice squealed.

"You been to New York?" piped up Kimber. "My aunt lives in Boston, and we was gonna go, but we din' have time. I would'a loved to shop there."

"Oh yeah, New York is great. So many small designers there, and personally I think most of them are better than the big-name designers. Like this pair of shoes." She pointed to a pair of familiar white lacy ballet flats. "If any of the big-name designers had the insight to make these, it would be one of the biggest pieces of their fall line, not to mention one of the over-priced. They're fantastic, but simple. I paid three hundred for them at a small place in New York that I love, but anywhere else would have asked five for them."

"Alice—" I choked out. "Alice…three hundred? You gave me three hundred dollar shoes!" the other girls looked from Alice to me, but she just rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please. It was the least I could do after everything." She winced, but smoothed out her face as quickly as it has it had crumpled. "Besides, you looked fabulous on your date, am I right?"

Before I could argue the bell rang.

"Oops, gotta go. I'll see you later, Ms. Newton!" Alice sang out, then traipsed into the hall.

Three hundred dollars… "Three hundred dollars?" I muttered.

"Wow. Your families must be good friends."

"I didn't think we were that close."

Ok, Bella, shut it off. Time to act like you know what the hell you're doing.