Hey! I'm back! You're gonna get a few good updates this week, hopefully! Ya'll know the thank yous by now, and I think I'm embarrassing my beta, so... Read and Review. Oh, and I don't own it. Yet... Mwahahaha!!!!!

Previously in The Single One...

"Well, are you two gonna kiss or what?"

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"Crap! Rosalie!" Emmett half-shouted, falling back the other way on the grass.

Rosalie laughed, her pale blue eyes sparkling maliciously. "Are you two dating now?"

"N-no," I stuttered, at the same time Emmett said, "God, no!"

That stung...

"So your lips were just warming each others up, then?" she asked sarcastically.

Emmett, his over-confident self taking over the already uncomfortable situation, replied, equally sarcastically, "Yeah, Rose. You can go next if you like."

Three waves of emotion passed over me. I turned red with embarrassment, my stomach clenched with jealousy, and my eyes got wet at the pain in my chest that was rejection.

"I have to go," I said, holding my breath and picking myself up. "Bathroom, hair, makeup..." Was it really necessary to list all those reasons? Gosh, maybe they're suspicious, now...

I rapidly escaped to the girls' room on the north side of the gym, before Rose could manage another question. As soon as I locked the door to my newly claimed stall, I leaned against it, breathing heavily.

Maybe he was just embarrassed. I thought hopefully.

Maybe you're an idiot. a snide voice in my head laughed,

I shook it off, not wanting the inner voice to be right, and exited the stall. After rinsing out my eyes, I looked into the mirror, my green eyes welling up again as I was struck by a new thought.

What if he was trying to get Rosalie? What if he thinks you're just some play-thing?

Thinking back, I remembered the sparkle in her eyes. What if she wanted to ge him?

Splashing more water into my face, I internally scolded myself. He's fair game! You haven't told him you like him! Don't you dare be upset, you melodramatic wuss!

Now that that was out of my system, I had two more hours to bear.

Joy.

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"Alice!" hissed Emmett, from his place two inches from me, the clueless geometry teacher having placed together, not really realizing the hell she was asking for.

"Emmett, I'm right here! Talk quieter!" I fussed under my breath, elbowing him.

"Here," he said, sliding a note onto my half of the desk. How very seventh-grade.

Alice,
I'm SO sorry I tried to kiss you. Not that I wouldn't want to, but- never mind. I was just so mad at Newton, and you were right there, and I didn't think. Please forgive me, pixie princess!
Your teddy bear,
Emmett

Part of me wanted to cry again, part of me wanted to kiss him right there in geometry class, and part of me was thinking Pixie princess? That's new.

Shut up brain!!!

Without thinking, I scrawled Don't be sorry on the bottom of the page with my pen. Biting my lip and blushing, I handed him the paper, then looked away. If I knew Emmett, he'd understand. Or not. Why so uncertain, all of a sudden, the snide voice from before commented. Ish da baby scawed?

Again, shut up! I yelled internally, my facing twisting with irritation before I could compose myself. Hopefully, Emmett didn't see that... Heh...

Picking up my pencil, I threw myself into my work.

If a teenage girl named Alice is having trouble keeping her thoughts in check, what percentage is about her best friend Emmett?

Trick question! It's one hundred percent! Twenty-five percent is thinking about how gorgeous he is, twenty-five percent is thinking about how he calls her the cutest nicknames, and fifty percent is lusting over him in various ways! Good lesson kids!

I seriously considered banging my head on the table. Then I got to work again, finishing all classwork and copying homework, just in time for dismissal. Chancing a glance at Emmett as I scopped up my books and dumped them in my bag, I saw he had a triumphant grin.

Triumphant for what, I had no idea.

Making my way out to the front lawn, my hand was caught by the larger hand of Jasper.

"Hey, Jazz," I said, looping my arm into his, a habit we'd begun at a young age (aka, in third grade when we learned cooties weren't real).

"Hey, Al," he said casually. "Rosalie wanted to ask if you were okay. She thinks she hurt your feelings. Did she?"

"No," I answered, somewhat truthfully, but hoping he wouldn't press on. He had a talent for noticing even the most subtle dodges of the truth, like an aura reader.

"But your feelings were still hurt." Of course he would. He was always like that, and that wouldn't stop today.

"Yes," I huffed, turning red for the umpteenth time that day.

"By who?" he pressed predictably, holding his reputation for most annoying, sensitive sweetheart. Gotta love him.

"No one. Jazz, I just don't wanna talk about it."

He accepted this, and changed the subject.

"So, I heard ya'll almost kissed, you and Em."

I turned red (umpteenth and one) and snarled, "Rosalie!!!"

A/N: Reviews, reviews, reviews! The first review gets a sneak peak of the next chapter!!!

Till later,

Sidney