A/N: Yes people, I am still alive and no I did not disappear off the face of the earth. I'm so sorry that this chapter took forever to come, hope you all can forgive me. I'm sorry this one's short, will be longer one's in the future. Totally my fault, won't happen again, promise. =D Big thank you to everyone who stuck by me. I really appreciate it you guys.
The songs for this chapter are Imperfection by Skillet, it's a great song you should def check it out. I picked this song because Bella feels so insecure all the time. And believe it or not, Hot n Cold by Katy Perry, I can't say that I'm a fan but it makes me laugh and it fit.
Everyone seemed to cheer forever which I thought was pathetic and, like a good sport, I told everyone to shut the hell up, which they did and walked off the stage like nothing had happened.
Rose and Alice started hugging me while Emmet thumped me on the back so hard that I stumbled and eventually would have fallen down if he hadn't caught me on time.
What is it with people always catching me when I am about to fall?
"Wow Bella I didn't know you could sing like that."
This was high praise, at least for me, coming from Rosalie whose own voice sounded like an angel right from heaven was speaking.
I was about to thank her when I saw Alice mouthing "I told you so" to Emmet who then frowned and handed her a thousand bucks.
I hated it when they bet on me.
"So what is it this time guys?"
For a pixie she wasn't too subtle when it came to hiding things from me.
Emmet was about to deny all knowledge of it but Alice spoke up, knowing that it would piss me off if they didn't tell me.
"I bet that before we went back home you would go on stage and sing a song and Emmet bet that you wouldn't."
Alice got a real kick out of predicting the future and she was somehow always right.
She said all of this while biting her lip in apprehension as though she thought that I would start shouting at her in front of everyone.
Instead, to her great surprise, I burst out laughing.
Normally in this kind of situation I would have probably yelled at her but I was still feeling high off the adrenaline coursing through my veins.
I had never sung in front of an audience before and it felt, I don't know, good?
I was confused but it was a good confused.
"Oh Emmet, you should know by now that you should never ever bet against Alice. She always wins no matter what."
Alice smiled at me.
She loved it when anyone praised her little ability.
Suddenly I remembered that Edward was here too and turned around to search for him but he was no where in sight.
My face fell as I looked everywhere for any trace of him.
How did he vanish in to thin air like that?
And without saying goodbye?
What was with him?
Did I not just sing a freaking song in front of God knows how many people for the guy?
I could tell that he didn't want to tell me anything about himself, at least not the stuff that the whole world didn't already know of and here I sung the guy a whole freaking song about me.
To say that I was pissed off was the most major understatement of the year.
I will get to know the guy behind that disguise if it's the last thing I do.
God I sounded so cliché back there but eh, if it fits, it fits.
I still had to go off at Alice for the little stunt she pulled what with getting Edward here and all but I really wasn't in the mood for it now.
Funny how I didn't feel in the mood for, well anything really, knowing that Edward had already left.
I really should watch out for myself or I would be falling for him, Hard.
Little did I know that my free fall had already begun.
I pleaded with Alice to take me home since one: I was kind of tired, two: I couldn't stand this place one minute longer and three: it was a school night.
I'll admit the last one didn't really hold much potential in it since no one cared about studying but me.
But If I stayed out any longer tonight Charlie really would turn me out of the house since he, like me, does not believe in partying late on school nights.
But I'd have Alice with me this time to cool him off if the situation got out of hand so I wasn't that worried.
She agreed eventually and we said goodbye to Rose and Emmet who intended to stay there a little longer and Angela who didn't look like she could move even if she wanted to.
Ahh young love.
If I hadn't seen it in action amongst my friends I never would have believed in its existence but what Emmet and Rose had was too real to be ignored though I wasn't sure if it applied to everyone in general or just them but either way love did exist.
I couldn't deny its existence when it was right in front of me.
I had absolutely no doubt that one day Emmet and Rose will get married to one another even if they had to cross a thousand hurdles to get there.
I felt Alice's tiny fist knocking lightly on my forehead.
"Back to the land of the living Bells."
I blushed.
Okay, truth be told I do zone out in to my thoughts for indefinite periods of time but I simply hate it when Alice makes jokes about it.
At least I am one of the kinds of people in this place who actually has a brain and knows how to use it unlike those blonde bimbos running around all over.
And any way real life was way too boring and monotonous for a person with a sane mind, like mine, to enjoy it for long.
"Yeah, yeah 'm back, what do ya want?"
"Wow back to the grouchy old self are we? Well I was just trying to point out that we are at your house since you clearly did not show any intention of noticing it what so ever."
"Right thanks Alice."
I was just about to step out of her car when I turned to her.
She looked at me verily as though she knew what I was going to say to her already, about which I have absolutely no doubt because of her, err, for lack of a better word "powers".
God that sounds weird even inside my head.
Damn right it does.
And now I'm talking to myself inside my head.
Great.
"You are still not off the hook missy."
She began to make her innocent face but I wasn't falling for it this time.
I had experienced too much of Alice to know when she was lying.
"Don't even try it, you know what you did, inviting Edward and all. Like I said you are so not off the hook and if you ever try to that again Alice, well let's just say that I know the way to your closet."
"You wouldn't dare."
"So help me Alice and I swear to God I will."
"But Bella I was just….." I had heard that one before, just trying to help. Yeah right.
"Save it Alice. You're forgiven this time but just barely."
"Gee I feel so special."
"You should actually."
"God bells that was so funny that I forgot to laugh."
"Wasn't a joke, Kay? See ya tomorrow."
"Bye, love you."
And with that she drove off, well without the speed limit might I add.
Funny, I didn't even notice that I had gotten out of the car.
I walked inside and saw that Charlie was watching the game.
Huh, typical.
"Hey dad, m back. Did you have dinner already or do you want me to fix something up for you?"
"Nah I'm good bells. How was your evening? Did you have fun?"
"Oh yeah dad, I watched young people intoxicate themselves until they were completely senseless then make utter fools out of themselves, fun."
He just turned to face me and gave me a very weird look before turning back to the love of his life, the television.
Oh wait, no that's the second love of his life. His first love is his job.
I stomped on upstairs in the worst frame of mind possible, the reason for which was still unclear to me but whatever.
I wasn't in the mood for speculations.
I didn't bother to change or take a shower or even brush my teeth.
I just fell in to bed with a heavily conflicted mind and tried to fall asleep.
I was up all night doing nothing but starring at the dark ceiling and finally fell asleep somewhere around dawn.
The shrill noise of the alarm clock woke me up and I just opened one eye to chuck it across the room and in to the wall before closing it again.
I'd have to find a quieter alarm clock the next time I went out.
I don't know how long I just lay there unmoving before finally getting out of bed.
I couldn't sleep all day, I had to get up sometime and I knew for a fact that if I didn't get up now Alice and Rose would be up here to drag me to school.
I quickly showered and brushed my teeth and dressed in plain jeans and a long sleeved black tee with some abstract art on the front.
I knew Alice wouldn't mind my clothes if I added at least a little color to them hence the abstract.
She simply hated it when I dressed in only black which I did sometimes just to annoy the hell out of her but I had to pay for it afterwards when she gave me a whole lecture about it.
Her last lecture was a little above two hours.
That's why I love her.
I heard her horn outside and ran to the door, something which should never ever be attempted by people like me.
I naturally tripped over nothing and landed on my face in the middle of the room, it's a good thing the floor's carpeted.
I got up and slowly walked out.
As soon as they both saw me they burst out laughing.
I just huffed and kept on walking.
Pfft they're crazy.
I opened the door and sat in the back seat.
They still hadn't stopped laughing.
Both had tears streaming down their faces from laughing so hard and were gasping for air.
I slapped both their faces hard and they finally came to their senses.
"Yeah thanks we needed that." said Rose while Alice said at the same time "Hey what was that for? Laughin ain't a crime!"
"Care to explain guys?"
Alice was about to start laughing again when a death glare from Rose shut her up.
"Look in the mirror Bella." Rosalie said in a rather serious tone which really worried me.
So I followed Rose's advice and looked in the rearview mirror.
What I saw was not a pretty sight.
I had a huge, and I do mean huge, bump on my forehead from falling down in the living room.
I decided to play with them a little so I put my hand on my heart and wiped away fake tears and said in a weepy voice "Some friends you guys are, laughing at me when I needed a hug."
Alice who by this point had started driving stopped the car so quickly that we would have gone crashing through the windshield if we hadn't been wearing seat belts.
"What the hell pixie?"
Uh-oh Rose knows how much it pisses Alice off if someone calls her that.
But Alice wasn't even listening she quickly undid her seat belt and turned around to hug me and apologizing a thousand times per minute.
Rosalie just snickered and shook her pretty head while I calmed Alice down enough to get her driving again and we finally got to the school's parking lot.
Alice got out faster then either of us and yelled "Group Hug" so loudly that half the parking lot turned to stare at her.
Rose and I just stared at her like she was crazy and we wouldn't go anywhere near her clutches but she wasn't having any of that.
She grabbed us both in to a hug.
God that pixie is strong.
As soon as she released us Rosalie started scolding her about how she ruined her hair and etc, etc, etc.
I wasn't even paying attention because I was searching the parking lot for Edward.
I did not sing him a freaking song just to have him walk away from me damn it.
There were lots of people roaming around the crowded parking lot and it was difficult at first to distinguish a familiar face in the crowd but I finally spotted him.
He was leaning against his Volvo two cars down from us, hmm so he has a Volvo does he? Pfft it's got nothing on my truck, and staring right at…..me?
Huh?
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!
Damn did I just say that?
For shame.
Oh well at least no one else heard it.
Okay Bella calm down, no need to start hyperventilating right this instant. Maybe he's just looking at someone behind you.
I checked.
Nope he was defiantly looking at me.
Yay *sarcasm*
Just as I opened my mouth to say….something, anything he turned away and started talking to Jasper who I hadn't noticed up until this point.
Okay that was random.
What ever, like I care.
I turned to my friends seeing as they were finally done with their little argument.
We linked arms, me in the center, Rose on my right side and Alice on my left and walked into the school.
The funny thing is that the whole time we were walking I had this weird feeling that someone was staring at me.
God I am so messed up.
The morning practically flew by and lunch finally came.
I was anxious to see Edward and hear what ingenious excuse he had come up with for his abrupt and rather rude departure last night.
We sat at our table at lunch with Jasper.
It's funny how quickly the table had become "our table" instead of "their table".
We had always looked at it like their table; it had been like that for over and now suddenly it was our table.
It was a radical change but it felt so entirely normal all the same.
Emmet and Rosalie were, as usual, making out and Alice was talking to Jasper who looked like he was hanging on to her every word.
They were both staring at each others eyes and unconsciously leaning towards each other.
Aww, I smiled.
They looked so peaceful and happy.
Edward still hadn't arrived yet so I pulled out my copy of Wuthering Heights and started reading it to pass the time.
I lost myself so entirely in the book that I didn't even notice the bell had rung signaling that lunch was over until Alice poked me.
I looked up in to the deep, green eyes of Edward.
I hadn't even noticed that he was sitting there staring at me.
I blushed but he still didn't look away.
Alice tapped me on the shoulder.
"What Alice?" I said just to distract myself.
She pointed at the almost empty cafeteria.
Rose and Emmet had already left.
"Right, thanks."
I closed my book and got up.
From the corner of my eye I saw Edward do the same.
We walked towards biology in complete silence.
He opened the door of the classroom for me like before and I thanked him.
We walked to our seats at the back the silence remained unbroken.
This silence was driving me crazy.
I couldn't take it anymore.
Did I do something to offend him?
Maybe he was critical because of my choice in literature?
Maybe he didn't like girls who read books?
Maybe I was just a big disappointment to what he had expected me to be.
Or maybe I'm just over thinking this a bit.
