It seemed like things were finally looking up for Bella; her hand was no longer in pain, her newest painting had sold for three hundred bucks at the art show this weekend past and she hadn't seen Paul for the last two weeks.

Yes siree, things were looking good.

Bella slammed her truck door, making sure that it didn't jam and made her way towards the school entrance.

"Bella!" Her eye brows furrowed and she turned to the direction of where the voice was coming from.

Oh, it was just him.

"Hey Jake." She greeted him; his smile grew excessively wide as he approached her.

Bella thought that Jacob Black was a nice boy, but that was all he was to her.

A boy.

She didn't necessarily want to hang out with him the way she knew that he wanted; their two year difference in age was a big factor, not to mention that they had absolutely nothing in common.

He liked to fix cars, she liked to paint.

He liked to hang out with his friends, she liked to paint.

He probably wanted to date her; she really didn't want that.

"How's it going?" He asked her; she shrugged lightly and tried to be polite.

"It's okay, I guess; you?" Bella replied.

"I'm great." He told her; she nodded awkwardly and adjusted her backpack.

The bell rang and she looked towards the building before all of the other students in the parking lot began to approach it.

Lessons were starting in five minutes.

"Shall we go?" She asked, figuring that they might as well walk together; Jake shook his head.

"No, I've got gym first so I'll catch you later?" She nodded her head and began to walk away; she had only gone about five metres away before he called her again.

She turned around but kept walking backwards so that she wouldn't be late.

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out some time?" He called out, using his hands as a make believe megaphone. Bella laughed and did the same.

"Okay!" She replied; he flashed her his regular smile before running in the opposite direction towards the gym hall.

Bella's smile faded when she realised that she had just agreed to spend time with Jacob Black.

What was she thinking?

She wasn't thinking at all, that's what she was thinking.

Urgh, she got caught up in the megaphone hands. Dammit!

Bella pouted a little and turned on her heel, only to crash into something really hard yet really warm; she bounced off like a rubber band ball and fell onto the floor.

"Watch where you're going!" A man told her in an irritated voice; she didn't recognise it at all. Bella laid there for a second, stunned.

"Jesus Paul, at least help her up!" A warm hand touched her face and she blinked a few times; it brushed against her cheek before removing the hair that was impairing her vision.

She could finally see properly.

The guy from the other day was hovering over her; Embry was it?

He smiled at her and offered her a hand.

"Thank-you." Bella told him before taking his hot hand and allowing him to pull her up.

But he pulled her a little too hard.

She slammed into his chest and just stood there; it didn't hurt at all but it was sudden. She pulled back slowly, feeling a little more than awkward.

"Sorry Bella…. I guess I don't know my own strength yet." Bella was sure that she wasn't supposed to hear the last part.

But she did.

"It's okay." She blushed; they two of them shared a moment before they were so rudely interrupted.

"Oh it's you." Bella didn't even need to turn her head to know who that was; even though the tone was that of a man's now, the pure hatred in his voice could never be mistaken.

Paul Meraz.

Just when you thought it was safe to believe you could be happy from now on.

Bella conjured up the dirtiest look she could muster and turned his way; what she saw though shocked her so much that it freed her face of all emotion.

Surely this couldn't be Paul, no way was this Paul.

If it is then he must have taken some miracle grow because this shit just wasn't natural.

He was huge!

He had to be around the same height as the other guy but still; he was insanely muscled now, it looked pretty good in his tight black t-shirt.

His face was more mature and his features more angular.

Her eyes travelled up to his again but this time she noticed that his mouth was slacked.

"Aww come on man, I actually like her." Bella turned back to the other guy again and her eye brows furrowed; was he talking about her?

"Did I hurt you?" She stood still with wide eyes as Paul examined her. What. The. Hell?

"What's the matter with you? Get the fuck away from me!" They were supposed to be arch enemies and here he was, examining her body; checking for cuts and bruising.

His eyes narrowed a little at her question but softened quickly.

"Sorry." Huh? So now he's apologising? Okay, this was a whole new kind of messed up.

She looked at him with disgust once more before nodding at the other guy next to him and weaving around them, making her way towards the school.

Once she got inside the building, she shivered; that was more than creepy.

-333-

Bella dipped her paintbrush in the red paint and smeared it across the polar bear's face…

Huh, red? She wasn't supposed to use red.

She growled at herself and all but threw the brush back into the colour stained water pot.

Bella couldn't concentrate.

Of course she couldn't.

She looked over to her right for the fifteenth time within the minute and scowled.

He was still staring at her, what was that even about?

His behaviour in the car lot was strange enough without this.

Bella quit the inconspicuous side glances and swivelled her stool so that she was facing him; he seemed a little surprised by her actions but his eyes never left her.

Bella leaned forward in her chair and stared back with narrowed eyes, hoping that it would alert him to the fact that she could see him staring at her and he would hopefully stop.

But no, instead he leaned forward the same way as she did and gave her a crooked smile and a wink.

She gave up.

"Will you stop staring at me already, Meraz?" She asked quite loudly; Paul blinked twice when she spoke as if it was the most nonsensical thing that he had ever heard.

Her lip curled up in disgust and his eyes softened; he looked sad.

This made Bella even more confused, what was this sick game about?

No shouting?

No cussing?

No stupid Paul- like innuendos?

What the hell was happening?

Bella looked back at her canvas and scowled again; what was supposed to be a simple white and grey panda sitting near a bamboo tree now looked like some kind of wildlife massacre.

She gritted her teeth together; this piece may have been a little clique but she was hoping to sell it at the art fair this weekend coming.

Bella turned to Paul and scowled again, what was he doing here anyway?

She knew that she was a little out of it but she was ninety-nine percent sure that he was never in her art class before.

-333-

Bella chewed slowly on her boring cheese and ham sandwich while looking around the cafeteria with worried eyes; she exhaled when she realised that Paul was nowhere to be seen.

Bella smiled to herself and took another bite of her sandwich.

That was of course until a large shadow was cast over her table; she scowled at it and herself because she couldn't help but remember that day when he had trampled all over her brother's cookies.

Bella clenched her fist and squeezed her eyes shut before relaxing completely and looking up. Surprise. Surprise.

"What now?" Bella all but growled; Paul narrowed his eyes. She stared at him with the nastiest look she could muster but he took no notice.

"Here. Take this." He ordered her.

Paul pulled his hands from behind his back and placed a package on Bella's lunch table; it was a medium sized box wrapped in luxurious pink wrapping paper with a baby blue bow across both sides.

"What is it?" Bella asked with an uninterested twang to her voice; Paul sighed and pulled up a chair; sitting way closer to Bella than she was comfortable with.

"You're never fucking happy are you?" He asked with a grunt; Bella snorted. Sure, she was never happy….. When he was around.

"Aren't you gonna open it?" Paul snapped.

Bella turned away from him and took a bite from her sandwich.

"No." She grumbled. Why would she want anything from him? She hated him with a passion.

"Just open it." Bella rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"If I open it will you go away?" She bargained; Paul smirked at her.

That was definitely the nicest thing that she had said to him since he had imprinted on her.

"For a little while." He answered even though he knew that it wasn't true. Bella exhaled and grabbed the beautifully wrapped gift roughly, tearing away at the paper.

Soon she was left with a small white cardboard box; she lifted the lid and pulled back pink tissue paper. Then her mouth dropped open.

"Well?" Paul grunted; Bella's right eye twitched. In her hands, she held a box of perfectly shaped milk chocolate chip cookies. Her head was cocked slightly to the side.

"Well?" Paul prompted; but this time his voice didn't sound as certain.

Bella was seething, what was he trying to do here? Piss her off? Well, if that was his goal then he really was succeeding.

Or worse, did he think that she would forgive him because he baked her some perfect looking cookies? Bella hadn't even realised that Paul was talking.

"…..= I got them flown in fresh this morning from Paris an…." Her eye twitched again.

"Flown in?" She repeated. Bella laughed despite herself and ran her hand through her long hair.

"Wow, just when I thought you couldn't get any worse." She breathed. He hadn't even had the decency to make them himself.

"You thought I would forgive you because you flew these in from Paris?" she asked him as she crumbled one in her hand, creating quite a mess.

"What the hell are you doing, Swan?" Paul raised his voice as he stared down at the crumbs all over his new jeans. Bella crumbled another one.

"Stop it!" He snapped. "Do you have any idea how much those cost?" Bella laughed at him and stood up before dropping the rest of the cookies on the floor and stamping all over them.

By this time, the whole cafeteria was staring at her with wide eyes and mouths ajar.

"Why don't you tell me how much they cost, Paul? Huh?" Bella asked while she wiped angrily at the tears on her cheeks. Paul looked up at Bella from his seat with a sad expression.

"Bella." The pain in his voice almost made her regret what she had done. Almost.

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