A/N: i have to skip around a little to show that time is passing after this chapter. i just gave you a play-by-play of edward and alice's life for two weeks, and the story is progressing swiftly. ps: do you think a 13-year-old could use the word 'palpable' properly? ha. read and review por favor.

APOV

"Al," Rose said firmly, grasping my wrist with her fingernails. She was fully in my face, leaning across the table of the booth we were sitting in and nearly getting the tips of her insanely long curls in her salad dressing. "Grow the fuck up and talk to me about this." I had childishly turned my face away from her, my sloping nose pointed high in the air with stubbornness.

It was Saturday after I dropped by Bella's to brag about my date with Jasper, and for some reason, Esme had decided that it was her motherly duty to try and get Rose and I back together. She had led me to believe that I was meeting her at the bistro rather than the nasty, blonde slut that was now sitting across from me, and I was irritated beyond measure when I met Rose's blue eyes instead of Esme's brown ones. But Rose seemed to understand that she was supposed to be having an intervention with me when her mouth ceased to drop in shock at the sight of me. She even forced a smile, gesturing me over to the table like she wasn't screwing my brother.

But now, minutes later, she was glaring at me, and I could almost see smoke blowing from her nostrils. Her nails tightened on the inside of my arm. If Rosalie Hale knew how to get her way, it was through physical pain.

"Let go of my arm before I bleed on my sweater," I sneered, glancing at her rage-filled blue eyes for a nanosecond.

"Talk to me about this, and I'll let go."

"Fine!" I relented, tearing my arm away from her grip. "I'll talk. Just don't hurt me again." My tone skipped a few octaves, turning into a big whiny mess.

"Alright, then," she began, "let's talk about why you've been avoiding me for the past three weeks." She folded her arms across her chest, attracting the attention of all the males who weren't already gaping at her. I shoved an unladylike amount of salad into my mouth obstinately, still refusing to meet her glare unless absolutely necessary.

"Jesus, Rose!" I hissed when her nails found their way back into my wrist.

"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way," she said in a low, throaty voice. She cocked a thin, blonde eyebrow menacingly.

"Okay, Rosie, let's talk about how you're fucking my brother and failed to so much as tell me that you were even interested in him. And let's also talk about how you're a hypocrite and basically forbid me from seeing your brother when you're screwing mine." My face was undoubtedly bright red, my heart pounding in my chest from my little rant session. Rosalie's face appeared to have drained of all blood. Her lips mashed into an impossibly thin line. We sat there, simply staring at each other, saying nothing. The interested witnesses who seemed to have been listening to our less-than-quiet catfight eventually turned back to their own company.

"I wasn't aware that you were still upset about that, Alice," Rose muttered calmly, her eyes darting down to her salad plate. I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me when a tear dripped down her tanned cheek.

"Well, duh," I whispered, leaning my cheek to my fist. I didn't want Rose to cry, even though she was a fucking slut. She was still my best friend, I guess, and I hated to see her so suddenly upset. After a few moments, Rosalie finally spoke to me again.

"You know, I've never seen Jasper so happy," she smiled sadly, still failing to meet my eyes. "Usually he just comes home and sulks around and listens to this scary music shit. But now he comes home and like…talks to my mom. He never does stuff like that." She laughed with a little more enthusiasm, and it made me smile.

"I really like him, Rose," I admitted.

"I know you do. It's just weird, you know, because you and I are so close."

"You're telling me? Then what about Emmett?" All of the very small amount of progress we'd made diminished suddenly in the midst of Rose's hypocrisy.

"Honestly, Al, I never thought you'd even care." Another baseball-sized tear dripped down her face, and I guessed that she was probably wearing waterproof mascara.

"Seriously, Rosalie?" I asked incredulously. "You and Jasper aren't even vaguely close and you wonder why I'm angry that you didn't tell me about dating Emmett? You know how close we are."

"Well, it's been kind of obvious that we're together. I wasn't aware that you needed any help figuring it out." Her voice was injected with poison, more so than usual, and it made me cringe.

"But wouldn't you think that if it makes you uncomfortable for me to date your brother it would piss me off that you're dating mine? It's like some weird, dysfunctional sitcom." The waiter approached our table, probably to refresh our still-full waters, but the death glare that Rose shot him made him stumble away nervously.

"Geeze, Al. What do you want me to say? I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm with Emmett and I didn't bother to formally ask for your permission." Her voice was clipped, and I could practically feel her anger rolling off of her in waves. "It's your fault that you were practically dead the entire week before school. It's not like Em and I have ever been together for very long. Try, like, three weeks. Barely."

"I know," I said rationally, taking a deep breath. "It just kind of freaks me out a little." Rosalie's face slowly settled back into her usual bored pout, and she patted the top of my hand.

"I guess it should. None of us, myself included, ever thought any woman in her right mind would settle for Emmett. But I like him, Al. I really do. And we're not…like that…yet. You know what I'm saying." I lifted a palm to caution her. I so did not want to know any details concerning the status of my brother's sex life. It was beyond disturbing. Rose giggled, taking a sip from her sweating water glass.

"Does the whole me and Jasper thing creep you out?" I asked earnestly. I was slowly—at a nearly glacial pace—getting used to the idea of my best friend being with my brother. But I decided it was the polite thing to do by asking her about my own relationship in return. Even if I didn't particularly care what her answer was, because I still was going to do what I wanted.

"Yeah," she laughed. "Hell yeah. But you're sucking it up about me, so I'll suck it up about you." She wiped her finger below her eye, searching for any smudged mascara. "But if I find any of his boxer shorts on your floor, I'll fucking kill you," she added. I chuckled as she swiped away the remainder of her tears, trying to ignore the fact that she was probably dead serious.

I was glad to have stuff worked out with Rosalie; things had been getting lonely at school even though I'd made a new friend in Bella. She'd hugged me before getting into her car, a genuine smile on her face. It was a rarity for her, and it made me happy to think that our truce seemed permanent. She was going to back off of my relationship with Jasper, and I was going to have to swallow back the enormous lump of ice in my throat that was she and Emmett. I waved back to her as I dropped down into the Volvo, smiling to myself that she had taken the red Audi I'd so shamelessly straddled Jasper inside of two nights before.

My mind flickered quickly to Bella—would she be sad now that things had mulled over between Rose and I? I couldn't really imagine how that would affect our friendship at all, but it was no secret that Bella thoroughly irritated Rosalie. Bella would probably stop coming to all of the get-togethers we had, and Edward would probably get pissy if he couldn't drive her home all the time anymore. Bella was seriously weird, but she never once interrupted my rants and raving to talk about herself and change the direction of the conversation like Rose so often did. Bella was legitimately sweet, and now that she was able to form coherent sentences in my presence without cowering in some sort of unjustified fear. The thing that struck me as odd was the fact that Edward still refused to admit that anything was going on between the two of them. It was beyond bizarre. He trash-talked her constantly and made snide comments about how unusual she was, but then he nearly bit my head off Monday morning when I'd asked to borrow the car to hang out with Jasper after school.

"I need it," he'd argued in a clipped tone.

"Why in the world would you, of all people, need the car this afternoon?" I shot back. It was a low blow—it was no secret that Edward had a fairly slow social life. But I didn't understand why he couldn't just ride home with Emmett.

"I just need the car, Mommy. Stop interrogating me." He twisted a handful of his bronze hair between his fingers in frustration.

"Just take my Mercedes, Alice," Esme had sighed in exasperation, throwing me her keys from across the kitchen. "And stop fighting with your sister all the time, Edward. You know that nobody that lives under this roof needs anything like that." Esme was always bringing shit like that up, and it made me angry to see how Edward's face crumpled.

"Ease up, Esme," I said sternly, pocketing her precious car keys. Edward shot me a thankful glance as he slung his school bag over his shoulder.

*

I'd wondered why I had the immense pleasure of driving my mother's new sports car the entire day, not bothering to ask Edward in fear of bringing up his cross mood that morning. I wasn't complaining or anything. The Mercedes was a huge upgrade from the Volvo, and I'd liked how Jasper's eyes lit up slightly when he eyed the sleek, black paint job in the parking lot when I'd pulled in that morning.

My jaw fell to the rain-slicked asphalt when I had discovered the source of Edward's dire need to take the car for the afternoon. Jasper was walking me down the steps to the parking lot when I saw a flash of the Volvo in my peripheral vision. Edward was sliding out of his parking space hastily, the engine roaring, when I caught a glimpse of some very familiar chocolate brown curls in the passenger seat beside him. He looked nervous, probably afraid that he would see me glaring at him angrily. But deep down, beneath the slight irritation that I felt for his evasiveness rather than just coming out with the truth, I was elated.

Edward and Bella. Bella and Edward. The thought made me squeal with joy as Jasper eyed me like I was crazy.

"What are you all excited about, lady?" he asked, taking my hand. Ever since our date of Friday and the very satisfactory make out session that had followed, Jasper was very touchy-feely towards me. I liked it.

"Did you not just see that?" I asked, pointing to the retreating silver car. He shook his head as we steered towards Esme's Mercedes.

"I think Edward is taking Bella out," I whispered as we passed Rose and Emmett leaning against the Audi she and Jasper shared. I was going to try and keep Bella and my brother's secret little get-together under wraps, at least for now. The only word I could think of to describe the feeling of my insides was jubilation. Edward and Bella in that car together confirmed the suspicions I had that had balanced for so long on a leveled seesaw, the truth sitting like a fat kid on one end and finally proving me right.

"Seriously? I thought she was kind of weird."

"She is," I giggled. "But I guess he finds it endearing." Jasper chuckled as he slid into the passenger seat.

"Edward deserves it," he remarked as I shoved the keys into the ignition. "Everyone's kind of paired off and it would suck if he had to tough the whole thing with your dad out alone." My heart sank a little.

"You're right," I sat softly. "I wish I was there for him more than I am." Jasper took my hand again between us, and kissed my knuckles softly.

"Don't worry, Al. He's stronger than all of us."

Jasper was the only person, other than myself, who seemed to have faith in my brother. It gave me hope.