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not beta'd

storyline - Malicious

prompt - picnic

First win of the season.

Our team had done well, winning several heats. Besides the relay I had participated in, I personally won another race. All in all, it had been a very good day.

Afterwards, my Dad brought me, Alice and Rose to our favorite diner to celebrate. Neither of the girls was on swim team, but they always attended the big meets. Sometimes Jess came too, but I had a feeling she was still pissy over the Edward disaster.

Whatever. Things had died down in terms of the rumors, thankfully. It was weird: for the first few weeks, Edward and me had been all anyone could talk about, and there were days when I wondered if it would ever end. I wasn't, like, the prom queen but I'd always had a ton of friends and acquaintances and to suddenly have these people looking at me funny sucked majorly.

But then Emmett stood up for me at practice that one day. And I wasn't sure if he said anything to anybody outside of that, but Mike never mentioned it again. In fact, he sort of ignored me – which was awesome. If there was one person I was happy to live without, it was Mike Newton.

"Hi, Bella!"

I froze. That was most definitely Edward's mother, which meant he was probably skulking somewhere around as well. He'd done all right at the meet too, although he'd just barely beat the kid he'd been competing against in the fifty meter. In fact, he hadn't swum his personal best; I knew his times and he hadn't been on point tonight.

Needless to say he knew it, too. I was willing to bet he was feeling a little salty, especially since I'd done really well. He'd always been so competitive with me…

"Hi, Mrs. Cullen." I smiled up at her.

She grinned back, rubbing my back and waving to Charlie and the girls. "You were great today, honey. I'll bet you're so proud of her, Charlie."

He nodded, wiping his face with a napkin. "Sure am. Your boy did well, too."

"Yes, he did. Talented kids," she agreed. "I'll let you guys get back to your meal. Good seeing you." She smiled again before walking back to the booth she was sharing with Edward and his father.

"Not as talented as you," snickered Rose. She loved that my high scores ate Edward up.

I elbowed her, not even wanting to get in to it. My father raised his eyebrows, but I just shook my head and stole one of his fries.

Practice after that was intense.

At first, I ignored Edward's little snide comments to his boys and his showboating in the pool. But soon it became too obvious to overlook. I knew he was jealous, but sometimes I wondered if it was more. It was like, people were no longer praising his supposed sexual prowess, and half the time I swam better than he did, so he was left with being mediocre in all aspects.

This was what I assumed, anyway, and the girls totally agreed. Why else would he act so passive aggressive?

Maybe we were on the same team, but we were constantly competing against one another. We'd been this way for years, but where it had been fun before, with good natured ribbing, now things felt straight up acerbic. We genuinely didn't like each other anymore.

Things came to a head one night after we'd headed to the locker rooms. I changed quickly, anxious to get going. I had a ton of homework to do and anyway, I'd forgotten my conditioner at home. As I rounded the corner, voices from the boy's side wafted out.

"…she's not even that good."

I bristled, recognizing Edward's voice. What a whiner.

"I don't know. Her times are pretty consistent."

"Yeah, but it's like… I don't know. She works hard for it, but there's not much talent – "

They could have been discussing anybody but I just knew they were talking about me. No one else even blipped on Edward's self absorbed little radar. "Oh, get over yourself, dickwad," I yelled, striding away from the locker rooms.

Edward emerged, a towel around his neck, followed by a sophomore, Embry. "Damn, Bella, eavesdropping? Lame."

"Kinda hard not to hear when you're being all loud," I retorted, barely glancing back as I continued.

I heard him say something, and I could've sworn he called me a bitch. Whirling around, I pointed at him, not even caring that Coach Clapp was now in the room.

"No Edward, that would be you. You're the little bitch, who can't stand that the one person who swims faster than you is a girl."

Coach cleared his throat. "Ms. Swan – "

But I barreled along, cutting him off as well as Edward, who'd opened his mouth to respond. "Instead of worrying about me, why don't you concentrate on yourself and on shaving a few seconds off of your time?"

Edward glared at me. "Now who needs to get over themselves?"

Rolling my eyes, I started walking away again. "I'm over it. So over it."

He said something back but I was already gone.

Well, until Coach caught up with me the second I hit the parking lot. "Bella, may I have a word with you?"

Heart pounding, I stopped. I knew I'd been out of line, yelling like that at Edward, but seriously, there was only so much I could take.

"Sorry about that," I said.

"The two of you have always been competitive, but this is ridiculous." He cocked an eyebrow. "Is there a problem I should be aware of?"

"No, Coach."

"You can't let this stuff get to you. It's not worth it."He shook his head, waving his hand toward the pool. "You've got to let go of this."

"It takes two to tango," I retorted. "Are you even going to talk to him?" It didn't seem fair. Why should I be reprimanded while Edward got away scot-free?

"I certainly will," he said. "But you have to do your part as well."

"I know," I sighed.

"Good." He gave me a soft thump on the back. "Go home, get some rest."

Easy for him to say.

"He's such an idiot," Alice said. She shot a dirty look down the lunch table toward Edward, who was eating with his friends.

"Yup," I said, nodding. I'd just told her about the blow out we'd had at practice the night before.

"Old news," Rose said, eyes down as she texted somebody furiously. "You know this, and yet you act surprised when he does yet another dumb thing."

"Well, practicing with Edward has never been a picnic, but recently he's hit all time jerkish lows," I said. "He was stupid before, but now he's super-stupid."

Rose pursed her lips. "All the boys in this school are stupid."

"Not all boys," Emmett said, sliding in to the seat next to her.

Rose sighed and continued to text, but I noticed her cheeks turned pink.

Huh.

"Anyway, maybe you should be the bigger man here, Bella," Emmett said, taking a bite out of his apple.

"You sound like Coach now," I complained.

"Just saying. Things aren't always what they seem."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, stabbing my salad.

He shrugged. "Exactly what it sounds like."

my best friend was staying with us for a week, so things have been busy. but she left today, so i shouldn't be missing any more days. ;)

xoxoxo