Me: Hello peoples! Sorry if the update is late, my dad had a fight with a tree in the yard and lost…only a few broken ribs…and I had my 22nd birthday!

Edward: Eh hem…

Me: Can I help you Edward?

Edward: yes you can, you just made a mispronunciation

Emmett: And that was…

Edward: She said "peoples" which would indicate the plural form of "people" but "people" is already the plural form of the word "person" and thus it is wrong. *notices Emily and Emmett sleeping* HEY!

Me: *snaps awake* what?

Emmett: Hmm?

Edward: were you two even paying attention?

Me: um…yes…up until you went all preachy on me

Edward: As a person who has a B.A. in English and a teaching license you would think you knew proper grammar.

Me: I do! And I was using peoples in the correct way.

Edward: Was not

Me: Was too!

Emmett: she is right Edward; it says here in the dictionary that peoples can be used as well as people depending on the sentence. *looks up to see a shocked writer and Edward* What?

Edward: You have a dictionary?

Me: You know how to read?

Emmett:…okay…this is awkward…Emily has no claim to anything to do with Twilight, the characters all belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Me: Oh my God! He used the word claim!

Emmett: I am going to ignore that…now on with the story…

Chapter 26: Well I'll be damned

Edward POV

I was so nervous about playing per il mio amore that the entire night seemed to have passed in a blur. Would Bella like it? Would she be upset that I played it for her in front of an audience who knew it was inspired by her? Did Ali break her promise and tell Bella if what I was planning?

But none of that mattered when the curtain pulled up, the rest of my accomplices seated behind me on stage and Mr. Whitlock walked up to the microphone to give the impromptu speech that wasn't included in the programs (I didn't want Bella to get any whiff of this surprise). As soon as it was my turn to enter the piece, I allowed myself to be lost in the music, lost in what the piece meant for me, baring my soul to the masses…okay to the relatives of the band members.

I wanted Bella to know how much she means to me after hearing this piece that was inspired by her through and through.

Once the last note had been played the applause happened instantly, and when I looked up from the piano keys I noticed that the audience was giving us a standing ovation. I was happy they liked it…but their response wasn't all that important to me, only the response of my Bella. My heart dropped a little when I looked out to where the band members not performing were to remain seated and I noticed she wasn't there. Did the piece upset her? Did she run away in embarrassment? Should I have done it differently?

My panic was rising so quickly I didn't even notice that Alice had walked up behind my seat. "Lord Eddie, if Rose and I haven't told you once to a thousand times, if you don't stop pulling at your hair you are going to go bald."

"Alice, she isn't there! She didn't like it!" Alice winced at the pain and hysterics in my voice.

"Edward, if you just take two point five seconds to notice Angela trying to signal you, I think you would realize everything will be fine!"

I took my head out of my hands to look over into the seats to see Angela practically jumping up and down to get my attention, pointing towards the steps leading up to the stage on the right side of the auditorium. Standing at the top of the steps was my Bella, tears streaming down her blushing cheeks and a wide smile on her face. Without a moment's hesitation, I jumped to my feet, walking slowly over as to not scare her away.

"Hey." I told her once I stood in front of her, noticing how the people left in the auditorium stopped what they were doing to watch us…nosy town…nosy family...even Scamp was poking his head out of Leah's jumbo sized purse (we later found out that Seth had pleaded with her to bring that damn cat claiming that Scamp felt left out of family functions).

She looked up at me with tears swimming in her beautiful brown eyes, causing my heart to melt. "You wrote that piece…for me?"

"Yeah." What is with me and my one line answers?

She choked out "It was so sweet!" before standing on her tiptoes and kissing me…I took that as a cue that she liked it and didn't hesitate to kiss her back, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close to me. At that moment it was just her and me in our own little world, I could have stayed that way with her forever.

"Atta girl Bells! At this rate I am going to get so many cute little nieces and nephews! God I hope they get his sense of gravity and grace." I swear the penguins in Antarctica could hear Leah yell.

"Over my dead body!" At the sound of Sam, Charlie, and Jacobs' voices Bella and I snapped apart as though we were the same polar points on a magnet.

It is safe to bet that we played it safe over the Christmas holidays, determined to prove that we can behave ourselves and get the stupid chaperone thing over with. That didn't mean our siblings made it any easier.

No matter how many times Alice and Emmett tried to get Bella and me to step under the mistletoe we managed to find a way around it. I even took one for the team when Bella and I accidentally stepped under on during my parents' Christmas Eve bash that included all our extended family and the Swans. My great aunt Siobhan was standing next to me on the other side and right before Leah could call us out I turned and gave my aunt a kiss on the cheek (Eww). I was gifted with a nod of approval from both sets of parents and my aunt gave me an extra twenty bucks in my Christmas stocking. No way was I going to do anything other than hold Bella's hand when her family was all within shooting range…her cousin Gerrett so kindly showed me his gun license and his pictures in his wallet of the pretty little gun showcase in his living room within five minutes of meeting me (I almost pissed in my pants at the airport, it took a scolding from his wife and kids to get him to laugh and say it was a joke…I am never going to offer to pick up family with Bella again).

I again got a nod of approval from the parental units when it came time for New Years. After the countdown Bella and I merely gave each other a hug unlike our friends/siblings who looked as though the idea of needing to breath was only necessary in theory. Little did they know that we had made out plenty when we went to help Jacob and Leah set up for the party (have I mentioned how much I love Leah?).

And finally, after months of being on our best behavior, submitting to having double dates and chaperones around and agreeing to wash Charlie's police cruiser, the ban has been lifted! Just in time for Valentine's Day. Nothing could go wrong.

/

"Ah, love is in the air!" Alice sang as she danced around the lunch table, luckily not spilling any of her meatloaf surprise on anyone, as she made her way to sit in between Bella and Jasper. Bella rolled her eyes while Jasper put his arm around my sister. "Well, darlin', February is known to be the most romantic month of the year."

"I can't wait until Valentine's Day! The flowers! The candy! The romantic gestures! The decorations and sparkles!" Alice continued with a far off look in her blue eyes. God help Jasper if he doesn't do something spectacular.

Rose gave a huff as she bit into her sandwich (She brings her lunch so she doesn't have to eat meatloaf surprise…apparently the baby doesn't like school food…it's a smart kid already). "Don't forget about those stupid chocolate hearts that are given out around school by cupids."

"Um…what?" Bella asked with a cute confused expression on her face. Emmet cleared his throat to explain.

"Sorry, sis, I haven't told you. Every year for v day students spend the week leading up to it buying chocolate hearts telegrams to be handed to students' significant others, crushes and so forth. "

"Oh, my old school gave out different colored roses depending on the recipient and the sender's relationship."

Emmett scratched the back of his neck. "We did try that freshman year and had to stop, apparently Jessica was extremely allergic to flowers…and bees…and since she was the freshman in the student council they made her in charge of the project…" He didn't have to say more, we all remembered that day and from the sad expression in Bella's eyes she could piece together what happened. "I guess that explains Stanley's expression when I asked her about the giving out Roses."

"Anyway, "Rose continued, "this year Mrs. Butterhopes is making everyone in HE help with the preparations for a test grade. I am so sick of baking things with chocolate, first brownies, cakes and cookies…now this! God I hate Valentine's Day."

Emmett gave her a reassuring pat on the back. "Come on Babe, you don't mean that, think of all the ways I can spoil you this year now that we are officially an item and I have a job now, my dad said I could use a small portion of my pay check on other things besides future Emmett Jr."

"You have a point…"

Bella huffed. "Seriously? Don't fall for that Rose; Valentine's day is the worst!"

"WHAT!" I yelled and Alice shrieked, causing the entire cafeteria to stop what they were doing and look over at our table.

Bella looked at us like we were crazy. "I mean it is a celebrated holiday created by Hallmark and the candy companies to make millions of dollars AND gives guys an excuse to only act romantic one day a year. We as women are tricked into falling for it and don't expect flowers and things at random intervals unless we are being cheated on or something. Kind of like how Tyler got flowers for Lauren after she heard that rumor about him and Eric behind the football field. She was so excited about the flowers that she forgot about the whole thing."

Suddenly there was a commotion on the other side of the cafeteria. Everyone turned to see Lauren slam her lunch tray on Tyler's head before storming off to the girls' bathroom, Tanya and her other friends shooting glares at our table before following her out…oops…guess Bella shouldn't have used that example with the whole place listening in.

"Come on Bella, you can't really hate the idea of going to a nice restaurant and movie." Alice pointed out, ignoring the incident that just occurred.

"But we do that every weekend, how would V Day be any different?"

I slipped my hand around her waist. "It will be different because we can actually be alone. We are done with the whole chaperone thing, no parents checking in on us and no more having to double date with my sister and your cousin…no offense to you guys."

"None taken," Jasper responded, "it would be kinda nice to go out with just Ali."

"See?" god, I had such a great idea for Valentine's day…I really don't want it to go to waste.

Bella gave the table an incredulous glare as she got up to throw her trash away. "You do realize that our parents will be keeping a close eye on everyone right? Its known for…you know…couples hooking up, " She looked so adorable when blushing, "and I know I don't want to lose the trust we have managed to gain with them on a stupid made up holiday." Before anyone could retort, the bell to end lunch rang and I was at a loss. Bella had made a good point about our parents' trust but I still want to do something special for her, not just because it is Valentine's. I saw it as a chance to be alone with her, first time since the whole misunderstanding.

I couldn't focus in biology or music; we were watching films in both classes so I don't think I missed anything important. I felt as though I was missing something about the whole lunch conversation.

It wasn't until the end of gym that a thought finally hit me.

She might not like the actual day itself…but she didn't say anything about the day after. All I had to do was get Alice and Rose on board to plan a girls night on the fourteenth of February so she wouldn't suspect anything.

This was going to be good.

A/N I would like to thank all my readers, both the new and the old, and all the new and old readers who have added me to your update lists, it means a lot the problem I had was that I had two versions of this chapter, one that had two parts (this one) and one that only picked up where the last chapter ended. I figured this one would be a little more interesting in Edward's point of view. Let me know what you think..next chapter things get a lot more interesting…