The Learning Curve: Chapter 115

Forks High School

When we got to lunch, all of our friends were waiting for us.

"Do you know how many people we had to chase off?" Rosalie griped. "Mike Newton even had the audacity to try to sit here."

I blanched at that. "Sorry?"

"I can't believe you didn't tell me, bro," Emmett said, shaking his head.

Edward rolled his eyes and pulled my chair out for me before sitting down. "Why?"

Emmett shrugged. "Just seems like the kind of thing you'd tell your friends. I could have given you proposal advice."

Jasper snorted, breaking the tension, and Alice took that as her cue to move the conversation onward.

"So have you set a date yet? We need to think about a dress, Bella."

"Actually, I was going to talk to you about that. We want to have a wedding, but we don't want to spend too much. I was wondering...how would you feel about making a dress? Or working on one I buy from a store?"

Alice actually leaped out of her chair to hug me. "Oh my God, Bella...you'd let me make your wedding dress?" I worried she was going to cry. "I'll start sketching right away. What's my budget?"

"Um...I don't know. No more than a hundred dollars."

Alice looked scandalized. "I can't get enough silk with that."

"No silk, then," I said firmly. "Just something simple."

Alice sighed. "You wouldn't know the difference if I made your dress out of polyester, would you? Fine, I'll just have to get resourceful."

I smiled at her determination. "Thank you, Alice. You're the best."

"But what about bridesmaids?" Alice asked immediately.

"Oh, um...I hadn't thought. Do I need bridesmaids?"

Alice looked wounded, and I realized this part wasn't about me.

"Okay, bridesmaids then. Will you be one, Alice? And Rose, I'd love for you to be one, too...if you want."

"I'd like that," Rose said, softening slightly.

"We need to talk about our dresses," Alice said immediately to Rosalie.

"Can you not do it right now? I can feel my dick shrinking from all this wedding talk," Emmett complained.

Everyone at the table groaned.

A/N: I'm sorry about accidentally switching to third person in the last chapter. It's a by-product of reading fic in between writing - you end up adopting whatever point of view and tense the story your reading utilizes, and it can be hard to get back into the groove.

But can we talk again about jumping down the author's throat for goofing and doing something she doesn't normally do? Because sometimes she just has a bad night? Not that you can't point it out, mind you, but just...give me the benefit of the doubt that I didn't do it just for the sake of confusing you?