BPOV

I felt his fingers tracing my face before I opened my eyes. He was always so gentle with me, it was something that never ceased to amaze me. Slowly I opened my eyes, taking in the image of Edward. His hair looked wet and his face was just miserable.

"I woke you," he frowned.

"I needed to wake up anyway. What time is it?"

He glanced down at his watch. "A little after six."

"Your hair is damp," I said, running my fingers through his locks.

"Emmett took me to the gym after school," he explained.

I nodded, feeling the remains of my headache. The afternoon's events started flooding my mind. If only I could be ignorant to all of what Rosalie spewed, but unfortunately I wanted the truth. Did he have any feelings for her? Was he ever involved with Alice as well? These were the burning questions and, like it or not, I needed the answers.

"We need to talk," I sighed, shifting a bit so I was resting against my headboard.

"I know," he replied as he positioned himself in front of me.

"So you and Rosalie?" I began.

Edward cringed, taking my hands in his. His thumbs rubbed against my knuckles, kind of making me want to give in and crawl into his lap. But no, I couldn't do that. We needed to get through this because I didn't want Rosalie looming over her heads anymore. For some reason, she didn't like me even though she could clearly see how happy we were. Since I'd had time to mull all of this over in my head, I knew some things were obvious. There was jealousy, but I wasn't sure if it was over Emmett or Edward. She obviously was hurt and wanted me right there, suffering with her.

"Before Emmett… Rosalie and I would do… things. I was curious; no girl would even come near me. The good people of Forks see me as a freak. She is my friend and a girl," he explained in his usual soft, muffled tone.

"I'm a girl and I don't latch my mouth on… you know," I gestured to his crotch, "just because I'm curious or bored or whatever."

"Bella, it was stupid I know. We haven't been like that for almost two years. I promise you, I have and never will have feelings like that for Rose. We were just experimenting."

I let what he said turn over in my mind. He was right. That had happened way before we did, but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt.

"What about Alice?"

He shook his head vehemently. I felt a sudden charge of relief hit me. I guess I just didn't understand why she chose to start all of this drama now. Edward's hand cupped my face as his thumb lightly brushed the apple of my cheek. He was so sweet like that. Tentative. Young. Hopeful. My hand covered his, giving me his full attention.

"Why now? I mean, why bring all of this up now?"

"Her brother is coming home for leave from Iraq," he answered. "With her grandfather she doesn't really have rules, but Jasper has a lot of rules."

I frowned, still wondering how that had anything to do with our situation. I remembered Emmett saying she was acting out because of her home life.

"She was out to hurt me."

"Rose is out to hurt everyone when she is hurting," he explained, looking down at me for a second before kissing my forehead, my cheek, and my lips.

I sighed and ran my hand through his hair. I loved Edward's hair. I never thought a boy's hair could feel so silky.

"I love you Bella and I promise no secrets," he said, pulling away.

"I love you too. No secrets," I murmured as he brought his lips to mine.

It could have been minutes but it felt like we lay in my bed for hours, just touching and kissing. I sighed as he held me in his arms, wanting this moment to last as long as possible. To be honest, being this in love with him could have just been my teenage hormones, but I knew that I would be spending my future with him. Maybe that's why Rosalie disliked me so much. She saw our love and was jealous.

The next day at school, things were a little… weird. I crawled my way into Emmett's jeep to go to school and one look at him revealed the shiner he was wearing.

"What happened to you?"

"Well, Edward says he missed the punching bag, but I think he meant to hit me," he shrugged. "I declared it an accident to my Pops and the good doc."

"He shouldn't be hitting you," I frowned as I buckled my seatbelt.

"Are things good now, since yesterday?" Em asked, changing the subject.

"I guess, I mean we talked and I believe him when he says he only loves me. Before he left last night he even offered to cut all ties to Rose," I finished quietly.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't want him shutting his friends out because of me. I have you and Angela and you guys get me, he should… he needs his own people, other than me that get him too," I explained.

"You're good people, Smalls," he grinned while ruffling my hair.

We were quiet the rest of the ride to school, but before we got out of the Jeep I grabbed Em's arm.

"What about you, Emmett?"

"What about me?"

"Are you in love?"

"Between me and you I am, but that doesn't matter. Rose wants us to be a secret and now I'm starting to sound like a total chick," he whined.

"Continue," I ordered.

"I don't know why I love her, I just do. When it's just us she's so warm and girly. There's no guard up or defenses. Her bitch act is a total sham."

"I don't get it, but I guess my advice to you is to follow your heart. And I am so not mocking you right now so shut it," I finished, quickly seeing the glare in his eyes.

We really didn't get to finish our conversation due to Edward practically taking me out of the Jeep. His grin was infectious.

"Hi," he said, kissing me briefly but somehow still leaving me breathless.

"Hey."

Edward took my hand in his as we walked to my locker, kissing my knuckles every so often. A lot of people stared, like always, and when Edward walked me to homeroom, I realized that I didn't even ask him about his classes.

"Isabella," Rose said lazily, taking her seat next to me.

I looked over at her waiting for her to go on. She sat in her seat with such ease; she was also high off her rocker. I rolled my eyes at her.

"I'm suppose' to apologize," she trailed off, slurring as her glazy blue eyes just stared at me.

"Okay," I started hesitantly. "Who's making you?"

"Ed says we'll quit hangin' or whatever… if I don't stop my shit," she holds her hands up. "I'm stoppin'. Ed's cool people," she finished with a shrug.

"That's the only reason you're apologizing? You haven't even said you were sorry. Do you even know what you're sorry for?"

"Girl, chill," she sighed, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry for being a bitch to you, but you got to see it from all perspectives. You have two of my boys diggin' on you. Ed that's fine, he's yours, but Emmett is not cool."

"Why is Emmett not cool to dig on?" I pushed. Maybe I could get her to admit her feelings for him.

"He just… is. Leave it," she dismissed, pulling at the fabric of her cropped t-shirt.

"No, Emmett's my friend just like Edward is yours. So it's fair that I can talk to Em too," I defended.

"Leave it," she repeated.

"Well I'm just saying I'm not going to quit being friends with Emmett," I said putting that out there.

"Annnnnnd my buzz is killed…"

The rest of class we avoided talking to each other and Rosalie didn't look as relaxed as she did when she arrived. She just glared at her desk, drawing in her notebook. Once the bell rang, my day moved to a progressively fast pace.

With every class change and the way Edward appeared to walk me to my next class, I kept reminding myself that we had to talk about his classes. Right before lunch in study hall, an idea popped into my mind.

I made sure to get to the cafeteria a little early so I could put my plan into motion. Taking my trig book out, I set up my station for homework.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Angela asked as she set her tray down.

"My trig," I shrugged.

"You're good, Swan. You're good," she smiled shaking her head.

After a few minutes, I felt a light tug on my hair.

Homework? Edward signed with a confused look.

"I was having trouble doing it last night," I explained.

It was a lie and I knew it. My actual homework was in the back of my notebook. I wanted everyone to see how smart he really is. Edward sat down beside me, scooting his chair as close as he could.

He grabbed my pencil, skimming over the problem I was working on. He tapped my notebook to make sure he had my attention. I watched him sketch out a very detailed step-by-step process. When I glanced over to Angela, I saw her watching him with wide eyes.

"This is how you do the last three problems," Edward explained, showing me his answer.

"Thank you," I smiled, pecking his lips quickly.

"Fuck," Emmett whistled for his seat across us. "He's like Matt Damon or some shit."

Thank God, Edward couldn't hear him. Ben nodded in agreement, looking like he was in awe just like Em. Edward was focused on my notebook and I shook my head at Emmett to drop it.

The rest of lunch pretty much consisted of Edward trying to teach me my trig and he was so freaking sweet and patient with me. It made me feel absolutely guilty for lying about my homework.

"He's needs to leave Mrs. Cope's class," Angela said seriously.

I nodded, but wasn't exactly sure how to go about doing that. Carlisle and Esme had to know Edward was brilliant this whole time. There's no way they couldn't.

Towards the end of lunch, Edward smiled at me and asked if I understood my trig any better. I smiled back, telling him I did. He looked so happy, which was completely the opposite of how he was yesterday at this time. With a couple of kisses, he walked me to class before heading back to Mrs. Cope's room.

My last weird occurrence for the day happened when I got home from school. As usual, no one was home and I waited for Edward to get done with his gym time with Em. Not even ten minutes after I placed my bag on the floor, a knock sounded at the door.

When I opened the door, I was met with Alice Brandon standing on my porch, but it wasn't the girl I knew. Gone was her standard Goth garb. Instead, I felt like I was looking at an Abercrombie Kids model. She was wearing a puffy black North Face coat unzipped, making it easy to see her pale pink polo. Her usually black parachute pants were replaced with dark cuffed skinny jeans completed with gray suede ballet flats. Last but not least, she was missing her heavy makeup, looking completely fresh faced. I could even see freckles dusting her face. The only thing recognizable on Alice was her short black hair.

"Alice?" I said carefully.

"I need your help," she finished, letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Okay."

"You know how I said Rose's brother was my boyfriend?" I nodded. "Well… I kinda lied."

"Okay," I said slowly.

"I need your help to make Jasper my boyfriend," she mumbled.

"My help?"

"Well, Edward's your boyfriend and he loves you. I mean really loves you, so you must be doing something right," she shrugged.

"Wait, isn't Rosalie's brother older?"

"You can not put an age on true love," she declared.

Everyone at Forks High thought the triad were these badass kids, but in actuality they're all just kids. Their maturity, disinterest, and coldness were all a façade.

A/N: I feel like I'm sounding like a broken record… Again RL got in the way of this being updated. One of my friends was in a pretty bad car accident last week and I spent most of my time trying to be there for him. He's kind of what Family of Perfection and Unconventional's Edwards were based on. They are definitely his personality traits… Again sorry for the delay. Tell me what you think… time jump will happen in maybe two or three chapters. My betas as always are Dolphin62598 and rainydays23, they're both great and I appreciate their help!