We drove down to Rose's and my apartment, all crammed into Edward's silver Volvo. By the time we reached it, Emmett was sweating bullets, stammering to himself about how he didn't know what to talk about and how he didn't think he'd manage if he didn't drive and wondering how hot she looked. I was giggling uncontrollably in the background until we reached our block, then finally caught my breath long enough to remind him of his lesson in borrowing confidence.

"Who are you?" I asked

"I am Emmett," he stammered.

"And what are you?"

"Not confident at all," he panicked.

"Get confident," I snapped. "Breathe like I taught you and relax. If you go in acting like a fool, she'll treat you like a fool. And if there's a weird guy on our doorstep, kick him. Thanks," I said, pushing him out of the car. "Get going!" We sped off in the direction of the mall we were going to meet up at. Almost immediately, Alice's phone started ringing. She looked at it and grinned.

"It's Emmett," she said. "He took a whole thirty seconds longer than I thought he would!" She cheerfully put the phone on silent and slipped it back into her pocket. "Watch out, Edward, he'll be calling you next." Sure enough, Edward's phone began to ring when Alice's cut off. We laughed, and I dug in Edward's pocket to reach his phone, then turned it off as well. Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of the giant shopping center- my personal Hell- and turned off the car. Getting out, I noticed a few heads turn our way, then a few more. I clutched Edward's hand tightly, and Alice wrapped an arm around my waist, holding onto Jasper with her other hand.

"Alice, why are they all watching us?" I hissed.

"No idea," she chirped, skipping ahead with Jasper to 'wait for us inside'. When she reached the revolving doors, I spun on my heel and tried to drag Edward back to his car. He wouldn't budge.

"Edward," I whined.

"Bella," he mimicked. "Apparently you don't want that massage," he said smugly. I looked up at him doubtfully. "I promised to give you a massage if you made it through the day. To do that, you actually have to come with us." I pouted at him, making him roll his eyes. Cozying up to him, I fluttered my lashes playfully, tugging him towards a bench outside the doors. "Fine, you have ten minutes of reprieve." I smiled happily as he sat down, pulling me into his lap. What felt like only a few moments later, but was actually a few long minutes, we broke apart because of wolf whistles from a group of teenagers.

"Take off your shirt!" one kid yelled. I was about to flip him off when Edward held me down on his hips. I looked at him, and he smirked, sticking out his tongue slightly. I forgot all about the kids and leaned down to suck it into my mouth, each of us grappling with each other. He broke off suddenly.

"Sorry, kid, she's mine." The kid grinned.

"So I see. We'll let you get back to it. Come on you guys, lets go." They turned and left, the leader looking back and grinning at us before running to catch up.

"Did you know those guys?" I asked.

"No, but they only wanted to see a little." he smiled lazily.

"Oh, endorsing voyeurism, now, are you?" I grinned, tapping him on the nose with my index finger.

"Not on your life," he replied, glancing at his watch. "And guess what?"

"My time's up?" I sighed.

"Your time's up," he complied. "Time to go in."

"Where have you been, Alice?" I asked, eyeing the already full hands of Jasper. "And how long did it take you? And how much money did you spend?"

"When the salespeople see Alice coming, they go into overdrive," Jasper sighed wearily.

"It's not all for me! I heard you live in an apartment, that must be boring, so I bought furnishings and-"

"You bought us furnishings for our apartment, Alice?" I asked, hurt. "Do you think that Rose and I have no taste and that we can't pick things out for ourselves?"

"Well, you live in an apartment, so I thought-" she cut off timidly.

"You thought we couldn't afford anything," I finished angrily. "Thanks a lot." I spun around and marched back out the way I came. There was a park across from the mall, and I went over and sat on one of the swings, as childish as that might seem. Someone sat on the swing next to me. I ignored him.

"What, did that jerk dump you or something?" I looked up. It was the guy that whistled at Edward and I. "Man, that bites."

"Edward didn't dump me," I muttered.

"Ooh, Edward, huh? Just his name makes him sound like a gentleman," he chuckled, making me giggle slightly as well. He held out his hand. "Hey, I'm Jacob, by the way."

"Bella," I said, shaking his hand firmly.

"So, if your boyfriend didn't do anything, then what happened to you?" he asked. I smiled wryly.

"His sister said something that made me angry."

"She doesn't like you?" he asked knowingly.

"No, that's not it. Alice loves me, and I love her, but she just, sort of, insulted my ability to take care of myself," I explained. "She thinks that because I live in an apartment I'm poor. I'm not rich, yeah, but I work for a living, and my sister is my roommate, so we're just fine living in an apartment. It's close to both places that we work, and it has a diner down the street, so it's all good."

"My girlfriend and I don't live together," he said. "We're going to wait until after we're married to get a place," he said absently. "We were both thinking somewhere in the woods, you know? So that it's nice and natural."

"That sounds nice. Edward's got a place that could house a small country," I said, rolling my eyes, making him snicker. "I swear, I can't go to the kitchen without getting lost. There are too may hallways and not enough bathrooms."

"That's unfortunate," he replied. "We want a small place, like a cottage, or something. But we want a big garage," he said with a grin. "I build cars."

"Really? That is so cool! My sister owns a mechanic shop, but she's never built a car before!"

"Whoa, your sister owns her own shop? That's awesome!"

"Bella!" I turned my head and saw Rose jump out of her car, leaving it in the middle of the street, with Emmett sitting nervously in the passenger's seat, watching with trepidation as the other cars swerved around him.

"Rose! What are you doing? Do you want to get hit?"

"Is her boyfriend abusive?" Jacob asked, cracking his knuckles a he stared at Emmett in the car.

"He's not my boyfriend," Rose said instantly. "Are you Edward?"

"Do I look like the pretty boy giving you tongue?" he asked, turning to me. Rose's eyes popped.

"Jacob saw Edward and I making out on a bench in front of the mall," I laughed.

"You made out? On a bench? In front of the mall?" she asked, each question getting louder and higher in pitch, "and you aren't still with him? You're with another guy? Who watched you make out with the first one?" Jacob and I were shaking in silent laughter by now.

"Jacob, meet my sister, Rose. Rose, meet Jacob." Respectfully, Jacob held out his hand, but retraced it quickly as Rose swiped at it.

"Hey!"

"I came here to meet Edward and that 'mystery guy'," she snarled pointing behind her. "And I find you chatting with another guy after sending him," she pointed to Emmett again, "into the building without an apartment number!"

"Sorry, Rose, gotta go, Jacob, see you in a minute, Emmybear!" I shouted, launching off the swing and sprinting toward the mall, Rose hot on my heels.

"Get back here you little rat!" she shrieked. "Emmett, park the car! Don't you dare hurt my baby!" And after that, it was one long stretch to the mall. I never thought that she'd actually chase me, but I was the faster runner. I made it onto the track team in high school, and she didn't. She was on the dance team. So she was a little – a lot- more ripped than I was, but I still looked good. I was dancing in front of the automatic doors, waiting for them to slowly open, nervously looking over my shoulder at the rapidly approaching blond. They finally opened far enough for me to squeeze through, and I burst into the foyer, glancing around frantically for any sign of Edward. I finally saw his bronze hair and raced for it, nearly knocking down several people reaching him and spinning around, putting him between myself and my sister. She stopped short and looked up the five inches into his face in awe.

"This is him, Bella?" she asked.

"Um, Edward, meet my sister, Rose." He smiled and took her hand, raising it to his lips.

"A pleasure to meet you at last. Bella has told me so much about you. But her explanations could never sum up your true beauty." She blushed. My sister blushed.

"I HAVE A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU!" came an enormous voice that I immediately identified as Emmett's. "YOU SEND ME INTO YOUR BUILDING LOOKING FOR A GIRL WITH BLOND HAIR AND NICE BOOBS AND WITH NO ROOM NUMBER? DO YOU KNOW WHAT I HAD TO DO? I WENT AND KNOCKED ON EVERY SINGLE DAMN DOOR UNTIL I REACHED YOURS ON THE TOP FLOOR!" he bellowed, making everyone in the sore turn to look. We were all laughing, holding on to each other for support. Well, Rose wasn't laughing. She was waiting for us to calm down, tapping her foot angrily.

"Sorry, Emmett," I gasped. "That is too funny!"

"That isn't funny, you klutz," Rose sneered. I stopped laughing, confused. She knew how much that hurt me. She realized it right away. "Bella-"

"It's fine, Rose," I said hollowly, smiling a fake smile and plastering it onto my face. Edward glared and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, steering me away from the group.

"Bella!"

"Let Edward talk to her," I heard Emmett say. "He'll take care of her." We walked away and Edward let his hand trail up and down my arm.

"Are you alright?" he asked gently. I shook my head and pressed my face into his shoulder.

"That's what everyone used to call me when I was in school. Forks was a small town, so there were always the same people. They all called my klutzy, and it hurt a lot. One day, Rose called me a klutz in front of her friends because I was bugging her. She was a year older me, and I was just a lousy Freshmen. That was the worst one. I told my mom and dad that I wanted to switch schools, but I couldn't. So I didn't talk to her for the rest of the year, I was so angry. But most of all I was hurt. I changed my routes so I didn't have to see her at all during the day. She got one of her friends to drive her home so we didn't have to take the bus together. I didn't have any friends in high school, and this just made it worse. Once my sister called me a klutz, it spread, not just to the people that made fun of me before, but also to people who didn't know me either. No one wanted to get to know me.

"About halfway through my Sophmore year, she came to my room in tears and apologized. Her friend Angela told her about her sister, who committed suicide over the summer. Rose said she never wanted me to leave without saying goodbye. We made up, but my life changed. Sometimes, I still privately blame her for ruining high school for me. I know it's irrational, but I don't know who else to blame."

"How about those who called you a klutz in the first place?" Edward asked softly, pulling me into a hug.

"They were right, though."

"They were wrong," Edward said firmly, pulling back. "You are not a klutz. You are beautiful. They were just calling you klutzy because they were jealous."

"Of what?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "Of me falling out a window during Spring Break? Or of tripping down a flight of stairs before falling out the window?" He looked at me skeptically. "I spent a good part of my Junior year in the hospital." He grinned, exasperated.

"What am I going to do with you?" he asked, resting his head on top of mine.

"I don't know. I feel a little better, though," I replied.

"Good. Because there are two people that owe you an apology. I chewed out Alice for you. I didn't know she could be so rude," he muttered, glaring at something off to his right.

"You didn't have to do that," I said.

"I had to. That was no way to treat a friend. She hasn't even seen your apartment, so she doesn't know anything. Let's go. they both sounded deeply sorry."

"What would you do if they weren't?"

"Make them so."

"Oh really? Are you my knight in shining armor?" He leaned down to whisper in my ear.

"I'm your knight in the nude."