Hehe...I kind of copied a scene from the Twilight movie. "No, he's just looking." I got a very positive response for that last chapter! Sometimes I go back and look at earlier chapters or stories I've written, and I wince at how much I sucked. But I also love how much I progressed in the-what, month? Two months?-since I've begun posting on this site.

~Lin

Disclaimer: I own Twilight. Yeah. Definitely...I'm not lying. What would make you think I was lying? You mean the fact that Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and not me? A girl can dream, right?

We stepped into the living room, our fingers intertwined. I could see Alice trying not to smile, but she wasn't having much success. Emmett jumped up to pull me into a bone-crushing hug.

"Emmett, I can't...breathe," I gasped, still holding onto Edward's hand. Emmett placed me carefully back on my feet, saying, "Where have you been? You aren't supposed to leave me alone with these people!" Translation? 'I'm so used to having you around the house it feels weird when you aren't here.'

He spied my hand in Edward's, and his gaze turned suspicious. "What have you been up to?" he asked, his mouth slowly stretching into a smile.

We had stayed at the meadow for hours, until the sky began to darken. Most of our time had been spent in a comfortable silence, with me in Edward's arms, contemplating my future and new possibilities. In a way, this was my first day alive. This was a new beginning, and I was determined not to do anything that would mess it up.

Alice jumped up from her perch on Jasper's lap and yelled, "They finally kissed!"

Everyone turned to look at Alice for a moment before turning to look at Edward and I. I blushed under the gazes of my family members, and Edward pulled me closer to him.

Emmett catcalled, and Rosalie glared at Edward, although I didn't know why. Alice's excitement seemed to be affecting Jasper, because he was grinning. Esme and Carlisle were sitting on the couch and holding hands, smiling at us. I recovered from my embarrassment, and glared at Alice for yelling it for the world to hear.

Edward let go of my hand and placed an arm around my waist. Rosalie stood up, and pointed a finger at Edward. "Outside. Now."

Edward's cold arm retreated from my waist, and everyone but Esme and Carlisle moved to join Rosalie and Edward as they walked outside. I sat in the chair across from the smiling pair. "Do you know what that was about?" I asked, confused at Rose's icy tone.

Esme said, "They just want to talk to Edward. They're warning him."

"Warning him?"

Carlisle spoke this time. "I'm sure it's unnecessary, but if Edward were to ever hurt you, let's just say the consequences wouldn't be pleasant."

I grinned as I imagined Edward being told off by Alice. She may be small, but she could be damn frightening if she wanted to be.

At that moment, they all walked back in like nothing had happened. Rosalie was grinning, and I could only imagine the menacing things she had said. Edward came over to me, smiling, and led me to a different room, with a grand piano in it. He sat down on the piano bench, patting the spot next to him, indicating that I should sit. I complied, and he began to play.

It was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard, and it brought tears. Edward ended the ballad and wiped the tears from beneath my eyes. "Bella?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Edward," I replied, smiling. "It was beautiful."

"You inspired it."

TR TR TR TR TR TR TR

We walked across the parking lot, Edward's arm slung across my shoulders. He was wearing sunglasses, which he didn't need since it was cloudy again. I was thankful that he didn't need them-my siblings had stayed home from school on Monday because it had been sunny. Nothing had happened yesterday, either, aside from the curious glances thrown our way when Edward and I showed signs of affection, and the only thing planned for today was the lab in Biology on cell division.

Yesterday Mr. Banner had told us about another lab taking place next Monday on blood typing, which Edward would, of course, have to skip to avoid. I wasn't excited about blood typing, since I couldn't stand the smell of blood-just seeing it made me woozy. During my time with Damien I had learned to wait until it dried, and the scent wasn't as strong, to take care of it.

Edward dropped me off in front of my English building with Alice, who giggled when Edward and I kissed goodbye. "Oh, grow up, Alice." I said, blushing. We walked into the building and to our seats.

The day passed by quickly. English with Alice, Government with Jasper, Trigonometry with Jessica, who attempted to interrogate me on my relationship with Edward and talked about a girls-ask-boys dance coming up sometime in the next few weeks, and Spanish with Alice. Lunch wasn't all that special, but when Edward and I entered the Biology classroom everyone looked at us.

As soon as people began to stop looking at me for being new, they began looking at me again because I was dating Edward. What was next? Would I pass out in the middle of class?

At our lab table was a microscope and some slides of the phases of mitosis. Mr. Banner started the lab, and Edward suggested I look at the first slide. I did so, identifying it as anaphase, but he must not have believed me, because he said, "Can I check?" I slid the microscope over to him, and he confirmed that it was indeed anaphase. I smirked.

We finished the lab before anyone else. One group was bickering over which phase their last slide was, and another group was sneaking glances at a diagram in the textbook. Mr. Banner saw us not working, and came over to check our work.

"Don't you think Isabella should have had a turn with the microscope, Mr. Cullen? he asked.

"Actually, Bella identified three of the five phases." Edward replied, unconsciously correcting Mr. Banner's use of my full name. Mr. Banner nodded thoughtfully and walked away towards the group that was still fighting over the last phase.

When the bell rang, I wasn't too eager to leave Edward and go to gym, but I lived through last hour and rushed outside, where Edward was waiting for me. "Ready to go home, love?" he asked.

I smiled. He had just called me love. As in my love? I knew he loved me, but hearing him say it like that made me feel better than I had in a long time. He extended his hand, and I took it as we walked back to his Volvo. Alice was waiting for us, standing in front of the passenger side door. Edward growled, and I glanced at him worriedly.

"Eric Yorkie's going to ask you to the dance tomorrow." she said as soon as I got into hearing range.

"Isn't it a Sadie Hawkins' dance?" I asked, confused as to why he would ask me when it was obvious that Edward and I were together. Was he blind?

"Yeah, but do you really think that would stop him?" she replied matter-of-factly.

I sighed. "No."

She smirked at me, walking over to where Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett were waiting by the Jeep. I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at her and turned to Edward, who looked annoyed at Eric's audacity. "It's like I'm a new toy. Once the initial glow wears off, I'll just be the plain girl with the ghost past."

He looked me in the eye, and said, "You will never be plain, Bella." I put a smile that didn't quite reach my eyes on my face, before turning away to climb into the car. He climbed in on the other side, and cranked the engine over.