Author's Note: Let's see what happens next! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Chapter 9

"This will look good on you," Renee mused. She handed the dress to me. "Go try it out."

"Mom, you know I don't do dresses."

"Which is why I want you to try it on. You're going to be wearing dresses everywhere from now on."

I frowned. "I already have Alice nagging me about how I always dress horribly. Leave me alone, Mom."

"Please?"

I pouted, but I took the dress and disappeared inside the dressing room. Two minutes later, I came back out, feeling slutty.

"Aw, how cute!" Renee gushed. "Twirl around for me, sweetie."

I did so, and the skirt bloated prettily. But I felt exposed underneath.

"We'll buy that for you," Renee said happily. "Here, I picked out a white sweater to go along with it. Pretty, isn't it?" She held the sweater up.

I liked the sweater, but I hated the dress. "Okay, fine."

She squealed softly and turned back to the clothes while I ducked back inside the dressing room.

I couldn't rein in my own mother, and at the end of our shopping spree, I had fifteen new dresses, five pairs of flats, a pair of stilettos, and a bunch of accessories. Especially earrings.

I'd gotten my ears pierced about a year ago, when Alice and Rosalie had dragged me to a tattoo parlor, saying that it'll look good on me. They practically forced me to get it from this huge guy with dragons all over his body.

Of course, Renee had been thrilled that I'd gotten my ears pierced – I'd been refusing to do it ever since kindergarten. She bought me a bunch of earrings ever since then, and now, I had a huge box full of them at home. And I was about to add, like, twenty pairs more.

I never wore them. I was someone who wore boring studs all the time. I wasn't one of those pretty girls that strutted around school wearing huge, noisy dangly earrings and dangerous high heels. And I could never imitate them, even if I tried.

"What movie do you want to watch, Bella?" Renee asked as she drove us to the movie theatre.

"I don't care. What do you want to watch?"

Renee looked thoughtful. "Isn't there a new action movie out? The one that everyone was so excited about."

"There are tons of action movies that people are excited about, Mom."

"The one that's a series," she put in. "They told me that they made the first one back in '88. The first one had that creepy guy from Harry Potter, I think."

"Oh, Die Hard?" I realized. "You want to watch that?"

Renee grinned. "I hope it isn't too scary for me."

"They use a lot of bad words. Do you think you can handle it?"

She rolled her eyes. "Bring it on!"

For nearly three hours, we enjoyed the pretty pictures that kept flashing by. There was fire, profanities, and father-son action. It was really good.

"That was a good movie," Renee said happily as we came out. "But I'm hungry now."

"You just had a large bag of popcorn."

"Let's go eat in the Italian restaurant," she said, perking up. "What do you say?"

"Sure."

She smiled innocently, but I began to wonder if there really was another reason that she had wanted a girl's night out. And where had she gotten the money to buy me all those clothes? And the Italian restaurant? It wasn't exactly cheap either. We only went there when we were eating out with the Cullens, and they always paid for us.

The restaurant was quiet with only a few customers. Renee looked around carefully before brightening up when she saw a good-looking man sitting at the way corner. She dragged me over, and, to my surprise, sat across from him.

The man smiled up at me. And I realized who he was, and I also realized what my mother had been doing all afternoon. She'd been softening me up. Charlie had been right. She'd been planning to meet her boyfriend all along.

"Sit, Bella," Renee urged happily. There was a renewed spark in her eyes. It was never there when she was with Charlie.

My expression hardening instantly, I sat next to her reluctantly.

"Bella, this is Phillip Dwyer," my mother said. "He's a…friend." She glanced at the man, who nodded slightly in reassurance.

"Nice to meet you, Bella," the man said, smiling warmly. "I've heard a lot about you."

My lips were pressed into a thin, disapproving line. I didn't reply.

Renee nudged me gently. "Bella. You're being rude."

Slowly, I said, "Nice to meet you as well, Mr. Dwyer."

"Please, call me Phil," he said.

"Fine," I said, unsmiling. "So, Mom." My tone turned sarcastic. "Where did you meet Phil?"

Renee looked startled. "Oh, um… I met him at school. You know, at the elementary school where I work. He was looking around the place with his baseball coach because he was interested in teaching the kids there during PE. Phil plays baseball, you know."

"Strictly minor league," Phil said, smiling wryly.

"How long have you known each other?" I asked.

"Two years," Renee answered promptly.

I was silent. Then, I said quietly, "Mom. How can you do this to Dad?"

Her smile faded. "What…what do you mean?"

"I knew about your boyfriend, Mom," I said flatly. "It wasn't exactly a secret. And I didn't really care. I knew that you and Charlie's relationship wasn't exactly going well, and I didn't blame you for falling in love with another man. But I didn't think you would do this. Why are you introducing me to a man that isn't my father?"

"Bella-" Phil began.

"Charlie was right," I said, rising from my seat. "You were the one who started all this. It's your fault that he and I are going through this right now. Have fun with your boyfriend, Mom." I snatched the keys from her bag and marched out of there.

"Bella!" Renee called after me. But I didn't look back.

I started her car and shot out of there. Phil would probably take her home. To his home. And I was pretty sure Charlie wasn't coming in tonight either.

I would be alone.

It was eight-thirty when I arrived home. I sighed wearily as I stripped and turned on the shower. I stood under the warm water for a long time. I lost track after a while.

I trudged back downstairs after I'd dressed in comfortable clothes. I knew that I had to eat something, but I wasn't hungry at all. Besides there was no food in the house.

It wasn't until after I'd been watching the news blankly for a while that I remembered that I'd promised to call Edward. So I took out my phone and called him.

"Hello?"

"Still bored?"

Edward laughed. "Bearable. Did you have fun?"

I sighed, staring at the moving pictures on the screen. "It was fun at first. And then, Renee took me to that Italian restaurant."

"And?"

"And her boyfriend was there, waiting for us. She'd planned it all from the very beginning."

He was silent. Then, he said, "So you're alone now?"

"You're good."

"I know you, Bella. I'm guessing you didn't have dinner yet?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Bella, I'm pretty sure you didn't eat anything all day. Do you want me to come over?"

I hesitated. Honestly, I really wanted to see him right now. If I saw him, I felt like I would be content again.

"Yes. Please."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," he told me.

"Why twenty?" It usually took him less than ten minutes to get here with his crazy driving.

"Just keep the doors locked. I'll let myself in, so don't worry. I'll see you soon." And he hung up.

I did as he instructed, and true to his word, he arrived exactly twenty minutes later. He was holding a small pizza box and a liter of Coke.

"Pizza?" I said, raising my eyebrow as he set it down on the floor in front of me.

"I knew you weren't going to eat much, so I ordered a small," Edward said, shrugging off his jacket. "That's okay, right?"

I nodded slowly. "Thanks, Edward."

He smiled as he patted the floor next to him. I slid off the couch and joined him on the floor.

"Aren't you eating?" I asked as I took a small bite of a slice.

He shook his head. "I had dinner." He stared at me. "Are you upset?"

"I'm okay now." I shrugged. "I don't care if she has a boyfriend or not. But it's just that it felt like I was betraying Charlie or something. I knew that he didn't want me to see the guy."

"So you stormed out of there?"

"Basically, yeah. I stole Renee's car, but I probably don't need to worry about her."

"Probably," Edward agreed. He leaned against the couch and watched me eat.

"So?" I said, wanting to change the subject. "Anything fun happen while I was gone?"

He shrugged. "The usual." His expression darkened. "Tanya won't leave me alone. Thanks to you."

I suppressed a smile. "That's good. Why don't you ask her out?"

"Do you really want me to go out with her?" Edward asked seriously. "Really?"

"What's wrong with her? She's pretty, rich, and she seems intelligent."

He rolled his eyes. "And slutty."

"Really?" I asked in surprise. "How do you know?"

"Because she talks dirty, dresses dirty, and acts dirty." He sighed wearily. "I'm so tired of those kinds of girls. They're always out to get to me. It gets so tiring." He looked at me. "Do you have a date for homecoming yet?"

"Homecoming is in two weeks, Edward," I said, rolling my eyes. "Are people already freaking out about it?"

"Pretty much, yeah. So? Do you?"

"You know I don't do dances, Edward," I said reproachfully.

"So you're not even going to accept if someone asks you?"

"Nope."

"You'll be home alone again?"

"That's better than being out at some party, wearing semi-formal and drinking. And pretending that you're enjoying yourself."

He smiled. "Maybe I should stay with you this year."

"Why? Go have fun. Make trouble."

"Or…do you want to be my date?"

I tore my eyes away from the TV screen to look at him. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." He looked one hundred percent serious.

After a while, a smile appeared on my lips, and I started laughing.

Edward frowned. "What? You don't want to?"

"Thanks for asking, but no thanks," I said, still giggling. "I'm not going." My eyes twinkled. "What's with the sudden invitation?"

Edward shrugged, looking slightly disappointed. "It's better to go with a friend than be with a cheerleader that expects you to kiss them at the end of the dance and drag them to some hotel. I'm tired of it."

"You didn't have to do it," I said, my tone flat now. I'd never approved of what Edward did with those girls. "But I guess it'll always be sex in high school."

Edward smiled ruefully. "It's true that I have some experience, but I'm not proud of it, Bella. Don't worry." He winked.

"Well, at least you feel some remorse," I mumbled.

He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. "Don't do what I did," he said softly. "Hold onto your innocence until you find someone you really, really love." He paused. "Are you really going to say no to me?"

I laughed. "Go with someone else. Take your ex-girlfriends or something."

He made a face. "They're called 'ex-girlfriends' for a reason, Bella. And remember, I was the one who dumped all of them."

"Love is silly," I scoffed. "It just stands in the way of everyone."

Edward studied the pizza in front of us. Finally, he reached over and grabbed a small slice, saying flatly, "You're right."

AN: I watched Die Hard 5: A Good Day to Die Hard a few weeks ago. I'd always been a Die Hard fan, so I thought it was pretty good. Too short for my liking, but awesome. I loved the way Bruce Willis had like, ten lives, and I also loved the way he wrecked a perfect 911 Turbo by driving a car over it. =)

So what'd you think? Like it? Reviews, please!