hey, guess what day it is. yes my wonder readers, its update day! yay! i swear, i think i get just as excited as you guys. i'm excited to have you all read it

nothing much more to say, but enjoy

Chapter XII

(Epov)

After practice, I raced as I fast I could to Bella's house. It ran later than normal today from some reason. It was almost as if he forgot we weren't practicing for the Homecoming game anymore. I honestly think he did. Let's be honest, he wasn't the youngest teacher there.

I looked the clock on the radio. I was only four minutes late. I might be a little more than five minutes, but I know I could make it under ten. I made the last few turns before pulling up in her drive way.

I barely knocked once when the door before it swung open. When it did, Bella was glaring at me. I don't think I ever seen someone look so mad. "You're late." She greeted in a snapped. I looked my watch. Okay, I didn't make here under ten minutes, but it was only ten minutes. Why the hell was she so pissed?

I gave her a smile, though I knew it would do no good. "I know, but practice ran late -."

"Seem like someone forgot what I said about excuses." She interrupted. I should have known that was coming.

I sighed. I knew there was only one thing she wanted to hear. "I'm sorry. I'll try not to let it happen again." I promised. She didn't change her expression when I was done. "Can I come in?" I asked. She stared at me for a moment before rolling her eyes. She turned and walked away but left the door open. "So, I'm okay?" I asked as I followed her.

"Not quite." She said when we got in the room we're usually in. she walked over to the desk. She placed a piece of paper and a pen on the desk. She looked at me with a face that held a lot of thought behind it. "I want you to write 'The monkey jumped over the gate.' Since its short, I want you to write it hundred and fifty times." She said.

I looked at her in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" she replied. I looked at her face. I had to be honestly, she didn't. She was completely serious and was daring me to take her as anything but. It almost kind of scared me. "You were late and this is your punishment." She reminded me.

"But it wasn't my fault." I reminded her.

She grabbed the pen and handed it out for me. "The more time you spent thinking of excuses I might care about, the longer this will take." She answered.

As much as I didn't wanted to, there was nothing I could do to change her mind. She had her mind set on me doing this stupid writing thing. I might as well do it so I don't waste any more time. I sighed hard before dropping my bag to the floor. I grabbed the pen from her hand when I walked pass her. I sat down at the desk and started writing with her watching over me.

As I wrote, I counted the number of times in my head. I was writing the words so many times, I started to think I was misspelling them. As if that wasn't bad enough, I was writing fast because I wanted to hurry and get it done. I was writing so fast, everything started to look like scribbles.

I couldn't help but wonder what she was going to do with this when I was done. Throw it away, no doubt. Guess it was her way of saying, if I waste her time, she will waste mine. I never thought I would meet someone was so obsessed with the thought of time. I guess she was no worse than those people who thought if they were wasting time, they were wasting money. But still, this was a little dramatic.

Ah. My hand was started to cramp up. I dropped the pen and cracked my knuckles. I heard her sigh. "You can stop." She said when I picked up the pen again.

I looked at her then at the paper. I lost count, but I was sure it wasn't a hundred and fifty times yet. I looked back at her. "But I don't think I'm done." I told her.

She shook her head. "You're not. I've been counting each time you made a dot on the paper. It's only about seventy-two times." She told me. I looked back at the paper in disbelief. Was she serious? I could have sworn it was so much more than that. She grabbed the paper while I was still looking at it. I looked up and saw her balling it up. "I'm letting you off the hook." She said.

"Why?"

"I guess I'm getting bored with watching you. Let's start on something more productive." She suggested before leading me to the couch.

XXX

"Ready for the next question? She asked in that same tired tone she's been using since she made me stop writing. I looked over the answer she gave me before nodding. When I looked at her, I saw her rubbing her eyes before fixing her glasses again. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked her. The other times I started the question, she would read the question, not letting me finish. But this time I was able to get it out.

She sighed hard. "I'm fine." She said before starting to read the next question.

"Are you sure?" I stopped her. I knew something was wrong. And call me a softie, but I can't stand to see a girl upset when I know something is actually wrong and she not just trying to get attention like Tanya does. I can tell the difference. Something I picked up from being Alice's brother for seventeen years.

She sighed again. "If you really must know, I had a bad weekend." She answered. No wonder Rosalie was hugging her the whole day in school today. She even warned Tanya and Emmett about messing with her today. It was because Bella was already upset and Rosa didn't want anyone to push her farther.

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Not particularly."

"My sister usually likes to talk to me about her problems. She says it makes her feel better. Maybe you should try it." I suggested. I didn't want her upset all night. because then I would feel bad about not saying anything and not trying to make her feel better, just like my sister makes me feel.

"I'm not your sister." She reminded me.

"Just try it. it might make you feel better." I told her.

She looked at me. "You won't give up, will you?" she asked. I shook my head. If she didn't already know, best she learns that now. I wasn't the only to give up that easily. Why did she think she was helping me to begin with? She sighed before slamming the book shut and tossing it to the floor. "It was my mom's birthday yesterday. That time of year is always a little hard for me." she admitted.

"Why?" I asked.

She gave a light chuckle. "You've met her and heard firsthand how she talks to me. She's just worst when she goes up a year in age. She likes to think it's my fault she hasn't accomplished what she wanted. She doesn't say it, but I know she thinks it every year."

"I'm…sorry." I replied, not know what to really say. If her mother talks the way she did in front of people, I could only imagine how it was when they were alone.

She rested her head on her fists and leaned on her knees. "It's not your fault, but thanks." She assured me. "It's mine. I'm just not good enough for her. I'm not good enough for anyone. With mother like that, it's not much of a wonder why I am the way I am." She mumbled the last part, almost as if she was just thinking aloud rather than talking to me anymore.

Even though she probably didn't want me to hear, when I did I realized something. She wasn't the way she was because of Tanya or because of Rosalie. The way she was had nothing to do with the people at school, thought they probably don't help. But it had everything to do with is her mother. Her mother shoots her down so much, she has nothing left. Now that I know that, I feel completely bad for checking her mom out like I did.

She looked at me. "I'm the one who should be apologetic. I wasn't that upset that you were late. I understood more than you think. Rosa texted me, complaining that she had to make their practice ran over and I assumed yours did too. I was distraught and took out on you." She explained.

"That's okay." I said. Just then she wiped her eyes again. Before she did, I saw a very small tear. She was trying not to let me see her crying.

She stood up. "I think we're done for the day. Do you mind seeing yourself out?" she asked. Before I even gave her my answer, she was out of the room. I got up and did exactly that. Today was a totally waste. But I can't say I was mad.

XXX

The rest of the week went by slower than I wished it would. I felt bad about Bella, but since we didn't have our normal session, I didn't get the chance to finish my history homework. It was a good thing it wasn't due until Friday, so I had some time to work on the rest.

I was still upset with my father for missing my last homecoming game, but knowing what Bella was going through with her mother, I figured I should cut my father some slack. I wonder if Bella would better if we had a change of venture every once and a while. Maybe I could bring her over my house and I would just have to make Alice keep her mouth shut. Something tells me that would be easier said than done.

Everything else was normal. Alice and Tanya fought, but unlike before, Alice actually tried not to. At least was making an effort, contrasting Tanya, who didn't care.

On Thursday, I went to Bella's house for another session. I thought it would be best if I went that day because I didn't have practice and we had an away game on Friday. If we won, we would be busy on Saturday.

I got to her house and knocked on her door. She opened it. I was happy to see she wasn't glaring anymore. In fact she was smiling. "Bonjour." She greeted.

I gave a smile back. "Bonjour." I greeted. "You look better." I noted as I followed her in the house and closed the door behind me.

She nodded. "My mom is working detention all this week, so I get some extra time away from her." she turned to me. "Once again, I'm sorry for my little breakdown on Monday. It was rather overdramatic of me." she stated.

Overdramatic? She thought what happen on Monday, was being overdramatic? I've seen girls be "overdramatic", and what she did was nothing close to what I've seen. I guess we have different definitions of the word. I shook my head. "Bella, you're human and you have feelings. It's okay if they were hurt." I told her.

She pushed her glasses up and gave me a halfhearted smile. "Thank you for considering me as such. Still, I shouldn't take it on you." She replied. I shrugged. I see I wasn't going to get through to her about this anyways.

I was starting to turn into the office when she grabbed my arm. I looked at her. She can't be grabbed, but she can grab. That made little to no sense to me. "My dad's in there." She explained.

"Then where are we going?" I asked.

"Just follow me." she let go of my arm and turned away.

I followed her up the stairs. Then she opened a door to what I could only guess was her room. "Whoa." I said when I walked in behind her. The reason I did because there were turtles all over the room. Stuffed ones on her bed and little statues and figurines on her bookshelves. She even had a poster of the different kind on her wall. I wondered how many she had.

She looked at my face and laugh. "I probably should have warned you. I kind of like turtles." She explained.

"Kind of?" I echoed. That was a bit of an understatement, didn't she think?

She chuckled. "I should say I collect them." she gave a shrug. "As you know, I kind of relate to them." Wow, a stuffed bear in the office, and a museum of turtles in her room. What the hell was next, a damn dolphin themed bathroom or something? I don't think I would be surprised if that was the case. "Let's start." She suggested before going to sit on the floor next to her bed. I guess she didn't want to sit her bed. I could see why. It was nicely made with a brown and tan blanket with her stuffed turtles sitting against the pillow the way she wanted them to.

I followed her lead and sat in front of her. "Oh, I never got a chance to you show this." I said as opened my bag.

"What is it?" she asked. I handed her the piece of paper. "This is your essay." she noted before looking at closely. She flipped through it. "It's marked again. These aren't the marks I made." She noted again. She looked at me. "This is graded. Wasn't it due yesterday? How did you retrieve it so fast?" she asked.

"I told my teacher my father wanted back as soon as possible to see if I could play tomorrow."

She chuckled. "Still enamoring people." She mumbled.

It wasn't hard to "dazzle" people, as she puts it. People would pretty much do anything for you when you know the right people and have the right looks. I never thought of it as dazzling until she said so. I thought of it as doing anything to get my way. It works most, hell, all the time. "Just look at the grade." I told her.

She looked at the last page where the grade was. Then she saw it. "You got a B plus." She cheered. Before I knew what she was doing, she threw herself and hugged me. She smelled like some kind of berry mix. I didn't know what to do. I hesitant to hug her back. I was never really hugged by anyone who wasn't Alice or Esme. Even Tanya doesn't hug me randomly like this. She released me and looked at the paper again. "This is so great. I'm proud of you. I know your dad will be." She said.

I gave a smile. That was something I was hoping to hear. Not that she was proud of me, though it was nice, but that she was sure my dad would be. I hope he was. If this didn't prove to him I was serious about improving my grades, I don't know what would. "Thanks." I said as she gave it back. She sighed hard. "What's wrong?" I asked.

She shook her head. "My glasses are dirty. Can you hand me that spray, please?" she asked, pointing behind me. I turned to see a small bottle on her nightstand. I grabbed it. When I turned back around, she had her glasses of already. She looked different without them. I would always thought people on movies was full of crap when they say a girl looks different without her glasses. I always thought no one could look that different without or with something as small as glasses, but she did.

"Do you have to wear those?" I asked as she took the bottle form me.

She nodded as she sprayed the lens. "I'm almost blind without them." she answered with a joking tone behind her words. She wiped them down with the bottom of her shirt before putting them back them back on

When she put them back on, I really saw the difference. She definitely looked better without them. "You ever think of contacts?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Not at all. I don't want to stick something in my eye."

"My step-mom wears contacts. She says they're not that bad." I told her. "Maybe you should try them."

She sighed. "You sound like my mom, only nicer." She said with a small smile. "What made you say that, anyways?" she said.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't really notice before, but you kinda have nice eyes."

She chuckled. "Saying something like that is a little 'bad 90's movie', don't you think?" she joked.

I gave a small chuckle back because I knew exactly where she was coming from. I was thinking the same thing no more than ten minutes ago. "I know, but it's true this time." I told her

She chuckled again. "It's not, but thank you for saying such." She repeated the same thing from earlier. "My dad tells me I have the best eyes. He use to tell me a story how when every child is born, the mother have to find bright stars for the child's eyes and pretty pearls for the smile or the baby wouldn't have either. He would say my mom found the brightest stars and prettiest, white pearls for me. I, of course, know now how logically incorrect it is, but I still like hearing him saying it." I wanted to laugh. She would be the one to try to fit logical into something a father tells his little girl to make her feel better.

"Why can't you take a compliment?" I demanded.

"Because I don't acquire them regularly. When I do, they're usually sarcastic." She reminded me. Right. I should have seen that answer coming. We gotta work on this girl's confidence. I thought the whole "Riley things" was the first step. I guess not. I think we need to build it. I think I know the actually first step. It has to start with something smaller.

I stood up. I grabbed her wrists. She gave me a confused look. "We need to take another field trip." I explained to her and pulled her off the floor.

She gave an annoyed sighed. "I'm really not in the mood for another trip to the mall, if you don't mind." She answered.

I rolled my eyes "We're not going there. We're going somewhere else."

"Edward, we already lost two days of work, are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked.

"Yes, because I'm helping you like you're helping me. Now come on because I'm not letting go of you until we get the car." I warned her. She groaned in replied. But that may have something to do with the fact that I was holding her, even after she told me she didn't want to be grabbed.

But I held on to her as I walked down the stairs. "Hey Bells." Her dad said from the kitchen when we came down. He looked down and saw me holding her. "Is everything okay?" he asked her, probably knowing how she felt.

"We're just taking a short break." I told him.

He looked at me. "Sorry, but I was talking to my daughter." He answered with a tone that he wasn't sorry at all. Geez, now I know where she gets her hardassness from. He looked at her. "Bells?" he asked her again.

She looked at me then back at him and nodded. "Yeah, we're just stepping out for a moment." She told him.

He leaned against the frame of the kitchen door. "Oh, where are you going?" he asked her.

She shook her head. "I have no idea." She told him. I wanted to hit my forehead with my palm. What the hell? She wasn't supposed to tell him that. Now he might think I'm kidnapping her or something. As if he needed another reason to be all over me.

Her father's head tilted to the side. "Maybe I should come with you then." He replied. Sometimes it was scary how right I can be about things.

She gave a smile. She wanted him to come, but I didn't. He would do nothing but make me uncomfortable and probably ruin my plan. I yanked on her arm. I made sure he didn't see me do it because I knew he would have a problem. "Ow." She said.

However, I didn't account for her. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Ed-." I cut her off by yanking her again. She looked at me. I gave a small head shake, telling her not to say what I knew she was going to say. She looked confused but looked at her father again. "I felt a pinch. Perhaps it was a bug or something." She told him.

"Oh. Okay, well, let me get my coat." He said.

"Okay." She said as he walked pass us to his office. I sighed hard as I shook my head. She was not getting it. For someone smart, she doesn't get hints well. I yanked her harder. "Ow." She said, looking at me with a glare. "Stop that." She snapped. Catch the damn hit then, Bella.

"He can't come with us." I told her under my breath.

"Why not?" she demanded, as if she was insulted. That's when I realized she was. And I knew why. She was a daddy's girl. I wondered if it had something to do with her mother. Maybe he protected her from her. Because of that, she was used to him protecting her. Makes sense. However, she was going to have to do without daddy. Confidence will not come to someone was used to being protected.

"Because I'm doing something to help with our deal. You really want him to know?" I asked her.

She pushed up her glasses. If everything goes well, that might be one of the last times she does that. "I guess not."

"Good. When he comes back tell him he doesn't have to come." I told her.

As if on cue, her father walked back in from the office, fixing his jacket. I yanked her again to remind her. "Stop that." she repeated a low snap.

"What's that Bells?" her father said.

She looked at him. "I said stop. You don't have to come with us." she said.

He looked at me. Then back to her. "Are you sure?" he asked.

She nodded. "We'll be fine. I forgot we're just going to the bookstore for something." She told him.

"Oh. Do you need money?" he asked. She shook her head before yanking her arm out of my grip. She walked over and hugged him. I wonder if she did that every time one of them was about to leave somewhere. "Love ya, Bells." He said as she walked back over to me.

She smiled at him. "Love you too, dad." She turned and led me out the house.

"Wear your seat belt, please." He said behind us. She nodded before closing the door.

"Let's go." I said, grabbing her wrist again.

"What was that?" she snapped as she yanked herself out of my grip again.

I shrugged as I pushed my hand in my jacket I didn't take off. I never really do when I was in her house. I was always afraid I would forget it there if I took it off. "Your father doesn't like me." I told her as I started to walk to my car.

"Yes he does." She argued as she followed me.

I chuckled. She was cute when she was clueless, like a monkey or something. "No, he does not." I told her.

"How could you possibly know that?" she asked.

I turned to her. "I could tell. He's not very hard to read."

She crossed her arms. "If you really believe that, then I'm sorry, though I doubt it's accurate" She said.

I shrugged before turning and walking the rest of the way to the car. "Bella, it's fine. Trust me, I'm used to it. Tanya's dad acts the same way."

"Why?"

"The same reason yours does." I stopped and looked over the top of the car at her. "He doesn't want me around his little girl." I told her what I already knew. I couldn't say I blame them. It's a protective thing. When the time comes, I know Dad and I would be all over any guy Alice brings home, no matter who it was. It was probably the reason Esme acts the way she does when Tanya's around.

"Oh." Was she said.

"Get in." I told after unlocking the door.

"No. When I asked what was that, I was referring to why you have me lie to my father." She said.

"I never told you to lie." I corrected her.

"You told me to tell him not to come." She reminded me.

"I never said lie, though." I reminded.

"Where are we going?" she demanded.

"Get in the car and I'll tell you." I told her before getting in myself. I heard her grumble something before the door opened and she settled herself in the seat next me. She gave me a look telling she was still looking for her answer. "Put your seatbelt on." I told her after putting mine on and starting the car.

"Not until you tell me where we're going." she said.

I laughed. "Fine, I just thought you wanted to listen to your father. But either way, I'm going to start driving rather you have it on or not." I told her as I back out of her driveway. Then I started driving. I heard her breathe catch as if she was trying not to scream. I guess she forgot how fast I drove. Not everyone was used to it. Hell, after three years I think Alice just got used to it. She rushed to put it on.

"Now where in the world are we going?" she asked again.

"Just say 'hell'. It's honestly not that bad of a word." I noted, reminding her of the "lesson" I gave her last Friday.

"How about you just answer the question?" she snapped. I chuckled.

"We're going to my family's eye doctor." I finally answered her.

"You honestly thought it was the best time to get your eyes checked?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Nor mine. yours." I told her.

"What? Why?" she asked.

It was a reason I wanted waited until we were in the car and I was driving to tell her. I guess it was a good time to tell her since we were in the car and there was no way she was going to jump out. and that was my plan. "We're going to see if we can replace your glasses." I told her.

"With what?" she asked. There she goes, being all monkey-ish again. It took her a minute to realize I wasn't answering. When she did, she realized the answer her question. "With contacts?" she asked in a loud whine. I never heard her whine. I didn't think she was capable. Just like when anyone else does it, I couldn't help the feeling of annoyance. I nodded. "Edward, I told you…"

"Yeah and you also told me you wanted to be noticed."

"By Jasper." She added.

I nodded. "I know. But if everyone else notices you, he will have no choice to do so too. And changing something on your face is a sure thing for that." I told her.

She scoffed. "I have highly skepticism that getting rid of my glasses would do that." she said. I saw on the side of my eyes that she fixed her glasses again.

"You know you do that a lot?" I asked her. "You fix your glasses a lot. It brings attention to your face. Maybe if you're not doing it so much, people would wonder why you're not. Then when they look, they would see something is missing. It's worth a shot."

"A long shot." She mumbled.

"Can you just humor me?" I asked her. I looked at her and smiled. "What happened to not questioning each other's methods?'

"What is wrong with you?! Look at the road!" she yelled in a nervous voice. I laughed before turning back to the toad. She was so close to swearing at me, it was rather funny. I wonder how she would sound when she does. Probably like how she sounded when she tried to use slang.

"Don't worry. I got this." I told her confidently. I knew how to handle myself.

welcome to the bottom of the page.

so i made a reference to the movie "she's all that" with freddie prince jr because that's what this story is loosely base from. for the record, i dont think the movie is so bad. i just think it's funny because that's the movie i think of when i read stories like this. so i put in there. whatevs

by the way, dont think i'm not reading your suggestion because i definitely am. i am considering them because they are great; just for not this part of the story. also, i was thinking of starting to update everyday instead of every other day. like i said, i'm just as excited as you all when it's update day. so, tell me what you think of that.

nothing more to say. thx for all the reviews, alerts, and favs. keep them coming, keep them coming. them make me so excited. keep Reading & Reviewing. love you guys.

Luv & Rockets.