Disclaimer: Didn't right and don't own 'Twilight' saga or related scripts. Fanfiction doesn't make any money. It's just messing about.

"I saw you lying to Charlie" Alice told me, I thought back, trying to remember the last lie that I'd told Charlie, just before I asked her which lie she was thinking about, Alice laughed, "you told him that you'd sent off some college applications. Luckily, he'll believe you when you start to receive acceptance letters."

"Why would I start to receive acceptance letters?" I asked.

Alice grinned, "Edward, I can't warn you in my head," she said, with obvious glee, "I think that Bella might have rumbled you. I did warn you that this would happen. I can assure you that you'll be forgiven if you can wipe that smug grin off your face before she sees it."

I span round quickly to face Edward, he wasn't wearing a smug grin at all, he was glaring at Alice. He looked apologetically at me, "she's trying to get me into trouble," he said, "I was not looking smug."

"Yeah, I don't think that you were going to be in trouble because of looking smug," I told him, "I think the issue might have been your sending in college applications on my behalf. Isn't that fraud? It's definitely interfering."

"It might be fraudulent, but it would only be interfering if I actually accepted a place on your behalf. You're as free to not attend the courses as you would be if I hadn't applied for you. All I'm doing is keeping your options open, by ensuring that you could chose to attend college if you wanted to. That's the opposite of interfering. That's an open, liberating, encouraging-you-to-make-your-own-decisions approach."

"Now you look smug, this is the moment that I was warning you about" Alice said.

Edward hurriedly changed his expression for a pleading look, "am I forgiven?" he asked.

"You can't have it both ways: either you did nothing wrong, or you want to be forgiven. Which will it be?"

He looked at Alice, but she shook her head, "I'm not helping" she said, "I thought it was a bad idea." Edward tried Jasper, but he just laughed, "Bella isn't going to hurt you, so you're on your own."

"Fine," Edward looked back at me, tipped his head on one side in an exaggerated pose of thoughtfulness, "I did my best to do something helpful, but I may have made a mistake and been a little interfering, in which case I am very sorry and I beg forgiveness."

"You're interfering, but you're forgiven. So, where have I applied?"

Before Edward could answer, my cell phone rang. I literally jumped into the air. All the Cullens were sat right by me, who on earth could be calling my cell?

I picked it up and said, "hello?" slightly hesitantly.

I heard a deep throaty laughter on the other end, "scared of technology, Bells? I don't think your cell is going to bite you."

"Hey, Jake. I was going to call you tonight."

"Then I saved you a job. I wanted to apologise for the last time I saw you. I wasn't my usual friendly self. It's just hard to see you taking him back after everything. But, I am going to be nicer, I promise! I was wondering if the studying together offer was still open?"

I looked up to check Edward, who could of course hear every word Jacob said just as clearly as I could, was glaring at me. He looked furious that I would have offered to study with Jake. And, though I'm not proud of it, that just made me angry.

It wasn't fair. I'd told Jacob that I'd help him with school stuff. Then Edward had made me promise that I'd never see him again. How could I explain that to Jake?

"Um . . . I can't see you tonight, Jake. How about I call you later? It's kind of hard to talk here."

"Why where are you?" Then I heard him swallow, "oh, you're with the Cullens. Alright, Bells. Don't worry about the studying thing. I'll manage. I will not be defeated by Pythagoras' theorem!" he tried to sound cheerful, but it was twisting my stomach to hear him sound so disappointed.

"I really will call, Jake, alright?"

"Sure, sure, bye, Bells."

I missed Jacob. The Cullens were fun and I loved spending time with them. But I really wished that I could see Jacob as well. What if he really did need help with his maths? What kind of a friend was I being, just leaving him to struggle? He was already behind.

Maybe I could just go over quickly, just this once, help Jake out and then go back home. Alice couldn't see the wolves. Edward was grounded. Would they ever know? I glanced at Alice quickly to see if my vague thought had triggered a vision of blackness, but she was talking to Jasper about something. If I just kept it as a possible thought and didn't make any plans until I'd got home, surely Alice wouldn't see. Edward would never know. Then it didn't really count as breaking a promise at all. It was just helping out a friend.

Edward had recovered from his instinctive Jacob's-on-the-phone anger, and was reaching out to take my hand. I let him pull me over to sit with him. "Let's not talk colleges now. I'll make you a list of places. Why don't we actually enjoy ourselves for a bit? It's starting to seem like the only thing we do together is sit through deep and meaningful conversations with my family."

"We should play Poker," Alice said, "Edward can't read Bella's hand."

"He can read yours and mine," Jasper reminded her.

"It's worth it to see Bella play Edward," Alice answered.

Jasper shrugged, "alright, what will we play for?"

"Secrets," said Alice. While Jasper performed some impressive shuffling displays with a crisp new pack of cards, Alice dealt out ten coloured chips to each of us. "Bella's yellow, I'm pink, Edward's blue and Jasper's green. We'll keep what we win and use them to buy secrets off each other until they're all gone."

"So, if I can keep all the yellow chips I won't have to tell anyone my secrets and if I can get hold of green chips, I can use them to force Jasper to tell me his?" I clarified.

"Exactly," Alice grinned, "it'll be fun. Of course I remember, Edward," she said, too annoyed to wait for him to ask her the question that she was answering, "but this time it'll be fine. Rosalie and Esme aren't playing."

"Last time we played for secrets, it led to unpleasant results," Jasper told me, "are you sure that it's safe, darlin'?"

"Yep."

Jasper shrugged and went back to his shuffling. I loved the way he trusted Alice. As long as she was sure, he was happy, he never argued with her or questioned her visions. I wondered how long we would have to be together before Edward and I trusted each other like that.

Edward excused himself to make me a snack. He wouldn't let me get up to help him, which was probably silly. I think that I was more at home in his kitchen than he was. It took him ages just to find some juice and a bag of chips. He seemed a bit irritable when he got back to the table, but he calmed down when Jasper dealt the cards and started the game.

Because there were only forty chips on the table, they moved around pretty fast. Theoretically they were all of equal value, but it soon became apparent that the yellow chips were more eagerly fought for. I didn't want to lose my secret-chips to anyone, and all the vampires were quite eager to have them. I suppose that I was slightly more mysterious, being the only one who didn't live with the others. I noticed that Jasper was also rather fond of the pink chips and Edward seemed to want green ones. But most of all, we all fought for control of the yellow chips. By the end of the game, I had five yellow chips, three pink, six green and eight blue. I grinned broadly at Edward as I swept them all into my purse.

"We could add that to the list," I told him, "you're not really very good at poker."

He scowled, "I'm not usually allowed to play," he said, "and I didn't realise that you were so good at reading me."

"People who can't read minds tend to practice reading faces," I told him. "Now, I'm going to have to go home. I'm rather looking forward to seeing you tomorrow."

"Aren't you worried about the other five yellow chips?" Edward asked me.

Then I noticed that the vampires had all spirited away their winnings.

"Who has them?" I asked.

They all grinned broadly at me.

"You'll find out," Alice said, "I'm looking forward to tomorrow too."

When I got home, Charlie opened the door and said, "You're home early."

I looked at my watch, it wasn't nine, there would be time for a brief visit to La Push. "Actually, I was thinking about going out again, stopping by Jake's and helping him decipher some equations. You don't mind?"

"You're a big girl, Bella. You probably shouldn't stay late, but it'll be good for you to see Jake."

I clambered back into the truck and started up the engine. The truck spluttered but wouldn't start. It was out of gas. I sat there for a minute, wondering what was going on. Then I stomped back into the house.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked.

"Truck's out of gas," I said, "the fuel gauge must be faulty. I'll call Jake instead."

Charlie nodded.

He didn't seem surprised that there was a little problem with the truck, it was an old car after all. But, I knew there was nothing wrong with the fuel gauge and I knew that I'd filled up only two days ago. Someone had messed with my car, and I had a pretty good idea who it was. Well, that explained what I was going to do with at least one of my secret-chips.

I picked up the phone and dialled Jacob's number, "Black residence."

"Hey, Jake, it's Bella. I was going to come over and see you tonight, but the truck's out of gas."

"Why do you sound angry, did someone tamper with your truck?"

"Yeah, that's what I think" I kept my voice vague and light, so that Charlie wouldn't get concerned.

"Do you want me to deal with that for you?"

"No, I've got it in hand. I'll probably take it in for a service tomorrow." Jake laughed, "in the meantime, can you come over here instead?"

"Sure, sure, I'll get a lift with Sam."

"A lift?"

"Yeah, it's quicker than driving."

I hung up, rather confused. How was it quicker to get a lift than it was to drive? And why was Sam coming this way at this time of night anyway? It didn't make any sense.

It didn't make any sense until there was a knock at the door and I saw Jacob standing there without a shirt on. Of course, it was quicker for him to run than it was for him to drive and he claimed he was getting a 'lift' so that he wouldn't have to explain the absence of his car to Charlie. We sat in the kitchen, and I made us both some tea.

"There are um . . . bats in your garden," Jacob said, "they're local bats, so I don't want you to panic, but I wondered if you knew."

Bats, huh, very funny, I thought.

"I didn't know," I told him, "but I'm not surprised. I know that we get them sometimes."

"Every night," Jacob said.

I looked pointedly at him, wondering how he knew that the Cullens were in my garden every night. "What?" he asked, "at least one of my friends goes out every night."

"Walking their dogs?" I asked. Two could play at this game. Creating a code so that we could talk in front of Charlie made sense. But calling the Cullens 'bats' wasn't very nice, and if Jake was going to do that, then I was going to call his Pack 'dogs'.

Jake scowled at me, "the female's tiny," he said, "and the male's blond."

"Silly Jacob, you don't get blond bats," I said, wondering what Charlie would think if he was listening. Probably that we were having a very strange conversation, but at least he wouldn't hear us talking about mythical creatures. "You only get blond people, like Rosalie and Jasper, they're blond."

Jacob nodded, "Jasper's the one who you said was really empathic, isn't he?" So that's who was out there.

"Empathic, that's a long word for this late into the evening. Yeah, he is."

"Talking of long words," Jacob tossed his maths book down on the table, "I didn't only come here to chat, you know."

I laughed at him. We got to work. Jacob had missed a lot of class, and it was surprising how much use I really was to him. I remembered most of the stuff that he was doing, and the rest of it we were able to figure out between us. It was amazing to be doing something so normal. I really ought to spend more time on typical teenage tasks. Perhaps that's why I miss Jacob so much. Nothing is normal with the Cullens. Whereas, with Jake, almost everything is normal, right up until he turns into a giant dog.

Jacob must have been thinking along similar line, because he suddenly said "I don't think of you as a spy, you know, I think of you as a friend first." He was obviously remembering Edward's comment from the other day. I grimaced. It wasn't great to think about Edward being like that. "What's wrong?"Jacob asked.

"I made Edward tell me what he'd said when Sam was on the phone with him."

"Oh, and I reminded you about it just now. I didn't do that intentionally. Um . . . are you still upset?"

"No, I don't think so. He was very apologetic."

"He must be practising that a lot lately," Jacob said, "what with leaving you, nearly getting you killed and all that jazz."

I laughed slightly, "if you knew him, you'd be more sympathetic," I said.

Jacob shrugged, "Charlie knows him, and Charlie doesn't seem all that sympathetic," he said, "I think that Charlie would be pretty happy to kill him, or at least, drive him to the airport."

"Dad'll get over it. I really do love Edward and Dad will see that in the end."

Jacob shivered, making me feel guilty for talking about loving Edward.

"I'm sorry," I told him, "I'm just so glad that you're still talking to me. It feels natural to just talk to you about everything. It's weird thinking that I shouldn't really talk to my closest friend about my boyfriend."

Jacob nodded, "I'll try to listen," he said, "it's just that your boyfriend is a jerk and it's hard to resist telling you that." He saw that I wanted to say something and he pre-empted me "please don't tell me that he's misunderstood, I couldn't bear to hear you say something that silly."

"I wouldn't say that," I responded, "he isn't misunderstood, except by you. I understand him perfectly well. And he isn't a jerk. Hang on."

I went over and opened the back door. "Alice and Jasper," I whispered, "don't you dare tell Edward that I sat here in the kitchen discussing whether or not he was a jerk. If you're here to guard me, that doesn't mean that you should also spy on me and report everything that I say to Edward. Alright?"

Jacob chuckled, "I think they're replying" he said, indicating the text message that had just reached my phone 'Alright, Bella, sheesh, relax.'

He read the message over my shoulder and laughed again, "I like Jasper," he said.

"Why do you think that was from Jasper? It came from Alice's phone."

"Because I heard her say, 'hey, Jazz, give that back' just before the message arrived" he said.

"Well, Jasper ought to know by now that he can't manipulate emotions by text message," I said angrily, "obviously, I haven't relaxed."

"Obviously," said Jacob. "Look, if they've agreed not to carry tales back to your jerk boyfriend . . ."

"Jake! You're not allowed to call him that."

"Fine, if they've agreed not to carry tales back to Alice's little brother . . ."

"It doesn't exactly work like that. He can read their minds, so he'll know what they're thinking about when they return home."

"Whatever, none the less, can we talk about Friday?"

"Friday?" I couldn't remember anything that had happened on Friday.

"Have you forgotten about our date already?"

"Oh, you mean this Friday! Oh, Jacob! Don't say that we're going on a date. Do you want to give Edward a heart attack?"

Another text message arrived, 'we're getting out of hearing range, Bella, just before you agree to go on a date with him!'

"It's not a date!" I shouted. I heard Charlie chuckle from the front room, mixing with Jacob's laughter in the kitchen.

Sighing, I hit one of my speedial numbers, "Alice, it isn't funny and it's not a date," I said the instant the ringing ceased.

"What isn't a date, Bella?"

Jacob was rolling on the floor with laughter, "who is that with you?" Edward asked "and what is he laughing at? Bella, I don't think that I like this. Perhaps I should come over there and see for myself."

"You can't come over, Edward," I said as calmly as I could. "You have to trust me when I say that everything is fine. I intended to call Alice."

"I know that," he said, "but you wanted to tell Alice that 'is isn't funny and it's not a date' and then I heard a man with you rolling around laughing. Of course I trust you, so I know that there's an innocent explanation. I'm just waiting for you to give it to me."

I froze. I pushed the phone away from me and stared at it. I was just wondering whether breaking it would help.

Jacob stopped laughing and looked concerned, "are you afraid of him, Bells?" he asked me, "here, give me the phone" he easily took it out of my hand and began talking rapidly, "hey, Cullen, this is Jacob Black, listen to me, man. You've frightened her. I don't know why she's scared. You didn't threaten her as far as I could hear, but she's frozen up and she looks terrified, so you're going to have to back off." There was a pause, Edward replied just as quickly, and I couldn't hear what he was saying, "don't be stupid. I'm in complete control. From the sound of it, you're the one who's struggling to control yourself. I was laughing, man, not phasing, laughing." Again a pause while Edward spoke, "yeah, well, I'd be worried about you being anywhere near her right now. You've got her frozen with fear by asking a couple of questions over the phone. Even your family don't think that you should be here. Now, calm down, because I'm going to hang up. I'm going to calm Bella down and put her to bed. If your mummy and daddy will let you, you'll see her at school tomorrow. And, you know what, if I find out that you've given her another reason to be afraid of you, then I will save you a trip to Italy, got it?" Edward answered loudly and frantically, but Jacob just said, "hah" and hung up the phone.

"Alright, Bells?" he said, the concern in his voice brought Charlie running in.

"What happened?" Charlie asked.

Jacob sighed, "she accidentally dialled him on her phone," he said, "he was a bit confused when he heard my voice, and then Bella just froze up. She held the phone out and wouldn't talk to him. I had to persuade him not to come straight over here."

Charlie sighed and shook his head, "did you hear what he said before she froze?"

Jake nodded and said, "it wasn't threatening at all. I wouldn't have just sat here if he'd been threatening her. He said that he trusted her and he was sure that there was 'an innocent explanation' but that he wanted to hear what it was. That's all."

"Bells," Charlie said gently, "are you alright?" I nodded. "Can you talk to me?"

"I'm fine, Dad. I was just surprised and I didn't know what to say, that's all. I'm tired."

"Are you scared of Edward?" Charlie asked me, "we can protect you from him. If he frightens you, I can make sure that he never sees you again. You don't have to worry about meeting him at school or in town, I can keep him away from you. All you have to do is nod, honey, are you scared of Edward?"

"No, Dad, no, of course I'm not. I was just surprised, that's all. It was an embarrassing moment and I was tired and I didn't know what to say. I love Edward, he doesn't scare me at all."

Jacob and Charlie looked at each other.

"I'm going to bed," I said, "I'll see you on Friday, Jake?"

"Sure, sure, I'll pick you up at seven," he said.

I nodded and continued out of the room, wishing them both goodnight. I knew that they would talk about me after I went to bed, but I couldn't bear to hang around listening to what they said. I curled up hugging myself in bed, wishing that Edward could be there with me. I didn't sleep well.

In the morning, Charlie came in to check on me one last time before he went to work. He made me promise that I would tell him if I was ever afraid of Edward, even if it was only for a little while. I couldn't tell him that I was already afraid of how I was going to explain last night, it wasn't the kind of fear that Charlie meant.

"I'm going to stay until you head off today, Bells," Charlie told me, "I don't need to get into work until a bit later this morning. I thought it might be nice if I was here when they arrived. I could help out with the um . . . awkwardness after last night. And, I'd like to catch up with um . . . Jasper too."

I smiled, "you don't need to be here, Dad, but I'm sure Jasper will be glad to have a chance to chat."

I showered and dressed and, sure enough, Jasper's car pulled up about ten minutes earlier than usual. All three of them got out and came to the front door. Jasper rang the bell, Edward and Alice hung back a little.

Charlie answered the door with a fake smile that quickly became real (thank Jasper for that!), "hi," he said, "you're a bit early today, do you have time for a chat?"

"Certainly," Jasper smiled warmly, "it's very good to see you Chief Swan."

"Call me Charlie, please," he said, "are you kids coming in?" he asked Alice and Edward.

They smiled and walked into the hallway.

"Hi, Jasper. Hi, Alice. Hi, Edward" I stood there like an idiot, waiting for one of them to make the next move.

Edward stepped forward, reached out as if he wanted to take my hand, but then thought better of it and dropped his hands to his side. "Are you ok, Bella?" he asked, "um . . . that phone call last night was a bit odd. I think that you dialled your phone accidentally. Did you have a good time with Jacob?"

"Yeah," I said, "it was nice to see him."

"Good. Um . . ." he looked around, as if he was a bit embarrassed to be saying this in front of everyone, but couldn't really ask them to leave, "are you mad at me for some reason?"

"No," I was genuinely surprised. How could he have thought that was a sensible question, he didn't have forbidden people over to his house and then ring me up to laugh about it.

"Oh, I thought that you didn't seem happy with me last night or this morning. You're looking at me a bit strangely."

"No I'm not."

Edward struggled not to laugh at that. Everyone else just let themselves laugh.

"I was wondering if I could have a quick word," Charlie asked Jasper. At least Edward had managed to convince him that I would be safe if Charlie stepped out of the room for a few seconds.

He smiled winningly, "sure," he said, "stay here Alice, Edward, I won't be long." He followed Charlie into the kitchen.

"So," I said, when I guessed that Charlie was out of earshot, "why would I be mad at you? What have you done?"

He grinned, "nothing that you've found out about yet," he said, "so I'm free and clear."

"Um . . . can we go outside?" I asked.

Edward shook his head, "Jasper told us to wait here," he said, "I don't think that he wants us out of earshot."

Alice nodded, "he won't be long, then we can get going. We won't be late, Bella."

"So, when are you seeing Jacob next?" Edward asked with forced brightness. I didn't think that Charlie would buy any of this. It was obvious that Edward would hate Jacob.

"Friday evening," at least I never had to worry about surprising Edward. If he asked a question like that, I could be pretty sure that he knew the answer, "we're going to the cinema."

"That'll be good. What are you going to see?"

"I don't know. It's Jake's choice. Last time we went, I chose the movie and it was awful, so this time Jake's choosing"

"Hopefully, he'll chose something good," Edward said. I wondered exactly how long he could keep this bland conversation going, but then Alice decided to help.

"There's a good action movie opening this weekend. I caught a preview. I think that you'd like it Bella, there's plenty of action, but a few funny lines as well. Of course, there's also a horror movie out at the moment, but I don't think that Jacob would take you to see that."

I smirked, it was good to know something that Alice and Edward didn't know. The two of them were usually almost omniscient. Perhaps that was an extra benefit of hanging around with the wolves. It was kind of freeing to spend time somewhere that Alice couldn't see. It was funny that Alice should be so sure that Jake wouldn't consider taking me to see a horror movie. I'd been the one who'd dragged him to a horror movie and he'd laughed all the way through. I was beginning to realise that there was a lot the Cullens didn't know about me, and I relished that thought.

"What's funny about that?" Edward asked me, seeming annoyed that he didn't understand what I was smirking about.

"I know something you don't know," I teased him.

Edward and Alice exchanged glances, then they both frowned simultaneously. They were used to filling in the gaps in one another's knowledge, but with my silent mind and Alice's wolf-blindness, they were both clueless.

Before they had a chance to press me further, Jasper returned to the hallway, closely followed by a cheerful Charlie. Charlie slapped Jasper on the back and said "thanks for talking, Jazz, I feel a lot better about it all now. Now, Edward, Jazz tells me that you have something that you wanted to say to me."

Edward grimaced. He looked over at Jasper, who said sternly, "come on, Edward, we don't have all day."

So Edward took a deep breath, looked Charlie in the eye and said, "I wanted to apologise for my recent behaviour. I acted without due consideration for Bella's welfare and without thinking about how much you would worry about her. I made you concerned and I put Bella in danger because of my own thoughtlessness. I am truly sorry. I know that doesn't help anything, but I wanted you to know how sorry I am. If there is anything that I can do in order to make amends, I hope that you will tell me. I am trying to take responsibility for my actions."

Charlie stared at Edward, for a second I thought that he was going to start shouting, but then his face changed completely and he began to smile. "It took a lot of guts for you to apologise to me, kid," he said to Edward, "I can't say that it's alright, because it isn't. But I am glad that you apologised. I will give some thought to amends and I'll let you know if I can think of anything, alright?"

"Thank you, sir," Edward said. He looked pleadingly at Jasper again, and I saw Charlie's smile widen.

I glared at Jasper, wondering if pushing too many emotions on my father at once could cause lasting damage. Jasper smiled innocently back and said, "come on, kids, we don't want to be late", herding us all out of the door and towards his car. Charlie waved goodbye, before getting into his cruiser.

Edward walked over to the back of the car, Jasper looked at him, then said quietly, "you can sit up front, Edward." Edward held open the door and Alice scooted across the seat, I climbed in after her. Edward was in the passenger seat before I had a chance to do my seatbelt up. Jasper was smiling at him, "you're jealous that Alice gets to sit next to Bella," he said, "that's pretty funny".

"Apparently the whole world is full of humour that I don't appreciate this morning," Edward answered gruffly.

"Don't sulk," Alice told him, "I'm as curious as you are. Bella, what is funny about you going to see a horror movie with Jacob?"

I turned to tell her that I wasn't going to say, but then I saw a little yellow circle held in her outstretched palm. I sighed and took it, ah well, that meant that there were only four of my chips left in play, I wondered who held them. "I told you that I'd already seen a movie with Jacob. Well, that movie was a horror movie, it was a zombie film. It was funny that you would think that Jacob would never consider taking me to a horror movie, when I'd dragged him out to one. It was funny that you didn't know what I was like while you were gone."

"What were you like?" Edward asked.

I shook my head, "nope," I said, "one chip buys you one secret, you can hear about my trip to the cinema, but you can't hear any other secrets unless you pay."

"Who went on that cinema trip?" Alice asked.

"Me, Jacob and Mike," I said, "that sounds weird and it was. But, it wasn't meant to be that exact combination. I'd agreed to go to the cinema with Jacob, because . . . of something else that I don't want to talk about; but Jacob seemed to think that it was a date, so I invited a few other people along. Angela and Ben were meant to come too, but they got sick and cancelled at the last minute and I ended up going with Jacob and Mike. In the event, we didn't see the whole movie because Mike got sick and we had to leave early. But that didn't matter, because it was a terrible movie anyway. There, now, that's pretty funny! And neither of you knew anything about it, which made me laugh because you like to think that you know everything between the two of you."

Jasper laughed with me now, he understood what I meant about the nearly-omniscient Cullens.

"What were you like when we were gone?" Edward asked again, this time he held out another one of those cursed yellow discs. He raised his eyebrows at me and watched me take it.

"Fine," I said, that only left three discs out there, but this wasn't a secret that I had planned on revealing, "I was like a zombie," suddenly I began laughing again.

"What?" Edward was frustrated, "what's funny now?"

"I was like a zombie and I made Jake take me to a zombie movie, that's funny," I said.

"No it isn't," Edward replied.

I looked over to Alice, but she shook her head, I looked at Jasper, "not really very funny, Bella," he said, "more depressing."

"You're only depressed because Edward is," I told him, "Edward carries enough angst to depress three Jaspers."

Alice laughed, "that's kind of funny," she said, "but, you being so miserable that you were like a zombie isn't funny at all."

"It's not that bad," I lied, "I was kind of numb for a lot of the time."

Edward sighed. Then Jasper sighed, overwhelmed with Edward's guilt and pain. I giggled again, "are you always this knocked about by your little brother's mood swings?" I asked Jasper.

He didn't answer, he just looked glumly ahead. I shrugged and rifled through my bag until I found my purse. Then I pulled out one of the green chips and held it out.

Jasper looked at it quizzically, "really?" he said, "I thought that you'd use them to find out about Edward's emotions. But, I guess that you've always been curious about my ability. I'm not always 'knocked about' by Edward's emotions, as you put it. It's only the really strong emotions that I can't resist sharing. Most of the time, I can tell what others are feeling, but I don't have to experience the feelings for myself. It's also harder for me to block out my family's emotions than it is for my to block out the emotions of others. Before I joined the Cullen family, I was rarely hit with the full force of another's emotions. I knew what they felt, but it was as though I could observe the feelings without being swept up into them. When I met Alice, that changed, I found it harder to resist her emotions – she's still the hardest for me to block, when Alice feels something, I can't help but feel it too – and then, as I got to know the Cullens I found that their emotions could infect me just as hers do. Just now, for example, Alice and Edward both felt a surge of guilt and pain and sorrow, it was too strong for me to resist, and I already felt something of it for myself, so it was impossible for me to shake it."

"Why do you feel guilty?" I asked him, "you didn't decide to leave me."

"I tried to kill you," he told me, looking at me as though I was crazy.

"You didn't mean anything by it," I said, "it's just what happens when you smell blood. And it's hardly your fault that I smell so very tempting." I giggled.

"Again, Bella," Edward said with a sigh, "not funny at all."

"Alright," Jasper said, "we're here." Edward held the door for me and Jasper held the door for Alice.

"You should work on your sense of humour," I told Edward, as he walked me to class, "you miss a lot of jokes."

He rolled his eyes, "there's nothing funny about you being miserable or about my brother trying to kill you," he said.

"Of course there is. The best jokes are those that are written about difficult or tense situations. The whole point of a sense of humour is that it helps to keep you going when things are at their bleakest."

Edward grinned suddenly. "If I have permission to buy you a gift," he began slowly, "that means that you can't be annoyed when I give it to you and you have to enjoy receiving it."

I glared at him. When had I given him permission to buy me a gift? All I could remember was a joking conversation about building me a house. If Edward had built me a house, I was definitely going to be furious. Edward was holding a pretty green gift box in his hand. It was about the size of a large box of chocolates. Well, at least it wasn't a house. It couldn't be flowers either, Edward wouldn't put flowers in a box. He held it out, smiling at me, hoping that I was going to be pleased.

I tried not to scowl as I took the box. It was tied with a green organza ribbon. I laughed at that: Edward had decided not to risk wrapping paper with me anymore. He was watching expectantly, so I untied the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was a book: a hard-back copy of Thomas Hardy's 'Far from the Madding Crowd'.

"I thought it was suitable," Edward said, "it's the only one of his books with a really happy ending."

It was a lovely, thoughtful, modest gift. I was touched. "Thank you, Edward," I said, "this is a really nice gift."

He beamed at me. He took the empty gift box and tossed it into a nearby bin. Then he slipped his hand around my waist and steered me to class.

"Thank you," he said quietly, "for letting me give you something." He sounded so happy that I had liked the book, I wished that I could let him shower me in diamonds. It would make him happy, but it would make me feel awkward and weird. Maybe I ought to try and be a bit more flexible about things.

When I sat down at my desk, I saw an envelope laid in the middle of my desk. I looked at it in confusion, had Edward been unable to stop himself at one book? Edward smiled his crooked smile at me. He didn't seem worried about it, so I opened it. Inside was a little square of paper 'Edward can't tell jokes'.

I laughed, "hey, whose handwriting is that, Edward? They agree with me about your terrible sense of humour."

"Alice," he said, "and it's not true. I tell jokes."

"Really? I don't think that I've ever heard you. Maybe that explains why you never laugh at my jokes" I said, thinking about the car ride, when he'd repeatedly told me that I wasn't being funny. "You just don't have a sense of humour."

"I have a perfectly functional sense of humour," he said, looking a bit irritated now, "and I can be funny when the occasion warrants it."

"Prove it," I said, grinning evilly, "tell me one of your many jokes."

He glared, "it's very hard to be funny on command," he said, "and I'm not in the mood to tell jokes now."

"Well, I'll just keep this in my box with all the others," I said, carefully folding the square of paper and tucking it into my purse, "then, if you can tell me a joke that makes me laugh, I'll destroy it."

I think that Edward might have liked to spend a bit more time attempting to persuade me that he could be funny if he needed to be, but the teacher arrived and started the lesson. Edward at least pretended to be an attentive student in all our classes. I could see why Jasper accused him of being too serious. Even though he didn't really need to listen to the lecture, he followed every word and took extensive notes. I wondered if he had behaved like this every time he'd attended high school. Had he ever misbehaved in class, just to see what it was like?

Trying to imagine a badly behaved Edward made me laugh. I pictured him failing to hand in a term paper, but he would apologise so charmingly, that wouldn't cause any trouble at all. I pictured him throwing paper planes around the classroom, it was a ridiculous image, completely un-Edwardian and it made me giggle. I imagined him talking in class, passing notes, kicking the chair of the person in front of him. It was funny to imagine Edward misbehaving, but I couldn't imagine Edward in trouble. If a teacher tried to tell him off, he would respond so calmly and smoothly that they would end up apologising to him 'I'm sorry to have distracted you, Mr Cullen, I can see that I ought to have let you get on with throwing your desk through the window, please don't let me get in your way'.

"Are you amused by the Theory of Relativity, Miss Swan?" my real teacher asked, pulling me up sharply from my day dream.

I noticed Edward looking at me just as curiously, and I couldn't resist it: "Edward made me laugh," I said, "sorry."

"What did you say, Mr Cullen? I assume that it was related to the class."

"Of course, sir," Edward looked at me accusingly, "I was repeating a quotation. Einstein is supposed to have said: 'Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.' Apparently, Bella thought that was funny. I apologise for disturbing the class, I will keep my comments to myself in future."

I giggled again, slightly impressed that Edward had a relativity joke. He was far too good at thinking on his feet, no wonder I could never win an argument with him.

"Well, actually, Mr Cullen, your quotation is an interesting way of describing the theory . . ." he drifted back into his lecture and Edward returned to his pretence at paying attention. He very deliberately didn't even look at me for the rest of the class. I wasn't sure if that was because he didn't want to get into trouble or if it was because he was annoyed with me.

Edward waited until the end of lesson before saying "what was that for?"

"I was telling the truth," I said, "you did make me laugh. I was thinking about you and it made me laugh."

"I thought that I wasn't funny," he said, "what were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about how impossible it was for you to get into trouble. You're always so perfectly well behaved, I wondered if you would be able to get in trouble if you tried."

"Then you thought that it would be funny to experiment," Edward sighed, "please say that you're not planning on trying to get me into trouble in every class today. Carlisle doesn't think it's funny when he gets called into school for us."

"Have you ever been in trouble at school?"

Edward shrugged. "You're the one who said that I was always 'perfectly well behaved', how could that lead to me getting into trouble?"

Wow, he was dodging the question. He didn't want to tell me if he had ever been in trouble at school. I fished around in my bag until I found my blue chips. "Here," I said, "now you have to tell me all about you getting into trouble at school."

He groaned, "I knew Alice was too keen to play poker last night," he said, "I'll have to write it down, I can't risk getting overheard telling a story that happened so long ago."

"Alright, but you'd better put in details."

He spent most of our Biology lesson writing. I never saw him write anything other than Biology notes, but he must have managed to finish his story at some point because he slid a paper over the desk to me at the end of the lesson, just in time for me to read it over lunch.

When we got to the cafeteria, Edward left me at the table with his story, while he fetched some lunch. He didn't complain again about my forcing him to tell me, but he looked a bit worried. I hoped that it wasn't going to be anything too awful, surely he wasn't going to have written a story about killing people. I knew that he'd talked about 'slipping up', but I didn't think that he would consider that to be a good story to tell me. Still, if that was the only thing that he'd ever done wrong at school . . .

'I was at school in 1952, and the teachers were somewhat stricter than they are today. We were expected to rise when a teacher entered the room and never to speak unless we were called upon. As you can imagine, the lessons were very quiet and well ordered affairs.

'I was in one class and Emmett and Rosalie were in the class across the hall from me. One afternoon, on a day when we were planning to hunt after school, I was sat in my classroom (paying attention and behaving like the 'perfect' student you teased me for being today) and I heard Emmett think about feeding on the girl in front of him.

'As it later turned out, it was only a passing thought and I need not have worried, but the image was so clear in his mind, that I panicked. I got up from my desk and ran to the front of the classroom, barely remembering to keep to a human pace. The teacher, Mr Davison, saw me get up and ordered me back to my seat. When I ignored him, he attempted to block the doorway. I pushed past him and ran out of the room.

'I slammed into Rosalie and Emmett's classroom, not checking to see if there was anyone behind the door. Their teacher, unfortunately a rather slight woman called Miss Black, got caught by the door as I came in; she fell to the ground and cut her arm.

'At this point I realised that Emmett was in control of himself – or at least, had been in complete control of himself until I caused Miss Black's blood to flow – he was not even considering attacking his classmate any longer. The scent of the blood hit him and he stood up to approach.

'I crouched over Miss Black's prone body in a defensive position. Emmett approached me, Rose called him back, promising him goodness knows what if he would relax and leave Miss Black alone. Mr Davison had followed me into the classroom, he saw me on top of Miss Black and drew some perfectly sensible conclusions considering the evidence that was available to him.

'Emmett's behaviour, of course, appeared far more sane than my own. Seeing his younger brother rush in and attack his teacher, he rose to defend her, but soon saw that it was unnecessary for him to offer his assistance, since Mr Davison was easily able to restrain me.

'It was, however, impossible for me to excuse myself adequately I was taken to the headmaster's office and Carlisle was called in to come and collect me. He wasn't at all amused. The school had to be allowed to believe that I had been consuming illegal substances and that Carlisle and Esme responded in the only acceptable manner for the time. They told everyone that they were sending me away to military school. We moved shortly after that incident.'

Edward had returned whilst I'd been reading and he pushed a plate towards me "you do need to eat," he said.

"You pushed over two teachers and everyone thought that you were on drugs," I started laughing uncontrollably.

That was when Alice and Jasper arrived, "what's so funny?" Alice asked.

"You already saw," Edward told her, in his clipped, irritated voice.

"I know, but I want to hear Bella say it, and it'll make her laugh again" Alice said, "besides, I haven't told Jazz yet."

I held out the paper to Jasper, "I can't – tell – can't stop laughing" I spluttered, "Edward – pushed people over – drugs – military school."

Jasper was already smiling, but when he read the paper – much more quickly than I had done, of course – he began laughing just as hard as I was.

Even Edward was laughing, once Jasper started.

"I don't understand why you picked that story," Alice told him, "why didn't you tell her about that competition that you and Emmett had in Canada? Isn't that slightly less humiliating for you?"

I laughed again, "that's great," I told Alice, "I still have seven of his secret-chips. I can get the Canada story out of him this afternoon."

"It's not that hard to get Edward into trouble at school," Jasper told me, "the trick is to annoy him. He finds it really hard to restrain himself when he's angry. Your mistake this morning was to try and make him slip up by embarrassing him. He can easily keep his head whilst he's embarrassed It's anger that makes him do stupid things."

"Thank you, Jasper" Edward said, "I don't think that Bella's planning on trying to get me into trouble again."

"Shame," Jasper said, "in our last school, Bella, we used to play a game called 'Setting Up Edward'. Our games don't have very imaginative names," he said apologetically, "the aim was to get Edward into trouble without getting caught by Esme or Carlisle."

"We had to stop because they were going to start assuming that every time Edward got into trouble it was our fault," Alice said, "which would have been true, of course, but would have ruined the game. We'll have to wait a few years before we start playing again, though you won't get into trouble with Esme and Carlisle for years."

"Of course, you might not want to play any games that involve humiliating me in public," Edward said wryly, "but perhaps that's a little bit too much to hope for."

"I don't want to humiliate you in public," I said, "I just like to hear stories about your past. So, um . . . do you only play games that bully Edward, or do you bully other siblings as well?"

They all laughed at me.

"We don't bully Edward," Alice said, "we just try to shake him up a bit from time to time. Before he met you, he hardly ever laughed or even smiled, he was always so serious."

"We don't only bully Edward," Jasper contradicted, "but it can be dangerous to wind up those of us with less self-control in public. Emmett and Rose are fair game, but nobody plays tricks on me when we're too near to other people."

"They do bully me," Edward said, with a sad shake of the head, "please say that you'll be on my side, Bella."

"I wouldn't be much of an asset unless I was a bit less clumsy," I told him, hinting at my change "maybe you should reconsider your thoughts about the future."

He smiled, I think that was the first time that Edward had ever smiled at the thought of me becoming a vampire, "that's true," he said, "and it'll definitely be worth a bit of a compromise if it gets me someone who'll be firmly on my side."

"On your side, most of the time," Alice winked at me. I wondered if she was picturing possible futures in which I was on her side instead. Obviously, I would always be on Edward's side in the big things, Edward was my partner and my one true love. But, it did sound like it would be fun to be a part of the Cullen clan. I'd like to share in some of their crazy bets and games in the future. I'd always wondered what it would be like to have a gang of siblings. It sounded like it was going to be a lot of fun.

"So, you'll tell me about the Canada story?" I asked Edward.

"Why don't you want to know stories of my great heroism and intellectual prowess," he asked me, "why are you pressing for stories in which I act like an idiot?"

"I've already seen you being a hero and an intellectual giant," I told him, truthfully, though it may have sounded a little sarcastic, he kissed me on the cheek, but he didn't look mollified, "I've never seen you get into trouble in school."

"We can arrange for that to change," Jasper offered, "how about tomorrow?"

Edward glared at him, but Alice giggled and said, "I don't think that it will be a problem. Carlisle won't get suspicious if we only do it once, we've never been that restrained before. Not tomorrow, though, sometime next week."

The bell rang for the end of lunch and we, reluctantly on my part at least, trooped off to our various classes. I had PE straight after lunch, but Edward cheered me up by greeting me at the end of the class and handing me another letter. "I finished my assignment," he said wryly.

I smiled at him, "right on time," I said.

"Well, I am the perfect student," Edward responded, I don't think that he was planning on letting that comment go away, "that means that I always hand my work in on time."

I had a brief vision of Edward as a pupil and me as a teacher and I there seemed to be a lot of mileage in the idea. Then I remembered Alice and Jasper's messing about from the day before and I blushed bright red. We were definitely not at the stage of our relationship at which it would be suitable for me to think about role play.

Edward looked curious, then he grinned at me, "let's go to English," he said.

I unfolded his letter and tried to read it, but after I tripped over my feet for the third time, Edward snatched it out of my hand. "Hey," I protested, "I was reading that."

"I'll read to you," he said, "then you can keep your eyes on where you're going."

"Sure, sure. Edward can read and walk, it's only Bella who can't do two things at once."

"Do you want to hear the story or not? I'm perfectly happy to leave this buried in the past."

I took his hand in mine and rubbed my thumb in circles on the back, just as I remembered him doing to me. He smiled at me. "Read to me," I said as softly as I could.

I'd been hoping to have some effect on him, but I was surprised by quite how dramatic the effect was. Edward shivered and closed his eyes, "of course," he said, "anything you want, Bella," I was clearly going to have to remember that tone of voice, that and the hand thing. "The events that Alice suggested I tell you about happened a few years ago in Canada. Emmett and I were in the same class. We haven't been allowed to do that again since Canada." He sounded a little wistful about that, I wondered if he was hoping that he would be able to persuade his family to let him and Emmett sit together again soon. "One day Emmett came up with a new game for us to play at school. We had a History teacher who spent a lot of time writing on a white board with dry markers. She wrote indiscriminately in whatever colour was closest to hand, so the aim of the game was to control the colour in which she wrote. I was aiming to get her to write in blue and Emmett was aiming to get her to write in green. There were no rules, apart from the obvious 'don't get caught'. So, we began by just switching the pens as we walked into the room. We quickly progressed to making excuses to walk around the room during class in order to switch the pens in the middle of the lesson. It was, I suppose, only a matter of time before one of us got caught. It ought to have been Emmett. He was the one who stole her blue pen as he walked into the room. She turned around and almost caught him, so he didn't get a chance to put a green pen in its place. Then he panicked, he was worried that he would get caught standing at the front of the class with a board pen in his hand, so he threw the pen towards his desk. Of course, that's where I was sitting. The pen moved too fast for anyone human to see it in the air, so the first time that the teacher noticed the pen was when it hit the desk next to me and rolled onto the floor with a clatter. Since Emmett was standing at the other side of the room, it looked as though I'd stolen the pen and then dropped it. The teacher didn't think it was very funny. She accused me of pulling a childish prank and gave me detention." He sighed, "Carlisle said that Emmett and I weren't allowed to be in the same class until we learned to behave ourselves appropriately."

While Edward had told me the story, he steered me to class, whispering in my ear as we walked. It was funny to hear about Edward doing something stupid; he'd always seemed so sensible and studious. I liked seeing this new side of him. I wondered if he would play stupid games with me, once I was a vampire and he didn't have to worry about me so much. I had a feeling he wouldn't be willing to let me mess around during my first time at high school, but once I'd been through as many times as he had now, then he would have to accept that it was safe for me to relax a bit.

"I can't imagine you getting detention, couldn't you talk your way out of it?" I asked, wondering why he couldn't dazzle the teacher into submission. I'd seen him do that plenty of times before.

He frowned, "I can't always talk my way out of trouble," he said, "I don't have Jasper's advantages." I wondered what he was thinking about. What stories were behind his frustrated tone? He'd just told me about being in class with Emmett, perhaps he'd had classes with Jasper before. Perhaps, before he'd nearly got Alice killed and landed himself firmly on the wrong side of Jasper, Edward used to be as playful with Jasper as he was with Emmett. I tried to remember what Edward and Jasper's relationship had been like before my disastrous birthday, but I couldn't really pin anything down. I hadn't seen much of Jasper, what with him being tempted to kill me and drink from me, so I didn't really know how well he got on with Edward.

Suddenly, I realised something strange. I had seen a lot of Jasper since we'd got back from Italy. I was often in a car with him, where my scent must have been incredibly strong. How was he coping? Why hadn't he tried to kill me again? Why had Jasper stopped trying to avoid me, and why had his family stopped worrying about him killing me? It had only been eight months since the last time he'd lost control. Jasper couldn't have improved his control by such a great extent in only eight months, surely? Maybe I smelt different now. I was about to ask Edward, but the lesson began and I didn't get a chance.

The English lesson was ok, we were starting a new book: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, so the teacher did most of the talking. None of us had very detailed opinions at this point in the course. Edward looked bored, he didn't really like 19th Century novels, I remembered how rude he'd been about my Austen and my Brontës. I suspected that he only took the class so that he could be near me; he preferred the sciences. Of course he knew the whole book by heart, and he'd probably heard all the standard opinions on it already. When he saw me looking at him, he smiled, but he quickly returned his face to its neutral expression, probably worried that someone had noticed him grinning inappropriately. I wondered if he had any Dickens jokes that he could quote on demand. But, if I repeated my trick from before then I would probably end up in more trouble than Edward would. The teachers weren't stupid, and they did talk to each other.

It wasn't until the end of the day, that Edward finally brought up yesterday evening. He'd been unusually eager to please all day, telling me embarrassing stories about himself and not pushing me to explain every thought that ran through my head. He was trying to butter me up. Well, that was silly and unnecessary, but I wasn't going to tell him that. I was hoping that Edward would never find out how impossible it was for me to refuse him. He might use his advantage.

When we were walking towards Jasper's car, Edward finally said, "please don't be mad at me for asking, but what happened with Jacob yesterday? It was quite strange when you rang me up and all I could hear was Jacob laughing."

"Ah," I looked over to the car, I couldn't see Alice and Jasper, perhaps they were already inside. As soon as we reached the car, we would have to stop talking about this, I just had to talk to him until we reached the car, "I can imagine that might have made you angry."

"I'm not angry, Bella," he said.

"Alright, that's good. That's very good."

"What happened?" he asked again.

I could have sworn he was slowing us down. This was absurd, normally he was trying to rush me and I felt as though I was slowing him down, but today he didn't seem to be in any hurry to get me to the car. "I wanted to see Jake," I said, "I know that you didn't want me to see him, but I really wanted to see him. I tried to drive over to La Push, but my truck was out of gas. Actually, I was meaning to ask you about that. Why did my truck run out of gas?"

"I think that happens when you forget to fill up, Bella. Don't change the subject." He'd been so flexible and sweet all day, but he was different now. Now he was firm and strong, he wasn't going to let me dodge the question.

"Fine, when the truck wouldn't start, I called Jake and asked him to come over, so he did."

Looking down at our entwined hands, Edward kept his voice steady, "how was it?" he asked.

"It was good. It was nice to see Jake. I know you don't like him, but I do like him and I have fun with him. I'm not sorry about it. Well, I am sorry that you're hurt. I can't bear it when you're upset. Oh, I wish that you weren't upset. But, um, I'm not sorry that I have fun with Jake, because it's just a good-friend thing and I should be allowed to have friends." I sped up and Edward let me drag him faster towards the car, I was desperate for this to be over, so desperate that I could believe I would have been able to drag Edward even if he hadn't let me.

"Then what happened?" he asked, still not looking at me. I wondered if he was hiding eyes full of anger or hurt.

"Well, last time I saw him, I'd agreed to go to the movies with him on Saturday. He reminded me about the movies and he called it a 'date'. I said that we weren't going on a date – because we're not, ever – then I remembered that Alice and Jasper were nearby and they must have heard Jake mention our 'date'. So I went to call Alice and tell her that it wasn't a date, because I didn't want her to think it was and you to hear her thinking it was and get all upset over nothing. But, I didn't call Alice, I called you and you heard Jake laughing and laughing and you sounded cross and I didn't know what to say."

We'd reached the car at last, but Edward didn't open the door for me, he just stood there. I reached for the door myself, and Edward stared at my hand. "It's locked," he said, "Jasper has the keys, we'll have to wait for him."

I leaned against the car, and Edward stood in front of me, still holding my hand. "Were you afraid of me?" he asked quietly.

I laughed, "no, you're not scary!"

Edward's head snapped back and he stared at me, as though I'd just told him that I was a fish. "Bella," he said, "you know what I am, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's old news, Edward," I said, "I was afraid that you would jump to the wrong conclusions and be upset and angry with me. But I wasn't afraid that you would hurt me. I'm never afraid that you'll hurt me. I mean, obviously, you could leave me again and that would hurt more than anything, and I guess I'm afraid of that, but I'm not afraid that you'd hit me or anything."

"I'll never leave you again," he said, his eyes glowing and his face so eager "never."

I shrugged. Of course he meant that now, but maybe he would change his mind again. I only hoped that I could become a vampire before he left me, and then I would be able to go after him.

"You don't believe that I'm sincere?" he asked, and his shoulders slumped, he looked miserable again. Ever since he'd come back to me, he'd been miserable nearly every time that we were alone together. Would we ever get back to the hopeful relationship that we once shared? Young love was supposed to be optimistic

"I don't think that you're lying," I said slowly, "but, even if you mean it now, you might change your mind again. If you thought that it would hurt me if you stayed, then you'd leave me, wouldn't you?"

He grimaced, "I don't know," he said, "I can't bear to put you in danger. If I could only save you by leaving, what else would you have me do? What would be the right answer?"

"You could try talking to me, and listening to my opinion. Maybe if you could start listening to me, then I would believe that things were going to be different this time, and that you weren't just staying until you got scared again."

He thought about that, "I promise to talk to you," he said, "and I promise to listen to you. Will you talk to me and listen to me too?"

"Of course. I don't want to dictate the relationship, I just want to be an equal partner."

He smiled, "so, partner," he said, "what are we going to do about Jacob?"

"I'm going to the movies with him on Friday," I said, "and you can't come because you're still grounded." I reminded him that he was confined to his house, even though it was cruel, because I wanted him to remember that, right now, he was a teenager, just like me.

He didn't respond to my jibe, he just said "don't I get to express my opinion, before you decide?"

Where were Alice and Jasper? Couldn't Alice see this awkward conversation? Why didn't she come and stop it? "I already know your opinion," I said, "you think that Jacob is dangerous and wants more than just friendship. You don't think that I should ever see him again. Your opinion is stupid."

He frowned, "I have more experience in this matter," he said, "my opinion is based on that experience. Jacob is dangerous and he does want to be more than just friends. I know his kind and I know boys his age."

"You're a boy his age, and you've managed not to jump me whenever we go out together."

Edward grimaced, presumably at the thought of anyone 'jumping' me. I probably shouldn't have said that. "I'm different," he said, "and I'm not good enough for you either. But, perhaps you could stick with just one monster and not court two at the same time. Perhaps you would consider making that small concession to keep yourself safe." He dropped my hand, as though he couldn't stand to touch me anymore.

"I'm not courting Jacob Black!" I shouted, well aware that I sounded about a hundred years old, obviously he was rubbing off on me, "and I resent your accusation that I would court two men at the same time. What kind of girl do you think I am?"

"The kind of girl who commits to a steady relationship with one boy and then allows another boy to take her to the pictures, alone!" he shouted back. Now we both sounded as though we belonged in the fifties. This was absurd.

I was so angry that he would accuse me of two-timing him and furious that he would yell his accusation like that so that anyone could have heard. I wished that I'd brought my own car, so that I wouldn't have to stand here and wait for Jasper and Alice.

Just as I thought that, they arrived. Sometimes it was like Jasper could read minds too, but I guess that my emotions must have been running pretty high. Jasper opened the front passenger car door and let me in. He didn't close the door after me. Instead he turned to Edward and sighed, "guilt," he said, "you seem to be addicted to it."

"Am I running home?" Edward asked, presumably because I was sat in his usual seat.

"Esme's on her way," Alice said, "she's going to take you hunting."

"Apparently you want to talk to me," Jasper said, looking at me, "is that right?" Alice rolled her eyes, she didn't like it when people checked that she was right. I smiled and nodded, I don't know how Alice knew it, but I really did want to talk to Jasper.

"You need to hunt," Alice said to Edward, "you don't want to risk getting into an argument when you're thirsty."

"I wouldn't ever . . ." Edward began, but Jasper cut him off.

"All it takes is for you to grip her wrist, or to rest your hand on her shoulder. Your control has to be perfect" Jasper said.

Edward nodded, "I'm in control," he said.

"Not good enough," Jasper replied, "you think that you're in control, but you have doubts. I can feel them."

"Not about my control," Edward protested, "I doubt something else."

"Come on," Alice interrupted again, "you don't want us to do anything that we think is risky. You want us to look out for you."

Edward nodded again, "I'm grateful," he said, "really. Even when I fail to act gratefully, I feel grateful."

"I know," Jasper said.

"I'll miss you, Bella," Edward said to me, meekly standing back, not wanting to worry his siblings by coming too close to me.

"I'll come over and see you later," I said, "when you're done hunting."

Alice shook her head, "you'll see each other on Saturday," she said, "tomorrow is going to be sunny."

"Why can't I come over tonight?" I asked.

"Tonight, you're going to have a chat with me and Rose," Alice said, "and Edward is going to be busy with Jasper."