High School Never Ends, A Remake

by Lady Eleanora

Remake of Part 1 of the Main HSNE Trilogy. Rated "M" for suggestive themes, language and 1 dark character. All AH, OOC; added in are some OCs of my own. Don't like, don't have to read it.

37. The Valentine's Auction

Recap of Chapter 36:

Emmett, Bella and Edward return to the school after the will reading, where Emmett leads the couple to the auditorium to have the dreaded conversation with their friends. With a sinking feeling casting over them, the two walk into the lion's den willingly. There, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice join the three and the conversation gets heated quickly as they're informed that Jasper already had found out about their relationship. As Edward and Bella try their best to explain they didn't want to keep it secret but couldn't deny their feelings, Rosalie lashes out at the two and accuses them their relationship is just purely about sex considering she let it be known Jasper had heard the couple having sex on the ski trip. Bella and Rosalie are about to duke it out due to her accusations, and even more since Rosalie accuses that she's using Edward when Emmett is the one she really wants - much to the chagrin of the three who know the truth. Emmett explains quickly though he'd never see Bella like that and tells the others that they found out Bella and him are brother and sister. Eventually, Rosalie gives the couple the ultimatum to end the relationship if they want to remain friends, or face the social ridicule and ostracism if they choose to remain together. The couple choose each other and are joined by Mike, Ben, Jessica and Angela who have their backs in defending them, before suddenly Rosalie stoops low in accusing Bella lying about her past with Joshua. After Bella explodes on her now ex-best friend, the six flee the auditorium and recoup together in private, before they mentally prepare themselves for the backlash that is to come.

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Chapter 37

~Bella~

February

A sudden beeping from my phone woke me up bright and early to which through bleary eyes, I blinked several times before pulling up my phone. I blinded myself when I woke up the small device to have the bright light shine in my face which illuminated the dark room briefly. I could see who I received the text from and a smile broke on my face. Opening it I reread the text message at least three times, my smile unwavering.

To: Bella

From: Edward

Morning beautiful. I can't wait to see you later on today. I'm so lucky that I get to call you my girlfriend, and I'm so excited that it's going to be our first Valentine's Day together. I love you and I'll see you later on this morning.

It had only been a couple weeks since we were confronted by Emmett, Rosalie, Alice and Jasper, where January flowed into February with the school in utter chaos. When it was decided that Edward and I were not going to be splitting up after our friends - or ex-friends I guess is more accurate - had given us a choice between the two, we knew that we'd be in for a storm of troubles for the rest of our Junior year. The following day after we had dealt with the confrontation, we knew that it was time to come out with the truth that morning when we'd be heading back into our classes. I don't think I'll ever forget what happened that morning...

Flashback

It was the next day after Edward and I had been confronted by Rosalie, Jasper, Alice and Emmett. After we had fled from the auditorium, Edward and I along with Mike, Ben, Jessica and Angela kept ourselves away and out of sight from most of the school. We wanted to keep to ourselves and decided we'd just deal with the blowup the following day, but wanted at least one more day of solace before the ensuing chaos that we'd face from the rest of the student body. I fully expected that at least Rosalie would've started spreading the word about us to the girls, and the same said for Emmett about Edward, but when Jess, Angela and I returned to the dorm that night, the rest of the girls in the dorm acted like nothing was wrong or at least on the surface it appeared that none of them knew the truth. I guess I was thankful that Rosalie had at least the common decency to hold off on it and left us alone. Of course at least on the outside to the rest of the girls, that could be said. However it was a different story when Angela and I returned to our dorm.

Alice and Rosalie were already inside the dorm room that night when we came back. Alice was working through her wardrobe - likely planning outfits for herself and possibly Rosalie - while the blond queen herself was on her bed working on her nails. Both of them looked up when Angela and I returned. Alice had a look of sadness in her grey eyes before she hastily looked away and kept herself quiet. Rosalie's blue eyes turned icy upon us entering and with a haughty huff, she sniffed and focused back on her work. I think I was glad that we had gotten the quiet treatment - I had been drained as is after what all I had faced that day during the will reading and had no fight left within me to try and hold a conversation much less another blowup of an argument. My heart panged with deep sadness still at the reminder of our broken friendship - and I won't discredit their feelings for betrayal and upset. But I had the smallest glimmer of hope still that they'd grow past the anger and be happy for me. It just wasn't going to happen that night.

Afterwards, I took time to wind down from the day's events by showering under the hot water and dressing up in comfy pajamas. We all went to bed with no drama and slept through the night. By the early morning hours, I woke myself up to get myself dressed up for the day - why I wasn't sure at the time. In hindsight I think it was because I actually wanted to take the time and effort in learning how to dress myself up now that I knew Alice wouldn't be doing it for me like she had been for most of the school year. I did take baby steps for that day as I never really paid attention to what the pixie was doing whenever she'd get me ready for the day, but I knew I wanted to take the time to try and do it myself now. I had plans I'd look up stuff later on how to style my hair or practice with make up later on, but for now I took time in at least adding slight curls to the ends of my hair and light make up to at least hide the dark circles present under my eyes, clean up my eyebrows and at just a touch of color to my cheeks and some lip gloss to my lips. I felt at least... somewhat pretty, when I was done. I did my best to be quick and quiet with the rest of the girls were asleep, and get dressed in at least a cute jumper dress with tights and boots, styling my curled hair up into a high ponytail. I added my dad's charm bracelet, and put on the rest of the jewelry I had received from Edward in the course of us being together, before I went left the dorm room.

I hung around downstairs in the hangout area of the girls' dorm room, making myself some food in the little kitchen that was inside the dorm and sat around waiting before the morning would start. The girls in the dorm slowly awoke with more flowing down to the base level and said hi to me here and there. I eventually received a good morning text from Edward to which I took part in a quick flirty conversation with him and mentioned to him about our eventual doom of having to come out to the school. He told me he had a plan and just to have faith in him, just before I was joined by Jessica and Angela. They were dressed just like I was in moderately cute and functional light winter wear, looking pretty as usual.

"Aw Bells, you look so pretty today!" Jessica had complimented me once they two joined me at the breakfast bar. Other girls were maneuvering around us getting themselves some food for the morning, yet we were locked in our own bubble and unnoticed by others with our conversation. "Are you dressed like this because of you know what?" Jessica hinted at and I nodded my head.

"Yeah, it's gonna happen today. I wanted to at least make myself look well... acceptable. Considering Alice wouldn't have done anything like she had before for me, I need to start learning how to get myself ready like she would've." I murmured sadly and Angela rested a sympathetic hand on my shoulder. She knew of my pain and wanted to comfort me still, reminding me that while I had lost Alice's and Rosalie's friendship, I still had her and Jess I could depend on.

"I know girlie." Jessica comforted me then, and gave me a side hug. Just as she had said that, I glanced up in time to see Rosalie and Alice walking into the frame of the kitchen area of the dorm. They were of course dressed impeccably like usual, thanks to Alice's skills. They noticed the three of us at the breakfast bar, to which Alice's grey eyes appraised my appearance. I could see the tiniest of nods - approval? - but then the sad look returned to her eyes and she glanced away to hurry over to the fridge. Rosalie copied what Alice had done, except there was no little nod of approval. She gave me the once over at least two times before she rolled her eyes and went towards the fridge as well. Jessica and Angela had watched their actions alongside me, and gave me reassuring squeezes before I stood up from the bar.

"Got your school stuff?" Angela had asked me to which I reached down and pulled up my book bag. With a nod to them, the three of us left the kitchen that was becoming crowded with girls looking for breakfast before school was about to start. We slipped past the rest of the girls milling about and exited our dorm, walking casually towards the school and talking amongst ourselves. I continued to text Edward and was smiling like a bubbling idiot which Angela giggled at. "You two are so freaking adorable you know Bella?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I murmured with a blush, and Jessica laughed.

"Seriously, you two are soooooo endgame as a couple." she gushed to me and I laughed with her.

"Have you two decided on the 'when' of you know what?" Angela whispered and I shrugged my shoulders.

"He told me he's got a plan in mind for it so we'll have to see when that's gonna happen today." I answered.

Just as I said that I glanced up to look across the quad. From where I was standing I could see across the way the doors for the boys' dorm building. I could see three boys walk out from the building, to which I could see the flash of bronze hair in the peaking sunlight. I knew it was Edward, likely walking with Mike and Ben. A smile grew across my face which caused Jessica and Angela to turn around to look in the direction I was gazing in. "Aaah, now I understand the smile." Jessica teased and I stuck my tongue out at her. A minute later, I could see Emmett walk out from the boys' dorm building, and then another second later Jasper walked out as well. Glancing back towards the girls' dorm building, I could see then Rosalie and Alice walking out from the building too. There were quite a few students starting to pour out from the dorms to start their day of school activities, and it wouldn't be long before the back quad of the school would be packed.

I looked back towards Edward, Mike and Ben, noting that Edward glanced up to see me looking his way. A smile broke out on his handsome face and he clapped Mike and Ben on their shoulders before he squeezed past them and started walking towards us. "Oh boy uh..." Angela whispered, sounding nervous all of a sudden.

"Is this his plan?" Jessica hissed to me and I could feel the blush rising to my cheeks. Behind him, Mike and Ben gave him some distance as they were watching him curiously when they saw Edward's confident stride towards us, but soon they began to walk after him. Behind the two of them, I could see Emmett and Jasper were stopping and watching the three boys in front of us with their faces unreadable. I focused to look back at Edward and could see his strut towards us was unwavering, that smile ever present on his face.

I knew what he was doing.

"Let's find out." I answered Jessica after a second before I squeezed past them and began my own stride towards Edward. I could hear Angela gasping behind me while Jessica gave a small squeal and then soon I heard the two of them following after me. I kept myself focused on Edward who's smile was widening once he saw I was walking towards him now, and could hear my heart beating a hundred miles per hour within my chest.

I could feel the burning eyes of other students in the quad that were watching this exchange, and could see from the corner of my eye where some were stopping to watch. I did my best to ignore them and kept Edward within my line of sight, using him as my beacon of confidence.

Soon, we were standing in front of one another. I was breathing heavily from my quick strut to him, and Edward's grin was splitting from ear to ear. I could see now what he was wearing a bit more clearly once I was standing directly in front of him; he was dressed up with a fashionable forest green jacket, a black sweater underneath with dark blue jeans and black converse. I could also see strings of leather going under his shirt which made me wonder if he was wearing the necklace I had given him for Christmas. I took a minute to try and catch my breath while our friends caught up to us, standing behind us. I could still feel the eyes of the other students of the school watching us, their burning gazes boring themselves into the back of my head. I could just imagine the whispers and gossip that were starting to fly.

"Hi." Edward breathed, his green eyes shimmering with mirth as he stared solely down at me. I could feel my own smile break out when I heard his voice and let out a small exhale.

"Hi." I murmured back.

Edward then reached forward and laced his fingers with mine. The usual sparks that occurred every time we'd touch, tingled up my arm. I squeezed his fingers and decided we'd better seal the deal - and leapt forward to wrap myself around him. Edward stumbled slightly as he tried to react in time, whilst our friends chuckled at this show of public display - which no doubt shocked those watching us. "Shall we give them a show they'll remember?" I whispered into Edward's ear, nuzzling my cheek against his stubbled cheek.

Edward chuckled lowly as he cradled me, before I pulled back to level my face with his. His eyes were still shimmering with joy, yet I could see the hinted lust behind his gaze as his green eyes darkened slightly. I giggled at his reaction. "I think I can agree to that." Edward murmured and leant down, his lips capturing mine in a tender kiss. I could hear our friends making 'oooh' noises with small whoops, but I let Edward tilt his head to deepen the kiss where I hummed and raised my hands to hold his face between them gingerly. Edward's hands slipped from around my waist to head south as he attempted to goose me.

However our friends had other ideas. "Ay yo Ed! We're still right here!" I could hear Mike shouting at him and it caused Edward to pull back from me to glare at our blond haired friend. I buried my face into Edward's chest to laugh as Edward cursed at him.

"Fuck you Newton!"

"What?! I don't need to see any of that!"

"Oh calm down you big baby." I heard Jessica chastise him. Edward snorted and when I pulled back from his chest, he looked back down towards me. He looked a tad frazzled yet enjoyed the joking he could throw towards our friends that chose to stick by our sides, and his eyes sparkled as he held me to his body. His smile came back and he winked down at me.

"Let the fun begin my dear."

It was after that encounter that our status with the school changed to social pariahs. That morning at least a good portion of students who had been pouring out from the dorm buildings caught sight of our PDA, as that was all that was needed to start spreading the news across the school grounds. When we had pulled away to see the reactions, I made note that Emmett's face across the way looked miffed before he shouldered his bag and stalked off to the main school building. Jasper looked as if he sighed but also turned on his heel to head towards his class. Looking back towards the girls' dorms, I could see Rosalie's face twisted in anger before she turned her head up and stomped off towards our first period of classes. Alice held that look of sadness once again in her small face but she quickly scuttled off towards her class before I could linger on staring at her. Behind them I could see several girls had stopped to watch our display and were already starting to gossip amongst themselves, some of which had turned back inside the dorm building to start spreading the news to the girls inside.

We knew that'd spread like a rapid wildfire which was not a far cry from the truth after that day. After we had kissed each other, Edward and I walked together to our first class period and could immediately feel the ire of the other students as we were faced with glares that day. The nasty sneers and scowls as students let their upset be known followed us throughout the whole day, to which I did my best to ignore them. Edward breezed through the day and acted as if they didn't exist but rather focused solely on me and chose to rub it in their faces further with more showboating; he'd cuddle me from behind and walk like that with me from class to class, penguin-walking with his arms wrapped around me. Or he'd have his muscular arm slung over my slender shoulders and would constantly lean down to distract me with nips and kisses that left me breathless. I appreciated each effort he'd make to keep me from having an anxiety attack from how the school was reacting.

The teachers took the turn of events in stride once they noticed that the whole gender feud was seemingly over considering the two 'leaders' were now a public couple. They even did what they could to curb the students who attempted to bully us or try to start crap to let their disdain be known. We still took it in stride and focused on us, our friends and our schoolwork. Around the same time that Edward and I had made it be known that we were a couple, Mike, Ben, Jessica and Angela did the same for themselves and began to make it known they were also in relationships with one another. I hated still the fact they were going to be facing the same ridicule as Edward and I but they had promised they'd take it in stride and be there for us.

Since coming out, the school turned on its head. The students didn't know how to act now since our gender war was extinguished, but the every day to day things they've been used to doing to one another was gone. They didn't exactly to try and start little fights with one another, didn't try to pick on each other or anything, but they didn't also try to start making friendships with one another as easily. Mostly it boiled down to the fact that the boys and girls were acting awkwardly with one another, tip-toeing around each other as best as they could. There were still cliques choosing to stick together, but it was just like an awkward high school with a gaggle of socially awkward teens - almost like a regular school would be but considering the context of what's been happening for most of the school year, it was a far cry from it.

I had noticed that Rosalie had kept herself away from us, far far away from us, and mostly isolated herself. Alice rarely hung around near her even if it had only just been two weeks since we broke our silence and came out as a couple. The two weren't really hanging out with each other anymore, or rather at least Alice wasn't shadowing her as much. Rosalie kept to herself though, and at least didn't attempt to start fights in our dorm room at night. I feared for myself thinking that Rosalie would take this opportunity to try and start cat-fights with me whenever we'd go to bed at night since she didn't want to risk trouble with teachers if she were to start something with me during the day. But of course Rosalie still persisted with the cold shoulder and disregarded me with cold glares and sniffs of disdain every time she'd see me. Alice hid herself away for the most part and chose to continue casting sad looks if I happened to find her - but she'd quickly look away if she caught me staring at her. I felt the pangs of loss still - mostly at losing Alice's friendship; of course I was hurt over losing both of them, but after Rosalie chose to be a major bitch that day, I didn't nearly feel as sad at losing her as a friend. But Alice, that was one I was torn up over. On the day of our confrontation I could see the betrayal was deep within her eyes, but it also sounded like she was sticking up for me against Rosalie when she chose to say those nasty things to my face, and it even sounded like she wanted to follow after Edward and I when we were leaving the auditorium. She only chose to stay behind just because she was confused at the time on what side she should be one. As for Emmett and Jasper I didn't get a chance to see how they were reacting to this change of pace, yet Edward did give me his thoughts to the whole thing from what he could observe from them. Emmett was going inward of himself and chose to stew in his quiet anger as most of the time he chose to scowl at everything and nothing every day. Edward would sometimes catch the scowls yet Emmett never said a thing to him. Edward kept it that way and chose to accept the silent treatment from him, as he already had enough of the sneers and scowls to deal with from the rest of the school, not to mention some of the guys on the baseball team. Jasper also chose to keep to himself, and wouldn't talk to Edward as expected, yet kept himself separated from Emmett much like how Alice chose to distance herself from his twin.

One thing was clear though - Lauren Mallory chose to rear her fake tanned ass back up to be annoying and bully me. Amidst most of the girls choosing to stick to quiet gossip and cold sneers thrown at me, Lauren didn't care and went about taking on the bull by the horns. She decided to be a major bitch and would come up to me each day since we've come out as a couple, to make it be known she thought I was ugly as a person inside and out, calling me names between skank, hoe, bitch, a liar and a faker. I kept myself quiet and ignored her bullying every day, happy that I'd at least have either Edward, or Jessica and Angela with me anytime she'd come up to me. Angela and Jessica would have my back and defend me against the fake-tanned bimbo, which would lead into a screaming match between themselves and I'd have to pull them apart in order to avoid having them land themselves in detention. Edward would always put her in her place in the most gentlemanly way possible, or would also ignore her and focus on me which comforted me to feel his love every time. What spurred me on in seeing the green eyed monster is that Lauren reverted back to her old self like she had acted at the start of the school year, and threw herself at Edward at any given chance.

There'd be times that when I'm walking to meet up with Edward from one of his classes, that I'd see Lauren hovering near Edward and trying to sink her claws into his forearm. He'd always slink away from her and bolt towards me as soon as he'd catch sight of me but lord did I always want to stalk towards Lauren and slap some sense in her every time I'd catch her panting after Edward like a dog in heat. It was shocking to say the least that I didn't see the Denali sisters hanging around her whenever she'd be by, but I guess I had my answer when Lauren had arrived to our singing practice without them hanging near her sides - yet the sisters came in together and the three of them ignored each other. I wondered briefly what happened between them, if they had a fight over something that caused the Denali sisters to grow tired of Mallory's antics or if it was something else. I never lingered on it for long since Lauren would just wake me up by shamelessly flirting with Edward even if I was standing right in his arms, and that'd just wake up the feelings of anger to which I'd want to dish up some justice to the bitch.

Most of the ire we'd get was during our singing competition practices. While the students of the school chose to only cast evil looks our way here and there, the singing competition allowed for up close shots to be made. The six of us that were open as couples still would get the nasty glares, yet also still received some of the most brutal commentary with insults here and there. Some of the boys of the group would attempt to trip us up when we'd be dancing. Idle and the other coaches could only do so much to stop us from being harmed and threatened punishments - ranging from detentions, write-ups all the way up to being kicked from the group and facing suspension. The coaches did their best to stick up for us and ensure our safety, as well as reminded the group as whole that taking the route of pettiness is only going to splinter the group when we need to remain united and cohesive if we were going to stand a chance against the Harmonicals in April. Those that wanted to stir shit tried to remain discreet about their stunts, but kept it in check for the most part to try and remain focused on our competition.

All in the course of a couple weeks, the school had been eventful for the six of us. We rolled into February amidst the backlash we faced and soon, Valentine's was upon us. I remember back to our Christmas Bet and how the boys lost so it was time for them to hold up their end of the bargain. Alice came about reminding them - representative of student council after all - and coordinated with the boys' coach with the people's auction. The coach was all for it since it'd be going for a good cause after all, but it'd also remind the school that the baseball team was working their asses off for preparation of their baseball tournament stuff. He had hopes that it'd at least bring people out to catch their games when the games would be in swing. So Edward told me that he ordered all the boys they had to still participate in the auction, and they'd need to be in their baseball attire during the auction - but that for the rest of the school day they should dress up nicely to show off their team spirit and that they had class as a team. The people's auction would be held after school within the school's gymnasium. From what Edward had caught overhearing from some of the student council members that were part of organizing this, the main thing about the people's auction is that students could throw in money towards a small pool to win the baseball players and afterwards they could do whatever they'd like, along with there being some thrown-in incentives for each baseball player that when students would auction and win their player they'd also win an extra prize. It ranged from getting a shoutout at each of their games, to winning a jersey with their name on it; some of the better prizes Edward had let me in on were special day passes that the player and the winning student could use to redeem, be it a day pass out of the school to do something at the mall, the winning student using the player as a lackey for like clearing chores or doing homework, to even winning a 'date' with the player. I had blushed at the mention of that prize, and a part of me hoped that Edward was the 'date' player - something that made me realize that regardless, I was going to be auctioning for him and spending money to win him. The money was going to a good cause after all, it'd be wrong if I didn't participate. Yeah keep telling yourself that girl.

I had at least moderate hopes that in lieu of the school hating us, that meant at least I wouldn't have to be fighting off hoards of girls trying to win him at this auction.

Once I had finished reading Edward's text, I slipped out of my bed and quietly hurried around the room to get ready for the day. After we had came out to the school as a couple and losing Alice's special privileges of being dressed up, I took special care in learning to doll myself up as best as I could each morning to a point. I wanted to keep taking part in taking care of myself and dolling myself up to make myself feel confident and look good for my boyfriend. It was still foreign in thinking that now I could openly look good for Edward if I wanted to and not because of some silly feud was motivating me to look viable for the boys when they couldn't touch or interact with us before. Now I could get dressed up for him and feel like I had a purpose, beyond at least just using this as a reason to make myself feel good. I found some clothes that would work for today, and got dressed up quickly. I had put my hair into braids the night before in wanting some waves, which I left alone for the time being whilst I got my outfit on. I feel like if Alice was still my friend she'd be proud that her styling powers were rubbing off on me little by little. I finger combed the braided bits of my hair to loosen it before gently brushing out the knots that had formed but otherwise left my hair down with the loose waves present. After my hair was taken care of, I set about doing my makeup. I took my time today in putting extra effort into my face makeup and thus it took up extra time in getting ready. I was still working on my face by the time Alice and Rosalie were waking up. Angela woke up and went to shower before they rose, and I did my best to focus on my work. I knew they've been watching me wake up early to do my own makeup but each morning for the past few weeks, I worked on focusing on myself and my work rather than their reactions to it. I could see from the corner of my eye that Rosalie did her usual sniff of upset and with a upturning of her chin, strode out of the bedroom likely to go shower. Alice lingered as she watched me with that usual frown while I took care in lining my eyelids. Eventually I heard her give a quiet sigh - a usual reaction she'd resort to - before she shuffled over to get her clothes and left after Rosalie.

I was finishing my makeup when Angela returned to the bedroom, hair wet but dressed for the day. She looked adorable as usual with even some of Alice's prowess having rubbed off on her too. She chose to wear a light pink button down until a bright pink sweater vest that went with her preppy 'nerd' aesthetic even though she was no nerd in my eyes, and pairing with it she went with black bell bottom pants and some cute boots. "Oooh Angie, you looking smoking today." I gushed to her when I saw her, smiling as she blushed.

"Shush B, you look so hot compared to my nerdy look!" Angela cried, giggling as she plopped down on her bed to continue working on towel drying her hair. I went with a deep pink top that bordered crop top as it sat just above my navel, where the neckline was a sweetheart and the sleeves were puffed sleeved. Along with the top, I chose a black skater skirt, along with some black platform heels with a chunky heel. On my face I went with my usual natural makeup to play up my features, only adding some light pink blush and some lightening highlighter to brighten my face up, and I also chose a pink lipstick that wouldn't budge for kissing, topping it with a glossy lip gloss.

"I tried at least." I murmured, giggling as I slipped in a chunk magenta headband into my hair and fixed my hair around to where it framed my face. I felt girly as ever in this outfit but felt like it wasn't too over the top at least for Valentine's.

"You look perfect B, and I think Ed's gonna be all over you today once he sees you." Angela teased me lightly, smirking as she noticed my blush deepened.

"Shut up." I weakly muttered back and she laughed.

I finished the last touch to my look before standing and smoothing my outfit. Angela worked on brushing her hair out so I went about sitting on my bed and texted Edward that I was excited to see him today, wishing him a happy Valentine's as well. I waited on Angela in the meantime, talking about different things - ranging between the auction later on today, to our eventual singing competition. We were still talking by the time Rosalie and Alice had rejoined us in the bedroom. Our conversation stopped about midway when they burst through the door. Both were dressed for the day, looking fashionable as ever. Alice chose to wear a pastel pink button down that was tucked into a equally bright and loud pink skirt that had a ruffled taffeta overlay. On her feet were white frilled socks and loud hot pink Mary jane heels. Her hair was wet and her face bare meaning she had to spend some time doing her makeup. Rosalie however chose to wear red today, going for a bright red off the shoulder short sleeved top and paired it with black skinny jeans and on her feet were simple blood red pumps. Her hair was also wet still and down, her face bare as well. Both stopped to look at the two of us when they had realized we stopped our conversation midway when they came back into the room.

Finally Rosalie huffed and crossed her arms. "What?" she grumbled, unhappy that we were staring at her. It had to be one of the very few things she's said to us in the past two weeks.

I blinked the stupor back from the shock of her talking to us and shook my head. "Nothing." I muttered, as Angela stood from her bed now. She spent time putting her hair into a braid while we had talked, and finished just as the two of them had joined us back in the room.

"Sure." Rosalie grumbled, rolling her icy blue eyes before she moved away from the door way to go over to her bed where her brush was on her bedside table. Alice pouted at her but said nothing, choosing to go sit in front of her mirror to start working on her makeup.

I frowned from the usual reaction that I was sadly used to by this point, but Angela nodded to me to follow her out so we could leave the tense room. "Hang on, lemme put on my jewelry." I murmured to Angela, going to my small jewelry box to grab everything. I put my dad's bracelet on my wrist, smiling again as I looked at the charms, while also slipping on Edward's promise ring that he gave me ages ago. I had kept it locked away this whole time after all considering our situation but now that we were finally able to be an open couple, I didn't have to hide it anymore. Once I slipped on the ring, I could see Rosalie looking at me from the corner of my eye. She was giving me a nasty look again as she eyed the rock on my right hand, and I scowled at her. "What Hale?" I snapped and she sniffed in disdain once more.

"A ring. Interesting." Rosalie muttered in disgust and I could feel my scowl deepen. Alice glanced over at us when she heard us as did Angela, and Alice's eyes flew to my right hand in surprise. I could even see her jaw drop.

"Whatever." I growled at the blond, shouldering my bag. I held my head high to ignore her haughty huff of anger before I strode out of our room to follow Angela who was waiting for me by the doorway.

"Skank!" I heard Rosalie scream at me and I let out a short chuckle of anger to the insult.

"Bye bitch!" I screamed back at her as Angela looked over to me with a sad concerned look, and I snorted when I could hear Rosalie's shriek of rage as well as something being thrown in our room; along with it I could hear a cry from Alice, likely as she was ducking from whatever Rosalie had thrown.

"Are you okay?" Angela asked me quietly as we made our descent down the flights of stairs. I took to ignoring the usual sneers, scowls and glares from the other girls who tried to upset me as we walked by them this morning, and I shrugged my shoulders to Angela.

"No different than I have been."

"Bella..."

"I'm fine, even if Miss Ice Queen tried to get me riled up today."

"I know but still."

"It has to be the first time since she's actually said anything to us in two weeks." I noted to Angela out loud, who nodded her head.

"Yeah weirdly enough." she remarked. "But I don't want you to be upset still by what she said."

"Nah, not upset in the slightest." I reassured her, smirking even though Angela shook her head. "Trust me with how we've been treated these past two weeks, my skin is thick. I'm ignoring the reactions and focusing on my happiness, as well as focusing on my friends who have stuck it out with me." I added, throwing my arm around her shoulder in comradery. Angela smiled in response and nodded her head once more.

"I want in on this lovefest!" I snickered and the two of us turned when we heard our loud friend Jessica joining us. Jessica was walking confidently towards us, dressed up for Valentine's like the rest of us; she wore a red short sleeved baby doll top that was flowy and had sequins sewn into a pattern on the front of her shirt, while underneath she wore faded denim capris and had on shiny red ballet flats. We were all thankful that things were starting to warm up for February - it was still chilly on and off for some days but the air was starting to warm up. And at least for today, Jessica and I were going to enjoy the slightly warmer temperatures. Jessica squeezed herself into our hug which caused us to laugh at the scene. "So I could hear the screams from down the hall before I ran to catch up with you two." Jessica pointed out with a giggle as we took to walking out of the girls' dorm building.

"Lovely." I snickered, shaking my head. "Yeah, Rosalie isn't exactly happy as usual but what else is new?"

"She just wanted to try and make Bella feel bad about her promise ring." Angela explained to Jessica, where I lifted my right hand to showcase it for her to see the visual aid.

"Ooooh, that's so pretty! When did you get that?"

"Edward gifted it to me for my birthday." I explained, smiling and blushing as I remembered back to that night.

"Awww! I didn't know you had this." Jessica gushed while pulling on my right hand, twisting it around to look at the rock at differing angles to appreciate its beauty.

"I kept it hidden considering the situation at hand. Couldn't really ever wear either without feeling like Alice or Rosalie would've questioned it." I explained, shrugging my shoulders. Both girls nodded their heads in understanding. Before long we turned and left the girls dorm building, ignoring once again the usual glares from the other girls who were also filing out at about the same time as we were. We entered the back quad behind the main school building, and I began my scan to see if I could find Edward.

"Oh I see the boys by the fountain." Angela noted out loud, pointing to guide my eyes. When I saw what was in front of me however, I growled. "Great." I heard Angela mutter under her breath.

Across the way I could see our boys sitting around at the fountain waiting for us indeed, but I could see an uninvited guest with them. Mike and Ben were sitting awkwardly off to the side, grimacing at the scene they were witnessing. Ben was dressed up in a pastel pink polo with jeans and his sneakers, matching his girlfriend perfectly. Mike was dressed in a deep red t-shirt and black jeans, also complimenting Jessica in every way. As for Edward, he looked dashing as ever. He was dressed fancy much like he had informed me that the baseball players would be today to show off their team spirit before the auction. He wore a deep magenta button down shirt with a black tie, along with black slacks and sleek black shoes. Along with his normal backpack, he had his baseball duffle bag slung over his shoulder and was carrying it against his hip. His bronze hair was tousled wonderfully like usual, but his normally perfect face was marred by an uncomfortable grimace. Why? Because a certain irritating bimbo was hovering closely beside him. Lauren was laying it on thick this morning, having somehow slipped out of the girls dorm building before we did. She was dressed in her usual scantily clad getup - a hot pink short sleeved crop top, frayed short shorts and wearing hot pink leopard print platform heels. Her makeup was overly done up as usual while she straightened her corn silk blond hair and was obnoxiously flipping it around over her shoulders often in attempts to try and turn up her 'sex appeal' - that she was sorely lacking in.

"This bitch..." Jessica grumbled as she watched Lauren try to put her clawed hand on Edward's forearm which he quickly ripped away from her.

I began to stomp my way over to the fountain with Angela and Jessica following after me. As we got closer I could hear some of her attempts to flirt with my boyfriend. "...I plan on winning you today at the auction by the way Eddie. Do try to save yourself for me." I heard her say to him, batting her eyes at him looking like a creepy doll as she stared up at him.

"God save me." I heard Edward whisper to himself before he shifted himself again away from Lauren, but she tried to weakly follow after him.

"Mallory!" I shouted to make my presence known; Lauren jumped as did the boys, who were oblivious in hearing me stomp towards them. As soon as Edward saw me, it looked as if he took a visible sigh of relief and quickly shuffled towards me, hiding behind me. Jessica and Angela stood beside me in solidarity to back me up while Lauren looked at me with unfiltered disgust.

"Swan."

"How many times do I need to make it clear to you that Edward's my boyfriend, and he has zero interest in you?" I snarled, crossing my arms over my chest in rage.

"Pssh." she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "He does have interest in me, but he's too scared to show it considering he has your neanderthal ass to worry about."

"Lies." Edward hissed, and I continued to growl.

"Ed's not scared of Bells." Mike defended us, with Ben giving a noise to agree to the statement.

"Edward's more turned off by you than he is at the notion of being with a relative. That's for sure." Jessica retorted back at the bitch before us and Lauren glowered at her darkly.

"Why don't you just clomp off and go bother some other poor unfortunate soul, Mallory?" I seethed to her, and held my chin up high as she darted her scowl back towards me.

"Edward will be mine Swan. He'll realize that you're just some slut at some point and will want to get with a real woman that can meet his needs. I'm just trying to speed that process along." Mallory boasted and I chuckled angrily.

"As if! Nothing about you is real." I countered back, smirking as her eyes narrowed even further. "And besides, he is with a real woman - one who can definitely satisfy his needs." I added, flipping my hair over my shoulder. Edward's arm wrapped around my waist as he pulled me back into his chest to try and get me to calm down, even leaning down to kiss the top of my head. He was silently telling me that he was here for me and that we should ignore Lauren again like we usually have been. I wasn't going to let it slide today considering I was getting completely sick of Lauren touching him against his will, and insinuating she would get him to see her as the better option; I knew he would never leave me for someone like her but I was going to stake my claim on him and defend our relationship with one another. Even if that meant I had to throw down every now and then.

Lauren scoffed at my statement but before she could get in another word, the bell run. "Come on baby, let's get to class." I purred to Edward, turning in his arms and on my tip toes I leant up and planted a heavy kiss on his lips quickly before pulling away. Jess and Angela giggled at the sight while Ben and Mike whooped, before Edward let me drag him away by his arm. I could hear Lauren let out a small shriek of anger but we quickly walked away before she could attempt to cause anymore trouble.

"Goddamn love." I heard Edward murmur to me as he struggled to recover from the sudden kiss, and I giggled at his stumbling. He recovered and pulled me back from dragging him along, to wrap his arm around my waist. "You didn't need to do all that, darling." he continued as we entered the main school building. Students were filtering into the building behind us and inched their way around us to which I ignored their sneers like usual, and instead focused on my boyfriend.

"I know, but I'm getting tired of that bitch doing what she's been doing ever since we've come out as couple." I muttered and Edward nodded his head.

"I am too, but you know that anything she'll say or do will never come between us." he reassured me sweetly, squeezing my waist while we continued to shuffle to class. "I have zero desire to look at her twice, and while I'm uncomfortable with her constantly trying to touch me, I'm not going to let her do anything to me." he continued once more just as we made it to the stairs. Our class with Mr. Varner was always on the third floor so we had time to talk this morning at least.

"I know." I repeated again, sighing.

"I'll admit though," he began again and I looked up at him. Edward had a smirk on his face and his eyes sparked with amusement but they also slightly darkened - a telltale sign he was aroused. "It was hot seeing you go all cavewoman on her. Thanks for protecting me." he teased me and I snickered at him.

"You're mine and the bitch has to get that through her head. I think the fumes from overbleaching her hair sadly got to her brain." I joked and Edward laughed at me.

"Probably."

"So are you looking forward to the auction later?" I asked him with a giggle as he rolled his eyes. We made it to the second floor and turned onto the last set of stairs for the third floor. "It can't be that bad of a thing even if you guys are going to be auctioned off like cows. But the money's going to the hospital where Carlisle works at." I continued as we began to climb the last set of stairs we needed to embark on.

"No." Edward agreed, but gave another grimace. "But I'm not into being paraded around like that up on a stage. It's bad enough we're music students for this competition."

"Pssh, you're Edward Cullen - you're my overly confident boyfriend. I'm shocked to hear you act like this." I teased him lightly and Edward snorted at me.

"Thanks."

"I'm just joking babe."

"I know." he murmured, winking at me just as we made it to the third floor. "Frankly I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes overall. After all the school's in that awkward state still since we've come out, and the boys and girls aren't exactly still on a pleasant stage with one another. So I'm curious to see if the boys will be auctioned off and won by their friends or if some girls will actually participate." he stated, shrugging his shoulder. But then the arm that was around my waist squeezed my waist once more and Edward glanced down at me with his eyes full of mischief. "But I'm also curious to see how you'll act when it comes to me being auctioned off."

"Well of course I'm going to throw in my bets." I reminded him with my chin held high, which caused him to chuckle.

"Of course."

"I had money transferred to my account so however much it'll take, I'll be betting on you for certain." I added in with conviction and Edward rolled his eyes.

"Please don't spend a fortune on me."

"I'll spend however much it'll take to win you, thank you very much." I muttered and Edward snickered again. "Can you at least tell me what incentive thing you got as well?" I asked him quietly just as we entered Varner's class. There were several students already in there waiting for class to start, and we of course ignored their glares. Varner was in, working on sifting through some of his papers so he didn't pay attention to us or the class.

"Nope." Edward stated shortly, popping the 'p' and chuckling at my pout. "It's supposed to be a surprise and I'd like to keep it that way until the auction."

"Tease." I grumbled and Edward barked out another laugh.

We got through our classes for the day, the day flying by in a breeze. The students were dressed in varying shades and attire that celebrated Valentine's, but the school was anything but full of love like the holiday wanted to express. Girls and boys were still acting awkwardly with another as they passed one another in the halls, yet that didn't stop some still glaring our way as we were still the only three couples in the school actively showcasing our love for one another. The six of paid no mind to the glares and focused on ourselves throughout the day, joking and laughing with one another while we cuddled or kissed our significant others freely. It was still liberating to be this open and I don't think I'd ever tire from it. The day blurred by and soon the school day ended where it was time for the auction to start. I had said goodbye to Edward just before we had separated for our last class of the day, where he'd be immediately heading to the gymnasium with the other baseball members. Once the last class of the day ended, I left my class and met up with Jessica, Angela, Ben and Mike where we wandered to the gym. Handfuls of students also went to the gym to partake in this auction which at least surprised me to see that the gymnasium quickly filled up with students - more than I could've expected.

"Huh, surprising to see it this full." Ben noted out loud to us while we grabbed some seats that was in between the middle and back rows.

"Yeah." Jessica agreed as Mike slung an arm around the back of her chair.

"I totally thought there'd be less than this considering the circumstances, but I guess it's good there's this many students here today." Angela supplied as Ben grabbed her hand, and the rest of us hummed in agreement. I took time to scan across the crowd looking at all of the students that were here, recognizing some faces here and there. I of course, caught sight of Lauren as she entered the gym with some younger looking girls who were dressed up like her in a similar fashion; she somehow managed to coerce some poor underclassmen I guess to follow her around to create a new posse and I pitied them in some way. But anyone willing to follow that airheaded bimbo was a sufferer of their own consequences. Continuing to scan I saw some old friends' faces which shocked me they'd join on this but I guess they were here for entertainment purposes as well. Finally, I caught sight of blond hair and did a double take as I recognized Rosalie who was stalking between seats but keeping to herself.

"No way." I whispered and the others looked over at me in confusion.

"What's up Bella?"

"Hale's here." I muttered and the others looked in my direction before they caught sight of the beautiful blond.

"No way!" Jessica hissed, sounding surprised.

"I'm shocked she's here." Mike muttered, where I could see out of the corner of my eye Angela was nodding in agreement.

"Maybe she's here for... her brother?"

"Nah, can't be." I muttered to Ben's speculation, shaking my head. I could see Rosalie taking a seat near the front and saw herself sit down between some of the other girls who I guess she recognized since she started to talk with them quietly. "I don't know why she's here but I'm shocked to see her here."

"Definitely weird." Angela noted out loud, shrugging her shoulders.

The gymnasium continued to fill up with students and before long I could see some of the student council members entering and heading towards the stage. It was a built in stage for the gym which the council group took to decorating with some red and pink banners and streamers, some shiny pink and red balloons here and there, but they otherwise kept it simple. I could see Alice amongst the group of students as they lined themselves up on the stage, where she stood behind the podium. A minute later, I looked behind me and smirked as I saw Dr. Cullen, Esme, and a couple other hospital staff members of his I believe, entering the gym. I waved back to Esme when she gave me a small wave and smile, and we all watched as the went off to the side to sit in the seats provided. Another minute later, the boys' baseball coach - Coach Clark I believe was his name that Edward had told me about - came around from behind the curtains that were up on the stage and joined Alice beside the podium. He was dressed up in a light green polo, jeans and sneakers, and stood beside her as he talked to her quietly. Carlisle left Esme in her seat before he joined his adoptive daughter on stage where he gave her a quick hug and then took to standing behind her. Eventually Alice tapped on the mic at the podium with the noise echoing in the gym and this quieted the students who were chatting amongst themselves waiting for the auction to start.

"Good afternoon FSA!" She called out to the crowd where the students whooped and cheered in response. "I'm happy to see this many folks that came out today for this auction as it means a lot to us student council members for this participation today!" Alice stated aloud with a bright smile, taking in the receiving claps that followed. "So back in December, there was a bet put in place during our Christmas Dance in which the boys had lost the bet and willingly agreed to the terms that were set - which has led the baseball team to partake in this auction today and are auctioning themselves off for any winning students. Of course all proceeds put into this auction is going to the local Forks Hospital - of which my dad is here today for this!" she paused as more claps sounded out once she mentioned Carlisle. She stepped aside and gestured to him where he stepped up to the microphone now.

"Hello students and thank you once again for coming out today for this auction - it warms my heart seeing you all here today and participating in donating for our local hospital." Carlisle began his speech, smiling from the cheers he received. I clapped loudly, smiling as Mike whooped beside me. "As my daughter had specified, yes all proceedings today for the auction on these boys will be going directly to the hospital - and I am not expecting astronomically high donations either as I do not want to see any student going broke. Any donation will be graciously accepted so please don't feel like you have to put yourself out there. As well as with the normal donations that will be pledged once you win a baseball player, any of you could also make a normal donation with myself over at the booth that is set up near the exit; it can wait of course until after this event is finished." he explained to the students before he stepped away from the mic as they students clapped.

Alice stepped up once more. "Now it's going to be simple and easy to start. Just like my father said, we're not going to expect super high bets for the baseball boys here. Each bet will start with one dollar and we will only increase it by a dollar at a time. You are welcome to jump around on the price but again, please don't put yourself out there if you're not financially able to!" Alice explained into the microphone, and gave the crowd a smile. "Along with betting, we decided to throw in a couple incentives here and there with some of the boys. I'll let Coach Clark explain." Alice stepped away from the mic again as the students clapped while Clark stepped up to speak now.

"Yes - I got together with Ms. Cullen here and discussed about throwing in a couple more extra prizes with the boys in order to make this a bit more worth your while. The extra prizes are nothing too outrageous as some of the boys had mostly came up with these ideas. You are welcome to accept the prizes that come along with the boys or if you'd like to refuse them that is fine too. Regardless we wanted you kids to have fun with this today. And we also wanted to remind you all that these boys have been working hard on their practices for their upcoming tournament - so please do come out to our games once it starts up and show that Spartan Pride!" Clark cheered to rile up the crowd, and the students reacted in kind with claps and cheering. He stepped away from the microphone while some of the student council members went behind the stage for a second. A minute later, some music began to plan on the speakers. I giggled at the choice as it sounded like some cheesy dating show game music - generic but very on the nose with the romantic tones.

"Now let's get started!" Alice cried into the microphone. The crowd gave way to claps and whoops while the adults left the stage. Alice stepped aside and let Irina, who was apart of the student council group up on the stage, took over on the microphone.

"Welcome Spartans! I'll be your host for this auction and will be telling you all a little bit about each player before we begin the bidding. To start let's start with Jason Andrews..."

Slowly the auction eased on between each player, mostly hanging around in the low range with bids not really going past twenty-five dollars. I was shocked to see at least a couple of the girls were taking part in the bids on some of the guys; mostly it was likely some dudes that won a player or two which I could only surmise that it was their friends bidding on them. But a couple of the girls would shyly throw in some bets every so often. I thought they'd mostly be going alphabetically considering they started with it on the first few players. However when they cleared skipped over the only two known 'C' players (aka Edward and Emmett currently, as much as he hasn't willingly switched his last name to Swan), I was a little skeptical as to what was going on. They even skipped over Hale, that being Jasper, and I was a bit concerned on why the three of them were skipped over. I voiced as much to the others amongst ourselves about my concern, and they were just as confused as I was. We sat up straight with rapt attention however when Irina cleared her throat noisily into the microphone after the previous player had been won to his friends for twenty-two dollars. The crowd quieted once they heard her and I could see even from this distance, Irina had a smirk growing on her face.

"Now, I have saved the best three for last - sorry to all you other boys, but even you know that these last three's prowess is unbeaten. We have our final three players up for auction today and they are the star athletes to the Spartan team - Jasper Hale, Emmett and Edward Cullen folks!" she cried into the microphone as the crowd erupted into applause, even if some of the girls were hesitant to their clapping. It couldn't be a more truer statement considering Edward's told me their current records are indeed unbeaten compared to the rest of the boys; most homeruns, more strikeouts, farthest distance they've ran out on the field, fastest pitches - these boys could make it a career if they wanted to in college or later on in life if they really wanted to dedicate their time and efforts into the sport. When Irina announced the three, the boys emerged from behind the curtains dressed up in their uniforms while the crowd's volume went up by two octaves. I clapped hard once I spotted Edward, smiling as he gave a small wave to the crowd. Despite the fact that we were the pariahs of the school, I was honestly happy that this crowd at least could be mature enough to put their feelings aside and appreciate my boy for his sport. Jasper had his blond hair pulled back into a ponytail with the shaggy mop of hair that he had, while Emmett looked hulking as ever in his getup as his baseball cap sat backwards on his head. The three stood in a line together on stage and had their arms crossed. Irina waited a few before the crowd settled, to speak up again. "We shall start with Jasper Hale. Known for his wicked curveballs and angled homeruns, he is one of the three strongest pitchers on the team. He also enjoys playing his guitars and reading a good history book, and has a wicked sense of humor but is a good listener at the end of the day." Irina detailed Jasper's character whilst the blond himself took a few steps forward to stand before the crowd. "Let's start the bidding then! Do I have one dollar set for Jasper Hale?"

I saw a couple hands fly up and Irina chuckled as Jasper smirked.

"Wonderful! Two dollars?"

The hands stayed raised, much to which the crowd chuckled. Irina continued to raise the price for the bid, with the hands mostly staying up. It wasn't until the price was raised to about fifty that some started to go down. And then all of a sudden, a sprite character jumped up and shouted "Eighty-five dollars!"

I gasped as I recognized that it was Alice who had jumped up. The crowd also gasped from seeing the pixie bid on the blond, which Jasper's eyebrows rose to see her bidding.

"Whoa! Eighty-five from Alice Cullen! This is a shock!" Irina announced, chuckling at the sight of one of her fellow members taking part in the bidding.

"No way..." Ben murmured, snickering.

"Do I have any contenders to the bid?" Irina pushed on, ignoring the sudden silence that filled the gym. No one objected as she pressed on. "Going once... Going twice! Sold, Jasper Hale to the one and only Alice Cullen for eighty-five dollars!" Irina finalized the deal and the crowd clapped. Jasper nodded his head and walked off stage, where I could see Alice balk in realization as to what she's done. But she quickly squeezed herself past the others and scampered off to the side towards the booth near the exit. "Enjoy your prize and your incentive, Alice, as Jasper comes with a day out pass from school to where you two can do whatever it is you like!" Irina phoned in then with a smirk before she moved onto the next one. "Alrighty! Next contestant is our massive beast - Emmett Cullen!" she announced to which the crowd cheered and clapped. Emmett strode up to the front and proceeded to show off his muscles which elicited laughter from the crowd for the most part, mostly from the guys. "With this gentlemen here, Emmett is one of the strongest players on the team with the most catches in the outfield, and the best grand slams out of the boys on the team. He's known for his sharp humor, brute force and sheer strength to lift anything that he puts his mind to. If you win Emmett today, you'll be receiving your own servant for the day as he will do anything you wish him to do!" Irina spouted off and then smiled. "Shall we begin the bets with one dollar?"

Much like what had happened with Jasper, there were multiple hands that rose for the bids and remained in the air for awhile. Once the bids creeped up to about forty dollars however, this is when the hands began to drop. It was coming down to two bidders - one of the baseball boys and a senior girl, neck in neck in the bidding war as it crept up and up, almost hitting seventy dollars. Then all of a sudden, there was a loud clump of heels and then I could see a tall figure with blond hair suddenly standing. I felt my eyes widen when I realized who it was, and she spoke up in the most determined, steely voice possible. "One-twenty-five for Emmett Cullen."

"Holy shit!" I heard Mike hiss, as the crowd gasped when the crowd realized who it was.

"Goddamn." Emmett guffawed when he stared out at his bidder whilst Irina gasped as well.

Rosalie stood tall, strong and unfazed by the crowd's reaction. She refused to turn her gaze away from the stage and ignored the students who were flabbergasted at her bid. "One-twenty-five. Did I stutter?" she pressed with a huff, her eyes remaining on Emmett.

"Oh lord." Emmett grumbled on stage which shook Irina awake; I think it finally sunk in for Emmett as well in realizing just who was bidding for him. I could even see Edward staring at her in surprise behind his adoptive brother.

"Uh er... I um... One-twenty-five for Emmett Cullen! Going once, going twice... Sold to Miss Rosalie Hale! Emmett Cullen goes for One-twenty-five!" Irina announced and the crowd gave small claps. Emmett almost slumped once he realized he had been won to Rosalie, and walked off the stage to meet with Rosalie who was hastily slipping through the crowd.

"I had no inclinations that she'd actually bid." Angela hissed to us where we were all stupefied at the sight we had just witnessed.

"I mean... I guess now in hindsight maybe she was waiting to hear the incentive and wanted her own personal lackey for the day? A free pass to boss him around?" Mike supplied weakly, with Jessica nodding her head dumbly to his answer.

"I guess." I murmured, blinking back into focus as now this left the last player - my hot boyfriend.

"And now, finally we have the our last baseball player left up for auction! It is the star captain to the team - Edward Cullen!" Irina announced and the crowd cheered once more. She waited for it to quiet while Edward stepped up to the forefront of the stage, smiling awkwardly when he heard a couple of the girls unabashedly scream his name. I again was at least shocked that the crowd didn't treat him like a menace considering our current situation, but I had hopes it was merely because of the support shown to the team that they were willing to look past it at least for now. I clapped hard and cheered for my boyfriend whilst Irina prattled on about his character. "Edward's the fastest of the team with the farthest distance he has ran both between the bases, but also the farthest distance running in the outfield. Edward's also got the strongest pitch out of the boys, and a good few homeruns under his belt - all around a star player deserving of the captain title. Edward also enjoys a good book to read, playing his piano and if you win him today, you will be receiving a date pass with this player! Shall we begin the bets with one dollar?"

"One dollar!"

"Five dollars!"

"Twenty dollars!"

The screaming bets began to go off, bouncing between most of the ladies present as they scrambled to have a good bet put in for my man. Some of the boys threw in some bets but most of them sat back and laughed at the amusing sight of the girls scrambling to win him. I tossed in my shouts here in there as the price hiked, knowing I'd keep going up no matter the cost so long as I won him. Irina struggled to keep up with the bids while Edward stood there shifting on his feet every so often while he listened to the screaming.

"175 for Edward Cullen!" I hissed when a new voice jumped in. One voice I recognized.

"175 from Lauren Mallory!" Irina shouted and Edward balked. Some of the girls whined at the amount and I glanced over to see Lauren standing up from her seat a couple rows in front of me. She looked confident that she had won him considering some girls lowered their hands.

"180!" I shouted, standing then and continued to glare at Lauren. Jessica and Angela clapped for me, cheering me on whilst Lauren turned to scowl at me now.

"180 from Bella Swan!" came Irina's shout.

"185!"

"195!"

"200!"

"205!" I screeched, huffing as I continued to bid back and forth with Lauren.

"205 from Bella Swan! Do we hear 206 from you, Lauren?" Irina questioned out loud then, trying to keep up with our bidding war. Lauren let out a noise of rage but then I could see a smirk appear on her face.

"500 for Edward Cullen." she bid with a smug sneer and I could feel my stomach drop. Jeez that's a jump.

"And that's 500 for Edward Cullen!" I could hear Irina announce to the crowd as the rest of the students gasped at the amount. I could hear the whispers of students shocked at how steep the price was going, and could feel all eyes on me as if expecting me to either bet back or keel over and let the school slut steal my boyfriend away. "Any other bets? Going once, going twi -"

"800!" I suddenly shrieked, feeling myself squeak in shock when I let the number slip past my lips, and the crowd gasped once more.

"Holy shit Bells!" I could hear Angela hiss behind me while I glanced back up at the stage. Edward's jaw dropped at the amount as he stared down at me in shock, while Irina's eyes widened. The gym was stunned into silence but I stood straighter and held my chin up.

"I bid 800 for Edward Cullen." I repeated myself in what I hoped was a convincing, confident tone, putting my hands on my hips as if daring anyone to try and beat the amount.

Irina took a second before she cleared her throat. "Uh... 800 then from Bella Swan! Any contenders? Lauren?" she announced and I looked back over to the blond who's mouth dropped open at the amount she heard. She was coming up short, struggling to form words. "800 going once... going twice... Sold! Edward Cullen has been won by the Bella Swan for 800 dollars!" Irina closed the bid and swung her gavel, which awoke the gym. The students clapped in shocked silence while Edward shook his head from the noise and stared down at me with wide eyes. I gave a short nod, almost jumping when I heard a short burst of a shriek from Lauren and glanced over to see her stomping her feet and looking as if she was bursting to throw a tantrum. I paid no mind to her whilst I took to quickly slinking through the students with my friends following behind me, and could see out of the corner of my eye that Edward was leaving the stage. "And that concludes our Valentine's People's Auction! Thank you all for joining us today and bidding on our players today but please if you would like to freely donate still, don't forget to stop by the table in the back where Dr. Cullen is waiting and you can pledge your own donation there!" I could hear Irina closing out the auction behind me.

"Babe..." was the first thing to come out from Edward's mouth as soon as he met up with me.

"Come on." I murmured while snatching his hand in mine and began to drag him over to the table where Dr. Cullen was waiting. I paid no mind to my friends who were trying to question my reasoning on bidding as much as I did, while also ignoring Edward's burning gaze into the back of my head. Dr. Cullen only gave me a sweet smile as he handed me the paperwork. I took a deep breath while glancing over the papers, getting lost at how much was there that I had to fill out. "Uh... mind if I just fill this out and drop it off this weekend?" I asked Carlisle, noting that Esme was sitting next to him and gave me a simple smile as well; she even seemed pleased but not surprised that I had won Edward.

"This weekend?" Carlisle clarified and I nodded to him.

"I plan on using my extra prize up with Edward so we can come on by and drop it off then." I explained, to which both of them nodded their heads.

"I'm alright with that, thank you again for donating Bella." Carlisle agreed to the terms, smiling once more. Dare I say I saw a hint of amusement in his eyes as well? I nodded to him again and folded the papers up before handing them to Edward - albeit shoved it to him more than anything since he had pockets. Edward jumped from my motion but took them and pocketed them, before I took him by the wrist and dragged him out with our friends following after us.

"Damn B, I did not know you had the claws in you like that!" Mike joked once we escaped the gym and began our trek back towards the dorms.

"Mike!"

"What? I'm being honest!" I heard Mike hiss back to his girlfriend who was trying to not get me angry.

"Bella." Edward murmured to me again in trying to get me to stop. I huffed and let him pull me back into his chest which I all but slammed into him when he pulled me back. We had stopped just next to the front of the school, which had a fountain in front of the main building much like the quad behind the school, yet it was a bit smaller than the back's fountain. I wrapped my arms around his chest test and nosily breathed in his scent. I could hear the others chuckle at my antics and Edward rubbed my back in comfort before I pulled back. Edward frowned down at me. "I told you not to spend a fortune on me." he admonished me gently, but I huffed once more at his attempts to lecture me.

"It's not that bad."

"Not that bad? You almost spent a thousand on me." Edward grumbled and I scowled.

"And if I hadn't? You realize who would've won you?" I asked him with an edge to my tone, and Edward winced. "I did what I had to do to win you considering the bimbo wasn't letting up." I growled, and glanced over to see Angela and Jessica nodding in agreement.

"She has a point man." Ben agreed with me. "If she hadn't continued to bid for you, you'd be under the claws that is Lauren Mallory."

"Well..." Edward muttered and I pulled back to cross my arms before him, daring him to try and argue against the amount I had won him for. Edward puffed out his cheeks then and shrugged. "Okay no, I'm glad you won me. Just the amount is a lot is all... but you're right. I'm happy you won me dear." he murmured and I nodded my head to him, happy he saw it my way.

"Good."

"Hot to say the least in seeing you bid for me." Edward added under his breath and I could feel my cheeks begin to burn.

"Bro!" Mike shouted at Edward while the girls squealed in laughter. Ben shook his head and clapped Edward on the shoulder.

"Not sorry, it's true." Edward shrugged indifferently, winking and smirking at me with a cockiness that was true to his nature. I snickered at him and smacked his chest lightly.

"Swan!" our group jumped from the sudden shrieking and I looked over before scowling. Lauren was stomping furiously in our direction, her cold gaze laser focused on me as she clomped her way towards me. Lauren pushed her way past Mike and Ben, and before the girls or Edward could try and stop her, she managed to make it to me and shoved me hard. I almost stumbled to falling onto my ass but had managed to quickly right myself as she huffed at me. Edward slinked around her and stood mostly in front of me to protect me but that didn't stop the blond from leaning around him to continue her scathing glower at me. "You conniving bitch!"

"Enlighten me, Mallory, how am I conniving?" I asked with a heavy drop of sarcasm to my tone, stepping close up behind Edward's back to throw back my own cold glares. Edward extended an arm out to still shield me from her, which I rested a hand on his forearm to reassure him I wouldn't be stepping out from behind him - yet.

"You fucking used your damn dirty money from your dead dad to win Edward and steal him away from me! That's how you're conniving!" Lauren seethed, and I could see myself begin to see red.

"Fucking bitch." I hissed and tried to leap around Edward to claw at her but he held himself sturdy to keep me away. "Fuck you Mallory! Don't even think about bringing anything up about my father into this!" I growled at her, not even caring that somehow Lauren found out about my inheritance, but moreover I was enraged she was trying to use it as an excuse over what happened today when she had no right to even mention it in the first place.

"It's true though, since before you were nothing but a poor little small town bitch with not a cent to her name!" she raged on, hands on her hips. "You're nothing but a mooch considering you used Alice's money for clothing and makeup when we started the shitty gender feud but now that you lost her source of money, you decided to use your inheritance to get what you wanted and steal my true love away from me!"

"As if I could ever love someone like you."

"Bold of you to assume that shit you airheaded cunt!" I had all but growled my response at Lauren at the same time I could hear Edward mutter his retort to her bold claims that he loved her when I knew he felt every negative emotion towards her. I now managed to slink around my boyfriend and was about to slap Lauren but Edward reacted quick enough to grasp my arms in his hands and hold me back. "I never once mooched off of Alice's kindness back then, I in fact did everything in my power to refuse it because I never want anyone spending a single cent on me! I only accepted her tokens of friendship that was fashion because that was her love language for her friends! Emphasis on friends you bitch - I didn't want to make her sad and deny her showing her love for our friendship in the past. Of course I lost it because of my secret relationship, but that doesn't mean I'm planning on using my money on anything else beyond what I had used it for today. And what I do with my money is my business, not yours or anyone else's for that matter!" I hissed at her angrily, breathing heavily from my repressed rage. \

Lauren snorted as a retort, rolling her eyes at me.

"Mallory how about you just walk away from this before you face a Bella Beatdown?" Jessica growled at her, bumping shoulders with her in emphasis to push her off from facing a potential fight with me. Jessica came around to stand beside me in solidarity, as did Angela while Mike and Ben followed after their girlfriends. Edward tried to pull me back into him and I could hear him trying to whisper calming words to get me to back away from this, but my gaze was still tinted red from Mallory's low insults.

Lauren snorted once more. "As if this little bitch could take me on."

"She isn't going to be alone if she's able to get out from Edward's hold to slap you." Angela threatened, holding her chin up defiantly.

"Cowardly of you all in that aspect and outnumber me like that." Lauren countered, rolling her eyes. "If Swan thinks she can take me on by herself then she should fight me on her own rather than relying on lackeys like you two, Weber and Stanley." she continued, sneering. "But with it being Swan, am I even remotely surprised? This bitch always needs someone to fight her battles - she needed Hale and Cullen in the past whenever Emmett wanted to bully her, and she still needs help. Pathetic."

"Bitch." I spat, jerking under Edward's strong hold.

"Babe, no." Edward grunted in keeping his hold on my arms. "She isn't worth it." he murmured to me as I was pulled back once more. I growled as Lauren flipped her locks over her shoulder.

"I'm not weak you fucking cunt - if you knew even half of what I've been through, you'd crumble under what I've endured." I growled at Lauren and she sneered again.

"Oh sure, like it was hard for you to spread your legs or whore yourself around. I've heard the rumors as is about your past, Swan - right, with your ex Joshua? Or how you teased James?" I stopped short when she mentioned the two of them. The others even froze when they heard her taunting, and when she realized the reaction she had gotten was what she was looking for she smirked. "Right, trust me I've had my chats with them - guess I was right in assuming. Lovely that you never told your boyfriend about those two in your life. Sure you want to stay with her now Eddie?" she giggled and I let out a shriek.

"You fucking skank!" I snarled and whipped myself out from under Edward's hold, rushing forward to swing my arm back. My hand connected with Lauren's cheeks with a loud resounding crack, sending the blond to the floor.

"Bella!" Angela cried behind me but I ignored her. Lauren shrieked and scrambled to stand yet I continued to slap and hit her; red clouded my vision as my resolved snapped.

"Fucking cunt! Fuck you for saying that! You know nothing!" I hissed at her as I continued to land blows. Lauren let out cries of pain with each hit that connected, before she whirled around and shoved me away - or at least attempted. I latched onto her arms and pulled her with me, whipping her around and growling when her hands suddenly managed to grab onto my hair and she began to pull on it. "Let go of my hair!"

"You let go of me you bitch!" she screeched back as we twisted and stumbled around.

"Not until you get your fucking beatdown you skank!"

We continued to twist and tumble around, grabbing at one another, pulling hair and crying out in pain. I didn't realize we were quickly moving towards the fountain until the back of my legs hit the edge. With one more jerk from Lauren, she sent us sprawling over the edge and we crashed into the fountain together, water splashing loudly around us as we shrieked in surprise of where we landed. I could hear my friends gasp and cry out in shock with us. I came up sputtering, my outfit soaked and the side of my legs soar. Lauren was in no better state than I was, hair soaked and her outfit completely wet. She gasped and looked down at herself, crying out in anguish. "Fucking Swan, I'm soaking wet now because of you!" she growled and quickly rushed over to me on my side of the fountain to start wrestling with me by slapping me and pulling me on my hair again. I retorted in kind with my own hits and slaps myself. Edward cried my name and leapt over the edge of the fountain to try and pull us apart, taking a few blows from Lauren here and there in his efforts to break us up.

"What is going on here?!" a new voice boomed which caused Lauren and I to stop, giving Edward enough time to pull me up to his chest. I glanced up and winced as I took in our surroundings finally. In my rage induced haze, I hadn't become aware to the fact that an audience of other students of the school began to gather likely when they heard our screaming match start. The other students of the school were milling about a distance away from us at the fountain, staring at us with jaws dropped and morbid curiosity in seeing two chicks fight. I could even make out the faces of Rosalie and Alice, with Jasper, Emmett and several other recognizable faces from the auction mixed in the crowd. But what was more terrifying was that several teachers were apart of the crowd, including Mr. Greene. It was his bellows that caused us to cease our fighting. I glanced over at my friends who were looking just as scared at hearing him, and then looked down to see that Lauren was sitting at Edward's feet in the fountain, grimacing at the fact we had been caught fighting by the dean of the school.

"Miss Mallory, and Miss Swan - you two are to go back to your dorms, dry off, and then immediately report back to my office within the hour!" Greene ordered sternly, eyebrows furrowed heavily. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yessir."

"Yes sir." we both replied meekly, and I gulped as I slumped in Edward's arms.

Some Valentine's this turned out to be.

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A/N: With that, that ends this chapter. I was planning for a lil bit of drama but considering as well this chapter was once again getting to be a bit too long, I had to find a good stopping point. Why not end it there?

As always I try my best to keep up with proofreading here and there, catching any spelling or grammar mistakes. But I am human so there's still bound to be some imperfections that slip on by. Feedback as usual is always appreciated!

Side note, I had been thinking it over and likely a lot of my stories will be going on hiatus as I would love to finish this one. I'm also considering that many of my stories should under go some rewrites or overhauls - "The Twilight Mafia" and "Raising a Baby Bella" being two of them. Those two are in desperate need of being fixed up but as to the 'when' I can't say for sure. So, hiatus it is until then.

For now, catch ya next time,

~Lady Eleanora~