III. Forks' Most Wanted

My head remained tilted down as I ambled down the neighborhood sidewalk, casually bouncing a tennis ball against the concrete.

Down and up, and down and up, and down and up.

I was so focused on throwing and catching the little green ball as I walked, that I nearly missed the two pairs of feet crossing my path. I caught the ball, clutching it tightly before I could hit anyone with it, and looked up.

I stared blankly at the figures of Jasper Hale and Alice Cullen.

"Good afternoon, Mar," Jasper said politely, lips curled into a charming smile.

"Hi," I said flatly. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"Oh, same as you. Going out for a stroll," Alice piped up, voice cheery. "How are you?"

"Fine," I said shortly, trying to hide the annoyance her question incited. Not that that was much use around an empath. 'How are you?' was one of the worst phrases in existence. No one ever actually wanted to know the truth.

"This is Alice, by the way," Jasper added, glancing over to his other half with a tender gaze. "I don't think you two have been officially introduced."

"Right, we haven't," Alice said, as though just recalling this, and shot her hand out. "It's nice to meet you, Mar."

I momentarily rolled the ball into my left palm and gave her hand one firm shake. "Likewise."

"Are you headed somewhere?" Alice asked, rocking back and forth on the soles of her feet.

It's not as though she didn't already know. Still, I answered, "I'm walking to Angela's house."

"Why not drive?" Jasper asked.

"I like walking," I said, shifting my gaze down and returning to bouncing the ball where I stood in place. I had left early, so I wasn't worried about being late.

"You play tennis?" Alice asked.

Geez, what's with the twenty questions?

"No. I just like bouncing it," I said. "I found the ball in Charlie's garage."

Down and up, and down and up, and down and up.

"That's nice," Alice said kindly. "You know, I was thinking Mar, that we would be really good friends."

I kept my eyes trained on the ball and didn't immediately respond. My initial belief that Edward would be the only one I'd need to avoid had been extremely wrong. First Jasper, and now Alice? Was the person of Bella Swan meant to be involved with the Cullens, irregardless of a romance with Edward? It was ultimately my choice, but what was the play here? Why were they so interested in me?

Eventually, I asked, "How do you figure that?"

"I have a sense about these things," she assured me.

"I don't get it," I finally admitted, my gaze still locked on the ball.

Down and up, and down and up, and down and up.

"Not many do," Alice said breezily, likely assuming I was referring to her 'mysterious' words. "I love shopping. Would you like to join me on my next trip? I love giving makeovers! I could do one for you!"

I imagined she didn't much approve of my oversized tee, my baggy jeans, and my scuffed tennis shoes. Unlike her, I was practically swimming in my clothes.

"I like shopping," I said. "But I don't want a makeover. I like my clothes."

I glanced up long enough to catch Alice's pout and Jasper's amused gaze.

"But you'd look so cute, I promise," she insisted.

"No thank you," I said as I kept bouncing the ball.

Down and up, and down and up, and down and up.

"Not even for the spring dance next month?"

"I'm not sure if I'm going yet," I admitted. "But I think Jess is already planning a trip for that."

Alice huffed and muttered to herself, "There must be something else we have in common…"

I was hit with a faint rush of remorse, knowing I would have to turn her offer down. For all that Alice could predict the immediate future, she was obviously unable to ascertain the consequences of my friendship with them. And I was hardly interested in having some ludicrous showdown with James.

I caught the ball and held it still as I lifted my head and met her wide, enthused eyes.

"I'm sorry, Alice," I said gently. "I don't think that would be a smart idea."

But Alice was undeterred. "Mar, you're merely prolonging the inevitable," she huffed, hands on her hips.

I stared at her in disbelief.

Abruptly, her eyes glazed over, and then she announced, "The sun will be making a brief appearance."

I pretended her words held no importance. "Okay."

"I'll see you later!" Alice suddenly called, already skipping across the street, Jasper easily keeping up thanks to his long strides.

"Have fun at Angela's," Jasper added, before the two vanished into the thick of the woods.

Yeah, not suspicious at all guys.

With an exasperated shake of my head, I turned and continued where I'd left off, walking and rebounding the tennis ball off of the sidewalk.

Down and up, and down and up, and down and up…


I arrived at Angela's house with five minutes to spare. I trekked up the steps to her porch and rang the doorbell, tossing the tennis ball in hand while I waited.

Up and down, and up and down, and up and down.

"Hello! You must be Chief Swan's girl," Mrs. Weber greeted me with a kind smile when she answered the door. "Isabella was it?"

"I go by Mar," I said, allowing the ball to land firmly in my palm as I briefly met her gaze, and switched to rolling it back and forth between my hands to keep them occupied.

"Come in," she said, stepping aside. "You're the first one here. You can head on upstairs and join Angela in her room."

"Thank you, ma'am. It was nice meeting you," I said, offering her a polite smile and turning to jog up the staircase, right across from the entrance hall.

Angela's room was easily distinguishable by the letters of her name suspended across her door in cursive pink.

I knocked and was rewarded with a muffled, "Come in!"

"Hey, Angela," I said, stepping inside and closing the door behind me. The bedroom was cozy, the gray light of an overcast sky flooding through the open window above her desk. The walls were painted a pale yellow, the wooden furniture equally light and warm, books and stuffed animals liberally dotting her bookshelf.

Angela seemed startled, glancing up at me from where she sat cross-legged on her big bed, a book in her lap. "Mar! You're here early."

I glanced down at the digital watch on my wrist, unimpressed. "Only by two minutes."

"You're very punctual," Angela said with a smile and patted the flower-patterned quilt, a silent invitation for me to join her.

"Sure am," I agreed, kicking off my tennis shoes and easily stepping atop her bed before allowing my legs to fold comfortably underneath me. "What're you reading?"

She lifted the book from her lap, displaying its cover, which read:

A Series of Unfortunate Events
Book the Eleventh by Lemony Snicket
The Grim Grotto

"I don't think I remember that one."

Angela looked at me oddly, setting her book down. "It was only just published."

"Oh," I said, fumbling with my tennis ball, trying not to wince at my obvious mistake. "That's probably why."

"There are quite a few to keep track of now," she allowed graciously. "I know they're far below our reading level, but I do enjoy them."

"Sure," I said. "It's like a vacation for the brain."

Angela beamed. "Exactly! They're comforting in their simplicity."

"Yeah, lots of adult books take themselves too seriously," I said, rolling my tennis ball across the leg of my baggy jeans. "I should've guessed you would like children's books."

Angela looked at me in that curious way that people did when they wanted to know more about how others perceived them. "Why is that?"

"You're an easygoing person; the kind that isn't bothered by things others would consider childish," I explained. "Pretty similar to Ben that way."

"Ben?" Angela suddenly squeaked, face flushing red. "What does he have to do with anything?"

I frowned, confused. "I thought you had a crush on him."

Angela bowed her head and buried her face into her hands with a groan. "Am I really that obvious?"

I stared blankly at her. "No…"

Angela peaked at me between the gaps of her fingers. "But you figured it out so quickly! Either I'm really obvious, or you're scarily perceptive."

Unfortunately, I couldn't tell her that I'd read about her crush in a book. The reality was, when it came to the going-ons of my peers, I didn't have one perceptive bone in my body and I was as oblivious as they came.

"Lucky guess," I settled on with a shrug. "Does no one else know?"

She shook her head.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't realize it was a secret."

"No, it's okay!" Angela was quick to assure me. "You knowing…it's not the worst thing…"

"Sadie Hawkins is coming up in a few weeks. Are you going to ask him to go with you?"

Angela appeared alarmed by the idea. "What if he says no?"

"Why would he?"

Angela gestured weakly towards herself. "Well, I'm a lot taller than him for one. What if that bothers him?"

"Ben isn't an insecure little boy with the need to prove anything," I said with all the confidence of someone who had already read about them getting together in a book. "Besides…"

Just to be sure, I leaned forward and squinted closely at her.

Angela had a pale, oval-shaped face with round eyes framed by long lashes, a nose well proportioned to the size of her features, and thin lips that fit well with her narrow jawline.

"You're pretty," I finally decided, leaning back. "He'll definitely say yes. Boys are simple like that."

"Uh, thank you," she said, looking at me strangely. "But why did that take you so long to figure out?"

"Oh, I have face blindness. My brain doesn't automatically register people's faces," I explained. "I generally distinguish people by their hair."

"That's…different," Angela said, self-consciously brushing a hand against her light brown locks. "I've never heard of something like that."

"Me either," I admitted. "But that's my life."

Angela smiled weakly, still fiddling with her hair. "I don't know if I can ask him. Have you ever asked out a boy, Mar?"

"No," I said. "I've only had one crush so far, but he was taken, so that was an immediate loss."

Angela, the ball of empathetic kindness that she was, was horrified. "That's terrible! I'm so sorry."

"Oh no, don't be sorry," I said, dropping my tennis ball and rubbing a hand against my chest at the memory. Having a crush had been horrible; it had caused feelings in me that I had initially mistaken for heartburn. "Even before I knew he had a girlfriend, I hated it. It was really uncomfortable. I never want to have a crush ever again."

Angela didn't appear to know how to respond to that.

"Angela, Jess and Lauren are here!" Mrs. Weber called from downstairs.

I glanced at my watch and frowned. They were thirty minutes late.


The following day, Edward broke our stalemate again during our shared class.

"So, now you're friends with Alice," he stated, voice dry.

"Your standards for establishing friendship are very low, aren't they?" I asked while I dug my notebook and pen case out of my backpack. I had had one conversation with Alice and in it, had rejected her invitation to hang out. I didn't see how that stood grounds for friendship, but whatever.

"I don't get out much," he snarked. "But she seemed convinced when we last spoke."

"Well, she does have a sense about these things."

Edward turned to me with a sharp look, but before he could say anything, the final bell rang and Mr. Banner called the class to attention.

It was not long after, when Mr. Banner's back was turned to us, chalk stick clacking steadily against the blackboard, that Edward leaned over and asked in a low voice, "What did you mean by Alice 'having a sense about these things?'"

I shot him a blank look. "No idea," I lied. "I was just quoting her."

The creases between his eyebrows eased. "Ah. She said that, did she?"

"Uh huh," I said, turning back and scribbling away at my paper. "She's rather domineering like that."

Edward huffed a small, unexpected laugh and muttered something that sounded like, "Understatement of the millenia."

And that should've been the end of it, really. But Edward enjoyed making things difficult, because clearly, he had nothing better to do.

So, towards the end of class, when Mr. Banner went over our upcoming biology project and instructed us to partner up in groups of two or three, Edward turned towards me and asked in a pleasant voice, "Would you like to partner up?"

And I had to admit that for a moment, I was sorely tempted. Tara had been right when she'd said that every lab with Edward would be an easy A. And if I partnered up with him for this project, it would be another assignment I wouldn't have to worry about. I wasn't incapable, just lazy.

Unfortunately, I took so long debating with myself, that by time I realized I was being stupid and turned around to seek out Angela, she was already partnered up with Rob and Mike.

Edward offered me a winning smile.

I scowled. "Honestly, I think I'd rather just take the L."

"I beg your pardon?" he said, startled by my verbiage. "What L?"

And then, to my greatest relief, Tara and Brandon waved me over from where they sat together at the back corner of the classroom. "Mar," Tara called. "You wanna team up with us?"

"Them," I said to Edward, gesturing towards the slacker duo. "They're the L I'm taking."

I grabbed my things and trotted off.

Behind me, Beth and Nicholas swooped in like vultures to snag Edward up for their mega-smart team.


A/N: I'm leaving this marked as complete even with the possibility of more chapters. This story doesn't require much continuity, so just enjoy it for what it is :)

Reviews are love! :)