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Scheduled for Friday
by Anton M.

30: Likes Me, Likes Me

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Monday, January 30

Alice ushered me into the single second floor bathroom, clean but wildly outdated, before the boys could've found us. She locked the door behind us. It was a credit to Jasper that he'd taken my advice and had began to find Alice instead of letting her fret about having to approach him in his friend group, and I adored it a bit too much that Edward followed along with him, but Alice was brimming with excitement. Knowing they were on the other side of the building, Alice took the first opportunity to hide from them.

We sat on top of our backpacks in the cleanest corner of the bathroom and listened to the rain drip from the roof. Alice curled her legs and slapped her own face with her palms, her mouth in a comically wide grin as she stared at me. She had delicate features, amber eyes and brown hair dyed black, but the girl had no competition when it came to excitement.

"Oh my God," she mouthed, taking my shoulders in her hands and shaking me. "Oh my God. Fucking hell. My best friend is Nala. Only the awesomest girl since the history of the universe."

I gave her a shit-eating grin. "Are you talking about me or Nala?"

Alice laughed, slapping my arm. "You, silly." She pressed her forehead against my shoulder. "But Nala, too. Of my God, how pissed were you that I said Jenna Ortega would've made the best Nala? I never thought… I'm sorry, Bee-Bee."

"It doesn't matter."

"I can't wait. You're going to be the biggest actress since… ever. Are you secretly, like, super rich now? How much money do you have on your bank account?"

I paused, stifling my smile. "Which bank account?"

Alice muffled her squeal into her sweater, and I was glad she felt better after a weekend of being pampered with her favorite foods by her mom and aunt.

"Quiet," I shushed her. "Please."

Alice giggled into her sweater before she covered her cheeks with her palms again. "Does anyone else know? At all? Did anyone else figure it out?"

"No. You're the only one."

"Goddamn. Goddamn. How am I supposed to act like your life isn't going up in flames in just a few months? Just knowing that some Thursdays, you just casually arrive in school after sucking face with the sexiest man alive… holy shit. Can you imagine if people knew? I want to see Lauren's face when she finds out. I'll have a camera up in her face. Her expression will be priceless. You're going to be on every chat show that ever existed, but—" Alice rubbed her face, almost violently, as if wiping away her thoughts. "You're going to have to leave Willie W. Smith, aren't you?"

"I don't want to," I admitted. "But it's possible."

Alice squeezed my elbow and rested her chin on her knees. "When's the last time you saw him?"

I grinned. "Mike?"

Alice muffled her squeal. "The fact that you'd call by his first name is… totally surreal. Yes, him."

It was hilarious that Alice cared so much about Mike Newton, but I should've expected it. "Last Wednesday, I think."

"Do you have his number? When did you last speak to him?"

"I do, and… yesterday, if texting counts."

Giggling, Alice slapped my shin, wild disbelief in her eyes. It was insane that the man who'd grown to be a casual, normal part of my life, a friend and a colleague, was an object of such obsession for others. Alice took a few deep breaths, calming herself, before she shifted closer, her voice even quieter than before.

"You're going to be so big, everyone's going to adore you, and I'm going to miss the ever-loving shit out of you."

"I'm not dying, Alice. You're still my best friend."

Her wide, bittersweet eyes locked on mine. "You're going to be so busy, though."

"But imagine all the inside celeb gossip I'll give you."

"Oh my God I love you." Alice laughed before she scooted closer and put her hand around my shoulders. "Are you scared?"

"Terrified," I replied, honestly, before she squeezed me tighter. "Enough about me, though. How's your new boy toy?"

Alice's eyes lit up. We spoke about how mischievous Jasper was, how well he matched Alice's energy, and how starry-eyed she felt about him. We spoke about my budding hopes for Edward and how I wanted to ask my parents if I could tell Edward that Emmett was my security detail. We took guesses at what Edward and Jasper's little show-off in the morning meant, one wilder than the other, and it was a huge relief to be able to return to normal topics with Alice even with the floor shifting from underneath us.

When we were finished and peeked out of the bathroom, hoping to sneak out, Alice walked straight into the two best friends, and Jasper got the most wicked glint in his eyes while Edward stood back, hands in his pockets, stifling his smile.

We shouldn't have been surprised they were here looking for us given that our last class was literally ten yards away.

"What the hell were you guys doing in the bathroom together?"

Alice facepalmed while I raised an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Jasper gulped.

"I would, actually."

I turned to Alice, licking my lips and fluttering my eyelashes. "Alice, my love, my life, the reason for my being." I put my hand on her waist, working my eyebrows and sighing dramatically. "Tell me not that we must be separated by the cruel society's standards. Tell me not that our beautiful interracial lesbian love must be hidden—"

Alice fought her smile valiantly but lost it a second later, and we fell into a hug as we laughed. Turning back to the guys, we grinned, and I let go of Alice so that she could slide her palm into Jasper's and pretend it wasn't a big deal. Grinning, Jasper pointed at me.

"You are a weird chick."

I thumped my chest with a closed fist. "And proud of it."

Eyes still glinting with laughter, the couple began walking to Alice's next class. I was glad to see that getting to air out some of her excitement and concern had calmed Alice somewhat.

Edward was still leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets, his green eyes observing me in a way that made me feel aflutter with affection. He pushed himself off the wall when I reached him. He didn't touch me or try to hold my hand (all that happened was that his elbow grazed against my arm as he walked me to my next class), and yet, I lost my fight with the silly smile that spread across my face.

It didn't help that when we settled around a table in the noisy cafeteria during the next break, Edward casually rested his arm on my backrest as he began inhaling his sandwich. I tried not to look too heart-eyed when I spoke to Angela across the table, but I just had to return Alice's knowing secret smile. She was convinced that Edward's and Jasper's cryptic little fight in the morning meant that Edward liked me liked me. I didn't dare to be quite as certain as she was but that didn't stop me from hoping for it every time Edward kept himself close to me. Or touched me. Or looked at me.

I was pathetically giggly inside, actually.

Edward was immersed in a discussion with Eric when, in an adjacent table, Lauren had just pulled out a chair next to Tyler. Edward stopped talking, briefly making eye contact with Lauren before he narrowed his eyes.

"Are you sure you can handle sitting there?" he asked, his quiet voice cutting through the air.

"What the fuck kind of asshole are you now?" Tyler quipped back, tapping the chair next to him for Lauren. Looking a bit scared, Lauren sat, her red eyes downcast, and Tyler turned to her. "Why do you just take his bullying? Why don't you defend yourself?"

Edward had continued to be an ass to Lauren to the point where, during their third class together, a teacher called him out on his behavior. It was, according to Jasper, the first time Edward had ever been scolded in class. Jasper had filled us in on all the mean little comments Edward made about Lauren's presentations or answers in class, and it felt wrong to speculate about Lauren's breakup with Edward in front of the man himself but none of us could help it when it remained such a mystery.

"Yes, Lauren," Edward mocked, turning. "We would just love to hear you defend yourself."

"Dude," Eric threw his empty carton cup at Edward. "We get it, you're not together. She left the last class crying. What the hell did she do to deserve that?"

Edward threw Eric's cup back at him. "Why don't you ask her."

Lauren, probably hearing Edward, shoved stuff back in her shoulder bag and left in a rush. Tyler followed her. "You're an asshole," he muttered in Edward's ear, close enough for me to hear, but Edward shrugged and kept eating.

"She's gaining allies in your targeting of her," Angela cut the silence, her soft voice at odds with her words. "At least half of the class feels sorry for her. Hell, I feel sorry for her. What did she say that you hate her so much now?"

"Ask her," Edward repeated.

"And the other half of the class?" Alice questioned Angela.

"Too stunned by Masen doing this," Jasper filled in. "Our pillar of support being an ass to his ex is cinematic wonder I wouldn't change for the world." Smirking, he turned to Edward. "But I'm still getting stuck on why Lauren doesn't just tell you off in front of the whole class."

"Oh I wish she would. I'd rip her a hole so big they'd film Alice in Wonderland inside it."

I hid my face against Edward's shoulder when I laughed, and Edward gave me this stunned, twinkling look, his eyes lingering on my lips and causing my stomach to dance. I didn't dare to do much more than sit close enough for my side to be flush against his, but Edward didn't seem to mind, which made the butterfly situation in my belly worse.

Like Angela and Tyler, I'd started to feel sorry for Lauren, but I'd also gotten to know Edward, and he had flaws but I'd never seen him be unjust. I couldn't imagine what she must've said to deserve Edward's anger, but it must've been serious, and it wasn't lost on me that he never called her names.

But what prevented me from feeling too sorry for her was that victorious face she'd made at me when I'd seen them kissing that morning.

"Masen, she's like a wounded puppy, won't say a word," Jasper continued. "Just tell us why she isn't defending herself."

"Because—" Edward locked eyes with me, and there was something dangerous and protective in them before he tore them from mine. "Because, how do you defend an indefensible position?"

"And what position is that?" Alice pushed.

"There's too many layers of fucked up within it I'm not sure I could explain it even if I wanted to."

That was as far as Edward was willing to talk about it, but Lauren's puppy dog eyes tore at my heart in spite of my less-than-stellar opinion of her.

The classrooms for our seventh lesson were in the same hallway, and Edward sat by my side as he helped me study for a test in physical sciences. He'd made me recite the formulas during the previous break and had given me mock-quizzes to work on, and he was biting his pen as he read through my answers. I sat by his side, my thigh brushing his, my chest now permanently too small for the thumping of my heart as I tried to figure out how to bring up my request.

"Edward?"

He glanced up, his eyes briefly landing on where my fingertips were brushing against his thigh. Feeling self-conscious, I pulled back my hands and watched a frown form between his eyebrows.

"What did Lauren tell you?" I asked before I could argue myself out of it.

Edward pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, searching my eyes.

"Why?" he asked, surprisingly softly.

Because it made me uncomfortable to be so wholly consumed by someone who could be so mean.

"Because… I feel sorry for her. I don't know what happened, obviously, nobody does, but…" I took a breath, grimacing. I wasn't anyone in particular to ask this of him but it would've been worse to ignore it. "I think you've made your point."

Edward blinked, curling his long legs to cross them before he turned to face me. His eyes searched mine, and I felt daunted by the way his jaw set. "You're asking me to stop."

He was so fierce when he gave me his full attention, and I loved it and hated it and I was scared of his unreadable intensity.

"Yes," I whispered. "It feels a bit… mean."

A choked laugh escaped him. "Mean would be if I told people what she said. Now that would be mean."

I gave him a sad smile, my eyes following my thumb brushing his knee, taken aback by my own request but standing by it. I did not like Lauren by any stretch of the imagination, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for her. "Like I said, I don't know what happened, but either you come out with it, or you knock it off."

Edward crossed his arms as he stared at me, his green eyes assessing me, his jaw clenched, and I almost withered under his scrutiny before his face broke into an emotion I'd never seen him wear. His shoulders relaxed, and the way his gaze softened and rested on my lips released a thunderstorm of butterflies in my stomach. He turned and straightened his legs but didn't stop looking at me with that inexplicable tenderness. I felt his fingertips brushing my thigh like he'd plugged an electric socket into my skin.

"Okay," he muttered, leaning closer. I held my breath as he brushed his nose against my braid. "You're a much better person than I am."

A thousand little goosebumps arose on my neck.

"I don't think that's true."

I curled my legs and was just about to wrap my arms around them when Edward pulled both of my knees towards him with his arm, effectively pulling them to his thighs and surrounding my legs with his arm. "Oh but it is," he argued, his warm breath ghosting over my cheek. His face was inches from mine, and his green eyes lingered on my face as I tried not to hyperventilate with his scent making me feel all gooey inside.

As if it wasn't a big deal that he was effectively hugging my knees on his thighs, Edward picked up my mock-quiz and made me describe the third exercise (the one I'd messed up). He didn't explain trapping my legs against his lap with his arm as he brushed his knuckles over my knees, and it took all my strength (and then some) to focus on his words rather than his lips or proximity.

…

Since Tuesday's clouds brought no rain, I dared to wear white sneakers with a red pleated gingham skirt that had a ridiculously high waist (owned by my mother, of course). I half-tucked a yellow sweater into it and convinced dad to braid a thin fake-silk scarf into my hair. I still didn't have my make-up artist Thiago's magic skin-colored concealer, so my dark acne scars were a bit of a lost cause, but at least Edward was probably used to them and my best bet was to distract him with my face-cramping smile, anyway.

I made Emmett drop me off away from the entrance of the school but the choice almost made me late for physical sciences. Still, I received yesterday's grade and found Edward talking to someone near the lockers. He wore yesterday's ripped gray jeans but a navy hoodie over a graphic T-shirt, looking lean, tall and intimidating as usual. His tense shoulders and frown could've fueled a power plant, but his entire face relaxed when he noticed me, and I floated away in the way his eyes ran over my body.

I was too giggly inside to reconsider my actions before I ran into his arms. Smiling, he caught me and held me in the air as I hugged him.

"I got an A-!" I whispered, squeezing him. "Miss Morris-Bell thought I'd cheated and pulled me aside after class but I told her you were tutoring me and explained how I got to my solutions and that was enough for her." I grinned against his neck, getting to sniff the scent of his shampoo or aftershave or whatever beautiful thing contributed to his toe-curling smell. His neck was warm and the fuzz of his hair tickled my cheek. "Thank you."

"It was all you," he replied with soft voice.

Head swimming in his scent, I slid down his body and did a little twirly dance in front of him, just shy of a full-on squeal (I never got As in physical sciences), and Edward watched me with a silent energy in his eyes that made my heart do funny things in my chest. It was only mid-celebration dance that I realized a woman with wavy red hair and glasses was observing me next to Edward. I stopped moving and gave her a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, I—I didn't realize I was interrupting."

That was a lie. I just hadn't registered what I was interrupting.

"Not at all," Edward said in a tone that didn't sound all too convincing. He stepped back, waving at the woman. "Bella, this is my aunt Vicky. Aunt Vicky, this is… Bella. She's a sophomore."

It was surreal to be introduced to a teacher (who'd given me classes) in such an informal way. Ms. Masen wore a pastel mismatched suit and a designer handbag my mom would've known the name of. She had a barely discernible tremble to her hands but I still felt five inches tall under her calculating blue gaze.

"I remember," she said with an uneasy smile. In stark contrast to her nephew, her grip was cold and weak as we shook hands.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, ma'am," I repeated.

Leaning closer, Edward put his arm on my back, his touch light but firm. "I'll catch you next break, okay?"

He did, indeed, catch me during the next break, walking up to me from behind in the hallway and crushing me against his side. "Proud of you," he said, his lips brushing my ear. I ignored the tittering mambo of my heart in response to being squished against him.

"Thank you," I whispered, trying not to look too flutter-eyed and obvious in his arms even if that's exactly how I felt. "You okay?"

A smile danced in his eyes, but Jasper and Alice found us before he could answer, and I prayed with all my cells that neither would tease us because I didn't want Edward to feel self-conscious of holding me against him.

But a miracle occurred.

Alice gave me her all-knowing smile when the guys weren't looking, and Edward narrowed his eyes at Jasper, but neither said a word. I could feel a few of our classmates staring at us as they passed but the attention wasn't overwhelming.

"Riley tonight?" Jasper asked.

Edward pressed his lips together. "You know it."

Jasper groaned but kept his voice low. "Your aunt headed for AA?"

"That's what she says."

Alice's eyes flickered between the two before I mouthed 'later' to her.

"You don't believe her?" I asked Edward, hoping I interpreted their little conversation right.

Edward assessed my face.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because…" He let out a breath. "Because it loses its charm the thirty seventh time you hear how much very much she wants to change and how very sorry she is and how very different this time will be. It's fine. I'd rather Riley stay with us regardless of whether my aunt is lying or not."

Edward's bitter tone matched his intense gaze, and I wished I knew how to help him. He had such a complicated life, and I was bursting with questions but I didn't want to make a public spectacle of his answers even if he did agree to share them around Alice and Jasper. Instead, I squeezed his palm on my shoulder. "I'm sorry."

His eyes flickered to my hand on top of his.

"Not your fault," he said quietly.

Alice's and Jasper's banter accompanied us as we walked to the third floor, and by the time we were sitting behind Edward's Astronomy class on the side of the hallway, Edward seemed to have perked up enough to nudge me with his elbow.

"Want to spend a riveting evening babysitting a five-year-old?"

I opened my mouth to quip back but Jasper looked up, teasing, "Oh she can't. Don't you have a date with your big buff boyfriend from Cobb tonight?"

I could've strangled Jasper. Strangled him.

But, sadly, strangulation was illegal.

Slowly, stiffly, Edward removed his elbow from my side as his eyes found mine, sharp and searching. He pulled his bottom lip in his mouth, curling his legs so that they no longer brushed against mine.

I didn't like it.

"Oh, yeah?" he said with a half-smile that felt just as forced as his voice. "Where are you guys going?"

I was so caught off guard by Jasper that I couldn't come up with an excuse that would've allowed Emmett to keep hanging out with me while also not revealing his bodyguard status to Jasper (or any student walking by).

So, cursing Jasper in my head, I gave Edward a real restaurant but an imaginary agenda, and I could tell it had either slipped his mind or he must've thought I'd cancelled it. Three days ago, I'd teased him about being a bad friend but now, now, it tore me up that I hurt him. He joked and laughed, but when he slid his hand next to his thigh, approaching mine to graze it with the back of his knuckles, he blinked as if realizing what he was doing and pulled his hand back. It was such a small action but it twisted my heart, and when our eyes locked, he gave me that placating, insincere smile people use when they don't want to tell you they're hurting.

And I did that.

I hurt him.

I almost couldn't believe I had the power, but Edward was a miserable actor, and when he excused himself to go to the bathroom, both Alice and I smacked whichever Jasper's body part we could reach.

"You idiot!" Alice said, voicing my thoughts.

Jasper held up his arm in defense. "What the fuck?"

"You idiot," Alice repeated. "Did you have to bring Emmett up?"

Jasper took Alice's wrists, preventing violence. "I'm confused. Why, exactly, are you mad at me?" He pointed at me with Alice's hands. "Especially you. You're the one going out with the guy."

Alice and I locked eyes.

"Besides, I think a bit of brooding will do him good. Dude's so dense he's probably bulletproof."

I facepalmed and groaned while Alice snickered. Jasper tapped my arm with Alice's, and when I peeked at him through my fingers, he raised his eyebrows.

"You know now, right?"

"Know what?"

Jasper squinted, continuing to tap my knee with Alice's fingers.

"I can't say it before you do."

And for once in my brief time in knowing Jasper and his cryptic ways, I could take a pretty good guess at what he was talking about, but it still felt silly and surreal to say it.

"You mean that Edward likes me?"

Jasper exaggerated his slumped shoulders and let go of Alice's wrists, groaning so loud a few of the passing students eyed him.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph, one of them grew brains. Thank you. What gave him away? Was it the fact that he has the acting chops of a dog or that the dude cannot fucking tear his eyes off of you when you're within a ten mile radius? I swear if I have to speak to his ear and not his face one more week I'll wring his neck myself."

…