Title: A Cinderella Story

Summary: Bella is the smart, quiet girl. Edward is the football captain and student body president. What happens when a world of texting and instant messaging unites these two lovers while every element in the universe is trying to keep them apart? All Human.

Disclaimer: I (unfortunately) do not own Twilight, New Moon, or Eclipse they are all owned by the very talented Stephenie Meyer. I also do not own some of the plot.

Chapter 8: Tested

BPOV

I woke up the next morning, determined to play sick. There was no way in hell that I was stepping into that school or out of my room. My mother hadn't talked to me since my little outburst yesterday and when Jessica came home, I locked my door. I rolled back over and covered myself with my comforter. I was forced out of my bed when my cell phone rang a few minutes later. I groaned, threw off the blanket and walked to my desk. Without looking to see who it was, I flung it opened.

"Hello?" I answered. My voice was heavy with sleep.

"Bella? Hey." The voice didn't really register in my head.

"Uh, hey. Who is this?" I asked.

"I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to hang up."

"Sorry, I can't promise that. Who is this?" I demanded. I was sick of being taken advantage of.

"It's… Edward." As soon as that came out of his mouth, my eyes filled with moisture.

"Edward?" I croaked.

"Yeah." He said quietly.

I sniffled and composed myself after a moment. "Go to hell." I said then closed my phone and ran back to my bed. I hated Edward… Okay, that wasn't really true. I still really liked him and I thought that he still liked me, but apparently he didn't. I knew this was all a big joke. It was all too good to be true. But… how could he have acted so well? I mean, the night of the dance was… indescribable. Why would he go through so much trouble if he hadn't of at least liked me a little? It all didn't make since. And if he did like me, which I really doubted he did, then why hadn't he stuck up for me yesterday like Jacob had?

Thinking of Jake brought on a new wave of sobs. I hated that I had hurt him. All he ever did was be my friend, so why couldn't I have given him a little bit more than friendship? I knew the answer to that and it made me angry. "Ugh!" I said into my pillow.

When my mother came to my door telling to get up for school, I ignored her. I wrapped my comforter tighter around me. I wasn't going to get up anytime soon. Or ever, if I could help it.

I was content with the rest of my day. As soon as everyone was out of the house, I came out of my cave and took a long, hot bubble bath. It was soothing and made me feel a little bit better. Afterwards, I ordered pizza and raided my kitchen for sweets and settled into the living room and watched the saddest movie I could find and wallowed. My school called a few times, probably wondering where I was. I had perfect attendance, so this probably surprised them. I really didn't care that I was ditching. What's one unexcused absence?

The day passed quickly and as soon as it was time for Jessica to come home, I drug myself back up to my room and locked the door. I didn't want to cry anymore, so I logged onto my computer and check my e-mail. I had four unread messages, so I clicked on the first one.

Bella, please talk to me. I'm sorry about what happened today at school.

-Edward

I quickly erased it and moved on to the next one:

I'm getting down on my hands and knees here. I will come to your house and kidnap you if I have too. Bella, I'm so terribly sorry for… well, everything. I didn't handle it the way I should have. Will you please talk to me?

-Desperate Guy (Edward)

I was about to reply, but I stopped myself. I deleted that e-mail along with the other two I hadn't read yet and logged off before he got online. Why was he still trying to communicate with me? He got what he wanted; now why couldn't he move on? I didn't understand it… What if… Well, what if he really did have feelings for me? I shoved that out of my head quickly. If he did, he would have proved it a long time ago the way I asked him too.

I entertained myself until about nine o'clock then I went to bed early. I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep yet, but I was bored and needed something to do. I lay there, staring at the ceiling for a while. I rolled over and sighed looking at the clock. I'd been rolling over for an hour and a half. I closed my eyes, begging for sleep to find me. Then I heard it: something hitting my window hard. I flipped out and flew off the bed and onto the floor.

"Oww." I complained and I picked myself up, rubbing my shoulder. I heard the noise again then went to my window and threw it open.

"Bella!" A voice whispered. I recognized it immediately.

"Jacob? What are you doing?"

"Are you mad at me?" He asked.

"No!" I whisper-shouted back. I closed my window and threw on shoes with no socks and quietly scuttled down the stairs and opened the front door then ran across the lawn and threw myself into Jacob's waiting arms. He patted my back then we pulled away.

"I'm sorry about yesterday." He said.

"Let's not even think about it. It'll be like it never happened, okay?"

He smiled. "I'd like that."

"Me too."

"You're coming to school tomorrow, right?"

I groaned and leaned against his chest. He wrapped his arms around my waist. "It'll be fine. I promise. If anyone messes with you, they'll have to deal with me."

I giggled and pulled away to look up at him. "Thanks for… everything."

He nodded. "Of course. What are best friends for? Oh, and you're still coming with me to the homecoming game tomorrow, right?"

"Jake…"

"Please? You promised. And you know that Alice is going to drag you there."

I sighed. "I don't know if I can… handle that yet." I said in a small voice.

"It'll be okay."

"Alright, fine." I sighed. After all, I did promise and I did sort of owe him for still being my friend.

EPOV

Today was the big day and I was pumped up, but there was still something that felt empty… I knew what it was, but I wasn't going to let it get to me today. Everything was going to be perfect and…

"Edward!" I sighed as I heard Alice's voice from the other room.

"What?" I called back.

"Are you almost ready? I would like to get to school on time, ya know." She called.

"Give me a second to get my stuff." I grabbed my backpack and sports bag then made my way out the door. It was a little strange that Alice had even spoken to me. She hadn't said more than two words to me over the past few days.

We got into my car in silence and I started driving. After a few minutes, I couldn't stand the silent any longer. "Al, talk to me."

She responded my turning her head out the window. "Mary Alice Cullen! Talk to me!" I skidded to a stop on the shoulder of the road. She turned to face me, her face alarmed from the sudden halt.

"What do want me to say?" She asked.

"I don't care. Anything. Yell at me or tell me what I can do to make it better. I don't care! Just stop!" I said, frustrated.

"You crushed my best friend." She said quietly, looking down. "You have no idea what you did to her, Edward."

"But what did I do? What? I danced with Lauren? I don't understand!"

"You built her up, then tore her down. You made the Homecoming dance perfect for her, Edward. You did everything right, but then you danced with Lauren and you kissed her right in front of her face. I don't believe you did it on purpose, but still. Then the day before yesterday at the pep rally… Why didn't you say anything? She was publicly humiliated in front of the entire school and you just sat there and watched while it happened when you knew everything that bitch Lauren was saying was a lie!" She screamed the last part.

"I just… I…" I started to say, but couldn't finish. What was my excuse? I didn't even know.

"I don't think you're the bad guy here, Edward, but you need to fix it. Now." We sat there for a few more seconds then I pulled back onto the road and started driving to school, not saying anything more.

BPOV

"Whoo! Half time!" Alice cheered from beside me. I was glad that this stupid football game was almost over, well half way over at least. I smiled half-heartedly, and nudged Jake who said on the other side of me.

"You should go get me nachos." I smiled. He rolled his eyes then stood up.

"Hey, I'll go will you," Jasper said, standing up as well. "Al, you want anything?"

"Duh! Get me… nachos too with lots of cheese please!" She said and I laughed at her as the guys left.

"I think Jasper is intoxicating you again."

"That's very possible because I feel great!" She screamed then I laughed.

"All right! Who's ready to get this game pumped up?" Someone said into a microphone. The crowd burst into cheers and applauds. There was a tiny platform set up in front of the bleachers for half time.

"First off, we're going to introduce our student body president for a short speech," More cheers. "Then we will have our traditional dance between the homecoming king and queen!"

"So, it's my pleasure to introduce to you… Edward Cullen, our student body president!" I swallowed hard. The crowd was applauding and going wild, but it seemed like my own heart beat was louder than them. I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

I turned to peak at Alice, who was staring forward as if she was frozen like that. "No, Edward… not here." She shook her head slightly.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, but she didn't answer.

"I'd like to start by saying that I'm sorry that we're so behind in the game right now. I've been pretty distracted and that really isn't fair to you guys, so I apologize," Edward started. I looked down, my cheeks burning. Was I his distraction? "This school year has been pretty hectic so far, hasn't it? Well, it has been for seniors anyway. With college applications and such. I was so overwhelmed, but then I found someone who helped," Oh. My. God. Why do I have to be the focus of everything around here?

"Al, I think I'm gonna go. I don't think I can handle this for much longer."

Alice put her hand on my leg to stop me. "No! No, wait." I sighed and sat back down.

"She became a friend. My best friend for a while, actually. But I have to be honest, I never really thought of her as a friend… I had a crush on her," He laughed and I blushed deeper. "I didn't even know who she was, or what she looked like. All I knew was that she went to our school and that she enjoyed talking to me as much as I enjoyed talking to her. We kept in contact for about two months. We texted and e-mailed, but never talked in person or on the phone. I looked forward to talking to her every day. It was something I would actually get excited about. Then one day, my sister told me who this mystery girl was. I have to admit, I was shocked that it was you, Bella," I felt people staring. I ducked my head tried to hide my mortification.

"I saw you all the time. We even exchanged a friendly 'hello' once in a while and we were lab partners. I never thought that the crazy, carefree, and loving girl I'd been talking too would be someone like you. Not that it was a bad thing. It was a very good thing… Anyway, I broke up with Lauren for her and then I asked her to the Homecoming dance. She accepted, still not knowing who I was. At first, I could tell she didn't want me which confused me. I was so nervous because there was never a girl who wouldn't jump at the chance to go out with me. I was afraid she wouldn't want me,"

"I want you, Edward!" Someone girl screamed from the crowd.

Edward chuckled into the microphone. "Maybe I'll marry you some day," He joked to the girl. "Anyway, we had a… magical evening together. Everything was perfect; she was perfect," I felt tears fill my eyes as he continued. "I didn't think that night could change, but it did. I kissed Lauren when we got back to the dance. Of course something had to ruin everything. And I am so so sorry, Bella. You didn't deserve that. But I can swear to you that kissing Lauren was nothing like kissing you." I looked up at him. We caught eye contact and I looked away quickly, not sure what to show or how to act.

"I'm also so sorry for the pep rally. Bella and I did nothing together! We kissed, nothing more. Bella is far from slutty. I should have stood up and defended you, but I didn't. I apologize for that, Bella," He cleared his throat and I could tell that he was genuinely sorry. This hadn't been a joke. This was real. Edward was real. He wasn't faking anything. He wanted me.

"You told me to prove that I wanted to be with you and that's what I'm trying to do. Bella, please forgive me. Please, please, please, please, please. I would give anything to be with you and to talk to you again… I miss talking to you and I feel… empty. I need you and I think that you need me too. Will you be my girlfriend?" I looked up, with tears coming down my cheeks. I wasn't sure what emotion had caused them.

"You don't have to answer now if you don't want too. But it would probably help us win the game if you said yes," I could tell he was joking about the last part.

He had put himself out there. He was completely vulnerable right now. "Hopefully I proved it too you, Bella. But now I want you to prove it to me. If you want me, come get me." With that, he stepped down off the platform and started walking away.

I forced myself up on my feet and started walking frantically down the bleachers, weaving through everyone. I could feel eyes boring into my back, but I didn't care. "Wait! Edward! Wait!" I was screaming. I tripped a couple of times, but when he finally heard me, he stopped in the middle of the football field and looked at me for a few seconds. Then he started jogging towards me. I jogged lightly, not wanting to fall. We reached each other, out of breath, but I didn't care and I don't think he did either.

I threw my arms around his neck and stood on my tippy toes, crashing my lips to his. He responded immediately, placing his arms around my waist and pulling me against him the best he could with all his football gear on. My heart beat quickened and I felt dizzy. We both pulled away at the same time a few seconds later.

"Is that a… yes?" He asked, out of breath.

"Yes," I grinned. "It's a yes."

And then his lips found mine again.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions? Reviews are to me like true love is to Bella and Edward!