Edward was walking me to my class, his topaz eyes flitting across the snow covered ground, cautious for any pursuers hoping to get a good hit at me.

Or him for that matter. Apparently, he was the new target.

It made sense when you thought about it.

I was newfound prey, what with being the official president of the "snow- hater's society" (population: Edward and me). The snow warriors didn't like that very much, so they took every chance they got to start chucking frozen rain at me.

And then Edward got dragged in this mess. He was always by my side, trying to block every hurled hunk of ice thrown at me consequently made him target number two. Of course, Edward managed to dodge every freaking lump of snow heaved at him.

Stupid vampire.

Obviously, human- thrown ammo posed absolutely no threat to him at all, but I could tell it exasperated him to no end, and the thoughts of the trackers made him very jumpy. His arm wrapped around my waist tighter, protecting me.

Mike Newton was grudgingly keeping his distance; he knew slightly better than others to maintain a safe ten feet away. My binder was in hand, waiting for any chance to whip another mush ball away.

Tyler and Eric were behind the corner, Eric's glasses a dead giveaway. Edward's knack for reading people's minds came in handy whenever a chance presented itself.

"Eric, Tyler, if you're going to smash a snowball at me or Bella, I'll crush your noses."

I knew Edward would never do that, but if it was going to ward off the attackers, he would have said any damned thing he wanted. Eric and Tyler disappeared with a low oath.

Edward looked lovingly at me. I curled to his chest tighter, ignoring the coolness of his skin, my blush burning my face. I was grateful for the heater as we passed through the school doors. I embraced the warm air.

No snowballs were allowed in here. The principle was strict with the "No flinging snowball" policy. One speck of suspicion and you are in detention before you can object. We walked carefully to lunch, still tense from the paranoia,

As usual, Edward bought my lunch and his props. Edward was officially accepted to our little swarm around the table. With Rosalie and Emmett graduating, and Alice and Jasper being smart enough to skip school for the day, Edward was a leftover.

Jessica was exuberant to have the "hottest guy in school!" sit with us. Mike was still grueling on how I rejected him for Edward. The boy never gave up, but as long as he was still my friend, I did not care what he said about Edward.

Angela murmured something about a snowball tournament in the park near the school backyard.

"Sure!" Jessica was so animated to have something to do, especially if she could sculpt a dramatic story over it. "Mike you should come too!" Of course, she invited the popular Mike.

"Why not? I have nothing to do anyways." He shrugged; Edward tensed beside me. I gazed at him confused.

"You don't want to know." His enraged voice was barely audible due to my feeble ears.

Men.

I chewed on my undercooked pizza, washing it down with a sip of lemonade.

"Bella, Edward, you guys should come too." Angela's soft voice traveled to us.

"No thanks, Edward is tutoring me." I denied her, trying to lie convincingly. We were supposed to be doing some kind of event with Edward's siblings tonight. Angela nodded knowingly.

"Hah!" Lauren sneered, no doubt eavesdropping. "Bella needs all the help she can get; with those grades, she couldn't even get into a good college," she whispered to her friends. Her posse giggled in agreement.

"Speak for yourself." Edward snapped back. He seemed edgier than usual, shocking me. "Let's go Bella," he murmured, standing swiftly. I hastily dumped my tray, and tried not to trip as I hurried with him.

The rest of the day passed normally. The lectures as dull as ever, and I was grateful as ever to have Edward in my exceptionally mind- numbing classes.

Gym was a torture. We played basketball indoors and I tripped over my shoelace and landed on a very unhappy classmate. I was still sentenced to play though.

A frenzy of snowballs were launched in a flurry all around us as we exited the school building. This was their last window of opportunity before the weekends started; the next rain was probably going to wash all the squishy substance away. Edward's charade faltered when his backpack blocked all their dripping missiles. I heard groans and profanities erupt from the crowd.

No avail.

I allowed myself a tiny smug smirk as Edward glowered at the retreating crowd. He opened the door of his Volvo. As he readied to speed away, I saw the person I knocked down in P.E. bring something outstandingly large and wooden out.

I never expected the unfortunate bystander was Rachel Poll. Aka, the person who won the science fair by a landslide with her huge, colossal catapult.

Thank you cursed danger magnet.

Everyone huddled by her, stuffing the homemade launcher with pounds of frost.

"Clear!"

She plucked the string, sending a comet of melting hail upon Edward's Volvo. Edward slammed his foot on the gas, but the damn roads were far too blocked. It collided with the car with a dull thud, clogging the front window. I flinched at the force of it. How could she do this to me?

Edward's face was beyond anger. I glanced at his glare at the review mirror and burst out laughing. His perfect eyebrows looked like a V onto his glorious face. His angel face was piercing. My laughing quickly dissolved.

Uh oh. They had better run. Fast.

The windshield wipers were straining against the ivory cover. Edward sighed and prepared to unlock the door. I saw people crawling up to the car.

"Bella, don't go out." He kissed the edge of my jaw, and my heart fluttered. I kept my eye on him as a sudden

"ATTACK!"

signaled the blizzard. He bravely moved to the front, dodging every flurry expertly, not even bothering to look up as he swept the slushy off the front of his beloved car. The other soft rockets that he dodged pounded the car mercilessly, every time, sending a shock to my body. It was like war!

Poor Edward.

To add to this humiliation, I saw Mike Newton pull down his pants to moon him in the adrenaline of the battle. This was too much. Edward answered the gesture with a sharp counter attack of snow. Mike yelped as he felt the iciness plunge to his butt crack. Edward stiffly re-entered the transportation device, and I was scarred for eternity.

His clothes were soaked and his bronze hair was even more tousled. He punched the gas pedal with more force than needed as he bolted the car to his house. The silence was awkward for both of us.

"Edward!" Emmett rushed to his brother, grin stretching from ear to ear. "Boy, what happened to ya?" His voice joked, portraying his obvious pleasure that his adopted brother was drenched. "Bella, good to see you nice and dry." Emmett's voice was a little disappointed.

"Gee thanks, Emmett." I grumbled. If Edward was annoyed, so was I. I tried to hide in Edward's chest as we passed the pixie, but his restraining hand passed me to Alice.

"Alice, go play with Bella while I change." I shot Edward a pleading look.

Ugh. I would rather go and be cursed with the job of hanging out with Emmett.

"C'mon Bella, let's go see what I got you!" Alice's petite figure clung to me. Such enthusiasm in such a small package. She towed me into her large room and into the living hell, she called Closet. Alice froze. I waited patiently for her to return to the present. Her face was suddenly devilish.

"Bella, meet me downstairs." Almost instantaneously, a loud pounding echoed through her room.

"Alice!" Edward snarled.

"Yes?" Her voice was masked with innocence.

"No! I forbid you to." His voice was muffled, and I was lost.

"But Edward, Emmett will be so excited and Rosalie will even behave this time," Alice cooed.

"No! It's too cold for Bella!" I could hear the door cracking. "She could catch a cold!" Again, Edward fussed over my frail human status.

"I'll do it." I agreed to whatever Alice was up to, wanting to prove to Edward I was stronger than he assumed.

"See Edward? Bella wants to have a snowball fight."

Oh, shit.

I sealed my fate.

I glared knives at her, wishing I was a vampire and was able to rip out her throat. Alice danced forward to reveal a livid Edward in the doorway.

"Alice! How could you?" His voice was seething. Edward wrapped his arms around my waist pulling me to him. Once again, natural blush tainted my face.

"She said yes." Alice's voice was trilling. "Oh, and by the way. You're not on Bella's team."

A hiss slithered out of Edward's mouth. "No, I will be on Bella's team."

"Nope. I will with Emmett. Carlisle says it is fine as long as we would be able to do this somewhere where we won't hurt anyone or smash any property. The usual. He's going to stay home. Esme is going to referee," She foretold, ripping Edward's arm off me and captured me; she scampered in slow motion.

"Bella!" Edward's pale fingers reached for me. His figure was frozen in place.

"Edward!" My hand flew out trying to catch his hand. Our fingers brushed together for one split second, and I felt his hand clench air as my hand was soon out of his grasp when Alice decided to speed up.

Dammit.