A.N. Hi all! I was not going to put a note at the begging of this chapter but the other day I received a review that really upset me. It was from a reader that was not logged in and was basically abusing me for not updating. I know that I am not the most consistent when it comes to updates but no one out there in reader land knows what is going on in an author's or beta's lives that may stop them from updating. So please, if you want to tell me that you think I should update more or sooner, please do it nicely. If I get another anonymous review like that I will make it so that you have to be logged in to review and I don't really want to do that.

Remember dear readers, we all are lucky that authors choose to put their stories out there for us to read in the first place, so don't bite the hand that feeds you...

Chapter 9

Edward POV

Despite his best intentions, Edward found himself completely tongue tied throughout the hour long biology lesson. Sitting there at the back of the classroom next to him, the scent of lavender surrounding him, he watched Jason out of the corner of his eye. Everything about Jason Swan enchanted him. The way his hair occasionally fell into his eyes, the way he fiddled with his pencil as he listened to the teacher talk, and then there was the cute way he would bite his bottom lip as he was thinking.

As Edward sat there, he tried to think of some `conversation starters'.

'Hi Jason, how was your weekend?'

'Jason, how has your day been so far?'

'Hey Jason, I was wondering, want to catch a movie after school?'

Mentally, he smacked himself on the head; he couldn't help but think of how creepy he would seem if he uttered that last one. He had barely spoken to Jason and the guy seemed to get along better with Alice than Edward himself! What kind of weirdo would he be if he suddenly asked a guy out? Especially one that barely knew him.

Thinking about it, the second one was probably the best out of the three. It was nice and simple, casual without seeming too interested. Deciding to go for it, Edward turned to Jason and opened his mouth, only for the bell to sound out the end of the lesson.

'You've got to be kidding me!' He thought in disbelief, glaring at nothing in particular as Jason scooped up his stuff and quickly made his way out of the room along with the rest of the students. He'd missed his chance! Now he'd have to wait until after school to see him again.

As soon as he was sure the room was empty and he heard the door click shut, he allowed his head to fall and hit the shiny black desktop.

"Idiot."

Alice POV.

Leaning against the driver side door of Edward's shiny silver Volvo, Alice looked around the car park as she waited for her brothers and sister to arrive. School had only just ended but her class had been allowed out early as the teacher had an appointment at the dentist. Alice would be the first to admit that she hadn't really been paying attention, far more interested in leaving the class and getting outside so that she could watch the fun begin.

It had been entertaining earlier, watching her poor brother stew in his own jealousy during lunch when Jason had sat with Mike and his goons. She was sure that if looks could kill, Newton would be six feet under. Of course, it had only gotten worse when Jessica had arrived and began fawning over Jason as if he was the last man on earth. Alice had briefly entertained the idea of telling Jessica the truth about Jason just to see the look on her face when she realised she was flirting with a girl!

Alice was pulled from her fantasies of what Jessica's face would look like, by the sight of Jason walking towards 'his' car, his mind clearly on other things' as he didn't appear to notice the shadow that he had acquired. If Edward was trying to be discrete he was failing at it spectacularly. It was completely obvious he was following Jason and, if the determined look on his face was anything to go by, Alice was sure she was in for something amusing.

"Jason!" Edward called out, causing said person to turn around in surprise.

Alice causally slid along the side of the car so she was standing closer to the conversation taking place.

"Edward? Did you need something?" Jason asked, though there was something in his tone of voice suggesting that he was less than impressed with Alice's brother right now.

"Um... no, I was just... you know, wondering... how you were?" Edward asked, clearly awkward as he stopped before her, hand reaching up and nervously running though his hair.

"I'm fine." Jason crossed his arms over his chest.

Alice wasn't sure what Edward had done this time, but even from this distance she could tell that he had managed to annoy the hell out of Jason.

"Oh, that's great… So, how was your weekend?" Edward asked, before wincing slightly as if he regretted bringing it up.

'Why wouldn't he want to talk about the weekend?' Alice wondered quietly to herself, as she tried to lean in closer so as not to miss anything.

Jason just stared at him for a moment, as if arguing with himself about something, before sighing and seeming to give in.

"It was fun; I went down to La Push with Jacob Black, they had a bonfire on the Reservation." A small smile quirked the corner of his lips as he spoke Jacob's name.

"Jacob Black?" Alice started slightly at the coldness that suddenly entered her brother's voice. "Isn't he some kind of delinquent or something?" Edward asked, looking away form Jason as he spoke.

'Oh Edward. Somebody's jeal-ous!' Alice sing-songed in her head.

Anger flashed across Jason's face and he took a small step away from Edward, clearly offended on Jacob Black's behalf.

"He's not a delinquent. But he's probably not up to your usual standards of what constitutes a civilized person." Jason's voice was full of acid and sarcasm. Edward appeared lost as to what he could say to salvage the situation as his eyes widened slightly in shock.

"You're a real jerk, Edward Cullen! A snobbish jerk!" With his piece said, Jason swung around and stomped off to his car, wrenching open the door and slamming it shut behind him. Without sparing another look in Edward's direction he started the old truck and drove out of the car park, clearly annoyed.

As Edward turned around, he started slightly at the sight of Alice watching him. She merely raised an eye-brow as she moved back to the car door, causing him to wince again before dragging his feet towards her.

"Not one word." He hissed through clenched teeth, eyes glancing frantically between her and their siblings who were fast approaching.

"Not a word about what, brother dearest?" Alice asked innocently.

They stared at one another for a moment before she couldn't help herself and allowed an amused smile to shine through. He groaned quietly at her, clearly realising she knew about his newfound crush.

"How did you know?" he moaned, pulling open the drivers side door and resting his forehead against the car roof.

"You have the same look on your face when you're talking to him that Jazzie does when he looks at me. I won't say anything else now, Edward. But we are going to have a talk about this later." She said quietly, before opening a car door and sliding inside.

Carlisle POV.

When Carlisle pulled his car into the garage it was already dark outside. It had been a long day at work and there was nothing he was looking forward to more than having something to eat and then crawling into bed with his wife for a nice long sleep. However, those plans were dashed when, upon opening the door to his office to put away his bag before heading back to the kitchen for dinner, he found it wasn't empty like he'd expected it to be.

The desk lamp was on and Edward was standing in front of the large floor length window at the far end of the room, a distracted look upon his face.

"Edward?" Carlisle called out quietly, surprised when Edward jumped slightly and spun around, an almost guilty look splashed across his face.

'What on earth is going on? Edward hardly ever comes into my office, let alone without me in it already.' He thought, stepping slowly through the doorframe.

"Carlisle! I didn't realise you were home already." As he spoke, Edward refused to meet Carlisle's eyes, looking almost over the top of his head instead.

'Ok, something is seriously wrong.' Carlisle realised as he closed his door behind him and locked it, making sure that none of the other house's occupants could interrupt what he was sure would be a serious and private talk.

"Edward, why don't you take a seat?" said Carlisle softly, as he offered him the chair standing in front of his desk as he moved further into the room. Setting down his bag and taking a seat behind the desk he leant forward slightly and rested his arms on his desk, watching Edward closely.

Edward moved towards the seat and sat down obediently, hands fisted on his knees and head slightly bowed looking just as tired as Carlisle felt. He sat still for a moment before letting out a loud sigh.

"Is there something bothering you, son?" Carlisle asked, purposely making his voice light in an effort to try and make Edward feel as comfortable as possible.

Bitting his lip in a rare show of nervousness, Edward spoke slowly.

"I think... well, I'm pretty sure… you see it has to be true, it's all I've been able to think about since then and... it's not a bad thing. Well I don't think it is, something this good can't be bad, right? And you've always said you'll love us no matter what, so it shouldn't change anything. Just make it... different. Not that there's anything wrong with different, it's just-"

"Edward." Carlisle cut him out of his rambling, causing the slightly hysterical boy to take a deep breath and slump down in his chair slightly. Carlisle sat silently, waiting for the boy to take collect himself before speaking again.

"Carlisle... dad... I think I'm... g-gay." Edward whispered.

Carlisle looked at him blankly; that single word echoing through his head as he sat in a shocked silence.

"Gay?" He asked, voice breaking slightly in the middle of the word like he was sixteen again.

Edward merely sat, head bowed, hands clenched so tightly his knuckles were white with the strain. He almost looked like he was waiting for his name to be called for the gallows.

'My son is... gay?'

"So…" Carlisle cleared his throat and tried again. "So, you like... boys?" He asked as nothing else coming to mind.

"Yes... well, no. It's just, there's this one guy at school." Edward's voice was very quiet and Carlisle almost had to strain his ears to ear the words.

"Oh, so... you like a boy at school." Carlisle repeated like a parrot as he nodded his head slightly, his mind still spinning with this revelation. Some how he had only ever thought he'd be having a conversation about boys with his two daughters, if at all.

"Yeah, his name is Jason… but I think he hates me, no I know he hates me." Edward's shoulders, if possible, seemed to slump even further and he dropped his head, his face gaining a sad and almost longing look.

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you." Carlisle said, almost automatically.

Slowly Edward looked back up at him, uncertainty clouding his green eyes.

"Are you… you know, ok… with this?" He asked, hand waving around before him to signify 'this'.

"Edward… I'll admit it's a bit of a shock, but it's not like there's anything wrong with liking someone." Standing up, Carlisle moved around the desk between them before perching himself on the edge of the desk directly in front of Edward and laying his hands on his son's shoulders.

"You know your mother and I will love you, no matter who you like, be it a boy or a girl. You're still going to be our son." Carlisle smiled encouragingly and was rewarded with the most relieved look he'd seen on Edward's face since the day he and Esme had told the boy they were taking him home with them.

"Thank you." Edward whispered.

Smiling, Carlisle moved his hands from his son's shoulders and instead took one of his hands, holding it tightly in his own to show his love and support.

"Now, why would you think this boy doesn't like you?" Carlisle asked, still finding the word 'boy' odd on his tongue.

"Well, he called me a snobbish jerk this afternoon." Edward muttered sadly, closing his eyes and tilting his head back and letting out a huff.

'Well… you do have to be careful or you can come off that way to some people.' Carlisle thought amusedly to himself. He knew the boy didn't mean to, but sometimes he could be too blunt for most people to take.

"Well, why don't you try apologising to him? Sometimes you can come off a little strongly to people that don't know you as well as your family does." Carlisle offered, seeing the slightly distressed look start to slide off Edward's face meaning he was relaxing again, no longer afraid of being told off for liking a boy.

"Yeah, I guess." Sighing again, Edward pulled away and stood up.

"Thanks Carlisle, for... you know... everything." Offering a small smile he headed for the door. However, just as he was about to open it, Carlisle called out to him.

"I'm proud of you, Edward. Thank you... for having the courage to tell me." He said, meaning every word.

The large smile that Edward sent back at him reminded Carlisle once again why he loved being a father.

Bella POV.

Grunting in frustration as she left the cab of her truck, Bella slammed the door closed before stomping over to the door of her house.

'What an arrogant jerk! How dare he say something like that about Jacob! They've never even met before!' She paused in her internal monologue for a moment. 'Well, I don't think they've ever met before… But even if they had, Jacob isn't some stupid delinquent or something!'

Angrily shoving the key into the lock, Bella made it inside and closed the door before climbing the stairs to her room, making sure to stomp extra hard on each step in an effort to release some of her frustrations.

Working out her frustrations by attacking her homework and stabbing the vegetables that she was planning on throwing into a stew, Bella felt herself calming down, deciding that it didn't really matter what Edward said. He was an idiot, and that was all there was to it. An arrogant idiot, but an idiot nonetheless.

She sighed as the phone rang, before putting the stew down to a light simmer and moving over to pick up the phone.

"Hello? Swan residence." She said politely, wiping her hands clean on a leftover tea towel, the phone caught between her ear and shoulder.

"Bella, baby!"

A cold feeling stirred in her gut at the familiarity of the male voice on the other end of the phone.

"James?" She asked.

"Who else would it be?" Though he phrased it as a question he kept talking, preventing her from answering. "Now baby, I know you said you wanted it to be over with, and I respect that – I do! But don't you think we should give it one more try, just to be completely sure." He said, his voice smooth and confident that he would get his way.

'The last thing I need is a boyfriend.' She thought dryly, imagining how awkward that would make everything here.

"James, I don't think-"

"So that's why I'm going to head over to little old Forks and spend some time with you." He cut in, "I know we can make this work, baby. I'll see you tomorrow around lunch, I'll even drop in and see you at school, that's how dedicated I am to you, baby."

"No, James I-"

"See you later, baby." He cut her off again and without another word hung up.

"Shit!" Bella cried out, slamming the phone back onto its cradle. This was going to destroy everything she'd built so far! There was no way she could convince James to just go away now that he was on his way here and he'd be even less inclined to play along with what she was doing.

"Ok, Bella think. There has got to be a way to work this out." She told herself as she ran a hand through her short hair nervously.

Finishing up the stew and grabbing herself a bowl before heading off upstairs, Bella let the worry and stress of what was coming tomorrow overwhelm her. As she climbed into bed hours later she had still not come up with a clear cut decision of what to do. The only thing that she could think of was to wait and see what would happen. Closing her eyes and turning off her bedside light she realised that she couldn't even ring James or anything as he changed phones and numbers like people changed their underwear.

Edward POV

It was much easier for Carlisle to simply say that he should apologise to Jason, than to actually perform the act.

So far, Edward's day had been pretty bad. First of all, he knew Alice knew that he liked Jason. He had hoped that, for once in her life, she wouldn't realise something someone didn't want her to know. But, as with everything else in his life at the moment, his wish hadn't come true and now she was continually giving him looks that were a harsh mix of pity and amusement. He supposed he should be grateful she hadn't said anything to anyone else yet. But he was sure it was only a matter of time before Jasper managed to get the truth out of her and once he knew he'd say something to Emmett and then the whole world would know.

As if that annoying point wasn't bad enough, when he had arrived at school he had managed to catch Jason's eye across the car park, but the boy had merely frowned at him before turning away. Clearly he was still annoyed about what Edward had said yesterday. Realistically, Edward knew he had been out of line saying that Black was a delinquent; he didn't even know the guy. But from an emotional point of view, the one he was relying on mostly these days, Jacob Black was the biggest delinquent to walk to earth and if he kept hanging around Jason he was a jackass as well!

Sighing, Edward walked slowly outside into the bright sunlight. As it was such a nice day, he was planning on sitting outside to have his lunch. Grabbing a table, he absentmindedly pulled out his food as his siblings sat down around him.

"Why so down, Eddy-poo?" Emmett punched him on the shoulder, amused smirk on his face.

"Get lost." Edward muttered, not in the mood for the guy's jokes.

Emmett was prevented from antagonizing him further by the sound of a loud engine. Looking around, they saw a car pulling up as close to the lunch area as possible. Opening the door to the car, a man stepped out. He was not the typical person that one would think would turn up at Forks High in the middle of a school day. He was tall. Probably at leat 6"2' and was dressed stylishly but for a warmer climate then the ones usually found in Forks. He also had long blond hair that was tied back into a ponytail, although he looked to be about the right age to be in school, Edward hadn't heard of a new student, so what was he doing here?

Edward watched curiously as the man glanced around the yard, clearly looking for someone. What happened next completely shocked him though.

Jason suddenly went up to the man and, the man, grinning like an idiot suddenly pulled him into his arms, hugging him tightly. At the sight of Jason returning the hug caused jealousy to begin welling up in Edward's stomach once again. This feeling was beginning to become annoyingly familiar and completely unwelcome.

As Jason pulled away and smiled up at the other man, Edward decided he didn't like the look of things and that his day just got one hundred times worse.

'Who the hell is this jackass?'

A.N. Hi again! Well there was chapter 9! Do you love me and Silversmile? Hu? Hu? Well did you at least love caring Carlisle? So I don't think I have anything to say here except for that I don't know when the next update will be because of school and another big thankyou to Silversmile who, by now, I should have posted a link to her profile in mine so go read her stuff! But not before reviewing this!

Thanks,

Yukiru-4-eva!