Alice left on Sunday. I missed her, yes, but it was great that she go to see her family. I woke up on Wednesday, and my dad was calling me. I got up and got ready. I walked downstairs and found my dad sitting at the table.

"What's wrong?"

He shook his head, looking at me.

"Nothing. It's nearly 1 o'clock, you feeling OK?"

I nodded. When I have time off, I sleep late, sue me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."

He didn't say anything, and I went back up to my room. My phone beeped and it was Angela. She wanted me to come over. I asked my dad and he said I could. I told Angela that I'd be over, and left.

"So, where's Eric?"

I sat down on Angela's bed, looking at her. She had said that Eric was on his way over.

"He'll be here in a few minutes."

There was a knock on the door, and Angela went downstairs. A few minutes later. she walked back in with Eric. He sat down, next to Angela.

"Hey Bella, hows your head?"

"It's OK, doesn't hurt to much."

He nodded, and I noticed Angela grab his hand. I noticed Angela was smiling, and I had a bad feeling about that.

"Bella was trying to guess our pet names for each other."

Eric looked at me, while I glared at Angela.

"I was not. I had to stop you telling me."

I looked at Eric.

"What you two call each other is not something I need to know."

Angela laughed, leaning against Eric. Eric shifted a little, making room for Angela. He moved a little closer to me, and stopped. He turned to look at me.

"Bella, is this OK? I can move if you want."

I shook my head, he wasn't to close.

"You're OK there Eric."

I trusted Eric, but he was close enough.

"You sure?"

I shook my head. Angela looked at me, making sure I was OK.

"It's fine Eric. I'm getting better with this stuff. How are you after everything?"

"I'm OK. Angela told me about Friday. I'm glad he got something, shame it wasn't longer."

I shrugged, he wouldn't be able to bother me anymore.

"Yeah, I know. But, he won't bother me again."

Angela smiled at me. I felt great about them being there for me. Eric was great when Angela stayed with me after what happened. Telling him about Alice and I though, would be a big mistake. That guy couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"No, he won't."

I spent the rest of the week talking with Alice and with Angela. Apparently her brother had been bothering her, and she was tempted to do something about it. I tried to talk her out of it, but I don't think it worked.

I went back to school on Monday, and walked to English. Kevin smiled at me, asking me how I was feeling. Everyone had heard about what had happened and was happy about it.

"Hey, you feeling OK?"

I nodded, sitting next to Angela.

"Yeah, I'm OK."

"Glad your girlfriend is back?"

"What do you think?"

She just looked at me, trying not to laugh.

"I'm going to take that as a yes."

I shook my head. I really had missed her.

"I missed her, sue me."

"I know you did. I was going to say that I thought you two were cute."

My head hit the desk, making her laugh. I hated when she said that. I had missed her, but her saying that made me blush.

I walked into chemistry, taking out my stuff. Alice walked in, and started the class. She said there would be an exam on Friday, and most of the class groaned and started complaining. She smiled, looking around. She looked at me, before looking away quickly. I could see she was happy to see me. She started the class and everyone stopped talking and started working.

"Bella, can I talk to you please?"

I had been expecting this. I grabbed my jacket, and put my stuff away. I walked up to her desk, smiling at her.

"Is everything OK, Ms. Brandon?"

The last person left, and I sat in the chair by her desk. She put something away, and turned to look at me.

"Is your brother still alive?"

She sighed, shaking her head.

"The idiot kept teasing me, and I ............"

"What did you do, pixie?"

She ran her hand through her hair, but I didn't think she was nervous.

"You OK?"

She nodded, reaching over to take my hand.

"I'm fine, baby. He was annoying me and I hit him. A lot. No one even tries to stop us anymore."

"I'm guessing that happened a lot during the week?"

She nodded, running her hand through her hair again. I caught her hand in mine, and she looked at me.

"Relax, pixie. He's your brother, he's suppose to annoy you. Although, you hitting him, is something that I'm having trouble with."

She glared at me, and I had to stop myself from kissing her.

"Are you saying something about my height?"

She was playing, but I tried to keep a straight face.

"He's 6'6. You're what 5'1?"

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with that!"

I couldn't help it, I started laughing. I moved closer to her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders.

"Of course there's not, pixie. I just think it's funny that he's the one you fight with."

She relax, and moved away.

"If he didn't annoy me, I wouldn't feel like doing that."

"Something tells me, you two would find something to fight about."

She go of my hand and hit my arm. I laughed, but didn't say anything.

"So, how was your week?"

"OK, spent time with Angela. She made a joke about pet names, and what I call you."

Alice looked at me, waiting for me to continue.

"Please tell me you didn't tell her?"

I shook my head.

"Why would I tell her that? I don't care if she wants to use her pet name for him in public. But, there was no way I was going to tell her that. You thought I'd actually tell her that?"

"Of course not.. From what you've said, Angela has a way of dragging things like that out of people."

"She does. When she's talking to someone who isn't me. She can't get stuff like that out of me that easily. The day I told her about us, I told her before lunch to come over, and ignored the constant questions until after school. She knows that when I say no, I mean it."

I kissed her and left, wanting to get home before my dad.

The next week or so was fairly quiet, and I did pretty well on that chemistry test. Something my dad found weird. I just told him that since I had to take it, I didn't want to fail. He was pleased that I was actually trying, even if he didn't know the full story.

"Hey, you busy Saturday?"

I looked at Angela. It was Wednesday, and I was at my desk, doing an assignment for English.

"No, why? You say shopping and I swear I'll"

"Even if it's Christmas shopping?"

I finished what I was doing and put my stuff away.

"Fine. What are you getting Eric?"

She shrugged, not really to sure.

"I'm not sure. What about you?"

I had been thinking about that. I had a few ideas.

"She likes celtic stuff, so I'll probably go with that."

"Celtic?"

I grabbed my laptop, and found an example of what I meant. Angela thought it was a good idea.

"That's a good idea. I'm sure we can find something that'll work."

I got up on Saturday, and got ready. My dad knew I was going out with Angela, and told me to have fun when I left. Alice thought I was just spending time with her, she didn't know where we were going. I grabbed a jacket, and left when Angela arrived.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

I was tired of people asking me that.

"I'm fine. The next person who asks me that won't be."

"Sorry, Bella. i'm just worried about you."

I sighed, looking at her.

"I know. I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"It's OK. I know that gets annoying."

We had been walking around for about an hour, she was trying to decide what to get Eric.

"Angela, it's not that difficult. Pick. Something."

She stopped, turning to look at me.

"And where's yours?"

"We haven't seen anything that I'm looking for yet. Come on."

We passed a store, and I spotted something. I told Angela to keep looking, and that I'd be right back. I got it and found Angela in another store. She had found something for Eric and was looking for something for her little brother.

"You OK? What's that?"

"I found something. I'll show you later."