I picked Lucy up and we went home. She'd had a good time with Angela, who was still a little nervous around her. She sat at the table while I got something for my dad.

"What did you do today?"

Lucy shrugged, looking at me. Well, that's helpful, isn't it?

"Nothing much. Does she always rant about her ex boyfriends?"

That made me laugh. She usually did that when she was really worked up, what had caused that?

"Only when she gets worked up. Why?"

Lucy shook her head, looking at me.

"No reason. She's cute, when she's flustered. did she really catch them in the park?"

I nodded, remembering the way she reacted. She had been so upset. I'd never seen her like that before.

"Yeah. He tried to say that she wasn't there for him, while Jessica, stood there smirking at her. She .............. Kind of lost it. He'd been there through everything. Through ............. Everything with .......... With Mitch. And he just left her for ........ Jessica. Good God, that boy is dumb."

"Tell me something I don't know. I barely know her and think she's great .............. Wait-"

"It's fine, Lucy. I know you like her."

She blushed, and I nudged her shoulder.

"It's OK, Lucy. Don't worry. If you 2 do end up together, and I've no doubt you will, no one is going to try and stop it. You know my dad has no problem with it."

"Yeah, but if get with someone, won't your dad say something about you being with someone?"

I shook my head, I knew he wouldn't.

"With what happened.......... No, he won't. He'll understand. He didn't even ask when I came out. Eric and Angela did. He said something about me going on dates. I told Alice what happened, and out of everything I told her, she picked out the dates. She was surprised that you noticed the way we were watching each other."

"It wasn't obvious. To people who don't know what to look for, at least. I'm not surprised no one else has noticed. I bet she was happy that you're staying back twice a week?"

I blushed, looking away, and thinking about when I told her. She'd been pretty happy about it.

"Maybe."

That made Lucy laugh. My dad walked in, sitting down. I gave him something and he thanked me.

"So, did you 2 have fun at Angela's?"

Lucy looked at me, smirking, before looking at my dad.

"Yeah, we did. How's work?"

"Fine. School?"

Lucy shrugged. My dad knew she struggled with English, but was happy she was getting extra help.

"English is a pain, but it's OK."

"Bella's pretty good at English. I'm sure she could help you. Right, Bella?"

He looked at me, and I nodded. I had been doing that.

"I have been dad. I stay back on Tuesdays and Fridays. I help with homework to, right?"

Lucy nodded, and remembered something.

"Yeah, hey could you proof read the short story assignment? It's not due until Tuesday, I forgot to ask you."

"It's fine, I'll read it later."

She nodded, and we cleaned up the kitchen while my dad walked into the living room to watch TV. When we were finished, we went upstairs and I helped her go through that essay. It was ............... Well, remember I said she was better with numbers? This proved my point. It took a while, but after telling her several times to remember what Alice said, she listened and we finished it. It was pretty good.

"Use your laptop, it'll make things easier for you. Can't you get something to help you?"

She nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, but-"

"No buts, if it'll help, then use it silly."

She shook her head, looking at me.

"Fine, fine. I will. Have you finished yours?"

I nodded, and we talked for a little while before going to bed.

The next week was fairly quiet, Lucy and I spent more time with Angela, and I stayed back with Alice on Tuesday and Friday. I enjoyed staying back with her, but worried it would mean she would be behind with her classes, but she shook her head and told me not to be silly. She was going to see her sister the following day and I told her to have a good time, and kissed her before I left. I spent the weekend with Angela and Lucy, who'd been here 3 weeks now, and I could definitely see something happening between them. They really got to know one another. I was glad that Angela had found someone who would treat her right.

By the time Lucy had been her for a month, I was waiting for them to kiss or admit to something.

I walked into class 2 weeks before my birthday, and sat next to Angela and Lucy. We had English together. English was easy enough. He told us that we could work on our assignments and sat at his desk. I had mine done, and I knew then other two didn't. Lucy would do hers at home, I knew that.

"So, how are you 2?"

Lucy and I looked at each other, we'd spent the previous day with one another, so she knew.

"We were together yesterday, Angela. You know we're good."

She shook her head, looking away.

"I was only asking because this one."

She looked at Lucy, who was staring out the window. She had been staring at Angela, but looked away when Angela spoke.

"Keeps zoning out."

I kicked Lucy, getting her attention. She looked at me, frowning.

"Hey!"

"If you didn't zone out constantly, I wouldn't do that."

She grumbled, but didn't say anything.

"Anyway, are you staying back today, Lucy?"

Lucy smiled at Angela, nodding.

"Yeah, I stay back on Tuesdays and Fridays."

It was Friday, so she would be staying back.

I grabbed my stuff, walking to Alice's class after school. I put my bag by her desk and sat down next to her. She smiled at me, turning to look at me.

"Hey, you OK? You seemed distracted in class?"

I frowned, not understanding what she meant.

"I'm fine, don't worry. What about you?"

She shook her head, rubbing her neck.

"I'm OK. What about Lucy and Angela? Have they-"

"Not yet, but soon. Very soon."

She nodded, and I took her hand. She squeezed my hand and I smiled at her.

"Yeah. At least Lucy will treat her better than Eric did. She seems pretty nice."

That made me smile, I was glad that Alice liked her.

"She is. I have to keep telling her what you told her about finding stuff difficult. She gets upset over the whole dyslexia thing."

Alice nodded, looking at me.

"Yeah, it's tough. But, keep telling her that. Hopefully, it'll sink in."

I nodded, rubbing the back of her hand with my thumb. She moved a little closer to me. She had been much more relaxed over the past 2 weeks, something which surprised me. When I'd asked her about it, she'd just shook her head, and told me that what I'd said about spending time with her really meant a lot. I was glad that I'd done something right.

"Hopefully."

"Yeah, you want to go up to our spot tomorrow?"

I nodded, we hadn't been up there in a while, and I wanted to go back up.

"Sure, my dad's going to be out the whole weekend, starting tonight. I'm sure Lucy and Angela can spend time together."

She nodded, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head. She froze, but I laughed, shaking my head.

"Relax. It's Friday. No one's going to be here."

She relaxed against me, a little. She always froze when I done stuff like that in school. But, I always done that, when I was sure people weren't around. We never used our pet names, unless there was no danger of anyone hearing us. I'd never hear the end of it if Lucy heard me calling her pixie. Ever. And, I didn't even want to consider how a teacher would react to her calling me baby. I like it, but I'm sure they wouldn't.

"I know. It's just-"

"I know. Don't worry."

"You know me pretty well, don't you?"

She smiled and it made me laugh.

"Better than myself sometime."

She raised and eyebrow and I blushed.

"Well, how many others know you're ticklish and have a tattoo?"

"How many other people have you given one of your drawings to?"

I just looked at her, not saying anything. She shook her head, looking away.

"So, will I pick you up or-"

"Yeah, Angela can pick up Lucy. Or they might stay in my house. Angela's brothers will bother them."

Alice nodded, and Lucy knocked on the door. We looked up and she noticed the way were sitting.

"I just wanted to tell you I was finished. I'll wait outside."

She walked out, and I looked at Alice. She smiled at me, telling me she'd pick me up at 9:30. I was used to getting up early on Saturdays now. I kissed her, and left.

I told Lucy and Angela about the following day, neither of them seemed to mind. They decided that they would spend the day at my house, seeing as they didn't want Angela's brothers bothering them. They were only 4 and 7, so they wouldn't leave them alone. Angela's parents were going to be home, so Angela could stay later than she usually would. I done my homework, helped Lucy and went to bed after talking to Alice for a while.

I got up the next morning, got ready and nearly strangled Lucy. All before 9. She kept teasing me about Alice. She was saved when there was a knock on the door. She laughed, and went up to her room. Alice smiled at me, as I closed the door. I took her hand as she drove, and she squeezed my hand.

"What time is Angela coming over?"

"About 10. You don't wake her before 9 on Saturday."

"Not a morning person?"

I shook my head. She really wasn't.

"No, she's not. I was the same, until I met a certain pixie."

That made her laugh. I used to hate getting up before 10:30. But, now I didn't mind being up before 9. But, when you're spending the day with Alice, who would?

We arrived and sat on the blanket. She leaned against me. She was rubbing her neck, like she had the previous day.

"You OK?"

She nodded, looking at me.

"Yeah, I just-"

"Want me to help?"

I didn't mind, but I wasn't sure how she'd react. She never liked people being behind her. She thought about it for a few minutes and nodded. I was surprised, but happy, that she was letting me do this. She moved, leaning against me. I started massaging her neck and it seemed to help.

She twitched and I stopped. She turned to look at me, smiling.

"It's OK, baby. It helped."

I nodded, and she surprised me by leaning back against me.

"Hey, are you sure you're comfortable with this?"

She shook her head, laughing.

"It's OK, baby. I don't do this with anyone, baby. Come here."

She turned around, kissing me. We lay on the blanket, kissing for a while. She really surprised me, I wasn't pushing her to do anything. I pulled away, looking at her.

"Alice, where is this coming from?"

She leaned her forehead against mine. She took a deep breath, looking at me.

"Remember what I said before about-"

"Alice, if this is about you showing that you care, I know you love me, and I love you to. I don't need anything other than you next to me."

She blushed, looking at me.

"Bella, I want to be more open with you. I really do. These past few months .................. It's been amazing. I couldn't be this open with anyone other than family before I met you. I love you, baby."

That meant a lot to me, hearing her say that. But, I still worried about pushing her.

"I love you to, pixie. I just don't want to push-"

"I instigated it, baby. I noticed you were letting me-"

"Because I don't want to do anything that startles you."

She shook her head, looking at me.

"This is what I'm talking about. You're the only one I can be like this with. And I doubt you can act silly about cuddles with Angela."

She had a point, Angela would think I'm being weird. But, she seemed OK, with us getting closer. We lay on the blanket cuddling for the rest of the day, and I fell asleep on her shoulder.

I woke up, cuddled up to a smiling pixie. I was really close to her, and immediately tried to move. But, she stopped me.

"It's OK, baby. I do the same thing. Want to go back?"

I didn't want to go home, I wanted to spend more time with her.

"How about we pick something up for you and go back to my apartment?"

I nodded, smiling. She laughed, kissing me and asking me to get up. I realised I was squashing her and moved. I helped her up and we went back to my house. I ran inside, and noticed the house was really quiet. I assumed they'd gone out. I grabbed stuff, stuffed it in a bag and walked back down stairs to see Alice looking at a photo of Lucy, Angela and I. We'd taken that when Lucy had first moved here. Angela held it out and we were acting like idiots.

"Do I want to know?"

"No. You really don't. We were trying to cheer up Lucy."

Alice nodded, and we went back to her apartment. I threw my stuff in the corner and sat on the couch, next to her. We got something to eat and sat together talking for the rest of the night.