Disclaimer: All the usual B.S, any similarities are purely coincidental, yadda yadda let's get to the good stuff. _____________________________________________________ "I'm gonna talk to Naomi" Kelly said while rubbing her knuckles "Just ask her a few harmless questions under the threat of imense pain and suffering, y'know how it works" Edward stared blankly at Kelly while Avery just chuckled before speaking out "This is the type of company you keep? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm down for what she said, but is everybody around you as crazy as you?" Edward shook his head with a mild smile "You have no idea. And no Kelly, I don't want to do this violently, at least not yet. I'll try the diplomatic route first. Naomi sounds reasonable." Kelly just shrugged before the bell rung, making all three of them vacate the football field and head to their individual classes. As soon as Edward got into his classroom his gaze met Naomi's. She was smiling at him until he mouthed 'later' at her with the sternest look possible, which caused her to lightly shiver and look away. This exchange wasn't missed by Hannah who kept her eyes trained on Edward without him noticing. She tried to ask him something as he sat down at his desk, but their teacher entered the classroom before she could. After a boring class that he half listened to, Edward got his things together before rushing out of the classroom. Most of the class had left already, only Hannah and Naomi still inside the classroom, Naomi just waiting for Edward to get as far away from school as possible, and Hannah just wanting to know what's happening. The only reason Joshua wasn't trying to hit on the redhead or just watch her was because the football team had practice. "The hell was that?" Hannah asked Naomi who just shrugged, her poker face almost shaken "What was what?" "That earlier, that look that Edward gave you. What happened?" "I don't know what you're talking about" Naomi said before getting up herself, thinking that she had given Edward enough time to leave the school. After all, who wants to stay in school after classes were over? As soon as she crossed the door she was surprised by someone clearing their throat. She looked to her side only to see Edward leaning on the wall, waiting for her. "Naomi, we need to talk. Urgently." Hannah was right behind Naomi, looking at Edward before asking "Edward? Is everything alright?" Edward shrugged before locking his eyes on Naomi's "I don't know, ask Naomi." Naomi was stuck in place, scared of Edward. Even Hannah froze at hearing his cold tone. Edward simply motioned with his head for Naomi to follow him before making his way around the school's corridors, ending up under the bleachers of the football field, the same place he fought Bosh's group at, just outside of view of the football club. Naomi opened her mouth the speak, but then closed it, not knowing what to say. Edward just leaned onto the wall, crossing his arms as he looked at Naomi intently, his eyes asking a question that she would not answer. After a few minutes of this, right as Hannah was about to speak, Edward simply asked "Who and why?" Hannah sighed deeply. Naomi was biting her lip in nervousness and she didn't want to stay confused any longer "What the hell happened? What are you guys talking about?" "You remember when Naomi talked to me and asked me out?" Hannah nodded, her eyes moving from Edward to Naomi, then back to Edward "Yeah, so?" Edward's gaze got even more intense, making Naomi squirm in place "She set me up. I was supposed to get beat up. Now all I want to know is who put her up to it, and why. And I swear to god, if it was that Tyler fuck, I'll..." "It wasn't Tyler." Naomi said in a low tone, her eyes on her feet as she was afraid of meeting Edward's gaze "It was Jennifer" Edward raised his eyebrow, and as Hannah was about to give Naomi a tongue lashing Naomi sounded out in a panicked tone "It wasn't supposed to go like that! She said that I was supposed to take you there and she was just going to try and humiliate you or something. She told me to just go along with whatever happened no matter what because you'd wuss out if the going got tough!" "And the why?" Naomi looked up at Edward, even more scared than before. She knew her reason would be the worst part of it all, but since she started speaking, she'd just go all the way "Money. She was going to pay me good. I need the money." Edward sighed, dropping his stone-cold gaze in favor of a more amused one, his lips quirked in a small smirk "Isn't it better to just be honest about things?" "What?" Hannah was still silent, Naomi was surprised at his sudden mood shift but Edward just kept talking in his cheery tone "At least you came forward about it, no bullshit, no nothing. That just salvaged your image in my eyes. If you had lied, that'd be it and you'd be nothing." "So... you're not going to beat me up?" Edward frowned at that "Why would I beat you up? I'm not a freaking monster... Most of the time. I might be an asshole, but I'm not the Joshua type of asshole." "So what now?" Hannah asked, prompting Edward's smirk to turn into a full-blown grin "Naomi helps me get even. That'll get her squared up on my scale, and bring my trust level in her from the negatives back to zero. Plus, it'll be helping another friend. Now, I gots to bounce. Adiós, muchachas" He said giving them a two-finger salute while walking away from them, checking his watch '3:00 PM, huh?... I guess I've got enough time' Edward shot James a text saying that he'd be home before 6... and that he wanted to talk about what happened. He typed the last part out with a frown, knowing how bad he had mucked up. He then gave Kelly a call, telling her everything that Naomi had told her. "So you forgave her, just like that? You could've been beaten up bad that night." "But I wasn't. And I even made a new friend. That's gotta count for something, right?" "If you say so... I still think I should show her some of my Tae-Kwon-Do moves. The lite versions, of course." "Not my style, Kelly. We're not Bullies, remember that. She was just a pawn, and she didn't actually cause any damage. Anyway, gotta go. Talk to you later." "Later." She answered before Edward turned the call off. '3:45 . Football club should be done by now' Edward thought as he made his way to the field, seeing the cheerleaders trying out some of their formations. "Huh. Wasn't expecting that." he thought out loud, hearing a familiar latina's voice answering "Neither was I." Edward turned to look at Esmeralda, taking in her simple look once again, a grey tee doing nothing to hide her natural curves, and a pair of Jeans that showed off her shapely legs and ass to their full capacity. "Esmeralda. You're early." he said playfully, before following up with a smirk "You were that excited to meet me alone?" She smirked back at him, deciding to play his game "I could say the same. At least I was the inviter. You're the invitee, and you're 15 minutes early. Or did you come here just to look at some fine-ass cheerleaders?" "If I want to look at a fine ass, I'll look at yours. Twice as hot, half as bitchy." "You implying I'm bitchy?" "It's part of your charm. You know, fiery latina, blunt and straight to the point, snarky and just bitchy enough to be cute without being annoying." "So you're saying I'm cute." Edward sighed dramatically, faking a small frown as he met her gaze as if it were hard for him to say it "Fine. Beautiful, smoking hot, a total babe." He finished the sentence before looking at Esmeralda and grinning. She still sported her small smirk before they both went quiet for a while. "So" she started "Your life sounds fucked up." Edward chuckled lightly "Yeah, it was. Well, still is I guess." "You want to talk about it?" Edward sighed, shaking his head "Not really. Bad memories, some of them I'm not ready to deal with yet. Talking about them depresses me, and I don't like acting like a miserable, broody little bitch. It's irritating." "And that's why I like you." "Wait, like as in 'like', or 'like like'?" Edward asked teasingly, to which Esmeralda responded simply with "Don't know yet. We'll see." Edward looked at Esmeralda for a while, watching her watching the cheerleader practice "What about you? Any tragic backstories that you'd rather not talk about?" "Yes for the backstory part, no to the tragic part, maybe for the talking about part." "Maybe?" "I'm still deciding if you deserve to know or not." "Huh. And how are you going to reach the decision?" "When I know if I want you close to me or not." "Ah. So you want to know if I can be trusted. I dig that." Edward got silent again, still watching Esmeralda's face as if he were waiting for something. She looked back at him, meeting his gaze before she spoke "You kicked that guy's ass yesterday. You don't look like the type who kicks asses and takes names" "That's because I don't take names. I only kick asses. And if said asses try to come after me again, I kick them again. And again. Also... Do you have a fetish for violence or something? Because the first time we met you didn't spare a second glance at me, but as soon as I snap at you and threaten you your panties get wetter than an olympic swimmer." Esmeralda shrugged before answering "I have a thing for guys with balls of the Manly variety. Boys are not welcome. I thought we established that earlier, no?" "Well, I was blinded by rage one moment, and by lust right after so forgive me for not remembering." Esmeralda sighed before speaking "My father ran out on me and my mother." Edward became serious as he felt her mood shift, knowing that she decided to trust him with her story. "I was really young. He couldn't take charge of his life, deal with his responsibilities with me and mi mamá, so he ran. He disappeared and left me and my momwith no money and no way to feed ourselves. She did her best to take care of me, working double, and sometimes triple shifts at those low-end, time-consuming jobs like waitressing, and working at fast food joints, and trying to make time to take care of me at the same time. I was pretty much alone for most of the time anyway. Then my mom got sick. The doctors said she worked herself to exhaustion, and her body was screaming at her to rest. Well, she didn't listen to her body and soon my remaining family were just my abuelos." Edward looked at Esmeralda, saw the hurt in her eyes and instinctively hugged her "I'm sorry." "Esmeralda hugged back lightly, speaking in a low tone "Don't worry, I'm over it. Mostly." After a while Esmeralda pulled away from Edward, who decided to lighten the mood "I guess I was on point about the tragic backstory thing, huh?" Esmeralda smirked, but before she could answer they heard an annoying voice directed at them. Jennifer had broken off from her squad just to try and talk smack to Edward "Oh, look at who we have here. The pervert who tried to cop a feel from me last night" she said loudly, the entire cheerleading squad paying attention to the exchange. Esmeralda opened her mouth to say something, but Edward just sighed loudly before saying "Didn't I humiliate you enough yesterday, Jennifer? Plus, why would I want to cop a feel out of you when I know women leagues hotter than you, with three times as much your brainpower?" he punctuated his statement by placing his hand on Esmeralda's breast. She sighed, shaking her head with a smirk before lightly batting his hand away "Not in front of the bimbo. You might give her ideas, and I don't share." Jennifer huffed before turning back to her squad, screaming out loud "Okay girls back from the top, but this time try to move as if you were not huge fucking hippos!" Edward smiled at Esmeralda "I think we made her mad" "I'd say so" she answered with a grin, before pulling him in for a kiss and walking off "See you tomorrow, dickless" she teased, to which he answered with "You know damn well how wrong the last part of the statement is, and I wouldn't mind reinforcing my point!" Edward looked down at his watch, seeing it clocked in at 5PM 'I should hurry back home' he thought before walking away from the field, making his way home in a jogging pace. He got home, seeing James' car parked out in front. He took a deep breath, preparing himself mentally before ringing the doorbell. Caddie opened the door, talking to Edward in an annoyed tone "Where were you this entire time? We've been waiting for you this entire time!" 'We? Luke, Lisa and Amber are out, and i warned James that I'd be getting home late' Edward thought before speaking "Who exactly is 'we'?" "I am we" a different, female voice sounded from behind Caddie before a short brunette, 5'4", light brown hair about shoulder long in a pixie cut, svelte with high cheekbones and a soft, rounded chin poked her head into view, smiling widely at Edward. Edward saw her and smiled, which caused her to smile further. But then his smile turned into a chuckle, which soon became full-blown laughter right before he sighed, his face quickly changing to a grave expression as he spoke "Nope. Not dealing with this. I am not doing this right now, so please get the fuck away from my house." Caddie was taken aback by this, but the brunette still mantained her smile "Aww Eddie, aren't you happy to meet your girlfriend?" Edward gritted his teeth, his eyes full of rage for an instant which actually managed to make the girl's smile drop before his face went back to neutral "Fine. I'm leaving. And I'm not coming back as long as she isn't out of here." He said, not giving Caddie a chance to respond before walking off down the street. Edward's last thought before he tuned out was 'Why the fuck is this happening to me?' _______________________________________________ And... scene! I know it's been a while but here we have another chapter. A series of unfortunate events, including college, a scholarship, writer's block and an existential crisis contributed to this. I actually wrote another story, but the style was way too different and i couldn't recover my Edward style. This is my third attempt at writing chapter 5, and i hope it came out alright. I have no idea if it was bigger or smaller than my other chapters, all i hope is that it was as good, as if not better, than them. So, as usual, please rate and comment your thoughts. Where I went well, where i could get better, mistakes, and so on and so forth. Only through criticism does a writer improve. Adiós.