hello everybody! i'm baaack. sorry for those of you who were reading Hero, but it had just been too long and i couldn't really get back into the characters. so instead i come to you with a whole new story - different, but in my opinion, better.

and so, without further ado, here it is: Simplicity.

Disclaimer:

while this story is mine, all recognizable characters are property of Stephenie Meyer. i in no way, shape, or form am trying to claim them as my own. that is all.

EPOV

I heard the first bell ring as I was getting out of my car. "See, we have plenty of time." I said to my sister Alice as she jumped out of the passenger seat, almost fast enough to make the colors on her shirt blur together. She ran towards the huge oak front door of the school, weaving gracefully through the crowd of teenagers that were jockeying towards their respective homerooms.

Weaving gracefully? God, I'm not skipping English nearly enough this semester…

By the time I had picked up my books (all props of course, I rarely go to class anymore) Alice was already inside, no doubt telling all of her fashionista friends about how horrible I am.

Not that any of them will believe her… They've all already enjoyed the 'Edward Cullen Experience' as I like to call it. I show off my skills a little, make sure they show me their skills a little bit more, and make them scream just a little bit more than that…

Oh, who am I kidding – I make then scream a lot.

Then I tell them that I don't want to make things awkward with my sister, and so we should keep things just between us. And it works every time.

"What are you looking so smug about?" asked my best friend Jasper, noticing the grin on my face as I met him at the mouth of our hallway. "Oh, nothing," I said to him very nonchalantly, "just thinking about Alice's sleepover last week – and how her friend Jessica barely slept at all…" My smile widened.

"Geez, another one, Edward? When do you ever stop?"

He had stopped walking down the hall and was looking at me wide-eyed, legitimately curious as to whether or not there was a limit to the number of girls in our school that I would jump into bed with. Naturally, there wasn't. I'm just too good to stop. I won't quit while I'm ahead. But wanting to ease some of the tension hanging in the air, I turned to him and said, "Yeah, I'm sure there is. This is probably just a phase."

It was true enough, I guess. Sleeping with my sister's friends, with high school-aged girls, was a phase that was bound to pass – once I got to college. Because then I'd have college girls to sleep with.

I suppressed the urge to lick my lips at the thought of going to some far away university. Jasper would definitely notice that. And he definitely wouldn't approve of it.

So I started looking for something to distract me from the thoughts that I knew should be saved for somewhere other than the classroom, a point made even more clear by Jasper's easily read face. He was disapproving, that was easy to see. At least it was for me, but I've always found it easy to figure out what other people were thinking. Not to mention Jasper's innate ability to make everyone around him feel what he does.

Jasper's disappointment got me thinking for a minute – maybe this was something that I should stop… I mean, look at Jasper's reaction. Most people would probably react like that, too. And Alice. Oh, Alice. My sister might be heartbroken if she found out. Although, it would most likely explain to her why her friends all seem slightly jumpy whenever they come over to our house nowadays…

I guess I really should stop going for my sister's friends. I love my sister, and while I like to bug her sometimes, I would never do anything to really upset her – I care about her too much. That, and she'd probably kill me if she ever found out…

Oh, who am I kidding? She'll never find out. I've put many plans in place to ensure that fact. And why would I stop screwing Alice's friends? The 'Future Fashionistas of America' are the hottest girls in the entire school. And they know how to show it off just right, too. Designing and making their own outfits that are the perfect colors for their skin tones, the absolute best fitting to show off all their curves…

Oh great, now I have to distract myself again. Umm, algebra. I'm going to algebra when I get out of this homeroom. Algebra. With variables and exponents… Okay, I'm fully distracted now. Math is enough to kill anybody's mood. Except for maybe the nerds. I wonder if the geeks would get turned on if a girl were reciting the quadratic equation to them… Weird…

Personally, I find algebra completely pointless. When am I going to need to factor a quadratic equation ever again in my life? I'm not going to be sitting in some dark room writing fucking operating programs for computers or some shit like that. I'm going to be living the life. Parties, women, drinking, more women.

Essentially, I'll be doing what I do on the weekends now, but I'll be doing it full time. Perfect, no?

Just as I finished that thought, the bell rang, and it was off to algebra class for Edward.

I walked up the flight of stairs to the math wing and into my classroom, plopping my bag down in between my desk and the empty seat beside mine. I sat on the front of my desk, turning away from the door to talk to my friend Tyler about a party that he was planning while his parents were out of town for the weekend.

The second bell rang, but Mr. Giardi had yet to walk into the room, so I stayed where I was sitting. Not two seconds later, I heard an "Excuse me…" muttered from behind me. At first I thought it was Mr. Giardi, but then I realized that he wouldn't have been mumbling, but instead commanding me to seat in my seat correctly. I turned around to see a girl standing behind me. She had brown hair that fell in waves down to the middle of her back, and big brown eyes that looked into mine more deeply than anyone's ever had.

Basically, she was the most beautiful creature that I had ever seen.

I managed to stop staring at her long enough to form a coherent thought. "Yes?" I replied, wondering what this wonderful girl could want from me.

"Is this an empty desk?" she asked timidly, pointing to the vacant chair to the left of mine.

"Actually, yes," I replied, "it's the only open seat in the room."

I shot her my signature smile and watched as she fumbled around for words, although that may have just been her nervousness.

She squeezed in between my desk and what I guess was now hers, and her hand grazed my arm, sending a shot of electricity up my arm and straight into my heart.

A shot to the heart? Who am I, fucking Bon Jovi?

To recover, I thought up a line that I had been saving, just to get under the skin of the right girl, and man, was she perfect.

"Nice to meet you, Mary." I said to her, acting as if she had told me that that's what her name was. It was the only way I could think to describe what she looked like – a virgin Mary. In fact, the innocence that she exuded could almost be described as sickening.

Except, she was so beautiful that nothing she did could be considered sickening…

so, tell me what you think! i like both positive and negative feedback. new chapter in about a week, maybe a week and a half at the most..

~maggie mae