Chapter 1

AN: This is my second attempt at writing. First one didn't turn out so well. Hopefully this one will be better. Please excuse any grammatical errors, I have no Beta, and Spell Check only goes so far. Please review! If you like it, leave a comment please. Even if you don't. Lol. There's gonna be lots of questions right now, but if I continue the story, the answers will be reveled.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns all things Twilight.

If I move the 7 there, that should work. Damn. This one is too hard; I should probably just start over. I shut the puzzle book in frustration.

I only came to the park to clear my head and have some peace and freakin' quiet to finally start on the essay that was long ago due.

Even with all my text books scattered around me, I couldn't find it in me to care much about the controversy of advertising ethics. Really, who cares? I hate writing so I sufficiently moved on to bigger and better things. Sodoku.

But now that I've officially wasted all my time I'd just have to turn in what I've got written so far. And it's not much. Procrastination is my worst enemy. Then again, maybe it's just writing stupid essays.

4:41 P.M.

Ten more minutes before I have to start walking to work. I stuffed all my school work back into my backpack, along with my Jumbo Soduku puzzle book.

But since I forgot my Ipod at home, I'd have to settle for looking around the park until it was time to leave.

It was pretty much empty. Only a small family feeding the ducks by the lake. The sun was shinning brightly and the grass was green. And soft, apparently. I ran my fingers back and forth through it. My back was pushed up against the bark of a tree, and the tree wasn't nearly as soft as the grass. So I laid down. Much more comfortable.

I closed my eyes and let the sun dance behind my eyelids. This was probably a bad idea, I had to go into work soon and I was getting too comfortable, sleepy even. But I really didn't care as much, I was too tired to move.

I tried to focus on the sounds of the park. The birds chirping, the far away sounds of a child laughing, the steady whoosh of water from the fountain on the lake, a car's steady engine nearby. It was all very relaxing.

But just as I felt myself slipping into oblivion, I heard a gut wrenching high pitched scream. Only this didn't sound like a scream out of fear but pain. Whoever it was sounded like they where in pain.

Alarmed, I shot up from my position on the ground. The scream didn't sound far from the corner of the park I was in, and I had to do something. I searched for the source of the scream and found it.

A girl.

She was alone and panting breathlessly against the bark of a tree. One hand was cradling here face, the other was entwined in her long brown hair. Her eyes and nose were red and puffy, and her hair was a tangled mess. She looked disarrayed and very much upset.

"Are you hurt?" I asked.

Once she noticed my presence, she eased her hands away from her head and shook her head. She wasn't physically hurt but she was obviously shook up over something.

She let out a low sob and fell to her knees. "Please leave me alone," she cried.

She looked so vulnerable and weak, all I wanted to do was reach out and reassure her that everything was okay. But that was a stupid idea because she obviously did not look okay.

I didn't want to push her into telling me what was wrong, so I hoped being in each other's company would be enough to make her feel better.

"I'm not leaving," I told her kneeing down next to her. "Not until I know you're okay."

She held her head in her hands, still breathing erratically. "Just leave. I'm fine," she hiccuped with a bit of venom in her voice. She clearly didn't want me to witness this, but I'd be dammed if I left her now. I felt oddly protective of this girl even though I had absolutely no idea who she was.

I hesitantly reached my hand up near her left shoulder to try and console her, but instantly brought it back to my side. She would probably get even more upset if a stranger was touching her.

"What's your name?" It felt like an odd question to ask in the circumstance, but I really didn't know what else to do. How do I help her?

She reluctantly lifted her tear stained face and let out a disheartened sigh. "You're not going to leave, are you?" she fiercely whispered. She really wanted me gone.

"No."

She let her gaze fall once again to the ground, and another small sob escaped her lips. In a small defeated voice she said, "Rachel"

Rachel

Something wasn't right about that, but I quickly dismissed the thought when she let out a full out sob and started punching the ground with her tiny fists. "Ugh," she cried as she kept flinging her arms about.

I thought it best to let her attack the soft grass, better than trying to intercede and get a black eye. After a minute of pulverizing the ground she sat with her back against the tree, knees pulled up against her chest and started crying into her hands. All the while running them through her lush mahogany hair.

I sat Indian style across from her and let my face fall into my hands as well. I had no idea how to help her.

"You should leave; you probably don't want to see me fall apart," she whispered. At the sound of her voice I instantly lifted my head to look at her. She was staring back at me, eyes extremely red and brimming full of unshed tears.

I shook my head, "I'm staying" I said. She let out a hysterical chuckle and sobbed, "It's a fair warning; I asked you to leave and you declined."

Once the words left her mouth she put her had back in her hands and cried frantically. Her chest was convulsing up and down, trying to keep up with her erratic breathing.

I scooted closer to her so my knee was barely touching her leg. I hoped to comfort her a bit, but I had no idea of knowing if I did just that.

Even in her frenzied state, with tears staining her whole face and her messy hair, she was absolutely beautiful.

She appeared to have a small frame with long rich brown hair. Her skin looked soft and supple, a creamy pale color, but not sickly so. Just beautiful. From what I saw of her eyes they seemed to be a deep brown as well.

Through her cries, she would suddenly whimper "Em, oh Emmett," or "..love him so much."

After a few minutes, her breathing became more steady and she let out one last sob for this Emmett person.

I had no idea who he was, but I was suddenly filled with rage. Whoever he was, made this beautiful girl go into hysterics over him. He made her cry. Something that should never happen. He doesn't deserve this beauty.

She shifted from her awkward position, and moved to lay out on the grass, the same way I had earlier.

With her hair fanning around her she looked even more exquisite, as if that was even possible. Her face had regained it's original color, with only her cheeks a bright scarlet. Her face were still covered in tears, and she made no move to wipe them off.

She closed her eyes and started humming softly to herself. I moved from my stance on the ground and laid next to her, with an acceptable amount of space between us. I wouldn't want to make her feel uncomfortable.

I felt a vibration in my back pocket, my phone. Crap. Work. I was scheduled to go in at 5 P.M. It's probably just Charlotte wondering why I'm late. I shifted to take my phone out of my back pocket and turned it off.

"You can leave you know, if you have somewhere else to be," Rachel said. She sounded much more composed but her throat was a bit scratchy. "No, I'll stay here if that's okay."

She just closed her eyes and resumed humming. I took that as a yes. "I'm Edward, by the way."

She nodded her head and kept right on humming to herself. It was almost inaudible but it sounded like she was humming a familiar song. I couldn't quite place the name so I asked her, "What's that song called?"

She opened her eyes the tiniest bit and an even smaller smile graced her luscious full lips. She looked unbelievably gorgeous right then, "Bliss by Muse." I almost missed what she said because I was just watching her lips move.

Muse. I'd heard of them before but I wasn't too familiar with their work. "They're my favorite band." she said softly. And now I had the burden of downloading all their albums on itunes.

Only nothing was a burden when it came to her; I had the pleasure of downloading all their albums. That's better.

"I'm not too familiar with them; I only know their best hits," I admitted. She scoffed at that and said, "They're all hits to me." Her voice had regained some of its volume.

She wiped the tears off her face, cleared her throat, and turned her head to me, "Let's educate you."

I'm sure my face had confusion written all over it, because I was just that. Confused.

She tried to hold back her smile at my perplexed expression, but she couldn't stop the small grin that pulled up her lips.

I wanted so badly to reach out and touch her pretty pink bottom lip, but I knew I couldn't. So placed my hands under myself to keep from doing just that. She's too tempting.

"How are we going to do that?" I asked, genuinely curious. She rolled her eyes and pulled a red ipod out of her pocket. She turned it on and scrolled through the bands looking for whatever she wanted. I'm pretty sure I'd listen to anything for her.

She placed one headphone in her ear and reached over to hand me the other one. But stopped half-way. She looked up from her hand hanging in the space between us to my face. Her eyes held doubt and uncertainty, "Um, well you really don't.."

I immediately took the headphone from her hand and smiled at her, "I want to."

She nodded and began scrolling through her ipod again. The headphone wire was too short for the distance between us, so I scooted closer.

I could feel the warmth radiating off of her. Fuck. It felt so good. I thought this type of thing only happened in books and movies, but I couldn't even compare this girl to any of that. She is just beyond amazing, period.

"I love all their albums, but Origin of Symmetry is just about the greatest album ever." she said with such conviction, that I believed her, even though I hadn't even heard anything yet.

She hit play and I heard a lovely musical melody on the keyboards, it sounded dreamy like. "This one's called New Born. It's my favorite on this album." she said right near my ear. Her breath tickled the back of my ear and neck. She smelled so damned delicious.

Strawberries, lilacs, and, freesias. Yum.

"I like it." I said. Because I really did. It was different than anything else I'd herd and it was her favorite. So I liked it.

"Me too." she turned her head and smiled at me. A full on smile. She was simply breathtaking. Screw Helen of Troy, this girl could launch a thousand ships with one smile.

We laid there listening to her favorite band, which was quickly becoming one of mine as well. It was getting late; I could tell from the setting sun, but I really didn't want to move just yet. I was laying on the grass with the most beautiful girl listening to music. My idea of a perfect Sunday.

I looked over at Rachel and noticed that her eyes where still closed. I took off the ear bud and heard her slow steady breathing. I nudged her a bit with my elbow, but she didn't move. She was asleep.

I took advantage of that and openly gawked at her. I'm such a weirdo.

She was exquisite. But I already knew that. Her hair flowed freely around her face and cascaded down to her shoulders to the middle of her waist. I wanted to run my hands threw it, but that's probably was not a good idea either. She wore no makeup and her face was perfectly relaxed with a slight grin on her lips. Oh her lips. They were full and pink, and just begging to be kissed. Her eyelashes were long and fluttered above her cheekbones. Her cheeks were so soft looking I wanted to just brush my fingertips against them. Just one tiny touch.

I kept on my ogling and tried my best to keep my hands to myself. Her body, well she was small thats all I could really tell because she was swimming in a t-shirt probably five sizes too big. It looked like an old concert tee with the band's name across the front. The Germs. Never heard of them either. She wore jeans and Converse chucks. Her's were black, mine gray. At least we had one thing in common.

One of her arms was raised over her head, on top of her scattered hair. The other was lazily lounging over her belly. There was a small cluster of beauty marks near the inside of her left elbow. Three tiny moles were visible just under the sleeve of her t-shirt.

Breathtaking.

I really didn't want to wake her but she probably had places to go and people to see. Ugh. Emmett. I certainly wanted him to stay away from her for what he did to her. I don't know what he did, but he caused what I saw earlier.

I shook her as gently as I could. "Hey. Wake up," she started moaning in protest. She tried to turn on her side but I shook her a little harder, "Wake up; it's getting late, Rachel."

Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of her name and she sat up looking around, disoriented for a second. She looked into my eyes and smiled a sad smile. She blushed and looked down at her ipod now between us.

"Sorry about that," she whispered. Why was she apologizing? "I thought I should wake you up. It's getting kind of late." I whispered back.

"Oh," she looked for something in her pocket and then sighed. "What time is it? Do you know?"

I looked up at the setting sun and answered, "It's twilight. Around 8, I think." As I talked she stood up and grabbed her ipod off the floor.

"I should probably go," she said. And I really wanted her to not go away. But how could I say this without being a weirdo? Huh, I can't.

"Thanks for sharing your music. Muse is most definitely one of my favorites now," I said as I stood up as well. I brushed the stray grass off my pants and looked back to her face. She wore another beautiful smile, and I internally thanked all the gods who send this gorgeous creature to the park on a Sunday afternoon.

"That's good to hear. I'm really glad you enjoyed them," she answered back still smiling. Then she dropped her gaze and added in a small voice, "And thank you for helping me today." She looked back up and her face was flushed and she looked vulnerable all over again.

"No problem," I answered back. She obviously felt embarrassed over the whole ordeal so I decided to let her be the one to talk about it if she wanted to. And apparently she didn't because she turned to walk away from me.

"Wait!" I grabbed her wrist to stop her. When my hand met her bare wrist a jolt of electricity ran up my arm, not painful but surprising, nonetheless. That's weird.

She turned back around with a neutral expression on her face. "When will I see you again?" I asked because I just really had to know. She looked around and shifted from one leg to the other. She seemed to be uncomfortable with my question, "Uh, I'm not sure," she finally answered.

I really wanted to see her again; I'd do anything to see her again. "Well I work right across the street at the restaurant Peter's," I tore a piece of paper out of my backpack, not really caring at the moment what I tore, and wrote my name and number on it. "And here's my cell. You can call me whenever you want."

She looked at the piece of paper in my hand and then back up into my eyes. She had a look that I just couldn't place. Maybe she didn't want my number? "Um, only if you want to," I added because I really didn't want her to do me any favors. She should call me if she wanted to, not just because she feels obliged.

She slowly, reluctantly lifted her hand to the paper and took it. Internal Happy Dance! She nodded her head and in a low and sad voice said, "Bye."

I watched her walk away and get into her car. Then she pulled out of the parking lot and drove off, taking a piece of my heart with her.

I really hope she calls.

AN: Have you ever been fake-named? Review!