Chapter 1: Recognition
"Hey, Bella! I need you!" Alice called from the pasture.
Bella immediately groaned and slowly rose from the hay bale she had been sitting on. It was super hot, and she had been perfectly happy sitting in the barn reading, and avoiding work. She walked out into the blaring sun and cringed when the California sun hit her eyes. Okay, it was more than super hot. It was really hot. A trickle of sweat began to run down her face, and she mentally scolded herself for wearing jeans today. She looked out into the pasture and saw Alice, hunched over, shoveling manure into a wheelbarrow. Her short hair was plastered to her forehead with perspiration, and she had a look of ferocious determination on her face.
She gestured wildly to Bella and urged her to hurry up. When she got into the pasture, Alice stuck out the shovel towards Bella.
"I need a break. Seriously, Bella, I've been out here for 45 minutes and you have just been lounging around doing nothing! Plus, I seriously need to get out of the sun. DO you have any idea what it'll do to my complexion! It's your turn to work!"
Bella hesitantly took the shovel, and watched Alice roll her eyes then walk out through the gate and into the barn. She continued Alice's work and began lifting piles of horse crap into the wheelbarrow.
Bella Swan had been working at Cullen Stables since she was 16 years old. She needed a job, and Charlie, her dad, was a good friend of the owner, Carlisle Cullen. When the opportunity came up, her dad put in a good word for her, and suddenly she was a stable girl. It had always been hard work, but the pay wasn't too bad, and she got the chance to work with many amazing people. Now, she spent her summers at the stables, to earn money to pay her way through college.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a truck towing a fancy horse trailer driving down the road. She faintly remembered, James, the stable manager mentioning something about a new horse being added to the many already boarded here. Of course, she hadn't been paying attention during the meeting, so she couldn't remember the name of the owner. The truck stopped in front of the barn, then someone jumped out of the side door and walked to the back of the trailer. The man, known as Edward Masen, was currently unlatching the trailer doors, completely oblivious to the girl in the pasture who was quietly observing him. Bella continued to stare at the young man. He seemed familiar, but she couldn't quite remember where she had seen him. He had light brown hair, turned gold at the ends by the sun that was messily sticking in every direction. He wasn't extremely muscled, but she noticed the way his arms flexed when he wrenched open the door.
Suddenly, Edward, felt a pair of eyes on him. He turned his head towards Bella's direction, and smirked smugly, because she continued to stare. He was being checked out, and he was positive the girl liked what she saw. They all did. Suddenly the girl looked away embarrassed and went back to doing whatever she was supposed to be doing.
Bella felt her face flush with embarrassment, and she began to sweat more. The man had been absolutely beautiful. She wasn't going to deny it. His face looked almost as it was sculpted by marble, except for the fact that his skin was tanned, and he had scruffy stubble along his jaw.
Bella pushed the now full wheelbarrow out of the gate and began to wheel it to the compost pile.
"Hey! You! Stable girl!" a voice called in her direction. She turned her head, and saw the beautiful man waving her over. Her face turned red again, and she fought the urge to look away and finish her job.
"Come here! Aren't you supposed to be helping me?" He asked rudely.
Suddenly, the young man wasn't so beautiful anymore. God, not another one! Bella thought to herself. Every summer, there was always one boarder who thought they could order all the stable hands around, while they did absolutely nothing. People like that really annoyed Bella, but of course, being the spineless college girl she was, she did what she was asked.
Bella walked up to the now ugly on the inside man.
"What?" she snapped back.
Edward was taken aback for a moment. This girl was much more beautiful close up. Her skin was smooth, and her eyes were a deep hazel color, with gold flecks. Her long brown hair was tied up in a lazy ponytail that blew loosely in the wind, with the occasional strand catching against her face. She stared back at him, and suddenly looked at the ground again, probably embarrassed by his staring. Then she returned her eyes to him.
"What do you want?" she asked fiercely. "I have work to do right now, so could you please hurry up and tell me what you need."
Edward was suddenly put back into his originally bad attitude.
"You want to know what I need?" he asked, a smug expression plastered against his horribly handsome face. "I need for you to take my horse and put it into a stall. That's what you're supposed to do. I didn't drive halfway across the country to have to do it myself. That's what people like you are for!" he sneered.
Bella suddenly hated him. She didn't care how good -looking he was. He was a jerk, and nothing would change that.
"Fine." She said softly.
She walked to the back of the trailer, and grabbed the horse by its leather, head collar. Using a lead that was hanging on a hook inside the trailer, she led the horse into the barn, and found an empty stall.
Just like its owner, this horse was beautiful. Its coat was a bluish black, and it had a lovely white blaze running down its face. It was clearly a show jumper, judging by it's long muscular legs, and elegant neck. Unlike its owner, it seemed to be gentle, and she automatically decided she liked it. The horse nuzzled her neck softly, the sniffed at her pockets searching for treats.
"Sorry buddy," she whispered softly. "I don't have anything,"
"Talking to yourself?" Bella heard the voice she quickly learning to hate.
She looked up and saw the man staring at her with a smirk on his face. Bella rolled her eyes while stepping out of the stall and sliding the door closed.
"Okay. I put your horse in a stall. Now I have to go back to work, if you don't mind…" she trailed off suddenly getting lost in his conceited gaze. "What?"
"Don't you know who I am?" the man asked.
Bella gave him a blank, confused glance.
"I'm Edward," he continued.
"Yes. You're Edward the new boarder," Bella said flatly.
"And you are…" he trailed off.
"A stable hand," she said while giving him a pointed stare.
While walking back outside Bella tried to remember where the name Edward had came from. It sounded so familiar, and he looked so familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on him.
She opened the door to the tack room, a common hang out for the stable hands. She was greeted with the sight of Alice asleep on a hay bale, with a magazine flopped her face. Sighing, Bella gently lifted the magazine off of Alice and set it down on the floor. She seated herself next to Alice's feet, and spotted something odd on the magazine. Edward's smirk covered the cover of the Horse and Rider magazine. Bella mentally smacked herself. She knew that she should have recognized him, because his face was plastered on every riding magazine, in every newspaper sport section, and even in some girly magazines. Edward Masen, the devastatingly handsome, Olympic bound horseback rider, was boarding his horse at the stables.