DISCLAIMER: We all know who owns these characters. Stephenie Meyer is the queen, and I am but a minion playing in her court.

Special thanks to hazed_confused and isnoggedmalfoy for being my first chapter guinea pigs. =) Muchos besos!

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Tempe, Arizona - Early Fall 1961

I sat at the counter of the diner, lazily sipping my cherry soda. Paul Anka's newest song was blaring on the jukebox in the corner, and the lyrics seemingly began to mock me in my current state of thinking.

Love me warm and tender, dear

Love me warm like the glow of the morning

Love me warm and tender, dear

Love me so, just as though I'm the only one

The words echoed in my head, and burned within my chest. Yeah, if only it were so easy, I thought. Jacob, my steady boyfriend, occupied the stool next to me. He was rambling on about something or another that had happened during football practice that day, and I found myself effortlessly going through the motions of appearing as though I was listening intently. It was the same routine, just a different day with different dresses.

I'd known Jacob my entire life, our parents were all friends in high school. It was at the strong influence by our parents that we had even begun dating two years prior, though I had always known he had harbored romantic feelings for me. I won't deny that I enjoyed his company then, or that I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest when we shared our first kiss, but things change. More specifically, I had changed. I woke up one morning and I realized that my entire life had practically been predetermined for me. I would marry Jacob after we finished high school, we would move into a quaint little two bedroom house in the same neighborhood we grew up in, he would go off to work every morning and come home every evening while I stayed at home and raised our family. It was the same kind of life my mother had lead, and my grandmother before her, and everyone else our neighborhood.

I desperately hoped for something more, something better than this. I didn't quite know what, but some form of excitement would be nice. I didn't want to be bored with my life, I wanted to enjoy it like I knew I was supposed to. I wanted to be able to love Jacob the way he loves me, or at the very least love him back even a little.

"Bella…Bella!" Jacob shook my shoulder, and I snapped out of my daze. His eyes were asking me a question, but I had no idea what my answer was supposed to be.

"Oh, Jacob I'm so sorry. I must have spaced out for a minute there." It wasn't a complete lie, I suppose. "What were you saying?"

"I was reminding you about Homecoming. Coach thinks it's going to be a bigger deal than usual since we're playing McClintock and all, so he wants us over at the stadium earlier this year," he explained. "So I'm not going to be able to drive you to the game, you'll have to ride with my folks."

The school board had approved the formation of McClintock High the year before, but since the actual school hadn't been built yet, we were sharing our campus at Tempe High with the McClintock students. It was a strange arrangement, we attended our classes in the mornings, and they attended theirs in the afternoons. It didn't make much sense to me, this separation even though we were technically attending the same school. Jacob didn't care, because it added fuel to this whole rivalry thing everybody was hyping up that made the upcoming Homecoming game exciting to him.

"Right. I remember," I told him. "You know my parents never miss one of your games though, especially Homecoming. I'll just let them know I won't be going early with you and need to ride with them, it's not a big deal." I couldn't understand why he was trying to build it up to be a bigger issue than it really was, he knew my parents would be going. They adored him and my father had always treated him as if he were his own son, a side effect from having me and my younger sister, Alice.

"I know," he said as he took a French fry from his plate, "I'm just…I don't know. I just want to make sure you're taken care of. I wouldn't want you to end up being stranded with no way to get to the stadium, and I need my girl there to cheer me on." He rubbed my back as he said the last part. I know he meant well, but his view of the Homecoming game and my part of it wasn't aiding in my mood.

I put on a smile for him and gave him a reassuring look. "Jacob, you don't need to worry about a thing. I will be there, with both of our families, and we'll all be ready to take you out for a victory sundae at the ice cream parlor afterward."

His face lit up, I'd obviously said the right thing. I didn't know whether it was the reassurance that nobody important to him would be missing, or the prospect of ice cream, but his fears were calmed for now. "I love you, Bella," he said, and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek. I felt nothing.

"Me too, Jacob." I didn't want to lie to him, but I didn't want to hurt him either. I quickly looked away from his eyes and surveyed my schoolbooks that were lying on the countertop next to my cherry soda. As my gaze focused, I noticed that there was something missing from my stack. I groaned as the realization set in.

"What's wrong?" Jacob asked.

"I must have left my History book in my locker, it's not here," I replied. I looked back at the clock hanging over the jukebox, the hands pointed to 4:15. I was going to have to leave now if I was going to make it back to school before the hallway doors were locked at 4:30. "I need to go back." I hopped off my stool and quickly started gathering my things.

"Do you want me to give you a ride?"

"No, don't worry about me," I answered. He still had half a burger on the plate in front of him, no sense in making him leave it behind. "You can stay here and finish your food, I'll walk back home after I get my book." It wasn't very far to my house from school, just about four blocks. I needed time to myself anyways. I said goodbye quickly, and promised I would see him again in the morning when he came to pick me and Alice up for school.

I managed to make it back to school with five minutes to spare. The hallways were empty, the McClintock students had finished their classes at 4:00 and had all but disappeared already. You'd never think that we were sharing our school with anyone else, I thought. I made my way to my locker quickly and spun the numbers to my combination to unlock it. Just as I had expected, my History book was tucked neatly into the corner. I sighed and grabbed it, adding it to the stack already in my left arm. I slammed my locker door shut and turned quickly to leave, not realizing that I was no longer alone.

As I turned, my body slammed into another taller, wider, and firmer body. My ears registered the surprised grunt of a male voice as we made contact. I let out a yelp, and my books fell to the ground, along with those of the intruding stranger. I didn't even look up, I immediately dropped to my knees and began to sort through the mixed pile of textbooks and notebooks.

"Why don't you watch where you're going?" the male voice asked, clearly irritated. I felt him kneel down as well and he began to pick up his own items.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't realize anybody else was here. I didn't hear you behind me," I explained. When I grabbed my last book I stood up, and finally looked at the person I had run into. My breath hitched as I registered the most stunning color of hair I had ever seen; a striking deep reddish brown, nearly bronze. It was slicked back at the sides, and a little messy at the top, like he never quit running his fingers through it. My thoughts were confirmed as the stranger ran a hand through the long locks at the top while he rose to his feet and looked me in the eye. If I thought his bronze hair was striking, they were no match for his eyes. Deep green and piercing, almost like emeralds. I suddenly felt like I was lost, and I was most certainly at a loss for words.

He was by far the most handsome boy I had ever seen, and the complete opposite of Jacob. Jacob was tall, dark, and broad; this boy was tall but not towering, fair, and lean. Jacob was an athlete and looked like one, and this boy looked more like he was ready to go drag racing with James Dean. Jacob was soft, clean cut, and dressed in slacks and collared shirts; this boy was chisled, rugged and windblown and wore a weathered leather jacket, close fitting t-shirt, and jeans. He looked like a Hollywood dream come true.

"You might want to try being more observant in the future," he said curtly, snapping me out of my haze. "The universe doesn't revolve around a single being, you know." His eyes left mine as he stepped around me and approached the cluster of lockers that I had just turned from. To my surprise, he began spinning the dial to the locker next to mine.

"You…you go here?" I asked, not able to hide the surprise in my voice. Surely I would've known if this handsome stranger attended my own school.

"No, I just find it amusing to loiter in school hallways after all the students have left," his voice dripped with sarcasm. "Then I open random lockers and mix up the contents for an added kick, just to mess with people's heads."

I looked down at my shoes in an attempt to fight the humiliation. "Well, you don't have to be rude about it," I said softly as I clutched my books tightly to my chest. I heard him snort, then slam the locker door shut. I raised my head to look at him again as he turned back towards me.

"We're giving lessons in etiquette now? Well, my humble apologies," he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure, I go here. At least until we get our own miserable cage of a school campus."

"McClintock?" I guess that would explain it, I didn't know many of the McClintock students. Most of them lived outside of Tempe, in some other part of the ever-expanding Phoenix area.

I could see in his face that he was prepared to deliver another sarcastic remark, but he stopped himself. Instead he sighed and let out a small laugh, as if he were resigned to just drop all acts. "Yeah. By the look on your face I figure I'm correct in assuming I'm on your home turf right now."

"If you want to call it that," I shrugged. I shifted my books to my left arm and offered him my free hand in a friendly gesture. "I'm Bella Swan."

He hesitated for a brief moment, just barely long enough for me to nearly regret being so bold. I held in a sigh of relief when he accepted my hand into his. My heart began to flutter for reasons I couldn't understand, and it didn't stop when he let go. "Bella Swan?" he questioned. "Your parents really named you Bella Swan?"

I blushed. "It's short for Isabella. It was all my mother's doing. I guess she just couldn't restrain herself from the temptation…she enjoys fairy tales."

He gave me warm smile, his guard still down. "I'm Edward. Cullen."

Edward Cullen. It suited him well. Despite his rugged appearance, he looked like an Edward. I was about to speak again, but at that moment we were interrupted when the entrance door was slammed open, both of us turning towards the intrusion. Leaning in from outside was a good-looking blonde-haired boy dressed in a similar fashion to Edward.

"E!" He shouted. "C'mon man, we have to go!" As quickly as he appeared, he disappeared, letting the door fall shut. Edward turned back to me, and I could see that in the brief moment that we had been interrupted his guard had gone back into place.

"Well Bella," he said, "…it's been stimulating." He ran a hand through his hair again as he turned and jogged quickly out the door.

I stood motionless for the briefest of moments, and quickly made my way outside after him. My mind was in a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions, and I could hardly distinguish one from the other. I reached the sidewalk near the parking lot just in time to see Edward jump into the passenger seat of the shiny black Impala convertible with the blonde boy behind the wheel. My eyes followed the car as it peeled out of the school grounds and into the street. When the car was no longer in my sight I began to walk slowly towards home. As I walked, I couldn't shake the feeling that my life had just possibly been changed forever with the introduction of Edward Cullen.

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AN: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and I hope you enjoy my retro-take on the characters we love. =)

A little bit of background: Tempe High School really did share their campus with McClintock students in '65, and the schedules were set up the same. My story is set in '61, so I'm admittedly taking a few liberties with a few historical facts.