24th February, 2000

"Alice, I really can't be bothered going out tonight. I have tonne of homework to do. You know how Mr. Werner gets when we don't submit work on time." I looked up from the essay I was currently writing to glare at her. Unlike Alice, I actually had to do work in order to continue achieving straight A's. Alice would just put something together five minutes before class and still managed to write an essay that was A+ material. If she wasn't my friend, I would probably hate her.

"Come on! You're starting to act like a nerd. All this 'staying in and studying' can't be good for you, you need a night out. Come on, just a little break." She yelled from the inside of my closet. God I wanted to hit her. I was the nerd? It took her two weeks to finish the entire Gossip Girl book series. Okay, so maybe Gossip Girl is not the best example, but you get the point. And I did just take a break. I answered the door...

"It's not technically a 'night out', if we're going back to your house to crash a party that your brother is hosting. And stop throwing my clothes around!" I got up and started picking up random articles of clothing that she threw everywhere. A scarf around the lamp, black lacy underwear that I didn't even know I had and my favourite sweatshirt. I picked it up, folded it neatly and put it on my bed.

"Stop whinging. I'm trying to put together an outfit for you with the limited amount of clothes that you have. You should be thanking me. And please come. There's going to be a whole lot of cute guys there Bells." I knew that by 'cute guys' she meant her older, cuter brother, Edward, who I've had a crush on since the 7th grade, when he was going out with some girl named Heidi. Was he single now?

"I already have a boyfriend Alice!" I yelled at her.

"So?"

"So why would I go to a party to hang out with cute boys when I have one of my own at home?" I answered smugly. I relished the fact that she was single and I had a hot senior boyfriend.

"Cause they're older!" She rolled her eyes at my inability to understand why we would not want to hang out with boys older than us.

"Jake is older than us." I said, crossing my arm across my chest.

"Jake doesn't count. You are so boring!" Alice called out as she headed downstairs to the kitchen to get something to drink and/ or eat. That girl was constantly stuffing her face every time she came over. I started to think that her parents neglect to feed her whenever she's at home. So she comes to my house to scab food.

"And that's why you love me!" I called out after her. So I might be a little boring, but there was no way that I would go to a party where a group of older boys would be drinking and doing god knows what else. I was perfectly content staying in with Jake and watching a movie. Now that was my idea of fun.

I turned and looked out the window, silently praying that Jake would be here soon to save me from Alice. I loved the girl, but sometimes she could be a tad annoying.

After looking out the window for about five minutes, I realised that nothing had changed and Jake was still on his way, I began putting the rest of my clothes back in their rightful place. When I was sure that my little room was up to my obsessive standards of cleanliness, I walked downstairs to join Alice in the kitchen. I was about to ask her if she wanted to order a pizza or something, when I found her standing over the sink, attempting to open a something that looked like a bottle of...NO!

"ALICE!" She quickly turned around in surprise almost dropping the bottle.

"What?" She asked all innocently.

"Why are you trying to open one of my dad's beers?"

"Because I wanted to use the glass from the bottle to make a wind chime. Seriously Bella. I opened it because I am thirsty. Why else?"

"Yeah, but its alcohol! And we're only sixteen!" I whispered angrily, afraid that there was someone lurking in the shadows listening to our conversation.

"So? Live a little Bells." She turned back to the sink, trying to open it using a dish rag.

"My dad's a policeman. If he saw you right now..." I was cut off when my phone started ringing. I picked it up, hoping that it was not my father, but calmed down once I saw that it was only Jake.

"Hey. Are you okay? You almost here?" I almost started to panic. A thousand bad scenarios started running through my head to try to explain why he wasn't here yet. The worst being that he might have been involved in a serious car accident or something.

"Uh, yeah, about our movie night, some guy is having a party tonight and I kinda wanted to go to it...you know how I'm a senior and stuff..."

"Oh." Was he seriously blowing me off to go to Alice's brother's party?

"Yeah. Sorry babe."

"That's okay. I guess I'll just have a movie night with Alice." I said.

"Okay. Well, have a good night. I love you, you know that right?"

"Yeah. Love you too." After he hung up, I put the phone back on the table and looked at Alice, who was still standing by the sink with her hands on her hips.

"What?" I asked her. The way she was looking at me made it clear as to what her next words would be.

"He's going to Edward's party, isn't he?"

I just nodded.

"Well, unlike your boyfriend, you can count on me. I promise I will never flake out on any plans that we make." I rolled my eyes. She obviously forgot about Mark, her boyfriend from first grade. They went out for a week and were never more than two meters away from each other and were virtually inseparable. Because she was too busy with her boyfriend, I spent two weeks alone in the library until Alice came in and told me that she and Mark broke up because he had a bad case of cooties.

"I'll remember you said that when you get another boyfriend." I pointed a finger at her.

"Talking about Mark?"

"Yup. Who else. It's not like you've had any other boyfriends." I teased.

She laughed and punched me playfully in the arm. "Come on. You make the popcorn and I'll put the movie in."

She walked into the living room to put in 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' or some crappy movie like that. I really didn't like chick flicks, but I could never win an argument against Alice.

I put the popcorn in the microwave and waited patiently for it to be done. When the microwave beeped with the promise of freshly mad popcorn, I pulled it out and reached for a bowl. I didn't notice Alice standing right beside me until she started talking.

"Hey you know what?"

I turned around, dropping the bowl of popcorn on the floor. "Alice, don't ever sneak up on me!"

"Yeah, yeah sorry." She said dismissively.

I crouched down and started picking up the pieces of popcorn while Alice continued speaking.

"You know what? I'm sick of watching movies at your house on Saturday nights. Let's go out and do something!"

"Something like what Alice?"

Her eyes lit up. And when that happened, she usually had a plan.

"Let's go to my brother's party!" I should have known that she would bring it up again.

"What? Alice, are you crazy?" I asked.

"No. Seriously, let's go!"

"But what happens if we get caught?" I was always envisioning the worst possible outcomes when I was about to do something I shouldn't. I was always a glass half empty kinda girl.

"Caught? It is my house too Bella. But if we do get caught, I'll just lie and tell whoever caught us that I forgot something at home."

"Because people are really going to believe that when we're all dressed up and talking to boys." Trust Alice to come up with a plan that was NOT GOING TO WORK!

"They will. My mom and dad are both out of town and it's not like Edward or any of his friends are going to notice us."

"Yeah but..." It was only then that I realised that I didn't have any other excuses as to why I shouldn't go.

"Come on. You can check on your boyfriend. Make sure no senior girls hit on him."

"He wouldn't do that. He loves me." She knew that if she mentioned Jake and other girls in the same sentence, I would get defensive.

"Fine then! You can hang out with him while I have enough fun for the both of us."

"Alice..."

"Bella please!" She looked so adorable right now, I couldn't bear to say no.

"Fine!" Like I said before, no one could win a fight against Alice. And when she wants something, she usually gets it.

"YAY!" She began jumping up and down, clapping her hands. "It's going to be so much fun! We're going to meet sooo many good looking older guys! Or I will, cause you're going to be hanging out with Jake and be all boring and..."

"Alice! Stop. Breathe. That sounds like a great plan, but I have a small problem."

"What?"She stopped jumping up and down momentarily and glared at me.

"I have nothing to wear."

"Yeah I kinda noticed. But it's a good thing I bought some of my own things over." She ran back upstairs to my room, where she also stashed all her shopping bags as soon as she arrived, and pulled out the outfit that she was planning on wearing tonight. It was a strapless light purple dress paired with strappy gold heels. When she pulled out something similar for me to wear, I said no. It looked like lingerie.

"Come on Bells. You're going to look hot!"

"No I won't! I'll look cheap. Alice, these things look good on you but not so good on me."

"Stop doing that, you're gorgeous. After I'm done with you, you will look so hot, you'll be the only girl that all the guys look at tonight. And if it doesn't work out with Jake, you have the satisfaction of knowing that other guys want you."

After spending the next five minutes convincing me to just try it on, I looked in the mirror and was surprised that it didn't look as bad as I thought it was going to be. My boobs looked bigger, which I was assured by Alice was a good thing, and I had a necklace with a pendant stopping right above my cleavage, drawing attention to it. I had subtle makeup on and my hair hung in loose curls, framing my face. Alice truly was the best.

"See. You look gorgeous."

"Thanks Alice." I turned and hugged her. I now know that she is ALWAYS right.

When we were both done, we got into her car and drove off to the party. Tonight was going to be good. I could feel it.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I must admit, for someone who was whinging about having to go to Edward's party, I was actually enjoying myself. True, I didn't drink anything but it was still fun to be able to say that I went to a party that was being hosted by a senior. And not just any senior. THE senior. Edward Cullen. When we first walked into the house, we noticed that it was decorated to resemble a club. It was all dark, with the tiniest amount of light and music blaring from the speakers. I wanted to go find somewhere more quiet to hang out and turned around to tell Alice, but she was already gone. Now I was scared. Without Alice by my side all the guys were-like Alice said they would- indeed looking my way (or at least at my chest). I wasn't used to this attention but it felt good to finally be noticed. I even had a few guys come over and start talking to me. I constantly had to remind myself that no matter how good looking each guy may look, I had a boyfriend. Whom I loved. Very, very much.

Since Alice left me on my own for at least five minutes now, I decided to walk around to a) see the rest of the party, b) try to find Alice, who was no doubt making out with some hot senior (her words not mine) and c) try to find Jake so we could at least spend a little time together. And to make sure that he wasn't with another girl. But mainly to try to spend some time together.

I walked outside to the backyard to get a little bit of breathing room and saw that it was decorated beautifully. There were fairy lights put up around the fence, tiki torches lit up by the pool and I do believe that there was fake sand scattered around. People were all standing around in their various groups either barbequing, eating, talking, drinking, and making out. Just your average high school party.

I turned around and walked back inside and decided to check out what was going on upstairs. As usual, there were people doing what 18 year olds usually do -things I've only heard about in health class and would get grounded for life for if I were to do them. I really had to go to the bathroom and since I was so used to being able to just walk in and out of rooms at Alice's house, I just walked in without knocking. What I was not expecting to find was Jake and some random girl making out.

"Jake?"He turned around at the sound of his name and was obviously surprised at the sight of me standing in the doorway.

"Bella? What are you doing here?"

"I...came with Alice." I whispered, all the while trying to hold back the tears.

He finally managed to untangle himself from whoever he was making out with and pulled me back into the hallway.

"HOW COULD YOU!" I yelled at him shoving him against the wall. Or at least trying to. Not only was he a giant, he was also huge.

"Bells. Come on. Calm down."

"NO I WILL NOT!"

"Bella. Stop yelling. Please?"

"NO!" I turned to walk away, but he just grabbed my arm and pulled me into the nearest empty bedroom. When he shut the door, I turned and started yelling at him again.

"LET GO OF ME!"

I think he was starting to get annoyed at me yelling at him, so he started yelling back.

"WILL YOU LET ME EXPLAIN?"

I cringed at the sound of him yelling at me. Jake never usually yelled at me. When he saw my reaction, he calmed down slightly. He walked up to me and put his hands on either side of my face. I really didn't want him touching me, so I took his hands off my face.

"Bells, I'm sorry." He walked over again, this time trying to hug me, but I walked backwards and into the wall.

"No you're not!" I pushed him back.

"I really didn't think that you would be here."

"Oh. So that's supposed to make the fact that you were with another girl okay? How many other girls are there that I don't know about?"

"It's not like that, I swear. Please, forgive me?" I looked up at him and saw those gorgeous brown eyes that I loved so much. I almost forgave him, until I remembered what he did.

"No!" I tuned and walked out of the room as fast as I could, hoping that Jake would not follow me. My eyes were now fast filling up with the tears that I was trying to hold back when I was yelling at Jake. They were so bad that they were starting to cloud my vision and I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going, when I bumped into someone and fell on the floor. Now things just went from bad to worse.

"Hey." Whoever I bumped into looked down and obviously saw how bad I looked, with tears running down my cheeks and my mascara probably running down with it. "You okay?" Only after they asked the question did I realise that it was a guy that I bumped into. This really was a bad night. I probably looked really bad right about now.

He held out his hand to help me up, and I took it, not trusting myself to walk in a straight line without bumping into someone else.

"I'm okay."

"You don't look okay. Come with me." The mystery man said.

He took my arm and walked me to one of the more secluded areas in the backyard. He made me sit on one of the chairs and handed me something that I assumed was a tissue and I wiped my eyes. Only then did I realise that I also managed to take some of my eye makeup off as well. I probably looked like a racoon, but he was still standing next to me.

"Thanks." I looked up at the stranger that was kind enough to help me out when I most likely looked like a mess. I then realised that it was Edward.

"No problem. You're Alice's friend right?" My heart sank. Did he really not remember me? I've hung out with Alice since we were three years old. And they lived in the same house!

"Yeah."

"Bella right?" So he did remember. Yay!

"Yup."

"And because you're Alice's friend, I presume that you're a sophomore?" Oh no. I knew that we were going to be caught. Why did I have to listen to Alice? I tried to come up with a reasonable answer as to why I was here.

"Please don't tell anyone that we were here. I just..."

"Hey, don't worry about it."

I sighed out in relief. "Thanks for being so helpful."

"No worries. I was raised a gentleman. When I see a woman cry, I always help her out." God he was really beautiful. I stopped paying attention to what he was saying after he remembered me and started staring into those gorgeous green eyes.

"Well, thanks. I'm just going to go home now." I stood up and started collecting my things when he reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Wait. Why don't you stay, we can hang out, you know, talk about what happened that upset you so badly." Wow. A man who wanted to talk. This concept was completely foreign to me.

"Oh. That's nice of you, but you are the host. I wouldn't want to keep from...whatever a host does."

This made him laugh.

"Well, lucky for you, everyone seems fairly occupied and I can spare a few minutes to hang out with you. So, what made you this upset that you walked into me?"

I glared at him. "I didn't walk into you that hard. And the reason I barged into you was because my eyes got so teary that I couldn't see where I was going."

"And what made you so teary?"

It felt really odd explaining the situation to someone other than Alice. Worse still was the fact that I was about to explain it to Alice's brother.

"I walked in on my boyfriend making out with some random girl." I sighed remembering what I witnessed only a few minutes ago.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not like you haven't done anything like that before." I looked at him with a teasing smile.

"What? Walked in on my boyfriend making out with a girl?"

"Ha-ha, so funny." I answered sarcastically.

"It sounds like you need a drink."

"Oh, I don't..." Great, now I really did sound like a little girl with no life experience.

"Okay. Then let's just sit and talk. Now, who was this horrible person that did this to you?"

"Why? Are you going to beat him up?"

He sighed. "I'll try to refrain."

I really didn't want to have this conversation, so I bought something else up instead. "Um, do you know where Alice is? I kinda want to go home."

"No, sorry I haven't. Would you like me to take you home?"

"Oh, no. Just stay here. It is your party." I said while trying to look around for Alice.

"Don't worry. Emmett will look after the house and the guests."

"Emmett?"

"My brother." I kept forgetting that there were three children in the family. I think I remember that Emmett was now in his first or second year college. We've only met once or twice before.

"Oh. Well, if you don't mind..."

"Not at all. Let me get my keys and I'll take you."

He walked back into the house, while I was left in the backyard. Funnily enough, as soon as he left, I started getting anxious about the fact that I was alone and something bad would happen. Again.

"Okay, ready?"

I guess that I was so caught up in my own little world that I didn't notice the fact that Edward came back.

"Yeah."

We silently walked to his car. And as soon as I tried to reach for the door, he beat me to it. I looked up at him and smiled.

"Thanks." Jake was a nice enough boyfriend, but after about three months of dating, he stopped opening doors for me and doing gentlemanly things. I missed them.

He walked to his side of the car and smiled back at me.

"No worries."

After about three minutes of silence, he started to talk to me. "So Bella, how did you end up coming to my party?"

"Well, I invited Alice over for a bit, just until Jake, my boyfriend, came over to watch a movie with me. When he didn't show up, cause he wanted to go to your party, Alice demanded that we crash your party."

"And did you have fun?"

"I did. That was until I saw my boyfriend making out with another girl."

"It has happened to me." I looked at him and was confused.

"What?"

"I have walked in on my girlfriend with another guy."

"Oh. I'm sorry. I had no idea." I had a sudden urge to comfort him. How dare this girl do that to him!

"Don't be. I'm over it and we're now friends."

"Oh. Well that's good then."

We spent the rest of the drive home in comfortable silence. I felt weirdly safe with him and I've only known him for about 20 minutes.

"Well, here we are."

I turned in my seat to face him. I really hoped that he would kiss me.

"Well, thanks. I guess I really needed to talk to someone other than Alice. She hates Jake, so she'd convince me to not speak to him ever again."

"Well you shouldn't. You don't need someone like that in your life."

I just nodded and smiled. I thanked him once again and walked up to my door. He was kind enough to wait in the driveway to make sure that I got in okay.

When I walked in the house, I was surprised to find my dad still sitting on the couch watching tv, beer in hand. Just a typical Friday night for my dad.

"Hey Bells. Where were you? I tried calling you for the last half hour."

"Oh. Sorry. Alice and I went to the movies and she took my phone because, according to her, I have the annoying habit talking on my phone during the movie." I then remembered that I probably looked too dressed up to go to the movies. I just hope that he didn't notice it.

"Well, next time could you call and talk to me before you leave? I was really worried."

"Sure dad. I'm, just going to go to bed now. Goodnight dad."

"Night Bells."