"Bella! Guess what," my brother, Jasper, says as he bursts into my room.

I slowly turn from the computer screen to look at him with a small smile, "What?"

"So, you know that girl Alice at school?"

"The one who I had to ask out for you?"

"Uh… yeah…" he said sheepishly. "Anyways, she said yes!" A huge grin spread across his face and I couldn't help but laugh and smile along.

"That's great, Jaz!" I couldn't help but to be enthusiastic about this. Jasper always had a way of making people feel the way he did, just one of his talents I guess. I shook my head and turned back to the computer. Suddenly, my despair came back onto my shoulders.

"Emails?" I nodded. They use to be a happy source of chatting with my friends, but as of a month ago that all changed. "Who from?" I didn't answer; I just continued to read.

He walked over and read over my shoulder. "Ah, Edward." I sighed. "You know, maybe it won't be that bad. You guys are already kind of friends, so it's only a step up."

"An arranged marriage, Jasper? That's more than a step up! That's like five steps up."

"I know, Bella," he sighed. "But mom has a good reason. You know it's what Grandpa wanted and mom would never dishonor his wishes." I nodded. My grandfather died a month ago in a car accident with one of his friends, Edward's grandfather. Apparently they both wanted to see the day when their families to be meshed together. So in their wills they wrote that the grandchildren intermarry.

The Cullen's only had two boys, Emmett and Edward, and Emmett was already married. So that left Edward. And Renee and Charlie only had one girl, me. So you can see what happened next.

At the funeral Esme and Renee exchanged us kids emails and we've been in contact for a month now. Granted Edward was nice, but…. I didn't want to be the one who her parents chose her groom. I mean how old fashioned can you get?

"What did he have to say today, huh?"

"Uh… Just stuff about how he can't wait till tomorrow and finally meeting me. He says the Emmett and Rosalie are suppose to be there, along with another family they're friends with. All people to see my demise, great." I muttered the last part under my breath. I never liked attention and it sounded like tomorrow I was going to be under the spotlight of not only Edward and his family but the spotlights of another family friend.

"Oh, well…" I turned to see him scratching behind his ear, a sign that he wanted to ask something. I had a pretty good idea on what he wanted.

"Alice is welcome to join the party, Jasper. The more the merrier." I faked a smile.

"Thanks, I'll leave you to finish packing then."

"Haha."

The car ride to Phoenix was all right. Alice chattered with me the whole time from the back seat as I watched the Arizona country buzz past me. Jasper was his quiet self and only intersected comments when prodded, but he both he and Alice seemed like they were happy to just be sitting by each other. "Look at that!" Alice exclaimed as we pulled up to a huge white mansion. Edward had mention that his home was a little over the top, but I hadn't realized he had been using Lebron James's standards.

"Wow…" I whistled despite myself. This was going to be horrible. As Renee parked the car a group formed on the front porch. Getting out of the car I felt like I was part of a red carpet premier.

"Renee!" A caramel haired woman exclaimed as she walked down the walk.

"Esme!" my mother said before the two of them embraced. The two of them have been childhood friends but had grown apart. Today was a reunion for them as well as an execution for me.

"So, which one is Edward?" Alice asked in my ear unexpectedly making me jump slightly.

"The one with the strange bronze hair. He's standing next to his brother Emmett. And all fingers point to the blond being Rosalie."

"Wow, he's really cute!" What Jasper saw in this girl I had no clue? She was really annoying. "You have really good taste."

"Alice, this is an arranged marriage. I had no say in this. This is my grandfather's doing."

"Well at least someone in your family has taste." She giggled. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Looks like you're not the only one giving the behind the scenes scoop."

I followed her gaze to see Edward whisper in the ear of the strawberry blonde next to him. "Bella," Renee called brining me out of my observations. I saw her motioning me to come over. I groaned inwardly, there is my cue.

"Coming," I walked over to meet Esme and whom I assumed was her husband, Carlisle.

"Bella, it's so nice to finally meet you," Esme said as she hugged me.

"Nice to meet you too." I said shyly.

"Well why don't you and Edward move your stuff upstairs and we can get started on getting to know each other." I smiled and walked back to the car. Jasper was already there with my stuff on the driveway ready for me to pick up.

I was going to pick up the cardboard box labeled "Books" but a pair of pale alabaster hands beat me there. "I wouldn't be a gentleman if I let a lady carry one of the heavier boxes." A musical voice informed me.

I looked up to see Edward picking up the boxes with my books. "You'll soon regret that statement," I muttered grabbing a different box. "No doubt you'll have to climb stairs with those boxes." A crooked smile flashed across his face, which to my surprise, made my heart kick start.

With the help of my brother, Edward and Emmett we managed to get my stuff up to a room that was right next to Edward's. I would have loved to be left alone to unpacked but everyone else decided to gang up and add to her misery. Jasper and Emmett had found out that they both we were on opposing basketball teams and went to go have a friendly one-on-one game to see whose team was better off. Rosalie and Alice went off to go raid a closet or some sort of nonsense like that. Esme and Renee went off to the gardens and who knows what happened to Carlisle and the others.

So that left Edward and I to unpack. "You know you can go join the game. I really am capable to unpack myself." I informed him.

He shook his head. "Basketball isn't really my thing." I sighed and continued working on my box. It was quiet for a long while, so much so I forgot that I wasn't alone in the room, until his unexpected musical voice broke the silence. "You like the classics?"

"Um… yeah. What about you, or are you is reading not your thing?"

He chuckled, "No, I read." That was all the answer I got. How frustrating!

"So what did Tanya think of your insider's scoop?" I didn't really know why I cared, but it had been bugging ever since Alice pointed it out.

"What?"

"When I arrived, you were talking to Tanya. I just assumed you were giving her the inside scoop."

"That's a little egotistical, isn't it?"

"Maybe," I shrugged. "It was just an assumption, but if you're not going to answer, just say so."

He sighed. "To tell you the truth, she wasn't to happy about it. You have to understand, we sort of had a thing going on before this came up. Neither one of us are too thrilled about the idea."

"Well you can join the club. We'll get matching shirts and everything." I said sarcastically.