Twilight and all of it's cool characters belong to lucky lady Ms. Stephenie Meyer!

…

Everyone comes into their own at different times. It's a high moment; everyone knows when they reach it. There is always a foreboding feeling that this is indeed as good as it gets. Some call it a peak in life.

I am twenty three. There have been no vast peaks in my life. There have been several high hills, but definitely no 'as good as it gets' moments.

I am average, not unhappy about it, quite the opposite. I am content that way. I blend in with a crowd, and there is nothing spectacular about me, knowing this makes it easier.

As a young girl I had misconceptions. I had a prodding feeling that I was different. I could not place my finger on it, something in me told me that everyone else was set apart. At first I thought I was meant to be beautiful, but since I still have yet to outgrow my awkwardness I have been able to rule that out.

Then there was the idea that it was intelligence. I have always seen things differently so I fooled myself into thinking I was smarter somehow. Yet my just average grades and acceptance only to the local community college proved that quite wrong.

So as a last resort I attempted sports. In high school I succeeded in being the only senior to play junior varsity soccer four years running. It was due greatly in part to the excess thirty pounds of body weight I could not seem to lose.

So twenty three, and working as an office assistant outside of Portland I knew I was just like everyone else, there was nothing special about me. I was happy in my plain qualities. I had good friends, and family that cared for me.

I had just accepted that my life was not one of greatness, that some of us are meant to be the backup singers in life. Then strange things started to happen this month.

It started the day I got home from my camping vacation with my family the beginning of August. The summer air was especially sticky, and the air conditioning in my small apartment was broken. I was lying in bed, wide awake. The air seemed to be electric, like it was sending pure energy pulsing through my veins, stronger than an espresso shot.

My foot would not stop tapping. I watched the clock minutes flash in red warning of the sleep I was depriving myself of. Minutes ticked into hours, and at six am I sat up. I was no more tired than when I had laid down seven hours ago, and the sun was now sending heat waves through my poorly shaded windows.

I got up and walked into my kitchen, waiting for the effects of the insomnia to set in. I ate breakfast in the quite of the morning, almost an hour passed, and nothing. I was baffled, but not about to complain. Instead I made my way to the bathroom to start my morning ritual.

The mirror greeted me below the fluorescent lighting. I hated the lighting, it showed me in detail everything about me I didn't want to know. Like the small puff below my eyes that grew with my age, or the wrinkle line thickening around my smile. I grimaced at the face staring back at me, only to notice another tiny line on my forehead. That was not good. I was too young for this many wrinkles. And the fact that they were framed in my pudgy face and frizzy short hair did not help. I turned away from the mirror to the shower. Seeing any more of myself in that mirror was not a healthy way to start my day.

…

The day pressed on as many others had in the past. Though strangely enough the lack of sleep took no toll on me that day. Instead at the end of the long workday, I once again was energized. There was the familiar foot tapping as I finished filing away work I had missed. I had energy to burn, at six when I left work the humid heat did not tire me as it usually did. Once again I was invigorated, I found myself puzzled.

Then the strangest thing happened, as I was turning off the highway I noticed a new building I had never seen before. It was a new trendy gym that had just completed construction. Gyms were generally places I felt uncomfortable in, and avoided like the plague. Yet I was drawn to it, to the shiny blue sign that illumined above tan stucco, and the grand opening sign hanging below that.

I parked in the crowded large parking lot and made my way over black new asphalt, still fresh with the smell towards the beacon of my attention. Air conditioning flooded over my body when the electric glass doors slid open in welcome. Beyond them was a bustle of people, mostly too fit for my liking. Before I realized what was happening a receptionist greeted me and steered me to membership. I had the passing feeling of a cattle being herded.

A large middle age man greeted me, and led me towards a small room. Both the man and the room had a color of a bright orange. Both seemed to be painted on.

He judged me the moment I sat across from him in his 'office' I sensed. His name was Jamie, he was personal trainer. I agreed when he said I wanted to be in better shape, and listened intently to his suggestions for a membership plan. I was being drawn in, I knew it.

By the time I left I had signed a contract for a platinum membership, complete with weekly personal trainer sessions. It was an out of body experience. I still don't know what overtook me in that time. All I knew was the next day I had a session with Jake, my new trainer.