This is my first fanfic, so i apologise if it is terrible, or if any threads are not tied off by the end. My mind is just a mess at the moment.

I am not stephanie Meyer - obviously.

Happy reading!


Prologue – Bella's POV

The funny thing about life is the things pulling the strings.

Fate is a selfish and cruel mistress, like a stubborn child yanking the mortal puppets this way and that. Doing whatever it pleases. Deciding whatever it wants.

And Fate doesn't like to be disobeyed. When things don't go her way she gets angry, and forces her will upon the world more harshly than before.

But if Fate wasn't so stubborn, if she wasn't so strong, so harsh, so fond of human suffering I wouldn't have had the best life imaginable. I wouldn't have met him.

And that life was simply not worth living.


Chapter One - The Date

I never really felt like I belonged in my body. Everyone else looked so at home while I was a stranger. Each time I looked in the mirror it almost came as a surprise – I felt so different to the way I looked. My pale skin, almost translucent like a ghost, dull mousey hair and flat, uninteresting, muddy brown eyes was not the me I wanted. Or felt comfortable with.

I got used to it. I became accustomed to being overlooked and slowly I grew to enjoy obscurity. When I was small I had craved attention – now I actively avoided it. For me the mere thought of standing up in front of a crowd was more terrifying than certain death.

I hated meeting new people; my self-confidence (or rather my lack of it) was a major hurdle to overcome every time I spoke to a stranger. And didn't my friends know it.

My two closest friends: Rosalie Hale and her brother Jasper, always got a kick out of trying to set me up with an array of different men; and all because I was 'too embarrassed to find a bloke for myself' as Rosalie put it. It was alright for her – she had looks that would make even the most glamorous supermodel green with envy.

Since secondary school (when I met the stunning Hales) Jasper and Rose had tried unceasingly to set me up with any number of different guys. I had had a date with them all, from high-school jocks to the chess playing nerds – it never got past one date.

The thing is that despite my best friends' efforts I had never met anyone that I wanted, nor ever seemed likely to.

I have to hand it to Rose and Jasper though, they never stopped trying; this continued even through to university and beyond. I was twenty-three and had been employed as a magazine columnist for just under a year and still my friends insisted on playing this childish game.

Rosalie smiled angelically at me while I glared back in the mirror. She was behind me fixing my untameable locks with a very large clip.

"I am not going tonight Rose." I protested.

"Yes you are, now hold still."

"I don't care what you do to me but I am not going."

"Don't be such a baby Bella." She chided, biting her lip, "let me just get this clip – oh hell!" the clip snapped shut and pinged free of my hair, almost smacking her in the face.

I grinned, "See even your hair clip doesn't want me to go – fate is against it."

"Don't start talking to me about fate Bella, for all you know this guy is your future husband."

I snorted.

"Seriously Bella! Fate is not stopping this clip from working; that would be your colossal amount of hair."

I rolled my eyes, "Fine, let the torture proceed."

"Why don't you want to go?" Rosalie questioned.

"Because I'll probably humiliate myself and I doubt I'll even like him anyway. What's the point in me dressing up if I am never going to see him again?"

"You never know…"

"Rose, please be serious."

"Well, according to Jasper he really will make you change your mind."

"I doubt it." I said cynically.

"Trust us."

"Why?"

She giggled and re-twisted my hair, pinning it tightly against my skull.

I sighed, "What is it about him that makes Jasper think he's the one for me?"

"It's not just Jasper who thinks that, Emmett agrees with him."

"Well it's a cert then." I muttered sarcastically.

Emmett was Rose's long time boyfriend. They had been together for nearly two years and it seemed only a matter of time before he popped the question. They were perfect for one another. Oh and what I said about Rosalie's looks earlier – yeah, the same applies for Emmett.

Like I said, those two were made for each other.

Rose frowned as she stretched the clip to its full width, and attempted to make it hold my hair in place, "I don't exactly know him…"

"Are you kidding me? You want me to go on a date with a stranger, you have never even met before?!"

"Um…yeah, pretty much."

I gritted my teeth, seething silently, "So what have Emmett and Jasper told you about him?"

"Only that he's a really great guy, he's quite tall…err…he's rich –"

"Yeah that's sounds just like a match made in heaven. He's rich. Wow. My mind is entirely made up now." I said sarcastically, "entirely made up, not to go."

"Be quiet Bella!" she scolded, "This guy is also Jasper's girlfriend's brother."

"What?"

"You know Jasper's new girlfriend?"

"No, he won't tell me anything about her."

"He won't tell me either," She sighed, "but what he did say is that she has a brother."

"And so Jasper wants me to go out with his girlfriend's brother?"

"Yeah," Rose said cheerfully.

"Rose, that has to be the worst idea you have ever – and I mean ever – had!"

"You always say that."

"And I always mean it," I muttered darkly.

"You'll be fine," Rose commanded, "now for the last time hold still!"

I exhaled slowly, flicking through the pages of some trashy celebrity magazine. A brightly coloured, glossy article caught my attention;

Edward Cullen: Actor and Singer? Or personified Greek god? We let you decide.

Underneath there were a variety of different shots: Edward on stage singing into a microphone, him lounging on the beach last summer, in his latest box office movie Romeo & Juliet where he played the starring role. Idly I flicked the page.

With one deft twist Rosalie shoved the clip over a mountain of my hair.

The air was suddenly filled with a horrible, torturous … theme tune? The tinny noise rattled away; Rose fished out her mobile and answered it.

"Hello? Oh hey Em. Yeah Bells is here with me. Really? Oh. I see. Maybe another time yeah? Ok. Sure I'll tell her. No she'll be pleased. Really she will. I'll see you later, love you!" she put the phone down and looked at me wistfully.

I felt a small thrill pass through my middle. Had my date for the evening cancelled? Every fibre of my being, longed for that to be so. Please, please, please –

Rose sighed slowly, "Bells your date's been cancelled."

"YAY!" I cried, throwing my hands up in the air.

"Ugh, I can't believe you. I'll just have to set you two up again!"

"You'd better be joking."

"I'm afraid not."

"Rose!"

I launched at her and sent us both to the floor, where we lay shrieking with laughter. I rolled onto my back and the hairclip sprung free, flying across the room and sending my hair cascading over my shoulders. "See?" I told her smugly, "I told you the clip didn't want me to go."


I hope you enjoyed it. This is my first fanfic so please review, review, review, and let me know what you think.

My plan is (my plans don't often work out so i'm warning you in advance - i am a terrible procrastinator) that i will update this once a week, i wrote this during my study session in school today so i should have time to, but i am doing my A-levels at the moment and if work gets too much that will take priority. Sorry.

Oh and did i mention review? i think i did. Oh well, REVIEW please!!!

xxx