Prologue
January 18th, 2012
"Jessica's pretty cool! I think she'll like you."
Bella Swan awkwardly sat down at the lunch table full of socialites. This was not her usual scene. She was about to be bored out of her mind when the apparent leader of the group sat down opposite her.
"Hi! I'm Jessica Stanley."
Bella did nothing but sit and stare with her mouth open a little. "Sorry. Woah. You look almost exactly like my cousin," she stuttered.
"Cousin?" questioned Jessica. She tilted her slightly to the right.
"Yeah, her name's Beca Mitchell. She's a year older than me. She's an aspiring DJ," Bella explained.
"Hm."
After that, poor Bella faced an onslaught of ridiculous questions about Phoenix and her life previous to arriving in Forks. Little did she know, both Edward Cullen and Rosalie Hale were staring at her…
xXx
June 11th, 2013
"Ah, graduation day!" sang Alice. "A day I've experienced one too many times but still find refreshing and enjoyable!"
"You and only you," grumbled her sister, Rosalie.
"Cheer up, baby." This time, it was Bella talking. Rosalie turned around to face the brunette and smiled before kissing her.
In March of 2012, Edward Cullen began dating Bella Swan.
In September of 2012, Edward Cullen left Bella Swan in the middle of the woods behind her house. He and his family disappeared from Forks, Washington.
In November 2012, Rosalie Hale returned to Forks, Washington against the wishes of her family to see Bella again.
In January of 2013, Rosalie Hale began dating Bella Swan.
In March of 2013, Bella Swan went cliff diving. Alice Cullen saw this and interpreted it as suicide. She called Edward, and he went to the Volturi to have them kill him. Bella and Rosalie rushed to Volterra to save him. The Cullen family returned to Forks.
Although she was still being pursued by Victoria, Bella was enjoying life. Rosalie was much better for her than Edward ever would be. She wasn't controlling or possessive. She let Bella live her life.
Today, Bella was doing a lot of living.
"After this, we get Victoria, and we get together," Bella said softly.
"Mhmm," agreed Rosalie.
"Alright, you two lovebirds, Bella has to go get her diploma," Alice said, ushering the two apart. Rosalie waved at her girlfriend as she headed off to find a seat in the gym.
The ceremony went smoothly with no interruptions or mistakes. Jessica's speech was generic but inspiring. Bella received her diploma and was officially done with high school. Well, for a while. She entered the crowd of families to receive congratulations from her dad. Rosalie was by her side almost instantly.
"Bella!" Charlie called from the back. "You'll never guess who's here to see you!"
"No, I won't," she said, approaching him, girlfriend in tow. "Who is it?"
"Well, if it isn't little miss cactus," came a snarky voice from behind Charlie. "Long time no see, Bella."
"Beca? Oh my god! I haven't seen you in forever!"
Beca Mitchell grinned as she was pulled into a hug by the taller girl. "Watch out, kiddo, I need you to not crush my lungs."
Bella let go and stepped back to Rosalie's side. "Well," said the blonde. "Bella and Beca. Cute."
"And who is this gorgeous woman?" questioned the older of the two cousins.
"This lovely lady is my fabulous girlfriend, Rosalie Hale."
"Looks like Beca isn't the only one who bats for the other team," said a redhead that had just walked up to Beca's side. "I'm Chloe, Beca's girlfriend."
"Where did you meet her?" Bella asked incredulously.
"I should be asking you the same thing." Beca rolled her eyes.
"She dated my brother first," explained Rose. Edward, who was walking up to the group with Carlisle, waved.
"Makes sense. I never pegged Bella for one to immediately go for the girls."
"Her name's Bella?" asked Chloe giddily.
"Yeah," Beca sighed.
"What's so significant about that?" asked the younger cousin.
"Chloe here convinced me to join this a capella group at Barden called 'The Barden Bellas'. We won regionals, semi-finals, and then finals."
"Wow. You always could sing, but I never thought you'd end up joining a group."
"It wasn't my choice!" Beca exclaimed defensively. "She invaded my shower and forced me to do it!"
"That doesn't sound suggestive at all."
"You are so insufferable!"
Bella laughed and Rosalie giggled a little bit. "Look, why are you here anyways?" the taller cousin asked.
"Can't a girl come see her little cousin graduate?"
"Yeah, whatever." Bella rolled her eyes.
"Actually," interjected Alice. "Charlie told me about her, and I hired her to DJ at the graduation after party."
"You mean the Cullen graduation after party," Rosalie corrected. "There are others."
"No one's going to Augustus Slocum's graduation nerd fest," Alice groaned. "No one but Augustus and his nerd friends who aren't hardcore enough to rock our party scene. I don't even think anyone's going to the Tribal School after party. And it's on the beach. In fact, I think there are Tribal kids coming to our party instead."
"Ew, mutts. And we're letting them in?"
"Babe, be nice." Bella elbowed her girlfriend in the ribs, which did nothing but hurt her elbow.
"Yes, we are. We are Forks' social scene, Rose. We are the party. We are it. Our place is the place to be tonight and you can bet everyone in the area will be rocking our scene. And Beca here will be making it rock even more. It's going to be insane."
xXx
Insane it was. Alice took parties to a whole other level, a level that Forks didn't experience too often. Beca was behind her equipment, spinning knobs and turning heads. She was personally introduced to valedictorian Jessica Stanley, who shared her likeness to a shocking extent. Bella had been coerced onto the dance floor by Rosalie, who was killing it. Bella's two left feet fixed themselves with a bit of alcohol and she was popping it, locking it, and dropping it just as good as anyone else there. Chloe sat by Beca's set-up, content with the world. The DJ had been urging her to go down on the floor and enjoy herself, but Chloe persisted, saying that she was much happier by her side than out there.
The party went by smoothly despite a visit from the Pack, which pulled Bella and the host family off upstairs for a good twenty minutes. They came back down looking mildly distressed, but they still managed to enjoy the rest of the party. When all was said and done, Beca pocketed a generous pay of $800. It was way more than she'd asked for, but Alice had insisted, saying "Any family of Bella is my family, and I treat my family good." Not that Beca was complaining.
"Hopefully you can DJ our wedding, too," Rosalie purred.
The DJ's eyes widened, spotting the ring on Rose's finger. "Bella! When did you-"
"About thirty minutes ago," the taller brunette mumbled. "I was scared shitless."
"You thought I'd say no? Bella, you've got to stop doubting yourself," the blonde scolded. "Anyways, thank you, Beca. The music was great; I know because Edward wouldn't stop complimenting you."
The copper-bronze-haired boy in question grinned. "I know a good DJ when I see one."
"Edward is the family virtuoso," explained Alice. "Hell, we've all got some kind of musical talent. Jasper's a guitarist, Emmett's a drummer, we all can sing. Edward just goes above and beyond."
"Jack of all trades, master of some," he joked. "Music is my passion."
"It's more than that," said Alice. "He's so far into it that he's sideways, backwards, and upside down all at once. This boy has composed so much music that he's on his way to being the next Beethoven. He sings like an angel, he plays piano like a god, and he knows everyone from Mick Jagger to Nicki Minaj and then some. An entire wall of his room is literally nothing but CDs."
"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Music," Beca chuckled.
Edward laughed and began to softly sing Auld Lang Syne.
"Should old acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance-"
Rosalie punched him lightly. "Come on, you can do better than that." He straightened up and took a deep breath before belting out
"The sun goes down
The stars come out
And all that counts
Is here and now
My universe will never be the same
I'm glad you came."
"Better," said his sister.
By this point, Chloe and Beca's inner Bella was starting to stir. Since the rest of the group wasn't with them, they couldn't exactly do anything extravagant, but they could do something. It was almost felt like like a smaller version of a Riff Off. Beca whispered something in Chloe's ear before they both nodded and looked at Edward.
"As we go on
We remember
All the times we
Had together
And as our lives change
Come whatever
We will still be
Friends forever-"
Edward lifted a hand, cutting them off. He began to sing again.
"After tonight, who knows where we'll be tomorrow?
What if we're never here again?
After tonight, this will be a lifetime ago
So let's stay up until the sky bleeds red!"
Recognizing the tune, Alice, Rosalie, and Bella joined in.
"And we'll stop, stop, stop the world from moving
Stop, stop, stop the clocks from turning
Stop this night from fading away"
And, finally, Beca and Chloe gave in.
"This time is ours!
If I could hold this moment in my hands
I would stop the world from moving
I'd stop the clocks from turning
This time is ours!
Inside a frozen memory of us
And we are motionless, motionless"
Edward took the lead.
"You're like a dream
That I have just awoken from
Fading away, just out of reach"
And Rosalie stole it from him.
"And we are here
But I already miss you
Even as you're lying next to me"
They continued until the song was finished, alternating lead parts and singing together on the chorus. When it was over, Esme revealed that she had taped the whole thing and the impromptu a capella group burst into laughter.
"It was great seeing you again, Bella," said Beca. "I hope I'm invited back for the wedding."
"Invitations will be in the mail," was all she said in response.