Welcome to my first attempt at fan fiction!
This story is based on the concept of Bella being exactly as afraid of Edward as he always insisted she should be. I start at the beginning to show how little changes can make a big difference in the end. If you don't like reading re-writes of canon and want to skip past all the subtle changes into my really original stuff, proceed to Chapter 4: I'm Gonna Live Till I Die, then Chapter 7: Sand and Sea, then pick up at Chapter 9: Downtown. After that, you won't recognize the story. Thank you for reading!
Inspired by Ella Fitzgerald's song "Midnight Sun," I am paying homage to her peers and times by naming my story and all the chapters after songs recorded by the great Frank Sinatra. As I'm sure you are aware, all characters and associated content belong to Stephenie Meyer.
Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1: It's a Lonesome Old Town
It was my first day at Forks High School that I first saw Edward Cullen.
I had already acquired a small, unwanted entourage during the course of my morning. Jessica Stanley, a friendly enough girl who liked talking about herself even more than about me, had taken me under her wing and led me to a lunch table where I was clearly the hot topic for the day. I kept my head down and tried to manage eating lunch without being overwhelmed by all the attention I was getting as the new girl. It was exactly the type of scene I avoided back in Phoenix-generally I had sat alone with a book or some homework.
But this wasn't Phoenix. This was tiny Forks High School, where not much ever happened. I sat at a table with seven strangers and tried to make conversation, tried to save face for the next year and a half's sake. I was taking in my surroundings when I caught sight of five beautiful and bizarre teenagers, all very different from one another and yet all the same, and all sitting alone at a table on the far side of the cafeteria.
I couldn't help asking Jessica about them. She would have noticed me staring, anyway. I just couldn't stop studying their faces, their postures, their movements. They looked perfect, striking. Back in Phoenix, they would have been surrounded by people, popular beyond belief. Then again, back in Phoenix, they wouldn't have been nearly so pale. These five had impossibly white skin. I had always thought my skin to be so pale it was translucent. Next to them I would have looked like Malibu Barbie. A really ugly Malibu Barbie.
It wasn't just their beauty that held my attention, though. There was something unsettling about them. They all sat with perfect poise, looking completely disinterested in anyone or anything. While several of them played with their food, no one seemed to be eating any. As I watched, the youngest boy suddenly looked up at me. He caught me staring, so I blushed and looked away, but something in his expression made me want to look back up.
"Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I asked, hoping to hear he was the most bizarre of the bunch. Maybe Jessica would say he stared dumbly at people sometimes. I tilted my head so I could steal a peek at him through my hair. He was still looking at me.
"That's Edward. He's perfect of course…" Jessica started prattling off bitterly about how Edward wouldn't date her and so on, but I stopped paying attention. Clearly no reputation for being a starer.
Edward was starting to turn away from me, and by the way his cheek lifted, I guessed he had somehow heard what Jessica was saying and was laughing to himself. I didn't care if he laughed or not, but something about him definitely disturbed me. The way he had looked at me made me feel as though I had already disappointed him somehow. Not only that, something about his face gave me a prickly feeling behind my neck. It was overly smooth, like polished stone or the surface of undisturbed water. Certainly not like a high school boy.
Definitely not like a boy who would want to stare at me for any length of time. Not for any good reason, anyway.
I bit my lip as I considered what I might have done wrong. His family was certainly the most unusual bunch at the school. Maybe he enjoyed being a freak, and he was angry with me for taking attention away from him. Well, if that were the case, I was honestly sorry. I didn't want the attention. He could have it.
I was relieved to hear the bell ring to signal the end of lunch. The sooner I could get out of Edward's line of sight, the better. I hastily threw away the rest of my lunch, but Jessica and the others really took their time getting up from the table. I didn't want to seem rude, but I was anxious to get to class. At least Edward left the lunch room swiftly. I wouldn't have to worry about bumping into him.
A girl who had been sitting at our table in relative silence introduced herself as Angela and pointed to my schedule.
"We have biology together next," she said. "I'll walk you."
Biology. What a relief. I could handle biology.