Please note that I am the WORST at knowing when to break for a new chapter. I have no idea where one should start and one should end - I just don't see the flow!

And don't forget: if you recognize it, it isn't mine : )


CHAPTER 2

Bella got the job at the pizzeria, and was scheduled to work at least three nights a week and one of them had to be a weekend. They pay was decent and it seemed like an easy enough job so she couldn't complain. She was even allowed to bring a book with her so that she could read between phone calls if it was a slow night.

On Wednesday, the day after her first shift, Bella made her way to the library to settle in for a solid few hours of reading. About an hour into her studying, she let her eyes wander around to the other library patrons and almost choked on her heart that had jumped into her throat when she saw him. Beautiful Stranger.

He was looking through one of the shelves and had pulled out a book, flipping through it casually. He set it back in its place and scanned the shelf for something else, his eyes flitting briefly in Bella's direction.

Her heart pounded furiously as their eyes locked, and he smiled warmly and waved at her. She smiled back.

The way he looked at her made her skin crawl, in a good way. His gaze sent her reeling, and she found that everything around her would simply blur when he was around, as if her mind only wanted to focus on him. His face, his stance, his voice, the way he moved, his words…

Before either of them had a chance to break eye contact, a small girl came up beside him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He looked down at her in surprise and smiled as she took the book he was holding and flipped through it herself.

The girl was cute. Petite with light brown hair and a pretty face. And it was the natural type of pretty, not the pretty that came with good makeup skills.

They exchanged a few hushed words and Bella noticed the girl gazing up at him sweetly as her heart fell seemingly to the ground and got stomped on repeatedly. With steel-toe boots.

The girl took his hand and playfully pulled him out of sight. Beautiful Stranger glanced back in Bella's direction – a glint of something Bella couldn't name in his eye – and gave her a small wave as he walked away with the girl.

Bella felt her face flush as she turned her face back to her textbook. Of course he has a girlfriend, she told herself. What did you expect, anyway?

Bella had never entertained the idea that she would ever be with him, but it still stung deeply to see him with another girl. Another girl who was free to touch and kiss him whenever she wanted. She could wrap her arms around him and take his hand, and it was confirmed that Bella couldn't – and would likely never have the chance to – do any of those things.

She tried desperately to shake him from her mind as she kept reading, but a small part of her still felt the disappointment that he was now one more degree of unattainable.

When Bella finally left the library, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed the familiar number.

"Hey, Jasper," she said glumly when he answered.

"Whoa, what's wrong with you?"

"I saw Beautiful Stranger," she sighed.

"And? Isn't that cause for celebration? Did he kick a puppy or something?"

"He has a girlfriend."

"Oh," he said sympathetically.

"I saw her. And she's really cute."

"Damn. That sucks, Bells. Maybe they're unhappy or something," he tried making her feel better.

"Maybe. Or maybe not. Whatever, I just needed to hear someone feel sorry for me. Thanks, Jasper."

He chuckled.

"I can guarantee you're prettier than she is, and I don't need to see her to know that much." Bella smiled on the other end of the line. "I gotta go, Bells. I have to go see one of my profs before my shift. But if you describe this guy to me I can kick his ass for you. Stage some sort of kidnapping and you can just have your way with him."

Bella giggled. "Thanks, but no thanks. Have a good shift."

"Talk to you later."

When Bella arrived at her dorm room door, she heard two voices coming from inside. One was definitely Rosalie, but she didn't recognize the other one. As she entered, she saw a girl there that she didn't know.

"Hey, Bella!" Rosalie greeted enthusiastically.

"Hey, Rosalie," Bella smiled.

"This is Alice," she replied, gesturing to the girl who sat on Rosalie's bed. She was very pretty, with a short dark pixie cut, and very well put-together. This girl definitely had good makeup skills, but you could tell she'd still be pretty underneath it all. "She's in my Psych class."

"Hi, Alice. Good to meet you," Bella said, extending her hand. She was suddenly feeling a little more self-conscious, being surrounded by striking girls. Especially after she had just seen Beautiful Stranger with that lucky girl who got to put her hands on him.

"You too, Bella. Rosalie's told me a lot about you. You girls are so lucky to have each other. I swear my roommate is plotting to kill me sometimes."

"Oh, no," Bella giggled.

"Yeah, she's not very social. Luckily I met Rosalie in class or else I'd be completely alone."

"Well, you're welcome here anytime," Bella told her. Rosalie smiled, happy that Bella liked her new friend.

"So Rosalie was just telling me about your cute RA," Alice cut right to the chase, and Bella laughed.

"Oh, yes. She's quite obsessed. Have you met him?"

"Nope. But I think I should. He sounds very…smart," Alice replied with a wink at Rosalie, who blushed profusely.

"What are you doing tonight, Bella?" Rosalie asked, deliberately changing the subject.

"Nothing, I just got back from studying so I'll probably lay low."

"Come out with us. We're just going to the coffee shop by the library."

The scene of the crime, Bella thought dryly. But she decided she needed to get her mind off of him.

"Sure, I'll come."

"Great! I just need to use the ladies' room, and then we'll go," Rosalie jumped up from the bed and headed into their tiny washroom.

Bella took the opportunity to get caught up with Alice on the basics. She was a student of the Columbia Business School and had moved here from a small town in Ohio, desperate for a taste of the big city.

There was a knock on the door, and Bella shot Alice a confused glance before getting up to answer it.

"Oh! Um…hello," she stuttered as she saw who was standing at their now-opened door.

"Hey! Isabella, right? I'm Emmett. But you probably already knew that," he seemed nervous, which is not at all how she remembered him from the welcome event.

"Yeah, of course I remember you. Um…what's up?"

"Well, I was just…"

Just then, the bathroom door swung open and there was Rosalie, standing four feet away from Emmett McCarty with a look of pure shock plastered on her face.

"Hey, Rosalie," he said to her. It was clear to Bella and Alice that they no longer existed in that room.

Her eyes grew wider for a fraction of a second; she had no idea that Emmett knew her name. Bella stepped awkwardly away from the door, allowing the two to continue the conversation.

"Hi," she squeaked and quickly cleared her throat. "Hi. Emmett, right?"

Oh, real smooth, Rosalie, Bella thought as she rolled her eyes at Alice, who stifled a giggle.

"Yeah, that's right," he sputtered as he wrung his hands together. He actually looked relieved that she knew his name. "Um, I heard you guys had a problem with your, um," he glanced around the room, looking for something to pick on. "Lighting?" he finally said.

Bella looked up at the light – which was on – and looked back at Emmett. Rosalie just stared at his face.

"Nope, lights are all working fine," Bella told him.

He ran a hand through his short dark hair and rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, actually, um, I came by to maybe see if you'd like to go to dinner with me?" he looked at Rosalie hopefully.

Her face gave away her surprise, and Bella and Alice snickered behind her.

"Sure, Emmett, I'd love to," she beamed.

"Great! How about this weekend? I can come pick you up maybe Friday at seven?"

"Friday at seven is perfect."

Okay, cool. Um, I guess I'll see you later?" It came out like a question.

"Yeah, for sure. I'll see you later," she replied.

He said goodbye and Rosalie moved slowly to shut the door, as Alice and Bella called after him. "Bye, Emmett!"

Rosalie squealed and the three girls talked about what just happened the whole way to the coffee shop. It was apparently a pure coincidence, because although Rosalie had planned to put a Date-Your-RA plan in place, she was still ironing out some logistics and hadn't gotten around to it yet. Turns out he just wanted to get to know her better, which made Rosalie the happiest girl in the world.


On Saturday night, as Bella was getting ready for her shift at the pizzeria, she chatted with Alice, who was sitting on her bed. Rosalie was due to meet her there after her shift at a small fair-trade organic coffee shop off campus.

"You have beautiful bone structure," Alice mused as she watched Bella pull her hair into a ponytail.

Bella smiled. "Thanks, Alice."

"No, really. And your eyes are just…gorgeous. And don't even get me started on your skin tone. Tan is overrated. You have this awesome Snow White thing going on."

This officially made Bella snicker. "Where's all this coming from?"

"Just stating the obvious. You're really pretty." Alice stood then, and began playing with Bella's long brown hair, pulling the elastic out. She pulled Bella's hair into a few different mock hairstyles as Bella stood awkwardly at the mirror. "I want to do your hair one day."

"For what?"

"For fun, silly!

"Is that supposed to be fun for me or fun for you?"

"Both! Come on, I promise I won't let you down."

"Okay, fine. One day. Not today. I have to leave soon."

"Deal."

The extent of Bella's beauty routine consisted of a bit of mascara and sometimes lip gloss. When she got her hair cut, it was always "just a trim", and though it was mostly in a ponytail, she had begun wearing it down a bit more on the advice of Jasper's younger sister, Charlotte.

Alice, on the other hand, played with makeup for fun. The more Bella got to know Alice, the more she saw the similarities between her and Charlotte.

"Bella, we need to talk," Charlotte said as she shut her bedroom door.

"What's wrong? Is everything okay?" Bella's concern was evident in her voice. Although they were two years apart in age, they were very close – like sisters.

"No, everything is not okay. You are wasting away right in front of me, Bella, and it's making me crazy!"

"What?" Bella did not see that coming.

"Seriously, you have so much potential, and it is driving me out of my mind that you're not taking advantage."

"What are you talking about? Potential for what?"

"Bella, you're beautiful," Charlotte told her bluntly. Bella rolled her eyes and was slightly irritated that Charlotte had made her nervous over something silly like this.

"Charlotte, I thought there was something seriously wrong."

"There is something seriously wrong. You have no idea how many great things there are about you, and your lack of confidence in yourself is all I can see anymore."

Bella stared blankly at her. How did she get so insightful? Wasn't she only fifteen?

"I don't know, Charlotte. I just have…issues, I guess."

"Yeah, you're telling me!"

"I really do appreciate the compliments, you're very sweet. But, I don't know, I just don't feel…I don't know. Like I shouldn't stand out, you know?"

Charlotte sighed. "I know. But please believe me when I tell you that you have nothing to be self-conscious about. You're beautiful and smart and sweet, and I'm lucky to have you as my honorary big sister, even though you're clueless."

Bella laughed. "Thanks a lot!"

Charlotte had grown into the female form of Jasper. Very popular, very smart, and very attractive. She read beauty magazines and followed all the trends – and had fun doing it.

I can't let you go off to college in the fall without a few tricks under your belt. Can we please have a tutorial session? Hair and makeup: the basics."

Bella sighed. "Fine. But you only have an hour."

Charlotte squealed in excitement, clapping her hands together and leaping off the bed. She grabbed her phone and checked her calendar.

"How's Thursday after school?"

"Thursday's fine," Bella mumbled reluctantly, though she thought that maybe Charlotte did have a point.

A knock on the door interrupted Alice's focus, much to Bella's relief.

"Come in," Bella called, knowing who was dropping in.

"Hey, Bell-," Jasper cut himself off upon seeing Alice standing there. He wasn't expecting anyone to be with Bella, not to mention someone so…unbelievably hot.

"Hey, Jasper. This is Alice. Alice, this is Jasper," Bella motioned between them.

"Um, hi…Jasper. Bella, this is your, um…boyfriend?" Alice's voice became unnaturally high-pitched at the end of her question, and Bella couldn't help but smile, knowing all too well that Alice had just been bitten by the Jasper bug.

"No, no. We're just friends," she clarified.

Alice's beaming smile spread over her face. "Alice," she said again, extending her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Was Alice blushing?

"Hi, Alice. I'm Jasper."

Haven't I already covered this? Bella thought to herself, folding her arms across her chest and enjoying the show.

"Sorry, I didn't know Bella had company," Jasper said, glaring at Bella. She knew what he was actually thinking: Why didn't you tell me you had such a hot friend?

"Alice is waiting for Rosalie," Bella told him, seeing right through his question. "They met in their psych class."

"Cool. Well, I hope we'll be seeing each other around, then," Jasper said smoothly.

"I hope so," Alice replied, a flirtatious tone in her voice.

"Ready to go, Jasper?" Bella asked. They were both working that evening and would be heading to the pizzeria together.

"Uh, yeah," he replied absently. "It was, uh, really good to meet you, Alice."

"You too, Jasper," she smiled in return.

Bella told Alice that Rosalie wouldn't be long and to make herself comfortable, and then she and Jasper were off to work.

Bella waited for Jasper's typical comments that usually followed when he saw a beautiful girl. She knew by his tone that he was into Alice, and was sure she'd be hearing about it for the rest of the evening. It had happened with countless girls in high school, and again with Rosalie.

"I think I'm falling in love," he would joke. "We'd make some beautiful babies together, don't you think?"

But as they walked down the steps and out of the building, Jasper remained silent. Bella looked at him in awe as he held the door open for her and they headed outside.

Wow. Jasper Whitlock: speechless.

For the whole drive to work, Jasper remained quiet about Alice, just as he had on the way home. The only time he spoke of her was to ask one question, just as he was parking the car on campus.

"What do you think of Alice?"

Bella looked at him quizzically, unsure of his question. "I really like her. She's a great girl. I really think her and I will become good friends."

He nodded, absorbing her answer, and they both got out of the car. It wasn't until she was almost at her dorm room door that she realized why he asked that question: he was looking for her unspoken validation. Bella smiled to herself, wondering how long it would take before he worked up the nerve to ask her out.


The next chapter is where Bella meets Edward... ; )