AN: OK, so I didn't want you all to wait long for the first chapter, so here it is. (I was never very good at keeping secrets or surprises…I'd always tell right away. And it's written, so SURPRISE! LOL) Yeah, so let me know what you think please!
And of course, I'd like to give a super huge thank you to my girls angelnlove52 and VampPixyJAK for sucking me into your world of craziness…or maybe becoming a part of mine! ;) Our constant fits of laughter spark many ideas for this story.
I guess I should also mention that I don't own Twilight or these characters, but the lovely Stephenie Meyer does…I just borrow them on the weekends and make them do fun things.
Ch. 1 – Southern Pride and Hot Rides
Bella POV
Spending my days wasting away in Mr. Bishop's U.S. History class was the last thing I wanted to be doing on a beautiful Friday afternoon in May. I could probably think of 100 things I'd rather do in 1,000 different ways than listen to his monotonous voice drone on and on about the insignificant details of supposed "interesting" facts of the civil war. I was about to fall asleep at my desk when Tyler Crowley stood up and slammed his fist into his desk.
"That's right! If only General Lee was alive now! Country boys nowadays wouldn't put up with some yankees movin' in and tryin' to tell us what to do!" he shouted.
I wasn't sure if he was talking to anyone in particular or just got really worked up by whatever discussion was going on, but I heard Jessica Stanley snort loudly and exclaim, "The North won, South lost. Get over it, Tyler! If they didn't win the first time, they definitely wouldn't win on account of an ignorant hick like you helping. Sit down and shut up."
I had to stifle a laugh, so that I wasn't caught in the midst of the crossfire. Jessica was just one of those girls who could be very blunt about things and was usually not afraid to speak her mind good or bad; well, in most circumstances anyway… I didn't always agree with her; she could be really ditzy sometimes. But in this case, she was dead on. Seeing Tyler slink back into his seat with a hurt expression on his face, almost like a sad puppy dog that had just been scolded and wacked with a newspaper for peeing on the rug, did bring a light of amusement and entertainment to this dreadful hour of post-final exam reflection and discussion.
Apparently being raised in Georgia brings out intense feelings when discussing the civil war, because anytime the subject was brought up in class, every day it seemed like a heated debate erupted on how "the South shall rise again" or on the despicable characteristics of "those dern yankees." Naturally, I wanted to jump from my seat in protest to such statements, but generally deemed it a pointless battle. Ignoring the discussions altogether seemed like a better option; that way I didn't take any offense to any of the ramblings, as only having moved here to Woodstock, Georgia from New Hampshire at the beginning of this year, I still very much considered myself to be one of those said "yankees" and am continually perplexed by some of the mannerisms of the South.
I have made a solemn vow to myself that the words "ya'll" or "yer" would never escape my lips. Just thinking of the jokes and laughs I would surely receive from my friends back home was enough motivation, not to mention the fact that it isn't even proper English. And what really is the purpose of putting ridiculously huge tires on a pickup truck and then driving it off through deep mud holes!? I do not see how this could be considered fun by any definition. Some things I may never understand, but thankfully, on my first day of junior year, I met some friends who seemed (somewhat) normal – much more like my old friends from New Hampshire. I'm not sure how I would've survived a whole torturous year in this place without Alice and Rose.
I remember Alice practically ran me over with her car in the parking lot the first day of school, and interestingly, we've been best friends ever since. It's actually a funny joke between us at this point and is often her favorite threat to throw at me in an argument.
"Bella, next time you might not be so lucky and my brakes will fail!!"
"Better watch your step in the parking lot, chick, wouldn't want you to get ran over by a sexy Lexus!"
She oozes sarcasm in every word, but I always just brush her off because I know even on her bitchiest day, she'll never wish anything but good things for me. She's like the best, crazy, pixie-like sister I've never had, and I know we'll always be there for each other. I can see us sitting next to one another when we're 80 years old, drinking margaritas on a beach somewhere, and laughing about all the hell we raised when we were younger. Friends 'til we die. I don't think there's much that could break us apart, even though both of us have the temper of a pissed off lioness.
Plus, I know she really didn't mean to nearly hit me. It was partly my fault, as I dropped my keys walking across the lot and didn't think much about bending to pick them up just as Alice was coming down the aisle in a new, shiny black Lexus ISF, multi-tasking by texting on her iPhone, applying lip gloss in her rearview mirror, and laughing with Rose who sat in the passenger seat. The only thing I heard when I looked up was Rose screaming "Shit! Brakes! Brakes, Alice! Hit the fucking brakes!"
Alice had the car in park and was at my side in what seemed like a split-second. I hadn't even moved an inch, frozen apparently. It was incredibly odd because I didn't even feel scared in that instant. It was like I knew she would never hurt me.
"Oh my god! I am so sorry! I didn't even see you!..." She trembled as she spoke.
"It's fine. I'm fine. No blood, no foul, right?" I half-smiled, still a little shaken by the fact that I almost got ran over by a car. I mean, that's the kind of thing that stray dogs should worry about, not people!
"No way! I am so sorry. Please forgive me. It was such an accident. If Rose wouldn't have distracted me with that stupid joke…I'm… just sorry. Let me make it up to you!"
"No really, it's okay. But if you want, you can show me where the main office is. It's my first day here and I was planning on spending the time that you just occupied with endangering my life trying to find it." I smiled and tried to make light of the situation. After all, it was just a near miss.
"Yeah, I figured you had to be new, because nobody would step foot in front of a vehicle that Alice Cullen was driving," Rosalie laughed, and Alice punched her in the arm.
"Whatever, Rose! Don't fucking ride with me then! Drive your own ass to school, or catch a ride with one of your boy-toy Ken dolls for all I care!" Rose seemed angry at that remark, but Alice just smiled and pretended not to notice. I knew right then that these girls were a bundle of firecrackers, but that was what I found more interesting about them.
"Now what did you say your name was?" Alice asked as she slinked her arm in mine and smiled at me. Oddly, I felt totally at ease with her. It was like I'd known her forever; maybe her outgoing personality reminded me of my friends back home.
"Bella Swan. I just moved here from New Hampshire."
"Oooohh…I love New Hampshire. Well I'm Alice Cullen, and this is Rosalie Hale. I just know we're going to all be great friends, Bella. I can already see it! You seem like a girl who can hang and knows how to have a good time." I laughed at how true her comment rang.
But now, 10 months later, she really was right. We were the best of friends, and I'm actually glad I almost got turned into road kill by my best friend that day.
"Bella! Bella! Are you dayfucking Chace Crawford again?" Rosalie managed to bring me from my reminiscences with her crass nickname for people that actually had thoughts run through their heads. Urgh.
"The bell already rang. Why on earth would you want to stay in this dreadful hell-hole any longer than necessary? No more damn school for three months! Let's get the hell out of here!" she continued.
"No, Rose. I was just thinking about what I should wear for Angela's party tonight."
"Nothing you own, that's for sure!" she snapped.
"Go to hell, Rose. Just because some people don't find 5-inch clear, stripper heels to be the most fashionable item for ALL occasions, doesn't mean I have bad taste!"
"I'm just kidding, Bella. Lighten the hell up! I just wish you'd let me and Alice pick out your outfits more often. We could totally make you over 'She's All That' style! Then you could get some hot Freddie Prinze Jr. to ravish you!"
"Just because you let Alice make you over like Malibu Barbie any chance she gets, doesn't mean I have to. I'm perfectly happy having a say in my outfits. And don't make it out like I'm some slum on the street because I wear most of the same shit you do!" I replied grudgingly. This was a constant conversation we three had, and it never seemed to go anywhere. I didn't mind them picking out clothes, and truthfully, I usually liked what they picked. But I enjoyed having the freedom of my own choice, with only a bit of their influence. They both had the tendency to go completely overboard on everything. "AND, I don't even like Freddie Prinze Jr."
"OK, Bella. So what ARE you going to wear tonight?"
"Haven't decided yet. Wanna help me pick out something?" I smiled, and Rosalie knew I had just been messing with her for the sake of it. I know how worked up she gets, and it's quite fun to entice her at times. But generally, it's more fun when her pent-up anger is unleashed on another unsuspecting innocent and not me. I, to this day, grimace when I think of the words that escaped Rose's mouth when Jessica spilled paint on Rose's white Prada bag in art. It was like a resurrection of the devil herself. But Jessica's very presence makes Rose's blood boil by just breathing, so I didn't worry for that kind of evil to be released on me—at least I hoped not.
"Hells yes! Let's go find Alice and head over to her house. We'll have to hurry because we only have four hours to all get ready and do some pre-gaming before the party."
Rose snapped back out of bitch mode and linked arms in mine as we strolled out of the classroom. Rose could be the quintessential bitch sometimes, hell we all could really, but mostly we were only joking with each other. I could imagine things would get pretty boring around here if we weren't the lively bunch that we were. So, we like to keep it fresh and exciting. We call it the 'Love ya bitch!' mentality and I couldn't be happier with our Type A personalities.
As we walked out into the coarse humidity making our way to our cars, Alice came bouncing up to us shrieking at a pitch that I swear only dolphins could hear.
"Guess what you guys!" Alice didn't even take a breath to let us attempt to guess. "Daddy just gave me, well all of us, the most amazing junior-year-graduation present imaginable!"
"Like you really need a new car, Alice! You just got that one this year." Rose said as she pointed to Alice's spotless Lexus. I suppose if my family had personal assistants working around the clock, I'd have my car washed every morning before I left the house too.
"I do have to remind him to upgrade my car to the 2011 model. Being outdated is so not my thing. BUT that's not what I was talking about," Alice replied as I could tell she was making mental notes of her reminder to upgrade her apparently disposable $65,000 car.
"Daddy purchased the Platinum Top Penthouse at the Edgewater Resort. He says it's THE most amazing penthouse in Panama City Beach. Can you believe it?" Alice squealed.
"Are you kidding me?! They're gonna be down there when we are? It's even at the same resort as our condo! That officially sucks, Alice! How the hell do you call that a present?!" I replied. Her parents were very understanding and much cooler than most parents were, but that did not mean that under any god-forsaken circumstances did I want them following us around the beach all summer! We're not twelve anymore, and even her parents weren't THAT cool. The more I thought about it, the more pissed I got about our summer-long beach-fest being ruined with parentals. Urgh!
"Bella, now's not the time to act so dense. You might be mistaken for Jessica." Alice laughed at her own joke. "But do you really think I would allow that shit? No way!" she answered.
"Just spit it out, Alice! We gotta go get ready," Rose hissed.
"Fine—They're letting US have it all summer—daddy's treat! Eeeeekkk! I can't wait for ya'll to see it! It's 15,000 square feet of absolutely amazing beauty! There's two stories, six bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms, an invisible edge pool and hot tub overlooking all of the beach and the pools and resort below, its own movie theater…"
"A movie theater! What kind of fairy-tale beach palace has a movie theater in it?" I snapped. But I already knew the answer to that question the second it escaped my lips—the Cullen's beach palace. As amazing at that all was, I couldn't wrap my head around getting used to the seemingly infinite supply of money that Alice and her family had. I mean, I've been around rich families, but they were like Bill Gates/Donald Trump rich. Alice considers anything less than a $20 bill "change" like normal people think of pennies and nickels; Hell, she probably throws them all in the trash so that they don't take up room in her wallet stuffed with $100's. Carlisle, her dad, is a brain surgeon and also runs a very successful financial investment company. Her mother, Esme, is a world-renowned interior designer. She even decorated nearly half of the rooms in The Queen's Buckingham Palace several years ago. So I know they are loaded and have no problems blowing money, which I suppose isn't the worst thing in the world, especially when they allowed us to toil in their riches as well.
A wide grin spread across Alice's face as she glanced at Rose and replied, "The kind we're going to be staying in, girls. Now on to more pressing matters…" she started, but was interrupted by Jessica bounding over to us as we three leaned against the side of Rose's red Mercedes SLK350 convertible.
"Hey guys! I am so glad this is our last day of school. Are ya'll about to go get ready for Angela's? I bought this new aqua-colored strapless dress yesterday, and I'm just dying to wear it. Want me to just meet you at Alice's house?" Jessica spewed out all in one over-excited breath.
"Hey Jess, take a damn chill-pill and calm your fucking self or the only way you're riding with us is gagged in the trunk!" Rose hissed. Jessica's eyes narrowed but she didn't say a word and just turned to face Alice.
"And this is my Rosie-cakes on a nice day," Alice laughed while Rose pretended not to hear.
"So, yeah Jess, we're gonna all get ready and start the party off at my house. You got all the stuff we'll need, right?"
"Yeah, Mike's got it. I'll just swing by his house and be over in a bit," Jessica stated.
"Well, it's good you're here now, because I was just telling Bells and Rose how daddy just surprised me by upgrading the condo we originally planned to stay in all summer into the most fabulous penthouse in PCB. It's going to be incredible. And he's paying for it all, of course, so no worries girlies." Alice was still beaming with pride and excitement.
"That's awesome! I'm so excited! I can't wait to see some hot, NON-high school guys in all their glory on the beach!" Jessica said.
"Slow your roll kimosabi! There's something else…" Alice started.
"Sure, say no more! Your dad wants repayment with sexual favors, you got it!" Rose suggested with an evil grin on her face. Alice's dad was drop-dead gorgeous, but damn, Rose just had to go there. I grinned at that comment but was very thankful Alice didn't throw her sinful glare my way. She was too fixated on Rose.
"My dad's not into plastic bimbos like you, Rose." Alice replied icily as she glowered at Rose. "Anyways… So, there is something else, but I think it's not a big deal really." We all waited for her to continue.
"Alice! I'm getting tired of your 'Guess what the pixie's about to say' game!" I huffed.
"Damn, all of you are being bitches for real! But anyways, I was saying that my dad insists that my brother Edward and his two college buddies share the penthouse with us." Wait, I forgot she even had a brother. I mean, she'd mentioned him a few times before, but I'd never met him. I knew he was away at Dartmouth, but that was about all. "…and so I said that was fine. I mean, there's going to be more than enough room. Everyone can basically have their own bedroom if they want. Plus, they'll probably be off doing guy stuff so we won't even have to see them much."
"That sounds great Alice!" Jessica chirped in, maybe a little too quickly. I wondered what got her so excited, but I'm sure it was the idea that three college guys would be staying in the same condo as us. Ugh, can we say desperate?!
We all exchanged excited glances and Rose piped up, "Ladies, in one week, it will be the start of the most ri-fucking-diculously crazy summer ever! I hope you all have your party pants on, because it's about to go dooowwwwn. I cannot wait!" At this, we could all agree.
AN: Is anyone else as excited for this party and the beach as I am??? LOL.
Please review and let me know what you think! Fav part or line?
As of yet, I'm not going to be posting on a certain schedule, but more of whenever I'm inspired and things are written. So…inspire me please! :)
But in the meantime (if you haven't already), you should check out angelnlove52's and VampPixyJAK's stories. Stand Still is angel's post breaking dawn story and it's great! The goal is 1,000 reviews before we move on to the sequel…so read it and review por favor.