CHAPTER 2

BPOV:

"So, your group assignments are due in four weeks and I want a progress report in two. Bella, can you team up with Sarah beside you and join her group?" I looked at the girl next to me and nodded.

The bell rang and people started to bustle around me. I watched Edward get up and leave with the girl, whose name I figured out was Tanya. It looked like they were deep in conversation, he casually threw his arm around her shoulders as they walked out. My heart sank a little, but really I had no idea why, I hadn't even met him yet.

"We're meeting here tomorrow at lunch time to discuss who's doing what. See you then." Sarah smiled sweetly at me and walked out of the classroom. Oh god, why couldn't I just be left to do my work in peace.

As I entered the English room at lunch time the next day I was suprised to see Edward sitting waiting for the rest of the group to turn up. I hesitated before I entered, thinking maybe I had the wrong room. But at that moment he looked up at me and smirked. The crooked smile was breathtaking, and it somehow drew me into the room towards him.

"You must be Bella," his voice was smooth, and reassuring. I got the impression he could tell I was nervous.

"Yeah, hi."

"I'm Edward Cullen." No need for introductions, I know exactly who you are. Up close he was even more amazing to look at. I could feel my cheeks warming as I walked towards where he was seated and I sat down next to him.

"You're Alice's brother." Oh for god's sake Bella, couldn't you have made it a little more interesting than that!

"Yeah, one of them." God, don't tell me there were more of them. "You're Alice's new friend." Great, he knew I was a junior then.

"Yeah. She's kind of taken me under her wing."

He leaned towards me as if he was going to let me in on a secret, "be careful with that, she can get a little carried away some times," he whispered protectively. I wasn't entirely sure what he meant but I didn't have a chance to ask as Sarah and another boy from class entered the room.

They started to discuss the assignment and I breathed a sigh of relief that it was a subject I knew, Jane Austen, Persuasion. At least now I wouldn't look like a complete idiot in front of Edward. I had been worried that I wouldn't be able to contribute, but I should hold my own pretty well on this one.

EPOV

Bella's skin was so pale you could have sworn she'd lived in Forks all of her life. But her cheeks remained flushed the entire time we were discussing our English project. It was incredibly appealing. And it made it very difficult to concentrate.

On the way home from school I couldn't help myself, I had to ask Alice about Bella. She'd be all over me if she knew I was showing any real interest.

"So, how's your little project going?" This was bound to get her to talk, but should be subtle enough that she didn't understand my true intentions.

"Who, Bella?"

"Hmmm, Bella." Even saying her name was making me more interested. Geez, calm down Cullen. This isn't like you!

"I don't know, why don't you tell me? How did she look in English today?" I wasn't expecting that answer. I looked across at her trying to ascertain if she was fishing. It didn't seem so, but I obviously hesitated long enough that she felt she needed to explain her comment. "She mentioned you were in her English class and you were doing an assignment together."

Hmmm, so she'd mentioned me. "Well she certainly didn't look like you'd gotten your claws into her," I smirked at her throwing her a sideways glance.

"I think she might be a bit of a lost cause. She's not as shy as I first thought, she's more stubborn than I gave her credit for. She has absolutely no clue how pretty she is, it's like none of the boys in Phoenix ever looked sideways at her. But I really like her. She's coming for dinner tomorrow night, we're going to do some study together."

"You…..study……on a Friday night?" Bella was clearly having a good influence on my sister, study had never really been her thing. Particularly not on a Friday night. And being unaware how pretty you are could only be a good thing I thought to myself. Better than acting like Jessica Stanley who knew she was good looking.

I had made plans tomorrow night, but knowing Bella was coming I would make an effort to be home.

BPOV

Alice and I went straight home to her place after school on Friday. I had butterflies in my stomach the entire way. I couldn't quite figure out what was wrong with me. This was an entirely new feeling and I wasn't sure how to deal with it. Surely it would wear off. Besides, Edward had a girlfriend, there was no point in getting too caught up in what was obviously my very first crush.

As we arrived I noticed the shiny silver car in the drive way that Alice usually arrived at school in. Great, that meant Edward was home. Part of me was hoping he wouldn't be here, but I knew if he wasn't I would have been disappointed. Oh well, surely the more I saw him the more I'd realize that he had no interest in me, he was in love with his beautiful girlfriend and that they were perfect for each other. I'd soon be over it.

Alice's house was beautiful. Lots of floor to ceiling windows, light streaming into the open plan living space. At the back of the main living space just in front of a wall of sliding glass doors that looked out onto a huge verandah there was a huge grand piano. I didn't think that much about it other that it looked like a beautiful ornament. Alice's mother Esme, came out of the kitchen to meet us, Edward was nowhere to be seen, but I could hear music coming from a room upstairs so I assumed he was in his bedroom.

Alice dragged me upstairs to take me on a tour of the house and show me her bedroom. I knew all she wanted to do was play dress ups. We went up two flights of stairs. As we walked along a wide hall way she pointed to a door on the right that was slightly ajar. "That's Edward's room." Sounded like he might have good taste in music. She turned to the door on the left and walked in, "this is my room," she said proudly as if I should be impressed. Wanting to please my new friend I acted impressed at the little things she pointed out.

I was sitting on her bed with my back to the door not realizing we were being watched. "So, have you shown her your over sized wardrobe yet?" the smooth voice came from behind. When I turned around Edward was propped up against the door frame. He looked so god damned cute standing there with his mussed up hair, and navy blue t-shirt that seemed to cling to his well defined chest, which up until this point I had not noticed. Probably because I hadn't yet gotten beyond his face. Why did he have to get better looking each time I saw him.

I blushed and quickly turned away, "Hi Edward" I muttered quickly trying to at least sound polite. I reminded myself that he was just Alice's brother, she would hate it if I had a crush on him, and he had a girlfriend anyway. Really I had to just start treating him as if he were a normal human being, not a god.

He crossed the floor in two steps and flopped himself down onto Alice's bed beside me, lying on his side propping himself up on his left arm. He really was making this very difficult for me. He looked unbelievably sexy. "So, have you finished your part of our assignment yet?" He was directing a question at me.

"Um, yeah, almost."

"Crap, I haven't even started yet. Maybe you could do my part as well." He grinned at me cheekily, I relaxed a little as he started to joke around.

"Fat chance Edward!" I grinned back. There was no point in acting like a nervous teenager in front of him. Even though that's clearly what I was.

"Well, maybe you could give me a few pointers?" Was he asking me for help, god, I didn't want to seem like that much of a geek.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine," I said.

"Mum wants to know if Tanya is coming for dinner tonight." I almost forgot Alice was in the room with us, and I had almost blocked out the existence of Edward's unbelievably good looking girlfriend. Ah well.

"Nup. But can you remind her Emmett and Rosalie are coming."

Alice spun around with her hands on her hips. "In case you hadn't noticed, we're busy. Get off your lazy ass and go and tell her yourself."

Edward just grinned good naturedly at his younger sister stood up and left the room. "See you at dinner Swan."

Alice ignored him and kept prattling about her shoe collection. She didn't notice that I was almost hyperventilating. No one ever called me by my last name, if it was shortened it was usually to Bells. I liked it.

Emmett, I found out at dinner was the other Cullen brother. Equally as good looking as his younger brother, but in an altogether different way. He was far more confident, less vulnerable than Edward. He was more muscular, his frame not as slender. He was with his fiancée Rosalie, another breathtaking blonde.

What was it with this family and the people they were dating? They were all unbelievably attractive, including Alice's father Carlisle and mother Esme. I had to admit that I was feeling altogether like the ugly duckling sitting here amongst these beautiful creatures. But at no point did any of them make me feel anything less than they were.

They were busily discussing the upcoming nuptials between Emmett and Rosalie. They were high school sweethearts and were due to be married in a few weeks. The ceremony and the reception were being held on the Cullen property. Alice was a bridesmaid which she was incredibly excited about.

At the end of the night Rosalie graciously turned to me and insisted that I come to her wedding. It made me feel incredibly uncomfortable. I had only been in town for a week, and I was being invited to a wedding of two people I barely knew. But that seemed to be the way things were done in small towns, so I accepted.

Alice squealed in delight when she realized she would have an opportunity to play dress ups with me. "Ooooh, that's so exciting, do you have something to wear. If not, don't worry about a thing, I have so many things in my wardrobe that would look amazing on you. Oh, and we can do your hair and make up and, shoes, we can't forget the shoes……" it went on, she was unstoppable.

I looked at Edward and rolled my eyes. He grinned back at me, threw his arm around my shoulders, bent down and whispered in my ear "I told you to be careful Swan." He then dropped his arm and moved forward to say good night to his brother and future sister in law.

It was lucky Alice's father was a doctor as I was close to passing out. When Edward touched me it was as if an electric current ran through my body. The warmth of his body, although brief as the encounter was, was incredible. But it was his smell that I noticed the most, he smelled unbelievable. This was not helping.

"I should get going too," I said just after Emmett and Rosalie left, I really needed to get out of there and put some distance between Edward and I.

"No, you should stay. Mom is it OK if Bella stays?" She pleaded. I got the feeling her parents didn't often deny her what she wanted.

Esme nodded at her daughter, "of course sweet heart."

"I'd better give Charlie a call and let him know." I can't believed I caved in so easily. My Dad wouldn't mind I'm sure, he was going fishing tomorrow so he'd be out of the house at some ungodly hour in the morning anyway. "But I don't have any clean clothes."

"Oooh don't worry about that Bella." Alice looked delighted. Edward walked past me giving me a knowing look and grinned as if to say I told you so. I just rolled my eyes at him.

After we called my Dad we went upstairs to Alice's bedroom to go to bed, she immediately started to rummage through her draws, hopefully looking for some pajamas. She came out with clothes that looked more comfortable than I thought possible for something coming out of Alice's wardrobe. A cute stretchy cotton singlet top with buttons down the front and a pair of cotton boxers with flowers on them. Very comfortable I thought, particularly in comparison to Alice's satin number. We got changed and sat on her enormous bed and chatted as girls do when they have sleepovers.

Alice wanted to talk about boys, at least it wasn't clothes. She made me a little uncomfortable when she told me several of the boys in our year had asked her about me. Mike Newton in particular, Eric York and even Tyler. It took me a while to convince her that I had no interest in any of them. She didn't believe me.

"Oh come on Bella, you haven't got any history with them, you don't know what any of them looked like going through puberty, listening to their voices break and watching them deal with acne. It's so much easier for you. What about Mike?" She was pleading now. She was unstoppable when she had a bee in her bonnet.

"Well, he is very cute. But, I don't think I'm interested."

"Oh, that's no fun. What about any of the seniors, you have class with some of them." At this I bit my lip and looked down into my lap hoping she didn't notice my cheeks go red.

There was no way I could admit to her that I thought her brother was unbelievably good looking, and it was turning out he was a really great guy. I looked back up at her and shook my head, "nope." It looked like she believed me, phew. She wouldn't approve if I told her I thought her brother was divine.

"What about back in Phoenix? You must have left someone behind."

"No. Seriously I never really dated much." And that was a fact. None of the boys had ever seemed interested in me, they seemed to prefer the well tanned blondes over….well..me. I was just ordinary.

"Well, you said Mike was cute, I know he really likes you. So that's a start, I might have to keep working on that," she said mischievously.

"Keep working on what?" came that smooth voice from behind me. Why did he have to keep doing that? Edward was standing at the door again, he walked towards Alice's bed and sat down with us. Please don't let her say anything.

"Bella won't believe me that half the boys in school want to go out with her."

"Alice!" I wanted to dive under the covers and never come back out. Edward was the last person I wanted in the room for this conversation.

"Oh, I can assure you it's true Bella." he said to me, "I know one or two of my friends have definitely checked you out." Edward grinned at me cheekily.

EPOV:

I don't think Bella took me seriously when I said some of my friends had checked her out. She would have blushed if she thought it was true. Instead she kicked out with her leg and playfully tapped me so I almost fell off the bed.

Several friends had asked me about her, knowing she was friends with my little sister. But I could tell she was uncomfortable so I didn't go on chastising her. But I did make a mental note to ask Alice about their conversation later on. I had overheard Mike Newton's name. I just hoped she didn't fancy the little twat.

I stayed long enough to check Bella out in her sleeping attire and flirt a little. "Let me know when the pillow fight is due to start and I'll come back and watch," I said flirtatiously winking at Bella as I stood up. She looked mortified. Alice just screamed at me to get the fuck out.

That night I had trouble sleeping. I was finding Bella far more attractive than just the initial pretty face. I loved the way she blushed and got embarrassed easily, it was endearing and so different to the way Jessica Stanley threw herself at me. She had a vulnerability that was very desirable, yet she didn't act like a bumbling idiot who wasn't able to have a conversation around me. And she had looked so hot sitting on Alice's bed in those pajamas, if one could call them pajamas. I'd have to encourage this friendship with my sister as much as possible.

At school over the next couple of weeks I found myself making excuses to speak to Alice during the day, in the hope that Bella would be with her. This wasn't like me. Normally I avoided Alice due to Jessica, but I found myself willing to put up with that torture just so I could see Bella. It was ridiculous. I was drawn to this girl and I was finding it unnerving. I even started to scheme a little, bumping into them 'randomly' when I knew they would be together. On Wednesday I purposefully went and spoke to Alice towards the end of lunch, knowing that Bella and I had class together next and I could walk with her.

As I neared their table I saw Bella look up at me and smile sweetly. I nervously ran my hand through my hair and grinned back. Jessica was seated next to her and I'm quite sure thought I was grinning at her. Mike Newton was sitting on her other side. God help me.

"Alice, what's going on?"

"Nothing Edward. What do you want?" She knew me well enough to know that I didn't just make casual visits at school, but I had nothing.

"Nothing, just saying Hi." Just then the bell rang, thank god. It was about to get embarrassing. Her friends all stood up to head to their classes.

"See ya little one." I patted Alice on the head, she hated that.

"Piss off Edward," she spat at me good naturedly.

"You coming Swan?" I looked at Bella.

"Er, yeah." She picked up a couple of books and her tray and almost tripped as she walked from the table. Mike and Jessica just stood there gawking at me. Jessica's mouth was wide open looking from me to Bella and back. Good. Maybe now she'd get the hint. Mike had a scowl on his face, maybe I was too late. Mike had spent a lot more time with Bella since she had arrived than I had - maybe Bella liked the universally popular boy who looked altogether undeserving of the attention of such a lovely creature.

As I walked to class with Bella several people turned and watched us. The only other girl I normally walked anywhere with was Tanya, and lately we hadn't been doing that so much.

"So, Mike Newton huh?"

"Sorry?" She looked confused, this was a good sign.

"You and Mike Newton. He looked more than a little threatened back there in the cafeteria when I whisked you off."

"Oh god, did he?" She looked thoughtful for a few seconds, biting her lip. "He's really sweet and everything, but I'm really not interested."

"Ah, he'll be heart broken I'm sure." She wacked me across the chest playfully.

"So, have you finished your part of our assignment yet?" she asked seriously.

"As a matter of fact I have. Want to check it?"

She laughed "No, I'm sure it's fine. We can put it all together when we all meet on Friday. Unless you really want me to look at it before hand."

"Well, I wouldn't mind a second opinion," I said hopefully, finding this a good excuse to spend time with Bella.

"OK, how about tomorrow at lunch," she suggested.

"Good, I'll meet you in the caf and we can grab something to eat and then find somewhere to go through it."

"Sure." The colour in her cheeks rose again, god I loved that.

But ss I sat in English next to Tanya I was reminded of the predicament I was in.