A/N – Thank you to all who reviewed my story. I'm really looking forward to writing this story and will try to update more often. Though I will probably have to wait until after Thanksgiving to post again, I have a huge meal to prepare and clean-up after and my kids will be out of school so I don't get much free time. I'll update ASAP.

Just so you are aware, I grew up in Phoenix and lived in a town not far from Forks (Sequim, WA – look it up on a map!) and spent a lot of time in Seattle, so I really do know the area that the story takes place in very well. I hope I can add a bit of extra detail because of this knowledge and that you'll enjoy it.

Please read and review. The more reviews I get the quicker I update. I can't help but want to write more when people tell me they like the story.

I do not own any of the characters in Twilight; I'm just enjoying their company for a while, playing dress-up with them.

Chapter Two

"Bella, are you sure you want to move here? Why didn't you try and get a job with the Arizona Republic?"
I hugged my mother close. We had been best friends while I was growing up and she was having a really hard time with me moving so far away. She spent the entire drive from Phoenix, Arizona to Seattle Washington trying to convince me to change my mind.

"Mom, we've been over this a thousand times. I am ready for a change, I am ready to start living my life, and I can't do that if I am still in Arizona. This job offer is one that I can't pass up – people just out of college don't get opportunities like this very often. I know I'm going to be far away but you have Phil and now that I'm gone you can travel with him when he goes on his away games. You can call me on my cell anytime and e-mail me anytime. I'll be fine and you will be fantastic! Now do me a favor and get your skinny butt through airport security before you miss you plane!"

Renee gave me one last hug and before the tears could start I turned and walked out the door of the Sea-Tac airport. The cool mist surprised me as it had a week ago when I stepped out of the truck and into Seattle weather for the first time. It was going to take a while getting used to the moisture replacing the blinding sunlight I was used to.

I got in my truck and drove back home. My roommate from college had a cousin attending the University of Washington who needed a roommate. We had spoken on the phone and over the internet and it sounded like we'd get along great. Angela was quiet and seemed really nice. We had a large commonroom and kitchen that we shared with two other girls who she had introduced to me when I got to Seattle, Jessica Stanley and Lauren Mallory.

Both girls were very attractive and dressed in skimpy clothes that flattered their curvaceous bodies. To say I was jealous of their appearance was an understatement, but their personalities left something to be desired. Jessica was nice to your face but she was just biding her time until she could gossip about you behind your back. Lauren was the jealous type who would find any reason she could not to like someone, especially if they didn't worship the ground she walked on the minute they met her.

I don't know why Angela chose to hang out with these girls outside the apartment, but she had convinced me to join them and all their boyfriends at a club that night. Jessica was so excited that I agreed to come that she insisted that she would do my hair and make-up so that I would fit in to the "hip Seattle scene." Scared of her exuberance, I reluctantly agreed.

I walked in the apartment and found the other girls getting ready already. Jessica shrieked when she saw me. "Hurry up and shower, we only have two hours til we are leaving and I have a lot of work to do on you before you are ready!"

I rolled my eyes but hurried to get in the shower. The hot water felt good but was too short lived – living with three other girls, two of whom obsessed about their appearance, meant too little hot water for me. I finished rinsing the soap off my body and got out of the shower. I wrapped my soft purple towel around me and went to my room to find something to wear. I tripped over the carpet and fell against the wall. Jessica was going through my closet and started laughing at my ungraceful entrance. "Bella, you are going to kill yourself one day. Do you realize that you have absolutely no good clubbing clothes?"

I picked myself up off the floor, holding my towel tightly around me. "That's because I've never been to a club."

Jessica's mouth hung open in shock. "What! You attended ASU, that's a huge party school; did you not go to any parties?"

"Of course I went to parties, but not those kinds of parties. We would watch movies and just hang out. I'm not very graceful, as you can tell, so I never went to any dances or sorority type parties."

"What about clothes you'd wear out on a date?"
"I hung out with my friends, I didn't date. Never did find a guy that caught my eye." I blushed furiously at the admission that I'd never gone on a date, which obviously meant that I'd never been in any kind of physical relationship with a guy. I'd never even been kissed.

Jessica let what I had just said sink in for a minute. "Holy crap Bella! Does that mean you are a virgin? How can that be true? You may not be goregous, but you are cute in that 'girl next door' kind of way. Geeze, I have a lot of work to do on you!"

She threw some underwear at me and ran out of the room. I stared at her as she left and put on a pair of panties and a bra. Before I could find something of my own to wear, Jessica returned with an armful of clothes on hangers and Lauren trailing behind her, apparently she needed back-up to fix my appearance.

For the next hour and a half, I was poked, prodded and stuffed into outfit after outfit until Jessica and Lauren both proclaimed that I was finished. I looked at myself in the mirror and gasped. My long brown hair hand been twisted into a messy French twist, my make-up was perfect, but the outfit was what shocked me the most.

I was wearing a black leather mini skirt and a blue satin halter top that was open in the back. A pair of blue metallic high heels made my legs look long and emphasized my calf muscles. Jessica had loaned me some pretty dangly silver earrings and a chunky silver necklace. I looked amazing.

The doorbell rang and we all made our way out to the livingroom. Jessica, Lauren and Angela's boyfriends were just walking through the door. They had been gone all week and this was the first time I was meeting them. Angela, always the hostess, introduced me to them one by one.

"Bella, this is Mike Newton, Jessica's boyfriend. This is Tyler Crowley, Lauren's boyfriend. And this handsome man is my boyfriend, Ben Cheney."

"Nice to meet you," I smiled politely but shyly at all of them. Mike was obviously staring at my chest and Tyler elbowed him subtly, but not before Jessica had seen his ogling. She scowled first at him and then at me.

Angela came to my rescue though, she handed me a black leather jacket that Lauren had insisted I wear and we made our way out to the car. We didn't have to drive very far to get to the club which apparently Mike had some pull at because he got us right in. Angela leaned in and whispered, "Mike's dad owns the club." I nodded my head and forcused on just not tripping. We dropped our coats and purses at the coat room and made our way onto the club's main dance floor.

The music and the lights pulsed causing the crowd of people who were writhing to the music to look somewhat alien. It was creepy and yet unusually erotic.

We wound our way to a staircase and up to the VIP section of the club. A waitress sat us at a table that overlooked the entire dance floor. The waitress took everyone's drink order and walked away.

"Isn't this place great?" Jessica had to shout over the loud music.

I nodded in agreement and smiled. The 10 tables and booths were all occupied and the people sitting at them were all incredibly beautiful and well dressed. I suddenly felt very self-conscious and folded my arms over my chest. My eyes wandered over the room and that's when I first saw them.

They were the most beautiful people I had ever seen. Three guys and two girls were relaxing in a booth across the room. The lights of the VIP section combined with the flashing colored lights from below caused them to almost sparkle.

I examined each of the strangers closely, trying to figure out what made them so stunning. Of the three guys, one was big – muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, curly hair. Another was taller, leaner, but still muscular, and honey blonde. The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-colored hair. His features were the most striking of the three and he was also the only one who didn't have a girl draped all over him.

The girls were complete opposites. The tall one would put any of the Victoria's Secret models to shame. She had a beautiful figure and she knew how to dress to accentuate it so that every girl around her looked a little worse than they had before coming into her presence. She had long blonde hair that fell into big loose curls down her back. She was sitting in the lap of the tall body builder and they were kissing deeply, his hands were cupping her perfect butt.

The other girl was short and pixielike. She was extremey thin with small, delicate features. Her hair was pitch black and cropped short and had been styled til it pointed in every direction.

Tyler nudged me to get my attention and I realized that I had been staring at the beautiful strangers across the room. I blushed deeply.

"I see you have noticed the Cullens," Jessica commented, her voice heavy with contempt.

"The Cullens? Are they related?"

"They were all adopted by one couple. The really big guy is Emmett Cullen, he and his adopted sister Rosalie hooked up and got married about two years ago. The blonde guy is Jasper and he and that short little freaky girl got married last year. Her name is Alice. The other guy is Edward and everyone thinks he is gay. He doesn't date and he's super secretive."

I stared at Jessica. If it were possible she would be neon green she was so jealous. "Wow, that's quite a family."

I glanced back over at the Cullens family. Edward had turned to stare at us. Our eyes met and I found myself unable to look away. His eyes were pitch black and I wanted to walk over to him more than anything I had ever wanted to do. My heart started to pound. Why couldn't I look away?

A look of confusion flashed across Edward Cullen's face and he turned away from me, the lock on my vision broke and I blushed again, looking down at my hands to avoid any other awkward moments.

The waitress had delivered our drinks while I had been distracted. I sipped my Coke. Jessica and Lauren were both making out with their boyfriends while Ben and Angela talked about some kung-fu movie they had watched the night before in the common room. I was uncomfortable being the seventh wheel and wanted nothing more than to go home and curl up with a good book and a cup of herbal tea.

My mind drifted back to Edward Cullen. He was goregous and I felt myself grow hot at the thought of him. His dark eyes were so intense. His nose and jaw line were chiseled, his skin so smooth it looked like marble. I had never seen anyone so beautiful, so handsome.

I looked up at him through my eyelashes and was shocked to find him staring at me again. He looked like he was concentrating very hard on me, a glimmer of confusion behind his dark eyes. Why was he staring at me?

Jessica broke the silence, "are we just going to sit here tonight or are we going to dance?"

Jessica, Lauren and Angela stood up from the table. Angela took my hand and led me with her to the dance floor. I nearly tripped on the bottom stair but managed to not fall. The night flew by and I had more fun than I thought I would. We got home around two in the morning and after I had changed into my pajamas it only took me a few minutes to fall into a dreamless sleep.