SHUFFLE
Chapter Two: Isn't it Ironic That After I Got My iPod, My CD Collection Grew?
There were ten people who showed up to my farewell party.
I wasn't necessarily expecting a large crowd, however, so I was perfectly happy with those that did show. I had been friends with a majority of them since grade school, save a few who moved in or joined us later on. Of course, I wasn't as close to some of them as I had once been – for example, Jessica Stanley and I had been on awkward terms ever since she began hanging around Lauren Mallory. It wasn't that I didn't like Lauren Mallory, it was just that… Well, no. That was it. She'd been nothing but a snob for as long as I'd known her, and I didn't care what the boys who hung around her looked like, I didn't want to associate with that.
Jessica – apparently - had lower standards.
Regardless, she was able to put aside her differences and pretend to genuinely be upset that I was leaving, which was nice, I supposed. Also in attendance were Angela Weber and Mike Newton, both of whom I had met my freshman year of high school. Although I hadn't known them as long as some in our group, they were still dear to me, and I was happy to see them there.
I was surprised that Rosalie Hale decided to make an appearance, given that we'd never been the best of friends in the first place. But then, Emmett McCarty was also invited, and where Emmett went, Rosalie went. Jasper Whitlock and Alice Brandon - the other static couple in our group – were also there, though it was less of a surprise that they'd show up. Alice was basically my best friend, after all, other than Edward.
Yeah. He came, too.
Edward Masen had lived down the street ever since we first moved to Phoenix. I can still vaguely remember the day we first met; his family came to welcome us to the neighborhood on our first day here. I was intimidated at first because he was a boy. At that age, boys were evil, but he quickly proved himself to be an exception; and we soon became best friends. I think it was mainly because we were different from other kids – when most children wanted to go play outside, we'd prefer board games or reading.
Ah, reading. That was probably what bound us the most. I remember when our parents would take us down to the library and we'd pick out a book at random, and then race each other to see who'd finish first. Edward usually won, but I always attributed that to his being a year older than I, lest I admit in my youthful arrogance that anyone could actually be smarter than me. Of course, now I know better.
Anyway, the only other guests at the party were Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, family friends who supported my mother during the divorce. I obviously wasn't buddy-buddy with them, but I respected them more than most adults in society. They were the type of people who remembered what it was like to be younger and knew how to treat us because of it. They didn't try to be cool, and they didn't try to be mean, and I liked that. Besides, they kept Renee – who was always trying to be cool – away from my friends, which was something I really appreciated.
The party itself was simple. We ordered pizza and put out soda, but for the most part, it was just all of us sitting around my tiny living room reminiscing. Of course, I opened my presents (as demanded by Jessica, who simply had to know what everyone else got me), and I was a little surprised to see what some of them got for me. I was given everything from obscure indie bands to High School Musical – the latter of which was, thankfully, a joke gift from Emmett and accompanied with a mix he'd compiled himself.
Emmett wasn't the only one to give me a mix – other than people like Mike or Jasper (who probably wouldn't have any idea what to get me if my mother hadn't ordered everyone to bring CDs), most of my friends had actually put the time into burning their own CDs of various songs they thought I'd enjoy. I hadn't expected such thoughtfulness from everyone, and to be honest, it made me kind of sad. I understood that I'd see everyone again in the school year, but summer vacation was such a long time. Who knew how much everyone would change while I was gone? What if Jessica turned her back on our group altogether? What if they made some new friend to replace me? What if Alice and Jasper broke up…?
No. That would never happen.
I tried to keep my head clear throughout the duration of the party, but the insecurities wouldn't go away. It was silly. I'd known these people for as long as I could remember, and I had no reason to mistrust them. The only thing I needed to focus on was what was going on in front of me.
The party ended with most of the girls - myself included - crying. It took a while for everyone to leave, given all the hugging, promises to keep in touch, et cetera. Edward was the last to leave, but he didn't do so until promising to accompany me to the airport. By the time he was gone, I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. It wasn't that he was annoying or anything; I was just exhausted. I'd originally planned on getting a head-start on uploading all of the CDs onto my iPod, but I'd gotten a lot more music than I'd expected, and I was also just tired.
So I left the CDs in a pile by my bed, and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Uploading all of the music was painful. My computer might as well have come from the stone ages; it was mind-numbingly slow, and I had to download iTunes before I could even think about inserting a disc into the hard drive. Between my friends, my mother, and the Cullens, I had a grand total of seventeen albums to upload, plus whatever CDs I could find lying about my room. However, I quickly developed a system that allowed me to upload as fast as possible, and focused on other things while I waited for each album to import. It wasn't anything complex – just making sure I had the next CD case open ahead of time, and switching discs as quickly as possible. Altogether, the process took a little under three hours, but at least I was able to spend a majority of that time reading while I waited to switch discs.
Finally, I opened the packaged iPod and jammed in the USB port. It took another few minutes to get the music on the iPod itself, but at that point, I was just happy for the process to be over. I was so sick of iTunes and iPods and iWhatevers that when the computer dinged for the last time, I simply threw the iPod onto my suitcase, deciding to listen to it later.
I needed to be away from technology for a while.
"Did you listen to our songs yet?"
Edward sat next to me in the backseat of the car, with Renee playing as our chauffeur. Although we were both well over the age to sit in the front seat, it was kind of an unspoken deal that if we were riding together, we would both sit in the back, to allow for better conversation.
I felt kind of guilty to have to answer no, but Edward simply chuckled and decided it was my lack of finesse with technology that caused the problem. "Really, Bella, you couldn't figure out how to work an iPod?"
"At least I have one," I retorted. "You're the one who's been attached to that old walkman since forever." Edward had an attraction to antique things; every song on his three mix tapes was either a classic or an oldie.
He shrugged off my lame comeback and held open his palm. "Let me see it," he said. "I'll teach you the basics."
With a sigh, I found it in my bag and handed it over. He then leaned in, so that I could see what he was doing.
"See, you have a Touch," he said. "So when you're working with music, the basic controls will be at the bottom. Do you have a playlist?"
I shook my head.
"Well, let's make one solely out of the songs we gave you…"
The rest of the car ride followed as such, with Edward helping me make the playlist and showing me how to do this or that with the device. Finally, I asked, "What's shuffle?"
"It's when it re-arranges the order of your songs when you listen to them, so that every time you restart the playlist, it's in a different order. It helps keep the songs from getting repetitive."
He then pressed the "shuffle" option to demonstrate, and a song occupied the screen: Kiss to Send us Off. It definitely wasn't the first song on the playlist, since we'd organized it alphabetically. I was glad for this feature – I tended to be indecisive, and it would easily eliminate that problem. I smiled, looking up at him. "This is really cool. Thanks, Edward."
"Don't mention it."
We arrived at the airport shortly after, but still had plenty of time until the plane actually came. Of course, most of that plenty of time would be spent checking in luggage and going through security and listening to the attendants delay my flight, but Renee and Edward were at least allowed to accompany me until I had to go through security, and I'd brought plenty of books to keep me occupied afterwards. I can't say air travel is one of my favorite things, but I'm better at keeping still than most people are, so I guess I don't mind it that much. What was really going to be hard was saying goodbye to my mother and Edward – my last two ties to Phoenix until the end of August.
Renee, too, was struggling with the departure as we approached security. I could see her attempting to hold back tears as she engulfed me in a huge hug, whispering last thoughts into my ear. "I'm sorry we put you through this, I'm sorry you have to leave all summer, I'll miss you, I'm always a call away, don't forget to email or write or do whatever you need to reach me, take lots of pictures, have fun, I'll see you at the end of summer."
When she finally let go, I could see that she'd caved in to her tears after all – her face was beet red, and her mascara smudging. She dabbed at her eyes, took a deep breath, and said to Edward that she'd head out to the car now, since she wanted to stop at the bathroom first.
Edward and I watched for a moment as Renee left, as if we were waiting for complete privacy before we could begin our own goodbyes. Not that there really was any privacy – it was an airport, after all – but when she left, there was nobody else who really cared what we were saying to each other, so it was like we were alone.
We turned to face each other, and suddenly, I felt incredibly awkward. What was I supposed to say to him? This man I'd known my entire life, who I'd grown up with, had contests every day with to see who could read a silly book faster. How could I possibly say goodbye to someone who made me who I was?
I couldn't. So I let him say it for me.
"I'll miss you," he started with. I nodded dumbly.
"I hope you'll call, or text, or email, or something." I nodded dumbly.
"You could get a facebook, you know. I know you're not the type and all that, but it'd be an easy way to keep in touch…"
"I guess so." My voice broke – perhaps I was closer to tears than I thought.
"Bella…" He sighed. "I don't want to do this."
I stared up at him, hoping he'd be able to hear the question I was unable to speak. Do what? I wanted to ask. But if I said any more, I'd break. I just knew it.
He looked off to the side for a second, and took a deep breath, and then looked back at me. "Bella," he started, "Could I… give you something, before you go?"
I paused for a moment, taken aback. As far as I knew, he hadn't brought anything with him – what could he give me? Perhaps some parting words of advice?
I nodded dumbly.
"Close your eyes."
For a moment, I got this mental image of Edward handing me a slimy bug or something equally disgusting, but I quickly realized that Edward was not the type of person to pull a prank like that and so I did as I was told. I waited for a moment, then suddenly felt pressure on my lips.
My eyes flew open in shock, but Edward's were closed, and his hand was reaching around to hold me closer. There were a million different emotions running through my mind, but my body reacted quicker than any of them, and without completely realizing it, I was kissing him back. And then Edward quickly drew back, gave me a crooked smile, and turned away.
"See you next fall."
A/N: First off, my apologies for taking so long to update. I blame finals and my own personal laziness. In my defense, this -was- a long chapter, but seeing as other chapters might end up just as long, I really shouldn't use that as an excuse.
I don't like writing Edward. He's stuffy and he speaks funny and he's difficult to work with. I'm glad Bella's going away from him for the summer (ahaha xD). But don't worry, there'll be plenty of Bedward (is that the pairing name? I honestly have no clue) later. and Bakeob. (I'd be dumbfounded if that was the pairing name, but I think Bakeob sounds funny so I'll continue to use it in my A/Ns, and you'll just have to deal.)
But before I spoil the rest of my story, I just want to point out that while this fic is very dependent on music and songtitles and such, this is *not* a songfic. I know songfics are banned on ff and everything, but really, the most that will ever be appearing is a title or an artist or an album name. No lyrics. Pinky Promise.
Feel free to suggest a song, but I've got a majority of the plot figured out, so if I can't fit it in, that's just too bad. 8D; Uh. Yeah.
Also, many thanks to my Beta, Stripe, for making sure this story isn't full of fail.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, the setting, nor the general idea of Twilight. The AU's plot and the actual writing, however, are all mine. High School Musical is a movie that belongs to Disney, and Kiss to Send Us Off is a song by Incubus.And I'm pretty sure that's it.
