Chapter 2:

The First Time I Saw Him

"We Were both young

When I first saw ya

I close my eyes

And the flashback starts"

-Taylor Swift

The Cullens. I never knew them, and it was a very popular name, but there was something promising about it. Nothing I could put my finger on it, but that happens in movies, too, as I said before.

Hmm… Jasper, who Alice already knew she would love, in a best-friend kind of way, although she never said that exactly, it's just what I hope. Because if she doesn't love love him, then I still have a friend to hang around without having someone else I barely know tag around, not to mention Alice asks all kinds of embarrassing stuff all the time! And the romance… Ugh… it'd be bad enough to be in a room next door if they started to do it… Okay I need to stop thinking about it! Now back to the people! There was Jasper, Emmett, and… Edward; Poor Mr. and Mrs. Cullen; three boys.

"Ooooh, I am going to have so much fun with Jasper!!" Alice shouted, almost making me deaf. Who was also trying to find the Cullen's… well, everything on them. What they wear, the children's school grades… Why couldn't she leave them alone? I think she even tried to get Jasper's number!

"Are you sure?" I asked, already knowing the answer, but right now, my thoughts were annoying me more than Alice; a lot more, because it's actually fun sometimes to have a hyperactive best friend.

Alice exhailed sharply, "Of course I'm sure, Bella. How many times do I have to say it?"

I just laughed. What was I supposed to say? 'You have to say it 9 times?'

And on cue, my phone sang, "I wake up every evenin'…"

"Hello?"

"Hi, Bella, this is Rosalie. Where are you and Alice? I'm at the party and you're not there!"

I told Alice to wait there and moved into the living room before replying, "Uh, well, um, we, uh, decided to stay home and watch movies instead."

I could almost see the disbelieving look on her face. "Bella, since when would Alice decide to ditch a party, with the opportunity to get all dressed up, and play Bella Barbie?"

"Since now," I said, but I knew she would know that I was lying. Alice couldn't change that suddenly, and sure as heck, if she did, she would go to the parties anyway. She just wouldn't be as much into fashion and everything. We all knew that.

"So when were you planning on telling her?" Rosalie replied, sounding bored and impatient.

"Never?" I knew that wasn't going to cut it.

"Just do it now," she said, in the same tone.

"Fine," I said, pouting like a little kid.

Alice was not going to be happy.

I walked back to the family room where Alice was flipping through a magazine, a big change from snooping around in other people's profile info.

"Um, Alice?" I asked quietly, knowing fully she would explode into a huge fit once I told her.

"Yeah?" She seemed to sense my tense mood. "Did something happen?"

"No, no," I said quickly, "It's just…well… um… Rosaliesatapartythatinevertoldyouaboutandnowshetoldmetotellyouandimsosorryididnttellyouijustdidntwanttogo!" I finally got it all out, and Alice somehow seemed to have understood me, because she looked up at me, shocked.

"Alice, I'm so sorry," I repeated.

What she said next was the last thing I expected. "Oh, that's perfectly fine, silly Bella!"

"What?" I asked, a bewildered expression covered my face.

"Well, see, instead I found out all this other information about the Cullens which I wouldn't have known if you hadn't had me here at your house," she stated, clearly bemused and joyful.

"Oh, god, that saves me a whole lot of time, I thought you were going to kill me!" said, sighing. "Well, now that that's over with, why don't we watch Ocean's 11, shall we?" I asked, holding my arm out for her to link.

"Why, yes, Isabella, I would just love that!" she giggled, and we skipped off the get the DVD, me knowing all too much that she knew I was just acting happy for her.

Today's a Sunday, and sitting here in my bed, I was dreading school. Tomorrow was the day the Cullens were supposed to come. Was Alice really going to be Jasper's boyfriend? Or would I keep my friend? Would Rosalie leave us? Or would she only be leaving me?



"They sit down, it's just to talk;" my alarm.

"Time to get up, up, up!" Alice would say.

I went down to make an omelet and get some water.

Then, as usual, I went over to Alice's house. I sighed, and Alice seemed to get that something was up, as usual, but never said anything. She was such a good friend to me.

"Okay, today…" Again I droned her out, and I began thinking more and more about these Cullen characters. Would they hate Alice and me? Alice would be heartbroken! Okay, what am I thinking? Alice's visions were never wrong! Or was I just relying on them too much?

To get myself to stop thinking such… I guess the word would be 'disturbing,' although that still didn't fit too well for what I was thinking, I don't know… But to get myself from thinking such disturbing thoughts, I focused on what Alice was giving to me to put on. It was another denim mini, but this time with black leggings that went to about my mid-lower leg (A/N: Sorry I don't know another way to put it!!!!) and a pair of black low-top Converse, (A/N: Both Bella and I (in my story) LOVE Converse so I had to fit some in ) and a white flow-y kind of shirt (pic on profile). Not excruciating, but I didn't like the fact that the shirt didn't cover my collar bone. And it had a little cleavage. Didn't like that either.

When we got to school, Alice was all jittery and excited.

"What?" I asked, hoping to get an answer, but I usually failed at that.

"Jasper's coming today! Remember?!"

"What? Really?! And is that why you made me wear this shirt?! Because the Cullens are coming?! Alice, that is just plain mean. You know I hate this kind of shirt and nothing is going to happen between me and Edward!"

Alice laughed at that. "Yeah right, Bella. I so know you are going to fall in love with him. He is just your type and-"

I cut her off. "How would you know my 'type'? I don't even have a type! And how would you know before me?"

Alice seemed as nonchalant as ever, even though I was fuming at her. "I just know these things. You know that, right?"

I sighed sharply. "Yes, I know that."

The day was normal, until lunch. Alice knew exactly where the Cullens were and went to sit with them.

"What are you doing?! And where is Rosalie?" I asked, clearly appalled, which, again had no affect on Alice.

"Rosalie's home sick, and I'm walking over to sit with the Cullens, silly."

I was nervous the whole way over. I was too busy worrying to even look at the guys!

When we reached their table, Alice, still on her nonchalant-streak, said, "Hi, I'm Alice and I think we're all going to get along real nicely! And this is my friend, Bella, who I'm sure you're all going to love," and at that moment she was particularly talking to Edward, I could tell.

In that timeframe I was suddenly not as nervous, so I took a look around to see what the infamous Cullens looked like. There was one Bulky, very muscular one, who had blond, really shortly cut hair, (following the Twilight movie, here) and another, also with blond hair, but he had less muscle than his sibling, over there, but instead had a pained expression, the exact opposite of the other one, who was cheery and it didn't look like he had one single problem with anyone or anything Just a carefree guy. The last one was, in my personal opinion, the one who looked the most like a future friend. He had a bored expression, but was looking at me and Alice anyway. He had bronze, messy hair that looked like he had just walked out of bed in it, which was most likely the case anyway. His eyes were a beautiful emerald green which made it hard to stop staring deep inside of them. He didn't have too much muscle, but not as little as the pained one.

By the time I was done overlooking them, Alice was already starting to sit down. I quickly copied her, but instead sat next to the one with the bronze hair on instinct. Hey, I do want more friends than just Alice and Rosalie after all!

"Hi," I said quietly, despite my ambitious—at that time, ambitious— attitude, "I'm Bella."

"Hi, I'm Edward." So this was the Edward Alice had been talking about.

By the end of lunch, we knew pretty much everything about each other. Pretty much. There was no way I could tell some guy I just met about my insane parents! He'd think I'm crazy! Not to mention there were other people at the table who could overhear what we were saying… No, I don't think right now was the best time, maybe not ever. But who knows? Okay, now I sound like Alice. Optimistic, when I know it's just not going to happen. Although, for Alice, she does think it's going to happen. How wrong she is!

"So," she said, once I was at her house after school, "what did you think of him?"

"He's nice," I said, playing it low. Alice could get the wrong idea from almost anything.

"That's it? Just 'nice?'" she pressed.

"Yes, Alice, just nice. I think we're going to be really great friends," I said, emphasizing 'friends'.

Alice pouted, but answered, "Okay."

Later that night, I sat in bed, my thoughts wandering, and then settled on thinking about Edward. Was Alice right? Had I really fallen for some guy I had barely met already? Okay, forget already, had I really fallen for a guy?!

A/N: Okay, haha, I know, weird ending, but still cliffy… Kind of… Oh, well. It's cliffy! Yups. My friend's coming over today~ Yay! And, you know, the only reason this chapter came so fast was because I had started it in advance. And this summer's gonna be really busy, so it may take a while for me to get something else in. And REVIEW!!! You know, the reviews you guys put in actually encouraged me to write more and THAT'S HOW I GOT THIS CHAPTER DONE SO FAST, TOO!!! I had only written, before, like up to the diamond-things!! And that alone had taken me 2 days, because I was on a on-and-off writer's block!! You guys brought me out of it! You know who you are!! So, REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And watch the movie Ocean's 11. It was really good. I'm serious.