Chapter 3- EPOV

Over the next few weeks, I gradually settled into the pattern of my days, my classes were lovely, and I really enjoyed teaching them.
I grew closer to Janey too, I knew that teachers shouldn't have favourites, but I had a soft-spot for Janey. She hung back after class to talk to me sometimes, about the work or music in general.
She was so like Bella, in so many ways, it was unbelievable. I found it hard to believe that they weren't the same person sometimes. Not just the hauntingly similar eyes and same surname, but they way she spoke and thought. Sometimes it was painful how similar they were.

"Sir?" She waited at my desk one day after the class had ended.

"Yes, Janey?" I smiled at her, looking into those lovely eyes.

"How would you do music in college?" She asked, "I'm thinking about doing something with music."

"Well, you'd apply like with any other course, but you'd have to do an interview, and sing or play an instrument for the course tutors, and they decide whether to let you in. I'm sure you'd get in."

"Yeah right!" She laughed, "I'm crap at this stuff!"

"Janey, you're really talented!" I wasn't lying either, she was a gifted singer and guitar player, better than I was at her age.

She rolled her eyes,"I don't think my Mom would let me do music anyway."

"I'm sure she would, if that's what you wanted to do."

"Nah, she says, unless you get that big break and get famous, music doesn't make you cash, not to support a family or settle down somewhere, according to her, a musician would never get tied down with anything."

"She's talking rubbish, Janey, you do what you want. And musicians do get tied down, look at me, teaching in a school after years on the road with the band"
Janey smiled at me and memories of Bella flooded back, me holding Bella tightly as we slept in my car because we didn't have money for a motel, drinking in the clubs after performances, kissing Bella softly as we made love...

The intensity of the memories was staggering, I rubbed my forehead and squeezed my eyes tight together as the memories crushed me.

"Mr Cullen, are you okay?" Janey asked.

"Yeah, sorry, just got a headache coming on." I smiled at her weakly, "You'd better get to your next class. You don't want to be late."

"Okay, bye Mr Cullen!" She waved at me.

"Bye Janey." I sighed, I had to get over Bella, it was unhealthy to carry on like this, take the guys' advice and move on, like she had probably done, .

And I had tried, tried to stop thinking about her, tried to stop wondering where she was now, I even tried to throw her last note in the bin. Though the more I tried not to think about her, the more she came drifting back into my thoughts.

And her note? I fished it out 10 minutes after throwing it away.

"Edward!" I heard someone call behind me, I turned and noticed Mr Collins, who I still called by his last name even though I knew him quite well by now, walking swiftly towards me, and he seemed to be out of breath and even more red-faced with the effort, "Edward, there you are! I've been meaning to ask you something for a while now."

"Go on." I smiled.

"I keep hearing Conner Deevey talk about you being in a band when you were younger," He told me and I smiled knowingly. Conner seemed to be fascinated by the fact I was once in a band, asking me endless questions during class, "and I was wondering, our annual summer fete is coming up in month, and we still need entertainment for the evening, would you do something? You don't have to, of course, but it would be nice for the kids to see their music teacher in action."

I was taken aback,"Wow... I'd love to." I said.

"Excellent!"
I wondered suddenly, if the guys would want to do it too, Conner would be pleased. "Mr Collins, could I ask the other band members if they'd want to do it too? They might be offended if they knew I was doing solo gigs." I chuckled.

"Of course!" He said enthusiastically,"Is a month enough time to get some songs together?"

"I think it's enough."

"Excellent! Thanks a lot Edward, I won't forget this." He said, slapping my back.

"It's no problem."
He walked away, then, back the way he came.

All of the afternoon I tabulated possibilities for songs to do and as soon as I got in, I called Emmett.

"Hey Em, it's Edward again," I answered as he picked up the phone,"listen, I have a huge favour to ask..."

The guys thankfully said yes, telling me it would be nice to finally reunite Spinnerbait as a band, even if it was only for a school summer fete.

We threw ourselves into rehearsals, practicing together every night we could. It was a unspoken rule that we had to get this right, not just for the school but because it was the first time we'd played together in eighteen years and it was a momentous occasion for all of us.

It was extremely odd, to dig out my old electric guitar, an classic black and white Fender, and all the music I'd written in Spinnerbait's glory days, the summer of 1991.

We finally decided on three songs and one back-up song.

Bitter Sweet Symphony (The Verve)

Have A Nice Day (Stereophonics)

It's Still Rock and Roll To Me (Billy Joel)

And the back-up song was Dakota (Stereophonics)

I was nervous about the back-up song especially, because it was one I'd written, but never performed, a few years after Bella left, and the lyrics were directed at her.

Conner's face was a picture when I told him the band were reuniting for the summer fete, and he told me he'd be at the front, at which I laughed.

The date of the fete came around quicker than any of us expected or realised, and a mirrored feeling of nerves was palpably present in me, Jake and Emmett as we set up the school's borrowed amplifiers and microphones on the school field.

"Not exactly Woodstock, is it?" Jake commented as we watched a few early birds milling around the few already set up stalls in the fair.

"Shut up, Jake." Me and Emmett said at the same time, and we laughed together, feeling again like the band that had split eighteen years ago.

But gradually, a lot of people came, and the summery smell of barbeque permeated the still humid air. The field filled quickly.

As I scanned the crowd, just before we were about to start Bitter Sweet Symphony, I saw Janey's face, her pretty features stood out amongst a sea of faces, she smiled me and I smiled back, watching her as she talked to a older beautiful brunette woman, with Janey's exact eyes, it was the face I'd never forget, not for as long as I lived.

It was Bella.

Absolute shock and disbelief cleared my thoughts as I drank in the sight of my lost love. She was standing about 50 feet away from the stage, looking as beautiful and breath-taking as she did seventeen years ago, although her face had matured over time.

Janey pointed to me, and Bella looked around. Of course, I was right all along, Janey was Bella's daughter. My heart twisted achingly as I realized, if Janey was seventeen, she couldn't have been conceived too long after Bella left. Obviously I wasn't too hard to get over.

Bella's expression twisted as she locked eyes on me, and in that moment it felt like we were the only two people in the world. Her eyes stared into mine, and even though she was standing fifty-odd feet away, I could plainly see all the emotions that ran through them. Shock, disbelief, sadness, guilt, hope?

She put her hand over her mouth and her already-pale face went puce. Only one thought ran through my mind at that point we had to do Dakota.

"Edward, are you ready to go?" Em asked at the drum.

"We're doing Dakota, okay?" I all but whispered, not taking my eyes off Bella.

"But we've only practiced it-" Jake started before looking out to where I was staring. "Oh my god... Is that Bella?" He asked. I nodded slowly.

"Dakota it is." Jake said, they knew who this song was about.

A/N Just so you know, this fiction will not be long, seven or eight chapters at best.

I don't own Twilight or the songs mentioned, I've put the original artist in bold, but pretend Edward wrote them for the sake of this

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