Hey to all of those who made it this far – I know the previous chapters were too short and under detailed….Unfortunately I suffered from anxious to post syndrome and definitely posted them before they were ready so I'm going back and revamping them but wanted to get these next few chapters up anyway…

Hopefully this will make up for them….

Enjoy!! Please R&R

Thanks!!!!

Bella's POV

I awoke the next morning to the shining sun with a sense of dread – I had been hoping it'd rain so the cook out would be canceled and I'd be spared the torture but no such luck for me.

I had a good hour before I had to start getting ready for the cookout so I decided to take a third whack at reading in the hammock.

I walked outside – not a cloud in the sky, damn it – and got on the hammock with the grace of a swan. I was in the middle of the scene at the ball where Romeo first sees Juliet for the first time when Charlie came around with the lawn mower bellowing "Bella! Shouldn't you be getting ready! It's almost noon!" over the motor.

Despite not wanting to stop before getting to the good part, I closed the book, deciding that I could always read it at the cook out, that is once Charlie's show and tell dies down, and headed into the house.

Once showered and clean I went about picking my outfit – I wanted to wear something that would feel like me, but I also didn't want to disappoint Charlie by looking too casual. I ended up going with a pair of dark jean capris that were cuffed at the bottom and paired them with a classy, white V-neck top that was sleeveless but had thick straps, to please Charlie. I threw on a pair of simple white tennis sneakers and put my hair up in a ponytail. I had just managed to complete my simplistic look with a coat of mascara and clear lip gloss that I threw in my bag (along with my book) before Charlie yelled up to tell me it was time to get going.

The drive to the local park where the cookout was being held had been a quiet one. I had half suspected Charlie would have given me the lowdown on who I'd be seeing and reminding of faces that should be familiar, but he didn't he just kept quiet and had this anxious, sort of happy, excited look on his face – almost as if it were my birthday and he was waiting to reveal a gift that he knew I'd love…it was really strange.

Once we arrived the look sort of faded and the "hellos" began. So many faces, so many names – none of which I could match together…the amount of times I was forced to answer the questions of how old was I, What school was going to be going to in that fall, how I liked being back, what I was up to for the summer – and so many more but I won't put you through that agony – should be declared cruel and unusual punishment!

I was finally able to escape to a table a bit backed away from the crowd to enjoy my burger and read my book , when, just as Romeo was declaring he loved Juliet, Charlie approached, wearing that goofy face from the car again, saying he had someone he wanted me to say hi to; I closed my book and looked up as Charlie continued "Bells, you remember --"

I cut him off, "Edward Cullen." I squeaked before Charlie had a chance to get it out.

Charlie looked confused, "yea – but – how did you know that it's been – oh gosh --"

This time it was Edward who cut Charlie off, "13 years."

Now Charlie was really shocked, "Yea - but - how --"

Edward cut Charlie off again as I just smiled quietly shocked and amused by the entire situation, trying to ignore the fact my heart skipped a beat when I had first spotted him.

"Well Chief Sawn, Bella and I actually ran into each other at the bookstore yesterday. We didn't get to talk much because she was in a rush but it was certainly an interesting encounter."

Charlie looked at me, perplexed, and asked "Bells why didn't you mention you'd run into Edward - I would've stopped all the secrecy and told he was going to be here…"

"It must've slipped my mind," I said simply as I gazed at Edward trying to figure out what was going through his head.

Just as I was mentally evaluating the sexiness level of Edward compared to the previous day, he was now wearing a grey sleeveless muscle shirt that showed off his flawless muscles, knee length jean shorts and dark brown leather sandals; his hair was expertly tousled and his smile was gleaming, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, Edward's father approached us.

His greeting, "Hello Isabella, my how you've grown!" pulled me out of reverie and luckily I was able to form a coherent response, "Hi Dr. Cullen it's nice to see you again!"

Charlie directed the conversation more in the adults direction asking a question related to an accident that happened a week or two back and so Edward took it as an opportunity for us to break away.

He walked toward the table I'd been sitting at and indicated the book on the table, "Guess you didn't have much luck at the bookstore?" Edward laughed.

I shook my head and just said, "Romeo and Juliet happens to be one of my favorites…" Edward just looked at me, not buying that I had really intended to re-read the Shakespeare classic and so I gave in and continued, "and so when I had no luck at the bookstore - I decided to re-read it - When I realized it was one of the only books I had at Charlie's house."

Edward nodded and laughed, having known that was my true motivation for reading it all along, but vocally he played along, saying "I see I see" in a fairly patronizing manner.

I was tired of this bull shit of us just discussing books and so I jumped right in saying, "So when did your family come back to Forks?"

He just looked at me, almost as if he hadn't expected me to try and connect the past with the present; like he thought we were going to avoid the fact we had a history, but I just looked right back at him waiting for an answer. He finally smiled, after a short pause, in defeat and began his story.

"Well, actually not that long ago. We got to the island and it was a really great experience - they acted as if Carlisle was a miracle worker even he was just doing something completely minor like wrapping a sprained ankle in an ace bandage… Rosalie, Alice and I helped out too we would hang out with the kids and help teach them to read or just play games, keep them entertained…My mom put her cooking skills to work, setting up a sort of community cafeteria where people could come for a good meal. She'd cook for hundreds; three meals, every day. Things were going great and the region was making a lot of progress - once I was a bit older I actually helped them with building a school, but right around my 17th birthday the funding for the program was cut and so we came back to Forks. It wasn't such a big deal for Rosalie and Alice, Rosalie was in college already and Alice was starting that fall, but I was going in to my senior year so I had to completely re-adjust to the way my family was living."

I couldn't help but interrupt him, "Wow - that's so intense…I mean it sucks that you had to come back and get thrown into high school as a senior but - you built a school? That's so incredibly awesome…"

Edward chuckled to himself, "Thanks -- I actually want to go back sometime to see how they're doing, but it just wasn't in the cards for this summer…"

"So how'd you do - readjusting I mean…" I inquired.

"Well it was a little weird at first - kind of how it is for you now I guess, re-meeting people from childhood but it was cool in the end I made a couple good friends that I still keep in touch with…"

"That's cool…so what are you up to now -- school? What about Rosalie? And Alice? Your parents??"

He laughed and shook his head at my abundance of questions.

"Sorry," I said, "I'm just really curious to see how everybody's doing -- I used to consider Alice and Rosalie to be my older sister's too" I laughed at my childish notion.

"Well," he began, "Rosalie went to NYU, and she graduated last spring. She's 23 and living in Manhattan with her boyfriend Emmett. You actually might remember him - he was that bigger kid who used tease us a little? Knocked us off the swings once or twice??"

The memories came flooding back, "Oh wow - yeah - I do remember him actually…He made me cry once." I laughed at what a small world it was.

"Yeah," Edward continued, "well he's a lot cooler now. My parents and I have a theory that he's probably going to propose to her before Christmas…"

"So they're pretty serious then?" I pondered.

"Yea - they've been going out since Rosalie was a freshman there. He actually came down to Turks that summer, helped with the school and helped us pack, too."

"What about Alice?" I asked him.

"Hah," Edward laughed, "She's doing great! She's 19 but she'll be turning 20 in August. She's a junior at Harvard, studying communications and marketing. Right now she's visiting Rosalie in NY but she should be getting in tomorrow night."

"Wow - Harvard! Go Alice!" I interjected.

"Yea, mom and dad are REAL proud…speaking of which my dad's back at the hospital and my mom's actually trying to get a book she wrote about our time in Turks published -- that's why she's not here, she had a meeting in Seattle with her editor…"

"Wow - you guys go away for a few years and you come back as superstars," I laughed.

"Yea - it started as a journal she was just keeping for herself but then she had this brainstorm to share our experiences with others, so more people can understand that it's not just a pretty beach area with a Sandals resort…"

"Hmm - that's amazing -- I can't wait to talk to her about it!"

"She'd definitely love your opinion on it," Edward told me.

"Well, Mr. Cullen, you've told me all I need to know about literally every other member of your family - but what about you? What are you up to these days?"

He laughed lightly, "Me -- there's not much there…I just finished my freshman year at Washington University in St. Louis and I'm unemployed thanks to the sucky economy…"

Bella laughed, her being in the same unemployed plight, "What are you studying Mr. Unemployed?"

"I'm double majoring in humanities and environmental studies and I'm minoring in music."

I was taken aback, "You certainly gave yourself a work load…"

"Well I really want to make my life about helping people, being in Turks really had an impact on me and I'd love to do work like that for the rest of my life…so that's where the Humanities comes in, and I figure why help people if the world we live in's just going to suck anyway so I'm interested in helping the environment, there you have the environmental studies. And then I just really love music - I like the way it can bond all different types of people together - regardless of age or gender or culture or race or well anything really -- everyone can get behind a song no matter what else they have in common. So I'm minoring in music…"

"Wow. You continue to amaze me -- who would have known that the boy who prided himself on his mud pies would grow up to be this deep."

We shared a laugh at the change I had noted and then it was my turn to answer questions.

"So Swan, you're going to be heading off to college this fall, right?"

"Yep." I nodded, hating the fact it was time for me to talk about myself.

"Where are you off to?"

"I will be at Princeton, studying English and minoring in undecided - I know I want to in something I just haven't narrowed it down yet…"I disclosed.

"Well what are the options?"

"I really like history so I was thinking about that, but then I thought it might be cool to minor in a language so I could travel and not sound like a silly tourist, and then I got to thinking about if I travelled there would be a lot of museums and art work that I should have knowledge of, so I thought about maybe minoring in art. But I really have no idea."

"Wow - those are some wide spread options…I take it your main priority is to travel though."

"Yes - definitely - I want to see every part of the world I can! And I don't just mean your typical tour of Europe - though I am dying to explore that continent - I also want to go to less developed places and help out, Africa, the islands….I guess I should really make a priority list or something; right now I'm all over the map."

Edward laughed at my ambitious goal but didn't mock it, in fact he gave me advice on how to achieve it, "Well, word to the wise, when you do go about reaching these lofty goals, alternate go on a fun Europe trip then a working, volunteer trip and go back and forth that way you get to do both in a shorter amount of time - plus it will make more interesting if you switch up the areas more often," he smiled.

"I'll definitely keep that in mind, thanks."

A slight lull fell into the conversation and so I asked, "Any advice on how to have fun around here?"

Edward laughed and shook his head, "not really - if you figure it out let me know though."

We both laughed at how boring Forks could be before he continued, "no but in all seriousness, there's not much to do - a lot of times you have to make your own fun - at least that's what me and my friends do…in fact - we're all heading down to La Push beach tomorrow night for a campfire - slash - beach party. You should come!"

I smiled at Edward's invitation and said "I'd love to."

Edward looked surprised at my answer but in a happy way, "Great! I can you pick up at - say 7:00?"

"Sounds good," I beamed.

"What's your number just in case I have to contact you or something?" Edward said as he casually tried to get my number.

I smiled, trying not to let him know I was on to him, and gave him my number, then he texted me so I'd have his.

We had been walking throughout the entire conversation and so we were just heading back, laughing about the time we had sprayed silly string in Rosalie's hair while she was sleeping when I heard Charlie calling for me, saying we had to head home. I was surprised we were going home so early and snuck a peek at the time on my phone - it was past midnight!

We both laughed at our total obliviousness to the time and I quipped, "I guess it's true what they say - time flies when you're having fun!"

We laughed at my cheesiness and then I asked him, "So, do you have a facebook?"

He smiled to himself and said, "Uhh yea - um - I actually already added you…"

"Oh," I was stunned, "Well I guess I'll head home and confirm that."

"Heh - yea" was his reply, I think he might have been a little embarrassed at his rapid speed to add me.

We said our goodbyes, awkwardly not knowing whether to hug or not - it ended up being a sort of slanted, ½ second long pressing together of our bodies - yea it felt as awkward as it sounds, but we laughed it off and said we'd see each other the next evening. I was excited.

On the ride home Charlie did ask me how my night had been but a simple "good" satisfied him, and I was glad because I was anxious to go through the events of the evening and dissect them piece by piece. I definitely had a crush on Edward Cullen, but there was no way I was letting on about that one.

No, that I would be keeping to myself, but there was no doubt I was looking forward to the next evening!