Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Chapter 4

Bella

The day of the much-awaited ball had finally arrived. Right on cue, the Denalis had arrived the day before along with several other covens, but unlike the Cullens, they didn't plan on staying for any great length of time. They seemed to have a solid family network, but as much as I tried, I wasn't able to connect with them like I did with the Cullens. They'd been spending the majority of their time with Carlisle, Esme, my father, and uncles - although Tanya seemed much opposed to that arrangement. It didn't take a psychologist to realise her clear desire to spend every waking minute with Edward.

I was glad that the Cullens had extended their stay - they were having such a good time, and the sentiments were returned. With them, it felt a bit like I had found a second family.

With the ball due to start in a couple of hours, the Cullen kids had decided to kill that time in my bedroom.

Upon making his entrance for the first time, Edward had been nothing short of impressed by the bookshelf spanning the entire right wall, containing just a few of my favourite novels. I had to admit; his approval did boost my ego - just the slightest.

"What's your favourite?" he looked from the books to me, appearing as though my answer was going to be the most interesting thing he would hear for the day.

I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, unbelievably flustered from his on-the-spot question, but seemingly hiding that fact well. I moved in closer to the collection, running my fingers along the spines until they easily and swiftly selected one that I had a tradition to read at least once a year.

"Wuthering Heights?" his lips slowly upturned into a grin, and he shook his head, "You never fail to amaze me, Bella."

What on earth did he mean by that?

"Why is that so surprising?" I wondered, attempting to shift my focus from the fact that I apparently amazed him.

He chuckled, looking from the book to my face, "I didn't mean it in a bad way. I just didn't expect you to be a fan of the classics. It's refreshing." His smile went from less teasing to one that showed a touch more earnestness. It was a dangerous thing, allowing myself to stare - I could feel myself losing concentration as I slipped deeper and deeper into those butterscotch eyes of his.

Thankfully, I managed to break contant, smiling at his compliment before following the others as they found a place to settle down.

As we all sat in a circle, couples grouped together on the loveseats, Jace on the armchair, Edward and I gravitated towards the black leather couch.

I adjusted my position so that my legs were folded beneath me, just as Edward leaned back, making himself a little more comfortable. A good couple of inches separated us from one another, and admittedly, I had mixed feelings about it.

"So what do you guys want to do to pass the time?" I asked, thinking that the only possibility was a movie, or something along those lines.

Everyone continued to ponder, twisting their ideas over internally, but before long, Jace caught a wicked glint in his eye, zeroing in on me. My own eyes widened, hoping to all of the Gods above that his mind wasn't going where I could see it going.

Oh, no.

"We should watch some old videos of Bella."

I blinked, giving him a look that screamed, "Do you want me to die of embarrassment?" before calmly replying aloud, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're a terrible liar," he badgered, causing a frown to easily develop on my face.

Alice sat straighter in her chair, pulling Jasper's hand forward in the process since it had been snaked around her waist. "What videos?" she wondered.

I kept the charade going on for just a little longer, "I don't know. Jace is obviously going crazy."

Alice repeated the question, this time to my twin.

"One of our friends is a YouTuber slash videographer slash aspiring music producer, and Bella is widely featured in a lot of his videos," Jace smiled towards the end, going to my iMac and opening the web browser.

"Don't. You. Dare," I spoke slowly, glaring menacingly as he typed in said friend's YouTube name "DylanTheCreator" – he was, and still is, a huge fan of Tyler, The Creator.

The Cullens looked beyond curious to see what these so-called videos were about, no doubt wondering what I had been like a couple of years before, but the sole thought racing through my mind was how desperately I wished to crawl into a hole and die a slow, painless death. I hadn't been on camera since before my mom's passing, and I vividly recalled how ridiculously embarrassing I'd been back then.

"I don't get what the big deal is. Videos are posted to YouTube so that people can watch them," Jace said with his dark eyebrows knitted together.

"Yeah. Random people, who don't know me," I said, frustrated, trying to get the message through his thick skull. The Cullens had a certain idea of me now, which would probably be thwarted by my younger self on a screen.

"You know that you're not changing my mind, right?" he grinned, raising his eyebrows.

A slow sigh escaped me as I leaned back, "I figured." In response to my slightly dramatic response, I felt waves of peace radiating from Jasper, releasing the tension in my body, causing me to smile towards him gratefully.

Edward spoke up from right next to me, leaning a little as if sharing a secret. My heart began to hammer irregularly from the proximity. "I'm sure they won't be that bad. And even if they are, I promise I won't laugh."

I forced myself to breathe. "Don't make promises you can't keep," I warned him, knowing that he was at least going to chuckle a little, if not full-on laugh his head off whilst watching them. Anyway, I didn't think I would mind that outcome too much. I had grown to have an unhealthy obsession with his laugh.

Jace quickly decided on a video, lifting his eyebrows as he mumbled to himself, "Wait, I don't know if I've seen this one…" As he clicked 'Play', I heard the short opening theme song featured in all of Dylan's videos, before my brother moved out of the way so that the Cullens could view the screen.

And of course, once I caught a glimpse of the title, my mouth immediately dropped all the way open.

"Nope, not this one. You can choose literally any other one," my body was frozen as Jace swivelled around to catch a glimpse of my face – currently displaying my open mortification. It wasn't necessarily the contents of the video that I was horrified about, but more the inevitable question I would receive from all parties viewing once the video had ended.

"Okay, your reaction only makes me want to watch this even more," his eyebrows crinkled, as Jasper sent yet another sea of tranquility my way and I audibly groaned, leaning further back into my seat. Edward's eyes were on me the entire time, and he seemed to want to say something – possibly to Jace – but quickly, I shook my head towards him in an "It's fine" motion. Truthfully, the video wasn't that bad. From what I remembered.

While I wanted to avoid looking at the screen at all costs, it became impossible when I heard Dylan introducing what was set to happen throughout the rest of the video blog – or vlog, for short.

"Hey guys," Dylan smiled a toothy grin, "So Bella is on her way over to my house right now, where she thinks that we're just going to be watching a movie. In reality, I'm actually going to be asking her to help with my Valentine's Day project for my girlfriend, Olivia." A brief montage ensued, consisting of a few recorded moments shared between Olivia and Dylan – it was all quite cute - before the video returned to Dylan's face.

A knock at the door interrupted him from saying anything more, as he made a point to showcase his nerves over what was about to happen, before walking to open the door to a younger, 14 year-old me. My face was make-up free, hair tied into a pony as I sported a pale orange Juice Couture sweater. I didn't look much different. Initially, a smile worked its way across my face, before my eyes narrowed into the camera, "Hey… Why are you recording me?"

"Uhhh," he began, before the video cut to a view of the two of us comfortably seated next to each other on the couch in his bedroom.

"Basically, I produced a song for Olivia," Dylan exhaled, using his hands extensively – a clear sign that he was nervous.

"That's awesome!" I reacted immediately, smiling wider towards him, "For V day, I'm guessing?" Clearly, I was excited for him, and her, but moreso at the thought of someone creating a song for their significant other – I was a romantic at heart.

He began to nod slowly, "Yup," before a long, uneasy pause ensued.

"But it's missing something," Dylan plowed on, as the smile on my face began to waver, only then connecting the reasoning as to why he was truly telling me all of this information.

I continued to stare, somewhat unimpressed, towards him, before looking around the room, letting out a slow sigh, "Don't say lyrics."

"Lyrics," he began nodding vigorously almost immediately, as younger me sighed even deeper.

"Please, Bella. I know you're a brilliant writer. I heard all about that poem you got an award for at school," he tried coaxing as my hands pressed up against my face just before I shook my head from side to side.

I was, expectedly, flabbergasted. "You're asking me – a fourteen year old girl who hasn't had her first kiss yet, let alone been in love – to help you write a love song? You do understand how insane that is, right?" my eyebrows were lifted, my hands quickly shifting from my forehead to the space in front of my torso as I continued to shake my head.

"Dylan, I'm going to do you a solid and say 'no', for your own good," I finished, as the slightly older boy blinked a couple times in my direction, opening then closing his mouth. He continued to look thoughtful for another few seconds before clearing his throat.

"Wait, you seriously haven't had your first kiss as yet?" he started in a small voice as my lips pressed tightly together. "Seriously?"

With a slight roll of the eyes, I answered, "I actually have. But I like to pretend that it didn't happen."

Then, my eyes shut, "But, that's beside the point!" My distractedness amused Dylan as he clasped his hands together in a begging motion, pouting.

"Bella, pleeeease. I have a decent production," he interrupted himself, "well, it's a little sadder than I'd like… but I just can't write good lyrics to save my life. I don't have the gift," he deepened his pout, slouching forward even further as my expression remained unchanged, not breaking for a solid five seconds.

Until: "Fine," I blew out a breath. "Let me hear the track." I waved my hand, as the camera capture Dylan's instant enthusiasm over my tentative agreement, before once again it cut to a later shot, of me holding a pen and notepad, discussing some points with him about the song.

"In short… I love it," I shot him a smile as he lit up, clearly pleased with my honest praise and waiting for me to elaborate on it. Before long, I was tapping my pen against the pad, "I do understand what you mean about it being a little… sad. But sad isn't the word I'd use. It's more… I don't know – it makes you feel, which I think is wonderful. I'm sure Olivia will feel the same.

"Anyway, for the lyrics, I'm obviously going to need a lot of information from you. You're going to need to be honest about your feelings… to the point of being cringey, but I think we'll be able to make something fairly… okay with it."

Dylan's smile softened as he continued to look towards me, genuine as he commented, "I think it'll be better than 'okay', Bella." I did a little sigh then, as if to say "Don't get your hopes up", before getting right down to business.

I started simple with, "How do you feel about her?"

He inhaled, "I mean… I love her," my younger self's eyes briefly shut then, causing him to stumble, "But, obviously you need a little more than that from me." He sighed, looking down at his hands as he began to think, "I don't know… there was a time in my life where I really didn't care about anyone, and yet the minute she called me, I'd drop everything for her. I would do anything and everything for her."

I began scribbling notes down, taking away the seemingly noteworthy bits of his statement, before prodding, "Like what?" Realising that I had been slightly vague, "What would you do for her?"

His head tilted as he bit the inside of his cheek, shrugging more as a way to make his next statement seem more casual than it actually was, "Last year, she went through some pretty awful stuff with her family, and she was just… miserable. I remember going into her room one day and she was lying on her bed, visibly holding back tears, and I felt… hopeless. All I wanted to do was take all of that pain away."

At that, I paused in my scrawling, looking up towards him with an expression that showed how simultaenously startled yet awed I was by his declaration.

"What?" he began to look self-conscious, shifting his weight on the seat as my smile widened. With a small sigh, I shook my head, slightly embarrassed, "No, nothing. You just… really love her. I always have a hard time believing that people nowadays can feel that strongly about anyone."

Dylan instantly shifted to older brother mode right then, so similar to Jace in that way, shooting me a reassuring look as he seemed to understand the hidden meaning in my words, "You'll find someone like that one day. Promise." And it was clear that he wasn't simply saying those words to make me feel better about the lack of romance in my life – he really did think that I would find that kind of love.

I allowed him another smile before my dark eyes went back to the pen and paper, nodding and looking over my work as I stated, "I can work with this."

The frame quickly blurred to show a transition, as Dylan once again started talking to the camera, dressed in a different outfit, swinging from side to side on the chair in his room.

"So, it's been a week. Bella texted me saying that she's finished with the lyrics. Obviously we had a few more discussions off-screen, so she had quite a bit of material to work with," he began to rub his hands together, "I'm very excited to see what she came up with."

Another transition happened until I once again came into view, this time dressed in a pair of jeans and a white shirt.

I was handing over the notepad to Dylan, clarifying, "It's okay if you hate it," just as he began shifting his eyes across the title, "I like it. 'Stars and Moons' – has a nice ring to it."

I exhaled, looking like I was on the verge of biting my nails off as his eyes wandered down the page, lips parting ever so slightly as his forehead creased. "Wow," he murmured to himself, as my hands gripped the edges of the seat, watching his eyebrows continue to lift, mouthing bits of the written words to himself before finally arriving at the end of the page, flipping it over to read the end on the second page. His head shook, seemingly immobile for a moment before shifting his gaze towards me, "Bella, this is… this is…"

Finally, he made a sound, "I have no words for what this is."

My hands were at either of my temples at that point, "You hate it?" it didn't sound like a question the way I said it, more like I was awaiting confirmation that I had indeed written pure and utter garbage.

"No!" he practically yelled in my face, giving me pause as his eyes refocused on the page, "Bella, this is… beautiful, and somewhat heart-wrenching, and I really cannot believe that you were able to convert my feelings into this," he shook the pad, "lyrical masterpiece."

I was giving him a look, almost as though I couldn't believe what he was telling me – couldn't comprehend that he had actually loved what I had created. "You're not just saying that, right? Because I would understand if you didn't like it. It's for Olivia, after all." It was important for me to know that he wasn't just being nice – this would be recorded into a song, somewhat immortalised for his girlfriend to hear. It was a fairly big deal.

"These lyrics are better than half the s- I hear playing on the radio," there was a bleep replacing the curse word as my cheeks went up in flames, nodding slowly but still keeping my eyes a little squinted.

"Okay," I continued to nod, starting to smile then, "Well, I can't wait to hear what it sounds like."

Instead of beaming right back towards me, Dylan shot me yet another classic deer-in-the-headlights look.

"Yeah," he swallowed, "About that…"

He breathed in, "I was wondering if, maybe, you would loan your voice to the track."

"Ha ha," I began to roll my eyes easily, still smiling, until I realised that the dread on his face wasn't fading off into a grin.

"Dylan…" I began, widening my eyes before shaking my head fervently, "No, I'm sorry. No."

"I'm the world's worst singer, and I have a feeling that you could do these lyrics justice," once again, he lifted the page in front of himself as my mouth seemed to be permanently sewn open.

"Dylan…," I repeated, almost on the verge of a groan, "I'm sure you're not that bad."

"You know how, in middle school, we'd have to do those mandatory performances at the end of the year, as a class?" he started to jog my memory as I began to sigh, before nodding, recalling exactly what he was referring to. My class had sung the classic "Do, a Deer" song from The Sound of Music.

"Yeah well, the choir teacher asked if I would happen to 'get sick' that day and stay home, because I was so tone-deaf," Dylan explained the unfortunate incident as I began biting down on the inside of my cheeks, imagining the incident and finding difficulty in holding my laughter back.

"Really," he cleared his throat, "I'm not lying. My mom almost got the teacher fired for it… until she heard my voice. Then, she understood."

"I don't understand," I said through mild laughter, "You produce music. How on earth could you be a bad singer?"

"Great question. Come find me when you figure out the answer," he answered, dropping his eyebrows as he found his previous train of thought. "So, will you do this for me?"

I gave him a blank look.

"Will you do this for Olivia? For the sake of our relationship?"

I continued to give him a blank look, not breaking, and continuing not to break.

Until: "One condition."

"Anything," his eyes widened in earnest, willing to grant my every wish for the sake of me singing on his track.

"Aside from Olivia," I lifted my dark eyebrows along with my right index finger, "No one can ever hear it. Not a single soul."

"What?" he exclaimed, seeming distraught and beginning to gnaw at his lower lip.

"That's my condition," my arms folded across my chest, unmoving, unwavering, and it took another minute before he shook his head, acquiescing as he held his hand out for us to shake on it, "Fine. Deal."

The final transition of the video happened then, as Dylan came into view combing his hands through his light hair, heaving a sigh, "Guys, the song turned out so well and I want nothing more than to be able to share it because I really believe it's a hit. But I'm going to stay true to my word, unfortunately.

"I guess the important thing is that Olivia adored it - every aspect of it. And even though she agrees that other people should hear it," he was staring into the camera then, as if speaking to an invisible me behind the screen. He exhaled, "She understands that Bella's a private person, and blah blah blah. So, I'm sorry that this video is just one giant tease but I wanted to remember everything that went into this Valentine's Day gift. That's all for now – I'll see you guys next week with another video."

The screen went dark. My hands were clasped in my lap as all eyes in the room simultaneously turned towards me.

"I know what you are all going to ask, and, I'm sorry but… no, you can't hear it." It felt as though my neck had gone up in flames, with all of the attention being directed towards me, all of the questions bubbling at their lips about this song.

"That's okay, Bella. We understand," Rosalie shot me a smile, as some of the tautness in my shoulders fell away.

Emmett agreed, "Yeah, even though I've never been more interested in hearing a song in my entire life… I guess it's okay that I won't." I bit my lip at the half-understanding, half-irritated response, before being greeted with more looks and messages of understanding. Most, if not all, seemed to have prefer being allowed the privilege of hearing me sing, but equally, they could see the difficulty in me showing that side of myself to them.

Jace kept his eyes on me, expressiong alight with wonder, "How did I never know about any of this?"

I began to look down, back towards my hands toying with one another, "Dylan held back on posting this because he was nervous, I guess, and then when he was finally ready, it was right around the time that mom had died. So he told me he would wait another couple of months, out of respect for me." I breathed a deep sigh, finally glancing up just in time to see the Cullens looking apologetic. You could say the mood had definitely shifted just a smidge.

"I'm sorry about your mother," Edward turned slightly towards me, deeply empathizing with Jace and me, and although I appreciated his words, I didn't want anyone to feel that way every time the thought of her came up.

"No, it's okay. Don't be. She wouldn't want us to get sad every time we talked about her. We just have to remember her for the person she was while she was here." She'd been something extraordinary and it was that version of her that needed to be immortalised.

Before I knew it, my thoughts were drifting back to two years ago, and I took a deep breath, steadying myself. I tried to push down the overwhelming feelings of anger, pain, and loss that came with thinking about the day she had died. I hated the people who took her away from Jace and me, and I hated the fact that I hadn't done more that day… I couldn't do more.

I shook my head, refusing to be depressed about it. I had yet to talk about her death with anyone, and I knew it wasn't healthy to keep things like that bottled up, but I didn't want to remember that day. I didn't want anyone's pity. But most of all, I didn't want to feel weak.

"Wait, I meant to ask," Jace seemed stuck on something else from the video that had been on his mind - other than his surprise that I'd kept a song a secret for years.

"Who was your first kiss?" he turned on me, as I closed my eyes, allowing the smallest, most awkward of smiles to grace my lips, knowing that someone would've picked up on my lack of storytelling for that question. Even still, I'd hoped that in it being such a minor part of the video, people wouldn't have paid it any heed.

"Jace, you literally already know," I made a gesture at the end, non-verbally communicating, Dig deeper!

"No… I'm pretty sure I don't," and then he paused, slowly opening his mouth as if connecting two dots.

"Adam?"

I grimaced, confirming, with a nod, "Adam."

"Guys, I'm feeling super left out," Emmett pouted, interrupting Jace and me. "Bella's basically my sister too, I should get to know this story."

I bit my lip, as Rosalie smacked her husband over the head, "She'll share it if she feels like it, stop trying to invade her privacy."

I grinned over at Rose, who smiled gently in response.

"It's honestly not anything scandalous if that's where your mind is headed. It's just... uncomfortable," I told the Cullens, and even though that had eased their curiosity slightly, I could tell that they still wouldn't have minded knowing about what had happened. Even Rosalie - despite her berating - seemed interested in my tale of sorts.

Jace technically didn't even know the full story.

I took a deep breath, "Alright, fine," I rolled my eyes as Emmett cheered along with Alice. It seemed that because of their enthusiasm, Jasper also found himself clapping, while Rosalie and Edward seemed satisfied, though more subdued about it.

I felt completely out of my element even looking towards Edward when I was about to share such an awkward boy story of mine, so I focused my attention instead onto Alice.

"So, it happened about a month before that video was filmed – I was 14. And… um, well it was my first and only kiss." The Cullens seemed to be leaning in closer to show that I had gained their full attention. The mention of 'only' had caught them all off-guard, but they allowed me to continue without pointing that out.

"So Adam had just moved to Italy a couple of months prior, and he started hanging out with the boys at school, getting really close to Jace in particular. And obviously, I'm around my brother a lot, so by extension, he was hanging out with me as well. I thought of him as more of an acquaintance, though. He'd try to make small talk with me, but I wasn't encouraging. I was just polite. I didn't exactly consider him a friend, let alone someone I liked."

Emmett covered his mouth, "Damn, cold."

I bit my lip to keep from laughing, as the rest of the Cullens glared at Emmett for interrupting the story.

"Anyway," I laughed, "One night, we all went to the skate park – just some of Jace's friends, including Adam, and me. I sat on one of the ledges, watching them do their tricks and compete with one another, and after a few minutes, I noticed that Adam had gone missing in action. A few more seconds passed, and then I heard the sound of someone skating towards me. The rest of the boys were using one of the empty pools at the park, much too focused on that to even notice what was happening."

The Cullens could see exactly where this was going and their faces were full of dread, "Adam just plopped down right next to me, and as I was opening my mouth to ask what he was doing, he grabbed my face and kissed me. I don't know if it was all of the adrenaline from skateboarding that had him so amped up… because it came out of nowhere, and I was in too much shock to push him off, so I essentially let him kiss me? It was just all very wrong," I took a deep breath, shuddering.

"The worst part was the after. I was sitting there, still in shock, and he starts explaining his feelings for me – which, first of all, how could he like me when he didn't know anything about me? We'd had all of two conversations together, focused on the weather," I rolled my eyes, "But he essentially starts telling me all of these things about the chemistry between us, and how he only started hanging out with Jace to get closer to me, and all I'm thinking about is how desperately I want to use some mouthwash."

"Then, he goes and asks me how I feel, and the whole experience has my emotions so messed up that I start laughing," all of the Cullens' jaws had dropped by that point.

"And he looks devastated, absolutely destroyed, so my laughing then turns into crying. And naturally, that's when the rest of the boys finally found us. Jace takes one look at me, and then at Adam - who looks horrified about how the entire situation panned out – and he grabs him by the collar, and –"

"Beats the crap out of him. That's what I did. I beat the crap out of him. And now that I know what happened, I'm really freaking happy I did. What an arrogant, little…" Jace shook his head, reliving the memory. He had found me crying next to Adam, so he had only really made assumptions about what had gone on between us.

Emmett raised his hand for a high-five to Jace, which he easily reciprocated, "Cool, because I was just about to find this guy's address and make his life a living hell."

Alice piped up, "For the record, Bella, that shouldn't even count as your first kiss, considering the fact that it was unwanted."

Rosalie strongly agreed, looking agitated at my experience, while Jasper was shaking his head, and Edward looked… well, I really couldn't quite read it. He was staring straight ahead so I couldn't fully gauge his expression, but I assumed that he really hadn't wanted to hear that story from how tense he appeared.

A few long seconds ticked by, before: "So when can we hear this song of yours?" Alice tried again, clearly wanting to shift the mood to a better place and also hoping to catch me off guard with the question. Of course, I wasn't a happy camper about the topic reverting, but if it helped with Edward – who, at that moment, looking to be so tightly wound that he could put a cobra to shame – I decided to allow a discussion about it, however brief.

I blurted, "Ideally… never."

"I'm having a difficult time believing it could be that bad. I mean Dylan and Olivia both loved it, so," Jace plowed on, as I tilted my head, folding my arms across my chest. "I know you have a great voice, Bella. I've heard you sing along to songs in the car before. I don't get what the big deal is."

Edward had finally seemed to let go of the stress in his body, taking a deep breath. I couldn't keep myself from looking over at him, seeing him meet my eyes gently, cautiously. I wondered why he had reacted the way that he had to the story I'd shared. Why was he so upset?

Turning my body back to face the others, I shrugged, "I wouldn't say it's a bad song, per se… it's just embarrassing to play it for a group of people and sit there, watching them react to your voice. And more than that, react to the lyrics, which I'll admit are… a little intense."

"Okay well, great, now I need to know what you mean by intense!" the outburst came from Emmett as I pressed a hand against the side of my face, in between a laugh and a sigh of exasperation that he was so persistent.

"One day, guys. One day," I smiled, "Maybe. I'm not making any promises. It could be worse than I remember."

Alice and Emmett simultaenously groaned as I continued to smile, before a buzzing sound appeared on both the girls' phones, no doubt indicating that it was time to start getting ready. Everyone seemed to gather that we would all need to be parting ways, and though I could tell this wouldn't be the end to their curiosity about this song of mine, they'd let it go, for now.

More than the discomfort of not being able to get past my insecurities and show them that different side of myself, guilt swarmed inside me at the thought of how withholding I'd been about my mother's passing. They'd been nothing short of understanding, of course, but it hadn't exactly felt good keeping information like that from a group of people I'd grown so close to. But, to be fair, I hadn't even divulged a great deal of information about it to my own family.

"So, when are you gonna tell him?" Jace interrupted my musings, still at the door as everyone else had departed.

I scrunched my eyebrows, "What?" there was no way he could've been referring to what I was just thinking about.

"When are you gonna tell Edward that you like him?" Jace asked bluntly.

I exhaled.

"Is it that obvious?" I knew Jace could read me like an open book, so I wasn't truly surprised that he'd realized my feelings for Edward, but now I was wondering if everyone else could see it too.

Jace chuckled, "Yeah, but don't worry... He likes you too, even though you don't realize it." He winked at the end.

"How do you know that?" I asked. I just couldn't envision a universe where Edward could possibly reciprocate my feelings for him. It just wasn't possible for someone as perfect as him to feel something for someone as mediocre as I was.

"I see the way he stares at you sometimes. I used to look at Lainey like that," Jace smiled at the end, probably reminiscing the times when he and his girlfriend had first begun dating.

"I know that you're scared that he doesn't feel the same way, but he does. Don't put it off for too long, because it's about time you found someone," he gave me that last piece of advice before hugging me goodbye and leaving my room.

I thought about it for a while. Though I knew there was a small chance that my brother was, in fact, correct, I wanted to keep my expectations low. What if he was just reading the situation wrong?

I sighed. I could already feel that this was going to be a long night.

So, I promise, next chapter will be WAY better than this one. This was just a sort of introduction to all of the stuff that's going to go down next chapter. I'm sorry there's barely any romance between Bella and Edward, but I promise that'll change soon!

Some secrets will be spilled for sure… so excited to start writing it!

*I've written like... 4 different versions of this one chapter, but I think I'm finally happy with it. Finally settled.

Anyways, please review!

Xoxo

LoveACullen