Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and all of its beautiful characters. This story is loosely inspired by plot lines from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 series, but I have taken many liberties with them. No infringement is intended to any franchise. The remainder is my original work.
Chapter 2
"Unreal World"
"And so life begins at West Beverly," I declared as my sister and I looked up at the ostentatious sign above the entry to the school. With just a quick look around, it was undeniable that West Beverly High would be nothing like our previous small high school of no more than a thousand students back in Minnesota. Where we came from, everyone knew each other and their business; it was both good and bad. We had left all of our lifelong friends behind in order for our dad to follow a tremendous opportunity out to sunny California. We had only been here a week—hardly settled into our new home—when we had to start classes. We couldn't afford to miss any more time away. So here we were, bright and early on a Monday morning, over halfway through our junior year and we knew absolutely no one. We were starting over.
Alice was wide-eyed, taking in our surroundings as we walked into the school's administration office. We waited for a moment behind a pretty blonde girl who seemed to be trying to get an absence excused. As she turned to leave, she blatantly looked me up and down with a flirtatious smile on her lips.
"I see the Edward fan club has followed us out to California," Alice snickered. I just rolled my eyes and ignored her jibe.
"Good morning. How can I help you?" an older woman asked from behind the front desk.
"Hi, I'm Edward Cullen. This is my sister, Alice. We're new here. We were told to come to the administration office to pick up our schedules," I explained.
"Ah yes, the twins, correct?"
"Yep, that's us," Alice replied. "We just moved here from Minnesota. I'm so excited to see the beach and enjoy year round mild weather. I hate the cold, and I definitely won't miss the snow at all."
"My, aren't you a cheery one. Okay, just give me a minute to go print out your class schedules," the woman said as she dismissed Alice and turned to head into the back of the office. Alice busied herself looking over the various pictures and posters stapled to a bulletin board by the door.
A moment later, the door to the administration office opened again and guy walked in. He appeared to be a student, yet he walked directly behind the desk.
"Morning, have you been helped?" he asked.
"Yes, a lady just went into the back to print out our schedules for us," I replied.
"You're new here." It wasn't a question. "Hi, I'm Ben," he said as he extended his hand to shake.
"Hi, Ben, I'm Edward, and that is my sister Alice," I said as I pointed in Alice's direction. At the mention of her name she spun around and smiled.
"Well, it's nice to meet you both. I'm sure Mrs. Cope will be back in just a minute with your schedules. What year are you?"
"We're both juniors. You?"
"Junior, also. I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm just here to pick up some stuff for my Journalism teacher. I'm an aide for him first period," Ben stated.
"Journalism? Does West Beverly have a school paper? I was on the paper at my old school." I was excited by the prospect of joining another newspaper.
"We do. I can mention your interest to Mr. Banner if you want. There may be room for one more," Ben offered. "Well, I've got to get going but I'll see you around."
"Later."
"Alright, here are your schedules. You will need to have each of your teachers sign off on your classes to be officially added," Mrs. Cope said as she returned to the front desk and handed us each our respective schedules. I looked mine over for all of a second before Alice ripped it out of my hand.
"Hey! We have Calculus together for sixth period. Thank god, because I am so going to need your help studying," Alice exclaimed.
Mrs. Cope gave us each a campus map and pointed us in the directions of our first classes. Alice had a science class here in the main building, while I had History in another building. I made my way to my classroom, managing to only get slightly lost on the way. The bell rang while we were still waiting to be helped in the administration office, so I knew I would be interrupting class. I opened the door as quietly as possible, but still had a good thirty pairs of eyes trained on me.
"Can I help you?" the teacher asked from the front of the room where she had been lecturing.
"Yes, I'm a new student," I stated as I approached her and handed her my schedule.
"Okay, Mr. Cullen, is it?" she asked while looking over my schedule. "Go ahead and take a seat. See me after class to get a copy of the course syllabus and the text."
I nodded and turned to search for an empty desk. There was a spot in the very front of the room and one towards the back. I opted for the one towards the back. As I sat down, I noticed that the same blonde girl I had just seen in the office was seated in the next row. She was slowly scratching the hair on the back of the head of guy in front of her. She smirked at me when she noticed me watching her, clearly amused that she had caught my attention. It almost seemed as if she was trying to flirt with me even though her behavior indicated she was with this other guy. I redirected my attention to the teacher and focused on the class.
When the bell rang, I gathered my things and walked up to the front to get the textbook and syllabus as requested. After catching up with the teacher, I made my way outside to head to my next class. The blonde girl and her guy friend were flirtatiously bantering just outside the door.
"Come on Rosie, you know you wanna," the guy mocked. He was huge for a high school student, taller than me and built like a Mack truck. The blonde just blew him a playful kiss and sauntered away. As she was about to turn the corner, she whirled around and winked at me. The guy noticed me then.
"Hey, dude. She's hot, huh?" he said while wriggling his eyebrows. Was he actually asking me if I thought his girl was hot?
"Uh, hi. Your girlfriend?" I asked.
"No, man. That beautiful specimen of a woman is Rosalie, and she's just a flirt. She seems to have noticed you, though. I'm Emmett, by the way."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Edward." We shook hands and he practically crushed mine in his firm grip.
"Hey, do you think you can point me in the direction of English with Mr. Ruiz?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm headed that direction myself."
We talked on the way to English classroom. Emmett seemed like a genuinely cool guy. He was without a doubt an athlete and a bit of a meathead, but he was friendly and comical none the less.
"So listen, a bunch of us eat lunch together in the courtyard. You should join us. I can introduce you to some of the guys and point out all the hot chicks."
"Yeah, that would be cool. Thanks, man," I replied as I headed into my next class.
The rest of the morning passed in the same manner. In each class, I was either introduced or singled out as the new student. While I wasn't a shy person, I didn't particularly like the extra attention. Being the new guy was difficult enough without any added pressure.
I caught up with Alice briefly between second and third period. She was all smiles and seemed to be having a good morning so far. I passed along Emmett's invitation and told her to where to meet me.
When lunch finally rolled around, I made my way out to the courtyard. My mom had packed Alice and me lunches for today, not knowing what would be available at the school. I spotted Emmett immediately with a tray piled full of food.
"Hey, Cullen! Over here," he hollered at me as he flagged me over to a large, round, concrete table with an umbrella in the middle. The idea of eating lunch outside at school was new to me and extremely appealing. In Minnesota we always had cafeterias to eat indoors because the weather was unpredictable. The weather here was utterly gorgeous in the mid-seventies with a nice breeze. Perfect.
"Hi, Emmett. I invited my sister to join us too. I hope that's okay."
"It's cool. The more the merrier and all that," he said, gesturing with his arm to the oversized table. A few minutes later a couple other guys walked up. Emmett introduced them as some of his teammates from the water polo team. They all seemed like decent guys and your stereotypical jocks. I noticed Alice walking with Ben and a pretty brunette girl. I waved her over to the table. Alice was her giggly self as she approached with her new friends in tow.
"Hi, brother dear! How are classes so far?" she inquired in a chipper voice as she perched next to me on the bench.
"Pretty good. You seem to be having a good day," I smiled, happy that she appeared to be acclimating well.
"Alice, this is Emmett," I said, gesturing to him. "Emmett, this is my twin sister, Alice." She gave a cheery wave.
"Twins, huh? I'll be damned!" Emmett laughed. "How is that even possible? She's a good foot shorter than you."
"Haha, like we haven't heard that before," Alice retorted with a playful glare while Emmett continued to snicker.
"I have a theory that Alice's caffeine consumption has stunted her growth. Just wait until hyper-Alice comes out to play, and I'm sure you will agree," I joked.
Emmett's eyes widened in disbelief. "You mean this isn't hyper-Alice?"
"Nope, this is actually pretty calm for her," I said, laughing as Alice rolled her eyes and redirected the conversation away from her hyperactive tendencies and small stature.
"Oh, Edward, I want you to meet my new friends, too. This is Angela, and you already met her boyfriend, Ben. Angela is in art class with me."
"Hi, Angela. Ben." I nodded my hello to both of them. My sister spent the next few minutes regaling me with details of her drama and art classes, including that she thought her drama teacher was a real 'hottie.' Her words, not mine.
"Hey, Edward, I spoke to Mr. Banner and he seemed interested in another columnist for the school paper. He said to have you stop by his office sometime this afternoon if you're really interested, and he would see what he could do," Ben informed me while leaning around the girls to talk to me. He had an arm wrapped around Angela's shoulders and she looked up at him with such adoration as he spoke.
"Cool. Thanks a lot, man." He gave me the information I needed to hunt down Mr. Banner and hopefully get onto the paper.
"Speaking of the paper, where's Bella?" my sister asked Angela. Not knowing who they were referring to, I directed my attention back to Emmett.
"Dude, we should totally have a party this weekend so you can meet everyone," Emmett exclaimed. My eyes widened at the suggestion, not really sure that a party was called for, or that my parents would be okay with when we weren't even settled in yet.
"Who's having a party?" a sickeningly sweet voice inquired from behind me. I turned to see two girls—a blonde and a brunette—dressed in a way that could hardly be considered school appropriate. The blonde sauntered up and started rubbing Emmett's shoulders.
"Come on, Em, give us the deets," she crooned in what she thought was a seductive tone.
"We were just talking, girls. Nothing is set yet. Just trying to think of a way to get Edward and Alice here assimilated with the gang," Emmett replied as he ducked out from under her hands.
"Oh, good idea! Hi, Edward, I'm Lauren and this is Jessica," she said as she pulled her friend forward. Jessica batted her eyelashes at me as she said 'hi.' Alice started giggling next to me at their blatant attempts to flirt with Emmett and me. Luckily, Lauren and Jessica were distracted by another group of girls before I had to rebuff any further advances.
"Hey, Jazz! Come meet the newbies," Emmett yelled towards the end of lunch. A tall, blond guy walked up with a smirk on his face.
"Oh, I've met one of them already," he drawled out as he smiled in my sister's direction. "We meet again, pretty girl."
"Hi, Jasper," Alice responded with a shy smile on her face. I guess she found herself a California boy to crush on already.
"You must be the twin brother," he began as he turned to me. "I'm Jasper."
I introduced myself and shook his hand, probably a little harder than necessary, as I leveled him with a stare in an attempt to communicate that I wouldn't tolerate any bullshit when it came to my sister. He seemed to get the picture as he backed up a little and walked around to the other side of the Emmett.
"Yeah, man, Edward's already giving you some stiff competition with the ladies. You should have seen Jessica and Lauren falling all over themselves earlier. Not to mention Rosie this morning." I inwardly cringed at Emmett's good natured teasing about the female attention, but didn't say anything.
"So, we've been trying to think of way to get everyone together to meet and greet the newbies. You got any ideas?" Emmett asked Jasper, who was stealing glances at Alice. Not that she seemed to mind. She would look up and catch his eye, and then smile and turn to talk to Angela. Was my sister was playing coy?
"We could have a bonfire down at the beach," Jasper suggested.
"Oh my god! That is an awesome idea. We've never been to a beach bonfire before, and I've been dying to go to the beach since the minute we got here. Doesn't that sound like fun, Edward? Oh, we have to do that. Please?" my sister exclaimed while bouncing up and down in her seat and clapping her hands together. Most everyone exploded into hysterics over her outburst, while Jasper just chuckled at her and looked a little taken back.
"Whatever you want, pretty girl," he said as he flashed her another flirtatious smile.
"Yeah, that actually does sound like fun," I said a little loudly, trying to bring them out of their lust filled bubble.
"Cool! We'll work out the details and try to get something together for this weekend," Emmett replied. The bell rang then, indicating the end of lunch. The rest of the day progressed slowly. I noticed in each class that more and more students seemed aware of Alice and me. The gossip about the new twins had spread like wild fire, no doubt. We had Calculus together, but we weren't able to sit near each other. After that class, I snuck in a few minutes to go find Mr. Banner's office and speak to him about the newspaper.
"Come in," Mr. Banner called as I knocked on the door that was cracked open. "Can I help you?"
"Mr. Banner? I'm Edward Cullen. I spoke to Ben about a possible position on the school paper. He told me to stop by and speak to you this afternoon."
"Yes, Ben mentioned you this morning. He said you worked on the newspaper at your previous school."
"That's correct. I worked as the sports writer."
"Well, we do have a student that covers sports for us already, but if you would be willing to do a combination of sports articles along with some assigned editorials we could probably use your help." I nodded my reply with a smile, glad that I didn't have to give up writing with the move.
"I think that would be just fine," I said.
"Good. Here's my email address. Why don't you send me a couple samples of your writing tonight so I can look it over and get a feel for where you're at? We will go from there." He handed me a piece of paper with his information scribbled on it.
"Will do."
"You will also need to be enrolled in my journalism class during fifth period. I'll take care of getting your schedule adjusted after I review your work."
"Thank you, Sir," I said as I exited the office.
My next class was computer science. I saw Ben when I entered and was pleased to be seated next to him. I told him that my conversation with Mr. Banner had gone well and thanked him for his help. I really liked Ben; he was driven and dedicated, but also personable.
My last class of the day was French with Madame Wand. I was fairly confident in the basics of the language, so I didn't have any particular concerns with the class. I walked up to the teacher to have her sign off on my schedule. She introduced me to the class much the same as every other teacher had today, clearly enjoying putting me on the spot. She seemed a little eccentric, but I figured she would at least keep the course interesting.
"Edward, parlez-vous français?" Madame Wand asked.
"Oui, un peu, Madame," I answered. I heard a gasp come from someone in the room and looked up, trying to figure out what I had done to cause such a reaction. I noticed an attractive brunette on the far side of the room gaping at me. When I made eye contact with her, the rest of the room fell away. It was as if she was gazing directly into my soul. I felt pulled in like she had me under a spell. I was instantly intrigued. She had mahogany hair that was tied up with just a few stray pieces hanging down, framing her pretty face. Her cheeks were tinged pink with a slight blush, and her warm, brown eyes seemed to hide secrets I yearned to know.
I was brought out of my musing by the obnoxious giggling of two girls that I instantly recognized as Jessica and Lauren from lunch. When I looked back towards the brunette, she was focused intently back on her notebook. The teacher directed me to a seat right behind her. I gave myself and internal fist pump for my good fortune. As I walked to my assigned desk, I noticed the girl's knee was nervously bouncing and her face was turned away from me. She seemed really worked up, and I could still hear the other girls' harsh whispers from across the room. I had an inexplicable need to comfort this shy stranger in front of me.
I sat behind her with my stare fixed on the back of her head as she dutifully ignored my presence the rest of class. She had her hair twisted up with a pencil, and I had an irrational desire to tug it out so I could watch her hair cascade down the back of her shoulders. As I watched her stew, with her knee still bouncing and her pen frantically tapping her paper, I decided I would try to apologize at the end of class on behalf of the girls that had embarrassed her. My plan was foiled when she grabbed her books and bolted out of the room. I collected my belongings and packed up my backpack. When I headed out into the hall I heard the saccharine voices of Lauren and Jessica gossiping loudly about the incident with the shy girl. I was about to turn around and head in the other direction to avoid them when I spotted the same girl looking completely flustered as she tossed her books from a locker into her bag. She looked close to tears and I just couldn't stand by and watch while she let them get to her. I started to approach her as she spun around before getting her backpack zipped up; her bag spilled open and her books and notes went flying across the hall. I hurried over to help her before her items were trampled by other students in their rush to leave.
"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, keeping my voice soft trying to communicate that I meant her no harm. She looked terrified and angry at the same time.
"Yeah. Fine," she clipped.
"You sure?" I asked softly. I knelt down and gathered her books and papers for her. She gave a tentative nod as she continued to focus on gathering her things. She was intently avoiding my eyes, and I noticed she had tears welling in hers. I didn't want to upset her more, but I was at a loss at what to say to comfort her. She appeared so skittish and sad.
"Here you go…" I said, attempting to get her to at least tell me her name to break the ice.
"Um, thank you. You didn't have to do that. I really need to get going, though. Um, bye." I stood, dumbfounded, as she quickly rambled off a thank you and ran away from me without a second look. I felt horrible that she was so worked up, but completely confused about what had just taken place.
I sent Alice a text asking her to meet me at the car. In a haze, I walked out to the parking lot and leaned against the Volvo while I waited for my sister. I passed the time scrolling through texts I had received throughout the day from some of my friends back in Minnesota and came to one that suddenly overwhelmed me with a sense of loneliness.
Not the same here without you. Miss you. xo
"Hi, brother!" Alice called out as she approached me. The bright smile on her face faltered when she saw me. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Just had a strange run in with this girl in my French class. I don't know. Everything is so different here. Just missing home I guess," I rambled. She eyed me for a minute. "It's not a big deal, really. It's just odd not knowing or understanding anyone when we grew up with the same friends our entire lives. You know?"
"So, a girl, huh?" Alice taunted.
"It's not like that, Alice, and you know it," I corrected. "Besides, she wouldn't even give me her name. I don't think I made a very good impression."
"I doubt that. Ever since lunch all I've heard about is Edward this and Edward that. It's ridiculous." I just shook my head and laughed with her as we climbed into the car.
"So…Jasper?" I inquired as we pulled up to our new house.
"Oh my god! He is hands down the hottest guy I have ever met. Did you know he surfs? A real California surfer boy," she gushed. Yes, she had found her first crush already.
"Oh yeah? Who told you that?"
"I grilled Angela and Bella for details. Oh! Maybe I can get him to give me lessons," she squealed. I just laughed at her enthusiasm.
"Yeah, I'm sure he would just love to have a reason to paw at you while you're wearing a bikini."
"Edward!" she scolded. "This is California, not Hawaii. You have to wear a wet suit in the water." I gaped at her for a moment before I burst into laughter. She definitely knew how to distract me from my gloom.
"Hi, kids," my mom greeted as we walked into the house still chuckling. "So tell me, how was the first day at West Beverly?" she asked as she pulled us each into a hug. We sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen drinking her homemade lemonade as we regaled her with the events of the day.
"That reminds me, I need to send a few writing samples off to the Journalism teacher. I may be able to get on the school newspaper," I said as I stood to leave.
"Oh! I forgot to tell you. My friend, Bella, is the editor for the paper. She's really cool and super smart. I think you'll like her, Edward," Alice stated.
"Cool. I really hope it works out. I hadn't even considered the possibility since the semester already began."
"Well, I'm proud of you for trying, honey. You have too much of a talent to let it go to waste," my mom praised.
"Thanks, Mom."
I was sitting on my bed reading through the various course syllabuses when Alice walked in and sat down next to me. She rested her head on my shoulder for a few moments before she spoke.
"So, have you talked to her yet?" she asked quietly—cryptically.
"Who?" I asked, already knowing who she was referring to. This was a topic I didn't want to broach again with Alice. I was clear on where she stood.
"Tanya," she replied.
"No, not yet. I'm suppose to call her at eight o'clock our time."
"Edward, I know you don't want to hurt her, but have you really thought this through? I mean, she's thousands of miles away. You deserve to have a life here," she reasoned.
"I can't just break her heart, Alice. She deserves better than that."
"What about what you deserve? Look, I just want you to be happy, and I don't think you will be as long as you're pining after her. You're too nice for your own good."
"I'm not pining. Besides, it's only a year and half until graduation. It's hard, but not impossible. I'm not going to just give up," I stated in a determined tone to make my point clear. Alice and I had already gone round and round on the topic of Tanya. She didn't seem to think we were a real fit, and she wanted me to be open to the possibility of new opportunities after the move. To me, it didn't seem fair to dump Tanya simply because my dad's job had moved us across the country. Tanya and I had been friends since grade school, and somewhere along the way that developed into something more. Deep in my heart, I knew it was unlikely to work out between us, but my mind was made up. You don't just throw away relationships because of something as trivial as location.
The next day at school, Mr. Banner told me that he'd added me to his fifth period Journalism class. I was excited to have the newspaper to occupy some of my time and keep some level of normalcy for me in the school day.
I ate lunch with the same group of friends. Alice and Jasper continued to make eyes at each other. Ben and Angela spent most of their time in their own romantic bubble, and Emmett entertained me with jokes and sports talk. Lauren and Jessica stopped by with a group of other girls for a few minutes, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from lashing out at them for the way they treated that poor girl yesterday. Not knowing their history with her or really even what had transpired yesterday, I refrained from speaking up. When the bell rang, Ben and I walked to Journalism together. Mr. Banner was already in the classroom when we arrived.
"Welcome to the West Beverly Blaze, Edward," Mr. Banner greeted me as I took in the classroom. There were a dozen or so desks in the middle of the room, a row of computers lining one wall, and two large work tables. Of course, this being Beverly Hills, I observed that the few students that were already in here had their own laptops set up and were furiously typing away.
"Thank you, sir," I said as I took the desk next to Ben. He handed me a previous issue of The Blaze to look over while we waited for the class to begin.
"Afternoon," a beautiful voice sang from the doorway. "I finished the edits on Charlotte's column during lunch. Oh, and I also completed the teen drinking editorial last night." Standing in the doorway, shuffling through a pile of papers, was the shy brunette from my French class, only she wasn't the same girl at all. Instead of looking timid and embarrassed, this girl appeared confident and happy. She was breathtaking.
"Perfect timing. I want you to meet a new student that is joining the paper," Mr. Banner replied fully gaining the girl's attention. Her head whipped around as she surveyed the room. When she spotted me she appeared panicked for the briefest moment before she cleared her expression. "This is Edward Cullen. He was a sports writer at his previous school. I read some of his work, and it's quite good. He will be helping us cover sports, as well as picking up some of the odd editorials."
"Mmm," she hummed in response. I couldn't get a read on her.
"Edward, this is Bella Swan, our Editor," Mr. Banner introduced. This was Bella. The same Bella from my sister's drama class that she couldn't shut up about. The Bella that was close friends with Angela and Ben. The same girl who I swore looked straight into my soul only yesterday. I stood from the desk I was sitting at and approached her slowly, praying she wouldn't run from me again.
"Hi, Bella. It's nice to meet you—officially," I said softly as I extended my hand to her. I felt ridiculously nervous after the events of the previous day. I still didn't fully understand what had even happened. She locked her eyes on mine and seemed to sum up some courage as she firmly placed her small hand in my grasp.
"The pleasure is mine, Edward. Welcome to The Blaze," she said, smiling. Confident Bella was back. I returned her sweet smile with a shit-eating grin. The Blaze was looking better and better by the second. Mr. Banner and Bella directed the class in a round table of ideas for the next issue of newspaper. I found it hard to concentrate as I got lost in Bella. Every time she looked at me, I felt like she was calling me to her. It was the strangest sensation and I wasn't sure what to make of it. The only thing I certain of was that I really wanted to get to know Bella Swan.
"I think that's a great idea. What do you say, Edward?" Bella asked me directly, pulling me from my thoughts. She had a knowing smirk playing on her lips indicating that she was well aware that I had no idea what she was talking about.
"I'm sorry. What were you saying?" I asked. Ben started chuckling under his breath beside me. When Bella shot him a look, he straightened up and grinned at her.
"Ben was just suggesting that you write an article about your experiences as a transfer student at West Beverly. I think it's a good idea. So, what do you say?"
"Oh, yeah. I guess that would be fine," I mumbled.
"Great. Have your first draft to me in a week," she said matter-of-factly.
"Yes, ma'am." I smirked at her. She was cute when she was putting me in my place.
I sat behind her again in French class. She smiled and said 'hi' as I walked in, but after that she focused her attention intently on the teacher and her note taking. I found myself once again focused on the pencil that she had twisted her hair up with. I noticed that the end was chewed up, probably a nervous habit. I wondered why she was nervous. I began to ponder when she had decided to put her hair up exactly. It was down during fifth period. We only had two other classes in between Journalism and French. I began to speculate about what other classes she might have. Then I began to wonder why I was even considering all of this about a girl I hardly knew. It was a dangerous train of thought.
The next two days passed in the same way. I never saw Bella at lunch, even though Angela and Ben were always with us. She was always friendly in Journalism class where she was clearly in her element. I was fascinated listening to her delegate and discuss topics that visibly interested her. During French she was always polite and quiet; studious, I suppose. By the end of the day on Thursday I had decided I really wanted to get to know her outside of the paper, if for no other reason than to quell my quick growing fascination with her.
"Hey, Bella," I called after her as she walked out to the parking lot after school. She stopped and waited for me.
"Hi. Everything okay with the article?" she asked.
"Yeah, the article is coming along fine. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about this weekend."
"Oh." She looked stunned for a moment but quickly recovered. "What about the weekend?"
"Well, you may have heard that a bunch of us are getting together for a bonfire at the beach on Saturday night. It's kind of a welcome to the neighborhood thing for Alice and me. It was Emmett and Jasper's idea."
"Yeah, Alice may have mentioned it. Why?"
"Well, I was just wondering if you were going to be there."
"Oh, I don't really think I was invited, Edward."
"What do you mean? And anyway, it's my party so I'm inviting you," I said confidently.
"Really?" She looked truly shocked that I wanted her there, which I didn't understand.
"Yes, really. Come, hang out, have fun. I can even pick you up if you would like."
"No! I mean, no, that's really not necessary. I'll come. I promise."
"Good." I smiled at her agreement.
"I have to get going. I have to be to work in twenty minutes," she said as she glanced at her watch.
"Well, have a good night at work then, Bella. See you tomorrow." As I walked over to the Volvo I found myself feeling lighter than I had all week, and then my cell phone buzzed with another text.
A/N: Hibbleton78 fixes my bad grammar, poor punctuation, and makes sure that I look presentable. Holly1980 pre-reads and keeps me focused on the big picture. They both supply me with visual inspiration in the form of surfer boy and Dylan McKay pics. For all of that and more, I owe them a colossal thank you.
Yes, this fic is loosely inspired by the original 90210. Pretty much everyone that ventured a guess was correct. I promise that even if you didn't spend your Wednesday evenings glued to the TV ogling Dylan and Brandon, this is going to be a fun ride. I have been overwhelmed by the reception this story received after just one chapter. I hope Edward's POV was everything you wished it to be, well except for that pesky Tanya…
Let me know what you thought!