I made a quick right to go the mini gym, and opened the door to get in. I spotted my box from a mile away. For there were 11 roses sitting inside, filling it to capacity. I shook my head smiling as I lifted the entire bouquet out. I grabbed the one from this morning from my side pocket and placed it with the others. A dozen roses. Wow.

Immediately my entire mind went back to Gentleman.

Whoever he was, he sure was sweet.

6

The days following the dance lessons went by faster than I ever expected. But there was just so much going on. Almost everyone in the school was asked to the dance by their personal pen pal and it's all anyone could talk about. During classes, during lunch, in the hallways, there was always speculation and people trying to find out who was who. I hadn't seen as much of Rose or Alice this week, which was strange. They always seemed to be busy as of late, and I ended up driving myself to school on more than one occasion.

But that was hardly the main thing on my mind. Gentleman and I were closer than ever. Well, I guess as close as you could ever get without actually seeing the person. We wrote back and forth to each other all week, about 4 to 5 notes a day. I don't think I had sat through one class where I wasn't either reading a note, or writing one.

But as Friday drew closer, my fears only grew bigger.

Gentleman and I now knew a lot about each other, and I had grown to care for him. Well, the guy that I had pictured in my head as him anyway. He was always so unbelievably sweet and thoughtful. He wasn't like any of the other boys that I knew at school.

I arrived at school on Friday morning, and the personal ads fever was worse than ever. The teachers had almost given up teaching in their classes, and in two of my periods, the teachers let us out early, probably because they were tired of having to tell us to quiet down.

Dear Blushing Beauty,

Tonight is the night that we finally meet. I've never been looking forward to something more than this. I hope you are not disappointed. Pick you up at 8?

Gentleman, Box #99

P.s – Address?

I clutched the note to my chest like a little school girl and tried not to skip to my next class. I had to remember to thank Alice for entering me into this thing. Long gone were the days I thought this was pointless and silly. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would meet such a mature and charming boy. But I did. And I couldn't wait to meet him.

I sat down in my seat and opened a pad. I wrote down my address and a quick line about how excited I was and closed it up.

I could have written a longer note, like my previous ones, but today there was too much tension in the air. I noticed that no one was really writing notes like they were the past two weeks. Everyone was anxious, and tired of waiting. Well, we would all find out tonight, that's for sure.

As fourth period rolled around, I plopped into my seat next to Alice. She jumped out of her chair and gave me a huge hug.

"I missed you this week," she pouted, almost falling into my lap.

"I miss you too," I replied chuckling. "Where have you two been?"

"We've both just got a lot going on with this personal ads thing," she said, turning to sit back down. "But don't worry; everything will go back to normal soon."

"It better!" I scolded, trying to sound serious. I know I would have wondered more about their absence if I hadn't been so wrapped up in writing Gentleman. They were probably doing the same.

I suddenly felt a wave of anxiety for my two friends. I hope they liked their pen pals too. I realized I was just as worried for them as I was for myself. If I did end up liking Gentleman, I know I wouldn't be as happy unless my friends were too.

Was there any chance that all three of us would be happy with our dates?

"I'm coming over at 5:00 to do your hair," said Alice, interrupting my thoughts and crossing her legs into the aisle.

"Okay," I agreed, completely forgetting for a second that this was something I had to look nice for. Thank god I had Alice.

"And I asked Rose this morning, she's coming too so she can do our makeup," she continued, beginning to whisper since the teacher had just walked in.

I nodded and turned to the front just as the class began.

Once lunch came around I couldn't help but run into the cafeteria. I had over heard another personal ad horror story in my 5th period class and my nerves were acting up again. I needed to talk to Rose and Alice.

I sat down at the table and put my two hands face down in front of me.

"I can't do this," I panted, looking directly at Rose.

"Can't do what?" she asked, eyeing me curiously. I looked her over before I answered, noticing she a picture of composure.

"How can you be so calm!?" I accused. "Aren't you nervous at all about meeting Built For You? What if you don't like him?"

"Impossible. I like him a lot. He's perfect," she stated with a big smile.

"But…but…" I sputtered, waving my hands wildly. "How can you be so sure?"

"Bella," she sighed, resting her hand on mine. "Calm down. You can tell a lot about people from their letters. Gentleman isn't pretending, he's probably a great guy and you're going to be happy."

I took a deep breath, her words relaxing me only a little.

"I hope your right," I said, pulling out my lunch.

"I'm always right," she responded, reaching over to grab my water bottle.

The next moment, Alice sat down, and the three of us discussed our plans for the rest of the lunch period.

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, and once I got in my car, I realized that this was it. I was finally going to get all my answers. In only 5 hours time, I was finally going to meet Gentleman.

I sat still for a second, watching the students of Forks High file out of the school. There were boys everywhere, but which one was he? Was he tall? Short? Not that it mattered, but the one thing we hadn't discussed was physical appearance. We shied away from that subject, as did everyone else. Pretty much the secret of who people were was kept under wraps, which surprised me since Jessica Stanley had access to all that information.

I turned the ignition and slowly backed out the parking space. Right before I pulled out, I heard someone beep. I looked to my left and saw Edward with his window rolled down, giving me a big smile and a wave.

I couldn't help but smile back.

I had hardly seen him since the dance lesson, but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about him at all. He was always kind of there, in the back of my mind. Usually when my thoughts were on Gentleman, they would stray to Edward, and I would kind of hope that Gentleman would take my breath away like Edward did that day in the gym.

Too bad Edward wasn't going; maybe we could have had another chance to dance. I waved back and pulled onto the main road to go home.

No one was home when I arrived, which I was grateful for. I let myself in, grabbed a soda from the fridge, and headed upstairs to my room. I was glad I had an hour before Rose and Alice came over, I wanted to take a long shower and work out some of my nerves.

I turned on the hot water until it was almost unbearable, and inched my way in. I washed my hair with my favorite strawberry scented shampoo and didn't come out for another half hour. When I got out and began to blow dry my hair, I left the door open to listen for Alice to come.

She did, about fifteen minutes later. Followed by Rose, ten minutes after that.

I let Alice sit me on a stool and curl my hair. When she finished, I smiled at myself in the mirror. It came out perfectly. I hope it was a good omen for the rest of the evening.

Rosalie walked in the bathroom with her makeup supplies, and immediately started working on all of our faces.

My hair was curled softly around my shoulders. Rosalie had applied a little eyeliner and mascara that made my eyes look brighter than ever. She accented my lips with a natural color, and I was more than satisfied about how it came out.

Two hours later, all of our hair and makeup was done, and all we had left to do was get dressed. Alice and Rose went home to get ready and wait for their dates at around 7:00.

Once the door shut and I realized they were gone, I panicked. Without the buffer of them being there and distracting me, I had nothing else to think about other than my impending date that was going to be here in just an hour. I wish that we all planned to get picked up together. But it was too late for that. I headed back upstairs to get dressed.

I pulled out the black and gold dress that was tucked away safely in the back of my closet. I took it out and held it up, admiring my choice. I slipped it on. The material moved gently around me as I went to look at myself in the mirror.

I gazed back at myself with a pleased smile on my face. I went to my dresser to get a little perfume and dabbed it on my wrists and neck. I touched up my hair one last time, put on a bit more lip gloss that Rosalie had left for me, and went to go wait downstairs. I took a deep breath.

Now, I was totallv and completely ready.

Without anything to distract me, I began to pace nervously up and down the hallway in front of the door. I still had time left.

I thought back to my friends once again. I wonder if they were doing the same thing I was, pacing like this. But I quickly dismissed that thought, because they were nothing but calm all day. How could that be?

7:50

Oh god.

Ten minutes.

I couldn't take this anxiety. I almost felt like I was going to be sick. I leaned back against the wall to try and calm myself. I know Gentleman is a nice guy, I repeated like a mantra in my head. Everything is going to be fine, what's the worst that could happen?

I hated being this nervous, with my stomach in knots. My hands were wringing frantically in front of me. I always got this way when it came to boys, well except Edward. I hoped that I could be comfortable around this guy, and get along with him like I did with Edward.

I took a deep breath to once again try and stop my pounding heart, but it was no use. I don't think I had ever been this high strung in my life.

For another long five minutes, all I did was pace anxiously up and down in front the door.

Finally, at exactly 8:00, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," I called out quietly to the empty house.

I walked slowly to the door, worried that my heart was going to jump out of my chest. Could Gentleman really be as wonderful as his letters? What if he was a creep? What if he was lying and we really had nothing in common? These thoughts flooded my mind as I reached for the doorknob.

On the other hand, what if he was exactly like his letters? What if he was the guy of my dreams? A guy more unbelievable than I had expected.

I took a final deep breath and opened the door.

I kept my eyes lowered for a moment, before I gathered up my courage and looked up to find myself staring at….

Edward Cullen.

I blinked for a moment and then gasped. Edward? Edward was Gentleman? It couldn't be! Or could it?

"Edward?" I said in a breathless voice.

All at once, a million wheels started turning in my head, slowly clicking into place. Edward had never been anything but kind, sweet, and charming. He was always polite and more mature than anyone else at our school…he was such a…a…gentleman!

I stared at him in amazement. I felt my heart start to pound all over again. Suddenly everything made complete sense. Edward was Gentleman! How could I have not figured it out before?

He was nervously clutching an enormous bouquet of pink flowers.

"For you," he said, thrusting them toward me. He gave me a huge, crooked grin. His special grin. He looked absolutely adorable.

I felt the smile spread across my face as I took the flowers. I looked back up at him and shook my head slowly, still grinning. He was wearing a black tux with a gold tie and cumber bund. I distantly remembered the conversation about my dress in the gym.

All at once, all our conversations were coming back to me.

"Thank you…for both," I told him shyly, remembering the red roses he had given me earlier.

"You look beautiful tonight," he responded as he gazed at me.

"Thanks…you look great as well," I responded. I was still in a partial state of shock. "I thought you said you weren't going?"

It was a stupid comment, but it was all I could think of.

He smiled back at me. Apparently he didn't think it was stupid at all. "You asked me if I was asked to the dance, and I said no," he told me softly. "But I never said I wasn't going."

I let out a soft laugh, all his comments this week taking on a new meaning.

He leaned down and whispered into my ear, "Shall we go to the dance?"

"I'd love to," I whispered back, still clutching the roses. I linked my arm with his and floated out the door with him, the happiest girl in the world.

Author's Note: I know that it is shorter than my usual chapters, but I thought this was the perfect place to stop! But there's more to come! )

P.s. – Pictures of dresses now in my profile!