Chapter Twenty-Two
Edward's Point of View
The ballroom was packed with people. I didn't know anyone so I 'sniffed' out my brothers. They were talking to each other, but their minds were both on the two women that would be walking down the big staircase any minute.
"Hey guys." I said.
"Hey Edward, you have some admirers." Jasper said looking at Tanya and then to a few women, aka fairies, that were standing around staring at me.
"They do know what we are right?" I asked in a whisper for only them to hear.
"Apparently. But, I guess some of them don't." Emmett said looking at some of the women looking at him and then quickly looking back at us with an almost 'help me' look.
I looked at some of the other fairies and some of the older men and some of the younger were looking at us and leading their dates away as if we were dangerous. Which we are but not, necessarily, to them.
The fairy we all met on our first day here, Ben, walked to the bottom of the staircase and walked up a few stairs so everyone could see him.
"Attention everyone!" He said loudly, but not a yell because we knew every fairy could hear him. Everyone turned to him and listened carefully. "Hello and welcome everyone to this celebration. We will soon have the accompaniment of our guest of honour but before that I would just like to remind everyone that this is a party. I know that there are many of you who are not afraid to get 'down' with it." He used quotation marks with his figures which made everyone laugh and the teenaged and younger fairies to shake their heads. "Also remember to not call Isabella by her full name; you all know what will happen then." He laughed and continued, "We would also like to say welcome to our special guests and new friends the Cullen's and to say how sorry we all our that our great king and close friend, Charlie Swan could not be here with us tonight. Now I introduce, our queen and dearest friend, Renee Swan!" Everyone clapped including ourselves as Renee walked out of the huge open doors and smiled at everyone. She walked down the stairs and stopped by Ben.
"Calm down, calm down, I'm just a person." She said with a smile and walked into the crowd to meet with a few people.
"Now here are two of the three lovely daughters of our lovely queen, Rosalie and Alice Swan!" Ben announced and Rosalie and Alice walked out, arms linked and waved with a laugh. They continued to walked down the stairs and were only to be met with my brothers. Them and myself have moved closer to the stairs, knowing we were to meet them at the bottom, not that we had a problem with that.
"Now, for our guest of honour and the birthday girl, Bella Swan!" That's when I saw the most gorgeous creature ever.
She walked down the stairs with a bright smile on her face and a touch of a blush. Everyone was clapping and cheering.
Her emerald green dress fit her curves perfectly. The dress was elegant and enhanced her beauty even more.
She walked down and I met her at the bottom of the stairs. I smiled at her and her smiled brightened even more. She slipped her arm through my already waiting one and Ben said, "Alright, now that everyone's here, let's get this party started!"
Loud music started throughout the ballroom, it was not what you expected. They were playing pop, dance and hip-hop music!
I leaned down and whispered in Bella's ear, "So not what kind of music I was expecting."
She turned and smiled at me, "Well, it used to be all classical and stuff before my sisters came in the picture but when they came to these things they would be so bored and they one day went to dad and said, 'dad the music's lame, can we put on some of our own music.' Being daddy's little girls he agreed and everyone just had much more fun with the music so they kept it that way. He said, 'it's much more unique this way.' He loved being different then everything else."
By the way, Bella always described him; I knew that Charlie Swan was a great man. He loved his daughters and wife greatly and would do anything for them. I knew that. Just by the way, Bella smiled while she talked and praised about him.
"Bella, it's so good to see you!" A small woman who looked to be in her early thirties walked up to Bella and gave her a hug.
"It's good to see you too Meredith." Bella smiled at her.
"I haven't seen you since Alice's birthday! How are you? I'm so sorry about your father." The women, Meredith, said.
"I'm fine thanks. It gets easier." Bella smiled.
Meredith eyed me then said, "I didn't have the pleasure to meet your friend."
Bella turned and said, "This is Edward Cullen, my boyfriend." Meredith's eyes went wide, she knew I was a vampire. "Edward this is Meredith young, a good friend of the family." Bella smiled at me. Meredith held out a hand to shake.
"It's a pleasure to meet you." I said, meeting her hand and lifting it up to meet my lips. She blushed slightly before I dropped her hand lightly.
"Likewise." She smiled as a man walked up to her side.
"Sorry to interrupt but, Meredith, you're mother is teaching me how to do everything again." The man said to Meredith with a plea.
"Alright but first you should meet Edward Cullen, Bella's boyfriend." Meredith said and the man turned to me.
He seemed shocked but also kind of frightened for Bella as he looked at her then at me. He shook his head slightly almost to get rid of thoughts and lifted his hand saying, "I'm Gerald."
"Edward. It's nice to meet you." I said shaking his hand. He flinched ever so slightly at my coldness. I always wondered why Bella never flinched.
"Same here." He smiled kindly.
"Well, we better get going before my mother starts to lecture us on being punctual and that you should greet everyone in the room before striking up a conversation." Meredith said with a laugh. Bella smiled.
"Alright, we'll see you later." Bella said and whispered to me as they walked away, "If you see a little old lady walking this way at a fast speed, get away from me quickly."
"Why?" I whispered to her.
"Because if she gets a see of you, you will be told your faults and be taught them until you get it right. My sister's, mother and I are the only ones, not even my father, that have never been told that we have a fault of some sort." She explained.
"She taught your father how to correctly fix his faults?" I asked, still in a whisper.
"Oh yeah. That woman is somewhat creepy. Also, when she gets one look at you, I'm going to have competition."
"That's what you get for dating me." I said with a chuckle, "Oh well, no one can even come close to taking your place in my heart."
"I hope so." She smiled and kissed me softly on the lips.
Whispers started all around us, many people, almost all, knew I was a vampire and they wanted to know what we were doing here and why the royal family trusted us after what we did to their kingdom. They were just blown over to top when they caught on that Bella and I was a couple. They were all mainly focused on Bella and I but would also wonder about Rose, Alice, Emmett and Jasper.
I could hear the thoughts of some of those around me and most of the teenaged girls were all thinking, 'How did she get him?' or 'I wonder what it would be like to…' and most of those I didn't want to hear the rest of. I got a lot of jealous and envious glares from most of the male teenagers in the room. They were thinking, 'how the heck did the vampire get a date with her and yet she turned me down three times!' and 'I hate those leeches!' and my personal favourite, 'the vampire must've done some kind of mind control on her.' Very original.
One of the many guys that were thinking that I did something to her came to find out. He walked over and said, "Hey Bella!"
"Hey Jacob." Jacob glared at me and Bella noticed and said, "Jacob this is my boyfriend, Edward Cullen. Edward this is Jacob Black. His father was my father's best friend."
"Nice to meet you." I said, I might as well be polite.
"Yeah." He said, still glaring at me he turned to Bella and asked, "So how're you doing? I haven't talked to you since the funeral."
"I'm better, thanks. How's Billy?" She replied.
"He's doing better. He's not moping around, like he did, anymore." He said but he was thinking, "Yeah, I bet you're doing better! I wonder what the leech has done to her. I can't see if he bit her because of her hair but I bet he probably is just using her. but she seems normal."
I glared at him. I would never bite Bella. She'd turn immediately if there was enough venom and there would be if I bit her!
"that's good. Well we must be off, I promised Alice something so we'll see you later." Bella smiled and started walking away with me in tow.
"I really do not like that guy." I whispered to her.
"He was thinking something wasn't he?" she asked.
"Yeah. He thought I did something to you to make you go out with me. He even thought I would bite you."
"Yeah well, that's Jacob. He doesn't like vampires because of what happened to Charlie. The accident threw his dad off a lot considering my dad and his were close. Ever sense then he's wanted to become a soldier and kill vampires." I said facing me.
"I see where he comes from but, that's not the only reason I don't like him. He thinks about you in a different way. Not just a friend way either."
"He is one of the many who have asked me out and I've refused… Are you jealous?"
"What? No…" I said and she gave me a look like 'don't lie to me' and I said, "Yes."
"There's nothing to be jealous of. I love you, and only you." She said and kissed me once more.
The eve's droppers who were listening in gasped lowly and started gossiping about what Bella had just said to me.
"I love you too." I said to her and that just juiced up the gossipers. "You do know that a lot of people just heard us and are now gossiping on how a princess can love a vampire." I whispered.
"Let them gossip. And I'm not just a princess and you're not just a vampire. I'm a woman and you're a man… a very old man but a man none the less." She laughed and continued, "And this woman loves this man." She kissed me passionately before pulling away and whispered, "Now that's something to gossip about."
I smiled back just as a slow song started to play. I bowed and held out my hand, "May I have this dance."
"Of course you may." She curtsied and let her hand rest in mine with a laugh. I pulled her onto the dance floor as other couples, including our siblings, were there dancing.