BPOV

Stupid Forks.

I thought as I walked through the door. The little bell rang over head and the shop keeper nodded for me to wait.

I went over to the long rows of colored bottles lining the shelf on the wall. Honestly, I had no idea why I was at the nail salon. I wanted a pedicure, as was my routine back home, but since moving to Forks the week before I quickly found out there was no need for my collection of flip flops or open toed shoes. Everything here was mushy.

But, it made me feel better, brought me a sense of normalcy, so I skimmed the colors running a finger down the side of each bottle. Pink? Red? Black? No. I needed something new. I finally stopped on a bottle of deep, rich, shimmery purple. OPI Lincoln Park After Dark. I picked it up, hoping that changing the color on my toes would help bring about a change in me.

The woman at the counter waved me back and I crawled into a huge massage chair and sunk my toes into the warm, swirling water.

Nice.

I heard a magazine flip a seat or two over. I glanced up and saw a tiny girl about my age reading US Weekly.

She looked over and grinned, "I hate Brangelina. Where are the photos of Rob Pattinson? That people, is what I Want To Know."

I laughed. "Yeah, he is totally hot. I need more photos of him in those skanky boots from the VMAs." I laughed again as she wrinkled her nose. Not everyone agreed on this subject. To each their own,I suppose.

"My name is Bella," I said as I reached my arm out over the empty seat between us.

"Alice." She responded and gave me a huge smile and I could feel the question posed on her lips.

I mentally groaned. I was going to do this first. I had a plan. And this plan involved me getting past the "new girl" phase as quickly as possible.

"I just moved here. Last week. My dad and I were on vacation, he has visitation every summer and we go to California to the beach. This year when it was over my mom called from Phoenix and said her husband was signed to play ball in Florida and I decided not to go and to just stay here." This rushed out quickly hoping we could just move on.

No such luck. I spent the next fifteen minutes answering questions about my mom and dad, their divorce, Phoenix, my friends from home and everything else.

"So you're a senior?" Alice asked and I nodded, "Great. Maybe we'll have classes together." This seemed to satisfy her for the moment and she began prattling along about Britney Spears, K-Fed and Brit-Brit's diet. I happily pretended to be interested to get the attention off of me.

We talked some about school and it sounded like Alice had a fun group of friends. She had a best friend named Rose or something and several guy friends. She readily told me that none of them currently were dating but that hook-ups were not out of the ordinary.

"Tell me about Forks High. What it's like? Are you guys in clubs or play sports?" I asked tentatively.

Alice scrunched her nose. "No, not really. We mostly just hang out. The boys and Rosalie like to work on cars. I'm very passionate about fashion and beauty. You know, I plan on going to school for it one day." she confided. At this comment, I glanced at her spiked black hair with 3 strategic pink points and her outfit that looked like something out of a fashion magazine. You know, those clothes no one ever really wears.

"Oh." I said quietly. She looked at me curiously, "Why are you blushing? What is going on?" she asked. I felt a little dumb with my next confession. But, I guess there was no time like the present to put it all out there.

"When I went to register for school I asked whether or not the school had a gymnastics team. They said no but that there was an open spot on the cheerleading squad. I went for a tryout that afternoon. I'm now on the squad, pom-poms and everything." I confessed this to Alice waiting for her to make fun of me. I always made fun of cheerleaders back home.

I'm a hypocrite. But it is all part of my plan. Blend in and let loose.

Alice clapped her hands, "Ohhh! Now we have a reason to go to the games! Excellent! Of course, we will have to keep the guys out of trouble long enough." I heard her add this last sentence under her breath. I wondered what that meant. How much trouble can kids get into in this town?

While we were waiting for our toes to set Alice asked me if I had a boyfriend back home.

I hesitated and started picking up my things, "No, not exactly."

Alice asked, "What does that mean?" her little hands on her hips.

"Nothing" I told her. But she could tell I was lying and she peered at me, her eyes demanding to know more. I knew this girl for an hour and I already felt I owed her something. What is that all about?

I sighed, "No, I am not dating anyone. But I did meet this amazing guy on vacation this summer."

"Spill." She demanded. I wondered if I could make a break for my car. I looked towards the door and she shifted in front of me. Yeah. I wasn't taking her on, that's for sure. She looked scrappy.

"Fine Alice. But there is not much to tell. I met this guy on the first day my dad and I were at the beach. Charlie was fishing and I was reading and all of the sudden this football come out of nowhere and slams me in the head. Later we kind of hooked up."

I remembered being literally knocked out of my chair when the ball hit me.


"Ow!" I shouted to no one in particular, "What the hell was that?"


"Oh my God. Are you okay? I totally missed that ball." I heard a voice say as I felt two hands grab my back and lift me off the ground. I looked up and through my sun glasses I could see my attacker and now helper. Damn. He was really cute.

"Uhh…yeah. I'm fine." I told him as I dusted sand off my hands and legs. "Nice aim. You make varsity this year?" I snarked. Gah. Put a hot guy in front of me and look what I do. What is wrong with me?

"No, and that was not my fault. I was just trying to catch the ball from my wild-armed, old man over there." I looked down the beach and noticed and older man walking down by the shoreline. "I'm really sorry. Are you sure you're okay?' he asked again.

"I'm fine. Sorry about earlier. I was just kind of surprised." I smiled at him. I could not help but think again how hot he was. He had this crazy hair that stuck out all over the place. I wanted to touch it so badly and his smile was something models would pay for. I looked down from his face and noticed he was wearing a low slung trunks with draw strings in the front. No, he didn't look big enough to play football but he looked like he worked out. I dragged my eyes back up hoping I had not been caught.

"No, snark is okay. I guess we had it coming. That ball hit you pretty hard. I can't believe you fell out of your chair!" he started laughing and for some reason I was laughing with him. He brushed some of that hair out of his face "My name is Edward." He said and sat down on the sand. I went to sit next to him…

"Bella!" Alice's sharp voice dragged me out of the past. "Tell me about your summer romance! I am so jealous. I want to know everything."

"There's really nothing to tell,I met a boy. He was cute. We made out a little. We exchanged phone numbers and we had to say goodbye." I said this as confidently as I could, hoping it would discourage her.

"Did you call him or did he call you? " Aggghh…this was never going to end.

"No Alice. It just seemed dumb. It was no big deal." I said this with a firm tone. I was done with this.

"If you say so Bella, but it sounds a little more interesting than that." She noted, but she let it drop. Thank God for small favors.

"I am very much single, Alice, maybe you can help me fix that!" I laughed, but inside I was serious. I was ready to move on and start dating. Maybe I could find a guy here in Forks to help me forget about Edward. Keep dreaming, Bella.

Alice shot back, "You help me and I will help you!" We both giggled. I grabbed my bag and pushed open the doors of the salon.

Stupid boys, I thought. Nothing but heartache and pain.

And warm hands and broad chests.

I shook the thoughts away and walked over to my old truck. "This is me." I pointed.

She went over to a bright yellow Porsche, clicked the key fob and slid inside. She rolled down the passenger window and said "the guys are going to freak over your truck".

"See you tomorrow, Alice." I waved as she raced out of the parking lot.

I hopped into my monster and took a deep breath.

I took a deep breath. You can do this, I chanted. You are the new and improved Bella Swan. Tomorrow will be the first day of your senior year. You already made a friend. Make the most of it. Maybe you can find a guy that could replace the hole in my heart left by a summer fling.

That was the plan.