Bella's POV.

6:00. The Library had been closed for an hour now and I had run out of books to shelve and surfaces to polish long ago. As soon as the LCD screen on my cell phone read 6:00, I made my way to the back room to gather my coat and house key. There were still two hours before Charlie's shift ended today, so whatever I was going to cook for supper would have to be fast. I walked back out towards the doors, stopping at the security system box on the wall and entering my pin number to set the alarm system. I turned quickly to do one last survey, making sure the computers were all turned off and the carts were all put away. Everything seemed to be in order… except..

Frowning, I left the light switches on and crossed to the end of the pregnancy and home-birth aisle, extending my hand toward the silvery looking square object. An iPod.

Edward Cullen's iPod.

"Shit." I cussed out loud as I turned it over in my hand. How it got there was clear. He must have missed it when we were putting stuff back into his box. How it would get back to him, however, was not as clear. I would have to give it to him, obviously, which would no doubt involve initiating a conversation with him myself.

It was a shame, really. I was doing such a good job of avoiding him. He, however, seemed to lack the same initiative to avoid me.

His appearance at the library tonight had confirmed that to me, and I was still uncertain as to how to react. I mean, on the one hand, he was a really nice guy as far as I could tell. He seemed to be very genuine and easy to get along with. On the other hand, though, being friends with Edward Cullen came with a whole slew of problems that I was not ready for. I did not want any of the attention that he was subjected to on a normal basis, that was for sure. I didn't do well in the spotlight. I had made enough of a fool of myself through one-on-one conversation with him, I didn't need to display that in front of an audience.

Seeing him at the library tonight made him seem so much more vulnerable than I would have ever imagined. Normally, when one thinks of Edward Cullen, they would think of a strong, fortunate, confident person, and he seemed to be just that when I first met him. But this time was different. He seemed, in an awkward way, nervous. It was hard for me to even fathom someone like him being nervous, but the way he had stumbled over words and tried to excuse his presence as something other than what it really was, it certainly didn't leave an impression of collectedness. And when he had turned to leave, had I imagined his cheeks burning red? I didn't remember, now, I had become distracted when he had run straight into a shelving unit and scattered his possessions all over the floor. I must have been imagining it, though. I was the kind of person who blushed, not him.

In fact, I was blushing right now just from thinking about him.

"Pathetic," I commented to myself, curling my fingers over the iPod and placing it securely in my pocket before turning off the lights and exiting the library.

I forced thoughts of Edward out of my mind by considering what I was going to make for supper that night. Unfortunately for me, it only took about twenty seconds until I decided on baked ziti. It was a relatively quick meal. I could prepare it in ten minutes and have it in the oven and ready for when Charlie walked in the door. Not only was the conclusion of baked ziti inconveniently quick in presenting itself to me, but the process would also be quick. And as I surprisingly lacked homework today, I would be left with a lot of time to think about things that I didn't want to allow myself to think about.

I decided that I would call Jacob to provide a bit of a distraction as soon as I could.

Just as I had predicted, as soon as the ziti was in the oven, my mind immediately shot to the one thing I was trying to avoid. It was how things always worked. Focusing on not thinking about something always made you think about it more. I tried listening to music, but I found that to be counterproductive because the same thought entered my mind as every song ended and a new one began.

I wonder if this song is on Edward's iPod, too…

Finally, I decided to retire to my room to await Charlie's arrival. As I entered, I cleaned out the pockets of my jeans like I always did. As soon as my hand found the new iPod, though, there were the thoughts again… haunting me. Scowling, I set the iPod on the desk and flung my backpack into its corner. I took a quick shower and changed into my pajamas early, still toweling my hair as I pressed the power button on my laptop. It was incredible to me how fast it booted up. I checked my mail and found nothing interesting to respond to. My eyes flickered to the mp3 player sitting inches from my keyboard and I felt my fingers twitch. Surely, it wouldn't be that big of a deal if I browsed through his music… right? No. That would be terrible. An invasion of privacy. I couldn't possibly..

Still, I was tempted.

Without thinking, I placed my fingers on the keyboard and typed out the first URL that came to my mind to distract me from the iPod.

Of course, my form of distraction backfired.

The Forks High website was relatively plain. It was like most other high school websites. There were pictures of student activities and extracurriculars, none of which I was featured in due to my excessive reclusive tendencies. I hesitated before clicking on the link labeled "Yearbook", knowing as soon as I did so that I was making a mistake. It was too late, though. I scrolled through the different years and clicked on the one from last year. Alice Cullen and Edward Cullen were both featured on the very first page. I pretended like it was just happenstance that I would come across these pictures, but subconsciously, I knew better. Resigning to my absurd interest, I clicked on Edward's picture, enlarging it and reading the caption below it.

Edward Anthony Cullen

Class of 2008. Honors.

Class Vice President.

I couldn't help but notice how attractive he was. His picture was simple. He wasn't smiling over enthusiastically, but he didn't look like he was about to strangle the photographer, either. He looked indifferent. He looked like it was nothing more than an obligation to take a school photo, whereas if you were to look at Tanya's picture, it was clear that she thought that she was doing the photographer a great charity letting him take her photograph. What did Edward ever see in her…

I will admit, I had been a little more entertained than I should have been when I overheard the conversation exchanged between Edward and Tanya in Mr. Banner's classroom today. Of course, I had been thoroughly embarrassed when Edward had caught me looking at him… or at least, I think he caught me. I just couldn't stifle my laughter. Tanya had deserved everything he said, though. If not for the way she treated him at her party, then for the obnoxious questioning she was subjecting him to. "Who is she?", she had kept asking persistently. I was now wondering the same thing, though I would never have been as nosy as she was about it.

The phone rang once, echoing from both the telephone on my desk and the wall mounted phone in the downstairs hallway. I jumped and quickly clicked out of the internet screen as if I was afraid I was going to be caught. I rolled my eyes at my own actions, it wasn't as if I was looking at porn or something.

"Hello," I said into the phone, noticing that my voice sounded a little rushed. Maybe even desperate.

"Bells!" Jacob's familiar and comforting voice presented itself at the other end of the line. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure. The phone ringing just kinda scared me, that's all," I shrugged once before realizing the gesture was useless over the phone.

"Oh, okay. How was school?"

"It was… fine, I guess. Boring, as usual. Mr. Banner's rug was positioned slightly off center today," I commented casually.

"That's funny. I have a teacher named Mrs. Cullpepper, and I swear she has fake teeth and a wig. Maybe we should try to get the two of them together."

I chuckled at the idea, "You know, I was actually going to call you in a little bit."

"Oh, what did you need?"

"Nothing… well… remember that conversation we had about Edward Cullen?"

He was silent for a moment, "Yes."

"He showed up in the library today," I informed him.

"Oh… why?" His voice suddenly seemed to be void of the honest intrigue this story should have provoked.

"Umm, I guess he just wanted to invite me to have coffee sometime." I bit my lip, suddenly concerned about his tone.

"What did you say?"

"Well… he sort of left before I could give him an answer. And when I say he left, I mean he turned around and bolted for the exit so quickly that he ran into a shelf of books. I think he assumed that my answer was a yes, though, because I didn't exactly say no."

"I thought you didn't like him, Bella." There was no mistaking the stern edge to his voice now.

"I…. I don't," I insisted. "I was just trying not to be rude. Besides, I thought you found the prospect of me liking Edward hilarious, before," I pointed out.

"That was before I thought anything was going to come of it. I don't like him, Bella. I don't think he's any good for you."

"Geez, Jake, calm down. He asked me to go have coffee with him, not marry him."

"That's not funny," he said pointedly.

"What was I supposed to do?"

"Tell him you didn't like coffee," he suggested.

"I do like coffee though. And do you think he would be deterred just because of my preference against coffee? If it wasn't the coffee, he could have asked me to dinner or something instead!" I pointed out, desperate to make Jacob understand how absurd he was behaving.

"He might have taken the hint, though."

"Jacob, what is the big deal?" I was becoming genuinely hurt then.

"I just… I don't want you to fall for a guy like Edward."

"I don't plan on it, Jake. And besides, what's it to you who I fall for? It's not your place to dictate who I can and can't like."

"I know that, Bella. I'm just saying this as a concerned friend. He could hurt you…"

"So could a hot oven, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop cooking."

He fell silent for a second. "Just… never mind, I guess. You wouldn't understand."

I debated for a moment before asking, "Are you mad at me?"

"No. Of course I'm not mad at you. I'm just concerned about you."

"Well I appreciate that, but I can take care of myself."

"Okay," he sighed, seeming very unconvinced.

We dropped the point after that, but the rest of the conversation had an underlying feeling of discomfort to it, as if we were both walking on eggshells. We discussed the schedule for the next Mariners game, I told him which songs were my favorite of the CDs that he had provided me with on his last visit, and pathetically enough, we discussed the weather. When we had just about strained our capabilities for small talk to their limit, we said our goodbyes.

After I had placed the phone back in its holder I sat back in my computer chair for several moments, considering what had just happened. It had confused me, Jacob's reaction to Edward's offering of coffee. I hadn't thought that it was quite as big of a deal as Jacob seemed to think it was. Maybe for some absurd reason he thought that we were existing in some parallel universe in which Edward Cullen would actually be interested in someone like me. I knew that to an outsider, Edward's offer for coffee might seem like more than just a kind gesture, but I knew better There was no way that he had any interest in me. He just wanted to make sure that he didn't owe me anything. It must have been terrible for him to feel indebted to someone as inconsequential and unimportant as me.

I realized then that I was thinking about him again. I pushed the thoughts away and stood up from the desk to make my way back downstairs. There was no point in me thinking about Edward. I'm certain he wasn't spending his time thinking about me. I needed to stop being so pitiful.

The smell of ziti was prominently wafting through the house as I stepped out into the hallway. Judging by the smell alone, I could tell that it was probably close to being done. I checked the clock as I entered the kitchen, shocked to realize that Charlie would be home within ten minutes. I had been talking to Jake for longer than I thought.

I grabbed the oven mitts and pulled the casserole dish out of the oven, making sure to turn the oven off afterwards. That was something Renee would always forget to do when I was living with her. Charlie would probably forget too if he ever had any motivation to use the oven in the first place. Although, thinking about it now, I probably wouldn't allow him to use the oven even if he suddenly felt inclined to do so. Someone who couldn't do the laundry without tie-dying their underwear could certainly not be trusted to make an oven function properly.

I heard the crunch of gravel outside the house, signifying Charlie's return home. I quickly grabbed two plates out of the cupboard and set them on the table before turning back to the silverware drawer.

"Something smells good, Bells," Charlie smiled as he bustled in the door. I heard him hang up his jacket and his gun belt on the rack by the door before slipping his shoes off and heading straight for the table.

I smiled in response as I set a hot pad on the table and placed the casserole dish of ziti on top of it.

"This is something new," he commented casually.

"It's baked ziti. Renee made it once or twice for me and I figured since we had the ingredients, I would try my hand at it," I informed him.

"Well I have no doubt that it tastes as good as it smells. You've never screwed up a meal, yet."

"Thanks dad," I chuckled.

We ate in relative silence for the next 20 minutes until Charlie began trying to initiate small-talk again. He always tried at least once a day. I gave him props for trying, but he never really did succeed.

"So, anything interesting in…er…school today?" he shrugged, pushing his empty plate away from him and leaning back in his chair, resting his hands contentedly over his stomach.

"Um, no… not really. I got an A on my Calculus exam," I shrugged.

"Well that's good," he nodded affirmatively, "That's good."

I finished eating and stood, collecting Charlie's plate beneath mine to clean off in the sink.

"You seem really happy today," Charlie commented casually.

"Oh… umm… why do you say that?"

He chuckled, "Well, you were smiling at your ziti all through supper."

I checked myself quickly to find that I was, in fact, still smiling. I forced an indifferent façade onto my face and turned around to throw him a brief glance of disbelief before closing the dishwasher.

"I was just a little unsure about whether the ziti would turn out. I guess I'm just glad that it did," I lied. "I'm going to go do some reading."

"Okay, Bells," he nodded, pushing his chair back and retrieving a beer from the refrigerator.

I climbed the stairs at a slightly hurried pace and shut the door tightly behind me as I entered the room. I turned and pressed my back to the weathered wood, letting my head fall backwards with a thud.

You were smiling at your ziti all through supper.

"Idiot," I accused myself. Why exactly was I smiling. I had just had a semi-argument with my one and only friend. That was certainly nothing to smile about.

I knew, though, as my eyes unwillingly flickered to the computer desk where two iPods sat side-by-side, that my reason for smiling was, albeit foolish, quite obvious.

With a sigh of resignation, I pushed myself away from the door and sunk into my computer chair. I tilted my head to the side and almost glared at the iPod covered in a dark blue case before finally letting out an audible scowl and snatching it up.

One little glance into his play list queue wouldn't hurt anything, right?

It took several moments for me to figure out how to use his iPod. It was different than mine. It was a touch screen version. I navigated into the music section with the intention of simply perusing the play list titles… but that didn't quite work out the way I had planned. My eyes widened as I scanned the long list of play lists. They seemed to be labeled according to mood, genre, and purpose. There was pretty much a list of music for everything imaginable; calm, fun, happy, peaceful, pissed. There were also other ones like "Motivational", and "Homework". He had a play list for homework? I was about to click on that play list when another one caught my attention.

"Classical?" I wrinkled my nose in shock. I pressed my finger to the screen right over that word and was even more shocked at what I found included in that play list.

Moonlight Sonata - Beethoven

Canon in D - Pachelbel

Requiem - Mozart

Marriage of Figaro - Mozart

Nocturne - Chopin

1812 Overture - Tchaikovsky

Claire De Lune - Debussy

The last song I had noticed, Claire De Lune, triggered a memory.

"You listen to Debussy?" Edward asked, cocking his head to the side quizzically.

"You listen to Debussy?" I countered.

"I…" he faltered, "sometimes."

Something else he had said during that night was also tugging at my memories. I couldn't quite recall exactly the words he had spoken, but I did remember that it had made me realize that he was much deeper than I had originally thought.

Dispelling the thoughts with a shake of my head, I went back to explore some other play lists. I browsed through the one titled "Pissed", and found a great deal of angry, blaring music.

I only recognized a few of the songs on that list, though.

Bodies - Drowning Pool; a song that Jacob had put on my iPod. It was actually not that bad considering the violent undertones it had.

Holes -Soil; It used to be on radio stations that Phil would listen to back in Phoenix all the time.

I Hate Everything About You - Three Days Grace; but who, honestly, didn't like Three Days Grace?

One song in the "Pissed" play list, however, intrigued me to the point where further exploration was undoubtedly necessary. The title suggested that the song would be overrun with curse words and violent screaming, but it surprised me when I plugged in the earphones and listened.

The first song was aptly titled "Die Motherf__er, Die" It was blatantly clear what letters belonged in the blank space, but I still had to listen.

A loud laugh escaped me as the song began to play. Instead of the roaring noise of electric guitars as I had expected in the background, the song started with a pleasant acoustic and upbeat sound and carried out that theme throughout the entire song. The lyrics were unquestionably violent in nature, but the music itself was, dare I say, upbeat and enjoyable. It was entirely laughable in the way its message contradicted its tune.

I want to hurt you

Torture then desert you

Take a hot poker

And stick it where the sun don't shine

Amused, I pressed the arrow that I assumed would lead to the next song and laughed as I began listening to it. It was very similar to the previous song in its comic value. It was simply titled "Fuck You." and it was by a band I had never heard of before called 'Archive'. I had to give the lead singer props, though. For lyrics like "Pray to God I can think of a nice thing to say, but I don't think I can, so fuck you anyway. You are scum, you are scum…", he sure could sound downright cheery about it.

The song continued to play through the earphones as I went back to the play list menu and selected the one labeled "Fun".

This time, I just barely managed to restrain my laughter.

The first song I saw on the play list was "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston. To go from songs about anger and violence to classical music to Whitney Houston was a huge jump. I continued to scroll through the rest of the songs by flicking my finger in downward motions over the screen, frowning in confusion at the one titled "Various Kitchen Utensils", but not stopping to listen.

"Are you kidding me?" I mumbled out loud as I faltered over another song title.

A Whole New World - The Aladdin Soundtrack

Aladdin? Really? As strange as it was to find that song on Edward Cullen's play list, I was almost happy about it. As lame as it may have been considered, I really loved that song.

Smiling again, I clicked on a tab labeled "songs" and found myself face-to-face with every song on the entire iPod. Realizing the sheer amount, I knew I would never be able to look at them all, so I just scrolled through quickly. I noticed that certain songs that I knew stuck out to me more than the others.

Everlong - Foo Fighters

Closer - Kings of Leon

Into the Fire - Thirteen Senses

Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

Feels Like Home - Chantel Krevasiuk

I am a Rock - Simon and Garfunkel

All Fall Down - One Republic

Lucky Today - Cloud Cult

When I Write The Book - Rockpile

I Don't Care - Fall Out Boy

The list went on forever..

Not wanting to run down the battery a noticeable amount, I forced myself to turn the iPod off (which took me several minutes to figure out how to do).

I returned the iPod to my desk and relaxed into the chair again, considering the diversity of Edward's music. It was then that I remembered the quote that I was trying to recall earlier.

"I don't think it's right to restrict yourself to just one genre. Music is more than just a reflection of your interests, but it's a reflection of your personality… and your soul, even."

So what did all the music in this iPod say about Edward?

It was clear that there was so much more to him than met the eye. He was everything that I had expected him to be. He was the popular, good-looking, social being that everyone saw in school… but he was more, too. He was troubled, and I would admit that that kind of concerned me. It was not like I was afraid of his darker tendencies. In fact, it was a relief to know that he wasn't the two dimensional person that most clique-oriented homecoming kings were. He was a deeper person than I had expected. He was able to listen to classical music and… Whitney Houston music without feeling like he was "too cool for it". He was different.

Despite my better judgment, I knew that I was getting myself too involved. I shouldn't have browsed through Edward's music. I shouldn't have had the absurd urge to find out more about him. In the end, as interesting as he may be, I was only hurting myself.

I shoved the iPod into my backpack, then. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

No. Not so much, really.

I tossed and turned for several hours in bed. I wouldn't let myself fall asleep until I had stopped thinking about Edward. I was certain that whatever the last thought in your head was before you went to sleep, that would be what your dreams would center around. The last thing I wanted was to dream about Edward again. I tried my hardest to focus on other things, but as it was my luck, most everything I could think about I could link to a song, and once I started thinking about music…

I groaned and rolled over in the bed, slamming my fist into the pillow as if it was going to make my mind suddenly clear. The clock on my nightstand told me that it was almost 1 in the morning. I needed to get to sleep. I was not a morning person as it was, and waking up after a less than full night of sleep only made my day worse.

I failed on both accounts. Not only did I get less than 6 hours of sleep that night… I also dreamt of Edward Cullen.

The cafeteria seemed more crowded than usual. There was not enough room at the tables to seat all of the students, so some were standing. I still had an entire table to myself though. It would figure that even if mine were the last empty table, people would rather stand than sit with me.

Despite the heavy population of rowdy teenagers, though, there was always a large clear path from my table to the popular eight's table. Nothing obstructed my line of vision, not even once. Edward Cullen sat, looking troubled among the chatter of his friends. He seemed to be confused. He was biting his perfectly shaped lips and staring down at the table disconnectedly. I caught myself staring and quickly looked down too, cursing myself for being so nosy. I couldn't resist one more glance, though. I looked up under the protective cover of my eyelashes and felt the muscles in my stomach clench as I saw him staring directly at me.

I looked back down again, quickly picking up my fork and pretending to be interested in the same salad that I selected to eat every day. I pretended to scratch my forehead once just to shield one more glimpse of him and see if he was still staring.

I almost had a panic attack.

Not only was he still staring at me, but he was on his feet, walking towards me.

"Oh my God," I whispered under my breath, frantically trying to compose myself and look casual; like I didn't notice him.

"Bella?" I heard his smooth voice clearly, signifying that he was much closer than he would have ever been to me on a normal basis. It was then that I began to realize that I was dreaming.

I felt the eyes of a million students staring at us, I heard the sudden hush ripple across the cafeteria. It seemed as if the amount of people in the room kept increasing exponentially as each moment wore on.

I looked up slowly, meeting his gaze and trying not to let my heart stop completely. I opened my mouth, but no words came out of it.

The corner of his mouth pulled up in a breathtaking half-smile and my heart fluttered violently against my chest.

"I…" I started, losing my train of thought completely and saying the next thing that came to my mind. "I have your iPod."

His half smile blossomed into a full, eye crinkling grin as he leaned forward, placing his hand against the back of my neck, pulling me forward as he pressed his lips against my own.

Suddenly, the thousands of people that seemed to have been watching us completely melted away. In that one blissful moment, it was only Edward and I. A part of me knew that this was a dream, and that was the part that urged me forward. I was going to pay for this when I woke up anyways, I might as well get the most out of the moment while it lasted. I arched my body into his and let my lips mold around his mouth like two puzzle pieces. I felt his hand find an anchor against my lower back and I suddenly realized that I had somehow risen to a standing position. I was perfectly content in the moment, even considering that my first kiss was in a dream. I was perfectly content until the earsplitting, shrill ring of the warning bell tore us apart.

I sat up in my bed, a cold sweat dampening my forehead and my heart beating erratically. Gasping for air, I slammed my hand down on top of the buzzing alarm clock and threw myself back into my pillows. I was ashamed of myself. I felt like a pitiful obsessive teenager… which I wasn't. I had never let myself be like the other people my age. I had always considered it absurd and childish to dream about being with someone and fantasize about them…

Oh, my God… I had just fantasized about Edward Cullen.

I felt at that moment that a shower was definitely in order. Not just a shower, though… a cold shower. I found that the ice cold water helped clear my mind a little bit. I couldn't focus on the dream when I was too busy trying to stop my teeth from chattering.

My reasoning was ridiculously flawed.

Charlie was already gone to work when I made it into the kitchen. I looked at the clock and realized that it was too late for me to worry about a bowl of cereal. I grabbed an apple off of the basket on the counter and headed out the door.

I was still mortified at myself. After I had gotten out of the shower, I had almost kicked myself for considering spending a little more time in front of the mirror just because I planned on approaching Edward today. I really was being pathetic. It wouldn't be as bad if I had chosen a guy to dream about that wasn't completely and entirely out of my league… but as it happened, Edward was as far out of my league as he could get.

I didn't listen to music on the way to school that day. I drove with the windows down, trying to enjoy the cool autumn air, knowing that soon it would be replaced by the atrocity that was winter.

I hated the winter. Ice did not mix well with my already exaggerated lack of grace.

I had already decided that I was going to find Edward as soon as I could to return his iPod to him… and I had already decided that I was going to do it in as few words as possible.

I had not expected the opportunity to come so soon, though. As I pulled my rusted pick up into my usual parking spot, I noticed the flash of bright yellow that signified Alice Cullen's arrival in the parking lot. In the passenger seat, Edwards distinct, messy brown hair alerted me to his presence. It seemed he had still not gotten a new vehicle.

I took a deep breath and ran my tongue over my teeth making sure that there weren't any leftover apple peelings intent on embarrassing me. I resisted the urge to check myself in my trucks mirror and instead started off across the parking lot. Edward and Alice were just about to head into the school when Alice caught sight of me and took obvious note of my direction toward them. She nudged Edward quickly and jerked her head toward me. He turned and stopped as soon as he saw me. I was certain that I must have been imagining the small smile toying at the corner of his mouth. I tried to convince myself that it was just a trick of the light, so there was really no reason why my heart should be accelerating as much as it was.

"Hi Bella," Alice chimed with a smile, glancing at Edward quickly.

I was taken aback by the fact that Alice even knew my name, let alone wasted any breath on greeting me.

"Hi," I replied weakly.

"Bella," Edward nodded.

"I don't mean to bug you or anything," I started. Edward's brow pulled together tightly in mild confusion as I spoke. "You just, um… you dropped your iPod yesterday," I explained, fumbling through my backpack and extracting his mp3 player from the front pocket and handing it to him. His eyes widened in obvious surprise as he took it from me and pocketed it.

"Thanks," he said enthusiastically. He looked as if he was about ready to say something else, but I had already started excusing myself.

"Well, have a nice day…" I stammered, quickly dodging the two of them and blending in with the crowd headed for the double doors to the school. I vaguely heard Alice call out, "Nice to meet you.." from behind me and I suddenly felt like a huge idiot.

I threw my backpack into my locker and grabbed my books for the first class as I came to terms with just how ridiculous I had acted.

"Have a nice day?" I mocked myself in disgust, wincing and tipping my head back as if looking at the ceiling was going to reassure me that I wasn't as big of a moron as I felt.

Thoroughly ashamed of myself, I forced myself to focus on the lessons in each of my classes. I dreaded the lunch period when I would have nothing to focus on that could possibly keep me from dwelling. Sure enough, as I took my seat at my lunch table, there was one thing on my mind… and it definitely was not my salad.

I studied the patterns in the table top, willing myself not to look over at Edward's table. I knew, though, that I could only resist for so long. I overheard bits of conversation before I heard Edward's voice raise. He seemed to be arguing with Tanya.

Then, a hush fell over the entire cafeteria. I looked up slowly. Everyone was staring at.. Something. I followed their gaze and my heart clenched in my chest. I must have been hallucinating…no… he was definitely walking straight towards me. Edward Cullen was coming over to my table.

"Damn it." I mumbled under my breath, realizing that I was definitely still dreaming. Grudgingly, I rolled up the sleeve of my shirt and pinched myself as hard as I could.

"Ow!" I jumped a little, my eyes widening in horror as my dream theory was shattered.

"Bella," Edward greeted, taking a seat next to me.

I felt sick.

Please don't let me throw up on Edward, please, please, please…

I felt my lips move, but no sound came out of them.

Then I felt it; the hundreds of eyes staring at me. I felt the scarlet blush spring to my cheeks and I felt my pulse quicken.

I gaped at him for a moment before he spoke again.

"Do you mind if I eat lunch with you today?"

A/N: I feel that by far, my favorite chapter in all of everything I have ever written is chapter 6 of this story, which, hopefully, I will be posting some time next week.

While you are waiting for my update, there are three stories you should look up and read right the hell now, okay?

My Brother's Best Friend, by jennlynnfs
Secret Prophecies by bexi21
and Silence in the Stacks by jillbetsonalice.

all of them are Twilight related
all of them are excellent.

also, I have posted two links in my profile information. One of them is the link to the site where you can download all the music I use in the chapters, the other is the link to an amazing fan video that jillbetsonalice made for my story. She's the shit. It's another reason for you to go read her shit. Now. Do it.

reviews are oxygen!