He watched the brown haired beauty rise from her seat and set of in a brisk walk along the street.

It had been long…perhaps too long since he had felt his heart pound and his pulse race at the mere sight of a woman.

The runner…well she certainly was different…something indescribable…

And in that moment Edward Cullen resolved to find out all he could about the brunette.

________________________________________________________________________

Bella POV

I tripped no less than six times up the three flights of stairs to my apartment, once even tripping up! Which, in all fairness, pretty much a new high for me!

Grabbing my towel on the way into the shower, I quickly washed out my hair with my favourite lavender scented shampoo, it really did have a calming effect…wither that or the power of suggestion is strong in me! As I climbed out the shower, my cell began to ring, I assumed it was Alice, and decided to call her back after I dressed. After pulling on my sundress and a pair of flats, placing on one shoe before hopping around my bedroom trying to find that infernal cell phone. At times I loved it and others; well I'd happily chuck it out the window!

Recognizing the ring tone I answered the call without any preamble, "Sup Bitch! Yeah be there in ten. Err how about we meet at my office? Cool, see you in a bit!"

My best friend and stalker Alice Brandon called to remind me of our 'date'. She was, in all senses of the word, my homey. And we had a thing for gangster talk when we were together…don't ask; she really did bring out the weird in me!

I quickly replayed my messages on the answering machine as I gathered my bag and laptop, that's when I heard the voice stream out,

You looked amazing this morning. I see you're running everyday…maybe one day I'll join you. Soon baby…soon.Click. You have no new messages. To listen to your-

I quickly unplugged the machine, staring at it… maybe I hoped that it would erase the message no from the machine but from existing at all. Pushing the message and the eerie-ness to the back of my mind, I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door. Sometimes life is a horror movie, you hear that phone ringing and you know you shouldn't pick it up, but you do! Then you die. Crap.

Driving through the lush gardens surrounding the campus of Fremont University, or more commonly known to the students and myself as "FU!", and feeling the sun blaze onto my exposed skin, well honestly I just had to laugh. I can be such a baby at times! There was no reason to get freaked out, the message was harmless, there's no way he'd try anything, well not again.

Moving along the corridor, I made my way to the venue at which I felt my very soul leave. Okay slightly dramatic I know, but oh well! Honestly I never thought it was possible to hate an institute of higher learning, it was the gateway to freedom and all that but to me it felt like a prison. To be honest I loved the place, the vibe, the students and even the faculty had grown on me, and perhaps it's just my current state of mind… stupid mind.

"Bella!" screamed Alice as she slammed into me.

"Oomph! Ouch. Nice Alice, a big ass bruise is just what I needed to complete my ensemble." I said, whilst rubbing my now sore arm.

"Sigh, that's exactly what I missed, your awesome lack of humour." Retorted Alice.

With a smile, I latched onto Alice's arm steering me towards our joint office. As Masters Candidates, that's the best the University would offer us. Not that I'm complaining 'cos it did get afternoon sun, I have a thing for it, and I get to share it with my homey!

Grabbing a chair, I turned it to face Alice whilst she brought in her divine cinnamon buns, she swears she makes them from scratch, and I know her long enough to happily accept the lie.

"So before we get down to work, how was last night?", I asked just after I scalded my tongue with really hot tea.

"Aww Bells he's just amazing! And okay, I know that was only our third date but I am so in love with him!" gushed Alice, and I swear she had actual tears in her eyes!

This was definitely new! Alice and I had pretty much sworn of the male species, if for no other reason than their impossibility to live up to even a tenth of our fictional favourites…Mr…Darcy…sigh.

Alice and I eventually made tracks to the Weitzman Hall at one pm for the joint lecture we were giving, and after the minor hiccup of me tripping on nothingness and into the venue, the rest of the hour went well.

Around four thirty I finished up my proposal, or at least a version of my proposal for my Masters, I live in hope they accept it, during my Honours year, yeah well that wasn't fun and I totally suck at redrafts!

I hadn't mentioned the message to Alice, I think mostly because she was in such a great mood I didn't want to kill if for her, and I know the instant I told her she'd start the freaking. Eventually deciding it was late enough I grabbed my things and headed for home, Alice had already left for date number four with a Mr Hale, the man she declared that she would marry…I wait with bated breath…not.

As I walked into my apartment, the need for food became overwhelming, I didn't realise how hungry I was…maybe I eat too much, oh well, building that bridge!

Since I couldn't cook anything other than pasta, which pretty much decided supper. I did my little ass dance as I opened a bottle of pasta sauce; I get really happy when the time to eat gets closer! And as fate would have it my phone rang, I skipped across the apartment to get it, I know skipped but still I had food coming!

I grabbed the phone of the box in the living room, 'Hello!", note I was in a good mood and I just assumed it was Alice and above mentioned food.

"Hey baby…"

"What do you want James? I've asked you repeatedly to stop calling me!" I tried to sound more annoyed and in control, than express my actual feeling…I was terrified.

"Come on baby, when are you gonna just get over it. Besides I miss you-" said James.

"Just shut up! I don't want anything to do with you James. What we had was over a long time ago." I couldn't stop the tremble creeping into my voice.

"Well, that wasn't very nice." James laughed softly into the phone.

"Please…just leave me alone James." My voice had lost any sort of control, I pretty much whimpered into the phone.

"Okay baby. For tonight I will. Before I go…you looked beautiful in that white dress." And then he hung up.

The phone dropped from my hand as I struggled to get my thoughts together. For tonight…was that a threat? Maybe I should just ignore it, what could he do to me…he only just knew where I lived...and worked…what the hell am I going to do!

I stumbled as I dropped to pick up the phone, in the background I could here the pots overflowing but I couldn't do anything about it, not now.

Though my fingers refused to work I eventually managed to dial the number, he answered on the third ring, "Hey Bells-bottoms! What can I do for you?"

"Err hey…err I need you. Could you come over as soon as you can?"

"I'll be there in ten."

And the phone went dead.