Summer Girl
Chapter One
Bella has always thought that her future was set in stone, but could one defining party and one gorgeous boy change everything? AU/AH. Continuation of the one-shot written for the "Off the Page" Contest.


School. It's a terrifying prospect, isn't it? But it's inevitable—I even informed you at the beginning of the summer that it wouldn't last forever. And while it's been great (hot affairs, anyone?) it's now time to return to the city and go on living our perfect Upper East Side lives, the summer only a distant memory.

While some of us have had quite the uneventful summer and are almost relieved to be heading back to the city, I can most definitely think of a few people that wish the summer would just start over again. Sometimes what you've done in the past can come back to haunt you, and I have a feeling B's in for it this time.

It's fall now, and we've got ourselves the perfect real-life drama to watch—who needs those sleazy TV shows that run for one season and then go off the air? We've got a lifetime of entertainment right in front of us.

So grab some popcorn and settle into your plush leather couches, boys and girls. This one's going to be hot.

xoxo,

Gossip Girl

"We're never going to see each other again." The words echoed in my head over and over again, in the same melodic tone. After listening to them repeat over and over in my brain, I could detect all the little things that made it his. The fluidity, the grace, the slightly sad nuance to it that could barely be detected, though I heard it loud and clear now.

They were the words that had changed my mind, that had made something in me switch gears and turn onto the opposite path I had been on. They were the difference between what felt right and what was wrong. They were the beginning of the best night of my life and the end of life as I knew it.

I wished they'd never been spoken.

At the time, they had seemed like a solid promise, the kind that are never broken because you forget all about everything that has to do with them the very next day. But now that I was back in the city, it didn't seem like that anymore.

After all, he was standing in front of me right now, so the whole thing about not seeing each other again was obviously void now.

Edward was leaning against the side of his black stretch limo, which was parked in front of Constance Billiard, looking as if he was waiting for something—or someone. I ducked behind the brick pillar I'd been leaning against, out of his sight. The last thing I needed was him to come over to me and start a conversation about God knows what. There were enough rumours going around about what had happened during the summer. There did not have to be the added implication of us talking to each other.

Besides, I thought as I walked through the courtyard towards the front steps, what the hell was he doing here in Manhattan, anyways? Was he not supposed to be back at home—wherever 'home' was—leaving me and my life to go on as they were meant to without further interruption from him?

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I walked right up the steps without stopping at the usual place to wait for Alice and Rosalie to show up. I was going to stop and turn around, but then decided there wasn't much point. To hell with tradition. What was traditional about anything lately?

"Bella! Hey, Bells, get back down here!"

That made me turn around and head back down the steps.

"Jake? What are you doing here?"

Jake spread his arms open wide, making his St. Jude's blazer spread away from his body like he'd sprouted wings, and inviting me in for a hug. "What, I can't come see my girlfriend in the morning to wish her a good day?"

I reached the bottom of the steps and wrapped my arms around Jake, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "Nothing, you just surprised me. How did you get over here? The city bus travels the other direction to St. Jude's."

He laughed, giving me a squeeze and then stepping out of the embrace. "Very observant, Bells. I actually caught a ride with the new guy—he stopped at the bus stop and asked me if I wanted a ride, to which I replied sure, as long as he brought me here to surprise you first."

I raised my eyebrows. "New guy?"

"Yeah. Edward something?"

I tried to keep the shock from showing on my face. Jacob refused to join the text network Gossip Girl had set up and he never went on the site, but he knew about my night with Edward, thanks to people discussing it in the streets and, in some cases, directly to him. In turn, I also knew about his night with 'a hot Jamaican chick with a cute accent and violet coloured eyes,' also thanks to Gossip Girl. We had decided that we would put the summer behind us when school began again and start fresh.

However, since Jake had never been on the site, he didn't know what Edward looked like—and he hadn't bothered to remember his name, either, it seemed. Unless he was playing me… but no, his expression was completely innocent. After all these years of knowing him, I could tell things like that.

"Oh, cool," I said nonchalantly, still attempting to cover any sign of surprise.

Jake nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I guess I better get back before I make us late. Have a great day, Bella."

"I'll try. Love you."

"Sure, sure. Love you, too," he said, waving over his shoulder. I laughed softly and shook my head. That was Jake for you.

I decided I would wait for Alice and Rose anyway and leaned against the metal railing only to be startled into a standing position again by a chipper "Hi!" from my left.

"Alice, don't do that!"

Alice laughed. "Scared yah, didn't I? Again."

I rolled my eyes. "Where's Rose?"

"Right here," she said, coming up behind Alice. "And have you seen this?" She flipped out her green LG Neon and handed it to me.

Spotted: E giving J a ride to Constance to see B. What is E up to now? xoxo, GG

Underneath the blurb there was a picture of Jacob and Edward standing by his limo. I raised my eyebrows and handed the phone back to Rosalie. Alice promptly snatched it out of her hands.

"So?" Rose asked.

"No, I didn't see that, but I knew Jake got a ride with Edward."

"Well, what do you think it means?" Alice inquired, handing Rose's phone back to her.

"It means Jacob is a very forgetful person," I commented.

Alice and Rosalie laughed, then started to talk feverishly about all the different reasons Edward could have picked up Jacob—mostly ridiculously silly things.

We began walking up the steps and I spaced out, thinking about Edward. I knew now why he was parked in front of Constance, but why was he in New York? And what had possessed him to pull over to the bus stop and ask the boy he knew to be my boyfriend if he wanted a ride to school? Unless he didn't know what Jake looked like? Maybe he, like Jacob, boycotted Gossip Girl. But he had recognized me that first day on the beach, so he would have had to have seen pictures of me—and where else would he find those than Gossip Girl? No, he'd known who he was picking up—but why?

And why had he told me that he'd never be seeing me again if he knew he'd be living in the city? It was, of course, possible that he hadn't known at the time, and I had nothing to discredit that particular idea.

The bell rang then, startling me out of my thoughts and into the classroom, Alice and Rose beside me. We took our customary seats at the back of the room and settled in for a day of purgatory.

~*~

As soon as the bell for lunch hour rang, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I flipped it open to see a text from Jake.

Meet me at Blu's?

Blu's was the cafe halfway between St. Jude's and Constance, and students from the schools frequently met up there, especially for lunch, since it was quick. I texted Jake a quick 'sure' and headed out of the metal archway, hailing myself a cab in ten seconds flat—an acquired skill, I liked to think.

Ten minutes later I was sitting at our favourite table, in the front corner by the window, tucked away from the rest of the cafe, sipping an iced tea and waiting for Jacob. I stared out the window, watching the people weaving their way around the sidewalk, searching for Jake. I didn't have to wait long before I saw his head bobbing over most everyone else's. I resisted an urge to snort. It looked ridiculous.

Jake disappeared from my view, coming inside the cafe, I assumed, though I couldn't see because of the short wall blocking my vision of the room. Jake poked his head over the wall and waved slightly.

"I'm going to grab a drink and then I'll be back. You want anything?"

I shook my head, holding up my iced tea. He nodded and disappeared behind the wall again. I took a sip of my drink and went back to staring out the window. The harsh sunlight started to hurt my eyes, so I started rummaging around in my white Gucci purse for my sunglasses. Finding them, I placed them delicately on my face, and turned to look out the window again.

Jake slid into the seat across from me and poked my arm with his straw. I swatted it away playfully and he waved it close to my nose.

"Fear the mutant straw," he intoned, jabbing it at me.

"You're going to poke my eye out with that thing!" I made to grab it, and missed, making him laugh and wave it at me again. I snatched up my unopened straw from the tabletop and brandished it at him. "Oh yeah, now we're even, aren't we?"

He laughed. "I can take you, little girl." He poked the end of my nose.

"Who you calling little?" I narrowed my eyes at him and then lunged, my hand closing around the straw as I half-stood up, leaning over the table, and pulled it out of his grip. "Yes! I win! Take that you—" But my joking insult died on my lips the second I saw him standing in line at the counter, running a hand through his hair absentmindedly.

What the hell was Edward doing here? I stood completely still, staring at him in shock, wondering if I was seeing right. But of course I was. I knew he was in New York City, I knew he was going to St. Jude's. Why wouldn't he be at Blu's? Just because it was the place that Jake and I spent most of our lunch hours didn't mean that no one else was allowed to come to it.

"...Bella? Bella? Are you alive? Did the straw kill you after all?" I finally realized Jake was talking to me and shook my head, sitting back down on my chair.

"I'm fine, just thought I saw..." I trailed off again, realizing that Jake had seemed to be friends, or at least friendly, with Edward this morning, and if I said anything, Jake would most likely want to talk to Edward, and then Edward would see me, and then I'd have to talk to him like I had no idea who he was. It was also very possible that upon seeing me, Edward would let the whole game go and tell Jake exactly who he was—not just his name, but what that name meant. And I couldn't let that happen; we'd moved on, but how could we start fresh if dirty things from the past were still hanging around?

"Saw what? Bella, what's up with you?" Jake was staring at me as though I'd grown horns and a tail, or started to sparkle in the sunlight, or something equally strange and unnatural. I shook my head at him.

"Er... nothing... but I just remembered, I promised I'd go grab Alice something before heading back to school... so I have to go." I grabbed my purse and stood up, leaning over to give Jake a quick kiss.

"Bella—"

"Love you, sorry to run off." I peered carefully around the wall to see that Edward was looking up at the menus on the wall, seemingly engrossed in choosing a beverage. I decided that it was my escape and ducked out from behind the wall, walking hurriedly across the cafe and out the door. I glanced in the direction of the window where Jake would be, but I couldn't see in properly. I shrugged off the guilt of leaving him there and hailed myself a cab, telling the driver to drive me back to Constance.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I collapsed against the leather seat and watched the cafe disappear into the distance, the sights and sounds of the Upper East Side all blurring into one big mass of stone and lights.

I took out my cell phone and dialled a familiar number, telling the town car driver where I wanted him to meet us. Then I hung up and texted Alice, telling her to be outside Constance in five.

Alice was waiting outside, of course, sitting cross legged on a bench and painting her nails. I raised my eyebrows blatantly at her, but she ignored me and continued adding layer after layer of gold glitter to each nail.

"You're not bringing that inside the car," I informed her.

"I know that, so shut up and let me finish before the car gets here." She didn't snap, just said it in her typical Alice matter-of-fact tone of voice. I smiled slightly. I'd known Alice was just what I needed right now.

She added one last stroke of polish and then capped the bottle tightly before throwing it into her purse. The car pulled up just as she finished doing so and she stood gracefully, walking over to the car and opening the door for herself, shooing away the driver when he came to help. I hurried after her.

The car began to move and I looked over at Alice, panicked.

"Did you tell him where to go?"

She rolled her eyes and nodded. "Of course I did, Bella. Relax. Drink some champagne or something." Alice leaned her head back on the seat and closed her eyes. I sighed and pulled out a bottle of Dom Perignon from the mini fridge. I popped the cork out with practiced skill and took a swig straight from the bottle.

"Ew, Bella, find a glass. I didn't say to be vulgar about it."

I waved my hand at the backseat. "Do you see a glass anywhere?"

Alice opened a cupboard next to the mini fridge and pointed to the inside. It was full of wine glasses, neatly lined up in perfect rows. The car stopped suddenly, making the glasses slide out off of their shelves and crash onto the floor of the vehicle. I snorted.

"Good job, Alice."

She glared at me and slammed the little door shut just as the driver opened the car door. She stepped carefully over the broken glass and out onto the sidewalk. I followed, leaving the Dom Perignon behind. The store was likely to have complimentary glasses of the bubbly for my enjoyment.

The next two hours consisted of me following Alice around all the shops and her ignoring me while I drank as many glasses of champagne as I could get my hands on. Finally Alice declared that she was done and dragged me off to what I thought was yet another store (because you can't trust Alice to mean what she says) but was relieved to find out was a small restaurant. I collapsed into the booth, my head pounding and my feet sore.

"Did you buy enough?" I asked sarcastically.

Alice looked down at her bags. "For now."

I nodded like I totally understood why she needed all those clothes—or rather, why she bothered shopping for them herself. I just got the latest from all the designers shipped to my house, and Alice could get that too if she wanted.

The waitress came and Alice ordered us both coffees. I didn't object. Then she turned to me and folded her hands together. "Now," she said, "why exactly did we go on a shopping spree in the middle of a school day?"

"I wasn't thinking clearly when I called you, obviously."

Alice narrowed her eyes at me. "I think you were. Did something happen at the cafe? Did Jake break up with you?" Her eyes widened at this, as if the thought had just come to her.

"No."

"No something didn't happen or just no to Jake breaking up with you?"

I sighed and looked at the countertop, avoiding Alice's scrutinizing look. "Jake didn't break up with me. But something did happen... sort of... well, nothing happened. Or..."

Alice stared at me, then leaned across the table and snapped her fingers in my face. "Bella!"

"What?"

"Snap out of your funk. I saw how you were acting all day today, all paranoid and looking over your shoulder while drinking champagne... and now you're drunk." She sighed.

I giggled. "I saw Edward in the cafe."

Alice gasped, making me giggle some more at her theatrics. "What did you do? Did he try and talk to you?"

"I left."

Alice looked disappointed. "Oh, so you left Jake there by himself?"

"Yes. And then I called the car and you, and... you know the rest."

"And Edward didn't do or say anything to acknowledge you?"

"I don't think he even saw me. At least, I hope not."

Alice looked at me thoughtfully, tapping her fingers on the hardtop of the table. "I think, Bella," she finally said, "that you have had a case of overreaction provoked by something of only mediocre importance."

"Don't I know it," I mumbled, groaning and smacking my head down on the table.


Here it is. I practically didn't write this, because Leon dictated everything to me, and J, Lenn, and Dream made all of my decisions. Feel free to leave reviews thanking them.