Saturday – Jessica's Party

I frantically glanced over at my desk clock – 5.15pm. Edward will be here to pick me up in fifteen minutes I thought to myself as I rushed to finish getting ready. I had been shopping all day to find the perfect dress for the party. Eventually after searching through every dress store, I managed to find the perfect one. It was a dark purple bubble halter dress with beautiful crystal straps that wrapped around my neck. The straps came down into a 'v' shape until they were fastened to the front of the garment by a fake but elegant silver jewel. The material was made of satin and it felt so soft and delicate against my skin.

I had blow dried my long brown hair straight and then got out my curling iron to create a few loose ringlets. After applying some strawberry lip gloss, some light pink powder on my eyelids, a thin line of black eyeliner and a coat of mascara, I walked over and stood in front of my full length mirror, staring at the girl before me. Not bad at all! I smiled as I smoothed out my purple dress and stepped into a pair of silver flats.

I wanted to look beautiful - but not for the party... For Edward.

Suddenly a car horn beeped twice, and my heart instantly skipped a beat. I rushed over to my window and peered through the curtains. Edward stepped out of his car and I couldn't help but swoon as I took in his gorgeous god-like features. He looked totally stunning! As I swooned some more and leant against my window sill, I let my eyes roam over his perfect body. He was wearing a long sleeved pale blue buttoned shirt and a pair of black pants. I giggled lightly as I noticed that his hair was as messy as ever. It was a style that only he could pull off.

At that exact moment, Edward's eyes roamed up to my bedroom window and made direct contact with me. I blushed furiously at being caught staring and raised my hand to give him a quick wave.

"Are you coming down, Bella?" I heard him call out before a huge smile appeared on his face. "Or are you happy to continue admiring the view from up there?"

My face heated up even more, but I managed to call back in a steady voice "Just give me a minute"

I quickly checked myself one last time in the mirror, fanned my face to cool it down and took a deep breath before heading down the stairs. The moment I opened the front door and stepped outside, Edward's eyes glistened as he stared longingly at me. I couldn't help but smirk as I made my way over to where he was leaning casually against his car.

"Bella" He breathed as he ran his eyes over my body as politely as possible before he locked onto my face. "You look absolutely beautiful!"

"Thanks" I replied blushing once again. "You don't look too bad yourself!"

Edward smiled brilliantly and led me around to the passenger side. He opened the door like a proper gentleman and waited for me to get in. My dress had instantly hiked itself up once I was seated. Oh damn it! Clearly I hadn't thought about sitting down in this dress… Sure it was fine when I was standing – it was a few inches above my knees. But sitting down in this garment made me feel quite uncomfortable. I quickly grabbed the hem and pulled it down as best as I could so that it covered as much of my thighs as possible. By then, Edward had made his way around to the driver's side and got in. Instead of staring at my bare legs like any other greedy man would have, he couldn't seem to take his eyes off my face. I smiled back at him a little awkwardly as I held the end of my dress firmly place.

"Are you alright?" He asked, clearly seeing my look of discomfort. "Are you nervous about the party?"

I shook my head and pursed my lips together before letting a short laugh escape my mouth. "No, no. I'm fine"

"Because we don't have to go… If you don't want to" And then all of a sudden, Edward blurted out. "That's an idead! How about we ditch this party all together and you and I can go out to a fancy restaurant instead?"

I stared at him dumfounded, feeling completely speechless and caught off guard. Sure that idea sounded lovely, but I had promised Jessica that we would be there for her birthday. The hopeful expression on Edward's face suddenly fell and was replaced with one of regret, looking as if he wished he could take back his words.

"Don't worry about it… I know that Jessica is a friend of yours and um… Look, I don't even know why I suggested it" Edward knitted his eyebrows together and fiddled with the keys as he struggled to get them in the ignition.

Before he got the chance to take the car out of neutral, I reached over and placed my hand on his upper arm.

"But some other night when we don't have a party to attend, I would love to go out to dinner with you" I smiled which seemed to put him at ease. When he didn't say anything after a few seconds had passed, I added "We won't stay too long, I promise. It'll just make her happy if we make an appearance… Then we can sneak out"

"Sounds like a good plan" He chuckled while finally deciding to start up the engine.

We were rather surprised as we pulled into Jessica's street. Cars were parked everywhere.

"It looks like Jessica has invited the whole of Forks!" Edward stated as he finally found a narrow spot at the end of the road that was just the right size for his car to squeeze in.

"Hmm, looks like it" I breathed as I suddenly felt a little uneasy. I didn't think it was going to be this big!

Edward came around to my side of the car and took my hand as we made our way up to the massive house. A young guy in his early twenties opened the front door and greeted us with too much enthusiasm for my liking.

"Hey guys! Here for the party?" He grinned. I nodded my head while I heard Edward groan softly. "Excellent! I'm Jessica's brother, Steven. Please come in and follow me! Everyone's out in the backyard. Oh this is going to be so much fun!"

Edward and I exchanged glances and smirked as we were clearly thinking the same thing... gay.

As we followed Steven through the house, the sound of people chatting and loud dance music filled the air. A large crowd of people gathered out in the backyard, laughing and swaying to the music. The moment Steven ushered us outside, Jessica bounced over to us and embraced me in a tight hug.

"Hey Bella, I'm so glad you could make it!" When she stepped back from me, she eyed Edward over and grinned. "Edward, don't you look lovely!"

"Thanks. So do you" He murmured quickly.

Someone else rushed over and interrupted us by hugging Jessica and distracting her. Edward tightened his grip on my hand and gently pulled me around the sea of dancing bodies.

"So what do we do now?" Edward asked, raising his voice so I could hear him over the loud music.

"We mingle" I shrugged, looking around at all the faces that I didn't recognise.

"You don't even know half these people do you?"

"Not really. But that doesn't matter. Come on, dance with me" I pleaded, taking hold of his hand.

"Whoa! Who are you and what have you done with Bella? I thought you were uncomfortable with dancing" Edward mused as he eyed me curiously.

I shrugged my shoulders as we made our way into the crowd. "You've given me confidence. Besides, nobody stares at you when you're in a crowd this big!"

Edward laughed and started swaying along to the beat with me.

After a while I started to feel a little dehydrated, and I could tell that Edward was thinking the same thing.

"Would you like me to get you a drink?" He asked, speaking close to my ear so I could hear him.

I nodded gratefully and he told me that he would be right back. My body continued to move to the rhythm of the upbeat music, and I was feeling happy and relaxed. But that was a moment short lived. Suddenly I felt someone tap me on my bare shoulder and I spun around thinking it was Edward… Wrong. It was Mike.

"Bella? Wow! I hardly recognise you" He immediately eyed my body from head to toe. Unlike the polite manner in which Edward had done it earlier, the way Mike was scanning me over felt rather uncomfortable and rude.

"Great party eh?" I said the first thing that came to my head, trying to get him to focus on something else.

"Yeah, I've been dancing up the front with the rest of the guys for quite some time now. And then I turned around and saw you… Now this party suddenly seems a lot brighter!"

I gave an awkward laugh and hastily glanced around, hoping that Edward would come to the rescue. No such luck.

"So what is a pretty girl like you doing dancing all by yourself anyway? Why don't you come down to the front and dance with me"

I avoided his hand when he reached out to grab mine and automatically took a step backwards. "Actually, I'm not alone -"

Mike ignored my body language and reached out to wrap his arm around my shoulder. "Come on, why don't you show me some of those dance moves you learnt on Friday afternoon?"

I winced while trying to wriggle out of his grip. "Um… This isn't the right style of music for that"

"Bella? Is everything alright here?"

Finally! I heard the one voice that I was praying to hear. I spun my head around and smiled thankfully up at Edward. Mike had the hide to keep his arm firmly around me as he looked slightly surprised.

"Oh, I didn't know you were invited..." Mike spoke rather rudely.

Edward glared down at him menacingly, before gazing at the arm that lingered on my bare shoulder. I immediately started to try and release myself once more and I swear Edward growled when Mike refused to let me go.

"Mike, let me go!" My voice sounded firm and annoyed.

He finally obliged and let me go just before Edward looked like he was about to loose his temper.

"I'll see you around, Bella" He said before giving me a wink.

I turned around, feeling disgusted and appalled by his behaviour. Edward swore under his breath and sighed before handing me a glass of lemonade.

"Sorry I took so long. It was difficult finding something that was non alcoholic"

"What? But practically everyone here is underage!" I said, sniffing my lemonade suspiciously.

"I warned you about this…" Edward muttered, guiding me away from the dancing crowd.

"But Jessica's parents -"

"Don't seem to be here" He finished off my sentence, watching me stare cautiously at my drink. "It's not spiked Bella; I opened a fresh can and poured it myself"

I believed him straight away and raised my glass to my lips so that I could quench my thirst. "Oh well, I suppose it's not our problem if the house gets trashed eh?" As I consumed my lemonade, I glanced around at the rowdy group of people. Every second person appeared to be downing a glass of beer. All of a sudden my eyes caught sight of someone I strongly hoped I would never, ever see again! I sprayed out the remaining liquid I had in my mouth and started violently coughing.

"Bella, take it easy! Are you alright?" Edward frantically asked while trying to help by patting my back.

I managed to stop coughing and grabbed onto a handful Edward's shirt. "I want to leave right now!"

Edward was taken back by my sudden change of attitude and reached down to place his hand in mine. "Yes, of course we can leave… But is something wrong?"

I took another glance over my shoulder and noticed that a pair of gleaming, evil eyes were now staring right back at me. My heart rate sped right up and I turned back to look directly into Edward's confused eyes. I uttered the one word which made Edward boil over on the inside…

"Jacob!"