"Hello?"

"Edward? This is Bella, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm outside your house and..." There's this loud sound of a phone being dropped and then footsteps and maybe a shuffling sound, before I hear him speak again.

"What?"

I look up at the front of Edward's house. It's the biggest house I've ever seen. When we were younger, I came here to a few of his birthday parties even though neither our parents, nor Edward and I, were very close.

The sheer size of his house still overwhelms me.

Then I see a curtain flutter and a figure moving behind it. I assume it's Edward looking out of the window.

"I need to see you for a minute please. I have something for you." I start to question if showing up out of the blue at his house was a good idea.

"Give me a second, okay? Don't leave, I'll... I'll be right down."

I take a slow deep breath and wrap my jacket tighter around my chest. I step over to sit on the white porch swing and wait. My toes barely touch, but I stretch them out to push-off the floor and propel the swing.

Seconds later, the front door opens.

Edward's still half asleep. His hair is wild, his sweat pants crooked on his waist, and his shirt is inside out.

"Shit, it's chilly out here." He rubs up and down his bare arms.

"I'm sorry to wake you but it's," I glance at my watch, "it's eleven thirty."

"On a Saturday morning but it's all right. " He adds as he sits down beside me on the swing. His bare feet touch the floor with ease. "I thought you were going to call?"

His hot breath rolls out in a fog as he speaks and I catch a whiff of mint—he at least brushed his teeth.

"I did call." I remind him.

"I know, I just thought... never mind. It's early; I don't think my brain is working yet." His voice is still rough with sleep; it makes me want to hear him ramble. Then I notice that he has goosebumps all over his arms so I figure I need to get on with it so he doesn't catch a cold.

"Like I said, I'm sorry but last night I don't think I told you why this play is so important to me. You see, my family," I look around at my surroundings, "we don't have a lot of money and I really want to go to college. My parents are very supportive, but there's only so much they can do and I've been given this amazing opportunity to win a scholarship... "

I try to keep the dreamy tone out of my voice as I explain it, "After I decided I wanted to study English Literature and History, I applied for this study abroad program. The place that I applied through offers a few scholarships, as in all expenses paid scholarships. The beginning of our senior year I found out I was a finalist. I wrote a lengthy thesis on the Elizabethan era and it placed me in competition globally with two other people for an open spot in their program."

Edward's looking at me like I just spoke to him in French & he doesn't understand a word of it.

"There are three of us vying for the scholarship in the literal arts department. To win I have to send in some sort of entry, and this play is my entry. Mike Newton has agreed that a few members of the yearbook staff will video tape every night's performance and help me submit a copy of the best production. I need this scholarship, Edward. I need to win. Otherwise, there's no way my parents could afford to pay for something like this."

"Where would you be going off to college exactly?" He makes the swing whoosh back and forth, but his feet never move from their spot on the floor.

"At Oxford University in the UK." I say with a little too much enthusiasm.

"Like near London? England? …UK?" His eyes are wide and his eyebrows are raised and disappearing under his hair.

I nod.

"Damn, and I thought after graduation I was going far away. For how long?"

I shrug. "I'm not sure, the program renews yearly, so at first it would just be for an academic year and then I'd go from there."

"Wow. That's great Bella, I…"

The door swings open again, but his time some tall, curvy reddish-blonde hair bombshell walks out in nothing but a green robe.

Just as suddenly, my heart plummets to my feet.

She walks up to him and runs her fingers through his hair once before grabbing a fistful and jerking his head back so he's looking up at her.

I have to look away.

"Edward, you're out of coffee, do you know where there's some more at in this house? I'm kind of dying here."

"Probably in the pantry—did you even look?" I watch out of the corner of my eye as he swats her hand out of his hair.

"That damn pantry's so big; you know I can't find a thing in there," she whines.

"Keep looking Tanya, I'll be in there in a minute." He playfully pushes her away and she stumbles backward.

I look up at her and notice how absolutely gorgeous she is. I swear the pure envy I have of her perfection makes my stomach turn in the worst of ways.

"He-ey." She waves her fingers at me before winking at him.

I nod my head once and fight back the tears. I shouldn't have come here. What and whom Edward does on his own time is none of my business. I shouldn't care.

Gah, I wish I didn't care.

She shuts the front door and I jump off the swing. "I've got to go." The CD sleeves in my left hand feel weightless, but I hand them over to him anyway. "These are for you. My dad read your part, Jacob is the narrator, and my mom read all the other parts in different voices except for mine," I swallow hard. "I read my own." I refuse to make eye contact with him.

"What do you mean? What did you do?" He takes the sleeves from my fingers but doesn't look down at them. I feel his glare hot on my face.

I trail my eyes up to his, and see it plain as day—he thinks I told my family. "They don't know, I— "

"Eeeeeddddward! I can't find it!" Her shriek gives me the same effect as nails down a chalkboard.

I can't stand either one.

"Ignore her," he tells me as he steps closer. "Explain this." He waves the CD's at me.

I hear her footsteps inside the house as she quickly stomps toward us again.

"Just listen to it. We'll talk later." I can't believe the need for me to run is so great, but I have to.

I turn away from him and fly down the steps.

"Wait! Where are you going to be?" Edward yells at the same time the front door swings open again.

She stands behind him in the open door frame with her arms crossed. She's probably ready to claw my eyes out.

"Bella?" He takes one step toward me which is one step away from her but still… "Where are you going?"

She reaches out for his arm.

I stand a little taller, my back a little straighter, and I say what I say, hoping, if nothing else, it is simply a tiny dart flung at his huge ego. "I'm on my way to Peter's. I'll be there until tomorrow night and I'm already late."

I slam my car door and back up and turn around cautiously until I reach the end of his long winding drive, driving as though I'm perfectly fine.

As soon as I'm out of his sight I pound the steering wheel with my open palm. I am so pissed at myself for letting Edward fucking Cullen get underneath my skin! I know better and shame on me, because I have a freakin' boyfriend.

I wipe the angry tears off my cheeks and start the short drive toward Peter's house. That's it, I'm ready to go see my boyfriend and forget all about everything else for a few hours.

I make a promise to myself to be a better girlfriend to him. He doesn't deserve me being all flirty with other guys, well, one other guy. But I wasn't being that flirty, I tell myself firmly. I was simply being nice. That's all there is to it.

I'm over it now, Edward Cullen is nothing but Peter's understudy to me, and my interaction with him will be over soon.

I think I can make it that long.

What's the worst that could happen anyway?

"It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake."

~Frederick Douglass

You know what they say about assumptions?