If anyone were to ask Edward Cullen what he thought hell was like when he was human, he would have said something like fire and brimstone like they talked about in church. Growing up Catholic, he had been warned of the dangers of bad behavior eventually resulting to his damnation. In reality, hell was the entire high school experience. And he knew he was damned because he seemed doomed to repeat it until the world ended.

One place after another, school after school, he was stuck in a loop of misery and boredom. No matter how much time passed, teenagers were the same at heart. They were all messed pretending to be more in control than they were. Hormone-driven and emotional, their thoughts were an unsavory mishmash of insecurity and angst.

Then, Isabella Swan moved to Forks and everything changed

His monotonous existence was suddenly filled with the desire to kill her and the equally confusing need to protect her. Bella was a magnet for trouble, attracting it like a van in the parking lot. If Edward could age, his hair might go gray from worry and exasperation. He would have wrapped her in bubble wrap if she wouldn't have thrown a fit.

And if things weren't already complicated enough, there was Jessica Stanley who made it her mission in life to annoy him and to protect Bella from him. He didn't know what was more frustrating – understanding her reasons or wishing she would stop and just go away. She wasn't wrong about him being a dangerous killer. He also just wanted her to mind her own business.

Maybe if he found her someone else to focus on - like a boy. Teenage girls were easily distracted by a pretty face. Unfortunately, she seemed to be largely uninterested in the boys in school. The only one who featured prominently in her thoughts was–

"It's not going to work," Alice chimed in a sing-song as she appeared at his open bedroom door.

Alice had a measuring tape hung around her neck which meant she was working on another garment. His sister's hobby meant they were constantly running out of closet space. He had more fitted suits than he would ever need. She never listened and continued to create.

He didn't complain because at least when Alice was busy with her hobby, she wasn't bothering him about his love life. And how, according to her and Emmett, 'pathetically sad' it was.

"You've already seen that future?" he asked, sardonically from where he was seated on the couch. He had been idly flipping through his old copy of Much Ado, not really paying attention to the words on the page.

Alice made a humming sound and flashes of different futures blinked through his mind. All failures as she had predicted. Jessica was a very stubborn little human. He almost admired her for it.

"Maybe she ends up with one of the wolves," Alice said with a mischievous smile. "I wouldn't be able to see that."

He gave her a look. "Things are complicated enough already without having to involve them into this."

She motioned for him to get up and follow her to one of the guestrooms Esme had made into an atelier for her. She had been working on yet another suit for him, this one a charcoal gray. He put on the blazer and stayed still as she grabbed metal pins to mark where she needed to make adjustments.

"What's this one for?" he asked. "I could just reuse one of your old creations."

"This one should be new. It's for something special."

Another vision flashed, him at prom wearing a charcoal suit. Jessica was wearing a gown of gold and champagne. She looked hesitantly at him with her big, blue eyes and asked, "Are you sure?"

Edward closed his eyes as the vision disappeared like a bad dream.

"Alice," he bit out. "I already told you I don't want that future."

"You don't have to pick that one."

"I don't want the others either."

"The one with the pregnancy was horrifying so I can't blame you for that one."

If he could have goose bumps, he would have. "I don't even want to remember that one."

The visions of that particular future had been disturbing. Vampires couldn't even have children so he didn't know how that one was possible. Alice had theorized that it might have been some magical loophole. He would happily die a virgin than ever impregnate a human with whatever that thing was.

"There are nicer futures," Alice reassured him. "And you're happy in the ones where you end up with Jessica."

"I could be happy with Bella," he countered. He slipped off the blazer and handed it back to her. "Just because you can't see her future, it doesn't mean it's not possible."

Alice turned away and placed the blazer on the mannequin. "I thought you would want to go for a surer thing. Bella is a risk because her possibilities are unknown."

"She would be my choice," he insisted. "And I didn't get much choice with this life. What I became and had to do to survive, whether I even wanted to live forever."

It wasn't a secret that he hated being a vampire. How if he had a chance, he would have died in that hospital in Chicago all those years ago. He never got over Carlisle not even asking him what he wanted. As if he didn't matter at all.

Alice stayed quiet, her back still turned to her.

"Bella is going to be my choice. And you, Emmett, or anyone else in this family cannot tell me who I can and can't be with."

"If that's what you want."

"It is."

He tried to read her thoughts and all he got was designs for renaissance costumes. He could have dug deeper but his patience was already on thin ice for the day.

"No more meddling," he said. "Promise me."

Alice hummed, her thoughts a flurry of fabrics and needles. He wanted to shake her, not an unfamiliar feeling since she had joined the family. There were days he missed the days of being an only child. Siblings were more a curse than a blessing most days.

Edward left, hoping this would be the end of his siblings meddling in his lives.

The balcony had collapsed underneath Bella.

For fuck's sakes.

Edward didn't generally swear that much. He usually thought such language was crass but exceptions had to be made.

After Bella was rushed off in the ambulance, he cornered his siblings who were doing a terrible job of looking sheepish.

"You promised me you would stop meddling."

Alice gave him her most angelic smile. "I actually never agreed to anything."

Emmett raised his hands in surrender. "And you never even asked me so…"

They were unbelievable.

"You could have killed her," Edward hissed. "She could have broken her neck."

"We were mostly sure she would be okay," his brother replied. "You would have probably caught her before that could happen."

"Mostly?"

Alice shrugged. "I can't see her future so we just hoped for the best."

"What was even the point of getting her injured–" He stopped when he saw a vision of Jessica in a renaissance gown. "All this for a play?"

Emmett grinned. "All's fair in love and war, bro."

How did he not even see that they had planned this? Surely, he would have seen it in their minds. He had been sneaking out mostly to watch over Bella as she slept so he hadn't been home at night. And in the mornings–

"You used Jessica to distract me," he accused.

Alice nodded. "Turns out if you hear too many thoughts at once, it begins to just sound like noise. It's really interesting what she can do."

"Imagine how more interesting she'd be once she gets turned," Emmett mused. "How much could she amplify? You think you could read thoughts from miles away?"

It was taking all of Edward's self-control not to do something violent like rip off his brother's arm and beat him with it.

"I don't care what her powers can do. And it doesn't matter because she's never going to be one of us."

Alice and Emmett both opened their mouths to protest and he held up a hand to stop them.

"No. You two have done enough," he growled. "You do anything like this again and I will disown the both of you."

They looked at him like they didn't believe a word he said.

"I mean it."

They nodded.

"Of course you do," Alice cooed.

"I am a changed man," Emmett added. "I will never do anything so nefarious ever again." His brother held up a hand. "Scout's honor."

With his anger turning into exasperation, Edward pointed out, "You were never a boy scout."

"It's the thought that counts."

Edward walked away before he actually went ahead and killed his brother. Rosalie would never stop hounding him if he hurt a hair on that meathead's skull. She was the most vindictive person he knew. And Edward already had enough on his plate to deal with.

Talking to Jessica was oddly freeing. When they were alone and not trying to annoy each other, she wasn't that bad. Edward knew she was intelligent as she was the top of their class and her obsession with going to Stanford was a recurring theme in her thoughts. He still didn't expect her to be a good listener.

The fact she knew what he was and was aware that he didn't exactly like her meant he didn't have to hide much from her. He didn't have to worry if he slipped up and he were to say something about being a vampire. He didn't have to try so hard to pretend to be human around her. He could just be himself which was something he usually couldn't do outside of his home.

"Did you meet anyone famous?" Jessica asked before they started running over their lines.

He sighed. "Could we do this later?"

"Just answer the question."

"If I do, you'll just ask more."

Jessica never seemed to run out of questions. Her thoughts were always buzzing away like bees. If he let himself be pulled into her mind deep enough, it felt like sticking his finger into an electrical socket. Her mind was never still and calm.

"I can't help it," she said. "You're so old that you had to have met somebody famous."

She really liked to bring up how old he was. By the way she talked about him, he should be in the grave from how ancient he was. Maybe mummified like an Egyptian pharaoh.

"Fine," he conceded. "I'm only telling you about one."

Jessica practically vibrated from excitement. "There's more than one?"

She had hoodwinked the truth from him. His lawyer father would have called it the gift of the gab. He had forgotten what his father's voice had sounded like until recently when Jessica had pulled him into another old memory. Seeing his father smoke cigars with his long dead friends had left Edward more morose than usual.

"I met the actress Elizabeth Taylor once," he told her. "I was at a party. I'm not telling you where it was or who was hosting it but she was there. She asked me to light her cigarette."

"And?"

"I lit her cigarette for her. She said thank you. And that was it."

"Come on, Edward," she practically whined. "Why are you holding out on me? That can't have been it."

He slid her copy of the script towards her. "Let's make a deal. Let's run through some scenes and I'll tell you more of the story after."

"Did you see her do something?" she continued asking. "Was it something scandalous?"

He gave her a sly smile, knowing the curiosity was driving her insane. "Maybe."

"Was it with one of her husbands?"

He tapped on the script with a fingernail. "You'll find out later."

Jessica rolled his eyes. "You are a tease, Edward Cullen." She picked up the script and turned to the right page. "Let's do Act 1, Scene 5. Fitting since it's at a party."

"The party was actually somewhat similar to this…" He couldn't help but torment her a little. "But you'll find that out later."

"I hate you."

His smile was haughtier than anything. "I know."

The play had finally come and hopefully all the insanity that had come with it would soon be over. They had a two week run before the winter holidays and Edward would be able to put this all behind him. If he tried hard enough, he might convince himself it had all been a terrible, recurring nightmare. He might swear off school plays altogether after this.

The pre-show rituals were different everywhere. The Forks High students liked having a dance party. As they did the sound check, Mike and Tyler had started playing music on the speakers. The rest of the cast jumped to start dancing to the beat.

It was mostly Top 40 songs, mostly pop and a few hits from the 90s. The girls mouthed to a Spice Girls song as Bella shook her head and tried to focus on rereading the script.

"It's all a little much, isn't it?" she said. "Aren't they going to be tired for the play?"

"There's probably quieter ways of getting their nerves out," he agreed. "Would you prefer I make them change the music?"

She bit her lip. "They would probably not like my music."

That was true. He didn't think their classmates cared for Claude Debussy. They were dancing and singing along to a Rihanna song. It was moments like this he remembered how he couldn't relate to this generation at all.

Emmett had commandeered the speakers and changed the song to The Chordette's Mr. Sandman.

Mike laughed. "Come on, man. What is this old people shit?"

Tyler added, "My grandpa loves things song!"

Edward felt his ancient bones more than ever. They should probably turn to dust. He may not look like he was over a century old but he definitely felt it. God, he was surrounded by literal children who could be his grandchildren. Heck, even his great-grandchildren.

Bella smiled. "I like this song."

"Me too," he returned, trying to focus on her and not his decaying old man soul. "If it weren't for your leg, I would ask you to dance."

"Oh no. I would probably trip and hurt myself more."

"I wouldn't let that happen-" He was cut off as Alice came over and dragged him away to dance with her.

"Sorry, Bella!" Alice called out to Bella as she swept her brother away.

Edward chided his sister, "That was impolite."

"I said sorry."

He rolled his eyes. "You could have asked Jasper to dance with you."

"He's busy with the lights."

As if on cue, one of the spotlights from the stage fell and Jasper caught it easily with one hand before anyone could even react. He waived away any questions of concern and worked on reattaching the light.

"Could we get something a little more upbeat, Cullen?" Mike asked Emmett. "Or from this century?"

"I can do upbeat at least," Emmett replied, changing the song.

Jerry Lee Lewis' Great Balls of Fire blared through the speakers. Edward stopped when he realized Alice had maneuvered them to where Jessica had been dancing with Eric. Déjà vu hit him as he remembered something very similar to homecoming. And he knew this was intentional.

He glared at his sister as Alice declared, "Switch!"

She grabbed Eric and spun him away before he could protest, leaving Edward and Jessica to stand awkward next to each other.

"Again?" Jessica asked with a knowing smile. "Your siblings are becoming repetitive with their playbooks."

"It's when they're unpredictable that you should be scared."

He should be getting back to Bella. She was sitting alone, watching everyone having fun around her. She never quite fit in with this group no matter how hard they tried to include her. It was one of the things he could relate to with her.

"You want to show me how it's done in the 50s?"

He turned back to Jessica who was looking up at him expectantly. "Uh…no."

"Come on," she persuaded. "One move?"

When he didn't look like he was budging, she rolled her eyes but her thoughts refused to be silenced.

He's probably not that good of a dancer anyway. That's why he doesn't dance. I should just ask Emmett. At least he's fun unlike Oscar the Grouch over here. What does Bella even see in him?

Jessica moved away to leave and he caught her hand and pulled her back. Edward was a proud man. Even he could admit that to himself. And he told himself that it didn't hurt to prove her wrong.

Elizabeth Masen had insisted on dance lessons and Edward had been dragged to parties for decades by his adopted family. He knew how to move.

He caught Jessica as she practically stumbled into his arms. His hands around her waist he lifted her up, doing a simplified version of the sidecar swing move. He kept her legs together as he lifted her from side to side then ended with a low dip. Jessica's blue eyes were wide in delighted surprise as she stared up at him.

He pulled her up to her feet with a satisfied smile.

"Now, you remember that," he said. "Because it's never going to happen again."

And for once, he managed to leave Jessica Stanley speechless.

People were wondering about Edward's perspective on things. This is just a glimpse. I'm not going to rewrite the whole fic from his perspective because I want to keep the story moving forward and I like being in Jessica's head more.

1. Chapter title is a play on 'Interview with the Vampire' which is a novel by Anne Rice.
2. The dance scene with Edward and Jessica is inspired by a scene in The Vampire Diaries where Stefan and Elena are dancing at the 50s Decade Dance. I had a hard time describing that dance move so please just Google it.