Chapter 8

BPOV

It was two hours after school, and I was already done with homework. I was bored out of my mind.

I lounged on my bed with my favorite tattered copy of the collected works of Jane Austen. My mind wandered to what happened earlier that day.

I had made fast friends with Alice, her twin brother, Emmett, and her boyfriend, Jasper. They were good people.

Alice was tiny, a pixie of a person. I doubted very seriously that she even reached 5 feet in height. She looked to weigh perhaps 95 pounds soaking wet, with tiny elfin features and short hair. She wore most of her hair in short spikes, with her bangs being a few inches longer, parted down the middle and pinned to the side of her head with a set of diamond studded bobby pins. Judging from her black Yves Saint Laurent Tribtoo pumps, (Mom was a fashion fanatic, so I had learned to spot designer items.), I would hazard a guess that they were real diamonds on the bobby pins. She wore knee high white stockings that looked to be silk, and her Forks High uniform skirt ended just before her knee. She paired this with a simple baby doll T shirt and a deep blue vest. She reminded me of a fashion doll, but in a totally non-fake, you want to take the doll with you everywhere, sort of way. Her voice reminded me of the tinkling of bells.

As I had noted when she had first collected me at the office, she was a bundle of energy. Almost as if she had drunk maybe 10 too many espressos followed with a red bull chaser each. Her enthusiasm for life and fashion were unsurmountable, and even though her personality was so vastly different from my own, I could tell that she would be another Celeste to me. The feeling that we would be life-long friends was one I could sense deep down in my bones. I'm sure that Alice felt the same way, because almost instantly she started telling me different shopping trips she wanted to take me on, and ways she could improve my look.

Emmett was her polar opposite. He was tall, and by tall I mean giant. I estimated his height to be somewhere around six and a half feet tall. He was muscular, but not in the Arnold Swartzeneger body builder sort of way. He was thick and almost rectangular in shape, almost like that of a boxer. But for all his size, he was a teddy bear. His head was topped in close cropped curls, and dimples adorned either side of his wide, child-like smile. He looked like a cherub's head placed on the body of a boxer. It was an interesting juxtaposition, yet somehow, it fit him. He was loud and boisterous

His personality was just as energetic as his sister's, but it was more aimed towards joking and laughing and just generally enjoying life. There was never a moment that he didn't find some way to crack a joke. He sometimes bordered on the lewd side, but each time a crude joke would pass his lips, he would flash this adorable little appologetic smile and all was forgiven. The look was reminicent of a five year old getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar, when the cookie jar was put JUST low enough for him to reach. You knew when you put the jar that low, he'd go into them, but he still knew he was doing wrong.

Both the twins had ivory skin, black hair and ice blue eyes. The really humorous part is when you took the sight of the two of them in together. They definately had the twin vibe going on, and you can tell they never liked to be too far from one another. They looked so alike, but so very different. With the difference in their sizes, one could almost imagine that Alice was tiny because Emmett took up too much space in utero. Maybe even Emmett got all the growth genes when their two eggs were fertilized, poor Alice got the short end of the stick, literally.

Jasper was another creature entirely. His tall lanky build was almost like Edward's. They both had the strong, supple, swimmers build, only Jasper was a little more defined in musculature. He looked to be a few inches shorter than Edward, although with his mop of blond curls on top, you almost couldn't tell. His face was kind, softer than Edward or Emmett's. His eyes were a soft grey, eerily reminicant of the color of a confederate soldier's uniform. That idea was accentuated by his soft southern accent. It was strange that he had that accent considering that he had grown up in the Pacific Northwest, like the rest of us. I was quickly informed that both of his parents were old southern money, and he had picked up the accent from them, but it was diluted.

His demeanor was vastly different from that of Emmett or Alice. He was calm, almost tranquil. He had the strangest air of peace about him. It didn't escape my attention that whenever Alice or Emmett would start to get carried away with excitement, Jasper would reach over and touch them lightly, and instantly they would calm down. I wondered how he did that, but didn't want to call him out in front of them incase they weren't aware of his actions. I filed it away to ask about later.

Edward ... Oh, Edward. He was another story entirely. Seeing him up close took my breath away. The details I had missed from across the room were staggering.

His beautiful green eyes were ringed with long curled lashes. His nose perfectly straight and well proportioned. His lips were full and pouty and pink, just begging to be kissed. I so very desperately wanted to give in to their demands. His bronze hair was touseled, almost like he had rolled out of bed and came straight to school. I absentmindedly wondered who's bed it had been, because it looked as though someone had combed her fingers through it, tugging gently as the rest of him gave her unspeakable pleasures. Mind out of the gutter, Bella.

As I walked to the lunch table behind Alice, I saw him. He sat at the table with Jasper and Emmett, chatting with Jasper about something or another. Jasper must have said something that he found funny, because suddenly his face broke out with this incredibly sexy crooked smirk. You know the kind I'm talking about. The kind that screams "I have a delicious dirty secret, and what will you give me to find it out?" That smirk did things to my body that I never even knew existed.

I felt the blush rise to my cheeks. Looking down, I heard Alice clear her throat to gain the boys' attention. My mind barely registered Alice introducing me to everyone. I glanced up through my eyelashes, and looked toward Edward. What I saw there floored me.

His jaw was slack, and his breathing was erratic. He had his own delicious blush covering his cheeks, and his eyes had darked to a deep green. I wasn't quite sure what that look meant, but I knew what it did to my body. I felt my own breath quicken and I realized I had wet my lips without thinking. Both sets, apparently.

"Hi. I'm Bella." I said after I put the tray of pizza I was carrying on the table. I offered him my hand in greeting, which he slowly took in his hand. I felt a curious little electrical jolt everywhere that our skin touched.

"Hi ... Um ... I'm ... Um ... Sorry bout..." He started to stammer. I had to stifle a giggle. It was apparent from his behavior that what Alice said was right. He didn't hate me. Apparently something about me made him nervous. I could tell by how he fidgeted, and the cold, clammy feel of his hand. I also noticed that the beautiful blush that was staining his cheeks only moments before, had quickly faded, making him look even paler than he was before. "'Scuse me," He stammered quickly before turning around and hightailing it out of the lunchroom. I could hear the sounds of someone retching just out of the lunchroom, and something inside me told me it was probably Edward. I wanted to go check on him, but I knew I hated having someone I wasn't comfortable with seeing me throw up. I turned to Alice

"Do you think he's ok?"

"I dunno, Bella. Let me go check on him." She said, putting her tray down and heading out of the lunchroom.

"Don't worry, Bella." Jasper's soft drawl drew my attention from the door that Edward had disappeared out of. "Edward will be ok. He just tends to be a bit overwound."

"Are you sure? This isn't the first run-in I've had with him today, and it's starting to make me think he doesn't like me." I said honestly, sitting down in my seat and absent mindedly started playing with my spork.