So here's something new, which I'm kinda sorta excited about. Don't forget to let me know what ya think! lurrve.

Bad Romance

Chapter One: The Edward Cullen

Bella

I sighed loudly, and Rosalie threw me a look over her shoulder.

"Bella, if you don't stop sighing and moaning I will actually kill you," she warned, before turning back to the mirror and the foundation she was applying. Not that she needed it; Rosalie had beautiful, clear skin, the kind anyone would envy.

"Yeah, cheer up, Bella," Alice piped up. "It'll be fun once you get there."

Maybe she was right. I felt extremely anti-social, but I knew it was only because it was the first house party I was going to here. I had moved to Fork's High School a week ago, fresh from sunny Arizona, and I had yet to make any kind of impression. People were friendly enough in school, but I knew that if I didn't start attending social events, they'd think I was some sort of reclusive freak.

I was grateful, that Alice had taken pity on me and invited me into her circle of friends. She had approached me on my first day, and had practically announced me as one of her best friends by the end of it. She was just one of those sort of people; she was so easy to get along with, and it was definitely better than being alone all the time in school. I'd been afraid that would happen.

The tinny sound of Jasper's harmonica broke into my thoughts. Rosalie's twin brother was sitting in a pink bean bag chair, looking totally comfortable, playing the instrument he carried around everywhere with him.

Rosalie turned around to glare at him this time. "I'm going to shove that down your throat one day," she threatened.

Jasper snorted, and played a lingering high note, his eyes dancing wickedly.

Rosalie sighed and looked at me. "You've no idea what it's like," she said, shaking her head. "You'd think he'd learn a different tune on the goddamn thing, but no, he plays the same one, over and over until we're all demented. It won't bother you now, but when you start humming it in your sleep…"

Jasper sniggered, and I couldn't help grinning.

I was really enjoying hanging out with Rosalie, Alice and Jasper. I found it easy to get along with each of them, and enjoyed listening in when the teasing started. Alice was forever gossiping and dreaming, Rosalie was down-to-earth and blunt about things, and Jasper was sarcastic and a complete joker. They had accepted me as one of their own straightaway, and I couldn't imagine being friends with any other group of people.

Even though I hadn't been friends with them long, I could totally tell that Alice was crushing on Jasper. She had yet to admit it… but I thought it was pretty obvious. I had to admire her taste; Jasper was gorgeous, with that flop of blonde hair and those blue eyes. And I didn't think Rosalie realised it.

Rosalie was just as blonde and beautiful, and the two of them looked like a movie star couple when they stood next to each other. Alice, on the other hand, was petite with short, spiky black hair, and was totally striking. I thought I would be very neurotic and intimidated, hanging around with such good-looking people, but it never bothered me. They didn't seem to care that I was just average looking, and that was alright with me.

Alice's phone beeped for maybe the millionth time that day.

"Miss Popular," Jasper announced. "Who's texting you now?"

"Jessica," Alice answered, her thumbs flying across the buttons at lightning speed. "She's telling me who's going to this party tonight."

"I hope Emmett Cullen is going," Rosalie said, pouting at herself in the mirror. "He's totally hot, and keeps flirting with me in English."

"He is going," Alice said, her eyes still fixed on the phone screen. "He'd never miss an excuse for a party."

"I can't believe you've been friends with him all this time and you've never once introduced me -"

Rosalie's complaint was cut off by a gasp from Alice, as her phone beeped once again.

"No way!" she squealed.

"What, what, what?" Rosalie demanded, whipping around, her reprimand forgotten.

"Edward Cullen is going."

"The Edward Cullen?!"

"Yep!" Alice said excitedly.

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Does that mean he got out of prison then?" Alice wondered aloud.

Jasper snorted. "You heard that from Jessica Stanley, and she probably made it up five seconds before she told you it."

"Well then, where's he been all month?" Alice countered, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Sick?" Jasper shrugged, and Alice rolled her eyes. I had noticed she had a tendency for leaning towards the dramatic.

"I heard he got arrested after he was caught motorbike racing in Port Angeles."

"You hear a lot of things, it doesn't mean they're true," Jasper pointed out, and Alice ignored him.

"People, who are we talking about?" I asked, impatiently. They were going on about this guy as though he were a celebrity.

"Didn't I hear he got that scar above his eyebrow from when he was in that street fighting gang?" Rosalie mused, absent-mindedly running a brush through her hair.

Jasper snorted again. "You two gossip too much."

"Who is he?" I tried again, louder this time.

"Edward Cullen is this total hunk," Rosalie said, "but he's such a player, and he's like, dangerous -"

"Oh, please," Jasper groaned.

" - and there's all sorts of rumours about the stuff he gets up to - ooh, if he's going tonight, that means Emmett definitely is! They're brothers," she explained.

"If I could get a sane word in edgeways," Jasper began, but Alice shushed him by flapping her arms; her phone had started ringing.

"Hello? Did you hear it too?! Oh my God…"

Jasper rolled his eyes at me, and I grinned, totally bemused.

"So let me get this straight," I said. "This guy, Edward… he's an illegal racer, he's in a gang, he's been in prison…?"

"And he's hot," Rosalie added. "And he's in a band. He can play piano."

"Anyone can play piano," Jasper grumbled, clearly fed up of talking about Edward Cullen now.

"Well you can't, Jasper, and you can barely even play that stupid harmonica, so shut up," Rosalie retorted.

I started laughing, and Jasper scowled.

"OK, OK, see you later!" Alice tinkled, and hung up the phone. "It's confirmed!" she announced to us. "He'll almost definitely be going to the party."

"Who cares?" Jasper said. "He's a jerk."

"True," Rosalie agreed. "But he's interesting."

Jasper looked as though he disagreed heavily with this statement, but he decided not to say anything. Alice began to depart all the information she had learned over the phone, as Rosalie went back to her makeup and Jasper played his harmonica.

I fiddled with the hem of the expensive-looking dress Rosalie had lent me. The girls had helped me to get ready first, and I thought I looked acceptable enough; my hair was glossy and wavy, and my makeup was applied better than I could have done it myself. The dress I was wearing was dark blue, and I had black peep toe shoes with scary looking heels to match.

"You look fantastic, Bella," Alice had assured me, and I took her word for it, feeling a little less nervous about tonight. At least I looked OK.

"Right, I think I'm ready," Rosalie said, shoving some cosmetics into her handbag.

"Finally," Jasper commented, hauling himself out of the bean bag chair with difficulty. "I was growing myself a beard, you were taking so long."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Amusing. Shall we go then?"

"Yes!" Alice trilled, jumping off the bed and smoothing down the little black dress she was wearing. She had declared herself ready half an hour ago, and Jasper had been ready in ten minutes, so we had just been waiting on Rosalie, which appeared to be the norm. "I can't wait to get a glimpse of Edward Cullen, nobody's seen him around in so long -"

"Oh, not again," Jasper grumbled under his breath, and I smiled.

I honestly hadn't a clue what the big deal about Edward Cullen was. I was curious.

I had been at the party for over an hour, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was enjoying myself. Alice was flitting around like a butterfly going from flower to flower, introducing me to people, some of whom I vaguely recognised from my classes. I was anxious to get rid of my 'new girl' title as quickly as I could; I hated feeling like I was on display for something.

Jasper separated from us after finding friends of his, introducing them as Peter, Charlotte and Maria. They were all really nice to me, but Alice dragged me off after about five minutes, claiming she was getting me a drink.

"I can't stand that Maria one, she's got nothing but fluff in her head," she muttered, as we walked away.

"It couldn't be anything to do with the way she was flirting with Jasper, could it?" I asked slyly. Maria had laughed at everything that came out of Jasper's mouth, and found any excuse to touch his arm.

"Don't be ridiculous, Bella," Alice said, with disdain. "I don't care who's flirting with Jasper or who isn't."

I felt a bit bad. You could read Alice like a book, and I could see that it had gotten to her. I decided to leave the subject well alone in future.

"Oh, there's Rose," I said, changing the subject. Rosalie was chatting to a complete hunk of a man, who was tall and laced with muscles in every direction.

"Ooh, she's with Emmett," Alice said, now craning her neck as if looking for somebody. "I wonder where Edward is, then?"

We walked up to Emmett and Rosalie, who looked up at us as we approached.

"Hey, Shortie," Emmett said, grinning at Alice.

She huffed. "You know I hate it when you call me that," she gave out, but she was smiling.

"I know, I know," Emmett grinned, "but it suits you so well." His eyes slid over onto me. "Hey, new chick."

I blushed. "Hi," I said, shyly. He seemed to have a constant smirk in his eyes, and he really was incredibly handsome. Rosalie had great taste, too.

"This is Bella," Alice introduced me. "And this is obviously Emmett," she said to me, rolling her eyes.

"The one and only," he said, winking.

After a few minutes of watching Rosalie flirt with him and Alice joke around with him, I decided to go and refill my drink. Emmett was a complete charmer, and he was making me blush so much it was way too embarrassing.

"I'll be back in a minute," I said, and wandered into the kitchen. There was alcohol there, but I didn't bother with it; the last thing I wanted was "remember when that new girl got drunk and danced all over the table wearing nothing but her underwear" type stories going around the school.

I was in the middle of pouring a Coke when I heard a sexy male voice behind me.

"Haven't seen you around here before."

I managed to stop myself from tipping my drink over, and turned to see a completely gorgeous guy standing there. He was definitely the best looking guy I had seen so far in Forks; bronze, windswept hair, deep green eyes, a perfectly sculpted face… he was just so… wow.

"Oh, hi," I said, trying to get a grip of myself. I was so prone to embarrassment in these situations.

"What's your name?" he asked, a small smile on his face. He was looking at me with almost a lazy interest… and they had the same kind of smirk in them that I had noticed in Emmett's.

"Bella. Bella Swan. I've just moved here," I blurted, internally groaning. I might as well just sit him down and tell him the rest of my life story now.

"I see," he said, nodding. "Do you like it so far?"

"It's alright," I said, unable to think of anything witty I could say instead. My mind was a complete blank. He really was beyond gorgeousness, and guys like this just twisted my tongue.

I was about to ask him his name, when we were suddenly interrupted.

"Edward, put your eyes back in your head," Emmett boomed, slapping a hand against his back. "This chick is way out of your league."

Edward… the Edward Cullen?

I watched him as he muttered "whatever" and walked away, feeling a definite disappointment. Emmett leaned towards me then, conspiracy style.

"Don't let that brother of mine charm you," he said, his eyes sincere. "I trust you've heard stories about him?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Just a few," I answered carefully.

"Well, that means you haven't heard them all," Emmett said, shaking his head at his brother. "He's a bit of a player. I'm only saying this 'cause you're new, and you're Rosalie and Alice's friend, and I just don't want to see you get screwed around, especially if it's by my own bro. OK?"

"Oh," I replied, kind of touched. "OK. Thanks for looking out for my ass, then."

As gorgeous as Edward was, Emmett probably knew what he was talking about.

"No problemo," Emmett grinned. "I'll always look out for your ass, don't worry. I've never seen an ass quite like it," he joked, and I blushed furiously.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Rosalie said, appearing from nowhere, eyeing both of us suspiciously. I didn't want her thinking I was trying to make moves on the guy she obviously liked, so I hastened to explain what just happened. Rosalie gawked at me with an open mouth, before turning and hitting Emmett on the arm.

"Ouch!" he complained. "What did I do to deserve that?!"

"Edward freaking Cullen tried to chat up Bella, and you scared him off!" Rosalie said, incredulous. "What on earth were you thinking?"

Emmett studied both of us for a minute, and then rolled his eyes. "You girls. The way ye go on, you'd think Edward was some sort of God. Hate to break it to you, but he's just my lazy brother who never cleans his room and cuts himself shaving."

The three of us ended up back in the living room again, joining Alice and Jasper, who was sans Maria all of a sudden.

Alice nudged me in the side, winking. "There's Edward," she stage-whispered, inclining her head in his direction. I looked over, and there he was, draped across a chair, looking completely bored, and utterly gorgeous. It was so hard to look away from him. My heart fluttered when he suddenly looked up and met my gaze, but he looked away again after a moment, disinterestedly. I blushed, dropping my eyes to the floor.

I still couldn't help feeling disappointed that Emmett had interrupted us before. It wasn't often that guys as good looking as Edward tried to chat me up, and what sane girl wouldn't want an Edward Cullen look-alike chatting them up, anyway? I supposed I'd have to get over it.

The rest of the party was quite entertaining. Alice attempted to get Emmett to dish the dirt on his brother, but to no avail. "I don't gossip," Emmett had said, tapping his nose. I had been introduced to a few more people, and I was beginning to feel a little more comfortable with my brand new friends. I hadn't expected it to be this easy for me to make friends, and be so comfortable with them after only a week. I didn't miss Phoenix quite so much now.

Alice declared she was leaving around twelve, and since I was staying at her house, that meant I was going to.

"I have a curfew," Alice said, rolling her eyes. "But my parents promised they'd extend it if I acted responsible for a whole month."

I grinned. "I'll grab our coats."

I left Alice saying goodbye to everyone, and made my way into the dark hallway, looking for our jackets amidst the pile that had been draped over the banister.

"Leaving already?"

I jumped. My head whipped around; Edward Cullen was leaning against the wall, half hidden by shadows, smoking. He was eyeing me speculatively.

"Oh, hi again," I said brightly, cursing my lack of coolness.

Edward took a drag of the cigarette, still gazing at me with those gorgeous green eyes. "You don't have to go yet," he said slowly. "It's not that late. I can take you to a real party. I have a spare helmet."

Ah, so he must be the owner of the large silver motorbike outside. There had been a crowd of admirers around it when we arrived.

I was tempted; he was gorgeous and intriguing, but he probably said the exact same thing to every other girl who had the misfortune of being completely dazzled by him. I didn't want to be another statistic to him, another score on his list.

"I don't know…" I said, trying to buy time to think of a good excuse.

"Well, if it's past your bedtime already, I mean, fair enough," Edward said, shrugging.

"No," I retorted, feeling annoyed. "It's not that -"

"You don't go places with strangers," he suggested, raising an eyebrow. He smirked. "When you stop abiding by your rulebook, let me know. Although, I don't know if I'll be interested then…"

Before I could say a word, he had swaggered out of the front door, and was gone.

I just stood there, slightly shocked, listening to the sound of the motorbike as it sped away from the house.