A/N: This is just a sweet story I wrote about Edward and Bella. There will be more chapters, about 11 I think, plus an epilogue. It includes appearances by a lot of the other characters, but it's not really about them. It's all human. This isn't my first fanfiction, just the first thing I've posted on this site. I hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I'm not Stephanie Meyers, I don't own her characters, I just love them.

Ch 1

Twinkle

"House in five!"

"Thank you, five," I mumbled, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

"Hey, Bella!"

"Hm?" I whipped my head around. It was our stage manager, Lauren. I hated her. She was a control freak and a bitch.

"You've watched every rehearsal, haven't you?"

"It's my job," I said. I was the production assistant, meaning I sat around at rehearsals and did odd jobs for the director. During the show, I was supposed to assist the props mistress. I also painted the majority of the set, but I didn't really get any credit for that.

"Yeah, so, we're kind of desperate, one of the little girls in the chorus called just about five minutes ago, we've been trying to get a hold of her since call, but anyway, she's apparently puking her guts out, so we need you to go out there."

I choked on my smoke.

"What?"

"It's a really small part," she said, "and I told Reece to just have one of the other girls say her line, but you know how she gets. She wants you to fill in for her."

"Why me?" I asked.

Lauren shrugged. "Director's orders. Anyway, go back to costumes, then get in hair and make-up as fast as you can."

"Who am I playing?" I asked.

"You know the girl with the shortish light brown hair?"

"Freckles, really skinny?"

"Yes, that one."

"Jenny."

"Sure."

"Oh, I'm so glad I decided to take this boat?"

"Yes, that's the line!" said Lauren. "I guess that's why you. Go get into costume. House in…" she looked at her watch, "three."

"Thank you, three," I said, and ran back in the building and back to costumes, where Jessica, our costume girl, was running around frantically. It was opening night, and she was always behind.

"Hold on, Mike, let me stitch that up!" shouted Jessica. "Where are you going?"

"Mike!" I heard Lauren yell from behind me. "You were supposed to get into costume before hair and make-up!"

"Sorry," said Mike awkwardly, "the mirrors were full, and—"

"Don't give me excuses, Mike," Lauren snapped before walking off. I rolled my eyes.

"You look good Mike," I assured him.

"Thanks," he smiled at me.

I pushed through.

"Jessica," I said, "hate to bother you, but I need Jenny's costume, fast."

"Over on the rack," she said, "navy blue skirt, white shirt, should be the only one up there."

"Thanks!" I said over my shoulder, jumping over a chair, stripping my shirt off as I went. I pulled on the costume as fast as I could, then made for the make-up tables. I grabbed some foundation and smeared it on, adding some blush, eye-liner, and mascara.

"Red lipstick anyone?" I asked to anyone listening. Someone handed me a tube of lipstick. "Thanks." I pushed the make-up around, searching for some eye shadow. I finally found some and finished up my face. I smacked my lips and smeared my eye lids. I was ready enough for the stage. I looked around for Eric, our hair guy. I saw him chatting with one of the actresses in the corner.

"Eric!" I yelled. "Help please!" He rushed over.

"Since when are you in the show?"

"I'm a chorus girl. Fill-in. Don't ask me, it's Reece's decision."

"Alright," he shrugged and pulled out his hair spray. I was hopeless with hair, but Eric was very good and very fast. Within minutes I had a workable 'do.

"Thanks so much," I said before jumping out of my chair and rushing back to costumes.

"Anyone have any extra tights?" I asked the room at large.

"There should be some on that shelf back there," Jessica said, pointing.

"Character shoes?" I asked. She raised an eyebrow, looked around, and shrugged.

"Shit, shit, shit," I said, grabbing the tights and pulling them on.

"Bella, Jenny left her shoes over here," said another one of the chorus girls.

"Oh, thanks so much Tina!" I said, rushing over.

"Curtain in 5!"

"Thank you 5!"

I pulled on the shoes. They had taps on them, but I wasn't going to be tapping. There was no way. I'd go on for the scenes she stood or talked in, but I couldn't tap. I wondered again why Reece would make me get into costume and make-up just to say one line and stand on stage. It would be so much easier just to have one of the other girls say the line.

I hadn't been on stage since high school. I was now a sophomore in college, and since I'd come here I'd done nothing but back-stage work, mostly set work like painting. I needed another cigarette, but there wasn't time. I went back to see Angela, the props mistress.

"Angela, I'm sorry but I don't know how much I can be back here tonight, Reece has me filling in for a chorus girl."

"Really?" she asked. "Alright, well don't worry about it. Go follow the other girls, I don't want you missing any entrances."

"Thanks," I said, giving her a quick hug. Angela was my favorite. I quickly followed her advice and found Tina.

"Alright Tina, I'm just going to follow you guys. I know the line, but I'm not sure about the entrances and stuff."

"That's fine," said Tina. "We go on for the first scene and pose for Tyler, you know, he plays the photographer."

"Right," I said, nodding. I knew all of the actors, chorus and bit parts included.

"After that," she said, "we exit with everyone else for the first song."

I nodded. "Sounds easy enough." I took a deep breath.

"Places!" we heard Lauren say softly as she passed. "Twinkle, everyone!"

Twinkle was what Reece always told us before we went on stage, before every rehearsal, and before pictures. She thought we had more energy and stage presence if we were trying really hard to twinkle. She was weird, but we loved her.

"Come on," Tina said, grabbing my arm and pulling me to the curtain. "Where's Amy?"

"I'm right here," whispered Amy, appearing behind us. Then we heard the first notes from the orchestra pit. We waited nervously until the curtains opened, then we walked out on stage.

At first I was blinded by the stage lights. I'd forgotten about that part. I blinked a few times but kept smiling. Tina, Amy, and I giggled and posed for the photographer, thinking 'twinkle' to myself. This kind of thing wasn't really my specialty, but I did what I had to. I preferred to stay behind the curtain. Once the photographer walked away, we were just supposed to stand there in character and try not to be noticed. I decided to check out the audience, to see if we had a full house or not. I glanced out past the stage. I couldn't see everything clearly, because of the stage lights in my eyes, but I could tell we were pretty full. That was good. My eyes raked the crowd.

I froze. Someone in the third row, sitting directly in front of me, had caught my eye. He was looking right at me. I was held captive by his beautiful, deep eyes. I couldn't tell what color they were from the stage, but they looked light, maybe blue, green, or light hazel. He was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

I jumped. Someone had kicked the back of my leg. I turned a little and saw Tina behind me, subtly trying to get me to walk off stage. I kicked myself mentally. I hadn't been paying attention, and now everyone was off stage except the main actor, me, Tina, and Amy, who had thankfully stayed with me. I loved them for it but I felt bad, so I just giggled characteristically and skipped my way off stage.

"I'm so sorry, guys!" I whispered to them.

"It's ok," said Tina.

"What happened?" Amy asked.

"I don't know, I guess I just blanked," I said.

I spent the rest of the first act concentrating very hard and studiously not thinking about the mysterious boy in the third row. I allowed myself to think about him during intermission while I smoked my two cigarettes, but after that I went back to concentrating on following Tina and Amy. I got out my one line just fine, and finally it was time for the curtain call.

I couldn't resist taking another peek. I glanced slyly toward where he was sitting. There he was, still sitting there, still staring at me. Once again, I got caught up in his eyes, but this time I was prepared, and I wrenched myself away in time to catch what was happening. I smiled and bowed at the right times, then waited for the curtain fall. I got out of there after it closed, not waiting around for it to open up again. I got out of costume fast and back into my back stage clothes, wiping off my lipstick as I went. I quickly said my goodbyes and started walking toward the back door, but then I stopped. That door led out to the parking lot, but I hadn't driven here. I had walked from my dorm. I didn't want to walk around the entire building, especially at this late hour. To go out the front door on the campus side, I would have to go through the house. That would mean risking seeing the mysterious boy.

But was that such a bad thing? He was so gorgeous…what if I never saw him again? I decided that I wanted to go through the house. I turned around and went back on stage. The stars were all being hugged and presented with flowers, so I slipped past them.

"Call tomorrow at 6!" Lauren was saying to anyone who passed.

"Thank you 6," I said, not caring if she heard me or not. I didn't look up until I got down the steps.

"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed. "Sorry!" I had nearly run into someone standing at the bottom of the steps, no doubt taking flowers up to someone. I started to walk around them, still not looking up.

"It's no problem," I heard a velvet voice say, making me freeze. I turned around and looked up. It was him. And his eyes were green. He was also very tall, thin, but still muscled, and pale, with copper hair.

"Oh," I said softly.

"I was hoping you'd come back through here," he said. "I considered going around and waiting by the parking lot, but I didn't know if you lived on campus or not. Plus, I didn't want to seem like a stalker." He paused for a minute as I stared at him. "Sorry," he said. "I probably still seem like a stalker. I only wanted to tell you I thought you did wonderfully tonight."

I laughed. "I'm just a fill-in," I said quietly. Turn around and leave, I told myself. I almost couldn't do it, but then I did. I turned around and put one foot in front of the other.

"Wait," he said. I couldn't help but obey. His sweet, silky voice had some weird power over me. I stopped before I had even taken my second step and turned back around to face him. Wow, he was beautiful.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "I didn't mean to offend you in anyway, or come across as rude. I was entirely sincere in what I said. You did a great job."

"All I did was stand there," I said. "Why are you singling me out? What about Katie, the girl who played Hope? She did a better job than I did."

He shrugged. "To be quite honest, I didn't even watch her. You held my full attention."

I was silent. What was there to say to that? After a moment, I murmured a thank you and turned around and walked away again. This time he didn't stop me. I desperately wished that my hair was down so that I could use it as a shield, but Eric had done a good job on it. It wasn't going anywhere. I kept my eyes to the floor as I walked away. When I got to the door, I chanced a look back. He was still standing there, watching me.

A/N: I'm not going to beg for reviews, but...you know...if you want to... Also, a whole batch of cookies and a shout out to anyone who can guess what play they're doing! Thanks for reading!