Disclaimer: I unfortunately don't own Twilight or any of its characters. Or any Taylor Swift songs either.....

AN: So this is my first attempt at a Twilight fic. Lemme know what ya think of it! It's loosely based on the Taylor Swift song I'd Lie, although that influence comes in later in the story. Hope yall enjoy it! Without further ado.....

Ch. 1

Curled up in bed, I was completely absorbed in my tattered old copy of Wuthering Heights. I had just started rereading it again, for who knows how many times; I lost count a long time ago. I was in the midst of Mr. Lockwood's dream, when he sees Catherine's ghost at the window, begging to be let in.

Tap tap.

My gaze shot up from the book and locked onto my window where the sound had come from. I held my breath, waiting for it to sound again.

Tap tap.

I threw the book down and darted across the room, as far away from the window as I could go. My heart was racing. What the hell?

"Bella?" a voice I recognized all too well whispered from outside the closed window. "Bella, are you in there?"

Releasing my breath, I giggled to myself. Of course I would freak myself out over nothing. Darn book.

"Bella, I know you're in there. I can hear you laughing. Let me in."

Rushing to the window, I threw the curtain aside only to see the grinning face of my best friend. I unlocked the window and pushed it open, stepping back to let him in.

"Took you long enough. Geez, were you going to make me stand out there all night?" He asked as he bent his tall form through the window frame.

"Sorry, I was caught up in my reading," I said, still slightly out of breath from my near heart attack.

He peered at me curiously. "What's wrong with you? Did you just run a marathon or something?"

I blushed as I looked down at my feet, but my gaze betrayed me as it slid to the book laying open on the floor.

He followed my gaze. "Ah, reading scary stories again?" He strolled over to the book and picked it up to examine the cover. "Wuthering Heights? Again? Man, how many times have you read this thing?"

"Only a few….dozen times," I replied with a grin.

"You should have it memorized by now. Let me guess, you were at the part where Catherine's ghost appears to Mr. Lockwood?" My face flushed again in answer. "You'd think that part wouldn't freak you out anymore," he said, flipping through the book carelessly.

I stomped over to him and grabbed it from his hands. "It doesn't. You just happened to be tapping at the window while I was reading it. I think you were trying to creep me out on purpose!"

He chuckled in reply. "Oh Bella, it doesn't take much, does it?"

I snorted and crossed my arms in front of me. Glancing at the clock on my stand, the red light indicated it was after 1 in the morning. "Anyway, what are you doing over here at this time of night?"

"What, didn't you miss me?" He asked with a puppy dog look.

"I saw you like 5 hours ago. Plus you live right next door. I would never have a chance to miss you if I wanted to," I teased back.

"Well, anyways, I couldn't sleep, so I went ahead and made you that mix of new artists I was telling you about earlier," he said as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a CD case. "I decided I couldn't deprive you of their greatness a moment longer. And I knew you were still up because your light was on."

"Oooo, yay!" I said as I took the CD from his hands. "You're the best friend ever, you do know that, don't you?"

"Well, of course I am," he smirked.

"And there goes the ego," I sighed dramatically. "I can't believe—shh," I whispered, placing my index finger over my lips. We both turned to face the door, hearing the shuffle of feet on the hardwood floors. We listened to them get louder as they approached the door, trying to stifle our laughs.

"Edward?" Charlie's deep voice called through the door.

"Uh, yes sir?"

"Go home." Charlie tried to sound serious but we could both hear his chuckle as he turned around to head back to his bedroom.

"Right away sir," Edward mock-saluted the door, before turning to bow to me. "Good night, milady."

I giggled as I curtseyed back. "Good night, good sir."

"Your carriage will await you at 7:15 tomorrow morning," he said as he headed toward the window.

"I thank you kind sir," I said, keeping up the charade as he slipped through my window.

"Until tomorrow then," Edward's grin flashed once in the shadows before he disappeared form sight.

Shutting and locking the window, I sighed, then glanced at the CD in my hands, and the forgotten book lying on the floor. Like I'd be getting any sleep now.

"Beeelllaa," Alice dragged out my name for emphasis. "Someone's staring at you longingly again."

I didn't even have to turn around to know that she was referring to Mike Newton, who sat two lunch tables over from our group. For some reason, since the beginning of this year, and for no reason at all, he has decided to trail behind me like a puppy half the time and stare at me the other half. He hardly even talked to me before this year. I blame teenage hormones.

"Awww Bella, you aren't going to return the gesture and stare lovingly into his eyes?" Emmett asked, fluttering his eyelashes at me. "Harsh, man," Emmett chuckled, before Rosalie slapped him upside the head. She always knew how to keep her boyfriend in line.

Edward and Jasper joined us with their trays, Jasper going straight for a kiss from Alice and Edward settling next to me.

"What are we talking about?" Edward asked as he twisted the cap off his water bottle.

Emmett wisely remained silent this time, but Alice managed to tear herself away from Jasper to answer her brother.

"Oh, just another round of poor love struck puppy starving for attention," she giggled as I buried my head in my arms.

"So Newton." Edward phrased it as a statement instead of a question.

"I wish he'd just take a hint and leave me alone," I muttered, my voice muffled from my arms.

"Aww, cheer up Bella, at least he's harmless," Emmett shrugged as he engulfed a piece of pizza.

"But still, you'd think he'd give up by now. I mean, you've rejected him like how many times?" Rosalie asked.

I sighed. "I've lost count."

"Well, at least there's only….1….2….3….4….5….6 months left of school!" Emmett said cheerfully.

"Is that supposed to help?" I asked sarcastically.

"Just keep ignoring him. And if he really keeps pestering you, us guys will scare him into leaving you alone," Jasper added, and Emmett began showing off by flexing his muscles while Rosalie just ignored him, rolling her eyes.

Edward had been suspiciously quiet during the exchange. I nudged him playfully with my elbow, which seemed to snap him out of his zone out. He shot me a quick grin, before becoming solemn again.

"But seriously Bells, if Newton gets to be too much, let me know," he said quietly, the others not paying any attention at the moment. "I'll take care of it."

I was startled by his seriousness, and nodded my head to let him know I would. Wanting to change the subject, I thanked him for the CD he had brought over last night.

"Glad you like it. My favorite is track 3…"

And the rest of lunch we were lost in our own little world of music.

I stepped out into the nearly empty halls and headed toward my locker. I hadn't realized I'd been talking to Mr. Berty so long about our next project. I stumbled once as I picked up the pace, knowing Edward was waiting for me to give me a ride home.

I was just slamming my locker door shut when the hairs on the back on my neck stood on end. Someone was behind me. And standing waaaay too close.

Turning slowly, my fright turned to annoyance as I saw it was Mike.

"Hey Bella," he said as he took a step back, thankfully.

"Hi Mike," I said, before turning to head toward the doors that led to the parking lot.

"Wait, Bella," He said, reaching out and grabbing my wrist.

I stopped, looking from his hand encircling my arm to his face. Well this was new.

"Mike, I really need to go. My ride's waiting."

"Okay, okay," he said, releasing me. "Well, I just wanted to see….well see there's this party Friday….and I was hoping…well, you know, that you might…go with me?"

"Oh, sorry Mike, but I'm going to Port Angeles this weekend so I can't go," I said the first thing that popped into my head, wanting to speed this along and also not wanting to go with him but letting him down easy.

He shoved his hands in his pocket, looking really disappointed. "Oh, okay."

I instantly felt guilty, but pushed it aside knowing that I really did not like Mike at all.

I heard the door at the end of the hall open, before a shadow stepped into the doorway.

"Bella?" I heard Edward's voice, before he took a step in our direction.

Smiling in relief, I turned back to Mike, apologizing once again, before heading toward Edward.

He placed an arm around my shoulder when I reached him, glancing back to glare at Mike once before turning back to me.

"Are you alright?" He questioned softly. "He didn't do anything, did he?" He asked, anger beginning to creep into his voice.

"No, no, nothing like that. He just asked me out again. That's all. I tried to let him down easy."

"I swear Bella, I'm going to be spending all of my time scaring guys away from you with a baseball bat," he said as he opened the passenger door for me.

I just rolled my eyes as I slid into the seat of his silver Volvo.

"Bella, you have to come to the party with us!" Alice whined as she flipped through a clothing rack at her favorite new boutique. She had tricked me into going shopping with her under the pretense of giving me a lift home. Manipulative little pixie…

I sighed dramatically. "Alice, I've already told you why I can't go. I told Mike I couldn't go because I was going to be out of town. There's no way I'm going to show up to it now, after I've said that," I explained for the third time while I followed Alice around the store while she picked random things off the rack.

"I know, it's just that we're all going so you have to come! Plus there will be a ton of people there so you probably won't even see him at all. And if you do, he'll probably not even remember what you had told him anyway! Or you could just tell him you decided to postpone the Port Angeles trip."

Alice could see I was close to folding and went in for the kill.

"Besides, you haven't been out in ages. Do you really want to spend another Friday night all alone with a book, or go out in the world and live. Be a real teenager for once! Come on, it'll be loads of fun! Plus I need your help keeping my brother in line," Alice smiled cheekily.

"More like keeping him safe from the hormones of teenage girls."

Alice and I couldn't help but laugh at that, remembering too many times when Edward desperately sought refuge from us from the mass of girls that hit on him. He spent a lot of parties in a twisted game of hide and seek from certain girls, that he usually lost anyway.

I had to admit, my best friend was quite attractive.

I weighed my options. A quiet night in by myself. A night out with all of my best friends.

"Alright, alright. You've talked me into it."

Alice jumped in the air, clapping her hands in excitement.

"Yay!! I knew you'd say yes! That's why while you were pretending to decide, I've put together the perfect outfit for you." She pulled several hangers from behind her back and shoved them in my direction. "To the dressing room!"

"Alice!"

Well there it is. I know it's short, but that was really the best place to cut it off for now. What did ya think? Any suggestions, input or ideas? And I have a question for you guys: so far I've only written it from Bellas POV but would yall want to have other POVs too? Like from who? Edward? Alice? Mike? Just lemme know what yall wanna see and what you thought about it! Thanks so much for reading too!

Until next time,

Western