Chapter 1 – Time to Change

AN: This is my first fan-fic so please be nice. More later…

EPOV

"Eddie?"

I turned at the sound of her voice and there she was. The most beautiful person on the planet… Isabella Swan. She was the reason that I even went to school anymore. I was what my mother had lovingly coined as a 'reluctant genius' and had finished all of my finals in my junior year. I was now a senior and I could have headed off to university early but I didn't want to leave. I had stayed for Bella, my best friend and oblivious love of my life, so that I could graduate with her and the rest of my family. My twin sister, by date of birth only because we were nothing at all alike, was also a senior along with her boyfriend Jasper and his twin sister Rosalie. My big brother Emmett, who should have graduated last year, had flunked his finals to repeat his final year and to graduate with Rosalie who he had been dating since they had met as freshman. We all lived in the small town of Forks, Washington and attended the local school, Forks High School.

"Hey," I said, smiling timidly at her. "Have a good date?" I internally winced at the word, but reminded myself that she would never like me that way and was free to date whoever she liked, even a douche bag like Mike Newton.

"No, it was awful." Her face fell and I felt a stab of anger and anxiety. What had he done! If he hurt her I would make sure he never had the chance to reproduce. She must have seen some of the emotion I felt flicker across my face because she hurriedly continued. "No, no! Nothing like that Eddie, he was just really boring." I sighed, relieved that I wouldn't have to confront Mike. I didn't like to fight with people; I generally just kept my head down and let them do what they liked. Unfortunately, this often involved me, since I wasn't exactly the coolest kid in school.

I was a geek, plain and simple. I wore thick, black rimmed glasses and boring, baggy shirts. I was thin, tall and quiet and, unless you had blond hair and Adonis-like good looks like Jasper, that combination meant that you had to be either a geek or gay. Since I was certainly not gay I had let the 'popular group' label me as a geek and pretty soon that was what I had become. I wasn't happy about it, but I didn't get too much stick because of my brother and sister. Emmett thought he owned the school, and to be fair to him he probably did. Rosalie was head cheerleader and sure in for Prom Queen. Jasper was the suave, calm guy that every guy wanted to be and every girl wanted to be with. And Alice, well what can I say… it was just impossible to not like her. She was bubbly and fun loving, bordering on hyper, and she was everyone's best friend.

Their combined influence meant that I was untouchable as far as pranks and physical abuse went, but it didn't stop the snide comments and laughs I got in the halls between classes. Alice had tried more than once to help me improve my street-cred but I resisted, turning instead to the library for comfort. That had been where I had met Bella.

She had arrived from out of state in the second semester of my junior year, and had immediately made an impression. Her combination of selfless humility and beauty had allowed her to keep to herself and have a chance at breaking into the popular crowd, but she had chosen to shun the advances of the plastic wannabe Rosalie's, Jessica and Lauren, and talk to me instead. She had approached me in the library, we had discovered a joint love of Debussy and Jane Austen and we had been best friends ever since.

I had been content to be her friend, considering my dramatic lack of them, until the start of the new school year. Suddenly, I had begun to notice the difference in my feelings; I started to feel jealous when a guy asked her out and feel urges to kiss her when her face got a little bit too close to mine. Gradually, over a period of about three months, I had realised that I was in love with her. The only problem was that she was an angel and I was a dorky geek.

I looked down at my red and white plaid shirt and grimaced. I would never be good enough for her.

"Eddie," she said my name unsurely. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah," I smiled up at her and held out my arm for her to take. "Walk you to class?"

"Always!" she said, grinning like a Cheshire Cat. She slid her arm around mine and gently squeezed my forearm. "Let's go."

The rest of the day passed quickly, the usual taunts and laughs at my clothes and glasses washing over my head. It was the last day of school before Spring Break and, although I wouldn't see Bella for a whole week, I wouldn't miss the constant torment of my fellow students.

I quickly packed up my books at the end of Spanish, gave Bella a goodbye hug and rushed out of school to catch a lift home with Alice and Jasper. They were talking to Lauren Mallory, one of Rosalie's mini-mes and Tyler Crowley, another equally obnoxious guy with a serious superiority complex. I waited a few metres away until they had finished talking and then got into the back of Alice's yellow Porsche Turbo. My own car, a beautiful vintage Volvo, was in Rosalie's garage having been involved in an unfortunate incident involving Lauren's Mercedes and a lake. She claimed that she had done nothing and I had agreed not to press charges but my poor car was un-drivable.

When we arrived at the house I went straight to the pool, and lay in one of the loungers reading until it went dark. I couldn't see the point of having a pool in one of the wettest, dreariest places on Earth but, as my mother Esme had pointed out, it was nice to pretend we had some sun, even when we didn't.

I was lying there, watching the sky darken when I saw one of Alice's girly magazines lying on the deck beside the lounger. I picked it up, intending to take it inside to stop it getting it wet if…no scratch that, when it rained, and flipped languidly through the pages. One article in particular caught my attention as the word 'GEEK' flashed past my eyes in a shocking shade of neon pink. It was to dark to make out much of the writing, so I got up and headed into the house.

Once inside I opened up the magazine to that page again.

'GEEK TO GREEK IN 7 DAYS' it said boldly. Intrigued I read on:

'Is your man gorgeous on the inside but in need of a bit of hottying (AN: I don't think this a word and if it's not I'm claiming it.) up on the surface. Do you have a Greek God with no self-confidence who could do with a helping hand to let his inner sexiness shine through. If yes, follow our 10 simple steps to help him release his inner Adonis.'

Hmm, I wasn't a girl, but I was a guy who needed help. Neither was I a God underneath my boring exterior, but it couldn't hurt to give it a go. Hell, Bella might even like it if I looked less geek-like.

With that my mind was made up, if I couldn't transform myself into an Adonis, I could at least try to impress Bella. Goodbye geeky, weedy Eddie…Hello confident, studly Edward!

I jumped up from my seat at the breakfast bar and went to find Alice. I was going to need some help!

AN: Please press that gorgeous green button just under this and tell me what you think. I will read, reply to and cherish each individually, even if it just says: 'This was shit!' I would love to know whether it's any good or really awful and if I have a chance in this fan-fic writing shizzle. I love criticism and advice almost as much as praise, it helps motivate me, so do your worst. Thank you!