Reunion – by KeepersOfTheNaughtySparkle

Stephenie Meyer owns the whole lot - we've got nothin'!

Chapter 1 - She's So High

(EPOV)

Pull it together Cullen. You aren't the nerd you were in high school.

"Fuck!" I yelled, exhausted by all of my dumb jittery nerves. I raked my hands through my hair again and went in for the pep talk.

I looked myself over in the mirror.

Glasses gone - check.

Braces off - check.

Actual muscles - check.

Ok, not so bad I guess.

Just the thought of stepping back in that gymnasium was enough to make me want to say fuck it all.

Except if I don't step in there, I might never see her again. Am I really putting myself through this just so I can see Bella again?

Bella and I had been friends ever since she moved to Forks her junior year, friends being the operative word. We met in Biology class. I was the guy everyone cheated off during tests, but not Bella. She always held her own. She never talked to me because she needed answers or help. She talked to me because she wanted to know how I was. How was I? I was in love, and I was a big pussy who couldn't tell the girl of my dreams I was in love with her.

By senior year, Bella had started dating Mike Newton, the very bane of my existence. He was pretty much everything I wasn't: football player, confident, good looking, and Bella's boyfriend.

Bella and I had almost every class together, and we would talk about everything. I knew more about her than anyone else, I am sure of that, but at the end of every class, there he was. Mike would be leaning up against the wall with his dumb spiky blond hair just waiting for Bella like a puppy.

By the time we reached graduation, I had worked up the nerve to tell her how I felt. Fuck Newton. He wasn't good enough for her anyway. I decided to tell her after the ceremony.

Once our caps had been tossed, and everyone was taking the obligatory pictures with their parents, I went looking for Bella. There were caps and gowns everywhere, worn by other graduates just itching to finish up so they could make it to Tyler Crowley's big graduation party.

I finally spotted her in the sea of people, standing next to Charlie with the sweetest smile on her face. Her mahogany hair was down around her face and her big chocolate eyes had a twinkle in them. Everyone looks awful in graduation gowns, but not Bella. The blue of the gown made her milky skin look beautiful in the sun.

I had always wanted her, and I was finally going to follow through.

I walked over to them and greeted Charlie, then angled for her attention.

"Bella, can we walk a minute?" I asked her, trying to mask my nervousness. She nodded, and told Charlie she'd see him later, and then followed me.

"So are you excited about Dartmouth?" she asked as we walked around the bleachers.

"Sure, it's pretty much been my dream since I was a little kid." I replied, while internally trying to gather my courage.

There was a long silence, which was weird, because there was never silence with Bella. She began fiddling with the tassel of her cap, and looked up at me from under those thick lashes, as if she could hear all of the impure thoughts that were running through my head.

It's now or never Cullen, I told myself.

Before I could say a word, she reached up and hugged me. This was the first time we had ever had any type of physical contact other than accidental. I couldn't move at first, the familiar electric shock I always felt when we touched paralyzing me. She had her head buried in my chest. I finally put my arms around her and my nose went straight into her hair. That fucking glorious hair…I had dreamed about touching it, grabbing it.

Oh God, I thought.

All I could smell was gardenias, like from my mom's garden, and honey. The scent of her alone was enough to get my heart racing, but actually having her in my arms was causing my hormones to erupt in a very hard and noticeable way. I was losing it and I knew had to pull my shit together.

I tried to open my mouth, and force the words come out, but she was already pulling away. I really had no idea how long we had been hugging, it could have been ten seconds or ten minutes.

Shit! Too late…

"Edward," she half whispered, "you have always been such a good friend to me. I just wanted to thank you for being so nice to me when I first came here. I know you are going to be really busy next year, but I hope we can keep in touch. I'm going to miss you."

Alarms started going off in my head.

DANGER! DANGER, WILL ROBINSON! SHE SAID FRIEND!

She said friend. You are so screwed buddy, was all I could think.

Just like that, I went back to being Edward Cullen, PussyOut-Extraordinaire.

"Yeah, I want to keep in touch too," I said weakly, while trying to subtly move myself a little further from her, to make sure my fucking hard-on didn't betray my previous thoughts.

"Are you and Mike going to be back for Thanksgiving?" I asked.

"No. Since the University of Florida is only about an hour and a half from Renee I'll go see her," she replied quietly without looking at me.

Angela walked by, and Bella surprised me by asking her to take a picture of us.

Just like that the moment had passed.

Two weeks later, I was packing my car for Dartmouth, since I had been accepted into their summer program and needed to leave right away. My dad had stood by my car with a proud look on his face, and my mom looked like I was moving to Antarctica, and was behaving as if she would never see me again.

We said our goodbyes, and right as I was about to leave, my mom took an envelope out of her pocket.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry I forgot to give this to you. It was on the front porch this morning", she sniffled as she handed me the white envelope.

Without even opening it, I knew it was from Bella. I took the envelope, got in my car, and promised myself I would get out of Forks before opening it.

I started heading east, and just before I had made it to the I-5, I pulled into a gas station and parked the Volvo. I pulled the envelope from the visor and with a deep breath I tore open the envelope and removed the contents.

It was the photo of us on graduation day.

I looked in to see if there was a note… nothing. On the back of the picture she had written "Edward and Bella, Graduation 1999", nothing else. Right there in my car I put away all of my thoughts and hopes for Bella. The message was clear.

She had only wanted me as a friend.

So now I found myself, 10 years later, getting ready for our stupid high school reunion.

I thought I had packed Bella away that day, but she had always followed me.

In college, after my braces had come off, my body filled out, and I traded my glasses for contacts, girls started paying attention to me. I am not going to lie, getting them to come back to my dorm…touching, feeling, kissing… I enjoyed it, but something never felt right. I did it anyway.

Soon the girls became women, and the touching and kissing turned into blowjobs and one-night stands. It still never felt right, but it was better than nothing.

I ran into Bella's friend Rosalie once, while I was on business in New York. She and Bella had remained long distance friends after high school, and she'd told me Bella was doing well. Rosalie had explained that Bella had made a friend in Florida, and she and they'd started a clothing line together. I wanted to know more, but I was too much of a chicken-shit to ask if she was married. That was the last I had heard about Bella.

"Yo! Douche bag, you're not ready yet?" I was pulled back to the present at the sound of my older brother's yell.

I looked Jasper over. His curly blond hair was peeking out from under a vintage looking fedora and was sporting a vest with a pocket watch hanging from the pocket.

Very 'Rat Pack'. How in the hell could we be so different?

"So, tell me again why you're coming with me tonight?" I asked, looking at him out of the corner of my eye while I tried to fix my tie.

"Because I can't let my little bro go in there and become the fucking idiot you used to be when you see her."

I snapped my head around so quickly I almost knocked the ridiculous hat right off of his head.

"What are you talking about 'when I see her'?" I all but spit out at him.

Jasper just gave me a shit-eating grin, cocked his head to the side, and looked me dead in the eye. "Tonight, my boy, you are going to fuck Bella Swan right out of your system."

AN - Our chapters are somewhat inspired by the fantabulous songs of 1999. As we add chapters we will add a play list for your listening enjoyment. This Chapter is brought to you by Tal Bachman - She's so High and our very own TFX - Trin you rock!

We hope you enjoyed our first installment check back later in the week for Chapter 2 - Waiting For Tonight - After this week we hope to maintain a weekly update schedule!

3 Katie, Trin and Meg