A Certain Point of View by LyricalKris

Official Description:

A wise man once said, “Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” A love story as seen through the eyes of friends and passersby.

Word Count: 39,887

There are only so many ways to tell a story, or so I thought before I ran across A Certain Point of View by LyricalKris. There are many different stories in the Twi-fandom. Far too many to even begin to read. The vast majority are told in EPOV or BPOV or some combination of the two, or third person. That probably covers about 99% of the fics I’ve read, at least, and I can’t imagine my tastes are vastly different from yours.

LyricalKris put a new spin on the Edward and Bella love story. Oh sure, it actually goes like many of them do. Boy meets girl, boy pursues girl, she’s got a secret and keeps pushing him away, he persists, wears her down and love is just around the corner. I love this kind of story, so don’t think I’m diminishing it, I’m just breaking it down to its simplest form so that I can show you what LyricalKris did so wonderfully to make her story different from anything else I’ve ever read.

Instead of Edward and Bella’s viewpoints, we get viewpoints from many different Twilight characters, some of whom I didn’t even remember (did you remember the name of the waitress that waited on E&B on their first unofficial date? LK did!) They tell us the story of the first time Edward and Bella set eyes on each other and take us through his attempts to get her to go out with him.

Tanya takes us through their first interaction:

Edward made small talk while I pretended I wasn’t as thrilled as a fangirl who’s just run into her celebrity crush. Then, as if the interaction weren’t delicious enough, he leaned even closer. “So tell me…” He began, his voice conspiratorial.

My heart began to pound. After years of my pining, was he really about to make a move the very day I left to marry my long suffering boyfriend? “Yes?” I squeaked.

“The new girl…your replacement. What’s her name?”

I stared at him, blinking dumbly. I felt a rush of indignation. It’d taken him a year to learn my name. Not that we saw each other that often – I usually only saw him as he crossed to the cafe – but still! He’d never sought my name out. “Um,” I began, unreasonably jealous of the new girl, but then she appeared by my side.

“Hey. Let me help you take your things out to the car,” she said, smiling at me in that friendly way of hers. I sighed to myself because I knew I could never hate her. It was a bad idea to dislike her anyway. She was one of Jake’s favorite people.

Just as she picked up the box, Professor Cullen snapped into action. “No, I got it. I was just about to offer, actually.” He grinned what could only be described as a panty melting smile at her.

Somehow, I resisted the urge to pout. He’d never looked at me that way.

And he was such a liar. He hadn’t even thought of helping me before she showed up. Fucking showoff.
He looked at me somewhat expectantly, his eyes flicking back at her.

Oh, right. I cleared my throat, reminding myself that I had a wonderful boyfriend waiting for me at home. I could probably get him to give me a foot massage tonight. “Bella, this is Professor Edward Cullen. Professor, this is Bella Swan, my replacement.”

Tanya had been lamenting the fact that Professor Cullen never noticed a girl but when Bella came along…well, you saw that he was hardly unaffected. Bella’s roommate Angela gives us the reason that Bella maintains her distance when it comes to Edward. I won’t spoil it, though you do find out early in the fic what would make her loathe to get close to anyone.

We do get Edward and Bella chapters also, because there are some things that you just can’t have other people narrate, or you better not, anyway, such as first dates and first lemons. It’s a truly novel way to get to know characters and watch them come together and LyricalKris really does a great job showing the evolution of Edward and Bella’s feelings toward one another and the reactions of those close to them and those that barely know them (a computer tech, a waitress, etc).

This is a sweet story, low on the angst, and you get so much more than just a glimpse of Edward’s and Bella’s lives. You get all those little tiny things that you don’t usually get in a story because it just doesn’t fit in. You get to meet boyfriends and girlfriends of characters that aren’t instrumental to the story but that do showcase just how special what Edward and Bella have together really is.

Give this truly unique story a chance. I never thought I’d like having so many different viewpoints tell a story but I loved getting to know each character along with Edward and Bella and I think you will as well!

I’m pretty much obsessed with everything from LyricalKris. Like nolebucgrl said, this story is truly unique, and I love it! I can’t believe how much story she was able to tell in such a short work. The characters are multi-dimensional, and their personalities really come through with each chapter. I love this Edward.

“Oh, no. Not today,” she groaned. “I don’t think I brought my wallet.”
She continued looking through her bag as if the wallet would magically appear. Before I could tell her it was on the house this time, someone cleared their throat. “Excuse me. I’ll get it.”

We both looked up to see Professor Cullen standing on the other side of my little area, proffering a ten dollar bill. He walked around quickly to stand at her side.

“Oh, no. Professor Cullen, I couldn’t -”

“Don’t worry. It doesn’t count as me taking you out for coffee,” he said, grinning impishly at her. He leaned in a little closer, but I still heard him whisper. “I still want to do that properly, by the way.”

I made the decision for her, taking his money and digging around for change. Paying for her breakfast was the least he could do if he was going to use cheesy pick up lines like that.

I love this Bella.

“I really wish you would stop helping me. I don’t need your help,” Bella said, softly but firmly. “I don’t want anything from anyone.”

“I wasn’t trying to insult you, Bella. Quite the contrary, in fact. Just because I tried to help you out, doesn’t mean I believe you don’t have the capability to solve your own problems,” the professor returned. “We’re friends, right? This is what friends do for each other.”

She sighed. “But you want to be more than friends.”

“That is, in this case, irrelevant. This was an act of friendship – not something I did trying to impress you.” I glanced up and saw that his lips were pursed in a particularly cheeky grin. “Believe me, Isabella, if I was trying to charm you, you’d know it.”

I really love this Charlie.

“Stay here,” she hissed at me when the doorbell rang, and she ran off before she could hear my derisive snort.

Unlikely, Bells.

“Hey, Edward. I-”
Before she could continue, the man at the door stooped, kissing her. I bristled. The asshole couldn’t even let her speak without shoving his tongue down her throat. Classy.

“Hello,” I said too loudly, putting my hand against the door jamb and filling in the space. The man jumped back a step, his eyes going wide. Yeah, that fucker knew he was guilty.

Bella sighed. “Edward, this is my dad, Charlie. He stopped by unexpectedly.”

“What can I say? Bella makes the best chicken enchiladas this side of Southern California.”

Making a face at me, Bella nodded at the man outside. “Dad, this is Edward Cullen. He’s a professor at the university where I work.”

Professor, huh? I knew Bella had included that little tidbit to impress me, but as I looked the guy over, I only had more questions. He cleared his throat, noticeably trying to pretend he wasn’t as thrown as I knew he was.

Well, good. Fear of God, like I said. He’d better realize that Bella wasn’t just easy prey.

And myrob. This story has the best Aro ever.

The worst thing about being pissed off at my mother was that I had no way to retaliate. If I broke something technological of hers, I would just be the one she called to fix it.

And anyway, I had to learn to place blame directly where it belonged.

That fucking substitute asshole hated me. Asshole.

Most of my teachers understood I was just too smart for the likes of Forks High, and they left me alone. If my regular teacher saw me with my phone out while everyone else was doing busy work, not a single fuck would be given. But noooooo.

It had to be that prick today. I swear he was eyeing me the minute I walked in the door. Maybe he just didn’t like the pale faces. He was probably a racist.

Well, he messed with the wrong kid.

This is a quick read, and I promise you’ll be kicking yourself that you didn’t read it sooner. One of my favorites!