This time around, we meet Lawnward – who isn’t rich like we’re used to. And his father isn’t a doctor either, he’s the chief of police.

For the last three summers, I had been working for McCarty’s Lawn and Landscaping Service, saving every dime religiously for the day I would officially leave Forks Washington for bigger and better things.

For the last three summers, I had sneezed, grunted, and sweat my way across the lawns of the local elite…making their lives look picture-perfect from the curb so they didn’t have to.

During one of his summer visits to one of the nicer homes in town, Edward manages to get involved with Bella in an unconventional way:

“Help!” She yelled in my direction then. “Bella hit her head! I can’t swim! I can’t help her!”

I dropped my bag and pushed my hands against the top of the fence quickly. My feet slipped as the smooth and worn bottoms of my shoes tried to find enough traction to push me over the top. I finally made it, but not before my khaki’s caught on one of the sharp top points and tore a hole in the material at the back of my thigh. A sting told me I’d likely torn skin as well. But I didn’t have time to worry about that. I ran as fast as I could across the patio and toward the pool. Rosalie was still screaming, and I could see Bella’s body below the surface of the water. Without bothering to even remove my hat or my glasses, I dove in.

I love how she switches things up between the characters, making Edward the adorable nerd and Bella the gorgeous rich girl with a doctor for a father. After Edward saves her, a friendship begins between these two and seriously, did I mention he’s freaking adorable? And so is she – because she’s really obvious (to everyone except poor Edward) about what she wants…

“I don’t know why you are being such a baby about this,” Bella huffed. “Any friend will do. I mean… not that I advertise it or anything. But I practiced kissing with Rosalie.”

“What?” My eyes almost bulged out of my head, and I sat straight up.

“Oh. Don’t get all worked up over it,” Bella scoffed. “It wasn’t sexy or anything. We were young, and we just practiced. We didn’t even use tongues.”

“Shut up. You’re ruining this for me,” I smiled as I fell back against my pillows and closed my eyes.

“Quit joking.”

“I’m not. I’m serious. Mmmm,” I hummed, happy to have gotten her away from the topic of me kissing Jessica Stanley. I didn’t want to date her. End of story.

“What I’m trying to say, is that any friend will do.”

“Ben was easy enough to talk into a study group,” I continued joking. “But I’m pretty sure he’s not going to be down for some man on man making-out tutorial.”

“Edward. Shut up.”

I laughed and rolled to sit back up.

“Guess that’s settled then. I definitely can’t go on a date with Jessica, in my current state of inexperience.”

“Practice with me.”

The words sort of hovered in front of her mouth. And I held my breath while I waited for her to reel them back in. But she left them floating there between us.

“Pardon me?” I croaked.

“Practice with me,” Bella said again. “We’re friends now, right?”

“Friends. Right,” I nodded with a frown.

“And you aren’t totally grossed out by me, right?”

“Not totally, no,” I agreed in one of the most epic understatements in history.

“So… we can practice. You know. So you’ll be ready to do it for real.”
“You’re messing with me, right?”

“Nope.” Bella shook her head and opened her eyes wide. “Not at all.”

“You’re sure… you want to do this?”

“Absolutely,” Bella nodded.

“When?”

“Right now.”

“Really?”

“Why not?”

I sat there staring at her, trying to call her bluff. But she just stared right back. Bella Swan was sitting on the end of my bed, telling me that I could kiss her. I pinched my own arm, hard, and winced at the pain.

“What did you do that for?” Bella asked.

“Trying to make sure I’m not still dreaming.”

“I don’t think you are,” Bella laughed.

“Well… you aren’t wearing a cheerleading uniform while rolling around in a giant mound of whipped cream.”

The growing relationship is sweet and will give you some serious warm fuzzies. I always finish reading these chapters with a huge grin on my face, and I know you will too. So what are you waiting for?

I tend not to read a lot of fics where Edward and Bella are high school students. There’s a certain level of sameness many of them have. Somehow, Bratty-Vamp always seems to be able to write high school fics that shine. Green is no exception. It’s sweet, funny, and well-written.

Edward is the geeky lawn guy with an awkward Alice as his best friend. Bella is the misunderstood and uber-popular daughter of rich folk. They meet when Edward saves Bella from drowning in her pool. Bratty-Vamp reverses the roles for Charlie and Carlisle, making Charlie the wealthy surgeon and Carlisle the blue collar guy.

I love the dynamic between Edward and Alice:

To my credit, none of Bella Swan’s near drowning episode replayed in my mind while I slept. But I would be lying if I said that my subconscious didn’t happily recreate the sight of Bella and Rosalie in their bikinis. In my dream, I wasn’t working. I was holding myself against the side of the pool, sharing their conversation and thoroughly enjoying the view of their long, lean legs and their high, firm young…

I rolled over on my bed and startled myself awake when instead of being met with the flat surface of my mattress, I was stopped mid-roll by the soft feeling of a real, honest to goodness girl. A girl who started screaming as soon as I came in contact with her.

Alice rolled off one side of my bed while I rolled off the other. I banged my head on my bed-side table on the way down, and frantically pulled my comforter off the bed to cover my lap.

“Ew! EDWARD! You TOUCHED ME with it!” Alice was flailing her arms around like she just walked face-first through a spider web. “Gross, Edward! It poked me! Ew!”

“What were you doing in my bed?” I yelled up at her, feeling my cheeks flame. “God, Alice. Could you keep it down? It’s not like I was trying to…”

“But I FELT it!”

“For the love of God!” I huffed and pushed my glasses up. “Guys… wake up like that sometimes! It’s not my fault!”

There’s just a sweet innocence to Edward in this fic that makes me want to hug him. Not that he never thinks about sex or whatever (clearly), but his interactions with Alice are comfortable (and, I might add, Alice is not an annoying shopaholic asshole in this fic, which I always appreciate. I can’t even remember an instance where she is referred to as a “pixie” – this alone wins my wholehearted approval), and there’s just this awkward loveliness to Edward’s scenes with Bella. Take their first kiss, for instance:

“Are you ready?”

“Just kiss me,” Bella instructed. And so I did.

I only had to rock forward the tiniest bit, to fit my mouth over hers. And it was absolutely amazing how the simple touch of her lips sent a rush of heat from the top of my head all the way down to the tips of my toes. She didn’t pull away, and so I experimented a little by moving my mouth lightly back and forth against hers. It was… awesome. Bella’s lower lip trembled, and so I kissed that. And then, because I was at a loss, I tipped my face and kissed the corner of her mouth that always started each and every one of her smiles. Her lips parted then, and the sweetest little sigh came out of her. I pulled away a little, and watched as her eyelids fluttered open. She looked as dazed as I felt. It was just about the coolest feeling on earth, to know that I had made Bella look so sweet and dreamy and so… so kissable. I wasn’t stupid enough to believe that a chance like this would ever come along again. And I wanted more. So even though I was kinda worried that she might deliver one of those Hollywood-movie slaps when I finished, I decided to just go for it anyway.

This time I reached to push my hands into her hair. And she didn’t argue or protest when I pulled her mouth back to mine. I always thought I would be confused or something, when it came to kissing. Like… wondering which way to turn my head so our noses didn’t hit together… or wondering if I’d know what to do with my tongue. But oh God… there was Bella’s tongue. She parted her lips and touched my lip so softly with the tip of her tongue, that it was a very easy and natural thing to just follow her lead. I touched my tongue against hers, and tasted her. This was the best day of my life.

:dreamy sigh: Yeah, I’m a Bratty-Vamp fangirl. I highly recommend giving Green a read.

I am so in love with this story. It’s a HS fic, which I happen to love, but it isn’t your typical Edward and Bella. Usually, you have the Swans, with Charlie as a cop and head of the typical middle class family. And then the Cullens, with Carlisle being a doctor, living the good life. But in this story, Charlie is the doctor while Carlisle is the cop. Edward is the one admiring Bella from afar while she hangs with the more “popular” high school students. I have to say, it is very refreshing to read a story where Edward isn’t the completely smooth talking ladies man, but the typical teenager with all the problems that teenagers have.

“See you around?” Bella asked, when we finally traded places. I crinkled my forehead in confusion and turned to look back down at her. She hadn’t ‘seen me around’ in the entire three years of high school so far. I couldn’t imagine that changing now.

“I guess…” I said noncommittally. I wouldn’t hold her to it. “Maybe I’ll see you. You know. When I’m working or something.”

“Well anyway,” Bella twisted her fingers nervously in front of her. “Thanks again, Elton.”

Bella turned to walk to her car, and I couldn’t help but call out after her.

“It’s Edward.”

“What?” Bella turned and looked back in my direction.

“My name,” I said then. “It isn’t Elton. My name is Edward.”

“Edward.” Bella said my name sweetly, and then nodded. She actually gave me a little grin and I felt my cheeks heat. I hoped the floppy brim of my hat shaded my face well enough to hide my reaction to her expression. “Well thank you, Edward. For everything.”

I nodded and basked in another small smile of hers before she turned to go. I stumbled in the front door and frowned at my reflection in the hallway mirror.

Glasses slightly askew? Check. Dirty shirt that smelled like fish? Double check. Dressed like an eighty-year-old fisherman? Fuck my life.

This is another one of those stories that I drop everything and read immediately when it updates. I have a feeling you will too.