Seducing Ms Swan is nestled quite nicely in The Peach Grove

“I’m parked over there,” I said, pointing to a spot a couple of spaces away. Parked there were a silver Mondeo, a battered blue Ford and a large dirty white van, beyond which, concealed from view, was my motorbike. Edward took one glance at the motley collection of vehicles before heading straight for the Ford.

“I see your taste in cars is still just as poor,” he commented, running a disdainful hand over the car’s dented bonnet and pausing to peer disparagingly through the windows at the dingy interior. “Is there a particular reason that you repeatedly seek the slowest forms of transportation available to you?”

I rolled my eyes. Men and cars; they were all exactly the same. Show them something with wheels and an engine and they instantly used it as an opportunity to bore everyone with their superior knowledge. Maybe Jacob and Edward wouldn’t get on so badly after all. I eased my bag from Edward’s grip, ignoring his continued comments about the car, and squeezed past him through the gap between the Ford and the van, coming out on the other side. There sat my motorbike. Red and shiny, it was almost unrecognizable to the rusty pile of parts I had saved from the Markse family’s scrap heap. Over the years Jacob had tweaked and modified it to his heart’s content, and it was now a pretty respectable piece of machinery. Its engine and top speed might not have impressed the likes of Edward, but it suited me perfectly well. I placed my rucksack on the ground next to the bike and began to unzip it. From the corner of my eye I saw that Edward had emerged from the other side of the van. He stood there watching me rummage through my bag, a look of wary mystification on his face.

“What are you doing Bella?” he asked, as I pulled my leather jacket from the depths of my rucksack and shrugged it on.

“Going home,” I replied, pulling out my helmet and clipping my hair back from my face before donning it too. Then I zipped closed the bag and put my arms through the straps, key in hand.

Edward’s eyes narrowed. “But what about your car?”

“It’s not my car,” I said, swinging my leg over the saddle.

“But you-”

“No I didn’t, you just assumed,” I replied, sticking the key in the ignition. The bike immediately roared to life. I smiled slowly. I love that sound. It brought back memories of hot summers and rainy autumns, of hours spent in Jacob’s garage with no sound but the hiss of opening soda cans and the clink of tools, the heat rolling off of his bare chest in waves as he worked tirelessly away at the engine of his old Rabbit. If I tried hard enough, I could still hear the rain pounding against the iron roof, Jacob’s infectious laughter and the far off beating of paws on the track outside which always announced the arrival of Quil or Embry. I miss it all so much. I thought wistfully. Maybe it was a time for a change; perhaps once the Cullens left I should start looking for a job back West.

I looked back to Edward to see he had moved inhumanly fast to stand in front of the bike, blocking its path. His eyes were flashing like fire and his mouth was curled down into an angry scowl; he looked almost as menacing as he had done earlier that evening. Oh look, I thought wryly to myself, angry Edward’s back. “You are NOT riding that,” he growled warningly.

“I think you’ll find I am,” I said, revving the engine loudly to prove my point.

“NO!” Edward shouted. His beautiful voice was blissfully furious and I realized with a slight chill that he sounded just had he always had done in my hallucinations when I had first started riding my motorbike. It was hard to pretend that I didn’t find his anger more than a little bit attractive, but it was also rather irritating. I was cold, it was late and I wanted to go home. I didn’t have time for this.

“Edward, you’re being ridiculous.” I sighed.

“I’M being ridiculous? Bella, you can hardly walk over a flat surface without tripping and now you’re telling me that you’ve taken up riding motorcycles, MOTORCYCLES?! Of all the stupid, reckless, insane things to do-”

Why do you care? I thought wistfully, What’s it to you if I hurt myself on this bike? I wanted so badly to pretend that he was worried about me and wanted to keep me safe, but I knew that was delusional. It was more likely that he was doing this just out of habit; it was just an irritating hang-over from the days where he had been protective of me.

“-do you know how many people get KILLED on these death-traps a year? Is that what you want- to become a statistic?” He was still ranting at me. I noticed from the corner of my eye that the rest of the Cullens had got out of their cars and were walking towards us, no doubt wondering what the hold up was. I groaned; there were only so many ‘scenes’ I could take today.

“Look,” I said hastily, “whether or not I choose to ride a motorbike is up to me. I’m an adult now, and I’m fully capable of making my own decisions.”

“Well you clearly AREN’T if you choose to do something as ludicrous as ride a motorbike!” Edward yelled at me, “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!? Have you actually gone INSANE?!” That was it; I was angry again. So much for apologies and truces, now I just wanted to fight back. How dare he treat me like an idiot?

“Stop it Edward, this has nothing to do with you.”

“Yes it does!” He shouted, apoplectic with rage.

“No it doesn’t!” I snapped, irritated, “It’s no concern of yours what I do with my life; you made that pretty clear when you left. Now out of my way please!” I knew Edward would refuse again, but I didn’t wait for a response. Trusting that the element of surprise would play to my advantage, I revved the engine again and wrenched the handlebars, causing the bike to turn sharply, facing the opposite direction to Edward. Then, ignoring his outraged roars, I slammed my foot down on the acceleration pedal with all the force I could muster, making the bike shoot forwards like a bullet from a gun. Within seconds I was already twenty metres away from an astounded Edward. I was going so fast that I only just had time to steer away from the Cullen family who were all standing, staring open-mouthed at me, in the middle of the parking lot. “See you tomorrow Alice!” I cried over the roar of my engine and Edward’s howling profanities. “You can pick me up at 11:00!” And then I sped off towards the open road, not even bothering to conceal my wide grin.

Who ever said Bella Swan couldn’t be cool?

It hasn't been my style to start out with a teaser, but in this fic's case, it had to be done. DQRC (Rialle on Twilighted), or Diamondquill as she's known on Twitter, is a young writer (just finishing her A-levels) from the UK who absolutely blows me away. Finding a teaser was quite hard, as everything is good AND I don't want to spoil the story for you.

The title, Seducing Ms Swan, sounds like something that might be rated M, however, it's rated T. Sure there's a few bad words and some kissing - yet for me who LOVES her lemons, I did'nt miss them ONE BIT. Seducing Ms Swan is so completely solid. And I'm still completely blown away that she's 17. Of course, I do have to mention that she just got accepted in Cambridge, so, how do you like 'dem apples?

Here's the premise: The story picks up six years after the Cullens left Forks. Bella never jumped, Alice had no vision, life went on. Bella is single, works as a high school English teacher in Rochester, NY, Jake is still her best friend, and she never heard from the Cullens again. However, Edward has always been a constant in her mind. So guess what happens when a new student arrives in her English class? Yeah, I KNOW!

There are lots of great twists and turns in this fic, but what really made me fall in love is the incredible writing and angst DQRC creates. Her Edward is so perfectly canon, it's a bit scary. And in a way, he's more real than the character SM created. At least for me, as much as I'm Team Edward, he really pussed out a bit for me in the saga. But in Seducing Ms Swan, Edward's completely and totally alive again for me. I felt like my Twilight Edward finally came back in full force.

And then there's Bella. She's smart, she's done everything she could to survive the love of her life leaving her, she's kinda spunky and Emmet calls her a badass after she leaves Ed in the dust on her bike. But it's her heart (again, with the emo, JEEZ UYP!) and the rawness of the pain she still has that gets me. First of all, I've always thought Bella let Edward off too easily in New Moon. The scene (in chapter 10-11) where they finally hash out what happened six years ago was so amazingly perfect and satisfying for me - I wish THAT was what had happened in New Moon. The dialogue, the emotion, all of it. I read. I snotsobbed. I hate summing things up with lame words, but WOW is all I've got.

Oh ok, twist my arm, I have to tease a bit of that tremendous breakdown:

“WHY DO YOU CARE?!” I exploded at him, screaming at the top of my voice, “WHY DO YOU EVEN GIVE A SHIT?! You LEFT me, you REJECTED me; you said you didn’t want me, you left me in the forest!” I turned to face the house and through the wall of violently falling snow, I could just make out the silhouette of Edward’s family. “HE LEFT ME!” I shrieked out to the night, knowing that they would hear me even through the howling icy wind, “After all the times he told me he loved me, he DUMPED me, said that he was BORED of me!”

“I LIED!” Edward roared, “BELLA, I LIED! I LOVE YOU!”

My heart stopped.

No.

How could he?

How could he play with me like that, when he knew how I felt about him? “D-don’t,” I croaked, ripping my eyes from his face and trying to feign him off with my hands, “don’t lie to me like that, it’s not fair!” My voice cracked as more tears poured down my cheeks. I loved him so much and yet here he was, toying with me for his own enjoyment. I felt my heart shatter and the hole in my chest rip wide open; I had to fight not to scream out in pain or fall over. “This might be a j-joke to you Edward but it’s n-not to me!” I choked at him, “How c-can you be so c-cruel?” I staggered back from him, my arms flailing blindly behind me for my bike, my only chance of escape.

“No Bella, I’m not lying!” He followed me, a look of desperation on his face as he spoke. “I love you with all my heart; you’re my life, my soul, my reason for existence-”

“S-STOP IT!” I screamed, clasping my hands over my ears, “STOP s-saying t-that! H-haven’t you h-hurt me enough?” I tried to run away from him, but I couldn’t move in the snow and I fell hard onto the ground. I lay there, shivering and sobbing, and curled my entire body into a protective ball. Pain was running through me, electrocuting my veins and making my head ache as I rocked back and forth, trying my absolute hardest to hold myself together. I felt the snow sink slightly, as Edward knelt down next me. Slowly, hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around me. “You left me,” I whispered weakly, over and over again, clinging on to him with all my might “you left me on my own, you said you didn’t love me.”

“I know,” he murmured into my ear, stroking my hair, “God, I know, Bella, I am so sorry. I wish with all my heart that I could undo what I did. I’ve spent every single second regretting it, ever since I uttered those lies, ever since I left you in that forest.” I could feel his body shaking- or was it my own? Either way, we were both moving together like trees in a monsoon, desperately trying to keep hold of each other. The world could end, the universe could explode and none of it would matter, because at least I was with him, touching him. Edward turned me around so that he was looking me straight in the eyes. “Bella Swan, I love you more than anything in the world. Without you, life is meaningless; like a blank canvas in a sea of white. Every day since I left you I have been wishing that I could return, longing to see you, to touch you, to kiss you.” I looked away from him, unable to comprehend his words. He must be lying… and yet, was he? He looked so sincere; I couldn’t detect a ghost of a lie in his eyes, but his words made no sense. If he loved me, then why did he ever leave? Why didn’t he come back straight away?

See? I told you - it's that rip-your-heart-out stuff that I so completely love.

And these are just a few peeks. Really, do yourself a favor and start this story. No, it's not complete yet, but it will be. And it's not just canon either - DQRC has a great side story with Jacob and one of the lesser known wolfpack: Brady. She's able to tie in what happens with Victoria, as well as the relationship between Jacob and Bella as well.

So take a little lemon breather and add this to your fic list. I promise you won't regret it (or the peach daiquiri is on me!)