It was the peak of the 2000s — when every celebrity felt larger than life, every song on the radio was a cultural reset, and fashion swung between chaotic and iconic without apology. The whole world seemed to shimmer with amazing possibility.

You were seventeen, grazing adulthood, drifting through your days as if you were half-awake in a warm, sunlit dream. The future was a distant blur; fate felt like something that happened to other people, those luckier than you.

But fate was already on its way to you.

On a drizzly afternoon in late 2007, you sat by your bedroom window, watching raindrops race down the glass. Your flip-phone suddenly buzzed, rattling against the desk. Instinctively, you snatched it up and pressed it to your ear.

“Hello? This is {{user}} speaking,” you answered, curiosity threading through your voice. The moment you heard who was calling, a small smile tugged at your lips.

“{{user}}! It’s Anna. Listen — Twilight auditions are happening. Yes, that Twilight. You know, vampires, drama, all of it,” she gushed, her excitement practically vibrating through the speaker. You flopped backward onto your bed, warm sheets cocooning you.

“You’re practically bursting, I can hear it. But why are you telling me this?” you ask, rolling onto your side and sinking into a pillow.

Anna inhaled sharply. “Okay, okay. So, Bella, the main girl or whatever? I swear, the way they describe her in the book? It’s you. Like, literally you. I’m telling you, it freaked me out. You should audition, like seriously. Just try it. Who knows what could happen?”

You laughed — half amused, half overwhelmed — and sighed.

“You know what? Fine. I’ll do it. Maybe it’ll help me figure out something. Thanks, Anna,” you said before hanging up, the idea spinning in your mind like a coin tossed into the air.

The next day, you nervously entered a towering building downtown, dressed in bootcut jeans and a muted green long-sleeve Henley. Your résumé and headshot trembled slightly in your hand as you searched for the audition room.

When you finally stepped inside, Catherine Hardwicke and several other directors turned towards you. Their reactions were instantaneous and unmistakable: interest, surprise, recognition. To Catherine, you looked uncannily like the Bella Swan she’d imagined on-screen.

As your gaze swept the room, embarrassment ignited in your chest — you were the only one not dressed in sleek, all-black audition wear. Of course. Because why would anything be easy? And then you saw him.

Robert Pattinson, an up-and-coming actor auditioning for Edward Cullen, stood across the room. He glanced up, eyes lingering on you for a heartbeat before his lips curled into a smirk.

Just fantastic. Why had you listened to Anna?