By dint of much elbow grease, I was able to get both windows in the truck almost completely rolled down. I was one of the first ones to school; I hadn't even checked the clock in my hurry to get outside. I parked and headed toward the seldom-used picnic benches on the south side of the cafeteria. The benches were still a little damp, so I sat on my jacket, glad to have a use for it. My homework was done — the product of a slow social life — but there were a few Trig problems I wasn't sure I had right. I took out my book industriously, but halfway through rechecking the first problem I was daydreaming, watching the sunlight play on the red-barked trees. I sketched inattentively along the margins of my homework. After a few minutes, I suddenly realized I'd drawn five pairs of dark eyes staring out of the page at me. I scrubbed them out with the eraser.

"Bella!" I heard someone call, and it sounded like Mike.

I looked around to realize that the school had become populated while I'd been sitting there, absentminded. Everyone was in t-shirts, some even in shorts though the temperature couldn't be over sixty. Mike was coming toward me in khaki shorts and a striped Rugby shirt, waving.

"Hey, Mike," I called, waving back, unable to be halfhearted on a morning like this.

He came to sit by me, the tidy spikes of his hair shining golden in the light, his grin stretching across his face. He was so delighted to see me, I couldn't help but feel gratified.

作者：斯蒂芬妮·梅尔

“暮光之城”系列或许只是一个高中生爱情故事，但加上了超自然力量的背景，一切都变得荡气回肠。它将一直留存于我们的记忆中，宛若青春的美好。美国《时代》周刊这样评价“暮光之城”系列：“充满着爱恨情仇的张力，但又优雅精致如简·奥斯汀，达到了浪漫小说的一种极致。”

就像她笔下的男女主人公一样，梅尔已经超越人们的想象，成为一种另类的文学现象。在不少书评家的眼里，跌宕起伏、亦真亦幻的奇幻故事、细腻真挚的情感描写、悱恻动人的爱情主题等都是“暮光之城”系列吸引眼球的资本，即便是有关吸血鬼和狼人题材的部分，也主要宣扬的不是暴力和血腥，而是其崇尚优雅而洁净的道德准则，它们为恋爱约会提供了一种别样的情景，即绯闻女孩（Gossip Girls美国热播的青春偶像剧）变成了乖乖女。