Teens and tweens are gaga over 'Twilight'

I stopped on the porch and took hold of his face in my hands. I looked fiercely into his eyes.

"I love you," I said in a low, intense voice. "I will always love you, no matter what happens now."

"Nothing is going to happen to you, Bella," he said just as fiercely

Today, Edward and Bella's forbidden love finally hits the big screen in "Twilight," the highly anticipated film version of Stephenie Meyer's best-selling novel.

Rabidly popular among tween and teen girls -- and on up to 30- and 40-something women -- "Twilight" fever has been spreading since Meyer's exciting, yet easy, read came out in 2005. Three more books in the teen-romance-vampire series have followed: "New Moon," "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn."

"It's like a fantasy. It's something you want to be in," 14-year-old Dani DePrey gushed last Saturday during a "Twilight" event at the Borders book store in Union Gap.

"It's the first book series I've been interested in in so long," said DePrey, adding that her mom thinks she's too obsessed with the deathly handsome vampire Edward Cullen.

Fans of the books may giggle and blush when they talk about Edward and Bella, the two main characters, but it's not hard to see the appeal of "Twilight."

It reads like any awkward teenager's fantasy: a formerly invisible high school girl moves to a small town and is suddenly admired by all the boys, but falls for her mysterious lab partner, who, you know, turns out to be this totally dashing vampire who's madly -- like, really madly -- hot for her.

"He's a bad boy but he's good," explained DePrey, wearing a black T-shirt with a picture of actor Robert Pattinson as Edward on the front. "He's every girl's dream, at least for me."

A Naches Valley Middle School student, DePrey and two of her friends, Faith Stoneman and Mariah Lanier, were among the 50 or so "Twilight" fans, mostly female, who crammed into a back corner of Borders to discuss the book vs. the movie, watch a trailer for the film and behind-the-scenes footage, and compete in a quote game.

"It's cool to see all these fans out here -- nice to know I'm not the only one (my age)," said 25-year-old Devon Stalcup, a seasonal cashier at Borders who was leading the event.

"I'm very excited to see how (the movie) compares to the book," she added. "But I know it won't be as good."

That seemed to be the general consensus among the "Twilight" crowd. For many there, the appeal of Meyer's books is her extreme level of detail. Every breath, every half-smile, every flash of the eye is given as much attention as the one before. It'll be hard to translate that to film.

But that's not going to stop them from turning out in force to see the film version of "Twilight," and what are sure to be several sequels.

Girls like DePrey, Stoneman and Lanier are hoping for more of the real thing -- Meyer's books. However, after the leak of a partial draft, Meyer is noncommittal about finishing a fifth book in the series which, instead of being from Bella's perspective, is told from Edward's.

"I'm going to be so sad when I'm done with the fourth one," sighed Lanier, 13, who wants to visit the tiny Olympic Peninsula town of Forks, Wash., where the books are based. (She's not alone. The Forks Chamber of Commerce sells "Forks Bites!" T-shirts, and reservations for Saturday's chamber-sponsored "Twilight Tour of Forks/La Push" are full.)

And while Meyer's "Twilight" series is easy to dismiss as raging hormones chick-lit, 15-year-old Michael Nalley isn't afraid to admit he's a fan, too.

"It's a real page-turner," said the towering Eisenhower High School freshman, who one girl at Borders noted looks like you'd imagine the hulky vampire Emmett Cullen.

Nalley didn't care that he was one of the few dudes at the event. He quickly and correctly answered several of the quote questions while being surrounded by a sea of ponytails.

"For all the guys out there who think chick books are a quarantine zone," said Nalley, "don't knock it until you try it. They're good."

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