For months I disapproved. I made fun of everyone who could possibly be obsessed with a poorly written book series about vampires and forbidden love. I was a cynic, refusing to believe that this obsession was worth the hype. Then it happened. I was bitten by the vampiric love story: I became a Twilighter.

This downward spiral into eternal doom happened some time around spring break last year when a friend and I decided to rent Twilight to prove how dumb this craze truly was. From there it got worse. The movie was, to be honest, quite awful (though that didn’t stop me from begging my mom to buy it on DVD the very next day), yet it was captivating. I thought that maybe it was just a fluke, that it couldn’t be true, but in that moment I knew I had transformed into the enemy. I tried to convince myself not to, but the very next day I bought the first book.

With the first description of Edward Cullen’s pale skin and intense, almost frightened eyes, I was hooked. I finished the book two days and knew I was a changed person. Truly, I was addicted to the passion of Edward and Bella. The words they spoke to each other, their need to be together against all odds; I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart with a stake. I felt attached to them, as if they were a new limb added to my body.

Every second I had to spare from then on was dedicated to my new found love. I read at lunch, during homework time in class, when I got home, before I went to bed, before school, and on the weekends. When I wasn’t reading Twilight, I was talking about it. My social skills became limited to discussing and analyzing every moment of Edward and Bella’s romance with friends who had also turned to the dark side.

I needed to know what happened next; any time I had to put down my book was like taking away my oxygen. Within a month I had read Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and was on my way to buying Breaking Dawn the second it came out. My mom even bought me an Edward Cullen bookmark, which I would have placed inside to hold my page if there was even a second where my book was unopened.

It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. After the countless times I had mocked my friends who had been infected much earlier, I was one of them. After months of being ashamed and embarrassed I am ready to tell it to the world. I am a Twilght fan. I am a crazy, Edward-Cullen-loving, blood-sucker-adoring, New-Moon-midnight-premiere-going, full-hard-cover-book-series-owning, insane, Twilight fanatic.