Jessica Stanley

"That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him."

- Jessica on Edward Cullen

Jessica Stanley is a friend of Bella's, and plays a minor role in the Twilight series.

Early life
Jessica's family moved to Forks when she was still a small child, but Jessica has always thought of herself as being less provincial than the locals. In high school, she was a good student and fairly popular, though she wasn't as sought after by boys as Lauren Mallory.

She thinks of Lauren and Angela Weber as her best friends, though she has no loyalty to either of them. She also had a short-lived crush on Edward Cullen, with imaginations that constantly disturbed him until they ended.

Twilight
A classmate of Bella's in Twilight and her first friend in Forks, on her first day, she fills Bella in on the Cullens in the school's cafeteria. She tends to be more interested in Bella's popularity than her actual character, and is sometimes jealous of Mike's affections toward Bella. She also takes both Spanish and Trigonometry with Bella during their Junior year.

It is revealed in Midnight Sun that she befriended Bella to receive some of the boys' attention, and to be able to strike up a conversation (about Bella) with Mike Newton, who was curious about her.

Mike asked her to prom and they dated briefly, though their relationship ended sometime between Twilight and New Moon.

New Moon
Months after the Cullens leave in New Moon, a depressed Bella calls Jessica to go to the movies with her. Though she agrees, their night takes a bad turn when Bella approaches a few strangers outside a bar who seem fairly dangerous. Jessica becomes very displeased with Bella's behavior and grows more distant from her, and hangs out with Lauren more often.

When Bella and Mike invite her and some of their friends to a movie night, Jessica backs out at the last minute.

Eclipse
Jessica became a more minor character throughout the series as she became friendly with Lauren Mallory and Bella drifted away from her, particularly beginning in Eclipse. However, Jessica and Bella make up at graduation and she is invited to the Cullens' graduation party. Jessica decides to go to California after high school.

In the Eclipse movie, Jessica is the valedictorian of her graduating class and makes a speech about the future.

Breaking Dawn
Jessica was invited to Bella and Edward's wedding in Breaking Dawn, with Mike as her date. This is her last appearance in the series.

Personality and appearance
Jessica is known to be a 'chatterbox'. She has very curly, dark brown hair and blue eyes. She always seemed to be acting nice toward Bella, when in truth she really disliked her and was upset because both Edward Cullen and Mike Newton liked Bella over her, on whom she had a crush. She was jealous of her the whole time and was known to be a fake friend, but never did anything hurtful. Edward resented her for this attitude, but warmed up to her slightly when she became worried of Bella for being late at the restaurant they were supposed to meet with Angela.

She and Bella have a falling out in New Moon due to Bella's depression over Edward's departure, and also because Bella approaches a strange group of men when they go to the movies together, which infuriates her. Jessica becomes one of Bella's 'enemies' while hanging out with Lauren, but their friendship ends on a good note at their high school graduation.

Jessica's role in the movies is blended with Lauren's role. Jessica also attends Bella's wedding in Breaking Dawn.

In the movies, Jessica is still a chatterbox and somewhat of a fake friend, but is much friendlier to Bella than her book incarnation. Her friendship with Bella slowly got back on track after the events of the New Moon film, which shows in Eclipse.

Edward Cullen
Jessica had a previous intense infatuation for Edward Cullen, which deeply annoyed him. In Stephenie Meyer's draft of Midnight Sun (Twilight from Edward's point of view) Edward "overhears" Jessica's past fantasies about him, commenting that he was relieved when they finally stopped.

Edward was intensely hostile toward Jessica when she had bad thoughts about Bella, but warmed up to her a little bit when he heard her worry about Bella being late to the restaurant they were supposed to meet. He also showed no dislike to her attending their wedding.

Mike Newton
Jessica is in an on-again-off-again relationship with Mike Newton, who, after noticing that Bella never would date him, settled for her (which is what Jessica had been hoping for). They broke up sometime, but remained friends. At Bella and Edward's wedding, she is mentioned to have gotten back together with Mike, though he still has inappropriate thoughts of Bella.

Film portrayal
In the movie adaption of Twilight, Jessica was portrayed by Anna Kendrick. She reprised her role in New Moon and Eclipse and has been confirmed to reprise in the first part of Breaking Dawn.

Appearances

 * Twilight
 * Twilight film
 * New Moon
 * New Moon film
 * Eclipse
 * Eclipse film
 * Breaking Dawn
 * Breaking Dawn Part 1
 * Midnight Sun