This column is the sole opinion of the author. It does not necessarily represent the opinions of the RedEye staff, duPont Manual High School, its students, faculty or administration.

Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night; very dark, but there were stars points of light and reason…And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by the light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for anything.
– Edward Cullen

It takes just those few simple words to steal the hearts of many teenage girls–and married women. 

In 2008, when Twilight (the movie) first played, teenagers ages 11 through 17 were crowding the movie theaters, overflowing the box offices and drooling over Twilight’s popular male characters Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner). My friends and I just happened to be some of the desperate vampire fans who never missed a midnight showing. 

Sitting anxiously in my seat during New Moon, the second Twilight movie, I slowly ate my popcorn and gazed at the man I claimed as my husband to be: Robert Pattinson. But as I daydreamed of our wedding day, my thoughts were interrupted by a quiet “Bite me…oh, bite me, Rob.” Looking for the source, I turned around slightly in my chair and saw only the theatre full of crying teenagers. I looked back to the screen and heard another: “Jacob, you’re so hot I wanna cook an egg on you.” I shifted in my chair again and saw a woman, possibly in her late thirties, with her eyes fixed on the screen and a tear ready to drop from her eye. Perhaps she’s here to watch with her daughter, I thought. I looked around but didn’t find anyone she could’ve possibly come with. So I just sat there staring in awe. A grown woman, ogling the body of an 18-year-old celebrity. She had ruined the entire movie for me with her crying, sighs and “oowwhhs,” and I wondered if I was the only one who had noticed the crime.

Especially in today’s society, it’s pretty common to see an older man with a much younger woman, or vice versa, on the red carpet. But to be put face to face with someone whose age clearly doesn’t matter to her, at least while she’s watching Twilight, was appalling, especially considering that Robert Pattinson is nearly my age.

Why is it such a big deal? you might ask. Well, Hollywood is filled with attractive men ranging from 17 to their late 40s and 50s. You’ve got Patrick Dempsey of Grey’s Anatomy, Eric Bana, who starred in The Hulk, two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington, actor andphilanthropist George Clooney, football player turned actor Mel Gibson… the list is endless. These older men are the type of guys the woman lost in the Twilight showing should’ve been drooling over.

But look at teenage pop stars today. I’m sure that we can all agree that it doesn’t take long for all the fame to go to their heads. You see them on Disney Channel one day; you’re surfing the internet and find a video of them on YouTube smoking dope the next. Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner are two of the very few teen celebrities we still have left to dream about.

Jacob Black is sexy, Edward Cullen is smart and romantic, and both happen to be around our age. If you are one of these selfish women like the one I spotted in the theatre that day, I hate to go all Chris Crocker on you, but leave the two of them alone. Team Edward vs. Team Jacob is a game that we teens like to play, and you’re too old for that. You can’t expect all of us to settle for sharing Justin Bieber.