Chapter 1

How hard could this be really? Just try to glide. One two, one two, one two…

"Hey Bella, finally trying them out?" My best friend Alice looked a whole foot shorter than me now. I was wearing my new roller skates I had gotten for my 8th birthday, and she was wearing her pink jellies with a really pretty sundress that tied behind her neck and flowed around her knees in the cool breeze.

"Yeah, but I think I'm ready to take 'em off. I don't want another scab before this one is finally gone," I answered her pointing at my left knee. I had fallen four days before when my butterfly kite tried to get away. I should have known Alice would reach it before I did, and let her get it.

"Bella, you should have put on a pair of jeans. Here I'll help you practice." Alice took my hand in hers and led me down the sidewalk. She was really small, but always made sure we all knew she was strong. Sometimes when we were really excited, she'd hug me tight and lift me off the ground.

Alice had spent the night at my house the night before, and when I woke up she was doing something in the garden with my mom. I watched them through the kitchen window and imagined she was really my sister. Alice was the best. I met her when we were in kindergarten. When I walked in the colorful classroom, I wanted to hide somewhere. I had never been to a daycare or any sort of school before, and watching all these kids laughing and running made me really nervous. I scanned the room in desperation looking for an empty corner, when the prettiest girl in the classroom walked straight up to me.

Alice had long, straight black hair that stopped at her waist and big blue eyes. She was wearing a white blouse with white ruffles along the bottom of it, with a beautiful denim skirt and white sandals. She looked like she stepped out of a JCPenney's advertisement, the one's I would see on the table Sunday mornings. She gave me the sweetest smile, took my hand and led me to a table with a couple of empty chairs. I was too shy to say anything, not even a thank you, but she just placed markers and paper in front of me and said, "I was about to make a picture of my family. If you'd like, you could too." Her voice was like the music my mother would play in the car. It sounded like a flute. That day Alice held my hand in the playground while she told me stories of her brothers and her parents. I smiled and nodded, but never spoke a word. I didn't really have anything to say.

Now I looked down at my best dearest friend in the world as she held my hand to try to keep me from falling on my butt. "Were you planting flowers?"

"No, I was just helping Renee pull out the little bit of grass that was trying to grow. I can't believe you don't enjoy doing things in the garden Bella. It's relaxing. Hey, I brought my chalk. Do you want to draw out here?" Alice loved to draw, whether it was with chalk on a sidewalk or with markers and colored pencils on paper. She was really good at it. She was even better than her brother Edward, who could draw some pretty cool stuff. One time he drew a picture of me and Alice sitting in the meadow near their house. Secretly, I had hoped he would give it to me, but when he was done Esme, their mom, hung it on the refrigerator with the magnets "A" and "B" on either side of it.

"Okay, but do you mind going to get the chalk by yourself, and bringing my shoes out here?" I asked her shyly, and she giggled at me.

"Of course Bella," Alice answered as she gracefully skipped to the front door.

When she came back out a few minutes later, she was walking slower than usual towards me. Her smile was too small for Alice's eyes to look happy. She kneeled down next to me and put my white Keds on the floor. Alice began to make flowers on the cement near my feet.

"Alice, you're not happy. Do you want to go inside and listen to tapes instead?" She had me worried. The last time she had this look on her face, she called me the next day to say Violet, their German Shepard, had passed away.

Suddenly, Alice looked up at me panicked. "No no. I'm fine Bella. Look, I'm going to make you a pony with ribbons. You get started on the grass and the tree."

Carlisle and Esme picked up Alice a couple of hours later. The next morning, my parents took me to a nearby park and told me I was moving to Phoenix with my mom. My dad was going to stay here. I had lots of questions to ask them, but instead I just nodded my head and went to go swing. I wished I could just fly away. I would go to Alice and have her fly away with me. My parents sat on the small ledge near the playground and smiled at each other. I wondered why we were leaving even though it was clear my parents loved each other. I couldn't wait to lock myself in my room when we got back home. They made me confused. What about the Alice? What about the Cullen's? I wasn't going to see them anymore? When would my dad see me? Christmas was for whole families. Who would spend Christmas alone, my mom or my dad? Mom said after I finished 2nd grade, we would leave. I would come back for two weeks in the summer to stay with my dad, and then go back to Arizona. Arizona? That was the desert wasn't it? Ugh.

The next morning Alice called me and said her family was going to pick me up so we could all go play miniature golf and then go have pizza. I put on a pair of denim shorts and my Pepsi t-shirt. About 15 minutes later Alice burst into my room and squeezed the air out of me with her kung fu grip.

"Oh Bella, we're going to have a wonderful time. Don't worry about anything today. Emmett even promised he wouldn't pick on you. So you know it's going to be a good day!" Alice grabbed my hand and pulled me all the way to their van. Edward moved to the very back next to Emmett so Alice and I could slide into the seat.

"We all ready kids?" Carlisle called out, smiling at me through the rear view mirror and Esme reached back from the passenger seat to pat my knee and gave me a warm smile too. They were being extra smiley with me today. I turned around and Emmett and Edward smiled at me too. It wasn't followed by jokes either, so it made me feel kind of embarrassed and I turned back around quickly. Before they saw me blush.

"We're ready Daddy," Alice called back. The ride over to Putt 'N Stuff was fairly quiet. Occasionally Edward and Emmett would start fighting only to be stopped by Alice's flute.

"Please guys," she'd say calmly. It was pretty funny. Emmett was in 4th grade and Edward was in 3rd, but little Alice was the most grown up. Carlisle and Esme carried on a conversation with just their eyes, which was weird and cool at the same time. My parents sometimes did that. My parents. Suddenly I felt like I had a baseball stuck at the top of my chest and my face started to heat up. Oh no, please no. Then I couldn't stop them. My evil tears came in steady streams down my cheeks. I turned to my right so no one would see and tried to wipe them away with the back of my hand. I felt Alice's warm hand on my knee and continued swiping the salty water off my face. I couldn't help but sniffle.

"Here you go Bella," Edward whispered over my shoulder and handed me tissues. I was embarrassed he'd seen me crying. I took the tissues and wiped the remainder of my tears. I stared at my lap the rest of the ride. When we finally arrived at Putt 'N Stuff I decided to put my small moment at the back of my head and just have fun. I still had about 3 more weeks to spend here in Forks, Washington (not the hot gross desert.) I was going to enjoy every minute.

The day I had been dreading had finally come. It was my last day with the Cullens, my last day with Alice. I had been lying on her bed while she finished her "Book of Us" for me to take. I had no idea what she filled the large blue scrapbook with, but I knew she had been working on it since she heard my dreadful news. There was a soft knock at the door and Alice motioned for me to open it. When I did, Emmett and Edward were standing side by side with frowns on their cute faces.

"Bellabear, I'm gonna miss you. But don't worry; when you come back in July I'll help you ride your bike again." Emmett's gangly arms wrapped around me tight, and he patted the top of my head and walked away. Emmett was always the braver of the Cullen brothers when it came to helping me do just about anything. Whether it was riding my bike, climbing a tree, hopping over a stream or doing a cartwheel, Emmett was the one to lend me a hand. I would miss him for sure. I turned to Edward then because he was just standing in front of me looking at the floor.

"Edward? Bye?" I didn't know what else to say to this boy. Edward had the most amazing emerald green eyes that I had noticed immediately when Alice told me he was her brother. Sometimes I'd stare at them, and wonder if maybe they were special eyes. Maybe if I got a closer look into them I would see something totally awesome, like a jungle or a magical world. But right now, his eyes were glossy and dark. He would always be the careful brother. "Emmett, she'll fall. Stop that." "Emmett she'll get hurt." "Bella and Alice can't play, it's too dangerous." "Bella please don't." Most of times he worried, I would actually hurt myself and he was the first one to me with a Band-Aid and a scolding for Emmett.

Edward pushed an envelope into my hand and gave me a small smile, then walked away. Hmm, I wondered what it said. I'd save it for later. He probably wrote the word "bye" on paper with a little picture or something. I loved horses so sometimes he would make drawings of horses in different places for me. Sometimes he'd even put the horse in silly places like on top of a house or sitting in a tree, and I'd crack up. Alice put her arm around my shoulders and handed me the scrap book. It had a pretty floral fabric on the cover with green and pink ribbons.

"Now, don't open it until you settle into your new room okay? Promise me Bellarina." Alice had a stern look on her face and so I promised. I stuck my letter in the scrapbook and Alice took my free hand. We walked down the hall, down the flight of stairs, to the front door and paused. I looked at Alice and was a bit startled to see my perfectly beautiful friend looking so frightened. Her big blue eyes were pouring tears down her cheeks, her beautiful pale skin was pink and her lips were quivering. As if she had somehow flipped a switch in me, I burst into tears and hugged her to me as tight as I could. I began smoothing down her long black hair and crying. I felt sick to my stomach and my chest felt extremely tight. I hurt so badly that I was afraid I would die on the spot.

The front door opened and Carlisle came inside to kneel down next to us. Both me and Alice turned to him for help, like he had the cure for the pain I know both of us were feeling. He was a doctor after all. Carlisle just pulled us to his chest and Alice and I continued sobbing. Finally, after who knows how long, everything went quiet except for some hiccupping from Alice and me.

"I know it seems impossible right now girls, but everything is going to be okay. C'mon Baby, let's walk Bella to her car. Her parents are waiting." Carlisle led us out the door and to the car. Esme had been talking to my mom when she turned to me.

"Oh honey, we're going to miss you so much. We'll plan something fun for July okay? You and Alice can write letters to each other on the stationary I bought you." Esme had tears in her eyes when she reached to hug me. I'd miss her too. She always smelled fresh, like my mother's garden after the rain. I gave Alice one last weak smile and let go of her hand. Then I turned towards their beautiful house one last time. I always thought it was more of a mansion, but Alice assured me that technically it wasn't. Someone, maybe Emmett or Edward, was staring at us from a window upstairs. I smiled one last time at my second family and left.

June 8, 1989

Dear Alice,

I can't believe I'm here now. It's really weird, like I'm in a different world. I guess I am sorta. I looked at my scrapbook. It's perfect. I didn't know there were so many pictures of us. I miss you so much Alerina. My mom said I can make the picture of us sitting on that huge rock near the stream (you know which one?)bigger. And she's going to put it in a frame so I can set it on top of my nightstand. I also liked the blow pop wrappers. Remember when we gave Emmett and Edward sticky kisses and they got mad at us? Emmett is so funny when he gets mad. He tries to look scary, but his face is too cute haha. My mom asked me if I wanted to be in ballet here. I said no. I have a confession Alerina, I don't like ballet. I only joined because you were in it. I'm not a butterfly like you. Anyway, I always thought the desert would be ugly, but it's very pretty. When the sun was going down today, everything looked like it was on fire, but it was the most beautiful fire I've ever seen. Did I already tell you I miss you? I feel like my life is over now. You make everything fun and now I'm living in a neighborhood that has nothing but grandpas and grandmas. Well, write back to me as soon as you can. Say hi to Edward and Emmett. I can't wait until next month.

Your best friend forever,

Bella

June 12, 1989

My Dearest Bellarina,

I was so excited when I received your letter! Oh and by the way, you'll always be my Bellarina because you ARE a butterfly. It's okay if you're not in ballet though. You should never do anything that makes you uncomfortable, but don't be afraid to try new things either. Edward wants to know if you opened your envelope yet. He's been such a meat head lately with me. I've been designing dresses for us. My mom is buying me a new sewing machine this weekend. As soon as I'm done with yours, Mom said we could mail it to you. I miss you sooo much too! My soul longs for its dearest friend, and until we meet again, I shall be content with mere memories of our happy times. July will come before we know it and we can dance and sing and swim like mermaids. Don't give up on your cool skates either, but make sure you wear jeans when you're practicing so you don't scrape your knees again. I always told you the desert could be just as beautiful as any other place. Remember? Are you going to take more flute lessons their? I know the gorgeous Elizabeth won't be able to give you your lessons, but hey, if you take lessons, by the time you come in July, you'll be ready to play a duet with Edward. He is such a bratty prodigy, but you and him could probably play a beautiful duet with the piano and flute. Oh and I could dance! I'm going to search for a piece with a piano and a flute so I can choreograph a dance for it and I'll send it to you to practice. Oh I'm so excited Bella! Write soon.

Your best friend forever,

Alice

Xoxoxoxo