Bella Swan has a major problem. Well, she has a lot of problems, but one main one seems to keep coming back to haunt her no matter how hard she tries to escape it. She is in love with her best friend's brother, and there is absolutely nothing she can do about it. She has tried dating other people, but it never worked out. After all, none of those boys could compare to Edward Cullen. And she can't even talk to her best friend about it, because Alice would either A) get super mad and refuse to talk to Bella ever again or B) squeal and jump around and then think of a master plan to seduce her brother.
Bella can't talk to her parents about it (not that many teenage girls talk to their parents about boys). Her dad, Charlie, would flip out and never let her go to Alice's house anymore. He would probably bring out his gun, too. And try to find some charge to arrest Edward. Being the chief of police in a small town has its perks. Bella's mom was out of the question, too. Renee lived in Phoenix and was so wrapped up in her own world (and new husband, Phil) that Bella hated to bother her with anything.
So Bella was stuck. She didn't know what to do, and she had no one to turn to. But she tried to be content. She lived her life pretending that she wasn't pining after her best friend's brother. She looked forward to spending the night at Alice's house for a different reason than everyone assumed. It hurt sometimes, especially whenever Edward brought home a new girlfriend, which was often. And Bella knew that she was little more than another sister to him.
They had a handful of classes together, even though he was a senior and she was only a junior. They shared math and biology. It gave Bella the perfect opportunity to talk to him if she wanted to, although in reality, he ended up initiating almost all school-related conversations because he had questions and she understood most of it. The rest of the time, however, he ignored her unless he was forced to talk to her out of politeness. Those conversations never lasted long. And yet Bella etched each word in her heart. She filled her heart with conversations with Edward, because she was afraid that that was all she would ever get from him. She was wrong, but maybe it would've been better if she were right.