Jacob's POV

Bella and I had known each other for years – our dads had been best friends since who knows when. Whenever she'd come to visit her dad in the summers, she'd spend a lot of time down in La Push, and we'd go hiking and ride our bikes and run around on the beach. We'd each seen each other go through all the awkward phases of braces, acne, "cooties" and growth spurts.

The summer before our junior year, Renee had gotten remarried in July and so Bella had come to live with Charlie. She arrived in late August, rather than her usual June, and something had changed about her. In the last year since I'd seen her, Bella had grown into her body, filled out her curves, finally figured out how to manage her hair, and got at least a better grip on fashion. My childhood friend, who had often thrown mud at me, was now hot. Junior year had been awkward, me stuttering when I tried to talk to her, and her, noticing my discomfort, responding with her own blushes – I had grown up, too. I had finally managed to ask her out last February – for Valentine's day – and she'd said yes. We'd been together for the past seven months, going to prom together, and spending our summer hanging out.

It was the first day of our senior year (my dad had decided to send me off the reservation for high school), and I had just picked up Bella from Charlie's house. She was wearing jeans and a brown peasant top, the exact color of her eyes – I loved that color – and her hair was up in a ponytail with slight wisps at the side of her face. Her eyes found mine, and she had greeted me with a grin.

I drove into the parking lot of Forks High School, a little bit early just to be on the safe side, and pulled into the parking spot closest to the building that Bella's homeroom was in. The Rabbit's stereo filled the air with the latest Muse album. I quickly reached across the front seat and hesitated momentarily before I pecked Bella on the cheek. She had had her eyes closed, listening to the music, and she jumped slightly at my touch. She looked into my eyes and smiled – God, that smile, it makes my stomach do backflips – and her cheeks reddened slightly. She gently stroked my face, got a mischievious gleam in her eye and then kissed me right on the mouth. I kissed her back enthusiastically. Our eyes closed and our lips moved together, like they were made for each other. I put my left hand on her waist and squeezed lightly. She put her left arm around my neck, pulling me in closer, and the fingers of her right hand gently gripped my left forearm. My heart accelerated, every beat pulsing through my veins making my head more cloudy, already heady with her scent – mmm, strawberries.... I moaned and took her bottom lip between mine and sucked on it. She made a higher-pitched sound of impatience in the back of her throat. My hair was now getting a little shaggy, since I buzz it all off at the beginning of each summer. Bella ran her hand through the hair on the back of my head, trying to push my face closer to hers. She opened her mouth wider, and I slipped my tongue just barely past her teeth, as if asking if her tongue wanted to come out and play. Her tongue flicked against mine, while her lips still roamed across my lips, as if by moving against them, she could weld our lips together.

It was getting close to the time to head into school, the parking lot was filling up and our classmates were beginning to make their way to their classes. A few witnessed our morning make-out session; I heard a few snickers as I pulled away from Bella, and reached to turn off the stereo. Bella, still flushed, took a quick minute to right herself, double checking her hair and makeup and slightly straightening her shirt.

"God, I never get tired of that, Bells." I leaned back on seat, with my head laying on the headrest while I collected myself.

"It is a nice way to start off the day, isn't it?" she smirked.

"Ready for our senior year?" I asked her, smiling wide and winking at her.

"I guess as ready as I'll ever be," Bella sighed. "I'm so not looking forward to my advanced math class. This summer has been a nice break from seeing Lauren's face every day, but at least I'll get to see Angela again. Her family just got back last night from their end-of-summer camping trip."

"This year is gonna be great. I can feel it. You and me, together, and … oh, uh, I don't think I mentioned this to you, but my best friend Edward is back in town."

Bella frowned, looking like she was trying to recall something, and coming up blank. "I don't think I've ever met him…"

"Yeah, he's been gone awhile. His family used to live here, but right before ninth grade his dad, Dr. Cullen, got a medical research fellowship in Italy."

"Wow, three years in Italy," Bella said, impressed.

"It's at the same hospital that Dr. Cullen worked at during the summers, that's why they were never here when you visited Charlie. That's strange, that you guys just never met… They're back now, though, so Edward's gonna finish up school in Forks with his twin sister Alice, but I don't know if his older sibs, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, will be in town, though."

Bella nodded, and then looked a little apprehensive. "Does he know about me, I mean, about you and me? Edward's known you a lot longer. I'm excited to meet him because it sounds like you guys are really close, but what if he doesn't like me? That'll be kind of awkward."

Silly Bella. Sometimes she could be so confident, but other times so self-conscious. I had become so in tune with all the little quirks in her personality. It was endearing – all the more so since we started going out – the way her eyebrows crinkled together and she bit her lip when she worried about something. "Don't worry, Bells. I'm sure he's gonna love you." I reassured her. "I can't think of why anyone wouldn't think you're great. You're smart and funny and interesting and playful and… sexy," I leaned my head in closer to hers, locking my eyes with hers, making her blush.

"I mean, what's not to love…?" I breathed. "Your big beautiful browns…" I kissed her eyelids, as she looked down, embarrassed. "Your cheeks, when you blush…" I stroked down her cheek. "Your lips, when you bite them like that… God, you don't know how sexy that is…" I growled.

Just then we heard the first bell, telling us that we had five minutes until homeroom started. Bella sighed in exasperation. I groaned.

"Crap. We better get going." I grabbed both of our book bags out of the Rabbit's backseat – mm, the backseat, I don't know how many times "her spending the afternoon watching me work on the Rabbit out in the garage" (which is what I told my dad what we were doing) had turned into heavy-duty make-out sessions. I walked her to her homeroom, with our hands around each other's waists. I quickly kissed the top of her head as I handed her bag to her. "I'll meet you after English to go to lunch, 'kay?"

"Can't wait, Jake." She smiled once more, back over her shoulder, and disappeared inside the classroom. I watched her back profile. God, those jeans look great on her, shaping her ass like that, I just want to...