A/n: I'm REALLY not sure about this one. I have lots of stuff written on it, but I don't know how this will turn out. And this is a snippet, the informative introductory prologue, if you will. So... Enjoy?

Disclaimer: Nothing's mine.

I stood there shivering like a Chihuahua with hives in the bathroom Jane and I shared, wondering where all the towels had gone. Not only was I freezing, but also my long, dripping wet hair was. I blame myself; I should have known Jane would use up every ounce of our hot water, and the lukewarm water, and even the water that wasn't purposefully meant to be cold, like she always did. However, that water lied to me. It pretended for almost a full minute that it was nice and warm, a saving grace in this windy and chilly Washington fall, and then all of a sudden, the comforting warmth of the rain started pelting what felt like pure, liquid ice. Unfortunately, by then, my hair was lathered with shampoo suds and I couldn't very well step out of the shower like that, so I had to grimace and bear it for another four minutes while I did the rest of my shower activities (conditioner and body wash, pervs!).

And then when I was done, I stepped out, my feet slipping on the wet tile, and almost took down the shower curtain. The floor was very cold, and I hopped from one foot to another quickly, hoping that moving around would prevent frostbite. I cursed my sister Jane again and called her name so she could go get me a towel from some other bathroom. Or maybe they were in her bedroom, and she took them so I wouldn't have any. I knew she heard me, too— her room is directly across the hall—but she didn't answer, didn't come to my rescue. I glanced around the small bathroom, with our pale blue walls and the harsh lights above the long mirror, trying to find something to wrap around myself. My room was conveniently all the way down the hall and it was my last wish that I streak through the house naked. I had brothers, you know.

But, as life frequently made certain, I had to go through the embarrassing ordeal of peaking my head out the bathroom door to see if the coast was clear and I ran at full speed, towel-less (naked!), toward the direction of my bedroom, where I could wrap myself in at least a blanket until I warmed up and could put some clothes on. However, any hope I had ever had that luck would ever strike me diminished very quickly when I saw Jane's twin Alec's door begin to creak open.

I instinctively covered my lady parts, trying to cover all my parts, but it was futile. I did what I could, though.

Alec's room was the median between my room and Jane's room, so I was halfway there. Almost there. But I stilled immediately, which, when I later reflected on this occasion thought to be extremely stupid, and I just couldn't move. Maybe if I had, I would have been able to get to my room without anyone seeing me. But I didn't do that. Because my feet were glued to the floor, I saw just exactly who was exiting my brother's room, his hair being the telltale trait. It was an odd amber tone, but dark, and it was perpetually messy. Therefore, the boy standing just steps away from my unclothed, shaking form was none other than the neighbor kid who lived across the street.

And his name was Edward Cullen.

The Cullens had moved in to the house directly across from ours shortly after we did, which was about six or so years ago. Imagine how excited ten-year-old me was when she found out another ten-year-old girl would be in walking distance from her, and she had two brothers! One was the twins' age and the other was our eldest brother Riley's age. What a coincidence! Maybe it was fate. Maybe we were all supposed to be friends, living in perfect, neighborly harmony together. I could just see it. Riley and Jane and Alec would finally condescend to play outside with me, to watch movies with me, to just talk to me, because now there were other kids in the picture.

This did not prove as so. Yeah, my eldest brother Riley found a football teammate in the eldest Cullen, Emmett. Alec and the middle Cullen kid were instantly friends, and Jane tagged along with them usually.

Alice and I were meant to be friends. We both knew it from the very first moment we saw each other, when my mother dragged me to their house to offer the clichéd, yet friendly, "Welcome to the neighborhood" message, and Alice answered the front door. I remember it like it was yesterday. She was really pretty, even then, with her thick raven hair and her glass green eyes. She was even shorter than I was. But I looked at the little ornate silver trinket nestled in her hair, stark steel contrasting with the deep dark of her hair, then I touched the identical one in mine, and I knew that Alice and I were one in the same. When I was six years old, Gran had taken me to a store filled with antiques, and I had come across two beautiful silver hairclips that must have belonged to a princess (or so I thought at the time). I only bought one, thinking that, should the princess ever come to look for her pretty silver barrettes again, she would at least have one. So when I saw the twin to my clip on Alice, it was a done deal. Thankfully, Alice had noticed our matching hairclips as well and had come to the same conclusion. We embraced, introduced ourselves, and then we went on a walk, on which we learned and learned until there was nothing left to learn until something else happened to us.

Six years later, and my bond with Alice still hadn't broken. I never really thought it would either. There was nothing I didn't tell Alice, nothing she couldn't tell me. We had some different interests, which meant we had disagreements, but nothing that was ever long-lasting. We had never had a fight lasting longer than the argument itself because neither Alice nor I was one for dramatics. She was the perfect best friend for me, and she was conveniently located just across the street.

Riley and Emmett didn't bother us ever, and Alice and I never bothered them. Riley was the one sibling I got along with and Emmett adored little Alice too much to ever hurt her feelings. But they were both five years older, and they marched to the beats of their own drums.

Jane and I had never been close. She was my sister and I loved her, and I would defend her until the death, but that was where our relationship ended. We were sisters, not friends. Alec was a little more cordial toward me, but not much. Jane and Alec, fraternal twins, were connected to each other while I was excluded. And as we got older, my attempts to be closer to them became too exhausting, so I just accepted that neither of them would ever concede to be my friend, even if they were merely two years my senior.

Now, at eighteen, Jane was a super bitch to me. Alec was nice, at least, now that we had somewhat matured, and last year before I had my license he drove me anywhere I wanted to go, and even he and Alice got along. Not Jane though. She loved to make my life miserable. She often embarrassed me deliberately and always pulled annoying and problematic stunts like the above-mentioned shower incident, but I think her favorite pastime was sabotaging my relationships with boys.

I looked like Jane for the most part. We had the same dark hair, and the same dark eyes, and we were around the same height. But Jane was older and obviously prettier than me. All the boys that I thought about dating wanted to date her. Jane loved that, thrived on it. She would flirt shamelessly with the boys she knew I liked and give them ideas so that they wouldn't even consider me as a choice now that she was available to them.

Then when my first boyfriend came along at age thirteen, and he would hang out at our house after school, Jane would draw the most attention possible to herself, and pay the most attention possible to him, and he would stand mesmerized and I was forgotten. My second boyfriend lasted longer than my first. Shortly after I turned sixteen and grew breasts, a lovely boy named Jay Jenks asked me out. We dated for six months, and I really grew to like him.

One day, Jane kissed him. Really kissed him.

And that was the end of that.

Fortunately, Jane had never found out about the deep-rooted longing I harbored for our neighbor and her "friend" Edward Cullen. My God, I can't even imagine what would happen if she did…

But now he was opening the door to my brother's room, and when he stepped out he would find that I was completely naked. And that would be detrimental.

"Don't. Move," I whisper-warned, hoping to God it would be a reflex for him obey that. If it was, I would have just enough time to avert this crisis before it started. "And close your eyes!" I added quickly.

Edward stilled, thank God, but then seemed to think to himself, What am I doing? And he started to open the door again.

"I'm totally serious," I said, still covering what I could of myself. "If you open that door, I will die."

"Isabella?"

It was a question, asking if it was who he thought it was speaking to him.

You know how some girls in movies and books that have crushes on unbelievable and unattainable boys completely out of their league are always saying things like "He doesn't know I exist"? Well, Edward knew I existed. How could he not, living so close to me? But he certainly didn't seem to care that I existed.

I'd rather be invisible than forgotten.

For the seventh million mother-loving time, buddy, "It's Bella."

My tone was cool, just like my freezing and naked skin, which now had uncomfortable goosebumps rising on it.

"Right." Right? "Well, why can't I open the door?"

"Cullen!" I heard Alec call from somewhere in his room. "Quit fuckin' around and get out of my room. I've got private business."

I scoffed at him.

"Relax, I'm just examining your… doorframe," Edward answered.

"My what?"

"Isa—I mean Bella. I'm opening the door now."

"I swear to God, if you open that door, I will pass out." It was very likely to happen, should Edward Cullen see me naked in the middle of the hallway.

I had to get out of this situation.

"Why?" he asked.

"I… can't tell you. Just give me, like, ten seconds to run to my room. Then you can do whatever you want."

"Whatever," he said, and then I ran.

It would only take me two seconds to get to my door, another second to get it closed, but before my three seconds were up, that son of a bitch opened the door. I didn't even need to see it to know.

I heard a very loud, very shocked, "What the hell!" before my door slammed shut.

I was panicked, but relieved. Panicked at what he might have seen. Relieved that I was safe in my room. I quickly donned my clothes and lay down on the bed.

Can't wait for school tomorrow, I thought as I sighed heavily and tried to forget the last thirty seconds of my rather unfortunate life.