Disclaimer: All these characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.


I looked up at my reflection in the mirror as I brushed my teeth, looking into my deep brown eyes staring back at me. My hair was pulled up into a messy bun on the top of my head. I rinsed out my mouth full of tooth paste and splash my face with water. As I patted the left over water residue with a swash cloth, I took in my plain complexion. I had never cared that much about my looks but lately I had been wishing that I could have something unique looking about me. I took out my hair tie and let my locks fall down wildly around my head. The plain brown locks were in need of a trim as the long dead ends fell down past my shoulders. I opened the bathroom door and went over to the top of the stairs.

"Dad, I'm going to sleep now, good night." I called down the stairs knowing Charlie could hear me perfectly fine over the sound of the baseball game he was watching.

"Good night" My father's voice rang back up.

I turned and walked into my room shutting the door and locking it before I went to my bed. I pulled the extra blanket and pillow I had on the bed and put them on the floor like I did every night. Then I went over to turn off the light and crawled into bed.

Soon enough I heard the familiar sound of my bedroom window quietly being lifted up and someone stepping inside. It was dark in my room and I knew he couldn't see me but I smiled and watched the dark shadow walk over towards me before plopping down on the floor on top of the blanket and pillow that were waiting. This had been my nightly routine for the past twelve years now. I still couldn't help but smile loving the fact that every night he climbed through my window and slept next to my bed on the floor. Usually he didn't say anything until I spoke. Maybe because he was afraid of waking me if I was sleeping.

I thought about the first time that I had met him when I was six. My next door neighbors, the Cullens, had lived by me ever since I was born. Dr. Carlisle Cullen was a doctor over at the local town hospital and his wife Esme was a stay at home mother who took care of her two twin children, Emmett and Alice, who happened to be my age.

The day that I will never forget however was the day that I first met Edward. It was unfortunate, the events that led to his arrival at the Cullen's house, but I was grateful that he came into my life. I remember going over to the Cullens with Charlie when I was six to meet the new addition to their family. His empty and sad emerald green eyes looked up at me when I first saw him sitting alone on the couch in the living room. Carlisle had pulled Charlie into the kitchen thinking he was out of earshot/ I however was hiding behind the door frame.

I heard Carlisle tell Charlie how Edward's parents had died in a car accident while Edward was home with a babysitter. Carlisle and Esme were good friends of his parents, as well as Edwards god parents, and it was written in their will that the Cullens were to obtain the legal rights to Edward if anything should happen. I felt so sad for the boy as he sat by himself with his head down. I felt the urge even as a little girl to go to him and comfort him. I went over and sat down on the couch next to him looking at him as he kept his head down.

"Hello, I'm Bella, you must be Edward." He didn't say anything to me and I understood that he probably didn't want to talk so I just sat with him, giving him the silence that he needed but company so he wasn't alone.

For the next few weeks I would see him outside by himself, not talking to anyone as the other kids ran by. I would just go over my him and sit with him like I did the first day.

At first I would sit with him in silence but then I started to talk to him slowly. I never asked him any questions, just talked to him about my life and thoughts on things. He never said a word but just sat there and listened. Slowly but surely as the days went by Edward would come by my side if he saw me first. He then started to follow me if I would stand and walk away. He never said anything but he slowly started to join in with the other kids in games as long as I was with him. Months progressed and the school had him in special programs thinking that he had a disability because of his silence.


One week during the summer that year I was about to leave to go visit my mother and her boyfriend down in Arizona for a week. I walked over to the Cullen's' house and knocked on the door. Esme answered and let me in right away, happy that I had been coming over the house almost every day to see her mute child.

"Bella you can just walk right in, you don't have to knock Our house is your house." Esme gave me a friendly hug.

"Thanks Esme" I said looking up.

"No thank you." She smiled at me and looked over at Edward. She was grateful for the friendship that I extended to him.

Edward was sitting on the couch watching TV with Emmett and Alice. His eyes turned to me as I walked in and sat down next to him. He gave me his weak smile but said nothing turning back to the TV. I gently touched his hand to get his attention and he looked at me waiting for me to begin.

"Edward, I just came over to say goodbye, I'm going to Arizona for a week so I'll see you next Saturday." I gave him a gentle hug and then turned to stand up, about to say goodbye to Alice and Emmett when I felt someone grab my left hand and tug on it.

"No!" I heard from an unfamiliar voice to my side.

I looked down with my eyes wide to see Edward looking up at me with tears in his. Alice and Emmett had their mouths open in shock, having never seen Edward react that way, let alone speak. Esme had just walked into the room and dropped the bowl of popcorn she had with her for the kids.

"Don't go.." His voice broke.

I looked down at him in shock still and put my hand over his. "Don't worry I'll be back in no time, I'm just going to visit my mom."

I began to pull my arm away but he gripped onto it tighter. "Please don't leave...... please don't leave me." I was at loss for words until Esme was by my side taking my hand from Edward's.

"Don't worry sweetie, Bella will be back in no time." She looked down at him reassuringly.

Charlie was then in the door calling to tell me that we were leaving now. I started to walk towards the door when Edward's voice broke out from behind me again. "NO!! Bella!! Don't go, just stay, please just stay with me."

"Edward its ok, I'll be back in no time, so fast you will forget that I was even gone." I walked then out the door towards Charlie who was now beeping the horn at me to hurry up.

As I made my way to the car I heard footsteps running from behind me. I turned to see Edward's tear streaked face running towards me. "Don't go! Don't leave me! Please, I will do whatever you want, I will talk, just don't go! You won't come back if you leave!" He was now hugging me to him and Esme was there trying to pull him off and tell him that I would come back.

"Edward I promise I will be back in no time, don't worry." I said trying to get him to believe me. Charlie looked on confused about what to do. Edward however was fighting out of Esme's grip and clinging to me.

"They promised they would come back too and they didn't!! Don't leave me and die like them!!" He sobbed.

I knew that he was talking about his parents and so did Esme as she let go of her grip of him and he hugged on to me for dear life. He thought I was going to leave him and die like his parents had.

I didn't even realize then that I was crying too and hugging him back. "Don't worry, I'm not leaving, I'll stay here with you."

He looked up at me with a serious look on his face. "Promise you'll never leave me?"

I nodded back to him, "I promise."

Needless to say, I never made it to Arizona and told my mother to come visit me if she wanted to see me. That night was the first night he sneaked into my room and slept on the floor. I didn't know if it was him making sure I wasn't leaving or if he just didn't want to be alone. From that day on we were inseparable. He was my best friend and I his. We could tell each other everything and were completely comfortable. He was like the brother that I never had. His adopted family soon became a permanent fixture in my life and acted as my second family. Now I laid in bed with him laying on my floor twelve years later.

"Edward, are you awake?" I whispered into the night.

"Yea, I thought you were asleep, what are you thinking about?" He whispered back.

"Nothing just about the past that's all..... Tomorrow is the first day of senior year, next year we are going to be going away to different colleges….". I had been thinking about it recently, the thought of me and Edward being apart just seemed like a strange and unnerving idea. Just like how he was dependent on me all those years back, I was dependent on him.

There wasn't anyone else that knew more about me then him, all my secrets and thoughts. He was the person I talked to about everything and anything. We didn't keep anything from each other. The only thing that I ever kept from him was that somewhere along the way I had fallen irrevocably in love with him. I knew that he didn't feel that same though, and I would always be his best friend. I mean the boy saw me go through my awkward stages of puberty, saw me when I was sickly ill with stomach flu, and held my hair back as I had my face in the toilet. There can't be many romantic ideas that can get created after seeing all of that. Also... I was just plain old Bella. He on the other had aged like a fine wine over the years. The young boy I had once loved as a brother had turned into a Greek god before my eyes. He was insanely handsome with sharp face features, that made you think of a late James Dean, and he had messy bronzed locks that always looked perfect even if he just woke up.

"Let's not think about that now, we still have a year before we have to think about that. Just get some sleep." He answered in a distant voice breaking my trance.

I knew that would be the end of our discussion with that topic and just turned over and fell into a blissful stupor. When I woke up to the sun pouring into my window I looked down to see that the blanket and pillow were folded and placed neatly by my bed. He always left before Charlie could wake up and made his way back home. I knew Charlie was already gone as well because he had to go into the station early today to patrol since he was a policeman. I brushed my teeth and threw my hair up into a messy bun like always. I slid on a pair of jeans, a baggy sweater, grabbed an apple and made my way outside. Alice and Edward were sitting inside his silver Volvo outside my house. Alice was in the back seat like always, giving me the front seat. The day Edward had obtained his license, he made it clear that I had permanent shotgun in his car. I smiled at the idea but still felt bad.

"Alice you don't always have to give me the front you know." She just shrugged and then replied, "You can make it up to me by letting me put you into some decent clothes." I rolled my eyes and just turned around as Edward started the car.

"Where's Emmett?" I suddenly realized that he was missing.

"He took the Jeep because he wanted to get a work out in before school. He gets a little nuts when football season starts." Edward replied, making a little coo coo sign with his fingers at his head. I chuckled at that and he flashed me his beautiful crooked grin. God do I love that grin. This was the year that I had to let him know my feelings for him before it was too late and we went our separate ways in college.

We pulled up to the front of the school and I let out a quick breath. I had a feeling that this year was going to be different, at least I hoped it would be.