EPOV

"Edward, you ready?" a high-pitched, girly voice fluttered into my bedroom from the bottom of the stairs. Alice. I tore my eyes from the sky; a difficult feat, considering it was sunny, and this was Forks. The words "sunny" and "Forks" simply do not occur in the same sentence unless there's a "not" in between. Or, of course, unless you're discussing silverware engraved with solar designs, but that doesn't happen too often.

I wasn't sure if I should take it as an omen, or a good sign.

But I didn't have time to think about that now. I didn't want to have to deal with Jake if I was late to pick him up…dude has a bit of a temper.

So I turned away from the southern wall of my room, (made entirely of glass, due to the fact that the entire southern wall of the whole house was made of glass,) and called, "Yup. Coming, Alice." I grabbed my packed suitcase and loped out the door of my room and to the top of the staircase. I flew down them and dropped my suitcase at the bottom when I reached it.

Time for goodbyes.

I went first to Carlisle, knowing that my mother's farewell would be much longer. He extended his hand.

"Bye, Dad," I said, grabbing his hand. Carlisle had a firm handshake; that of a doctor confident that their patient would recover, which, of course, was exactly what he was.

"Goodbye," he replied, embracing me.

"I love you." I felt him nod by way of response, and we pulled apart.

I turned to Esme. Her eyes were glistening with typical motherly tears, but she smiled. She took me in her arms.

"I love you, Edward. So, so much," she whispered into my hair, rocking slowly back and forth, still holding me.

"I love you too, Mom," I murmured back

"I'm so proud of you, Edward. You can't even imagine.

"I know Mom." She released me, but clamped her hands around my upper arms and held me away from herself, enabling her to see me clearly. I used to think that Esme might have been happier if I'd decided to go to Yale, as was the original plan, as opposed to the community college one of my best friends, Jake, got into. But, despite my suspicions, Esme always had a sparkle in her eyes, (not to be confused with the tears that glittered in them at the moment,) which told me that as long as I was happy, she was unimaginably so. She smiled at me and kissed my forehead, then turned to Alice, who had said goodbye to Carlisle while I was saying goodbye to Esme. As I had suspected, Alice's farewell was significantly shorter than mine, due to the fact that my parents knew what it was like to have her out of the house. She would be a sophomore this year. She, too, was attending the community college in New York that I was going to, (this was why I'd recommended the place to Jake in the first place,) having followed her boyfriend, Jasper, whose parents couldn't afford any better. Obviously, this meant that we wouldn't need to say goodbye to each other.

"Come on, Edward, let's go!" Alice called, getting impatient. She was already on her way outside.

"Coming. Love you guys," I told my parents, and walked out the door.

APOV

My foot tapped impatiently as I waited for Edward to finish his ever-lasting goodbyes. Could this boy take any longer?! For God's sake, it's like he's leaving for…I don't know…more than three months! (Yes, all this was for three months! He'd be back for Thanksgiving! I mean really, the boy's been to summer camp, how is this so different?)

Finally, finally, Esme released him. I hurriedly embraced my mother, only to rip out of her grip the second Edward's suitcase was in his hand. I began to walk out the door, but noticed that my brother wasn't behind me.

"Come on, Edward, let's go!" I called, annoyed.

"Coming. Love you guys," he addressed my parents.

I planned to pounce as soon as the front door was shut, but he beat me to it.

"What's with the edginess? You're acting like you just drank, like, six cups of coffee. Or committed a murder," he stated matter-of-factly. I scowled at him, raising an eyebrow. "What?" he asked, the picture of innocence.

I sighed. "Honestly, Edward, it's like you don't know me at all."

"I feel like I don't, most of the time," he mumbled. Another sigh, on my behalf.

"You know, Edward, as a brother, you're sometimes a disappointment." I grabbed the handle on the door of my lemon yellow Porsche, and hopped inside. "Jasper, Edward, Jasper! Why would I be anxious to get to college?!" At last, a trace of comprehension crossed his face. I recognized it instantly. Reaching out to pat his shoulder, I said, "There's those Yale-worthy smarts! See ya at the airport!" And with that, I sped off.

As the forest whipped past me, the number of houses decreasing and the forest encroaching as I neared the boundaries of Forks, I thought about Jasper. He'd been gone for the entire summer, having won a kind of scholarship-type thing that flew him across the seas to Spain. Obviously I'd spoke to him on the phone at least once a day at the beginning, but the time difference had made that difficult. After a while, those calls had died down to roughly once or twice a week.

Okay, thinking about our lack of communication certainly wasn't helping to ease the immense amount of pain that not seeing him had caused me. I decided to instead relive the moment we met…

…I swiveled slowly back and forth in my stool and sighed. Where's Lauren? I wondered impatiently. How long have I been waiting? Like, an hour? I. Am. Pissed. Lauren was supposed to meet me at the Forks Diner, (one of the rare decent eateries in Forks,) an hour ago. We were going to talk about our science project, due in two days, but it looks like she has better things to do than get into Ivy League.

I blew out another sigh and spun my chair around so I was facing the rest of the diner, (which was deserted except for one old guy sitting at a booth,) and not the counter. I was about to get up when someone else walks in.

Now, as you probably know, rainstorms are hardly a phenomenon here in good old Forks. So seeing a tall male, soaked from head to toe, entering the diner didn't draw my attention. No. What caught my eye was the curiosity and kindness exuding from every fiber of his being. From his shaggy, blond, wind-swept hair to his flushed, smiling face to his gangly yet graceful presence, everything about him emanated interest. The distinction in his personality was so obvious that, despite the fact that I'd never even heard him speak, it was nearly visible. He looked like the kind of person who was talkative, but would listen to you babble for hours about the most trivial of matters. The kind of person who would comfort you tirelessly until you were confident that you weren't going to fail that test. The kind of person that Forks lacked.

I watched him for a moment as he looked around the place, smiling to himself. Clearly he'd never been here before, and I decided to be the nice, caring person who helped him out. Besides, I think I might be the only person who can help him. (Either the old guy is out cold, or he's a very convincing actor.)

I got up from my stool and walked over to him. "Hello," I said pleasantly. "You look like you could use some help."

He smiled down at me, looking slightly amused, and said, "Why yes, actually, I do. I came here for directions. You see, I'm visiting a relative here in…oh, what's this town called? Spoons? Knives?" he questioned, still smiling. He was obviously joking around, and, possibly, flirting.

"Forks," I politely corrected, smirking slightly.

"Ah, that's right. Forks. Well, my uncle lives here, on" – he glanced down at a piece of paper in his hand that I hadn't noticed – "Park Court, and I can't seem to find that particular street."

I raised my eyebrows, possibly flirting as well. "You got lost in Forks? How did you manage to do that?"

He shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I did."

"Hmm. Well it just so happens I live right near Park Court."

"Well isn't it fortunate that I ran into you, then, Ms…?"

"Alice. Alice Cullen."

"Jasper. Jasper Whitlock." He extended his hand in greeting and we shook, never breaking our gaze…

And thus, our story began.