I wish the beeping would stop. I sit up groggily and look to the right of me towards where the noise is coming from. Grey in colour, standing on my timber bedside table, is my alarm clock. I glare at it, willing it to turn off by itself so that I don't have to get out from under my blankets. When it doesn't, I scamper out of bed to do it myself, trying to convince myself that I shouldn't hurl it at the wall or out the window. After I've flicked the switch and the alarm has stopped I consider going back to bed but figure I really can't be bothered too.
I can't be bothered to sleep.
Well doesn't that just speak volumes about my character, I think with a small sigh.
It's eight o'clock and I hadn't expected to be up for at least another hour or two. I make my way down to the kitchen to find my family staring me looking a little surprised. Mum is standing at the kitchen waiting for some toast to pop out of the toaster and dad is sitting at the table with Emmet drinking a coffee.
'Morning, sunshine." Emmet says 'Why you up so early?"
"Believe me, I'm asking myself the exact same thing." I mumble in my brother's direction.
Emmet is a year older than me. He takes after Mum and has brown hair and brown eyes that sparkle when he talks. He resembles a monster truck and is massive compared to me, with arms that bulge with masses of muscle and extremely broad shoulders. These muscles all courteously of the many weights he pushes in the gym everyday.
"Bella, do you want a piece of toast?" Mum asks taking the slightly burnt pieces out of the toaster and putting them on a plate. She is already dressed for work, wearing a pair of pants, white shirt and black cotton vest.
"Yes thanks." I take up the offer grabbing some honey from the pantry and spreading it onto my single piece of toast.
"I though you didn't have to work today?" I frown, shooting her a questioning look.
"Yeah me neither, but some stock's coming in so I better go in and help unpack." She smiles and shrugs. Mum had bought a bookstore back a couple of years ago from a struggling old couple. Of course, she would be the only woman alive that wouldn't mind going to work on a Saturday. She would definitely be the only person who'd volunteer when she wasn't scheduled on.
"Oh right, if you need any help, I can come in and help for a little," I offer nibbling my toast. It's a half-hearted offer though, I really don't want too. Mum knows this but smiles anyway.
"No it's alright, I'm sure I can manage." She says brushing a stray piece of hair out of her face and checking her watch.
Mum would have been beautiful when she was younger. She showed me some photos once. Some people thought I looked like her but I just didn't see it. She had lovely chocolate brown hair that was always straight whereas mine was a lighter brown with natural streaks of blonde that were constantly wavy. The worst mistake I had ever made was layering it. My eyes were blue like Dad's though my lashes weren't nearly dark enough to truly make them noticeable.
"Ok, I better be going" Mum says and gives me a kiss on the cheek as she walks out the door.
"So, what's on the agenda today?" Dad asks.
"Haven't decided yet," I say, "I'll probably head over to the Cullen's in a little bit"
"Aren't they sick of you yet?" he asks picking his paper back up.
"Nobody could ever get sick of me." I tell him sweetly taking an extra large bite of my toast.
"That's questionable," he says, his eyes fixated back onto this weekend's newspaper.
"Whatever Trevor." I tell him.
The irony of it is that dad's name is actually Trevor. Dad's a civil defense lawyer and thinks he's hilarious. He's not. Emmet had also somehow inherited this trait and they both struggle to remain serious for too long. If a situation becomes too awkward, painful or serious they seem to instinctively just throw in a joke or a quip.
"Anyway, what's the time? Almost 9? I best be going" Dad stands up grbs his brief csse, pats Emmet's shoulder and plants a kiss on my head as I'm pouring a glass of juice. Several drops escape the glass, spilling onto the timber fall. I pretend I don't notice.
"See you tonight" Dad calls over his shoulder as he too walks out the very front door that only a couple of minutes ago Mum had, "Oh and Bella, make sure you clean up the juice you just spilled. "
A couple of minutes later we hear the sound of the car starting.
"So you don't need a ride or anything?" Emmet asks jiggling his car keys. In truth, they unlock a tired looking Toyota but by the way Emmet looks at them, you would think they were the keys to a Porsche or Lamborghini.
"No, thanks for the offer though, I'm going to go get dressed and head over." I tell him. "What are you doing? Are you coming over too?"
"No" he smiles, "Rose and I are going out and then I think I'll go to the gym. Catch you with you later." He tells calls grabbing a hat and his keys.
I make my may back up the carpet-covered stairs taking them two at a time. I take the first right into my room and over all my shutters and binds. Slipping on a tank top and a pair of shorts, I pull my hair into a band, clean my teeth and stare at my face in the mirror. I have the odd freckle but otherwise perfectly clear skin. Once I'm satisfied with my appearance I grab the house key, lock up the house and make my way down the street.
All the houses on the street have pretty much the same modern design other than a couple of variations. The odd porch here, the odd pool there. Six houses down, stands a familiar brown and beige house with neatly trimmed green and yellow hedges. It had homed some of my earlier birthdays and I knew the inside like the back of my hand.
I knock on the door a couple of times and am greeted by Edward. He smiles but his green eyes squint together slightly.
'Hey, aren't you here a bit early?" He asks me.
"I'd say 9.30 is quite a reasonable hour," I tell him and droop my thumps through my short pockets.
"Oh right, let me rephrase that; aren't you here a bit early for you?"
"What are you insinuating?"
"Never mind" he says and opens the cream coloured door wide. "Where's Emmet?" he asks.
"He's spending the day with Rose." I explain looking around. "Where's Alice?"
"Oh, she's still in the bathroom," Edward says, "As usual."
"Typical," I smile. Edward rolls his eyes and smiles knowingly at me.
Edward has messy hair that can't seem to decide what colour it wants to be. It has traces of blonde through it but is mostly a copper-ish colour. He's been my best friend since we were both six. Alice is his twin sister, though they look absolutely nothing alike. She has long, black hair that contrasts with her tanned skin and crystalline blue eyes. The three of us had met when Emmet and I had first moved in years ago. Emmet had stolen a doll of mine and Alice has consoled me with a strawberry donut. We had all been inseparable ever since. To this day, Edward still give Emmet heaps about how when they had first met Emmet has been carrying a pink Barbie doll. Emmet would usually keep it simple and flash Edward the bird.
Being my best friend, Edward and I pretty much told each other everything. Edward knew everything about me. My favourite colour, when my birthday was, my least favourite vegetable; you name it he'd know it. But there was one very important thing that he was completely oblivious to. I was in love with Edward. Alice knew; she'd always just known. But we never saw eye to eye about it. She wanted me to tell him. I refused. Being friends was better then nothing, after all.
Edward lead me into the lounge room and used the remote to surf through the various channels.
"You ready for school tomorrow?" he asks. I groan.
"Please don't remind me." Tomorrow's the end of the holidays and the start of another school semester. To put it mildly, I'm not looking forward to it. At all.
"These holidays went far to fast," he sighs and turns the off the television when there seems to be nothing on.
"Agreed, my brain's still under the delusion that there is another week of holidays left."
"On the plus side, the football season starts again." He says.
"On the plus side?" I repeat. "Since when did you become an optimist, Mr. Halfback?"
Like Emmet, Edward is on the football team as well. Alice's boyfriend of-forever, Jasper, plays as well so it turns out that Alice, Rose and I always seem to attend all their games. We actually form a pretty tight-knit group; Emmet, Rose, Alice, Jasper, Edward and I. Emmet should be a grade older then all of us but he had to repeat grade two when he was six.
Before Edward can reply, he is interrupted by a high-pitched voice as Alice makes her way into the lounge room and plants herself on the leather couch next to me.
"Why are you awake?" she asks.
"My alarm clock," I tell her simply. She nods in comprehension.
"What do you want to do today?" she asks looking at both Edward and I.
"Umm I don't mind, though I really don't feel like shopping today." I say.
"I second the no-shopping part," Edward says. When we went shopping it usually ends up with me and Edward ditching Alice and running away to the nearest DVD store. Alice and Rose both love to drag me along with them and make me try on all types of ill-fitting, too-tight outfits.
"I say we go to the lake then, "Alice suggests.
Edward and I agree. We hadn't been in a while. When we were little we used to go there all the time and swim. I'm pretty sure Alice and Edward had there 10th birthday there. We grab a football and place it in the boot. Edward has to drive. He's only been driving for four months but my birthday isn't for a couple of months and until then I can't drive. Plus I'm too scared to enter a car with Alice driving. Edward and I fight for control of the radio the entire way there. It's only a twenty-minute drive and that include the extra ten minutes we spent at Subway.
When we get out the temperature seems cooler. Probably from the slight breeze that's blowing off of the water. We decide to go sit down on the grass halfway down the hill. The sun shines straight onto the water and the resulting glare makes me wish I'd thought to bring my sunglasses. Alice decides that she's going to call Jasper and tell him to come down. She scampers off and goes stalks up and down as she talks on the phone.
"Catch." I turn around just in time to catch the football Edward has just passed in my direction. "Nice reflexes" he compliments.
"Too bad I can't say the same about you" I say and try to fling it back as quickly as I can in his direction. It doesn't really have the desired affect seeing as he does in fact catch it. With ease.
"What was the you were saying?" he quirks an eyebrow at me rather cockily. I smile defeated.
"Nothing important."
Jasper arrives a while later. Edward, Alice and I are lying on the grass and have finished eating our Subway. I'm just about to take the last bite of the double-chocolate cookie in my hand when suddenly it's snatched from my grasp and shoved into Edward's mouth. I stare at him. He looks unperturbed. Alice is just sitting there watching amused. I continue staring but he just lays back and continues chewing. When he's completely finished chewing and has swallowed what used to be my cookie, he still shows no sign of looking. I sigh.
"I hate you," I mumble miserably.
"You love me." He smiles. If only he knew how right he was.
"You stole my cookie."
"I'm sorry," says, his beautiful green eyes wide.
"No you're not."
He pauses for a little bit as thought he has to think about it.
"It was a good cookie," he says in a matter of fact.
By this time, Alice has jumped up and is walking over towards Jasper to greet him. He pecks her cheek and comes down and sits next to us.
"Hey guys, what's happening?"
Jasper has short cropped, blonde hair. He is tall and lean, probably the same height as Edward though less muscular. Him and Alice are polar opposites. You'd think they would repel each other but no. Just like the law of physics states; opposites attract, like charges repel. The most obvious difference between Alice and Jasper being that Jasper has a filter. He thinks before he talks. The pair has been dating since they were both twelve. That's six years and counting if my maths is any indication. I still remember the day it happened. Rose had sworn she'd beat up Jasper if he ever hurt Alice. And to his credit, he never did.
"Hey Jaz, nothing much, just had some Subway. Aren't their cookies just the best?" Edward replies, shooting me a look that dares me to contradict him. Jasper looks a little confused at our exchange and looks at Alice for help.
I fight the urge to poke my tongue out at Edward. It's as though we are six years old all over again.
12 years ago:
"Edward!" a six-year-old version of me screamed and giggled, "Stop it!"
Edward continues splashing me with the water from the lake. He is already half-submerge in the water but I'm standing on the shore in a bright purple getting splashed. Alice is standing next to her mum, Esme, as Esme rubs sun lotion over her skinny arms.
"Hurry up Bella. Don't be such a slowpoke!" Edward calls, diving under so I can no longer see him. I don't need to be told twice.
"I'm not a slowpoke!" I call and run as fast as my tiny six-year-old legs will take me towards the water. I dive into the lake. I let out a tiny yelp as the cold water washes over me. Edward appears a couple of meters away from me so I paddle over towards him.
"I bet you can't beat me a swimming race," he challenges.
"Can too," I retort stubbornly.
"Can not."
"Can too!" I shriek.
"Fine," Edward says, breaking the pattern, "First person to get to that log wins" he points to a piece of driftwood floating around ten meters away.
"Ok," I agree. He nods and proceeds to count us in.
"On your marks, get set, g-"
Edward takes off swimming before he finishes counting us in, leaving me behind already. I start swimming as hard as I can to try to catch up to him. I swallow a bit of water at the start and then continue flailing my limbs wildly. When I reach the log I look up and Edward is already there. He is smiling triumphantly which makes me want to smack it off his face.
"I win," he declares smiling wiping water from his eyes.
"So? I still win," he says looking at me as if I'm dumb.
I'm just about to call him a very not-nice word when a loud bellowing makes us snap our heads back to the shore.
"Cannon ballllll!" Emmet yells and launches himself off a log and high in the air, his arms wrapped round his knees. Eventually gravity brings him rocketing back down straight into the lake resulting in an enormous splash. Edward and I both look at each other, our previous argument forgot and paddle over to Emmet.
"Dat was really cool," I say smiling.
"Yeah," Edward agrees with a matching grin, "the slash was so big!"
Emmet smiles.
"Let's do it again!" He swims back to shore leaving Edward and I staring after him in the water. He turns back around and calls to us.
"You coming?" he asks. Edward and I nod eagerly at each other and swim over to the shore. The next thing I know Emmet, Alice, Edward and I are hurling ourselves, one after the other, off the log and into the lake. Edward has just jumped and I'm up next. I stand on the log and make my way closer to its edge. It look really high from here. I start to get nervous.
"C'mon Bella, it's really fun," Edward calls. And that's all it takes. All my nerves disappear at the sound of his voice and I launch myself towards him laughing. He swims over to me.
"You're right that really was fun," I say smiling widely. Alice chickens out and doesn't jump and for a little while Edward, Emmet and I compete to see who can make the biggest splash. Emmet wins of course.
Esme calls for us to come back saying that it's time to go home. Edward suggests we go and hide so we don't have to leave. Esme hears and calls us over again. Edward get's out and Esme wraps a towel around him. As I'm getting out I slip and hit my knee against a rock. It doesn't hurt very much, but a couple of tears start to from in my eyes. A small cut appears on my knee though there is hardly any blood. Edward turns around sees me and runs down the hill.
"Bella, are you ok?" He asks, his young eyes alive with concern.
"I just slipped and banged my knee." I tell him in a quiet voice tears starting to spring from my eyes.
"It's ok," he tells me wiping a tear away. "Don't cry, Bella. Come on," he smiles and holds out his tiny hand for me to take. I look at his hand, down at my knee and realize that it doesn't hurt anymore. I smile up at him showing all of my tiny teeth, and take his hand tightly in mine. And that was the moment. The moment where I took his seven-year-old hand and he took my seven-year-old heart in return.
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