Chapter 1

I grew up in a strange little town called Forks. I lived there with my dad durring the school year and I visited my mom in Arizona durring the summer. But I hated leaving in the summer, because I missed my best friend.

I knew Edward since I was eight. We were both in lower school together. Of course I don't remember very much of that, considering I am now eighteen. All I remember was that some kid pushed me down on the play ground, I cried and Edward came over and helped me up and gave me his sticker. Cute, right.

Everyone would always joke that we were the cutest little couple. But the thing is, Edward and I were just best friends. That was it!

We did everything together!

We always sat together at school. We would eat luch together. We hung out on weekends.

When I was twelve and fell out of a tree and broke my arm, Edward was the one who picked me up and carried me to the hospital.

Of course Edward was gorgeous and I was... well I was normal. I had brown hair that just hung down my back. My eyes were nothing to get excited about. But Edward's hair was messy, like he just rolled out of bed, but I loved that about him. HIs eyes were a wild green color that nobody else had. All the girls always obsessed over Edward. He had plenty of girlfriends; Tania, Laren, Jessica, etc.- all girls who starved themselves to death and had too much makeup to even see their faces.

I will admit though thay Tania was pretty. Edward really liked her. But she ended it with him when her family moved to Alaska. Edward was really upset when she broke up with him:

"Are you okay?" I asked, walking up to Edward who was sitting in his room with his face in his hands. When he looked up I was surprised to see that he was crying. "Edward!" I gasped.

"What the hell are you doing here Bella?" he demanded.

"You're mom called, said you were upset-

Edward stood up and I shut up immediately when I saw the anger on his face. "Now listen here Bella Swan! I don't need anyone to look out for me! Not my parents and especially not you!"

I felt the tears start to rise and I turned to run away. "Wait!" Edward gasped, grabbing my wrist. "Wait Bella! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have said that!"

"No! You shouldn't have!" I gasped, turning to look him in the eye.

"You're crying," he whispered, used to seeing me so brave and strong.

"Why would you care?" I snapped.

"Because I love you. You're my best friend. I can't live without you. I'm sorry! I was just so upset. Please forgive me."

Edward opened his arms and I stared at him for a moment before running into his arms and crying.

I had my fair share of boyfriends as wel, but they all ended up to be gerks in the end. There was Mike Newton, Tyler Crowley...

Everytime one of my relationships ended Edward was akways the one to comfort me.

Edward and I graduated high school together. But when college started I missed him like crazy. I went to Arizona State College and Edward went to Julliard for his musical tallents. We called each other and sent e-mails everyday. But it wasn't the same. I missed my best friend. My roommate, Angella said I talked about him all the time.

Eventually when summer came around I still couldn't see Edward. He was on vacation with his current girlfriend Laren Mallory. They were going out again. I had no idea why he took her back, but he did. So that summer I went to visit Charlie in Forks and Edward wasn't there.


I awoke to the sound of my cell-phone ringing. With a loud groan I rolled over and grabbed the tiny cell-phone in my hand and read the name on the screen. Edward.

I hit the 'answer' button and put the phone to my ear. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" I hissed in a whisper so I wouldn't wake my Charlie up.

"Nope," Edward chuckled. "I forgot my watch."

I groaned. "Ugh! Is there something you want?" I whispered.

"Well I would appreciate if you looked out your window," Edward said all mysteriously.

"Look out my window?" I questioned. "What are you..." I trailed off as I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

I stood up and looked out the window to see someone standing there. I threw the window open. "Edward?" I gasped.

"Shh!" he hissed. "Charlie's still asleep, but you could climb out the window and meet me down here."

I was still in shock. "You're here!" I gasped again.

"Yes, we've already established that," Edward smirked.

My eyes were bugging out of my head. I quickly turned and ran out of the room and down the stairs. I slowly opened the front door and closed it behind me so Charlie wouldn't wake up. I ran out into the front yard and ran around the side of the house to wher Edward was standing. I jumped him and threw my arms around him. Unfortunately he didn't see it coming and we fell back onto the ground. I landedon top of him and quickly squirmed to get up, but my eyes caught his for a moment and we froze. Tehre was something about that one moent that I didn't understand... yet.

But I shook it off quickly and we sat up as fast as we could and broke into of laughter. "Only you could have managed that one! Clumsy, clumsy Bella." Edward laughed. "And by the way, nice PJs."

I looked down at my pajams and blushed a bright red. I was wearing hello kitty pajama pants and a green pajama shirt. I gave Edward a light punch on the arm. "I didn't know I would be having company. You could've called. And what happened to Lauren?"

Edward stopped laughing and his eyes turned to the ground. "I broke it off with her."

"Why? What did she do?"

Edward looked me in the eye. "She insulted my favorite person. I don't put up with that."

"Who?" I asked. "Who's your favorite person?"

I looked up at Edward and he was holding back laughter. "You! She insulted you, clumsy." Clumsy. That was his nickname for me. "I swear, you can be so oblivious sometimes!"

I scowled a Edward until I really ran through what he said in my head. "I'm your favorite person?"

"No your dad is," he said sarcastically.

"Charlie hates you!"

"I'm not gonna argue with that one B." B, my other nickname.

With that Edward suddenly jumped off of the ground and stood before me. "C'mon Bella."

"Where are we going at one in the morning?" I demanded.

"To my car. Where we're going is a surprise."

"Oh come on! Just tell me!" I begged, standing up.

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

"You'd miss me too much."

"Yeah, I would," Edward responded, suddenly serious. "And so would Mike Newton." Of course, he found a joke out of everything.

"Mike Newton?" I questioned. "I haven't seen him in years! Wonder what he's up to."

"He's probably at some school for weirdos. I will never understand what you saw in that guy."

"He was sweet," I defended as we headed towards Edward's car. Edward gave me a look that said, really? "Okay, so he had some issues."

"Some?" Edward laughed.

I rolled mye eyes. "What I want to know is why you chose to surprise me at one in the morning," I changed the subject.

"My flight just got in and I couldn't wait to see you."

I turned to Edward and quickly hugged him. "I missed you," I whispered.

"I missed you too Bella. But right now we have to go before Charlie hears us."

"I agree with that," I said, pulling away and walking to the car.

I climbed into the passenger seat and Edward got into the drivers seet of his silver volvo. "So tell me what exactly happened between you and Laren," I said.

Edward sighed. "Apparently I talk about you too much. She said that you were boring and I ended it. I told her that if she can't except you than we can't be together."

I smiled. "It sounds like there is more to it."

"Well I like to keep out the bad language and her smacking me across the face."

"Oh my gosh! Let me see your face."

"No that's okay."

"Really Edward! Let me see it!"

"No Bella. That's okay."

I flashed on the light in the car and gasped when I saw the red mark on Edward's face. "Oh my gosh!" I gasped, brushing my finges across the bruise. "I'll kill her!"

"Bella stay calm."

"No! I mean, she's dead!"

"Bella pull yourself together," Edward said, pulling the car onto the side of the road and pulling the key out.

"No! I will not... wait! Why did we stop?" I turned my head to look out the window. The bracellet on my wrist clanged together as I brushed my hair out of my face. The bracellet was a gold chain that Edward bought for me for my Thirteenth birthday. He had one that matched. We called them friendship bracellets, but they were normal enough that they weren't too obvious.

My eyes narrowed when I came to a sudden realization of where we were. "Oh no!" I told him. "I am not hiking to the medow in the dark."

The medow was our little hiding spot. Edward showed it to me when we were nine.

Edward started laughing suddenly. "What?" I demanded.

"You are so stubborn, it's hallarious. Of course I wouldn't make you hike ot the meddow in the dark. You'd trip over your own two feet."

"Then why are we here?"

"Because I needed a quiet place where we could be alone."

"So we are just sitting in your car."

"Yeah. Pretty much. But it's because I have something to tell you."

"What?" I questioned, staring to become very confused.

"You see... when I was with Laren... all I oculd keep thinking about...

He trailed off, unable to finish.

"What?" I questioned. "What couldn't you stop thinking about?"

His eyes met mine at that moment. This was too serious for Edward. I expected him to crack a joke at any moment. But her didn't.

"You," he whispered, and suddenly, before I knew what was happening, he reached forwards and ran his fingers down the side of my cheek, brushing my hair out of the way. He ran his fingers back behind my head and slowly pulled me towards him. I didn't really understand what was happening at first, and I didn't have to. I reacted naturally and leaned in closer until our lips met. And suddenly we were kissing. I was kissing my best friend, Edward Cullen, and I didn't understand how it had happened. But it did.

I quickly reached down and unbuckled my seatbelt before climbing over the cupholders and into Edward's seat with him. We continued kissing until realization hit me like a ton of bricks and I pulled away, gasping and confused. "What the hell?" I gasped.

"Bella! I'm sorry! Maybe I shouldn't have. I mean, it's just that I love you and-

"You love me?" I gasped.

We both froze for a moment andI couldn't help but want to say it back. I loved Edward Mason and he loved me. I opened my mouth to respond to what he said but before I could something stopped me.

The first thing I felt was the jerk forwards. I heard the sound of crushing medal. I heard glass break. I felt myself flying through the windsheild. I realized that I hadn't been wearing a seat belt and Edward still had his on. So was he still in the car. I smelt the blood and... the smoke.

Everything was so, so dark... until I opened my eyes and saw the car in flames... and Edward was still inside.

A/N: I probably should have waited for more reviews to put this up, but I couldn't stop writing. So please give me lots of reviews and I will give you a fast update.