Dear Ali,

I cannot wait for the next few months to be over with. It isn't that I don't like it here, for I have made a few new friends with whom I can race or climb trees, but I miss you. You will always be my best friend. I miss seeing you very day after school. The way you laughed. The way your baby teeth used to stick out just a little farther than your other teeth, almost like you had buck-teeth. I know you hated that, but I always thought it was funny.

I miss the way you always loved reading, and how you had to help me with my math, because I struggled and you always did perfectly. You have no idea how much I love you. There, I said it. Mary Alice, I fell in love with you when I met you. You may not feel that way about me, but I'm not taking it back.

Your friend,

John

She didn't breath. For a moment, she actually forgot. She had loved to read, and been good at math. And someone had loved her.

She was sitting in her room in Forks. She wasn't bothering to block her thoughts from Edward. She knew that he wouldn't purposely invade her privacy, and he was busy with Bella and Renesmee. She had told Jasper she needed time to be alone.

Dear John,

Did you mean what you wrote in your last letter? That you love me? Because, though I could never tell you, I had always loved you to. From that first day I met you when you laughed so hard milk came out of your nose. Remember how the sight of milk coming out of your nose made me laugh so hard milk came out of MY nose? And then everyone laughed at us.

Remember the day we climbed the tallest tree in the forest, and I was too scared to climb back down, and we couldn't get anyone else because we would get in trouble. You stayed with me for two hours while I slowly inched my way down that tree. You must have climbed up and down it ten times.

My favorite memory is also the saddest one I have. My cousin had just passed away. I had been so sad. But I was also scared. Because I had seen it. Somehow, I had known it was coming, and then it happened. I was terrified, and I couldn't explain it to anyone but you. And you understood. You sat in that tree with me all night, and we both got in trouble for being out so late. But you didn't care, because I needed you, so you where there.

Love,

Mary Alice

She had loved someone before Jasper. The idea of loving anyone but Jasper was so strange. But then again, nothing had ever sparked any memory of her former life, yet somehow, she had known that John's eyes used to be brown.

She stared at the envelopes. There were so many of them, she wouldn't be done for several hours. She sighed. What had he meant when he said she could find him if she wanted to. She didn't even know his last name. then she realized she could probably find it in the letters.

She searched every word of every letter, but it wasn't there. Finally, she put the letters down in a huff, and a small piece of paper fluttered out from beneath two envelopes. It said:

Dear Ali,

I know you are a vampire. Obviously, I'm a vampire, too. I don't know if you remember me, or if you even want to remember me. But I have never stopped loving you. If you want to see me, I like in Oregon. You can call me at (503)-555-9867. If you don't I'll understand.

Your Old Friend,

John

She couldn't believe it. Did she want to call him? Meet him? Did she want him to come here? What would Jasper think? Would he be angry? Would he not want her to meet John?

Edward knocked on her door. She sighed. She couldn't hide everything from him.

"Alice?" he asked. "Do you want to talk bout it?"

"Come in," Alice said.

The door opened and her brother walked in. "So, someone from your past?" he said, trying to sound nonchalant. "I think you should call him."

Do you really think so? she asked him without speaking. He nodded. Why? "Because," he said, "Alice, you want to know about your past. don't worry about what Jasper thinks. He loves you. He loves you. He'll forgive you."

She nodded. "I think I'm going to," she said. "Thanks Edward."

She picked up her cell phone as Edward left the room. She dialed the number in John's note.

"Hello?" a voice answered on the first ring.

"John?" she asked. "It's Mary Alice."