A/N- for all confused, the bold is just a story note and the italics is a past entry in the black notebook. :] Check out the authors note at the bottom.

Bella had never been good about people spending money on her. After living the first seven years of her life with her divorced mother who's income was one of a kindergarten teacher, she'd learned to not expect much more than what she needed. She never once complained about it, either. It seemed fair enough. So when she became friends with Alice and Edward Cullen, children of the richest family in all of Forks, Washington–– perhaps even the entire state–– Bella found herself growing uncomfortable having to deal with not being able to keep up on all of the newest expenses. She became outraged at Alice's 'simple' solution–– just let her buy everything for her. Edward was disappointed when Bella backed out of anything concerning more than ten bucks spent on herself. So, when she wasn't there to object, Edward never hesitated to jump on the opportunity. The summer before their senior year was no exception. . .


July 18th, Year 1–– Bella and Edward meet in closest beneath stairs. Edward and Bella become best friends.

July 20th, Year 1–– Edward shows Bella how to play first song on piano

July 23rd, Year 1–– Bella and Edward start Notebook and sign friendship pact.

July 25th, Year 1–– Bella gives up on piano.

July 28th, Year 1–– Alice gets jealous of Edward and Bella's friendship and hides Bella away from Edward. Edward gets grounded for a week for punching Alice.

July 30th, Year 1–– Edward and Bella make a small fort in the forest behind house to hide away from everyone else in since Esme won't let Edward see Bella while grounded. Decide that this is where the book will be kept.

August 4th, Year 1–– Edward is set free and he and Bella go to the La Push beach for the first time in Bella's life to do something other than watch her dad fish.

August 7th, Year 1–– Edward gets sick and Bella has to spend the whole day with Alice and Emmett. Bella declares Emmett is scary.

August 10th, Year 1–– Bella decides Alice is okay and stops Edward from punching her and getting himself into trouble again when Alice wants to play with them.

August 15th, Year 1–– Bella decides Emmett might be scary, but is okay.

August 16th, Year 1–– Edward, Alice, and Emmett help Bella talk to Dad about staying in Forks.

August 17th, Year 1— Edward gets beat up for trying to take down Emmett after he teases Bella.

August 20th, Year 1— Bella sleeps over at the Cullen's house for the first time.

August 24th, Year 1–– Bella's dad says yes!

"Beanie chairs, a mini fridge, a freaking television?! Edward, I can't freaking believe you!" I laughed breathlessly as I spun around what used to just be a simple wooden box that was barely big enough to be considered a fort. Edward had doubled it in size, given it walling and flooring, a window, electricity–– including lights, a television, stereo, and a mini fridge, fully stocked–– and furnished it with vibrant bean chairs, a built in counter and a coffee table in front of the stand that supported the television. I bit my tongue and dropped into one of the beanie chairs, feeling filthy. I couldn't believe he'd spend this much money on our little get away. It was the equivalent of a decked out den.

"You like it?" He beamed, dropping into the chair next to me. "Or do you love it." He reached behind him and retrieved two sodas from the mini fridge and offered me one. I waved my hands in disgust and jumped up from the chair.

"I . . . I hate it, Edward!" I declared, partially lying. "How could you spend so much money on something so . . . so perfectly fine without it!" I bit my lip and look away from him, my cheeks heating up from the stress being angry with Edward brought me. I wasn't lying, though. I definitely did not like what Edward had done–– especially since I hadn't been informed before he went through with remodeling. It had been perfectly usable previous to this! Edward Anthony Cullen . . .

Edward grimaced and placed my soda on the ground. "Come on, Bells." He pleaded hopelessly. "You seemed happy a minute ago. Look, it''s perfect! I made it red, your favorite color." His eyes followed me warily as I paced angrily in front of him.

"Why wouldn't you tell me, Edward?!" I fumed, my eyes scanning the room again. "You could have let me help, and taking it down a notch wouldn't have been a terrible idea, either."

He hung his head. "I wanted to surprise you." He murmured sadly. "I wanted to give you something great to come home to. Besides, I had nothing else to entertain myself with while you were gone and this was the closest I could get to you, being in this building." His melancholy eyes tilted up and his sparkling emerald smoldered.

"Edward . . ." I breathed as I dropped back into the beanie beside him. "At least let me pay for half."

His forehead creased as if I'd insulted him and I frowned, knowing that I'd already lost the disagreement. "Not gonna happen Bella." He insisted. He held out the soda for me again. I narrowed my eyes and reluctantly snatched it from his hand.

"That doesn't mean I have to like it." I huffed. Not bothering to open the soda, I discarded it to the far side of my beanie. Inhaling deeply, I sighed and turned to Edward. "Where's the little Black Notebook?"

Edward smiled in relief. "Knew you'd like it." He laughed before raising himself from the beanie chair. He shuffled over to the right of the television and stopped to present the glass case he'd purchased to hold the small black notebook that held the history of our friendship. His hands slid across like a game show host and he grinned at me. The withered journal was placed on slanted stand and lit up like a museum exhibit. I smiled ruefully at him.

"Tada!" He sang. Reaching behind the glass, he lifted a latch with an audible click and his hand snatched the old notebook and carefully withdrew it. He stepped away from the hazardous glass and made a jump for the beanie chair. He pulled a pen from his pocket and offered it to me with the notebook.

I waved away the pen as I accepted the notebook. "I want to see what you added before I write anymore," I explained. He chuckled and pushed his beanie closer to mine to peer over my shoulder.

My eyes skimmed over the three pages he'd filled, only stopping one the one's remotely entertaining. July 18th, Year 10— Alice pins Edward to the couch to keep him from going down to Phoenix to get Bella for anniversary. She gave up a day of shopping for him! The nerve. . . I laughed.

"Alice write this one?" I giggled, pointing at the entry that wasn't in Edward's perfect script.

He looked it over and snorted. "You know how much she likes planning our special dates on the eighteenth," He breathed into my ear. "She was just as disappointed as I was not to have you there."

I shrugged and kept reading. Most of the dates consisted of the girls Edward was going on a date with. One was the date of the Denali's arrival. Another, the date of the start in remodeling and a day by day progress. One was the realization that he was far better than his piano teacher. The date Edward started working on my new song, and one that made me smile. August 22nd, Year 10— Edward admits that he misses Bella far too much for his own good and is elated that her return is tomorrow. He promises to bolt her to the fort next time Renee offers her an extended stay in Arizona. He hopes that Bella misses him, too.

I twisted around so that my face was just inches from his and tilted mine sideways. "You missed me?" I whispered. Of course, this was no surprise to me, but I still found it sweet that he had written it in the Black Notebook.

"How couldn't I?" He quipped, a slight smile falling lopsidedly onto his face. I rolled my eyes playfully and pecked his cheek.

"Awh, I missed you, too." I assured him in a mocking voice. He stuck his tongue out at me childishly as I twisted back around, grabbing the pen from Edward's hand. I flipped the last page that was written on and put down the day's date.

August 23rd, Year 10. Year ten meant the tenth year of friendship that Edward and I had shared together. I'd felt guilty the entire summer for missing the eighteenth, the day Edward and I had first become friends, when it was our tenth year. I knew, though, that just because I wasn't here on the initial, I hadn't gotten myself out of going on some exotic Alice-planned date with Edward. Five years ago I'd learned that Alice was quite big on five-year things.

"What should I start with, my return?" I questioned, tapping the end of the pen against my chin. Edward rested his head on my shoulder and nodded. The pen dropped from my pen and started scribbling beside the date. — Bella returns from Phoenix! Edward's hands slithered around my waist and snatched the pen and notebook from my hands. "Edward, what–

"One sec." He shushed me, pulling back. His hand soared across the paper as he made his own additions. I watched him, one eyebrow risen. After a few seconds he smiled at what he'd written and offered it back to me. I cautiously accepted it and rose it to my face to read.

Bella brings home a serious sunburn. Alice throws Bella surprise party. Bella gets an amazingly cute look of angry surprise on her face. Edward plays Bella song(she loves it). Bella loves remodeling. Edward sets record on going without sex for a month and a week.

"Mhmm," I nodded. My eyes rose from the notebook to look incredulously at Edward. "Cute?"

"Sure." He grinned. I rolled my eyes and stuffed the notebook back in his hands.

"Edward, I'm tired." I reminded him, dying to return to my room and leave Edward to his date with Tanya. I just wanted to sleep and spend tomorrow with Edward, not tonight. He was too caught up with the fact that I'd been gone for so long. He wasn't acting. . . himself.

Edward stood up and trotted over to the glass display. After making a show of returning the Black Notebook, he turned to smile sadly at me. "Will you just watch one thing with me, on our new television." He pleaded, widening his eyes.

I closed my eyes and frowned. "If you wanted me to stay, you should have taken a different approach." I huffed. This was the one trait I hated about Edward– he was always persistent, though it didn't take much for him to get his way.

"Okay," his voice was closer now. "Bella, you left me. For two whole months at that! You missed the eighteenth and you only called every other day. I had to go a full day every other day without talking to my best friend. My only other options to spend my day were shopping with Alice or getting the snot beat out of me from Emmett's own entertainment. Now you tell me, will you stay and watch something with me?"

I opened my eyes and pursed my lips. "Maybe I should have just said no while I still had the chance." I sighed in resignation. Edward smiled victoriously, falling sideways from his squat to sprawl across the beanie. He reached for the remote. "Wait, if you use it does that mean that it can't be returned?"

He snorted. "It doesn't matter, I have no intentions of returning anything in this master piece."

"Edward!" I complained as he clicked on the tv. I folded my arms guardedly across my chest, defeated. I heard him chuckle at my stubbornness beside him. I scoffed.

"How much did this cost you anyway?" I questioned without turning to look at him. He didn't respond and I tilted my head towards him. "Edward?" He shifted guiltily in his beanie chair and refused to meet my gaze.

"Well, I've got a job this year." He admitted. "I'm working at Newton's with you."

My jaw dropped. "Edward Anthony Cullen!" I shrieked. Had it really been that much? Money was never a dilemma with the Cullen family, so if he was being forced to get a new job because of this then it had to be a lot.

He shrugged. "Something about learning responsibility with money." He offered nonchalantly. My forehead creased in disapproval.

"Edward . . ." I began, my irritation in his boneheaded actions truly getting the better of me. A job?!

"Listen," He interrupted. "What's done is already done, Bells. I'm not getting a refund on all this so I suggest you just enjoy it. I don't like thinking that all this was a wasted effort." He paused to survey me. I took the opportunity to snatch the remote from his hand, knowing that I wouldn't want to know what he'd begun watching over the summer. "Do you honestly hate it?" His face broke at the thought.

I sighed. "Of course not, Edward." I breathed sincerely. "You did it all for us, you made it my favorite color, you're willing to sacrifice your after school freedom just to make it perfect. . . Edward I absolutely love it. I was just trying to get some common sense knocked into your brain. If I hated it would it lower the chances of this ever happening again?"

He let out a loud laugh. "No, Bella," He assured me happily. "It would just raise the probability." He laughed again as I grimaced and rolled my eyes. He snagged the remote from my grasp and began scrolling through the guide. I pursed my lips as he selected some show I'd never seen before. He noticed my reluctance to watch the new program.

"I'm sorry, I'm being extremely rude today, huh?" He sighed, pulling my beanie even closer before draping his arms around my shoulder. He dropped the remote into my lap. "You can choose, Bella. It'll be another welcome home present." I giggled and leaned over to peck his cheek. This was just a small gesture of his apology– I knew he'd tried to make it up for me formally later tonight. My friendly kiss was my way of telling him it was alright.

I rose the remote from my lap and flicked to the usual channel that Edward and I usually found some good movies on. An old movie we'd seen multiple times was playing, already halfway in. After peeking at the clock, I looked over at Edward and shrugged. Deciding that it was fine, we settled back and focused in on the television. I leaned into Edward's shoulder and his arm tightened around my shoulders. It was how we always watched tv, though we were usually annoyed by Alice and Emmett for it, it felt comfortable. It was better than using a blanket in my opnion.

"Edward, I'm exhausted." I declared the moment the credits began scrolling down the screen. Edward's eyes broke away from the screen to evaluate my slouched form sadly. "Can we go back now?"

"Fine." He resigned, sliding his arm out from under my head and tossing his empty soda can into the wastebasket beside the door. He rose fluently and turned to look at me again with raised, expectant eyebrows. I tried to push myself up, but my legs refused to respond. I scowled and tried again.

"Humph." Edward grunted before slipping his arms under me again. I curled sleepily into his familiar chest. "Much more tired than I thought, huh?"

I nodded against his defined muscles. "Are you going to make me walk?" I joked soundlessly. In the past, Edward was never hesitant to carry me, even if I wasn't tired. So I highly doubted he would reject me now.

"Yes, actually." He said sternly. I rolled my eyes before closing them carelessly. Suddenly, Edward's steel arms disappeared from beneath me and the floor came speeding towards my exposed back. I screeched, eyes tearing open, only to be captured again by Edward inches before I collided with the fresh red carpet. I gathered his shirt in my hands and pulled myself to his chest, clinging to him for dear life.

"Jerk." I mumbled under my breath.

He chuckled. "I apologize." He whispered, pushing aside the door to start back towards Charlie's house. "That was extremely childish of me. How about I make it up to you. Come over tonight?"

I craned my neck to look up at him. "Edward, you're going out tonight." I reminded him. I was home now, but I doubted that he could hold up much longer without sleeping with anyone. In my mind, I saw Tanya as a beautiful, rich girl.

"Yes." Edward accepted, shifting me closer to himself. "But I don't plan on making any advances tonight. I'm sure she won't either, especially after she's spent an entire evening listening to me speak of no one other than Isabella Swan."

I snorted and averted my gaze from Edward. My lazy eyes skimmed the familiar tree engulfed path that lead from the fort in the clearing to Charlie's house. When my eyes circled back around to Edward, the seriousness in his features startled me. "You're not being serious, are you?" I questioned, stunned.

He raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Bells, my best friend just got back after being gone for two months!" He shook his head in mock disappointment. "You shoulder meet her sometime. She was thrilled to see me and loved my renovations on our fort. You two would be two parts of one whole, huh?"

I pursed my lips. "I know I'm being serious." I scoffed, crossing my arms.

He frowned. "I am being serious, Bella."" He claimed. His pace began to slow as the end of the trail drew closer and Charlie's house became visible. "Will you please spend the night tonight? I want to catch up. Besides, my bed's been too cold without my bestie."

I smiled timidly up at him. Although our parents were strongly set against it, Edward and I had always been itching to sneak out through our windows, across our lawns, and into one another's bedrooms. At first, it had been something so casual that we didn't even have to use the windows. By the time we turned ten, Charlie put his foot down. For some time we went without sleep overs. It seemed like pure torture. That was when window communication became known and why Edward was so set to writing our song. It became code to go to the fort. By eleven, we felt safe enough to merely talk through the windows without code, and it wasn't long after that when Edward first shimmed up the wall and into my window to spend the nights regularly. It was definitely something we both enjoyed– the warmth, the security. I found myself longing to spend the night with Edward the more I dwelled on it.

"You'll have to wake me up when you return." I finally caved.

Edward beamed. "Your house, or mine?" He wondered as we broke out of the forest.

"Mine, of course." I concluded, guessing that I'd be out cold by the time he arrived home. Also, the doubt that he'd make it over to my house at all was still fresh in my mind. "What time should I expect you?"

Edward considered this for a moment. "Around nine, nine thirty." He decided. "You think you'll still be up then?" He gazed down at me hopefully.

"Not a chance." I laughed. Edward scowled and lowered my feet to the ground. My head snapped around in alarm– I hadn't even realized Edward had stopped walking. Nonetheless had I noticed we were standing just below the eve of Charlie's roof. Rain drizzled down the slant and onto the grass by our feet. I could already feel the water seeping through my shoes. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other impatiently, still awaiting some sort of response from Edward.

"Then I'll just wake you when I arrive." He finally proclaimed, dragging himself from his train of thought. He stepped back from the protection of the roof and held out his hand. "Deal?"

I gripped his outstretched hand and stepped up to him. "Deal." I confirmed. He held his other hand level to where ours were twined and I grasped it tightly. He smirked and spun me so that we switched places.

"Up you go." He grunted, lifting me by my hands up towards the top of the roof. I released one of his hands and held onto the hold I'd made on the roof. I pulled myself halfway up and released his other hand. He supported my feet, pushing them up with the rest of my body as I lugged myself onto the top of my house. I breathed out in relief as I finally managed to sprawl myself across the rough tile. I hadn't done that in far too long. Although it was something that I'd never forget how to do, that didn't make it any less hard.

"You good?" Edward called, stepping back into the rain so that he could squint up at me. I gave him a thumbs up and then waved him off towards his window. He grinned and winked before hurrying off towards his house to prepare for his date.

"Have fun with Tanya, Edward!" I yelled before slipping into the dry sanctuary I know as my room. I heard him reply, but it was muffled as I slid my window shut. I sat on the end of my bed and yanked off Edward's sneakers and chucked them into the closest for now. I stood up and took inventory of how wet my clothing was. With Edward as a distraction, going out into the rain was not a good idea. I pulled off my sweet and changed into holey cotton pajama pants and traded my hoodie for an oversized T-shirt.

Comfortable enough, I washed up in the bathroom and retreated to the solace of my bed. I crawled under the covers and curled into a ball with my quilt wrapped tightly around me. I hadn't slept in this bed for too long, also. It offered the comfortable release of yet another reminder that I was home where I belonged. I was out by the time my head hit the pillow.

.

"Bella! Isabella Swan! God dammit, wake up!"

The continuous pounding that had been echoing through my empty dream followed me into consciousness. A loud boom of thunder shook my room, but the thudding didn't cease. Still groggy, I lifted my head to check the digital clock on my bedside table. Ten PM. I leaned back and rested my head on my pillow, running a hand through my ragged hair, totally oblivious to the voice outside my window. Ten PM . . . why did that time shake something inside my brain?

Crap!

I lurched forward and my eyes shot straight to my rain streaked window. Sure enough, there Edward was, squatted outside my window. His wet hair was matted to his head and he was scowled as he pounded expectantly at the window, cringing as lightening flashed overhead. 'Sorry' I mouthed, throwing aside my quilt. I jumped to my feet and hurried over to the window, unlocking it and throwing it up.

"Oh, Edward," I fussed, pushing his head down as I pulled him through the opening. "I'm so sorry, how stupid of me to lock it. Or even close it all the way. I hope you haven't been out there too long." He glared at me, submitting no response. I gathered him into my arms and rubbed his back– he was shivering. He'd been out there for awhile.

"I'm sorry." I whispered into his shoulder. After a deep, exasperated sigh, Edward wove his arms around my waist and pressed me into his sopping wet body.

"It's okay, Bells." He snickered, realizing before me that I was getting wet. I released him and pushed away.

"Awh, Edward!" I cried, wiping the water off of my front. "What the hell!" I glowered at him with false anger before storming out of my room to go retrieve a towel for him. I could hear the sounds of ESPN drifting up from where Charlie watched tv. I snatched a large soft towel with a tear at the bottom from off the bathroom door. It was the same towel Edward always used whenever he needed one– which was unsurprisingly frequent. The tear in it was from when I was wet, also, and he insisted on drying my hair from me and I had tried to snatch it out of his hands. It had ended in a fierce battle of tug-a-war.

I crept back into my room and threw the towel in Edward's face. He was leaning against the bottom of my bed, obviously debating whether he should actually try and drip onto my sheets. He'd had the decency to resist, and for that I was pleased.

He caught the towel and began rubbing it through his soaking bronze hair. His eyes followed me with moot interest as I searched through the clothes I stashed at my house that fit him for occasions like this. I held up a pair of black sweat pants and a dark shirt with a piano on it. He rose his hand in acceptance and I tossed them to him. He grinned his thanks and headed out the door, towel still in hair, to change in the bathroom.

Still exhausted, I toppled over onto my bed and rolled over, dragging my quilt around me like a cocoon. I felt guilty for locking my window– I didn't even remember doing such a thing. I chuckled, recollecting one time when I'd invited Edward over and I'd accidently fallen asleep so he spent half the night out in the pouring rain before he gave in and barged through the front door, explaining to Charlie that he just needed to go open my window real quick. The whole event had been gut busting, but it had made Charlie suspicious for some time. Edward had had to be very secretive about when he planned to sleep over– our song went back into code mode.

"What's so funny?" Edward's voice startled me and I tilted my head back to see him closing the door behind himself. He'd ditched the towel in the bathroom and his hair was now remotely dry. I shrugged, watching him tiredly as he lowered himself to my bed, lifting my covers to snuggle up next to me. I leaned back into his chest, closing my eyes again.

"Remember that time, about two years ago, when I locked the windows and it was an absolute down pour?" I reminisced. I felt his chin hit the top of my head as he nodded. "Well I was just thinking about how you broke through the front door and informed Charlie of what, exactly, your intentions were." I paused to listen to his airy laugh. "Imagine if you had done that again." This time I laughed with him.

We fell silent after that. Edward's steady breathing warming my ear as I stared wide eyed across the pitch black room. The memory surfing had brought back other recollections. Ones of Renee and Phil, cuddling like lovebirds on the couch whenever we had watched a family movie. The image of when I'd walked in in the morning and Renee had been curled into his chest. None of those gestures seemed friendly, but love and lust filled. After having experienced what else these simple things could mean, being with Edward suddenly seemed slightly awkward.

Here I was, sleeping in the same bed as a guy, snuggled into his chest. But we were only best friends. It . . . didn't seem adequate. I knew I didn't expect more of Edward, more than our impenetrable friendship, but what did all of the not just friend gestures we shared mean? I mean, friends could compliment sweetly, and embrace each other, and even kiss each other, right? Well, if they couldn't, then how were me and Edward just friends? And good ones, at that?

I had no reason to be fretting over things like this, I was just curious. Did Edward only do everything so casually because he was experienced so basically this was nothing out of the ordinary for him? When I'd spent time with some of my mother's friend's kids, the boys had never touched any of their friends that were girls the same way as Edward and I. It had made something not fall right in my stomach. It made it twist with uncertainty. Then I had seen them with their girlfriends.

The resemblance was nearly tangible.

I shook away my thoughts and squeezed my eyes shut. I wouldn't allow myself to think such ludicrous things. My chest tingled from the onslaught of the true assumptions my thoughts had been building up to. It was unrecognizable and confusing. It was nothing. Nothing more than the thrill of being home and in my best friend's arms. I sighed and leaned my head back into his chest.

Maybe a summer away hadn't been the smartest idea.


A/N- eek:] so remember how this works. normal upate- 3 days. Double the review count-2 days. Triple the review count- 1 day! Chapter's written, just waiting for u;]

I have another name on fanfic. It's JE-stars. I am writing a fanfic with my bff Ellzie, and it's going to be under that name. It's like a messed up version of the show 'survivor' but with all the twilight characters and some of our own creations:] It's very reader friendly- every week u get to vote for who leaves !! It's called Camp Twilight and the first two chapters are up. Check it! It'll be up soon!

read . . . set . . . REVIEW!;]

~Rossie