Disclaimer: I obviously don't own any of these characters.

Author's Note: Not all of the military information is correct. I've taken a few liberties with it to fit the story. No disrespect intended.

Chapter 4- Wonderful Tonight

As football season drew to a close and the fallen autumn leaves became snow covered, students began to focus on the upcoming holiday season and thoughts of spring. A couple of weeks after her first taste of snow and the frigid winter temperature, Bella decided that a true winter was not something she had missed out on by living in Arizona.

"Bella, just give it a couple years," Alice said, laughing as her friend slipped on a patch of snow-covered ice on their way to the cafeteria. Alice reached her arm out and caught Bella before she fell.

"I highly doubt that, Alice. How on earth do people function like this?" Bella demanded, throwing her hands up, frowning. "It's beyond cold, there is no color and ice is detrimental to my health."

"She's right, you get used to it eventually."

Bella almost fell once more as she quickly turned to see Edward and Jasper standing behind her, Edward with a small smile on his face. Jasper chuckled before moving to Alice's side.

"Impossible," Bella said, pulling her jacket tighter to her. "It should be a safety hazard to be out in this kind of weather."

Edward laughed as the four of them walked toward to the cafeteria.

"It's Friday, dinner at the diner tonight?" Jasper asked as they joined Emmett at their table.

"Of course, what else is there to do?" Emmett said.

"Bella, are you going to be able to brave the elements long enough to meet us?" Edward asked, chuckling.

"I'm sure I can handle it."

Winter break passed quickly but winter itself made its presence known as the students braved an even colder February before a wet March arrived. Finally, April appeared with excitement as summer and the spring formal drew closer. Bella had decided to help with the event by heading up the decorating committee. The morning of the formal, Bella met with the gang at the diner for breakfast. Alice had once again rallied the troops and volunteered them to help decorate. She spotted Alice and Jasper at their usual booth.

"Where are Emmett and Edward?" she asked, sliding in across from them.

"Emmett was having a hard time waking up so Edward waited for him," Alice said, shaking her head. "They should be here soon."

"Speak of the devil," Jasper said, looking over at the door.

"Hey kids," Emmett said, pulling up a chair as Edward slid in next to Bella. Her heart skipped a beat as it always did when he was near her. She had tried to tell herself that her crush was silly and that it would go away, but so far her heart and brain were not communicating with each other.

"So Belly-bear, how is this decorating thing going to work? I need plenty of time to pretty myself up for the ladies tonight," Emmett said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"With everyone's help, we should be done in a couple of hours."

"Great let's eat, I'm starving," he said, waving at their waitress.

"Emmett, you're always starving," Edward said, laughing and shaking his head.

They gave their orders and chatted away about school. The topic eventually turned to Lauren Mallory and her obvious dislike of Bella.

"It's because you're friends with us and she's not," Alice said with a shrug. "Lauren had a thing for Edward …"

"A one-sided thing may I add," Edward said quickly.

"Anyway, she tried to be our friend but she was always so catty and was just plain rude, we couldn't stand her." Alice finished as the waitress returned with their order.

"Alice looked like she wanted to throttle her half the time," Emmett said with a laugh before taking a huge bite of his pancakes.

"A few days before the end of school last year, Lauren made the mistake of talking bad about one of Alice's favorite teachers," Edward said, leaning toward Bella. "Alice slammed her hands on the table and told Lauren that if she had nothing nice to say then she could find a new lunch table because, frankly, Alice was sick of hearing her talk."

Jasper and Emmett laughed, while Alice's cheeks grew red.

"It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. Lauren actually looked scared before she grabbed her tray and took off," Jasper said with a chuckle before leaning over and kissing Alice on the cheek.

Later that evening, at the Cullens', the girls were completing one last touch up before going downstairs. Jasper and Emmett, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, were standing in the foyer waiting on the girls. Alice had suggested that since neither Bella nor Emmett had a date, they should go together. Emmett had agreed since Bella was like another sister to him, and he didn't trust any of the other boys at Forks High School.

Bella peeked around the corner as Alice walked gracefully down the stairs, her light pink dress swishing around her. Jasper's face lit up as she moved closer, and he took her hand in his.

"Bella?"

Bella turned quickly as a voice whispered behind her. Edward stood outside his room. She felt her heart speed up as she took in the sight of him. His green tie stood out against the white shirt he wore with a pair of black pants and suspenders, his black jacket draped over his arm.

"Edward, you look quite handsome," she said. Surprised she was able to form a complete sentence.

"You look breathtaking." His eyes never left hers. Bella felt her face heat up, knowing her cheeks were probably as red as her dress.

"Thank you," she said, ducking her head. "Are you taking anyone to the dance?"

"No, I'm just going to meet up with some of the other guys," he said, taking a step closer.

"Oh. I would have thought girls would have been lining up around the block waiting for you to ask them," she said with a smile.

"Nah, there's this one girl but I just didn't get up the courage to ask her," he said with a smile of his own. "Shall we?"

Edward lifted his arm up and Bella smiled before wrapping her arm around his.

"We shall," she said as Edward led her down the stairs.

~~~~JaD~~~~

Dear Diary,

Tonight was wonderful. The hours we spent decorating the gym certainly paid off. It seemed as though everyone was having a great time. Alice, Jasper, Emmett and I danced the night away. Jasper and Emmett are so funny together; Alice and I were almost in tears from laughing so hard. The best part of the night was that Edward asked me to dance. The band had started playing Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again," when he pulled me in. Diary, there are times when it feels like my crush on Edward is not one sided, like tonight. It feels as though we were destined to find each other. As though the sudden move to Forks, literally running into Alice and becoming such close friends, has been to bring Edward and I together. I think that I fell in love with this beautiful boy. I have this feeling, I am not sure how or why I have it but I am certain I am going to marry this boy someday.

~Bella

4/18/40