Disclaimer: SM owns characters, I own plot. ©IsaKassees 2010

The rest of summer after Bella left was a blur. The night after I walked her home, I ran all the way back to my house and stayed up until the sun rose the next morning to pour through all the letters I'd only glanced at before. And it spurred so much in me.

Bella had made friends in Phoenix. A lot of friends, by the sound of things. She and a girl named Bree had formed a creative writing club that alternately read classics and their own original stories. Pages I had once dismissed for their lack of direct questions, I now read with a proud grin as I recognized Bella's own prose and short stories. Her friend Bree sounded almost as nice as my Bella.

Bree's twin brother Riley, on the other hand, I wasn't so sure about. I was really proud of the underwater volcano that he and Bella had created for their science fair entry, and I had to admit that his use of crystals in the habitat was a really good idea, but his…everything worried me. It was unbelievable how many times she mentioned him in her letters. He was her science partner. He was her gym partner. He was in her writing club. He was a huge part of her life that I couldn't touch. Not cool. I didn't like the feeling of being replaceable.

All of sixth grade it had never even occurred to me that Bella might not always be there. It never even crossed my mind that she might one day do to me what I had done to her. I thought about how I felt when I was waiting for her letters two years before. That had almost destroyed me. But then I turned around and did it to her!

No matter how many friends I made, she would always be my first. My absolute best friend and I couldn't lose her, ever.

Me and the guys weren't hanging out as much at the moment, because things were kind of weird. When I had tried to talk to them about Bella, they shut me down, talking about how all girls were the same. I could tell the second I opened my mouth that they didn't want to hear me 'cry about a girl.' A little voice that sounded like Bella started nudging me again, pointing out that real friends would always care, but I didn't listen. Again.

On top of being dramatic, I've also always been a bit stubborn.

So I sort of fell into a routine, where no matter how late I stayed out with the guys doing whatever, I always wrote to Bella before I went to bed, even if it was just a few lines. I apologized, because even though I hadn't meant to, I did blow her off for the guys and it wasn't fair. She didn't ditch me just because she made friends.

I couldn't help but be a little jealous of her. I'd had big plans to enter my school's science fair at the beginning of sixth grade, but I'd let it go when the other guys laughed at the fliers and ripped them off the wall. I wondered what they'd say if I entered this year's competition. And she had her creative writing. Bella's writing was like what my piano was to me. Or at least what it used to be. The guys didn't even know I played. They thought it was my mom's. At least I still had baseball. That was where I didn't have to think about anything but the game. There was no façade to keep up, no role to play.

So I walked into seventh grade not having any idea what to expect after all the changes of last year. The whole school was buzzing about a new kid and the guys were already making plans. If he was cool, he'd be with us. If he wasn't, they already had three pranks in the works. We were hovering around the front of the school when I saw him. And I felt really sorry for him, because he didn't stand a chance.

He was wearing a plaid button-down shirt tucked into khakis that were about an inch too short. His blond hair was curly and frizzy and sticking out everywhere. He was me from two years ago, with the addition of braces and only missing the glasses.

Mike and Tyler were arguing back and forth about who was going to go first, but Eric stole whatever was in their hands before they could decide. He ran right up to the new kid and slammed a water balloon right at his crotch. Then he started running around, screaming and pointing and laughing at the new kid that peed himself.

Right then was when it all seemed to come clear to me. Bella had been right. They were the same mean kids they'd always been, it just hadn't been me they were mean to for awhile. Looking down at myself, I sneered at the stupid shoes that made me hip-check doorframes on a daily basis because of their stupid wheels. My stupid, wire-framed glasses slid down my nose, as always feeling crooked and flimsy on my face.

I was really mad at what Eric had just done and all the rest of the kids that were standing around the new kid laughing, but I was the maddest at myself. This wasn't me, it never had been and I wasn't happy like this. Striding away from the guys, I left that group forever, whether they knew it at the moment or not and walked up to the new kid.

"Hey. I'm Edward. Do you want me to show you the nurse's office? She has some extra clothes in there for accidents."

He glared up at me with wet eyes. "I didn't have an accident," he spat.

"I know!" I assured him. "I saw what he did. I'm sorry about him. He's just…an idiot. I just meant she has extra clothes for when kids need 'em."

I shuffled awkwardly on my feet waiting for him to respond. I couldn't really blame him if he didn't trust me. He'd probably seen me standing right next to the rest of them when he got attacked. After a beat, he nodded hesitantly and I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"If you want, I can walk in front of you," I offered. He smiled at me and nodded again, less reluctantly this time. I guided him inside, ignoring the gaping looks on all the guys' faces. We got admitted to the nurse's office and I was given permission to wait with him so I could show him to all of his classes. We had to wait for awhile for the nurse to come in.

"Why are you helping me? Is this another trick?" he asked quietly, almost like he was expecting me to say yes. Again, I couldn't blame him. I looked just like the rest of them.

Shaking my head, I tried to choose my words carefully. "It's really not. But I wouldn't be surprised if they're not done pranking you. When they pick somebody, they never let up." I sighed, remembering all the things they used to do to me.

"I saw you with them. Are you friends with them?" he asked, genuine curiosity in his eyes.

"I was. But I'm not anymore. I never should've been in the first place," I said firmly. He nodded in response, probably still trying to figure me out.

"So you're not going to 'help me to my classes' by locking me in the janitor's closet?" he asked blankly. "'Cause it's happened to me before."

"Me, too," I admitted quietly. "They used to do stuff to me like that all the time."

"Then why were you friends with 'em?" he gaped.

"I don't know," I swallowed thickly. "I guess because they didn't do it to me for awhile so I thought they were different. Or maybe I just wanted to have friends for once so I didn't care who they were. It doesn't matter. It was stupid. I was stupid."

"Yeah. That does sound pretty stupid."

I jerked my head towards him only to find him grinning. I laughed, making my glasses slip down again.

"Argh," I groaned. "I hate these glasses. My old ones were thicker and stayed put better."

"You could always break 'em. Then your parents would have to buy you new ones," he suggested. "'Course, if you get thick ones you're gonna look like a geek."

"I am a geek," I grinned, already making a plan to snap those stupid wire frames as soon as I got home. "And I can't wait to prove it to everybody tomorrow."

"I'll believe it when I see it," he grinned, shaking his head. He held out his hand toward me. "So, Stupid-I'm-a-geek-Edward. I'm Jasper. It's nice to meet you."

Everything changed that day. I helped Jasper to all of his classes and if I had to guess, the guys were too busy being confused by my sudden change in behavior to mess with him. That day afterschool, I 'accidentally' snapped my glasses in two and my mom rushed me to the optometrist. I picked out the thickest frames they had. She smiled at me curiously, but didn't ask. She wasn't quite so agreeable when I begged her to take me back-to-school shopping when we'd already done that two weeks before, but she eventually relented. I'd be washing dinner dishes for a month, but she took me.

Oh, polo shirts. How I missed you.

The next morning, Emmett choked on his waffles when I walked into the kitchen. He'd barely spoken three words to me since I started hanging out with the guys, but he had plenty of words for me that day. Between disgustingly huge bites of food, he mumbled and spit out words like, 'about time,' and 'Geekward.' When he passed me to take his plate to the sink, he elbow-cuffed me in the back of my head and told me to be ready to teach him pre-algebra that night or he'd stuff me in my locker. We were all good again.

Jasper and I were pretty much inseparable at school. It wasn't hard to be, since we were in five out of six honors' classes together. I wasn't sure if there was strength in numbers or what, but the guys, my old supposed 'friends' just pretty much acted like we didn't exist. We pretty much treated them the same way. I decided to not try out for the baseball team again.

We had so much fun together. Real fun. He played classical guitar and we would mess around in my music room for hours. When I told him about Bella, he listened with interest. He told me that he'd only had one friend back in Texas where he came from, but he never thought about writing letters. He didn't seem too worried about it, though. And he never minded if I worked on a letter to her while he read comics in my room.

Bella thought Jasper sounded awesome. She told me that she framed the picture I sent her of the two of us when we were waiting in line for the new Batman movie. I told her if she wanted to, she could meet him when she visited that summer. I could tell she was nervous about meeting him, but she agreed. It went without saying that we'd still go to our tree together for sunset. That would always be just for us.

.

That year for my thirteenth birthday, Jasper stayed over so he could hang out with me and Bella in the morning. Even though we stayed up kind of late the night before watching a Friday the 13th marathon, we woke up early the next day. And it turned out Jasper was just as nervous about meeting Bella as she was. Maybe even a little bit more.

"What are you worried about, Jazz? Bella's really cool. She's gonna like you fine," I told him, for probably the tenth time. But it didn't seem to have any effect on him at all. He just kept bouncing his leg up and down.

"But…I know you and me are best friends, but she's your best friend. If she doesn't like me, you'll totally ditch me," he argued, his shoulders slumping.

"That's not true!" I argued. "Look, even if Bella doesn't like you, which she will, she'd never ask me to ditch you."

"But you would if it made her happy. You should see your face when you talk about her. It's like…she's everything to you."

I didn't really know what to say to that. He was right, mostly. She was everything to me. But it wouldn't make her happy if I gave up my only other friend just because she didn't like him. Which she would. Before I could say anything, he started up again.

"And I just know I'm gonna be a total loser in front of her. Girls freak me out, Ed. I don't know how you deal with Lauren and Jessica hanging around all the time," he sighed, shaking his head.

"Painfully," I grimaced, thinking of how they always hovered by my locker and asked me what I was doing that weekend. It didn't make any sense to me, because every time, I'd say 'nothing' and then they'd go find the jocks who were waiting to take them wherever they wanted. "Look, Bella's not like those girls. She's not even really like a girl. She's just…Bella. You'll see. You're gonna love her."

"Who's gonna love who?" Bella asked from my doorway with a grin. I jumped up from my bed and picked her up in a huge hug, swinging her around.

"Every year, you just get shorter," I grinned as I set her down. She stared at me for awhile, the biggest smile on her face as she looked me over. At my big, black glasses, my blue polo tucked into my jeans and my plain, brown boots. She shook her head and stepped back from me, her smile dropping.

"I did not get shorter, Eddie!"

I scowled at her as I heard Emmett down the hall laughing his head off, joined by Jasper's snickers coming from behind me. Lifting up my hands in surrender, I backed away slowly.

"Alright, fine. You clearly grew at least half an inch. Forgive me," I mocked, moving to the side so she could see Jasper. "Bella, this is my best friend Jasper. Jasper, this is my Bella."

She smiled at him, waving shyly. He returned the gesture, looking nervously from her to me. I groaned, rolling my eyes.

"Guys, c'mon. Don't be weird. Bella, he's like a blond version of me. He doesn't bite. Jazz, it's Bella. There's probably something wrong with her, but I haven't found it yet. You guys'll get along great if you just, you know, speak. To each other," I added.

Silence.

"Oh, come on!"

"Um…Edward told me you guys learned a new song? Could I hear it?" Bella asked quietly. Jasper's face immediately went green.

"Sure! That sounds great!" I grinned, grabbing Jazz by his collar and hauling him up. Still smiling, I spoke lowly as we followed Bella out of my room. "Relax, Jasper. It'll be fine."

"I can't play in front of a girl," he hissed under his breath, too low for Bella to hear.

"Jasper, please. I only see her one day a year and I totally screwed up last time. I need to make it up to her. If you help me do this for her, I'll…" I trailed off, trying to think of something to bargain with. "I'll give you the Riddler."

He stopped in his tracks as Bella continued down the stairs unaware. "You'll give me your Detective Comics Issue One-forty Introducing Edward Nigma As the Riddler? Just to play a song?" he asked, his voice cracking. After a beat, he shook his head. "Geez, you're crazy for this girl. Look, I'm not takin' your comic book, but I'll do it. You owe me. Big-time."

"No, it's yours. Take it," I insisted. I knew it was hard for him to perform in front of people. It took him a month to let my mom listen in.

"No, you're my friend. You don't have to buy me off just to get me to do you a favor. I'll do it. But if she laughs at me or I faint, we never speak of it again," he said firmly, walking past me to head downstairs. I followed after him into the music room where Bella was waiting on the couch. He took his seat by the piano and adjusted his music stand while I got comfortable on the bench.

"Ready?" I called out to her. She nodded, smiling brightly.

"Ready?" I gritted out through my smile to Jasper.

"To puke? Sure," he muttered as he sat up straight and nodded to me. I led him into a Diabelli duet, one of the first pieces we learned and something he knew with his eyes closed. He played it perfectly, without a single mistake. It was also a piece that he got to end with a small solo. As soon as he strummed the last chord, Bella was across the room hugging him.

"That was so great! You guys are gonna be famous someday!" she gushed, moving from him to me. I hugged her back, grinning at Jasper over her shoulder. He still looked a little shocked from her hug, but he looked proud, too. He stood up with his shoulders squared.

"Hey Bella. You wanna see me and Edward's science fair project? Our watermill can power a light bulb if there's enough sun out."

"Did you guys ever consider inverting the power into a battery storage system? That way you could build up enough to power up anything you wanted…" she starting chattering off different theories on productivity and I watched all the tension leave Jasper as he heard her inner geek come out. I told him. She was just like us.

We walked back up to my room together, the two of them going on and on about conductivity and the necessary wiring mechanisms for a larger model version. We tinkered around with old batteries and wires for hours until Jasper said he needed to go home for dinner.

"Thanks for havin' me over, Ed. It was nice to meet you, Bella," he smiled, pulling her in for a hug. I smirked at him behind her back and he rolled his eyes at me, nodding in acknowledgment. 'You were right,' he mouthed.

'I know,' I grinned back.

He punched my shoulder on the way out, leaving Bella and I alone.

"You wanna eat before we go?" I asked.

"Nah," she shrugged. "I'm still okay from lunch. Your mom made so much food."

"Emmett," I replied simply, picking up my bag and flicking off the lights so we could leave.

We arrived at our tree a little while later with Bella relatively intact. A minor twist in her ankle, but she promised she was fine. Sitting down next to her against the trunk, I wrapped my arm around her right away.

"It's not sunset yet," she stated, curious.

"I know," I shrugged bashfully. "But I missed out last year."

She gave me a little half-smile, reaching up to wiggle my glasses a bit. "I'm just so glad you're you again."

Nodding, I returned her smile. "Yeah. Me, too."

She narrowed her eyes at me, the corners of her lips twitching upwards. "Just know that if you try that crap again, you're toast. I will skip right past the talk-it-out stage and move straight to the butt-kicking."

"This is great," I grinned. "I get to watch you go all angry kitten and I didn't even do anything yet."

"Don't call me that!" she squealed, swatting at me.

"You love it," I smirked cockily, trapping her hands easily. Seriously, she had the strength of a wet kitten. Declawed, even.

She conceded, her hands going limp in mine. I released her, letting her settle against me as the sun began to shift downwards.

"So you like Jasper?" I asked quietly.

She nodded into my shoulder, pulling at a loose string on my jeans. "Yeah. He's great. I'm glad you have him."

Thinking of the friend I had here, I couldn't help but remember the friends she had down in Phoenix. Again, the fear of being replaced struck me, a weird feeling in my chest making me ache as I thought of Riley.

"You know he could never be you, right?" I asked softly, leaning my head down on hers.

"I would think not," she snickered. "He'd look terrible in my sundresses."

"I'm serious," I whined, squeezing her once.

"I know," she said softly, her humor gone. "Why do you think I was so upset last year? Nobody could ever be you."

"I'm still really sorry about that," I said sadly, for probably the hundredth time.

"Let it go," she ordered gently. "We had a fight. We made up. We're totally past it now."

"Make a wish," I breathed, watching the sun melt into the tops of the trees.

"Done," she whispered back.

We stayed that way for over an hour after sunset until the sky was completely dark. I left my arm around her until it was asleep, while she pulled at invisible strings on the side of my jeans. I got my wish that night instantly.

Please don't ever let her let me go.

Sunsets are awesome.

Something was bound

To go right sometime today

All these broken pieces fit together

To make a perfect picture of us

A/N: Aw. See? No drawn out angst. But the drama is not complete yet. What will happen when puberty hits poor Geekward? *snickers*

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isa