Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. You knew that.

A/N: 184 reviews...for a prologue?! I feel like I just got nominated for an Oscar. I'm all blubbery like Sally Fields..."They like me, they really like me!" This chapter is lovingly dedicated to Tammy and Lea, you know why! If you're looking for a good Jasper/Bella story while you're waiting for my next update, check out Colliding Meteors by IDreamofEddy. Her pissed-off Jasper is uber-sexy and says everything you ever thought about Edward when he left Bella in New Moon. Tell her Miss Lillie sent you!

Edward's POV

I chanced a glance at Bella across the aisle of the airplane. Jasper was watching her, too, which allowed me an extra moment before I would have to look away. The sun was bathing her in soft golden beams through the window, and she looked even more like an angel than usual. She was fiddling with my necklace, moving the clasp with the charm to the back of her neck. She was always so careful to keep that charm out of view. I knew she felt guilty for not telling Jasper the whole truth about the necklace. It was true that I had bought the pendant long before she left me. In fact, I had it custom made for her months earlier. But I had added the tiny charm to the clasp afterwards; engraved with 'NDNF' on one side and 'Forever' on the other. The NDNF stood for 'Never Doubt, Never Forget.' It was what I told her our last night together in our meadow. I needed her to know that no matter what happened, I would always love her. Forever. I didn't want her to feel guilty, but I had to admit that it thrilled me that she never took that necklace off. In some small way, I hoped against hope that it was her way of keeping my cold stone heart close to hers and that it reminded her that she had options.

They had no such rules regarding public displays of affection, Jasper had thought bitterly as he watched Alice and Adrian embrace. I glanced over at him and had to hold back a smirk. So Bella had instilled a few rules on him, too. I had suspected as much. Somehow, I think the rules she had made for me were harder. She knew I still loved her, knew how jealous I was of Jasper. But she also knew that I truly did want her to be happy, and I wanted to be able to stay in her life, even if only as a friend. She had told me in no uncertain terms that I had to keep my emotions in check around Jasper. She did not want him and me fighting, and she didn't want him tormented with my emotions. I knew Bella was trying to perform a very delicate balancing act, and I wanted to do everything I could to make it easier on her.

At first I simply left whenever he was around, but it forced me to stay away from Bella as well, and caused my family to worry about me. So I did a lot of reading on meditation and mental focus. For the most part, I was able to block him now, keep my feelings hidden deep within my heart, but it was draining. That was one of the reasons why I was looking forward to having my own place. I needed a reprieve from trying to hold everything in, especially when I started reading the book Bella gave me for Christmas. I knew I couldn't read it around Jasper, there was no way I would be able to withhold an emotional response to it. I have kept it close to me for almost 9 months now, afraid to read it and now I was finally going to get my chance.

When we reached the parking lot, I saw the new truck waiting for Bella and fully expected her to lay into Jasper for buying it for her. Instead she rushed into his arms, literally jumping into his embrace, and kissed him a way I had only dreamt of her kissing me, passionately with no fear, no thoughts of anything or anyone else. I wasn't sure what I was more jealous of, the fact that she was in his arms, the way he was kissing her, or the fact that he was able to buy her a new car when she would never let me. I took a deep breath and focused on getting to my new home as quickly as possible before I let something slip. I threw my bags in my trunk, gave Alice and Bella a quick peck on the cheek, shook Jasper and Adrian's hands, and told everyone I'd see them in the morning.

Esme had taken care of everything for my new house, and I was thankful. It was just to my taste. A small brick home just a few short blocks from the others, out of range for our hearing or powers. It had two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a study. I was surprised to find the kitchen stocked. I guess Esme assumed I would be having company. I hoped she was right. The living room had all my movies and CDs already arranged in a cabinet, a stereo system built in, and a flat screen TV over the wood burning fireplace. There was a beautiful Persian rug laying over the hardwood floor.

The study was filled with my books, as well as an entire library of medical books that Carlisle thought might be helpful to Bella and I in our studies. Carlisle was so proud of Bella for choosing to follow him in his profession, as was I. It was why I chose to renew my medical degree; I wanted to do everything in my power to help her succeed. The guest bedroom was beautiful, a twin size mahogany sleigh bed with a nightstand and roll-top desk. The adjoining bathroom had already been stocked as well, right down to a bottle of strawberry scented shampoo. Interesting. But what surprised me the most was the master bedroom. There was a queen size canopy bed with white and gold sheer fabric draped in swags around it, with a matching gold damask comforter and half a dozen pillows. It was very…romantic. Why would I need this? Then I noticed the picture. On one of the nightstands was a small silver frame with a black and white picture of me and Bella. I was standing behind her with my arms around her waist, my chin on her shoulder as I smiled at the camera, and she had turned to kiss my cheek. We looked so happy. We looked so in love. I caressed the cheek on the picture of the girl who used to be mine before carefully returning it to its place.

I tossed my bag on the bed and pulled out the leather book and undid the clasp. My fingers rolled over the inscription on the inside cover.

You've always wanted to be able to read my thoughts. Now you can.
Forever, Bella

I never had the nerve to ask her if she had done this before or after she left me. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that here in my hands was the most precious gift she could have ever given me, besides her love. Here was a copy of her diary. I hopped onto the bed and leaned back against the pillows.

January 18, 2005 - Today was my first day at Forks High. It was cold and rainy. At least my new truck has heat. I can't believe Charlie bought me this truck! It just goes to show that he really loves me and wants me to feel at home here. Plus, it means not having to ride to school in the cruiser, which is a good thing, because nothing draws more attention than a cop car pulling up to the front of the school. But it's more than that. I love this truck. It's just…me. I wouldn't want something flashy and shiny, and it's not. It's faded red and looks like it's tough enough to withstand anything. It's perfect.

School was miserable. Everybody kept calling me Isabella and paid way more attention to me than I'm used to or comfortable with. I met some nice people though. Well, except for Edward Cullen. I first saw him in the lunchroom, and all I could think about was how gorgeous this guy was. Beautiful, really, with bronze hair and dark eyes, almost black. He was picking at his food but not actually eating anything and sitting with his adoptive family. I felt bad for them because it seems like they are outsiders. I know how that is. At least they have grace and good looks on their side.

Then came Biology. Mr. Banner had me sit next to Edward, and as soon as I did he leaned away from me with a look on his face that made me think I smelled bad. Then the next time I looked at him, his hands were balled into fists and he looked like he wanted to kill me. As soon as the bell rang, he was gone. I was so angry I wanted to cry. I probably would have too if that Mike guy wasn't there. It was so embarrassing, even he noticed how mean Edward was to me. Really, what did I ever do to him? As if that wasn't bad enough, when I went to turn in my paper at the end of the day, there he was…trying to get out of Biology all together. He looked so filled with hate for me that it scared me, and yet I still couldn't stop thinking about how handsome he is. How messed up is that? I managed to make it home before I started crying, at least. Tomorrow I'm going to talk to him, find out what his problem is.

I paused to think about what I'd read so far. First of all, the truck. I had never understood her obsession with that truck. It never occurred to me that truck was a physical representation of Charlie's love for her. All I saw was an old, slow, decrepit rust bucket that needed to be put out of its misery. A rust bucket that Jacob Black used to own. I wanted to buy her a new, shiny, fast car with airbags and a rollbar, but she wouldn't have it. When it had finally died, I had teased her and told her I was going to throw a party, and only laughed harder when she glared at me. Jasper had glared, too. Looking back on it, I wondered if every time I said that truck wasn't good enough, what she heard was that she wasn't good enough. Or was it just that I was too busy thinking about what she should want to think about what she actually wanted? Maybe that's why the truck from Jasper was so well received. I made a note in the margin of the book with a pencil and dog-earred the page. I would have to ask her about that the next time we were alone. I really wanted to understand.

Then there were her first thoughts of me, right there on the page for me to read. How hard I had tried to read her mind in the cafeteria that day. How would I have reacted if I had known? I was so foolish then, I probably would have taken for granted the wondrous fact that she found me attractive. I would have thought she was just another silly girl with a silly crush. How wrong I would have been. I most definitely would have been worried about how observant she was, from the first moment she saw us. She noticed that I didn't eat, noticed how graceful we were, how my eyes were black. She even picked up on the fact that I wanted to kill her, even though I am sure she meant it metaphorically, not literally. She took pity on us for being outsiders. So typical Bella, worried about everyone else's feelings. My heart broke when I read that I had made her cry. She'd never told me that. What else would I learn from this book?

January 24, 2005 – It snowed today. As if all this rain wasn't bad enough, now there's snow. Cold, wet, icky snow. It wasn't anything like how it looked on TV. And to make matters worse, everyone kept throwing snowballs around. It sucked.

Edward Cullen came back to school today. When I saw him in the cafeteria I thought I was going to be sick. I gave serious consideration to going to the nurse's office just so I could skip Biology, but I didn't. He glanced over at me once and he didn't look angry, so I decided to take my chances. Besides, I was determined not to run away – I did nothing wrong! I was stunned when he actually started talking to me in class. Even with wet, messy hair, he was gorgeous; dazzling face, flawless lips, but he looked…cautious. Then he flashed that crooked smile at me and I was speechless. I must have seemed like a complete idiot! We started doing our lab together, he's really smart, and our hands touched as we both reached for the microscope. The weirdest thing happened when they did, it was like an electric current passed between our fingers. Like when you get shocked by static electricity, but stronger. He pulled away quickly, I wonder if he felt it, too? I'm sure it was just me. But that wasn't the only weird thing about him today. His eyes weren't black anymore, they were like a dark butterscotch color. He said he didn't have contacts, so I don't know how to explain it.

We had this really long conversation about my family and how I ended up in Forks while we waited for everyone else to finish their labs. But just when I was starting to get comfortable around him, he started leaning away from me again, grabbing the edge of the table as if he were in pain, and the second the bell rang – gone. What is with this guy? And why can't I stop thinking about him?!

I laughed as I thought back to that day. I remembered Mike Newton thinking she looked ill, and feeling shocked when I realized I was worried about her. It was ironic how we both considered skipping Biology that day, running away from the other one. I will forever be grateful neither of us did. I think I started to fall in love with her that day. It was the day I first noticed her beautiful blush. The day I found out how caring and selfless she is, how intelligent she is, how observant she is. I, too, had felt that burst of electricity between us when we touched. All this time, I thought she pulled away from me because of my cold skin; I thought I'd repulsed her. But that wasn't it at all, she was just as surprised by the magnetic attraction as I was. She was thinking about me just as much as I was thinking about her. If only that were still true. I hugged the book to my chest tight, clinging to my memories and letting the feelings swell around me before I had to tuck them back in again and start another day.

A/N: The last stop of the Australia leg of the Cullendales tour; Melbourne! This will be Jacob's farewell performance before he leaves the revue show for his promotion to the NCB team. Up next -- Paris!