A/N Inspired by the songs Time Won't Let Me Go, The Bravery, and Adele's Chasing Pavements: "But if I tell the world, I'll never say enough 'cause it was not said to you and that's exactly what I need to do if I'm in love with you." So this is me, telling the world.

Time Won't Let Me Go

Featuring: Bella & Jacob, along with Seth, Leah, Jasper, Emmett, Edward, Alice, Rosalie & the entire cast of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga characters. No copyright infringement is intended.

Prologue

If I could go back in time, I wouldn't change everything. Everything made me who I am today. If I could go back in time, I would do it better. I'd be stronger. I'd be braver.

Wiping my tears, I gathered every bead and stone scattered on the hardwood floor to restring them, acknowledging how precious the anklet had become to me.

"All you do is sit there and stare at that damn piece of junk!"

The words cut deep, because it wasn't an exaggeration. I wore it every day. When I was all alone, I'd find it in my hand, held captive to the memories it roused. Who knew how many times I caught myself doing that?

It held no monetary value. The cost of it was cheap, if not free, but sentimentally, it meant the world to me. I caressed my fingers over a shiny Labradorite gemstone. The way the light refracted from it caused a fluctuation of colors as ever-changing as the emotions swirling within me whenever he came to mind. Slight variations in the gemstones' shapes and sizes made the anklet much more attractive. Unique in splendor, each precious piece brought an individual beauty to the delicate string of jewelry, reminiscent of our times together. The beads spaced between each stone outnumbered the larger gems, plentiful, like all the days we'd spent apart. The anklet wouldn't be the same without them.

I wondered how wide of a beaded space I should leave between the stones. I'd have to count each bead and divide them evenly, if I wanted it to be perfect. Did it really need to be perfect, though? Life isn't perfect. Ever since the accident, that's what the anklet had become: a representation, a reminder of special moments I shared with him, growing up. I relished them all, no matter how small or imperfect they might have been.

Smiling, I recalled the day we met as I lifted the first gemstone and threaded it onto the strand of twined sinew.

Chapter 1

Bella

A loud, unexpected knock at the front door excited me, and knowing Jasper and Emmett went exploring our new hometown. I raced down the stairs to answer it, yelling, "I got it, Mom!"

"What, Bella?" she hollered from between the many moving boxes cluttering the house. "Did you say something, hon?"

I swung open the door, and my knees turned to Jell-O. The cutest, most handsome guy I ever saw in my life—a dark-haired, dark eyed, bronze skinned angel-stood gloriously before my eyes, holding a football in his hand. I gulped, my heart fluttering.

"Is Emmett home?" he asked in a low, husky voice.

For some weird reason, my mouth disconnected from my brain and nothing came out.

He smiled. His lips appeared a little chapped and cracking. Fit and built nice for his age, his deep brown eyes sparkled as he cleared his throat and grinned with half his mouth. "Are you Emmett's sister?"

Unable to gather my wits about me, I nodded, imagining how idiotic I must have appeared to him.

"Well, ah... Is he here?"

"Oh... uh... Emmett, no he's not. He went into town to get some ice cream," I finally stammered.

"Yeah, I saw him there. I thought he'd be home by now. When he gets back, tell him I stopped by to see if he wanted to play some football with me and some of my friends. I live a few blocks down the street," he said, turning and pointing toward his house. "That-a-way."

He stepped backwards down one step,"The name's Jacob, by the way."

He smiled again, and my soul resonated with the most fantastic feeling, as if little bells woke my sleeping heart. I felt nothing like it before. Pure happiness. It was love at first sight; I was sure.

After I closed the door, I sprinted up the stairs to look in the mirror. Dust and grime covered my thin, white tank-top from when I cleaned and unpacked my bedroom. Ugly smudges of humidity melted mascara—the only makeup mom allowed me to wear at twelve years old—darkened my eyes like a raccoon. I screamed in horror. "Oh, my God." I met the guy of my dreams, and I looked gross. He would probably never take another look at me again.

Eager to find out more about him, I sat on the porch and waited for my brothers to get home. When they arrived, I mentioned, in a casual tone, somebody named Jacob came by for Emmett to play football. I didn't notice Emmett's ripped and blood-splattered shirt right away.

"Shh," they said, putting their fingers to their lips. They motioned for me to follow them up the stairs.

As soon as they shut their bedroom door, Jasper blurted, "Emmett was in a fight."

"A fight!" I gasped in surprise.

"Sh-shut up, both of you. You're talking too loud. Mom will hear," Emmett scolded through gritted teeth. "Dad will have a heart attack if he finds out."

"A fight?" I whispered. "With who? Tell me what happened!"

The two of them whispered at the same time. I couldn't catch a word either of them said.

"Shh... I'll tell her." Emmett glared, backhanding Jasper in the chest.

"Owe, that hurt."

"On our way home, we met up with two guys about my age. They accused Jasper of staring at 'em. No one was even looking at 'em either. They just wanted to fight someone," Emmett snarled. "We walked away, but they followed us. Then the kid with the biggest mouth knocked Jasper's ice cream cone out of his hand. I stepped in front of Jasper and pushed him away. He punched me in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me. When I doubled over, he hit me in the face. The next thing I knew, we were rolling around on the ground fighting. I hit him in the nose as hard as I could, and his nose bled. Then he got on top of me. I couldn't get him off. All I could do was cover my face."

"I tried to help," Jasper said then frowned. "But the other guy grabbed me. I couldn't get loose. That's when Jake and another kid came over."

"Jake pulled the guy off me," Emmett said, "The mouthy guy wasn't happy about it. The next thing, he and Jake were fighting."

"You should have seen it, Bella," Jasper said in excitement. "It was just like a boxing match on TV."

"It really was." Emmett agreed. "Jake ended up knocking the guy down. When he got back up, he threatened all of us. But you could tell he didn't want to fight anymore. He knew he lost."

"Who were those guys?"

"A bad kid named Paul and his friend Jared. I guess they always do stuff like this. Jake said Paul's nothing but a bully. They have a boxing club in La Push, but they're not supposed to fight out of the gym. If their coach finds out, they'll get kicked off the team."

Emmett got around to telling me about Jacob. He was thirteen going on fourteen like Emmett. He lived in La Push with his dad, but he stayed in Forks with his Aunt Sue and Uncle Harry a lot. The other kid was Jacob's cousin, Seth. He was the same age as Jasper, and he had a twin sister named Leah. We later found out Charlie knew Seth's dad. Harry worked at the police station with him. He was a dispatcher.

A few days later, Jake and Seth introduced me to Leah and the six of us became inseparable. We did everything together. By the end of the summer, we became like a family. Leah was my best friend. The same went for Seth and Jasper and for Emmett and Jacob. Everything was perfect, except I was secretly in love with Jacob Black, who was now my brother's best friend. The more time I spent around him, the more I fell in love with him.

Jacob had this quality about him that made people look up to him, a natural-born leader. He had a talent in boxing, the best on the team, and he was the Silver Gloves State Champion in his weight class. His coach said he had enough potential to make boxing into a career if worked hard enough at it. Jacob said someday he'd bring home an Olympic gold medal, then turn into a professional championship boxer. Even the older guys around the two communities showed him a lot of respect.

He was awesome; he was beautiful, and I planned on marrying him when I got older. All would be right with the world if he were mine.

Jacob treated me like a sister. In some ways, that was better than being treated like a girl. We could be "real" around each other instead of putting on an act. That's not true; I always acted as if I didn't like him. But that was different.

I guarded my secret, careful not to show any unusual interest in Jacob. I was afraid if he found out I had a crush on him, he would stop talking to me or stop hanging out at our house.

Emmett was "big brotherly" protective of me around guys. My dad told him it was his job as an older brother to keep the boys away from me. I think Dad only kidded when he said it, but he forgot to tell Emmett, so Emmett took the job seriously. He thought I was too young for a boyfriend. Even though, I wasn't far behind him in age. He especially didn't like me liking one of his friends, which never happened until I met Jacob.

My older brother's protectiveness made him absolutely against the concept of Jake and me. He drew the line early on and made it clear to me and Jacob both—one cold, wet November morning, our first winter in Forks.

I threaded another gemstone and recognized, it's the day it all began.

A/N If you have made it here before August 31, 2019, and you appreciate this story, please support this story at twifanfictionrecs . com and vote. Jacob Bella stories, team Jacob, and Taylor Lautner need some love 😍 If you continue forward from here, I believe you will be glad you did.