Please, before you give up on this (my stats page shows that a lot of people stop reading after the prologue) read a little more. This is just like an intro. It gets way better throughout the story. This fanfic has become my baby. I've been taking a long time lately to make the further chapters live up to the what the previous chapters imply. This is currently my best and most popular fanfic so far and I hope that you will continue to read in order to find out why. Thank you very much.

Oh and none of the characters belong to me. I only own the plot. Blah blah blah disclaimer stuff

I almost couldn't contain myself.

My hand trembled as I brushed my teeth. Freshman year! Plus I would get to see Bella again.

When I thought of Bella, my stomach dropped. This had been the first summer that we hadn't spent nearly every day together.

Bella and I had been best friends since we were three. Bella was one of the biggest klutzes I knew. I went to "take your kid to work" day that year with my adoptive father, Carlisle, who was the head of the emergency room in the only hospital in the small town of Forks, Washington. Low and behold, in walks a young woman carrying a screaming little brown-haired girl named Bella. Carlisle told me to distract her while he put the cast on her broken arm. Insert ten year friendship here.

It was kind of shocking that we hadn't spend a single day together since school got out. Or even exchanged a phone call, or had an email war. I hadn't seen Bella or spoke to her at all over the summer. Generally I wouldn't have a chance to plan anything else before she would call me to plan a get together. This summer's silence had begun to scare me.

Bella was pretty much my only friend. Over the years, she started hanging out with new people, but she always made time for me. Further into middle school, the only times we got to hang out were at each other's houses doing homework and projects together. It was understandable. Bella was a lovable person. I couldn't blame her friends from trying to hog her. But I never hung out with anyone else, except for my brother and cousin, Emmett and Jasper. Jasper had become more of a foster brother, though, when my aunt couldn't take care of him and his twin sister Rosalie anymore.

If no one beat me to it, I was going to ask her to homecoming this year. I knew what I felt was more than friendship, more than a brotherly affection. I wasn't going to hold back anymore. I was at least going to try. I was hoping that ten years would work in my favor.

My foot tapped anxiously as Emmett drove us to school. Rosalie had never really liked Bella, but she had gotten used to the fact that she was going to be over a lot. The two shared an agreement to disagree. They kept their distance from each other, so no fights ever broke out. Emmett thought her clumsiness was funny. It made Bella blush whenever he laughed at her. Bella's blush was adorable. Jasper enjoyed her company, especially due to the fact that his girlfriend, Alice, was her step-sister. My adoptive parents, Carlisle and Esme adored her. Finally, we arrived at Forks high school.

I couldn't believe my eyes, and neither could Jasper. Alice and Bella were connected at the hip, as always, but they looked way more scared than your average nervous freshmen...like the only way they were going to survive was if they never left each other's side. The two had seemed to thin out over the summer. You could almost see how many tears they had shed over the summer, still stained on their faces. Alice also seemed rather protective of Bella, I noticed, as she was tucked into Alice's embrace. Bella's eyes were sunken into her shallow face. When had she gained this hallowness? Then I noticed the brace on her left wrist.

Bella was clumsy, but not that clumsy. At least not anymore. And even when her injuries were that bad, she always grinned it off. She was used to it. Anything that she needed appeasing with a brace or bandage was more than serious. And rarely did she do that much damage to herself.

Someone had done something to her, and to Alice. Jasper ran to Alice to comfort her, but Alice shied away. That was rather shocking. Alice never rejected anyone, even if she hated them. She was more of a peace maker. And even if she ever pushed away anyone, it would not have been Jasper. After seeing Alice's behavior, I didn't even try to approach Bella. After a summer of separation, I didn't want that kind of rejection.

When we pulled up to our house after school got out, I flew out of the car before it had even stopped. Carlisle wasn't working that day. He would have known what happened to her. I raced upstairs to his office.

"What happened? And don't give me any shit about doctor-patient confidentiality. I won't tell anybody, I swear. I just need to know before it drives me crazy!" I exclaimed before he could ask me what my hurry was.

"Who are you talking about son?" he wondered in fake oblivion.

"You know who I'm talking about. Who's the only one that I'm concerned about who lives outside of this house?" I asked him. Carlisle walked to his office door, and after looking to make sure no one was eavesdropping, he closed it behind him.

"You're not telling anybody?" he confirmed. Damn. This really was serious.

"I just need to know," I told him, my voice sort of cracking.

He crossed back to his desk and slumped down in his chair. He sighed deeply before he continued.

"You know Bella's step-mother, Alice's mom, Renee?" he wondered.

"Who doesn't," I replied. Everybody knew everybody in this town.

"I myself was curious when both Alice and Bella came in injured. It was one thing for Bella to hurt herself. But you know Alice, she's generally so graceful. The curiosity eventually took over after the third time they came in together in one week. I felt bad about it, but I threatened Renee with a visit from social services if she didn't tell me what was going on at home," he began.

"Well, what was going on?" I urged, needing to know.

"James isn't exactly being fatherly," was all he had to say for me to understand.

"You know I never liked that creep. Ever since Bella's mother died, he's hated her. Never in words, but I knew. And now he's...he's..." Carlisle had to put a hand on my shoulder to calm me down. "Do I have permission to tell Jasper. Only Jasper. He deserves to know, too. I mean Alice..."

Carlisle nodded sadly.

Jasper and I grew a lot closer over our Freshman year. With his girlfriend and my best friend avoiding human contact, we spent a lot more time together. We also hung out a lot so that we wouldn't be tempted to tell anyone else. Hanging out with others meant less ears who might accidentally hear our secret.

Finally, about a year later, Renee finally got the nerve to call the cops. Her confidence might have been boosted due to the fact that her ex-husband was the cheif of police, but at least it got done.

Word spreads fast in a small town like Forks, and soon Jasper and I didn't have a secret to keep. Bella and Alice weren't at school for a few weeks after the announcement, but when they came back, Bella was different. Alice slowly let people back in, but Bella continued to push people away.

I stayed away. I couldn't stand it. The fact that she had never come to me for support. She knew I was there, right? And her continued silence was almost worse than rejection. One time she actually looked me in the eyes. She gave me a look of near hatred.

I shouldn't have waited. I let her town. I should have told her that I knew. Jasper and my secret hadn't been a secret to her.

Every time I tried to get near her, she would shy away. So I kept my distance. After all, Jasper got his license not much later and we started to give the girls rides to and from school.

My eyes never stopped watching. Through the years, they never stopped watching.