Bella
When I try to pinpoint the exact moment that Edward came into my life…I can't. I mean I know the stories that our mother's have told us, but I don't remember that exact day. I just know that it was when we were both four years old. My mother had taken me to the park to play, again, even though I never played with the other kids. I never liked their games. I had my own games in my head and it was just easier. They never liked me anyhow, I was too clumsy and accident prone for them to play with me long. Eventually, I would get hurt and they would drift off while my mom cleaned me up, so I made it easy for everyone. I stuck to myself.
My mom described the day as cold and windy. Well guess what? We lived in Forks so that described about 360 days of the year. Nothing special about this day, until Esme Cullen stepped foot into the playground area with her son. Edward was tall for his age, shocking auburn hair and dark green eyes. Esme sat beside my mom and they struck up a conversation. Edward wandered around the edges of the play area for a few minutes until he finally drifted towards me. I say that I don't remember that day but I do remember the first time our eyes met. Even at four years old I knew that it was special. Special how, I had no clue, I just knew it was.
Eventually he approached me and we began to play, and per the norm, I shortly thereafter fell and hurt my knee. Edward held my hand and walked me to my mom, instead of taking off and leaving me to cry alone. He also stayed while my mom cleaned me up and even waited for me to feel better before he went back to play on the playground again. I knew that we would be best of friends till the end of time. Of course at four years old that meant until we turned ten or so. We made it a bit longer than I first thought but not by much.
We hung out almost every single day, played inside or out depending on the weather and even ate at each other's house most nights. Our friendship prompted our parents to strike up a friendship. I remember hearing my mom exclaim, 'I've never seen Bella take to anyone like she has to Edward. Not even to her father and me, wonders never cease. I guess she'll be normal after all.' Imagine how that makes a four year old feel? Yeah, not very comfortable, to say the least.
That was Renee though. She had high expectations for me. She wanted the all American daughter. I had to make A-B honor roll, be involved with clubs, do a sport and attend all the normal age appropriate activities to make her proud of me. I can't tell you how many times in my life I was compared to Jessica or Lauren. See living in a small town meant we all knew every single detail about the lives of those that lived around us. Our street contained the homes of all the influential people in town; the ones that liked to have their lives spread around as gossip fodder. The ones that wanted you to envy them, to be talked about and looked at as they walked down the streets. That was most certainly not me and not really my dad either, but mom, well she fit right in with them. She loved to be the Chief's wife; she loved all the perks that the position got her, most especially the automatic in with the 'in crowd'. She soaked it up like a sponge and used it to her advantage.
Good thing that Esme Cullen was married to the new Chief of Staff at Forks General, since that marriage alone made her an automatic shoo in for the high society of Forks. So that made Edward a suitable playmate for me, and both sets of parents encouraged us to be together.
We had it made for too many years to count. Summer vacations and Christmas trips included. We spent almost every waking moment with each other. The girls all tried to get Edward to talk to them to no avail. I was his only friend. I loved that fact, it made me feel special. He helped me not take to heart the words that Renee crammed into my ears. All the 'why don't you's' and 'why can't you be more like'…she wanted the perfect child and I was anything but that. Edward never cared, he was my best friend.
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