Title: I Loved You All Along
Category: Books » Twilight
Author: Ionuin Anam Cara
Language: English, Rating: Rated: M
Genre: Drama/Romance
Published: 10-16-08, Updated: 05-08-10
Chapters: 10, Words: 15,878

Chapter 1: Nothing Good About Goodbye

Title: I Loved You All Along

Author: Ionuin Anam Cara

Summary: All Human/Some OOC/AU Bella grew up in Forks with the Cullens until her parent's divorce took her away. When she returns, a different person, she finds that the her best friends have changed as well. (Title after the song 4a.m. by Our Lady Peace)

Rating: M for future lemons, and any other possible twist I might come up with to throw in :)

Pairings: overall traditional pairings, but brief interludes of others along the way (Don't worry! Edward and Bella will find each other eventually!)

Disclaimer: Stephenie Myer and associates own all Twilight characters/etc. I just want to play with them for a while and give them something new to do :)

Chapter 1: Nothing Good About Goodbye

(EPOV)

I listened as she quietly climbed in the window, which I had left open for her as always, and tiptoed to my bed. Without a word I pulled back the covers so she could climb in under them. She laid down and I pulled her close. We never spoke when this happened, and it happened quite often. I would just hold her tight and in the safety of my arms she could finally sleep.

Isabella Marie Swan was my best friend. We'd known each other since we were 2, when my twin sister, Alice, took pity on the shy little girl in the sandbox and invited her over. The three of us had been inseparable since.

Marie was the daughter of the Forks' chief of police, Charlie, and his wife Renee. It was at Charlie's insistence that she be called Marie, despite Renee's arguments that her daughter should stand out from the small town and that Isabella was the perfect name for that. Renee hated Forks. She was only there because she had gotten pregnant and was forced to stay and marry Charlie. This made life at the Swan house very tense. On nights when she couldn't take it anymore, Marie would sneak out and climb into my window. Her parent's never even noticed she was gone.

School was also hostile towards my best friend. She wasn't special or rich or exceptionally pretty to the rest of the town, so they just tended to ignored her. She was smart and shy and generally didn't mind being on her own, but she was often teased and ridiculed for her glasses and hand me down clothing. In second grade she finally broke down and told me how much the other kids messed with her. I vowed then and there to make sure no one ever did it again. From that day, she never left my, nor Alice's, sides.

Fifth grade was hell, to say the least. By this point, the girls had started realizing that boys don't have cooties and the boys had started becoming perverts. The idea of popularity was of utmost importance and no one could compete with Lauren Mallory. She was pretty, rich and snobby- the key ingredients of middle school royalty. She wasn't so bad to most people, but she hated Marie for reasons no one knew; though most people thought it was because she was jealous. Apparently I had all the makings of being the most popular boy (which I could really give two shits about) and I chose, instead, to spend my time with the 'ugly bookworm' as they described her. Her dishwater blonde hair and slight frame hadn't developed as quickly as most of the girls our age. Add that to the extreme clumsiness and Marie was pretty much a walking disaster of a female.

It didn't help that over the summer Renee and Charlie had argued so much that Marie practically lived at my house. On the last day of school, Marie came in with tear stained cheeks and puffy eyes. She wouldn't tell me anything, but Alice looked distraught when I met them for lunch break. We sat in silence till Marie looked over. "I'm leaving," she whispered. Then she got up and ran out of the cafeteria. Alice explained that her parents were getting a divorce and that Renee was leaving Forks and taking Marie with her.

That was the last I saw of my best friend. Renee had become fed up with everything to the point where she packed all of their belongings, picked Marie up early, and left without a word. I spent months trying to figure out how to contact her, but Alice and I never found a trace. She was gone.