TEN YEARS AGO (PROLOGUE)

I was determined to have a good time tonight.

Scratch that, I was hell fucking bent.

I was so determined that for the first time in my life, I was sitting in front of a mirror and carefully combing my brown hair till it dropped down like a layer of silk on my naked back. Not that I did not comb my hair often, but I didn't do it with the kind of reverence that I did today. Then again, I did not wear the kind of dress I was wearing today either; lavender, halter top, sleeveless, long flowy skirt with no back. I had even put on some light makeup thus it was safe to say it was not a normal Isabella Swan kind of day, or a normal Isabella Swan kind of do.

The one thing that remained certain in this abnormal day was my determination to have a good fucking time.

Tonight, was my best friends Alice Cullens 18th birthday, and my best friend had a taste for all things good in life. Thus, she wanted to claim adulthood by bringing glamour with a capital G back to her hometown or more specifically small town and annoyingly soaked most of the time Forks. This was granted to her by her larger than life itself parents, Dr and Mrs. Cullen; small town Forks big time heroes. Heroes because Dr. Cullen had hauled his family all the way from New York City, away from his swanky 6 figure job as a doctor at a swanky New York hospital and come back home to work at Forks in a hospital which back then was nowhere near swanky. He had brought back the hospital to life and earned the loyalty of every person in town, so did his wife and not just because she was his wife but because her soul shone with kindness, and the people of Forks noted and treasured that.

The day the Cullens moved back to Forks was the worst and the best day of my life, best day because Alice Cullen had entered my world along with her soul that shone with kindness, almost as much as her mothers. Worst day because so had Edward Cullen, Alice's twin, bane of my existence and all around asshole. Not to everyone no, but to me.

I was not deluded to understand his 'attentions' as anything more than one person being mean to another simply because they could, I also was intelligent enough to get that even though it was both of their birthdays (which they were celebrating together) and even though Alice had assured me that he was not going to pull any of his tricks today, I just knew he would. I knew it down to my very bones, but still I was determined to have tonight not just because it was her birthday but because all of us would be moving soon to our Universities and it was my last night at Forks( I was moving to UPenn tomorrow evening) and I would be damned if I let all around gorgeous, music genius, kind to everyone but me ruthless asshole take this night away from me.

My twisted acquaintance with Edward had started when the Cullens moved back to Forks in Freshmen year, and before I had seen my best friend for life I saw Edward Cullen on the first day of school. Tall and beautiful he was like the sun hitting my face after four days of continuous Forks rain. I sat there gaping at him as he entered the class and Mrs. Gibson our English teacher introduced him to everyone. I could hear collective female sighs and my heart beating erratically while my face had a goofy looking smile in place. He sat in front of me and I tried to be cool for a minute before I lost my cool, wrote him a note introducing myself and gave it to him. He took the note and read it, looked back at me and my face, gave me a once over (well as far as the seat would allow his eyes to go) which made my toes curl and then proceeded to tear the note and put it down on my bench.

I heard the snickers behind me and felt my face go hot as I stared at the torn note. I looked in front at his back and decided at that moment that Edward Cullen was not very nice and the small crush that I had on him receded. Later in the day I saw Alice sitting all by herself at lunch, at that time I did not know who she was and cautiously went to sit with her, despite the rejection I faced earlier I did not hesitate going up to her and prayed to God she would be friendly. She peered up at me and then at my hand which I had jutted forward then smiled huge when I said, "I am Isabella Swan, but you have to me call me Bella. Isabella makes me want to puke out my breakfast cereal. I don't know who you are but I am determined to make a new friend today and let me tell you rejection twice in one day will not bode well with my sunny disposition."

As she smiled her open, beautiful, dimpled smile at me with her curly black hair framing her face and shook my hand then finally said totally ignoring everything I had blabbered, "You have beautiful eyes, Bella. I am Alice," I knew Alice Cullen would be my best friend because I read everything that was her in a minute with those lines and what I could read warmed me to my very soul. I complemented her right back saying her hair kicked major booty and we became tight from then onwards.

This fateful meeting with my best friend for life was shadowed when I felt the presence of Edward at my back and his question filled with disgust, "Are you stalking me, fatty?" A horror filled gasp escaped from Alice as she screeched his name. I realised two things then and there, Edward was Alice's brother as that screech was pure and practiced annoyed sister screech, something I used often with Jasper (my next door neighbour who was as close as a brother) and that I had no respect at all for Edward Cullen. I turned around with my usual sass combined with anger and said to him, "My dad is a cop and my mother was an artist, both salt of the Earth, honest people and they told me enough times that I am beautiful, so I believed them then and I believe them now. I will not let some idiot with superiority complex belittle me especially not when I am in the middle of getting to know my future best friend. So to answer your question, no I am not stalking you because I do not even look at the people I don't respect." Then I turned back around gave Alice my number told her to call me anytime and left the table when I heard words that dampened my sunny disposition, "Bet I can make you look, and what's more make that gaze stay."

I didn't respond to that and quickly stalked out of the cafeteria.

Since then Edward and I had exchanged snide comments and had numerous fights. He gave it to me mean, rude or just annoyed I gave back to him sassy and bitchy. I never reached a breaking point because his words didn't pinch me as much as the rumours did. Edward Cullen dating Jessica Day was the rumour and it burned my very soul. The fire spread when Edward started dating her in sophomore year till Senior year, till it became a dull ever present unpleasant feeling. His barbs didn't stop though, in fact they became worse with Jessica on his side, but the love I had for him did not disappear as much as I willed it and commanded it to go. What was funny though my love for him was one of the few things I did not like about myself.

Poor Alice tried everything to make him stop, in fact Dr. Cullen also intervened from time to time when he and I exchanged words in front of him. Nothing affected or stopped him, and to be honest I got used to two things, Edward being an asshole and I being in love/hate with him despite it all. I knew there was nothing from his side, but I felt what I felt and due to this I did not date. I knew I had to be away from him to get over my love/hate thing with him, and thus I was determined to finally be free of Forks and him. This joy even overshadowed my sadness for not being around my dad and Alice twenty-four hours a day.

I heard the doorbell ring and my father talking to Jasper downstairs, who was now also Alice's boyfriend. He had come to pick me up and take me to the party. I lightly rubbed my Renee bracelet and prayed that Edward wouldn't do shit today, but as we all know unlike shit, luck eventually runs out and when it came to my interactions with him, it ran out often.

Hence my love/hate relationship with Edward, turned into pure hatred in a way I knew was irreversible after the shit he pulled at the party and my determination to have a good time disappeared to gut wrenching sobs. This was the first time our interactions had made me ball my eyes out because it was the time he took it too damned far and I knew I did not have it in me to forgive him.

It was not lost on Edward that I hated him, because he saw it on my face after the shit he pulled. What I missed on his face that day though was pure anguish as even he realised that he took it too damned far.

Hello friends,

I have a lot of free time thus I promise (but with fingers crossed at my back) frequent uploads, or as frequent as I can make them.

Love you and thank you for reading.

PS. And I just own this plot, not Twilight.

PPS (love and write, don't plagiarise)