One of A Kind

Pre-Twilight: Chapter Seventeen

I open my eyes, and I am in awe. There is a banner that says, 'Happy Birthday, Janetta.' The coffee table has many wrapped presents sitting on it. There are red balloons and red streamers all over the room. Everyone, including dad and Anna, is standing in front of me dressed up.

"Oh my gosh! You guys, this is amazing!" I go around and hug Anna and Esme. I know that they, plus Alice and Rosalie, are the masterminds behind this party. I go through the room and say thank you until I meet Jasper. He looks absolutely god-like. He is in black dress pants and a black dress shirt. Around the collar is a red tie. Aw. He is matching me. Wait. How did he know I would be wearing red? Then I realized Alice had probably told him. Duh.

"Hey," I say, blushing.

"Hello." He says, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my forehead. At that moment, I heard a click, alerting me that someone had just taken a picture. I turn and see Alice taking pictures on a disposable camera. I smile and encourage her for another photo. She takes a few more and has me pose with Rosalie and Esme. And then with dad and Anna.

"Okay! Presents time!" Alice announces. She brings up a chair and has me sit in it, and everyone else sits on the couches. The first present she gives me is from her. I unwrap it, and it is an empty case that should have a necklace in it. It takes me a moment to realize it is supposed to hold the necklace that is around my neck.

"Alice. Are you serious?" I ask in disbelief, touching the necklace. She nods her head with excitement. "Thank you."

The next present given to me is from Rosalie. It is an envelope. I open it, and it says she is taking me on a shopping trip this weekend, which is two days. I thank her and continue to open the presents. Emmett got me a new video game for us to play. He and I have grown to love playing video games together. Edward got me some CDs for my car. Dad and Anna got me an iPad for school since my computer is sometimes unreliable.

Esme and Carlisle get up and walk towards me, carrying a manilla envelope. Dad and Anna also come up to me.

"W-What's going on?" I ask. Esme hands me the manilla folder and motions for me to open it. I opened it, and there were brochures and a round-trip plane ticket to Rio. "What's this?" I ask.

"We are going to Rio for spring break, and we wanted to invite you to come with us," Esme says. I look up at dad and Anna.

"We have already cleared it with your father and Anna," Carlisle says.

"Are you serious?" I ask, looking at all of them. They all nod. Anna is smiling brightly, and Dad has a nervous smile. I turn my head and look at Jasper; he is smiling at me. "I'm going to Rio in a month?"

"Yes!" Anna says. I jump up and hug them, and then Esme and Carlisle.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." I keep saying it over and over.

"We thought it wouldn't be the same without you. You have become a part of the family." Esme says, smiling. I hug her and say thank you again.

"We have another surprise for you," Dad says. I look at him, confused, and he walks out of the room for a moment. Esme has me sit back down and brings a table in front of me. I'm even more confused. My thoughts are answered when Dad walks in with his laptop. He sits it in front of me and clicks a button. My mom and Bella pop up on the screen.

"Happy Birthday!" They both scream. I gasped, surprised.

"You two didn't mention you were gonna do this!"

"It was a surprise, dummy," Bella says. I laugh at that.

"Isabella!" My mom playfully scolds. I just laugh more. "Anyways. Charlie!" My dad's head pops into view for her to see. "You got the gifts?" She asks.

"Yes, ma'am." He replies.

"Okay, baby. The first gift your dad is handing you is from me." Mom says. A somewhat heavy box is placed in my lap. I open it, and it is the new Canon EOS camera. I have had my eye on this for a while.

"Mom! How did you know?" I ask.

"I got a tip from Anna." I look up at her and say thank you.

"Okay, dummy, my present next," Bella says. "I hate to say it, but my present is the best." I laugh. "Sorry, mom, but it's true." Dad hands me her present, and I open it. My jaw drops, and I look at her.

"Told you," Bella says. Her present is a scrapbook with a picture from every summer I spent with her, starting when I was two, and she was almost one. I flip through the book, and each page has a picture of the two of us and funny little comments written around it. Under each picture, she has written her favorite memory of that particular summer.

"This amazing." I smile at her.

"I knew you'd love it." She says softly.

"Yeah, yeah." I roll my eye.

Mom pops back into view. "Okay, baby. We'll let you go and enjoy your night. I love you." She says.

"I love you too, mama." She gets out of view, and Bella pops back in.

"Okay, loser, have a good rest of your birthday. Love you." She says. I let out a laugh.

"Thanks, babes. I'll talk to you soon. Love you too." She smiles and hangs up. I look up at everyone looking at me. 

"Cake time!" Rosalie says. We all get up and go into the kitchen to eat cake. The cake they got me is magnificent. Three layers of marble cake with vanilla buttercream. My favorite. We all get a slice and eat and make small talk.

As I'm finishing up, Jasper asks me to go outside for a moment. I get up and walk with him out onto the deck. He turns and looks at me.

"I wanted to give you your present out here." He says, smiling. He pulls out a small, wrapped box and hands it to me. I look at him and slowly open it. In the box is a beautiful diamond bracelet. I turn it over, and on the inside, it has 01/10 engraved on it.

"The day we met," I say, realizing the date. He nods. "Thank you so much." I hold out my wrist, and he puts it on. I move closer and kiss him.

"I have something to ask you." He says. I can feel his nervousness radiating off of him.

"Ask away."

"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asks.

"Of course, I will." I smile and kiss him again. "You beat me to it. I was thinking of asking you."

"Great minds think alike." He hugs me and buries his face in my hair.

"That they do." I hug him back. We stay like that for a few moments until I realize I don't have a jacket. "We should go inside before we get hypothermia." He laughs and takes me back inside. We go back to the kitchen hand-in-hand. Emmett sees first, and he starts laughing.

"Finally, brother. Thought you'd never grow the balls to do it." He says. Esme gasps.

"Emmett! Manners!" She scolds. I laugh and wrap my arms around Jasper. Dad and Anna come up to me.

"We are going to head out. We will see you later tonight. Remember, midnight curfew." Dad says. They both hug me and walk out the door.

We continue the small talk in the kitchen as Esme packs up the cake for me to take home. Jasper tells me he needs to talk to Carlisle and Emmett for a moment. They all step away and talk. I step closer to Edward, Alice, and Rosalie.

"Thank you all so much for everything tonight. This was probably the best birthday I've had." I go and hug Alice and Rosalie.

As I do so, my hand brushes up against Edward. After that, all I saw was darkness.