Chapter 1: Stages
Living in the small town of Forks, Washington with my father has never been a dream of mine, but ever since my mother remarried to a man named Phil things have just been different.
Phil is not a bad guy per say, and my mom is happy with him, which makes me happy for her, but there is just something about the way Phil watches me when I walk around the house when mom isn't there, and the way he sneaks around me and my friends, that just makes me uncomfortable. But its not like he has a record and he has never committed a major felony, so who am I to accuse him of anything? So I have decide to live with my dad, which also means leaving my 2 best friends Milo and Steph behind. Steph and Bri sit on my bed as I continued to pack what little clothes I had.
"I cant believe your just going to leave us!" Milo yells, throwing her hands in the air. "I mean what happened to us staying together? And what about William?"
William is my current boyfriend. We have been dating for about 6 months. I was leaving in two weeks and I haven't told him yet.
"You haven't told him yet have you?" Steph asks looking threw me closet
"No, I have not…, but I was thinking that its time me and him broke up anyway." I say
"What?! Y? I like Will" Milo asks, a confused look on her face
"You like all the guys she dates. What has this one done?" Steph asks
The thing with boys and relationships is I like boyfriends, but once they start to get to attached its time to let them go. I look at relationships in stages. Teen relationships are like adult ones only the timeline is shorter. While adults take the steps over years, teens tend to take the steps in a few months. Stage 1 is of course the attraction: that one person catches your eye and you just have to get to know them. Stage 2 is the flirting and whooing that leads to dating which is stage 3. Stage 4 is the beginning of the boyfriend/girlfriend relationships the "honeymoon stage" if you will, the stage in which all you want to do is be around that person and think everything they do is cute or sweet or wonderful. Then you reach stage 5, at this stage is when you start to notice things that irritate you, that you didn't notice before, and this is the stage were things start getting serious. Then if you can get passed the 5th stage some people move on to Stage 6: the proposal and the marriage were the stages start all over again, but for most people Stage 6 is the break up. Right now Will and I are in the middle of stage 5, it is time to move to stage 6. Will is getting way to attached.
"He hasn't necessarily done anything, I just think that with the summer being half way done, me moving, and going to a new school, I just think its time to let him go. He's just… I don't know. He just isn't a keeper. I'm not willing to rearrange my plans to keep this relationship when we're going to break up in a couple weeks anyway." I reply
I continued to pack clothes into a suitcase, while Steph helped by put other essentials in another suitcase. Milo stared at the ceiling with a confused look on her face.
"Why do you say the you and Will would have broken up in a couple weeks?" Milo asked, while Steph gives me a knowing look.
"well its been, what? 5 almost 6 months?" she says counting in her head " they're in stage 5, and let me guess. Will is starting to get to clingy and attached?" She changed her attention to me.
"Maybe…" I said looking away, trying to hide the truth. I'm an awful liar.
"Oh…" Milo says with a look of disappointment, which I ignore.
I finish packing my clothes and put some extra stuff in my other suitcase. I wasn't taking much with me just the things I need, not that I had a lot of stuff anyway. Steph is staring at the ceiling while Milo is playing on my keyboard. I was almost completely packed I only had my bed stuff, my bathroom stuff and my keyboard to pack. I would do that later though. We continued to hang out in my room, when I got a text
Will:
Hey babe, I just got off of work,
U wanna hang out tonight?
Bella:
Sure sounds fun.
I close my phone.
"Are you going to do it tonight?" Milo asks
"I might as well. There is no need to avoid the unavoidable." I answer, causing Steph to roll her eyes
"Oooo!!!! Let me do your make-up and pick out an outfit!! Please?" Milo shouts excitedly.
"No! ugh, you know how I hate to play Bella Barbie" I whine
"Plus, what do you wear when your going to break up with someone?" Steph asks
"I was gonna go with jeans and a t-shirt." I say
"Come on! You wear that everyday! Please?!" Milo shouts.
"OK! Jesh" I shout in defeat. Steph laughs.
Milo goes to my closet, were there are still some clothes on hangers and picks an outfit, then goes to her giant purse and pulls out 3 bags full of make-up and hair stuff. Why she carries all that crap with her I don't know. Bella Barbie lasted for an hour, a very long, dreadful hour. "Done!" Milo yells
"This is one thing I'm not gonna miss when I move" I say, Milo and Steph laugh. While I look in the mirror. I look pretty good. She pick out some black jeans and a read top for me to wear and my make up was lightly done. Milo went easy on me this time. "Thanks Milo"
"No Prob" she says
We walk down the stairs and out to the cars. Mom and Phil had gone out for the day. Steph's caliber was parked next to my truck. Steph said bye and gets in her car, then Milo said bye and gave me a hug before getting into Steph's car They Drove off and I got into my a, Christmas, and whatnot. Phil offered to buy me a new car but I refused, I don't want a new car. There's nothing wrong with my truck. I start the engine and drive over to Will's house. His family was middle class. Their house was pretty big. It was a two story and had big windows for every room. I step out of the car and walk up to the big wooden doors then ring the door bell. his mom answers the door.
"hello Bella" she says with a smile " come on in. Will is upstairs in his room."
"Thank you Mrs. Gamble" I say
She smiles and nods then walks away to the kitchen. I head up the stairs. Wills door is second to last down the long hall. I can hear music playing from the inside. I knock. He yells something I cant understand and I open the door. He looks towards the door. He is spread out across the bed. He gets up and pulls me into a hug, then kiss me.
"Hey Babe" he smiles
"Hey" I say giving him my most convincing smile as he leads me to the bed.
"You look great" he compliments
"Thanks" I reply
" So what did you do today?" he asked leaning back on the bed.
I shrug and say "Nothing much. Just packed"
"Packed? For what? Are you going somewhere?" he was starting to panic a little now. Like Steph said, clingy.
"Well ya" I say "Look, we need to talk…" I start to fidget with my fingers
"Where are you going? When are you coming back? When are you leaving?…" he was spiting out a million questions a minute.
"Will!!" I scream. He stops talking. He's standing up now. "I'm moving. I'm not coming back and I leave in two weeks… but that's not wh-"
"Why didn't you tell me?! Two weeks?! You cant leave! Why are you moving?" he continues his rant
I sigh and say "I'm moving with my father. I just think its time for a change… but we need to talk about something else"
"I'll miss you" he whined " Where are you moving? Am I going to be able to visit you? I mean I know long distance relationships are hard but we can do it." he continued, ignoring me.
Long distance relationship? that's it! He is getting WAY to attached.
"Will! I WANT TO BREAK UP!!" I shout. Again he stops talking. He just stares at me. His face has no expression. He just sits on the bed and looks at the floor.
"Why?" he whispers.
"I just think it would be easier… you know with the move and all…" I reply.
"But….. I love you…" he says a little louder
Well crap. I new this was coming. "I'm sorry Will… I just think its for the best" I say getting up to leave.
"Wait" he says grabbing my arm. I pull away and continue to walk threw the door and down the stairs. of course he fallows me.
"Don't leave me Bella. I love you" he says as I reach the bottom step. "Bella, I love you!!"
"Stop it!" I say when I reach the door. He runs down the stairs and pulls me into a hug. I try to pull away but fail.
"Please Bella" he pleads now. "We can make this work. I can visit every week. Please." he says into my ear.
"No Will." I say pushing him away. I walk out of the house and into my truck. He doesn't fallow me.
This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. I try to break it off before it gets to the 'I love you', I just don't believe in love. it's a lie. When I was younger I was completely and utterly obsessed with Disney, and I honestly believed that everyone has a happy ending, that is until Charlie and Renee started fighting. At first it wasn't bad, just little quarrels about random nothings. Then things started getting intense, up until the divorce. They stopped talking to each other entirely. And when they did talk, it was only to talk about who I would be staying with. I had no idea who I wanted to stay with. I loved my mother, but I loved my father just as much.
Finally, after months and months of arguing, my parents went to court. It was not fun. I had to sit and watch as they argued all over again about how horrible the other person was. My father called my mother a slut and my mother called my father a back stabbing bastard. Eventually the tedious task was over and it was decided I would stay with my mother. My mother was ecstatic. She would have her daughter and she beat Charlie all in one swoop. I, on the other hand, was depressed. I would no longer get to see my dad and I would be living thousands of miles away. I had seen each of their bad sides and I didn't know what to think anymore.