He left. I didn't have a say in the matter. I'm sick of thinking about him, it just hurts too much. He wasn't coming back. I was ready for Caleb to bite me. Do it…now.

Twelve Years Later

Finally, we're settled into this little shack that we have to call our home now. It was horrible and I didn't want to be back here after all these years. The memories were still too strong for me to handle and I didn't know what I could do about them.

Forks, Washington. Miserable. Green. Alien Planet.

"Bells, are you okay?" Caleb asked, wrapping his arms around my waist.

He put his chin on my shoulder, slightly kissing my neck.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I assured him.

I haven't told my new family about Edward and his family. And I wasn't planning too. He was never coming back for me. He thought I was thirty years old. Nope, I'm still eighteen.

"You are such a liar, but I don't want to know, do I?" He asked.

I shook my head, a smile breaking out over my face.

"Well, then," he kissed my neck again. "Let's get to school before we're late. That wouldn't be a good impression on the first day."

Caleb found me in the woods after Edward had left me there. His coven was just passing through when they stumbled upon me. He told me that he knew that I wanted to be changed. So he decided that he would let me heal from whatever I was going through, then he would change me. I'm his now, not Edward's.

We walked downstairs to find the rest of our family in the living room. Mitch was playing some kind of videogame, but put it down when we were down there. He grabbed Lillian's hand and we all went to Caleb's car.

"You know, we should take my car. It's cuter." Lillian announced.

We all laughed at her.

"What? It's true. Tell them, Bella." I turned around to glare at her.

"Don't bring me into this. I'm not a car girl. I like beat up, red pickup trucks." They all rolled their eyes as I remembered my old truck.

"Blah blah blah. Moving on… Does everyone have their schedules?" She asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Good, then we'll all meet up in the front of the lunchroom." We were at the school now.

"Okay," we all answered at once.

I gave Caleb a chaste kiss before heading to my first hour.

The day went by quickly. English passed by in a blur. Trig passed by in a blur. History passed in a blur. Nothing fun and exciting. That changed when I got to the lunch room.

"There are other vampires here." Lill came running at me, jumping up and down.

"Do you know who they are?" I asked, trying to add excitement into my voice.

"I only met one of them. Her name's Alice." My eyes widened.

Suddenly I had the urge to throw up, but I couldn't. It was impossible for me to do that.

"Oh god…" I breathed. Trying to recompose myself, I asked: "what's her last name?"

"Cullen, apparently there are five of them." She explained.

That's good…I mean bad…I mean, he hasn't found anyone to take my place in his heart. He doesn't need to fill that space though. He left you remember, Bella. I thought to myself.



"Let's go meet them before she," Mitch motioned to his wife, "explodes. That would be bad…or good. However you look at it."

Lill playfully hit him in the arm, and then grabbed his hand. Caleb grabbed my hand, following them into the lunchroom. I dropped my head as we walked over to the Cullen's table.

"Hey, Alice." Lill called out.

"Hey, everyone this is my new friend Lill and her family. This is my family. My husband, Jasper. Emmett and Rosalie. And Edward." Alice motioned to everyone as she introduced them to my family.

"This is my family. My husband, Mitch. This is Caleb and…" she trailed off.

I turned around and ran at human pace out of the lunch room. Before I could get far from the lunchroom, two strong arms wrapped around my waist. Caleb.

"Hey, hey, Bella." He switched me around in his arms so I was facing him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just needed some fresh air." I put on my poker face.

He skeptically looked at me. "Okay, let's go back in there. Lill is explaining you to them."

My breath started to become ragged as Caleb guided me back into the lunch room. I dropped my head once again to make sure I didn't look at Edward.

"Sorry about that. She just needed some fresh air." Caleb explained to my two families.

Nobody spoke, but I could feel all of their gazes boring into my back.

"Bella," I heard Emmett breathe.

I didn't respond.

My stomach was twisting in knots as the silence dragged on.

"How?" Alice finally asked.

I didn't look up. "Caleb changed me a few days after you guys…"

I couldn't finish my sentence.

"Wait," Lill chimed in. "You know the Cullen's?"

I nodded my head, not sure if my voice would betray me or not.

"How?" Lill asked in the same tone as Alice had used.

"It doesn't matter anymore." I could tell that my dead heart said different.

Someone stood up, but I didn't look up. A pair of small, cold, pale arms wrapped around my shoulders. Alice has always been my best friend. I stood up and hugged her small body back.

"I've missed you." She whispered in my ear.

I stole a glance at Edward over her shoulder. He was staring at me with his mouth almost hanging open.

She let go of me, but was replaced by Emmett.

"Emmett. I. Can't. Breathe." I laughed.

Emmett put me down.

"Are you still a klutz, Bells?" He asked.

I laughed again. "Not that much, but I'm pretty sure you could still find a reason to laugh at me."

He smiled at me and sat back down.

The bell rang then. I silently thanked the ladies in the main office. Caleb came over to me and took my hand. I got the feeling that if we weren't in a public place, Edward would've jumped Caleb, but I pushed that away knowing that it was only me who was feeling that.



After Caleb kissed me lightly, I walked into the biology room from thirteen years ago. I sat down in the same seat from thirteen years ago.

Class started, but right before the bell rang someone sat silently into the seat next to mine. I knew it was him. This would be an interesting class period.