Bella Swan slowly strolled along the beach with her best friend, Angela Weber, right beside her. Bella's normally bright eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and her dark hair fell limply past her shoulders.

"So what are you going to do, Bells?" Angela asked gently for fear that her friend would break if she spoke too loudly.

Bella sniffled and shook her head despairingly. "I have no idea," she confessed as a fresh set of tears poured from her tired eyes. "I just don't know."

"No matter what - I'll always be here for you," Angela said thoughtfully as she draped her arm around Bella's shoulder and pulled her into a gentle hug.

"Thanks, Angie," Bella whispered hoarsely.

The two 17-year-olds continued walking along the beach in silence for a while longer. Bella's mind was spinning round and round. A little over a month earlier she had been a normal, happy teenager, but now her life had been turned completely upside down because of one fatal mistake.

"What do you think James's going to say?" Angela asked curiously. She already had a good idea of his response. She imagined he would deny getting Bella pregnant. Then he would accuse her of sleeping around. He would go on to call her a number of names - none of them would be nice.

"I honestly don't know," Bella sniffled and then thought about it for a moment. "But I doubt he'll have anything good to say," she replied before breaking down once again.

Bella had only been dating James for a few weeks before she made the mistake of having unprotected sex with him.

"I'm so sorry, Bells," Angela sympathized.

"I better get home," Bella said wiping her tears away with the back of her hand as she tried to gain some sort of composure. "My mom and dad said they need to talk to me about something, so I'm sure they're probably expecting me home soon."

"Well call me if you need to talk, okay?" Angela commented thoughtfully as she gave Bella a comforting hug.

"I will," Bella nodded as she brushed away the last of her tears and started walking in the direction of her house.

Bella walked slowly along the sidewalk. She wondered what she would do now. Nothing in her life would ever be the same. She knew she had a decision to make, but she wasn't fond of any of her options.

'How could I have been so stupid?' she asked herself as she thought back to the night she had lost her virginity to James. She had thought that she truly loved him, but now she knew that that wasn't true. It was simply lust, and because of her reckless behavior she had a life altering decision to make.

When Bella arrived home, she quickly went to the bathroom to make sure that there was no evidence that she had been crying. She splashed some water on her face and dabbed it with a towel before going into the living room where her parents were talking quietly.

"Hi," Bella said casually, trying her best to act normal.

"Hello, sweetie," Charlie Swan said with a smile.

"You're home early, aren't you?" Bella commented as she sat down on the couch.

"Well, like we said this morning, your father and I need to talk to you about something important," Renee Swan replied.

"What's up?" Bella asked. She wondered what could be so important that her parents had left work earlier. Both of her parents worked at the archeology museum in the city and were often at work late many nights during the week. 'They couldn't possibly know about me.' She reasoned. 'I just found out for myself.'

"Well, your father and I got some very exciting news late last night. We are going on an archeological dig with the museum. There were some prehistoric bones found, and your father and I get to be part of the recovery and restoration," Renee replied with excitement in her voice.

"Wow," Bella said forcing a smile. She knew how much her parents thrived on this kind of thing, and she knew that they had wanted to be part of an archeological dig. "Where will we be going?" she asked.

"That's the part we wanted to talk to you about," Charlie commented.

"Your father and I will be going to Africa, and you will be going to stay with the Cullens," Renee explained.

"The Cullens? You mean, in Washington?" Bella cried. "For how long?"

"Honey, we're not sure," Renee answered.

"Well, is it just for the summer or what?" Bella questioned.

"For the summer," Charlie nodded. "And a little longer."

"Longer? How much longer?" Bella demanded.

"Bella, we could be gone for up to a year," Renee replied.

"A year?" Bella exclaimed. "But that's not fair! What am I supposed to do about school?"

"You'll go to school in Forks," Charlie replied.

"Why can't I say with Angela?" Bella asked.

"Bella, you know that the Weber's are busy now that they have the new baby," Renee answered. "We couldn't ask them to take care of you too."

"Mom, there's only five kids in Angela's family. The Cullens have seven!" Bella argued with her voice rising.

"Isabella Marie, this is not open for discussion," Charlie cut in. "You are going to stay with the Cullens. You have two weeks to get packed."

"This is so unfair!" Bella groaned as she stood up and stalked upstairs.

'I cannot believe this.' She mumbled as she sat down on her bed with a thud. She picked up her cordless phone and dialed Angela's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Angie," Bella sighed.

"What's up?" Angela asked.

"Well, my parents are going to Africa, and I'm going to Washington," Bella explained with tears forming in her eyes.

"What? Why? Washington? For how long?" Angela questioned.

"Up to a year because my parents have been invited to go on some archeological dig," Bella replied. "Just when I thought things couldn't possibly get worse ..." she murmured as she broke down.