Chapter 1

A/N Ok so this is my first fanfic, so please review! Will try and update as frequently as possible, have it all planned out but not written down!

It had been over a year since Edward Left me, and I was finally getting on with my life. I was reminded of him constantly, but I knew how to control my emotions and my heart didn't ache so much.

I was in my last week of Forks High School, and I was counting down the hours til I was off to Italy. I knew that perhaps Italy wasn't the best choice, especially after my encounter with the Volturi when I saved Edward, in the hopes of him returning to Forks with me. No such luck. After I saved his life, he took me back to Forks, gave me false hope on his return and was gone in the morning- Damn vampires.

Sometimes I wondered what would have happened if we had stayed together. I often thought tthat maybe by now I would be one of them, immortal, or would he have stayed, only to leave me again, in what he thought was an act of kindness/saving my soul from eternal damnation. At least this way, being an ordinary-enough human, I could enjoy the rare spell of sunshine. Thinking of the benefits of his departure helped me to get through the pain.

Weirdly enough, the weather had been great since the Cullens left, every day, reaching about seventy degrees Fahrenheit, which is hot for the likes of Forks. Still cloudy, I basked in the minimal sunshine, feeling the warmth on my skin. Perhaps I got a little carried away, for this was the first day I had ever been late for school. Luckily I had already received an offer to study Italian History in Tuscany, so my lateness wouldn't "ruin my future" as all the teachers assured us it would.

School was better, I had my old friends back and as soon as I extended myself out to everyone, I was welcomed back with open arms, although Mike's were a little wider than everyone else's. I guess he never got the message, and you'd think he would have laid off when he saw how beat up I was after Edward left.

Lunch that day was dire; Jessica was wrapped up in her own little self centred world, talking non-stop about her plans for after college. I'm surprised she even had enough air to breathe, let alone to stuff slices of soggy pizza in her mouth in-between words. She was going to California to study who-knows-what, as long as the weather was good. I hadn't yet told them what I was doing after we graduated, but now seemed as good a time as any.

"Bella, where did you say you were going?" Angela, my always pleasant and down to earth friend, asked.

"I didn't. But I was actually given an offer by this university in Italy to study Italian History, it's kind of like a foreign exchange scholarship thing." I don't know why I was so nervous about telling them, it's not like I cared what they thought. Although when I thought about it, they were probably all thinking this was my way of escaping the memories of Edward and his beautiful, beautiful family. It wasn't. Not really anyway. It was a great opportunity and I wasn't about to waste it. After seeing Volterra, I realised that Italy was an amazing country, although I barely saw any of it, at the speed I had to work, and Alice's 100 mph driving.

"Wow Bells, that's amazing! Although, It would have been nice if you'd have come to Alaska with me…" With a hint of regret in his tone, Mike Newton tried to reassure me.

"Yeah, well, I just thought it would be nice to see a little more of the country."

"Does it have anything to do with-"

"Oh my gosh, so when do you leave?" Angela, cutting Mike off, was clearly trying to divert the conversation away from the Edward topic. She really was a great friend. I would miss her.

"I leave two days after Graduation."

Nine days until I would be out of Forks, the place where so much had happened to change my life. The goodbyes would have to start soon.

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