Bella's POV

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The entire rest of the class seemed to disappear except for Edward. In that moment it was just the two of us staring at each other, shocked face mirrored against shocked face. I felt sick to my stomach, I wanted to run…actually I wanted to smack Edward, then I wanted to run. I wanted answers, I wanted to know why he had left so abruptly, I wanted know why I had never heard from him again, I wanted to know why he had hurt me so badly.

His eyes were the same rich butterscotch color that they had been the last night we had been together. He still looked seventeen and I felt a little self conscious that I probably looked four years older than I had the last time he had seen me. Edward didn't move an inch, his eyebrows were gathered together and his eyes seemed to hold every conceivable emotion that could possible exist within the space that we currently found ourselves in. I half expected him to bolt. I wouldn't have blamed him if he would have rushed out that door without even a backwards glance, God knows I wanted to, but Edward stayed where he was, just staring at me like I was some figment of his imagination. Finally, one of my students saved me by clearing his throat. I blinked and was instantly aware of my other students sitting around me eager to start the class. The air in the classroom was thick with tension and I chewed on my bottom lip while I consulted the rest of my roster. Edward didn't speak and every time I would glance at him, as I called out the rest of the names, he would still be staring at me, not moving and not breathing.

I had to pretend that it was just an ordinary day in the classroom, though it was far from it. I had to go on with my lessons as planned, I had to act like everything was normal, and I was going to do my best to totally ignore the fact that Edward Cullen, the vampire that I loved, that I'm sure loved me, was staring at me. I turned to the chalkboard and began scribbling notes about the outline they were supposed to be doing for their term paper. My hand writing was bound to look shaky and I cursed the bronze haired boy sitting amongst the other mortal students.

"Alright guys, as you can see outlines for term papers are fairly simple. Give me the sections of your paper, a bit about what your going to talk about, and please don't forget your thesis statement. You're juniors you should know how to write a paper by now but to be sure bring it on up to me before you turn it in and we'll make sure there aren't any problems." I looked around at the sea of blank 'I just woke up fifteen minutes ago' stares and did my best to avoid Edward's never changing stare, I was afraid that if I stared at him too long the urge to smack him across the face would become unbearable and I wasn't sure how my students would react to such a thing. The girl that sat beside Edward was staring at him, looking slightly terrified that he probably hadn't breathed yet, she scooted her desk ever so slightly away from him and I almost laughed.

"Any questions?" I asked, a young boy by the name of Bobby raised his hand,

"Is there anything else we need to turn in?" He asked. I shuffled through my stack of notes, quickly looking for something that would occupy my students' time so that maybe, just maybe, I could sneak away for a moment or so to wrap my head around the situation I found myself in.

"Yes." I lied, I hadn't assigned anything else but I was currently in charge of the classroom and I could, theoretically, make them work on anything I saw fit. "You all should be working on your note cards, I want fifteen done by the time the bell rings." Several groans sounded across the classroom, I rolled my eyes, "Oh come on, I know you've been assigned more than that before. Does everyone remember how to do a note care?" I asked. I was met with blank stares and I couldn't help but notice that Edward still hadn't moved. Creepy little fucker.

I picked up a piece of chalk and turned back to my board.

Edward's POV

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I hadn't moved, I hadn't breathed, and I was fairly certain that the girl net to me suspected I was dead. She wouldn't be too far off but I sure wasn't going to let her know that. The moment I had heard Bella's voice everything that had happened within the course of the last four years flooded back to me. The sound of her laughter in the meadow the night before we left looped over and over in my mind, she had been so happy. Then I had left…I couldn't bare to think of how she had felt after I left. But here she was, in front of me, acting as my teacher (Hmm, not a bad fantasy, Bella in a little skirt…) I mentally scolded myself for that thought, I had obviously been hanging out with Emmett too much. Bella had graduated high school and was now close to graduating college, she was still breath-taxingly beautiful and extremely intelligent. I was so proud to see how she handled herself in front of the class but I couldn't help but feel protective of her as the thoughts of my fellow male students filtered through my mind.

I could have taken off, part of me wanted to. I could have rushed back out to Emmett's Jeep and waited for the end of the day, I could have made my way back to our new house and begged Esme to let me be the "home-schooled" child this time around and, there was no denying it, parted of me longed for me to do so. But the stronger, more persistent side of me wanted to talk to her. I wanted to tell her everything about that night, I wanted to know if she had gotten the note I had left, and, to be quite honest, I just wanted to talk to her. I wanted to talk to her about the weather, about what she had for breakfast, about how her face still blushed in that cute little way when she started to get nervous. I wanted to talk about how I still felt for her, and I wanted to know if she still felt the same way.

She had turned back to the board and any idiot could figure out that she was trying her hardest to ignore me. I needed to get her attention, I wanted to talk to her alone and I didn't want to wait. I had to be crafty, I didn't really feel like standing up and shouting, "Bella! I really need to talk to you about that night I left you after I told you I was a vampire." would be that effective. There was only one was I was going to get Bella to pay attention to me, I was going to have to act like a student. I couldn't believe what I was doing but I quickly disassembled my ink pen anyway. I tore a small bit of notebook paper from a blank page and quickly put in my mouth creating the perfect spitball. I rolled my eyes at my own actions, I was fairly certain that Bella Swan was the only person that could make me stoop this low. I put the spit wad in the empty pen cover and shot it directly at my target. It hit a lot harder than any spitball should have and I'm pretty sure it cracked the board ever so slightly. Bella stopped in the middle of jotting down notes on the board and her small, perfect, mouth fell open. My fellow students turned to stare at me, obviously shocked that the new guy had made such a bold move. I couldn't help but smirk at myself. Bella whirled around and, for a moment, she did look like a terrifying teacher,

"Mr. Cullen I don't know how they did things in your old school." She should have known, she was a student there herself, "But I really don't feel like dealing with that type of behavior. May I speak to you in the hallway please?" She asked. I could tell that she was angry about more than just the spitball.

"Of course Ms. Swan." I said in a very conversational tone. She walked toward the door and I followed. We stopped just outside the view of the door and the ears of my fellow students. She turned to me and, without missing a beat, smacked me clear across the face.

"Ow, dammit!" She swore. I could tell she was upset and I wanted nothing more than to take her into my arms and assure her that it was me, that I was real, that I would explain everything. "Why the hell are you here?" She hissed.

"Bella please, just let me explain, please." I whispered. She shook her head,

"Yes, Edward, please do explain to me where the hell you went? I mean, everything you told me about you and your family, everything we did that night. The way you kissed me. My god Edward, I thought all of that meant something. What happened? Where did you go? You could have called! You could have left a note! Something, anything but there was nothing!" A older woman walked by and looked at Bella like she was insane, "And don't you ever behave like that again in my classroom do you understand me?" She raised her voice a bit to make it appear like she was scolding me for academic reasons. I stared at her for a moment, her cheeks looked like they were burning up, she looked hurt and angry but relieved at the same time. She had every right to be made, she had every right to want answers, and I was determined to give her everything she wanted, but one thing she had said had me confused.

"You never got my note?" I breathed. She stared at me, her eyes relaxing the slightest bit,

"Never." She whispered…

4 years ago

. . . . "Edward come on we have to leave." Emmett shouted up the stairs. I growled in response. Everything that I could possibly need, besides my CD's, was stuffed into two duffel bags that were laying on my bed. We'd buy new clothes, we'd get another piano, all I needed were my CD's (that had already been packed along with Jasper's into a few boxes), my books (that Carlisle had taken with his own), an assortment of knickknacks that were stuffed into the duffel bags, and my journal. My journal detailed all the occurrences of the past couple weeks. Everything that had to do with Bella was housed within the pages of my journal and I held it tightly in my grasp as I finished addressing a letter to Bella that I prayed she would one day find.

"My Bella -

I apologize for the urgency of my departure. If I had it my way I would stay with you but it appears that is not the case. Please do not think that this is, in anyway, my decision. Sometimes, in life, we are forced to do things that we don't want to do in order to keep those we love safe. It is by leaving Forks, and you, behind forever that I am actually protecting your life. There are those in my world that seek to harm vampires that choose not to partake in the consumption of human blood, they also seek to harm those humans that we choose to come in contact with and trust me Bella, they would be very interested in you. Believe me when I say that I care for you deeply, that I love you more than I thought it was possible. In a perfect world we would be together, unfortunately the world in not perfect and we must say our goodbyes now. My family and I are leaving Forks for good, I believe we are going farther North, anywhere to lead the ones that are coming off of your trail. I hope to one day find you again, that the time may come when our eyes will meet across a crowded room and we will run to each other and the world will fall away leaving only you and I together. If this is not possible, if in your lifetime we can find no possible way to meet again, then maybe when my eternity is at it's end and my heart is weighed against the feather I will be waived of my sins and allowed to see you again. For me, that would be heaven.

Live your life Bella, for me, for yourself, for your future.

I love you Isabella. Be safe, use your mind and your wits,

- Edward Cullen."

I sealed the letter and grabbed my bags. I took a final look around my bedroom, I was just starting to get comfortable in Forks, it was finally beginning to feel like home, and I knew my siblings felt the same. I sighed and flipped off the light. Running down the stairs I heard the familiar sound of Alice's voice,

"Edward!" She called, obviously mid-yell before she saw me coming down the stairs, "Oh, there you are. Come on we have to get going. Edward, I'm so sorry…" She trailed off and I knew by the expression on her face that she would have been in tears if she were human,

"Come on Alice, let's get going." I told her. Carlisle was still finishing up grabbing random objects that held special sentimental value to our family and I stopped for a moment to wait for him,

"Go ahead son, I'll be there in a moment." He said not looking up from a box. I nodded and grabbed a roll of tape from the table. I followed Alice out to the cars and stuck my letter to the front door.

"Edward, can you help me in the garage please?" Esme called from our large garage. I sighed, handed my stuff to my sister, and jogged around the corner of the house.

Carlisle's POV

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I finally finished packing Esme's trinkets and taped up the box. It was a difficult thing, leaving Forks, more difficult than it typically was to relocate our family. The kids were just starting to get settled, they were even making friends with some of their fellow students…and then there was Edward. Edward who I had hoped, throughout his entire existence, would find someone that made him happy. He had finally achieved that, and we were now forced to rip that away from him. Bella could never know why we left, she could never know where we disappeared to, it was all too risky.

I hoisted the box onto my shoulder and flipped off the rest of the lights in our beautiful home. Maybe, one day, in a hundred years or so we could return to Forks. I opened the front door and noticed something taped there, a note of some sort.

"Bella Swan" it read on the front. I sighed, she could never, never, know what was going on.

"I'm so sorry Edward." I whispered as I ripped the letter from the door. I stuck into my pocket and prayed Edward wasn't currently reading my thoughts. I packed the car and pulled it around to the garage to pick up Esme and Edward. I nodded to Edward to follow me in his Volvo and Emmet would follow him in his Jeep and Rosalie in her BMW. Then, we were off, once again, to find the place we would call 'home'.