I do not own the characters…they are owned by Stephanie Meyer.

-2 weeks later-

Bella's time in Phoenix had flown by. She had forgotten what a child her mother could be. Renee had tried to get Bella to act more like a girl, but Bella refused. She would rather discuss baseball with her stepfather, Phil, than learn how to apply eyeliner. The only damper in Bella's vacation was that she hadn't heard once from Edward. She kept thinking about that moment of Edward looking into her eyes before he was distracted by that girl.

The girl. Bella still had no idea of who she was. The couple of times she had spoken to Charlie had offered no explanations. Bella would just have to wait until she got home. After leaving a sobbing Renee in Phoenix, Bella got on the plane home to hopefully find same answers.

A few hours later the plane had landed in Seattle and Bella was looking around for her welcome party. She soon saw Charlie, looking bewildered by the sheer amount of people surrounding him. Bella quickly grabbed her luggage and went to relieve him. As she approached Charlie, she realized that Edward wasn't there to greet her like usual.

"Where's Edward? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, lets just get out of here," said Charlie. "Edward was busy today and couldn't make it."

Bella could tell there was something Charlie wasn't telling her, but decided to let it slide. She knew Edward was preparing for their junior year of high school and he was probably freaking out about college already. Everyone knew he wanted to go to Yale and nothing could stop him from achieving that goal.

After four hours of virtual silence, Bella and Charlie finally arrived home. Even though the time was closing in on 11, Bella found herself knocking on Edward's door, just to see his face. A bleary-eyed Esme answered the door.

"What are you—Bella! What are you doing here? How are you? Come in, come in!"

Bella found herself immediately ushered inside and under direct examination by Esme. Since her own mother had run off with Phil eight years ago, Esme had become a mother-figure in Bella's life. After having had a few cookies and answered Esme's questions, Bella got to the reason for why she was there.

"Where is Edward? He knew I was coming home today but I have yet to see him. Is he here?"

Esme sighed. "He's not here. If it's like any other night this week he's probably out with Tanya again."

"Who's Tanya? I've never heard of her."

"She arrived around the time you left for Phoenix. She's the granddaughter of Carmen and Eleazar Denali. Tanya's parents hadn't spoken to the Denalis for years. Apparently they became involved in drugs and were sent to prison. Tanya and her two younger sisters were sent to live with their grandparents until the parents are released from prison."

Bella took this information and things began to click into place. Tanya was obviously the girl she and Edward had seen the night before Bella left. Charlie knew that Edward had been with Tanya all week and didn't tell her. Bella felt like an idiot, thinking things were going to change between them.

"I'm sorry Esme, but I have to go. I'm a little tired and need to catch up on my sleep before school starts on Monday. Don't tell Edward I stopped over tonight."

Bella got up to leave, determined that no tears would show in her eyes. She opened the front door and came to face with Edward clinging to a strawberry-blonde.

"Hey Bells. How was your trip?"