Chapter 1

Bella was crying in her bed. She had done this many times since she came to Forks, but this felt different for some reason. She was still completely unaware of the little change that had occurred only minutes before. Confused and overwhelmed, she had no idea what had ever possessed her to want to marry Edward, even if he hadn't been a vampire. Her cries grew louder as her eyes fall upon a small charm in the shape of a heart on her bracelet.

She tore it off and sent it flying across the room just as her father walked in. His eyes widened in absolute shock at her misery before his expression smoothed into one of understanding.

"Is this about Edward?" he asked, his voice filled with a hope that would have annoyed Bella mere hours before.

Barely looking up, she sniffled and nodded. She couldn't understand how her world had turned itself upside down so quickly, but what she really couldn't understand was how she'd gotten into this mess.

"It's okay," Charlie soothed, "it's a shame, but you can get out of this. You don't have to marry him," he finished, smugness poorly hidden in his voice.

As Bella opened her mouth to answer, the phone rang.

"I'll be right back," said her father, disappearing for a moment. A strange look on his face, he returned a few moments later. "It's Alice. She wants to talk to you."

Bella stumbled out of her room, avoiding Charlie's questioning look.

Did she see something? Of course, she would have seen me. Was I about to call off the wedding? I'm still going to do that, she decided. Does she really think one phone call can change everything back to the way it was?

"Hello?" she whispered, annoyed a little at the uncertainty in her voice. Just for once, she had to make a decision and stand by it. She wasn't going to marry Edward.

"Bella, what are you doing? Your future keeps changing. I had to hurry to keep Edward from reading my mind and seeing you call off the wedding! You couldn't have picked a worse time to get cold feet. If you try and call it off, he'll think you changed your mind about him and he'll-

"Alice, let me stop you right there. I'm not marrying Edward, and I am changing my mind about him. Put him on the phone, I need to talk to him," Bella said, silently cheering herself on for managing to say it.

"Bella, I'm not putting him on the phone. And I'm definitely not telling him about this. I'll be there in five minutes. Get Charlie out of your room, and we can work this out."

"Alice, I already-" Bella cut herself off as Alice hung up. Wiping her tears, she made her way back up to her room.

"I'm okay, Dad. I just need to be alone." Her skills in lying did not seem to have improved; even to her own ears her words sounded forced. Luckily, her father seemed to have no problems with leaving her to be with her thoughts in her dark little room.

She had barely sat down on the edge of her bed when she heard a soft knock on her window. Shaking, she opened it.

"That was about two minutes. You said five," she sighed, aware that there was no reasoning with Alice. But, to her shock, the figure that climbed through her window was not Alice.

It was Edward.

"Bella, is this about Jacob? I want you to know that I want you to be as happy as you can be, and if that is with him, then so be it. But first, please hear me out. I-

"I made up my mind, Edward. And sneaking into my bedroom in the middle of the night is pretty creepy, just so you know. I'm sorry things didn't work out," she finished. After a few moments, she started to wonder why he was still there.

"So it is Jacob? I never should have left. If I had known then that it would cause you to leave me for a dog, it would never have crossed my mind to leave you for so much as a second. I would have stood by your side, and never left for as long as I lived-

"I didn't even think it was possible for you to be a more insanely possessive weirdo, but you just did it," Bella muttered. "Sorry for interrupting again."

Edward shook his head in disbelief. "You leave me for a werewolf, but you apologize for interrupting me?"

"I'm not leaving you for Jacob; I'm just leaving you. Don't try and make this about him. This is about you being a vampire that wants to suck my blood. And it's about you being this really annoying, brooding drama queen," she snapped, wondering if that was a bit harsh, even if it was true.

"Bella, what's changed? I thought you loved me."

"I don't know. I think I stopped being insane or something. You're just so wrong for me." After a moment's hesitation, she added "I think you should go."

"Goodbye, Bella. I will always be waiting in the wings. You may never leave Jacob, but he will be forced to leave you when he imprints. I will love you forever. At least this way, you may remain human and never be forced to sacrifice your soul for-

"I get it, please just leave already. And what part of 'this isn't about Jacob' is confusing you?" she groaned. She hadn't meant to interrupt him again, but there were only so many monologues she could put up with in a night.

"Farewell, my love," Edward breathed as he leaped out the window.