She heard the bell ring and it knocked her out of her thoughts. Hurriedly she started throwing books into her bag. She heard a loud cough come from behind her. Turning around, she was face to face with none other than Mike Newton.
Mike spoke first, "Hey, Bella" he said nervously, smiling broadly and continued, "Umm I was wondering if maybe, you know…... well I was wondering if you would like to go to the beach with me and my buddies? The one near La Push?" Bella, stared at him, not wanting to make him feel bad, but not sure how to respond. She wanted to just go home and get in bed and try not to cry over Edward. Mike saw she wasn't going to say anything, but continued non-the-less. "But it is not on The Rez, exactly, see it's the old beach near my house. I am having a party there and I was just umm wondering if you would come? It would be fun!" Not really sure what to say, She kind of didn't have an excuse not to go. Edward was gone, and Charlie wasn't going to be home, and she knew the dangers of being home by herself. She remembered her promise to Charlie and to herself and simply nodded and said "I guess." Mike looked very excited as if he was congratulating himself for getting Bella to go. He said "Oh, that's great Bella. I will just pick you up at 8pm." Bella quickly spoke up afraid to be trapped in car with Mike, afraid of the questions and the constant chatter of her friends, but most importantly she wanted a way back. A way to go away when the crowd became too much. She said "Oh really Mike, that's not necessary, I will just drive myself. My dad is the Sherriff and I wouldn't want to cause him worry if I didn't make it back at a certain time. I'm sure it's out of your way anyway. I will just meet you there." Mike lost part of his smile, disappointed. Somehow, she just knew he would tell everyone later that she agreed to go with him, like a date even. Mike started again, "Oh, Okay no big deal. Just be at the beach by 8:30pm, okay?" He started to back up and walk towards the door. Bella nodded again and said "Sure, no problem."
Leaving school, walking to her truck, Bella noticed that the sun was quickly fading. Strangely she couldn't wait for a cloudy afternoon. Unfortunately, Mike wouldn't be as pleased as she was about the clouds. Honestly, Bella wasn't thinking about Mike. Instead, her thoughts drifted to Edward and how they would have enjoyed this weather together. She missed Alice and Jasper and of course Carlisle and Esme. Even Emmett and Rosalie. Mostly, she missed Edward. So much of her life lately had been spent missing him. And the sun fading behind the clouds made her ache for him more.
Bella unlocked her truck and got in. She started to pull out of the parking lot, but stopped braking hard on the pedal. She blinked slowly, afraid she imagined it. There, on her windshield was a note, folded in half, but obviously old paper, like it was parchment from a century ago. Breathing in, sucking air into her lungs, she quickly let her breath go. She knew whom it was from. She knew. She could smell the old parchment from inside her cab. It smelled like pine and a faint scent of vanilla. She turned her head to the left and to the right, looking back and forth in her mirrors and windows. She saw no one. Not a soul within 50 yards of her truck. Most of the students had left the parking lot. Only a few lingered talking excitedly to each other about a game, or school, or the upcoming weekend. She looked around again, seeing no one, Bella got back out of the truck and took the note from the windshield wiper. Just as she picked it up, Bella dropped the paper, watching it fall on the hood of her truck. Her hands were stone cold, and freezing. She was unable to move them, even if she wanted. There, on the small sheet of paper, was beautiful calligraphy Please be safe, E hand-written by a person she thought never to see or hear from again.
Bella stood frozen in time, as if paralyzed. All her thoughts started flooding her senses. She was not making sense of this. It's as if he were tangible, within her grasp. She spun around in place, several times, taking in all the surroundings. Looking desperately for a shiny Volvo or a red Camaro or even a sleek black Ferrari. Nothing. No one in sight. Turning to the small note, she whispered softly, Edward. It's not possible. It can't be! Too shocked to move, she stood there. Shaking like a leaf from the cold and the shock, she cried, first small tears, drizzling down her cheeks then floods of tears blurring her vision. She fell against the side of the truck, sinking to the cold ground. She trembled with emotion.
All she had wanted for weeks now was to see that glorious face again. To feel his hands on her skin and to feel his breath on her neck, to feel something remotely close to him. The need was too much. She stood up, legs shaking and opened the truck door. She sank down in the seat, worn out and tired from crying. She sat for a while alone in the truck, unable to drive. She needed to breathe, to remind herself that she was still alive. That she needed to make it back home. She couldn't help but let it all sink in. He was here. Here in Forks. She had dealt with the loss of him for months now. It was the loss of him that hurt her most. As if he took a part of her soul with him. She sighed inwardly, just now getting to the point where she could breathe again. She remembered the party at the beach and she still had the note gripped in her fingers tightly. She slowly unfurled them and let the note slide between her fingers. She grabbed it and folded it and put it in her pocket. She wanted to look at it again later, in private.
Bella drove home, parked her truck, and kept it running. She ran inside, switched her wool sweater for a camisole, and a t-shirt thrown over it. She was running late for the party. Bella arrived at the beach an hour later. The party had already started but not many were there. The girls from school, Angela and Jessica, walked up to Bella. Jessica greeted her with a vibrant smile of course and said "Hey Bella, glad you could make it" The other girls stood mumbling something similar like, "Hey Bella" or hi or something. Bella could tell they weren't sure what to say. Following the girls back to the fire and near their vehicles, she joined into the circle around the fire and had smore's and laughed as Mike and Eric both snorted marshmallows in their noses. For a while they were just hanging out and having fun. And surprisingly it felt sort of nice to not be brooding, or constantly depressed over Edward. Bella realized she may owe them all an apology, but thankfully no one seemed to care to put her on the spot just yet or to ruin the fun. As it neared Midnight, the guys started telling ghost stories. Slightly tired, Bella, yawned, stood up and made her excuses to leave. Wavinggoodbye to the girls, and hugging them all, Bella started to walk away. Mike stood and followed her, saying, "Bella, if you want I will walk you to your truck, it's no big deal." Thanking him politely, Bella shook her head and said "No, Mike, that's okay. It's only a short walk and a 5 minute drive, really I'm okay. You stay and have a good time." Turning she started to walk the short distance to her truck, hearing the faint whispers and quiet laughter of her friends near the beach.
After about five minutes of walking, Bella neared the truck. It was barely visible in the pitch black, but as she adjusted to the darkness (only tripping three times), she noticed the stillness of the air. There were no crickets chirping, no owls hooting, no faint hooves running on the wet grass, nothing. Feeling something in the air, she sensed there was more in the darkness then what she could see. She rushed the last few steps to the truck, locking the door when she got in. She just sat there for a minute, trying to breathe quietly and evenly, so as not to alert unusually sensitive ears. Sitting there for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, Bella started to move and slowly inserted the key into the ignition. Maybe it was my imagination. There is no way a vampire would be here, I mean not after all that has happened. And certainly Edward wouldn't come back with the Cullens. Bella shook herself out of the slight panic and turned the truck on. She was just about to turn her lights on when she saw a figure standing in front of her truck, solid and still. She flipped her lights on and screamed.
All she could think was that she was imagining him again, wishing him into existence. I am dreaming, of course. But he looks so real… She closed her eyes, blinking back the anxious feeling and swallowing the hard knot in her throat to the pit of her stomach, she reopened them. Edward was still standing there.
He was in front of my truck, dressed in black leather pants, black boots, and a gray turtleneck that hugged his body tightly. Staring at him, for lack of an ability to move, she noticed his eyes were gold with red hues in them. He must have been hunting recently. Realizing, by this, that he was actually real, not a ghost or a dream, she wondered why he was actually in Forks. He didn't love her. Was he out of guilt? She didn't think she could suffer feeling the loss again when he disappeared and left her again. Neither Edward nor Bella made a move to do anything. Bella gazed, searching and looking over each muscle and line on his hard body, glancing back up into his eyes, then moving her eyes over him again. She could see the faint movement of his eyes, as if he were following her movements.
Bella was warm, getting warmer she realized, heat blasting from the heater on her skin. Suddenly she had the urge to turn it off. As if being warm was torture to her body. She breathed a sigh out, knitting her eyebrows together, as if she felt pain from the heat. Edward, inched slowly toward her moving forward only inches, anxious, as if her pain caused him suffering. Still staring at him, Bella began to think, and without pause, she slowly reached for the handle and opened the driver side door. Never taking her eyes off of him, Bella slid to the passenger side of the truck slowly, buckled herself in and waited.