Chapter 1

(In the Arms of the Angel – Sarah McLaughlin)

I returned to reality as Alice snapped her fingers saying, "Earth to Bella. Come on, what happened? Did he hurt you again? I'm going to break his neck!" Her face started to turn red with fury.

"No, he didn't have the time to. He just acted like nothing happened by asking how I was holding up and that he hopes mom gets well. I swear his brain isn't functioning too well. Did he forget what he did to me or was it nothing to him? I still have a bump on my head from that day!" My hand automatically went to the back of my head to feel the bump. Although I didn't need physical proof as it would always be a memory, but hopefully someday it'll stop haunting me.

As I reached over to give Alice the cold green tea I got her at the canteen, I saw her face lighten up a bit. "Hey thanks, Bella. I've been meaning to try this out but I haven't had the chance to. At least, not until now." She held the bottle up to me to cheer and said "To forgetting about jocks, jerks, bitches and so on!" I brought my bottle to hers and nodded my head in reply. "Mmm, this is really good, thanks!" I knew she'd love it.

"It's the least I could do for you helping me out here. Enough about me, how are things at school? I see you're not stuck with too much homework at least. Do you even get homework with those kinds of classes?" I gave her a little smirk with that comment, as for her, anything in that subject wouldn't be homework. I mean, she always carries a notebook filled with different clothing designs. She's been trying to create me a personal line of clothing but it's not in my interest since it doesn't look comfortable. I prefer the comfortable stuff. If she'd design it in that line of fashion by all means...

"Ha ha, very funny. To answer to your question, yes we do have homework. Most of it is creating patterns for a piece of clothes, figuring out what kind of seams are needed for them and so on. Most of that stuff is done in class though so we don't have much to bring home unless we're behind." It's hard not to laugh at her when she gets irritated since she reminds me of a fairy with her petite figure and pixie hair but that just makes me love her more.

"Okay that was uncalled for, I'm sorry, I'm not thinking straight since I'm so tired. This is your last semester right? I know it would have been mine if I wouldn't have dropped out." I wanted to graduate but I knew my mom needed me after she'd received her results telling her she had cancer. I had dropped out of college and moved to Jacksonville to take care of her while Phil was out of town.

I noticed Alice slump her shoulders as she looked over at me with sad eyes. "Bella I know this must be hard for you but you need to get some sleep girl, you're starting to look like a vampire. You're just missing the teeth!" Both of us started to giggle at that comment. "I think it's time you called your father to come and help you out here or is Phil coming soon?"

"I spoke to Phil earlier. He's supposed to be here next week. I find it so awkward when he's in town though. I know it's his apartment too but it's just weird since mom's here now." I looked over at her and noticed her start to move slowly. "Mom? Are you okay? Do you need something?" I started to wonder when the nurse was here last. "Alice what time did the nurse come to check on my mom?" I gave her a worried look wondering if they'd forgotten about her.

"Relax Bella, I'm fine." Her voice sounded rough but she actually looked well rested and much better than earlier today.

I look at Alice with a questioning look and asked, "Alice, has Angela taken her shift yet?"

"Yes she came by after you left and returned a few times to check on her, why?" She looked at me curiously wondering what was going on in my head. Although sometimes I swear she could read my mind!

That's when it clicked. "Have you noticed that she feels better in the evening than during the day?" Wow, I can't believe I'm only realizing this now. I guess I'm in desperate need of sleep since my brain isn't functioning like it should. All those days I could have prevented her from harming my mother. "I knew it..."

"Bella what are you talking about sweetheart?" My mother looked at me with confusion in her eyes as she had no clue about the conflict between Ursula and I.

"I have a pretty good feeling she's not doing her job right! I really do hope Carlisle can find someone to replace her." Alice caught on right away and nodded her head realizing who I was talking about, but my mom still had no clue.

She tried to clear her throat before talking to me. "Bella, are you talking about Angela? I like her and I find she's doing a great job! I'm in no pain right now and I feel kind of good considering everything. Why would you want her replaced?" She tilted her head and looked at me with a confused look.

I got up to give her some water and answered her question. "No, it's not about Angela. It's actually about Jessica. I don't like the way she's treating you and I think there's something she's not doing right, especially since you feel better when Angela's here. I've already asked Carlisle if he could find someone to replace her."

She looked at me with shock in her eyes. "Bella why would you do that? What has she done for you to hate her so much? Is it because of some stupid fight you two had in high school?" I never really told her what happened between the two of us after the incident with Mike. I guess now's the time.

"Mom, remember what happened between Mike and I at Forks High?" She nodded at me with guilt and sadness in her eyes. Was she still blaming herself?

"How could I forget Bella, I'm so sorry. I should have never made you move to your Dad's and change school's. It's all my fault. If I would have been a good mother and stayed home with you it would have never happened." I saw her eyes start to fill with tears just waiting to be released with the blink of her eyelids. I reached out to hug her softly, being careful not to hurt her and we both started to cry as Alice handed over the box of tissues.

I tried to get a hold of myself and put my hands on her shoulders while looking in her eyes. "You can't...blame yourself...for this." I took a deep breath which helped calm me down. "It was my idea to move to Dad's and you had a right to want to go on the road with Phil. You'd always stayed at home with me and I wanted you to have the privilege to go out and enjoy yourself." I looked over at Alice and I could tell she felt a little guilty too. Why?

"I'm sorry too Bella. I had a feeling something was going to happen. I should have warned you to stay away from him..." Tears started to fill her eyes and as she looked up at me they started to stream down her cheeks. "I should have been there with you that day...instead of deciding to...be a rebel and skip school."

I passed a few tissues around and grabbed one for myself to blow my nose. "Okay, both of you stop this right now!" They both stopped blowing their noses and looked at me in shock to the tone of my voice. Good! "Neither of you have any right to feel guilty for what happened as it was Mike that did this to me and not you." I looked at both of them one at a time making sure I was making myself clear. I could see them loosen up once the weight started lifting off their shoulders and they both nodded their heads at me and took a deep breath and finished blowing their noses.

"Well what does she have to do with Mike anyways? Wasn't she your best friend?" I looked at my mom and she noticed the pain in my eyes as she reached over and cupped my cheek with the palm of her hand. "Sweetheart, what happened between the two of you for you to hate her so much?" I could feel a few tears trickle down my cheeks and Alice wiped them off with her hands because she knew what I was about to say.

"She never believed me Mom. She thought I was making things up because I was jealous. I never told her that he 'asked' me, or whatever you call it, to prom because I knew she liked him too much. Plus I had told her to ask him, but she wouldn't listen to me. She took his side over mine." I started to sob as my mom reached out for me to cry on her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Bella. Why didn't you tell me any of this?" I started to feel her hands brush my hair back as she always did when I was younger to calm me down. It made me realize then that any day now I would lose her soothing hands, her calming words, I would lose her. So I held on to her tighter and let it out while I was still in her arms, not wanting it to end.

I had to pull myself together before she caught on that I wasn't crying about Jessica anymore. "I just wanted to forget about it and put it in the past. Apart from Mike, she was the other reason I wanted to move back with you. I felt bad for making you have to move back home because of me, but it was too hard seeing them everyday." I pulled away from my mom and noticed Angela peeking her head in and then turning away not wanting to ruin our moment, how sweet of her. Not like Ursula, she would have just barged in and pushed me aside.

She cupped my face with her hands and kissed both of my wet cheeks. "Don't worry about it Bella, it wasn't for very long and you're never a burden, sweetie. I was actually happy you came back to me then, even if it was just for a few months, I really missed you. After you left for college it gave me the opportunity to go back with Phil anyways." I could see a sparkle in her eyes when she said his name. She really does love him.

As my mom released my face, I turned around to discover Alice starting to grab her things. "I'm sorry Bella but I have to go. It's 10pm and I have an early class in the morning. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon though." My mom and I kissed and hugged her good-bye before she left.

Angela must have noticed her leave as she stepped in to check-up on my mom. "Hey Bella, I hope I'm not interrupting anything but it's time for the routine check-up. You look really tired girl, you should get some sleep." I looked at her and shrugged my shoulders. Her look indicated that she understood and she checked my mom's pulse, looked at the IV pouch, the infusion pump and her catheter. "I have to go and get some more medication and another pouch for the IV as this one's getting empty. How's the pain?" My mom told her she was okay for now and would like to stay up for a little bit longer to talk to me. "I won't give you any medication now but I'll go get the pouch for the IV. I'll be right back Renee."

As she stepped out of the room I pulled the chair closer to her bedside and held her hand. "Mom, Phil called me today." She smiled as I said his name. "He told me he misses you and he'll be in town next week." She looked like she was about to jump up and down. It was kind of funny but I didn't want to laugh at her.

Before my mom could say anything else to me Angela stepped back in with the pouch for the IV. "Okay, I'll give you two an hour to talk, even though I'm not supposed to as curfew is at 10:30pm but it says in your file that you've been sleeping all day so I'll let this pass. Again, I'll be back in an hour to give you your medication for the night." She stepped out of the room with a smile on her face. I was so glad she was the nurse on evening shifts. Why weren't we best friends in high school? Even to this day she understands me better than Jessica ever did.

My mom and I ended up talking for the next hour about Phil. The hour went by so fast it seemed like it had only been ten minutes since Angela had left the room, but she was already back with my mom's medication for the night. That meant she'd be asleep soon so I said good-night to her and pulled my chair back giving her some space. I leaned back to relax asking myself if I should go home and get some sleep since my mom was feeling better. Deciding to go home to try to get some sleep as my body felt tense and sore, I opened my eyes to a brighter room. I rubbed my eyes to help adjust to the sudden change of light and noticed a pair of emerald eyes looking at me from across the room...

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