A/N: Hey there! So first of all, I have to comment on the recent deaths. Sadly, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson have died. It's very sad. But you know what they say…everything comes in threes. My prayers go out to their families.

Second, I want to thank everyone for the reviews and alerts I received for this story. It means so much. Thank you very much!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or its characters! I just like to play around with them!


It's the first day of school. Somehow, James talked the counselors into letting him have almost every class with me. The only class he's not in with me is Biology. And that's only because it was already full. He has some random elective that period instead. It's the only time of the day that I will be able to relax some.

"Bells! James is here!" Charlie, my dad shouted up the stairs. I took one last look in the full length mirror in my room, making sure my clothes were what James called acceptable. My dark jeans and black turtleneck sweater showed almost no skin except my hands and face. James didn't like when my stomach showed even an inch, especially since that was where most of the bruises were. And the long sleeves covered the hand print bruises where he would grab me and drag me off. I wore my hair down constantly; James says he liked it down. Personally, I think it's just because it helps hide bruises from the back of my neck where he's grabbed me before.

I've become an expert at covering up bruises. It was rare that I ever had any bruises people could see. Every once in a while, when James would be so livid that he didn't care, I would get slapped or punched in the face. The local drugstore carries this foundation and powder that covers up bruises perfectly. And if anyone ever did see any, I've also become an expert liar. I'm great at coming up with excuses at the last minute. And it helps that I'm super clumsy.

"Have a good first day of school Bells," Charlie said from the kitchen as I left the house. I stepped outside our house to see James waiting in his truck. I plastered a smile on my face to make him happy. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my neighbor, Edward Cullen, leaving his house for school too. James didn't like Edward very much for reasons I didn't understand. Yet, he liked Edward's friends, Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett.

"Hi babe!" I cheered, jumping into his truck.

"What took you so long? You know I don't like to be kept waiting!" he said, reversing out of my driveway and heading to school.

"I'm sorry. I had to make Charlie breakfast. It won't happen again," I said quietly, looking at the floor. The rest of the car ride to school was silent. I was almost as scared of the silence as I was when he started yelling.

"It better not. Okay, now listen, today is the start of our junior year. Don't fuck it up for me, got it?" he asked, parking in the student parking lot of Forks High School. He got out of the truck before I could say anything, which was probably better. The less I talk, the less I get hit.

"James! Bella! You ready to be upperclassmen?" I heard Mike Newton shout as we walked up to our group of friends. Mike was leaning against his old Honda with his arm around Jessica. I guess they made up and got back together. Ben and Angela were there, as well as Lauren and Jake and his new girlfriend Leah. A few cars down I saw Edward Cullen stepping out of his car to greet his friends, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie.

"Mike, shut the hell up. You sound like a retard!" James laughed, playing the role of the most popular guy in school. He played it well. No one knew a thing. Except me. And I have the marks to prove it.

"Hey Bella!" Angela greeted, hugging me from the side. I flinched when her arms grazed against the large bruise on my side and removed myself from the hug. She stopped and looked at me in concern.

"You okay Bell?" she asked quietly. James heard her and stopped talking to Mike to look at me. I saw the look in his eyes and turned on the clumsy act. Looking back at Angela, I saw Edward Cullen over her shoulder. He caught my gaze for half a second, long enough to nod once, so quickly that no one would see it. I nodded one time back at him to let him know without words that I was okay. No one knew we had ever even talked, let alone were very close friends. Edward has had suspicions about my bruises and injuries before but I've always told him dumb lies to make him believe me. Sometimes I wonder if he still believes me. I know he sees me jump every time there is a male around me. And I've seen the way he watches James and I from the corner of my eye. I'm pretty sure he knows the truth but is too scared to do anything about it, just like I am.

"Yeah, it's nothing. You know me; I fell out of my bed again last night. Bad dream," I said, faking a laugh. Everyone but Angela joined in. I had a feeling she wasn't going to let this go.

"Are you sure? Let me see," she replied, her hands going to the hem of my sweater. Before she could pull my sweater up and see the bruise, James was at my side.

"Ang, she's fine. You know how clumsy the girl is!" he laughed, wrapping one arm around my waist and guiding me into the school. I could hardly breathe with his arm wrapped around me where the bruise was.

"James, it hurts, please let go," I managed to get out in between ragged breaths. He held on tighter then, directing me to a rarely used hallway by the art room. Making sure no one was around, since there was still twenty minutes until school started, he grabbed my arm and threw me against the lockers. I tried to stay upright but lost my balance and fell to the floor.

"That was way too close Bella. You better straighten up or there will be hell to pay!" he threatened, leaning down and pointing his finger in my face as he talked. I just shook my head as a few tears escaped my eyes.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." I whispered, both arms wrapped around my middle, hoping he wouldn't kick me while I was down like he usually did.

"Good, make sure it doesn't. I'm going back outside. Go to the bathroom and clean yourself up!" he ordered, kissing my lips and walking away. I just stayed on the ground for a moment, trying to catch my breath.

"Bella?" I heard a voice whisper from above me. Quickly wiping the tears from my face, I looked up to see Alice Brandon and Rosalie Hale standing there. I faked a smile as I stood up, ignoring the growing pain in my side.

"What were you doing on the floor?" Rosalie asked.

"Oh, I, um, I fell," I lied, looking down se they couldn't see the tears forming again.

"Oh, silly Bella! You're too clumsy!" Alice giggled as they continued on their way. I checked my watch, realizing that I had ten minutes to splash water on my face and fix my makeup and make it to English class, my first class of the day. James hates when I'm late to class. Sprinting to the bathroom by the art room, I quickly fixed my makeup, dabbing more foundation and powder to my face and ran, literally ran, to class on the opposite end of campus. I barely made it in time, walking into class just as the bell rang.

********

The rest of the day went by as peacefully as it can for me. I didn't make James angry again so it wasn't too bad. The last period of the day was biology. James walked me to the class, kissed me quickly, and walked off to his next class. I walked into the room and couldn't help but notice that the only people I knew in this class were Jasper Whitlock and Edward Cullen. I took a seat at one of the lab tables behind where Jasper and Edward were talking. When the teacher came in, Edward decided to sit by me instead of with Jasper.

"Why'd you sit here?" I whispered to him. He didn't even look over at me, just whispered back.

"Jasper sucks at biology. I figured you'd be pretty good at it. Maybe we can pass this class. Besides, Jazz has a tendency to ruin a lot of things he touches," he laughed quietly. I smiled back at him, picturing Jasper trying to finish a lab correctly.

"Izzy, are you okay?" he asked me as the teacher passed out a few worksheets we had to finish by the end of the period. I just nodded my head, writing my name at the top of the first page.

"Don't lie to me Iz. I know you too well."

"Edward, I'm fine. Just drop it," I said quietly as I dropped my pen on the floor.

"Damn it," I leaned down to grab it from the floor, not realizing my sweater rose a tad bit on the side, giving Edward a full view of my bruises.

"Izzy!" he shouted in a whisper as he saw them. I straightened up as quickly as I could and pulled my sweater down.

"Izzy, you're not okay. How the hell did you get those bruises? And don't feed me some bullshit lie either!" he demanded, his eyes becoming concerned as he looked at me.

"It was nothing okay? I fell out of bed last night, no big deal," I swore.

"Don't think I'm gonna let this go Iz," he warned me, turning away from me to finish his work. He didn't say another word about it all class period. When the bell rang I grabbed my backpack and walked out of the class without even saying goodbye to him. I had to keep it that way. If James ever found out that we were friends, I don't even know what he would do to me or Edward. I left the building and went to James' truck to wait for him like I always did. After about five minutes he finally showed.

"Look, Bells, I'm going to work out with Mike and Jake. So you're gonna have to walk home today," he said, throwing his backpack in the cab of the truck before locking it back up. I'm guessing they were working out in the school's weight room.

"Are you kidding? James, it's freezing!" I whined, mentally kicking myself for it as the words came out.

"Don't talk back to me Bella. Now go home, I'll call you when I get home and you better answer!" he told me as he walked back to the school.

********

Later that night:

So yeah, I walked home. Thankfully my dad wasn't home yet so I didn't have to explain to him why I was walking home. After two hours of cleaning the house and catching up on some reading, I realized Charlie would be home soon so I made my way into the kitchen to get dinner started. I decided to make the chicken spaghetti he likes so much. As the pasta started boiling in the pot and the chicken was cooking on the stove, he walked in.

"Hey Bells! How was the first day of school?" he asked, hanging up his jacket and shoulder holster.

"Okay I guess. My classes don't seem bad," I said, trying to keep James out of the conversation as long as possible. But with my dad, James' biggest fan, it was hard to.

"And James? Did he get good classes too?"

"Actually, we have all but one class together," I commented, rolling my eyes since my back was turned to Charlie.

"Really? Well that's nice," he said, walking into the living room to watch some TV while I cooked.

After dinner was over and the dishes were clean, dried, and put away, I told Charlie goodnight and climbed the stairs to my room. James kept his promise, calling at promptly nine pm, just like every other night. I went through the conversation with a fake smile plastered on my face. Really I didn't even talk much. It was a twenty minute phone call about his workout time with Jake and Mike. Before he hung up, he always said the same thing.

"Bells, you know I love you right? I only do the things I do to make you understand. No one can ever love you the way I do. Don't forget that," he said before hanging up. I hung up my phone, laid down in my bed, and cried. I'm sure if anyone knew what James did to me they would ask me why I don't just break up with him. I'll tell you why. It's really a very simple reason.

He told me once that if I ever told anyone what he did, or if I ever broke up with him, that he would kill me. He said that if he can't have me, no one can. He said that I don't deserve anything anyone else could give me. He said I only deserve what he can offer me.

That was right before he cracked two of my ribs. That was the night he gave me my first black eye. After he hit me and kicked me a few times, he gently picked me up and carried me into the bathroom right next to his room and helped me wash my face. There was blood running from my nose and he carefully washed it away. Then he said the words that made my skin crawl just thinking about them.

"Tell anyone the truth Bella and I'll kill you. I've got too much to lose." But that time, he added a new one.

"Besides, you should have known better than to interrupt me when I'm watching the game," he said very calmly.

So now do you understand? I can't ever escape him.