This bit was really hard to write, and I think it doesn't live up to any of your expectations, because it definitely doesn't live up to mine.

I love all the reviews guys. You really rock! It's too bad I can't respond to the anonymous.

Anyway, here's the last chapter that I keep quite close to the book. From now on the story bends, and I just hope it doesn't snap.

Okay, okay, I'm stopping talking right... now, I mean now, I mean.. now.

Oh just read it.

3. The End

I woke up in the morning, a feeling of dread filling me. I knew I'd had bad dreams, but I couldn't remember them, put words to them. All I knew was there was something I really needed to stop, yet at the same time felt as if that was impossible.

I walked drowsily to the bathroom, and on attempting to wash my face I found my hand ached. I saw the bandage, and it all came back. I walked away from the basin; my back collided with the towel rack. I clutched at it waiting until my legs muscles stopped trembling.

I took one, two, three... ten deep breaths. By then I was calm, and the fierce determination from last night was back, more forceful now. I stood straight, squared my shoulders and got myself ready for school, focusing on my appearance. I tried to make myself look beautiful, tried, but the effect wasn't complete with my angry eyes, my fake smile.

I stared into the mirror for a good 20 minutes, until my eyes showed the unwavering love I'd felt for Edward on birthday. I practiced until my smile was smooth, and not stiff around the edges. It looked real, genuine; after all, I'd been doing it for years before I came here.

I didn't bother with breakfast. I just grabbed my school nag and hopped into my trunk, thoughts on what I could do at school, how I could possibly change Edward's mind without giving away that I knew what he was going to do.

Or could I tell him I knew? Was it time I introduced him to Alexis?

No, something screamed in my head, I couldn't even think about what I would tell him as the voice kept countering it. Not just that little voice told me not to, my muscles locked at the thought, my instincts telling me no in the strongest way possible, stronger than I thought would be normal.

I didn't think about that further as I had arrived at school. Edward was there, looking stiff and distant. I smiled my most in love smile - though I felt like crying - playing ignorance at the look in his eyes.

I skipped to him, when I wanted to sprint, and held his hand, when I wanted to lock him in my arms and never let go. He didn't lace his fingers through mine. My hand was clinging to an unresponsive one. I ignored that, keeping my happy and in love demeanour as strongly as possible. It was almost like I was trying to force him to love me by pretending to, like Jasper's power.

I chatted, asking silly questions, talking about things that did or didn't matter. Edward only ever responded quickly, curtly, not rudely but in the tiniest amount. All day I continued the chatter, becoming sick of hearing my own voice but continuing to frantically hope he'd talk back to me.

At lunch we sat with the group, and Edward talked as usual to the humans, but that was usually a minute amount any way. I didn't continue to pester Edward. I sat in my desk with a flurry of emotions; relieved at not having to continue blabbering on like a self-important gossiper (a.k.a. Jessica), tired after all the vain attempts at engaging Edward, irritated Edward wasn't responding, angry that I wasn't doing it well, but overall the most prominent emotion was panic. I felt an ache in my chest - a pull – that said I needed to keep going. I felt that I was rushing towards something, that I didn't have any time. Over all of this current I had to keep my happy, in love facade towards Edward.

I leaned against him on my chair, and he politely pushed me away. I touched my leg to his, and he turned his leg another direction. I tried putting my hand on his arm; he twisted it slightly so my hand fell.

We went to biology, and I had to keep my feet light, but I almost stamped them in frustration as I walked. I could barely take this anymore, so I pulled him away from the classroom. With a frown he followed, and I was glad he didn't just walk away, me dragging behind him. He was strong enough to do that.

"Edward, why are you doing this?" I asked, letting my anger drip into my voice.

His eyes flickered; all he'd seen today was the ignorant mooning girl. Then they returned to their previous cold stare. I glared back.

"Doing what?" he asked, almost perfectly placed ignorance in his voice. Almost being the key word.

"You know what," I grabbed his hand, he pulled away. I pointed to it after the demonstration. "That, you're doing that, ignoring me, pulling away. Why are you doing it?"

He blinked, eyes golden ice, cold and as unresponsive at least. His pause lengthened, and he turned. "We need to get to class." He didn't even turn his head back as he said it. The quiet tone scared me, and I hurried to his side.

The rest of the day, I ignored him as much as he I. It was childish, and in the end I knew I was losing, making it harder for myself, but I didn't care at the time. I was still a minor, there was my excuse.

Edward took me home, opening my door for me and saying not a word.

"You will come back," I instructed, not letting him argue.

He smiled at the command, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Yes general," he said.

I didn't close the door, hoping the joke might mean a little more hope. No, instead he reached over and the slammed the door for me.

I drove to work. Mike was there, and he seemed very confused as to why I was suddenly acting so odd. I busied myself in the work, straightening everything, doing everything, flitting around keeping myself on the verge of running. I was so frantic to go back to Edward, yet I knew how he would be.

I knew he was going to leave, if it wasn't obvious. I could feel all hint of calm, or composure slipping away. I felt very exposed, and Mike could obviously see it.

He walked over to me one time when I was carrying a load heavy enough to hurt my back. My hands took the box and a little of the weight, a little – even he wouldn't carry this much on his own.

I smiled a quick thank you smile, and tried to keep walking. He didn't let go, and tried to continue helping. He didn't move quickly though, and I had to refrain from pulling the boxes out of his grasp and jogging to where they need to be placed.

When he had lowered the boxes with me down – painfully slowly – he stared at me for a while. I could feel his gaze on my back as darted from shelf to shelf, levelling labels, checking the tags, straightening the boxes of whatever I could reach.

"Bella, are you okay?" he asked after a good five minutes.

"Fantastic Mike," my voice held a trickle of sarcasm. He didn't notice.

"Okay, well, everything's pretty much done here so why don't I pay you now and you can go?" Mike really was nice, considerate and cute. That's the problem though, he's cute –like a teddy bear, or a puppy – so he'll probably wind up with a girl who pinches his cheeks and ruffles his hair.

"Thank you Mike," I said. I followed him to the counter, almost stepping on his feet in my haste. He held the money out and I all but snatched it from his hand. I was out of my uniform and grabbing my jacket, running out the door in hardly 2 minutes.

Mike waved; I waved back awkwardly as I was already reversing, and for once I wished my car was newer and faster.

At the house Edward was there, but in Charlie's spot, and Charlie was usually home in a couple of minutes.

My heart fell, my step faltered, and my eyes found Edward's cold ones quickly. He was still beautiful, but like a perfect statue, even moving towards me there was that feeling of unresponsiveness about him.

"Hey," I forced out every ounce of dread I felt, and it came out fairly emotionless. I kicked myself inwardly, plastering on my perfectly rehearsed in love smile.

"Hello," he replied, his formality for once not appealing. "Would you like to come with me for a walk?"

He was about to grab my hand, I pulled it back, staring at his now immobile hand. "No, I wanted to make Charlie something special," I lied.

"Dinner can wait," he assured me, and grabbed my hand faster than I could pull away. I liked the contact, but he was pulling me, not showing his care. I walked with him, but as slowly as possible my feet almost dragging. Edward didn't object, and I hoped it was because he wanted to prolong this moment too.

Soon enough though, we were in the forest, just barely out of view of the road. Edward let go of my hand and turned to me. His eyes were as cold as I'd ever seen them, and the fact made me angry. Why should he have the right to leave? He tangled me up in this life of vampires; shouldn't he at least stick around to keep me safe?

Our eyes locked for a long while, his unreadable, mine scrutinizing his.

I wouldn't break the silence first; he would need to have the guts to, if he really was saying what I thought.

He folded. "Bella, we're leaving," he said.

"No," I said quite calmly and evenly, surprised by the surety and almost authority in my voice.

Edward was a little taken back. "We have to leave Bella," he said eventually. "We all look exactly as we did when we came, Carlisle is trying..."

I cut him off; I wouldn't let him talk responsibly his way out of this relationship. "No, you might think that, and other humans might think you're all very young and healthy looking, but no one suspects you. Even I would be able to tell that."

"We're leaving Bella," he said again, stronger this time, a statement not to be questioned.

"Okay, then I'm coming with you." It was a statement as well, if not as strong as his.

He turned away from me, watching the ground, the roots of the large trees surrounding us. When he turned back to me, not only his eyes were hard, his face was. He seemed made of stone more than ever before, a perfect carving, a marble interpretation of a god. He seemed as far off as a god too.

"Bella, I don't want you to come."

His words stung, my chest ached, but I straightened my shoulders. Pain from love wasn't new to me; this was just a little – okay, a heck of a lot – more painful.

So with as much confidence as I could muster, a lot more than I thought possible, I said, "You're lying."

His gaze flickered, and he looked away. When his eyes returned my gaze they were once again hard. "I'm not lying Bella."

"Yes, you are. You want to keep me safe; you want to leave to do that. I know, you've already told me how dangerous you are, how you shouldn't be with me. I don't care Edward. I don't care that you're a vampire. I love you, and I always want to be with you, no matter what the consequences are." My voice wasn't as calm as I wanted, my anger started seeping through.

As calm as ever, Edward replied to my reasoning. "Bella, you don't belong in my world."

"Then change me, make me belong. You can have my soul; I don't want it with you gone." My words were close to Bella's and had the same amount of effect on him.

"Bella, I don't want you in my world. I don't want you. We don't belong together."His words stung me, blows to my chest. Maybe he didn't belong with me, I wasn't Bella. No, I wouldn't give up without a fight. His gaze seemed to focus just above my head, I took that for a sign he was lying.

"You're lying, I know it. Stop this Edward, and stay with me. Please don't do this." I tried to keep my voice rational but the last came more as a plea. He didn't respond so I walked towards him, almost touching his chest. "Look me in the eye, and tell me you don't love me," I commanded, almost growling. He couldn't do that if he was lying.

His eyes stared deep into mine, and my pulse quickened. We were so close, touching now. I found myself feeling hopeful.

His eyes darkened, wavered, and his facade slipped for a second. I saw the pain, the anguish in them in that moment, and then the walls were back. His eyes were as hard as stone. "I don't love you Bella."

It was like I was being drained, all my hope failed, but at the same time I was being pumped with anger.

I couldn't help myself, I was too angry, too determined to make him see, to change his mind. I threw my arms around his shoulders and jumped onto him, wrapping my legs around his torso and forcing my lips to his. I kissed hard, rough, and frantic, but his lips were unresponsive. I felt his gentle hand pull me from him, lifting me and placing me on the ground again.

"I'm leaving now Bella," he said, but his voice wasn't as calm and cold as before. Pain trickled through his voice, just enough for me to detect.

I stepped back from him; fists clenched, I panted, pure anger fuelling me now. "Fine, leave then. Leave me here, in danger; you know Victoria is still out there. She'll want revenge, on me and you. I'm an easy target without a defender." My voice held hysteria, madness underlying the current of anger.

"Bella, be reasonable, why would she go after you? I'm the one who killed her mate. Your life will be safe here." He seemed trying to convince himself as well as me.

I stopped; he really didn't think she would come for me. I'd really thought that at least would work. I had no other arguments to yell at him. I had nothing to work with. My breathing slowed, my anger ebbed, and Edward turned to me.

"If there's one thing I could ask of you before I go. Please keep yourself safe, for Charlie's sake." The words angered me almost more than anything else he'd said.

"No," the quietness of my voice revealed more of my anger than if I'd yelled at him.

"What?" He seemed a little confused.

"No, I don't have to listen to you. You're leaving me, so why the fuck should I? If you don't want to be part of my life then fuck off. I don't want you here. Go to hell Edward." I'd started quiet but soon I was yelling.

He cringed at my words, pain now in his face. Then it suddenly turned angry, enough to rival mine. "I will then, anything to get away from you," he yelled back to me.

"Fine," I yelled.

"Fine," he bellowed back.

And he was gone, the leaves stirred where he had been.

I yelled to the trees, knowing he could hear. "I'll find you Edward, I promise you that. If you hate me so much then I'm going to have you loathing for the rest of my life." My voice quietened, and I turned the promise to myself. "I will find you."

I wouldn't follow him; I wouldn't scare Charlie by getting lost. I started walking back to the house, my pace quickened until I was running. I was sprinting by the time I was inside, leaping up the stairs and throwing myself onto my bed.

I beat the mattress. As my anger left me my now sore arms dropped to my side, and the pain came, the sorrow, the mourning, the, there's no words for the emotion I felt, but it came. I cried, sobbed, curled into a ball, and let the emotion rule me.

Charlie found me there. He sat awkwardly beside me, patting my back and trying to comfort me. It took a few minutes for me to quiet my sobbing, to stop my crying. I smiled at Charlie, and he smiled back.

"C'mon here bud," he opened his arms. I gratefully received the hug. I could feel Charlie's hesitance, the awkwardness, and vowed I would never make him have to comfort me again. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

I started shaking my head, then stopped and nodded. He would find out soon enough anyway, why not from his daughter. "The Cullens left," I explained.

"Oh," he said like it explained everything, which it did.

I smiled sadly, if sniffed, wiped my nose and laughed sadly. "I think I need a tissue." I hopped from the bed, running to the bathroom.

The mirror spoke more than any person could. My eyes had lost the shine they'd had with Edward. Tear streaks stained my cheeks, my nose was red, my lips were swollen from biting on them, my tongue dry, my hair knotted, my arms red.

I looked generally like crap.

Anger welled inside me again, and a sheer determination. I remembered the promise to myself. I would find Edward, and when I did I would make him pay.

So I washed my face, brushed my hair, blew my nose (yes, EW) and looked in the mirror. This was the same girl I'd seen almost all my life, the girl with the brave exterior, the empty inside. Expect I wasn't that girl anymore; I wasn't the one with bitchy friends, the one with unloving, controlling parents. I was now Bella, with good friends, a loving father and mother and even step-father (I think, I didn't know Phil well) and a world free for me. I was eighteen, and I could do almost whatever I wanted.

A smile grew on my face, not the blissful, full of love smile, but a darker smile, a smirk. I could do what I wanted. Nothing would stop me, and then I would find Edward and show him I could function without him.

A pull formed in my chest, an urge to get started, a need to do this.

I went down stairs, the smirk still on my face, and fixed Charlie dinner.

Screw Edward, I'll do whatever the fuck I wanted.

What do you think will happen now? Will Alexis find Edward? How will she cope? And, biggest of all... *drumroll*

Will she hook up with Jacob?

Review to see.