A/N: Will try to update ASAP! But I've got tons of homework…What do you think of this story?

Chapter 4

Edella POV

Good. Nessie didn't follow me. I wanted to be alone, to think about everything. I was sorry for my sudden outburst at my sister, just like that, but I wasn't about to admit my faults. It happened all the time. With vampires, even half-vampires. And werewolves, too. Ugh. Jake was a werewolf.

I wanted to find a secluded place, where I would be hidden from view. Being a coward, not being able to find the courage to face reality. What had I been thinking? To be able to stand up and fight for my love? Waaaaaaay off track. This wasn't the character of Edella Rayne Cullen. Oh, no, her character was cowardly. Timid. Stupid. Unrealistic. When would I ever set goals for myself that were at least…reachable?

Edella Rayne Cullen was nothing compared to Renesmee Carlie Cullen. Renesmee, of such pure beauty. Renesmee. The ideas and adjectives linked immediately to her were absolutely wonderful. Beautiful. Brave. Intelligent. Fun. Friendly. Lucky. Did I dare say that life was unfair? But it was. Anybody would know that. Things never went the way you wanted, well for most of the time anyway.

Finally, I found the perfect place; a small round meadow, nearly hidden from every angle by towering rain trees. It was strange, though; there was a roundish, sloped gray rock right in the middle of the sandy meadow, as if this place was a certain dwelling spot for somebody else. Usually I would have stayed away. But right now I simply didn't care. Intruding? Whatever you called it. So what.

As I sat down on the gray rock, a torrent of feelings washed through my brain, leaving only emptiness and hurt in their wake. Pain. Love. Disgust. Hate. Anger. More pain. More hate. And definitely more and more pain. Pain, knowing that Jacob would never be mine. Love, because I would always love him. Disgust, at myself, for even thinking of such unrealistic dreams. Hate, at life, for being so unfair. Anger, at my sister, for telling Jacob my feelings for him. Why did everything have to be so complicated? So…difficult? I pondered these as tears fell uncontrollably down, streaking my pale face and wetting my cheeks.

Now I was here. All alone. Cut off from any being miles around, with the exception of maybe the person that owned this little meadow. Who knew that love, supposedly a happy thing, could cause so much pain? I knew my sister hated seeing me like this, too, but it seemed inevitable.

I stood up gruffly and turned my eyes up to look at the sky. Stupid white clouds. Stupid blue patches. I was half-vampire, and my eyes didn't hurt from looking at the sun or sky, unlike humans. Although the rain trees hid most of the sky from view. There were several gaps between the trees that allowed some sunlight to pass through, and from those gaps I could see part of the sky as well. I screamed at the sky, feeling part of my anger escape. How I wished I had something else. Maybe an endless supply of rubber balls? No matter what it was, an endless supply of me to throw, to crush, or to stamp my foot on. Something that I could vent my anger on.

After my third round of screams I heard a rustle in the thick leafy walls of the bushes behind me. I spun around. "Who's there?"

"Hello," came a voice from the bushes. Whoever it was, he or she finally emerged from the bushes and I got a good, full view. A young man, easily about seventeen or eighteen, with long braided black hair and rich, dark-brownish skin. His eyes were the exact colour of warm teak. He smiled at me in welcome.

I raised my eyebrows. "You are?"

"Nahuel." He smiled at me. It was impossible not to notice the way his warm-teak-eyes glinted in the dim sunlight, and how welcoming his smile was, how handsome his dark face was. "I'm an old friend of your family, the Cullens-and I believe you are Edella. I saved you and your sister's life when you were still babies, when the Volturi came. I'm a half-vampire, too-perhaps you remember, I live with my aunt Huilen. I was passing through Forks, and stopped by to stay awhile. Huilen, she is still in South America. Do come to visit sometime."

I grasped his words, and I did remember, but only faintly. When lots of vampires had gathered to witness that Nessie and I were not the banned immortal children. Zafrina, Senna, Kachiri, Tanya, Eleazar, Carmen, Kate…

"Oh, yes. Edella Rayne Cullen, if you would…"

Nahuel stepped toward me. "This is my temporary home. I was just going to visit the Cullens this afternoon. I wouldn't want to stay in your home and be a burden to you. You have enough half-vampires in the house already."

"No, no, not a burden. I'm sorry to have been an intruder, I'll leave…" I stammered, lost for words.

"You're most welcome here!" Nahuel said, in a tone I perceived to be shocked. "You're a friend, why not? Any reason to come here? I thought you were fairly comfortable with your family."

I bit my lip, hesitating.

"I don't mean to pry…" Nahuel's expression was slightly apologetic now.

"Of course not," I mumbled, my words barely audible. If one had been a human, standing nearby they would not have been able to hear me. But Nahuel was not human, not fully in the least. So I told him my story.

"True enough, life hasn't been fair to you. But if I were you, I would keep trying. Never back down, Edella, not even when imprinting, such a strong force, stands in your way. I can tell how deeply you love Jacob, which is why I'm surer with this than I have never been. Make the right decisions, and you will see that life's currents will not always be against you." Nahuel educated me, on how to do about life. And his own little volume: Ways to Win Jacob Black's Heart.

Slowly, I began learning. It was kind of childish. Strange. Nahuel taught me as though he had experienced it firsthand, all by himself. Sometimes he even practiced with me, using a couple of props. Was he just kidding around with me about trying to win Jake's heart, or was he actually serious?

Chances were that he was serious. Deadly serious.