Author Note: Thanks for the great response to the last chapter! FF was acting up with not showing reviews online for a couple days and then not sending email alerts, so apologies if I missed you when doing review replies.
I think we've set a record for the most readers to guess the chapter title! Congrats to: monica03, roguech, NKubie, raidershell, Faerywren, sherylb, printmaker, Monroe88, morena. davidson. 3, myownlittleinfinity, Midnight Cougar, KDMCAM, Judyblue95, MsAndreaRenee, galaxy69uk, suzy 2010, alison actually, 0 BASIA 0, MIRosebud, orion03981, Luvntwilight, alainaroullier, EdwardsFirstKiss, lovedwardalways, 2muchtrouble, MissyDy, Bevey99, Ninkita, Debbliss, LaPumuckl, and Bikergirl08.
Thanks again to moosals for pre-reading. Stephenie Meyer owns all characters.
Chapter 3 – Should I Stay or Should I Go
By the time I fly back to Chicago on the day after Christmas, I still haven't made a decision about moving in with my mom and stepdad. While I like the idea of getting away from Mr. Cullen permanently, it feels sort of like running away. Like he's making me leave the home I've had for the last 10 years.
And my dad… his life is pretty much his work and being my father. He dated some when I was younger, but he started to get cold feet when the woman he thought was "the one" balked at his chosen profession, due to the perceived danger.
Angela, Jessica, Lauren, Mike, Tyler… I've known almost all of them since I started attending the local elementary school in third grade. The thought of leaving and not graduating with them seems so strange, though I know we'll likely go our separate ways after graduation anyway. Tyler plans to join the military, Angela is attending Northwestern, Mike and Jessica will move to Champaign to attend the main U of I campus… Lauren is still undecided, like me. I applied to all of the public schools in Illinois, as well as one in St. Louis — at Renee's urging — which I could also attend at resident student rates.
It's a tough decision, but I'm leaning toward staying. It's only five months… says the girl who could hardly make it three weeks.
The following day, Angela and I take the 'L' to Michigan Avenue to spend our Christmas money. Despite the cold, we walk north along the Magnificent Mile, stopping in at any shops that catch our attention. We finish our day with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.
"Do you want to split a meal?" Angela suggests, looking over the huge menu. "That way we'll have room for cheesecake."
"Sure," I shrug. After much bickering back and forth, we finally settle on a chicken and pasta dish that fills the entire large plate. It's more than enough for two.
When we've finished our meal, we each order our own slice of cheesecake. I like to try a new kind every time, while Angela is partial to the carrot cake cheesecake mash-up.
"Oh! There's Mr. Cullen," she says, nodding her head toward something behind me. I instinctively turn around, easily spotting his unusual hair color. And his wife is seated next to him.
"It looks like some kind of party," I note. The large group must have at least four tables pushed together.
"Some sort of work Christmas party?" Angela suggests.
I turn around in my seat to face her. "I don't recognize any of the others as teachers at our school."
"Well, no," she agrees, "but it could be his wife's coworkers. Or maybe family."
I turn to look again, and this time he looks up just as I do, our eyes locking. He looks almost sad, or at least like he isn't thrilled to be where he is.
"He sees us!" Angela exclaims, and I just catch the end of her wave as I turn back around.
Moments later, our server delivers our cheesecakes. I eagerly pick up my fork, then stare down at my slice. As beautiful as it looks, seeing Mr. Cullen with his wife has ruined my appetite.
"What's wrong?" Angela asks as I twirl the fork in my hand.
"I think I should've ordered mine to go. I'm stuffed."
"Suit yourself," she shrugs, cutting off the end of her piece.
As I sit there watching my best friend eat her cheesecake, I know what I have to do if I ever again want to have peace of mind: I have to leave Chicago.
"Did you have any luck shopping?" Dad asks when I arrive home.
"Yeah, I found a lot of cool stuff on sale." I try to smile, because I did enjoy my shopping trip with Angela. "Um, c-can I talk to you about something?"
"Always," he smiles. I smile back, taking a seat on the couch near Dad's recliner.
"Um, so… this has nothing to do with you, I hope you know that." His brow furrows. "I-I'd like to finish out the schoolyear in St. Louis, living with Mom and Phil."
"Why on earth would you want to do that?!" Dad asks in confusion.
"It's… there's this guy," I begin.
"You met someone when you were visiting last week?"
"No, no… there's a guy here. We, um, dated briefly but then broke up." It's close enough to the truth.
"I didn't know you were dating anyone," he says, stroking his mustache. "I thought you went to the homecoming dance with Angela."
"I did," I nod. "It was, um, after that, and very brief. Maybe it's because he was my first boyfriend, but I'm having a tough time moving past it. It doesn't help that I have to see him at school every day."
"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Dad asks, looking a little scary.
"No, no, not physically. But… he lied about something important."
"Does this have something to do with you being sick before Thanksgiving?" Damn, can't get anything past a cop.
I nod. "And I feel like my grades are suffering. I can't afford to let my GPA drop if I want to earn a good scholarship."
Dad frowns. "Moving away though… that seems kind of drastic. Maybe you can just change classes?"
"I can't," I smile sadly. "Already thought of that."
"Your mom's husband is on board? Did you make this decision when you visited them?"
"Mom actually suggested it when I told her about him, but I didn't make the decision until tonight. She said Phil is fine with it. His house is huge, so there's plenty of room for me. I-I'm sorry, Dad. I know I was going to leave you next August anyway, so this is just sooner than planned, but… you're the reason I struggled with making a decision. I don't want to hurt you, but I feel like this is the best decision for me."
"You can always come back and visit next summer, right?" he asks hopefully.
"Sure I can," I smile, standing up to hug him.
With telling Dad out of the way, the only hurdle left is breaking it to my friends. Mike is having a big New Year's Eve party at his house, since his parents are out of town, giving me a good opportunity to tell all of them at once.
The only thing is, I can't even tell them the watered-down version of the truth that my parents got — they know perfectly well there's no fellow classmate whom I dated.
I'm going to have to lie to them. And while I hate to do that, I don't have much of a choice.
I wait until everyone has arrived before standing up and turning the music down. I'm met with a handful of confused looks and groans.
"Sorry," I apologize, "but I need to tell you guys something. Um, I'll be transferring schools next semester."
"What? Why?" Angela asks. "Where are you going?"
"I'm moving in with my mom and her new husband. They live in a suburb of St. Louis," I explain. "As to why, well… you guys know my dad was promoted to Detective last year, right?" I pause for a moment before continuing with my carefully planned lie. "He's recently gotten a great opportunity to work on an important case, but he'll have to be undercover for several months. It's too dangerous for me to be here."
"So your dad just decided to send you to live with your mom?" Jessica asks.
"No, he talked to me about the opportunity this week, and I told him to go for it. I don't want to hold him back from advancing in his career."
"But to go to a new school now?" Tyler asks, frowning.
"I know it's not ideal, and I'm really going to miss spending these last five months with you guys, but my dad has sacrificed a lot to raise me over the last 10 years. I kind of owe him, you know?"
"Well, then," Mike says, clapping his hands as he stands up. "Let's make this the best going-away party ever!" He comes up to hug me, and then all of my friends do the same. Tears prick at my eyes as I squeeze Angela tightly. As much as I'll miss them, I know this is for the best.
By January 3rd, I'm all packed and ready to go. Dad and I stop by the high school first thing in the morning to let them know I'll be leaving and get a copy of my transcript to give to my new high school. It's as painless as I had hoped.
Once we're done at the school, Dad takes me out to breakfast at my favorite place. I can see him trying to be a tough guy and not cry, and it makes me sad that I'm doing this to him. I remind myself that I'd most likely be leaving anyway to go to college in the Fall; it's just a few months earlier than we'd expected.
It took a lot of convincing, but Dad finally agreed that I can drive myself to St. Louis, since I've got too many boxes and suitcases to fly with. He bought a used small SUV off one of his coworkers for me two years ago. It's not the newest or the flashiest vehicle, but it's dependable, and has plenty of storage room in the back.
We load up my car after breakfast, then Dad hugs me tightly, insisting on regular texts from the road so he's sure I haven't gotten lost or in an accident. I remind him once again that I'll be on I-55 for five hours until I reach downtown St. Louis — how could I possibly get lost? I'll turn on the Maps app on my phone once I get closer, letting it guide me the rest of the way to Phil's house.
With a stop for a fast food lunch near Springfield, it's just before 5pm when I pull into Phil's driveway. He's got a three-car garage, though I don't have the opener with me. I'm excited to be able to park in a garage at night for the first time.
I'm barely out of the car when Mom rushes outside to hug me. "I'm so glad you're here!" she says excitedly. "Come on inside; Phil can get your things out of the car. He should be home from work soon."
I follow Mom inside the front door, hanging up my coat in the closet. Flopping onto the couch, I pull out my phone to text Dad and let him know I've arrived.
But when I turn on the phone, I see a text from Angela. Mr. Cullen was shocked when I told him you weren't going to Lincoln Park anymore.
One less student for him to abuse, I text back before sending that text to my dad.
He seemed really concerned. I told him I'd just seen you on NYE and you were fine.
I am fine. Just got to Mom and Phil's house.
When Phil arrives home from work, he does indeed bring in all of my things and carry them upstairs to my room, once he's pulled my SUV into the garage. I'm excited when he shows me the garage door opener that he's attached to the visor. It'll be so nice to not have to scrape snow and ice off my windshield before driving to school in the morning.
"How was the drive down?" Phil asks as we eat dinner. "Any problems?"
"No, there weren't that many cars on the road," I reply. I almost made a wrong turn, but I'm not going to tell them that! I-55 merges with another interstate near Peoria and I really had to pay attention to stay on the right highway once they split up again.
"I've made an appointment with the high school tomorrow morning to get you registered, Isabella. Do you have a copy of your transcripts?" Mom asks, and I nod in response. "Good. I downloaded and filled out all of the forms today. My gosh, there are a lot of forms compared to when you were in grade school! Oh, I hope you brought your birth certificate also."
"Yeah, Dad gave me his copy of that. He had it handy from when I got my driver's permit."
"Hopefully since you're 18, they won't give us any trouble for not having any kind of formal papers granting me custody," she says, sipping her drink. I hadn't even thought of anything like that.
Later that night I'm relaxing in my room when Mom knocks on the door, then peeks her head in. "I thought we could go shopping this weekend if you want to pick out new bedding for your room."
I glance around at what had been just a guest bedroom. It's beautiful, in shades of cream, tan and gray, though it feels like something a decorator picked out and not mine. "That sounds great," I agree. "It could definitely use a splash of color."
"Our registration appointment is at 8:30 tomorrow morning, so try to get some sleep," she smiles, closing the door.
My alarm goes off far too early in the morning. I shower then start to doubt the outfit I picked out last night. I only get one chance to make a good impression on my new classmates. I put on the skinny jeans that I picked out, then stand in front of my closet for five minutes until I've chosen the perfect sweater that I hope both looks attractive on me and shows my personality.
Downstairs, I'm spreading jam on a piece of toast when Renee walks in, starting up the super-fancy coffeemaker.
She wraps one arm around me, hugging me tightly. "I'm so excited!" she squeals. "It's so great to have my baby back with me. I know I wasn't the best mom to you the first time around, but I promise to do better this time. Do you want some coffee?"
I wrinkle my nose. "I don't drink coffee."
"That's probably because your father drinks shitty coffee," she mutters, making me laugh. He does drink the stuff black. It looks like motor oil.
Once we've gathered up all of the required registration information — we hope — Mom and I set out for Lafayette High School in her Toyota. She parks in a visitor lot and we head inside to the office.
Our appointment goes surprisingly smoothly, and soon it's time to meet with a guidance counselor to choose my schedule. I'm happy to see that I'm able to sign up for the same AP classes I was taking in Chicago — plus more if I want to.
By the time we've completed my registration, second period classes are well underway. Mom says goodbye with a hug, promising to come pick me up after school. She paid for a semester of parking, and I've got a new parking tag so I can drive myself from here on out.
After handing me a printed copy of my schedule and a map of the school, the guidance counselor leads me to my second-period AP Calculus class. She knocks briefly on the closed door then opens it and ushers me inside.
A/N: So after running into Mr. Cullen and his wife around town, Bella has made the decision to leave Chicago for the remainder of the schoolyear. Her dad bought the same story that her mother did, while she had to make up a lie for her friends. Any guesses on who Bella will meet in St. Louis? And how long until she crosses paths with Mr. Cullen again?
Next update on Thursday.
For a teaser: The next chapter title comes from one of the earlier #1 hits of the 1980s!
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