A/N: Thanks to those of you who reviewed!! All the story alerts and review messages fill up my inbox now, it's nice to know I have people reading and to have some of you hooked on it…haha. I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THIS LATE UPDATE! Even though it's only been like five days or so….

WHY DIDN'T DAVID OSMOND GET THROUGH?! Ugh that makes me so mad… but now I like Jamar and Danny so it's all good! And Norman Gentle (what's his real name?? Nick Mitchell or something like that? w/e) is hilarious. I love American Idol…

But anyways…I'm back with a new chapter…as if you didn't already know that. This is the transition in time chapter.

Disclaimer: If I owned the Twilight series…I'd be rich. Listen to that song 'if I had a million dollars' and that'll explain what I'd have if I owned Twilight, which I don't. Sigh.

And there actually IS a snuggie cult video! Link to it on my page!

Smack that! All on the floor. Smack That! Here's chapter four!

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What was my mother hiding from me?

Chapter 4: Among the Outsiders

The worst I could think of was that she joined the snuggie cult and the leaders are ordering members to slaughter everyone in town. But that was highly unlikely. Renee was a kind heart, she would never do something like that…I hope...Then again she did own a robe that was very snuggie like… But all's she was probably doing was drinking at a bar and she didn't want me to know. Last time, she got so drunk that she started table-dancing and it got posted on YouTube…by someone I actually knew! I shuddered, no kid should ever see their parents dancing dirty. EVER.

Later on, Edward called with some very upsetting news.

"Bella, I'm so sorry. I-I can't meet you this summer because I have classical arts camp or something like that. My mom signed me up for it two months ago without my knowledge," he said sadly. "I can try to get her to cancel it if you want…" he trailed off suggestively.

"No, no that's okay. But since when are you into the classical arts?" I asked suspiciously.

"I'm not! Who ever told you that? That's impossible!" he rambled on quickly.

"I'm not saying it's bad for you to like the classics, I mean, I read them all the time. Emily Bronte and Jane Austen are my favorites. Don't be ashamed of something that you like to do," I encouraged.

"Well I don't know about actually reading the classics, but I love classical music, and I love playing it. I write my own music occasionally," he admitted.

"Edward, that's so…deep. Have you ever written a song for…someone in particular?" I asked suggestively.

"Does my mother count?"

"That's so sweet! You write songs for your mommy." I laughed. Silence. "Did you hang up? I swear I was kidding!"

He finally laughed. "Oh my god! I was trying not to laugh at the simple way you put it. I never really thought about it that way…Wow. Hey look, I really gotta go, I'll talk to you later okay?"

"Okay, bye."

"Bye, Bella."

~*~*~

In the weeks that passed, Edward called less and less frequently. He was probably just busy. But all the time? And why didn't he tell me the reasons for hanging up early? He just always seemed to be in the middle of something…something very active, for lack of a better term. He always seemed to be on the move, or with someone, that's how it seemed, anyway. But even worse, he never seemed to want to talk to me anymore. I needed to talk to him. There was just no other way possible.

Renee also became more distant from March until the summer. She always seemed to be out somewhere, always hiding her purse and other personal items in her room. It's not like I actually wanted to look through her stuff! Why was she so paranoid? I swear, this snuggie cult thing is becoming more realistic everyday.

All in all, the most interesting day in those last few months of eighth grade by far, was when Rachel had finally had enough with her stalker letters. Which, we all have absolutely no idea whatsoever as to who those letters were from. *cough, Brian, cough.* What she didn't know was that a certain someone was posing as her during this fiasco and responding to that stalker. (Obviously not me. Psh.) Well, today she was also PMSing so it increased my amusement with the entire situation tenfold.

It was a Thursday afternoon, my mom's supposed yoga night, so she wanted me to get out of the house to have some fun too. Rachel and I were walking home from the bus stop when she stopped to grab her mail. She immediately searched for the letter that was sure to haunt the trash can later tonight.

On the outside of the letter was a single word-

"POOKIE?!" she screamed, completely outraged. A couple of the neighbors even looked out their windows to see what the ruckus was about. Mr. Baker even ran outside with his shotgun.

"Sorry, Mr. Baker!" Rachel yelled again. He grudgingly stomped back inside.

"That man hasn't seen any real action in his life since the Korean War. He should go to eHarmony and get himself a woman," I laughed and then shuddered, thinking better of it. "Okay, bad image."

I looked up at Rachel, who apparently hadn't listened to a word of my little spiel. She was intently reading the letter, her eyes scanning the paper ferociously. As she read down the page, her expression grew increasingly more disgusted.

"Ugh! Won't he just give up already?!" she yelled, as we ran into the house to not cause any more riled-up neighbors than we already have. "How come he keeps trying? I don't know who he is, and he seems so determined… All's he's doing is creeping me out! Can't he see that?"

"Well we all know that Brian has brain damage-" My intake of breath cut off my sentence as I realized my mistake.

"How did you know it was Brian? It could've been anyone!" she asked, completely outraged and suspicious at the same time.

"Did I say Brian? I meant somebody, not Brian!" God, I was such an awful liar, just like Charlie. No! I can't think about him right now! I haven't seen him in a few months anyway…

"Bella, spill. Tell me everything and everyone that was involved in this little charade," she said sternly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I was the only one involved, I swear. Okay, I wrote a love letter to Brian from you, and have been posing as you ever since he started writing back to you, which is why he keeps writing back to you." I hung my head in shame.

"You mean Edward had absolutely nothing at all to do with this?" she asked, knowingly. I gasped, my eyes growing wide in surprise and my mouth hanging open, catching flies. She began laughing hysterically at my expression. "You think that I had no idea? I know you better that you think, Isabella Marie. I know you more that enough to know when you're head over heels for someone. And I know Edward too, so that only made my prediction even easier." She smiled arrogantly.

"Wait-made your prediction more accurate? As in, it was already put into action?" I asked incredulously.

"Yuppers." If possible, her smile stretched even wider as my disbelief grew stronger.

"When…?"

"Okay, well I'll just tell you! You remember my party, right?" I nodded. How could I ever forget that wonderful evening? "I had that party knowing that my cute single cousin would be in town that weekend." She winked.

"You mean…you…meant to set us up all along?" How could I have missed this?

"Duh!"

"Well, your little plan to get me to fall for him was working, but now, I don't know why, but he either 'forgets' to call or cuts the calls short. I don't know if he's actually telling the truth or if he just doesn't like me anymore or what…But I… but I just don't know!" I cradled my head in my hands and just let the sobs wrack my body.

Rachel came over and wrapped her arms around me. "It's okay, Bella. I'll call him and see what his deal is, okay? It'll all be fine," she promised.

God, I sure hope so.

~*~*~

Boy, was I ever wrong. With each day, the space between calls increased exponentially. And every time I attempted to reach him, I would just get his voicemail. And the few times he did pick up, our calls were cut so short, that I never even got a chance to say how much I missed him. Eventually, there came a time when he stopped calling altogether. When I asked Rachel if she had called and talked to him about it, she said that he wouldn't pick up for her either. What was his deal?

By Christmas freshmen year, I just decided to leave a voicemail to tell him how I felt.

Beep. "Hey Edward, I was just wondering why you weren't answering your phone or calling me back…not just now, but ever. I know you're probably really annoyed with me, but couldn't you just tell me why you're not talking to me? The suspense kills, ya know! I just really miss you. I used to believe that you missed me too, but I guess not. So, call me back, if you can find time in your busy schedule for little old me. Good. Bye." I said the last part through clenched teeth, and pressed the end button, perhaps just a little too hard. Maybe. But whatever, I deserved to be angry. He promises to see me over the summer and then he doesn't. Now I can understand the reason for that, but for avoiding me? What kind of low-life scum does that?

Or maybe…just maybe…he's moved on. But that can't be it, we had such a blast with the…day that we spent together. Holy crap! It was only a day. But it seemed to go on forever, like the first day of forever with Edward. Jeez, why was I talking like that? We were nothing; we are nothing. He probably has some hot girlfriend that he had to get back to and he used me to pass the time, nothing more. What a jerk! And why was I drawing all of these conclusions?!

UGH. I really needed to talk to my mom, but it was not only my break from school, but hers as well. So of course she would rather hang out with her friends on a holiday. Well the actual holiday was yesterday, but still. She needed to spend time with me, and at this point I feared I would never get any quality time with her.

Just then, I heard the front door slam, and a familiar broken sob fill the entire house. I was reminded of that day after the party. The day he left.

"Mom?" I called as I ran through the house.

She wasn't lying on the floor in the living room like I expected her to be, and instead I found her in the kitchen, stuffing herself with ice cream, the official comfort food of our house.

"Mom?" I repeated. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing is wrong," she spit out acidly.

"How can you say nothing is wrong?! I come into the kitchen and seeing you stuffing your face with ice cream and sobbing. Not even just crying, sobbing. Please tell me?" I pleaded. When she didn't say anything I screamed, "God dammit! You can't just leave me in the dark! I'm your daughter. Not your co-worker, your friend, your annoying neighbor, I'm your own flesh and blood! I need to know what's been going on!"

"I know, dear. You do deserve to know, just… I don't know if you can handle it," she sniffled.

"Mom, tell me! You've been ignoring me for months on end!" I could already feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Why, oh why did I have to have angry tears?

"I haven't ignored you!" she argued.

"Yes you have!"

"Well I'm sorry if I have, but it wasn't about all this… I just found out today, after all…" Another sob took over.

"What did you find out today?" I prodded. Silence. "Okay then, where did you go today?" I rephrased.

"Well I went over to the bar-whoops! I mean the, um, movie theater, and met up with a few friends. Afterwards I went to the supermarket and then I…I went t-to the doctor's office for my check-up…" Oh god…she wasn't PREGNANT was she?! And if she was…who was the father?! "Don't look at me like that! It's not like I have HIV or something, jeez. But anyway, for some reason the doctor did a scan of my head because I didn't seem like myself. And that's when they found the…" She trailed off with a series of broken sobs.

"What did they find mom?" I walked over to her and hugged her like I had the last time.

"They found a brain tumor, honey." The tears spilled over now. "He said that there was a surgery to remove it, but it's very expensive, and we just don't have the money. I would much rather you use it for college so you have a chance at a life…"

"Mom! Don't talk like that! You're going to be fine. We'll find the money…we just have to! Stay positive and we'll make it through. Somehow we will, I can feel it!" I said hopefully.

"Honey, it's not like that. Dr. Johnson said that it's fairly small right now and I don't need the surgery immediately. He estimates that I'll have at least five years to live, okay? I'll get to see you graduate, I promise. And I'm sorry for getting so upset about this, but I thought you'd be out with your friends today, seeing as it's break and all. You should go and have fun, don't worry about me, okay?" she said with a false sense of optimism in her voice. But instead of arguing with her about it, which would make it worse, I just agreed to go and have fun.

~*~*~

The next year and a half were tough, to say the least. Renee was quickly losing memories because of the surprisingly rapid growth of the tumor. But somehow she still managed to keep the memory of her argument as to why she wouldn't get the surgery, which was absolutely ridiculous! Why would I worry about money for college when I could just get a loan, but not a loan for a new mother? That's ludicrous! She has to see that I couldn't live without her. But she just wouldn't listen to me.

Speaking of people I can't live without, or used to think I couldn't live without, anyway, Edward never called me back about my message. And at that point, I decided to stop calling. Why waste minutes on someone who is obviously avoiding me? Sigh. I think Rachel was actually more disappointed than me about the entire ordeal, because her perfect vision or whatever didn't end up working out. She was gone for Christmas that year and Christmas break during sophomore year at Edward's house, but she said that he was hardly ever there. And when he was there, he was up in his room blaring music that she thought he despised. I thanked her for trying at least.

When I had told her about my mom, she and her mom put together a fundraiser for the operation, but my mom put a stop to it as soon as she found out about it. She even threatened to ground me for a month for helping out. Why was she so desperate to die? There is seriously something wrong with her. When I asked her later about why she stopped it, she just said that the cost of the surgery was very expensive, and not worth the effort of trying to raise money. Why couldn't we at least try?

What really disappointed me was that Renee got me a brand new car for my sixteenth birthday. How dare she?! She could've used that money for the operation! At that point I was done thinking that we had no money, that Renee truly wanted to die, which scared me greatly. How could anyone want to die that badly when they actually had people to live for and people that would be affected greatly if they were lost?

March of sophomore year, just about two years after Charlie left, we (as in me and every single one of her friends and family that lived in the area) through her a party, which she showed up to and then immediately left. She claimed she needed to go get the car fixed or something. But on her birthday, really? And she made sure to come home in the middle of the night too so she didn't have to face the guests. Everyone left the presents here, along with the untouched cake. What started out as a promising night for Renee ended up being a total failure.

One evening in late June, I was driving home from my friend Diana's house. I parked in the garage and walked into the living room to find my mother lying on the floor with a tear-streaked face for the third and final time. She wasn't breathing; that much was quite obvious. So I franticly dialed 911 in hopes that they could fix her. I wasn't allowed at the hospital, but the next day I got quite possibly the worst phone call of my life.

"Hello?" I asked after I had picked up the ringing phone.

"Hello, is this Miss Swan?" said a rather doctor-ish voice on the other line.

"Yeah…"

"This is Doctor Johnson from the New York City general hospital to inform you of your mother's condition." His voice showed no emotion.

"And?" At this point I was through with being polite, I just wanted the full news.

"I'm sorry to tell you that she passed away."

I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I even dropped the phone I was so out of it. My hand was still held up to my ear like the phone was still there, and my arm was quivering along with my bottom lip. She lied to me. She said she would see me graduate. And I'm pretty sure she didn't mean tenth grade graduation either. She left when I needed her most. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was aware that there was still someone on the other line of the phone, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

That night I slept on the floor, well not really slept but my mind was so numb that it felt that way. There was only one thing that I was thinking, and I was only thinking about that because it was still downloading itself into my brain like freaking DSL. And I desperately needed the geek squad. But was there a squad of people trained to fix your mind? Well yeah there was, I guess, but you only went there if you needed to be in a straitjacket.

My mom couldn't be dead. She just couldn't be.

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A/N: Jeez, sorry about this late update once again! And the wait was all for a depressing chapter too… and by the way, the brain tumor is NOT what Renee was originally hiding from Bella. You all will find out what she was hiding in due time.

Once again, please review, and I promise to have chapter five up by Friday at the very latest!

And watch American Idol. I mean it. Watch it.

Have a good night!

Ashton.