It was now the third week of March and I was no closer to solving the mystery of Edward than I was before. This didn't mean that I would give up. One little fact that hindered my progress was that prom madness was in full swing. I didn't understand it-prom wasn't until the second weekend of April and yet all of the girls seemed to be freaking out. Angela was no exception. She has asked me to go to Port Angeles with her this weekend and I agreed. Not like I had anything better to do. Charlie was going over to Billy's for fishing and would be gone until Sunday morning. Plus, I think Alice wanted to go shopping that weekend and now I had an excuse not to go. I know, evil me.

Edward and I had been very successful in not talking to each other. We still sat at the same table at lunch but never exchanged any words. We developed a pattern of dividing our work in Biology: he would write out labs and I would do the experiments. Dare I say, it was a comfortable arrangement. During one of the labs, I accidentally brushed against his skin and felt the same electrical shock. I gasped but he acted as if nothing was wrong. I let it go. It's not like I could tell him how he affected me. That I was thinking about him all the time. My little obsession had gone too far and yet I couldn't stop it. I was in too deep. I just never realized how deep.

The rest of the Cullens acted as if nothing had changed. I was glad to see that they still wanted to hang around me. All of them were happy to see me alive and well after the accident. Even Charlie stopped freaking out. Life was good; good enough, anyways.

I told Alice on Thursday that I was going to Port Angeles with Angela to look for a dress. She was surprised to hear that I was going. I told her I wasn't and this was strictly for Angela. Alice actually looked disappointed. She gave a long lecture about how prom was an essential part of high school, a rite of passage of some sorts. I just wanted her to shut up. So I told her I would go, if she would stop talking. She was ecstatic and told me not to worry about anything; she'd take care of everything. What have I gotten myself into?

Saturday came around and Angela and I headed out. I actually wanted to check out a bookstore over there. My book collection was very scarce and I needed some new reading material. I noticed it took us longer to get there than when I went with Alice. Then again, Alice sped like crazy. We located the shops Angela wanted to go to and the torture began. I think she tried on around twenty dresses in the first store, didn't like any of them and we moved on to the next store. Same thing happened there, only there were less dresses. Went into the third store (the last one of the day) and she grabbed around ten dresses. I must have looked extremely bored because Angela told me to go to that bookstore and to meet her at the restaurant in an hour. The sun was already setting and I figured it was a good idea to hurry up.

It took me a little bit of time to find the store. There were a lot of confusing little streets I had to turn on, but I was successful in the end. The store itself was small but it offered a good selection. I took my time browsing the titles and made a few selections before coming across a familiar title-The Cold Ones. I grabbed it because I had a feeling that Jacob gave me a short version of the legend and I was actually interested in the story. I glanced at my watch and realized that I've spent more time in here than I planned on. It was already dark outside. I quickly paid for the books and headed out.

I got lost quite a few a times but I finally made it into the right street. It was poorly lit and deserted. I picked up my pace. All of the sudden, I heard footsteps. I turned around to go the other way only to see a figure walking towards me. I turned around again and saw another figure. Crap, this was not good.

"Hello, sweetheart. Where are you going off in a hurry? We just want to play." A man said in a rough voice.

"Yea," The other one said. "Just want to play."

The first one grabbed me by my hand and pushed me towards the other one. I stumbled, which only made them laugh. They kept pushing me towards one another, as if it was the funniest thing in the world. With the final push, I ended up in the first man's arms. I looked up at his face, tears running down my face.

"Please, don't hurt me. Just let me go, I won't tell anyone." I begged. He grabbed my face with his hand and lifted it towards him.

"Oh, look, this one's pretty. I will definitely enjoy playing with you." He smiled at me.

I realized that if I wanted to stay alive, I needed to fight them somehow. So I bit down on his hand, earning a scream out of him. Not waiting for another second, I started running, only to be yanked back.

"Bitch! You bit me!" And with that, he hit me across the face, hard. The force of his hit sent me flying back. I didn't have enough time to catch myself so I ended up landing on my elbows. The impact made me cry out in pain. My mind associated the physical pain with another time and brought back my darkest memories. I was no longer on the street but back in my room in Phoenix. I pulled my knees up to my chin, hugged them, and started rocking back and forth. I kept chanting "Please, go away" over and over again. I could still hear everything around but my mind was elsewhere.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You little freak!" I heard one of them yell as he hit me.

Then, I heard tires screeching, a door open and some words exchanged. Next, was the sound of two people running away. Finally, I heard the voice of an angel. It had to be because there was no way Edward was here. So I kept rocking back and forth until a hand stopped me. I felt the shock and looked up to see Edward bent down on front of me. I launched myself at him, tightly hugged his neck, and buried my face in his chest. He let go of my shoulder and began rubbing my back.

"You're fine, Bella. Those men are gone, okay? You're fine. You're safe." He whispered reassuringly.

And I believed him. For some unknown reason, I felt safe in his arms-safer than I've ever felt before. He picked me up and carried me over to his car. Before he put me inside, he took his jacket and wrapped me in it. I looked down to find my shirt ripped up. I didn't even know when that happened. He made sure I was safely buckled in and pulled out of the street.

The inside of his car was very warm and I found myself become very sleepy. And then I remembered Angela.

"Edward, you need to go back. I have to find Angela. I was supposed to meet up with her and she's probably freaking out by now."

"Bella, don't worry, Alice took care of that. Angela thinks you're with Alice."

His words made me feel a lot better. At least I wouldn't have to explain anything to her. I wasn't doing a great job of keeping my eyes open so Edward told me to rest. He would wake me up when we would get home. I was out the moment I closed my eyes. My mind kept trying to process tonight's events which only resulted in nightmares. But whenever it got too bad, I kept hearing a voice reassuring me that I was safe.

I woke up when I felt Edward take me out of the car. The night was cool and it woke me up right away. I saw Alice standing by the front door. When did she get here?

"Bella, where's the key from the house?" She asked.

"It's in my purse. There's also another one under the floor mat." I told her and turned to Edward. "You can put me down now."

"I don't mind, Bella. Plus, I want to make sure you make it to your room safely." He gave me a small smile.

"You really think that now is the appropriate time to make fun of my clumsiness?" I asked, arching my brow. Might as well make him suffer a bit. He suddenly stiffened and became serious.

"You're right, this is not an appropriate time. I'm sorry, Bella."

I burst out laughing. I had finally made him feel bad. He just chuckled at my reaction.

"If you two are done flirting, I would like to get Bella to her room." Alice yelled from upstairs.

I blushed and lowered my head. Stupid meddling pixie! Way to ruin a nice moment, Alice. Without another word, Edward carried me upstairs and put me on my bed. He then exited the room. That was a bit rude.

Alice entered the room, carrying a wet cloth. She quickly cleaned up my face and arms and helped me change into pjs. She tried taking my watch off but I yanked my hand away and told her I'd do it later. She ignored my little outburst and let me be. She put a cold cloth on my face, saying it would help with bruising. I was thankful she thought of that. It would be hard to explain how I got it to people at school. She wished me goodnight and left. I closed my eyes and willed myself to go to sleep.

I was having my usual nightmare. Stairs. Renee. Phil. Pools of blood. James' evil smirk and his harsh words. I was back in my old room, trying to fight him off. The blows kept coming and coming and I cried out in pain. And then, it all stopped. I opened my eyes and saw no evidence of James. I felt a cool hand on my cheek and turned my head to see Edward looking at me. "You're safe." he said. And then I woke up.

I put my hands on my face only to find one cheek cooler than the other. At first, I thought it was from the cold cloth but then I realized it was on the other side. That's weird. I also saw that my window was open. I'm pretty sure it was closed before. I quickly jumped off the bed and walked over to close it. I looked towards the woods and saw a silhouette disappear into the trees. I must be seeing things. I mean, who would be out at this hour?

I went back to bed, hoping to fall asleep but had no luck. I then remembered about the books I've purchased. I picked up my bag and took out the one about the Cold Ones. I skipped over to the part where they described the enemy tribe. "Skin cold to the touch…Quick reflexes…Superhuman strength and speed…Unusual color of the eyes…Don't eat human food…Are sworn to keep their true nature a secret. "

And just like that, all of the pieces of the puzzle came together. Now I know why Edward couldn't tell me anything-it would give away his secret. I was still confused as to why he was ignoring me. His siblings seemed to have no problem with me. I decided I would talk to him on Monday. I wanted him to know that I knew what he was. And I didn't care one bit.

During my session, Margaret pointed out that I was distant. I just shrugged and said I had a lot on my mind. Technically, it wasn't a lie-I did have a lot on my mind. I didn't want her to think I've finally lost it since I was now convinced that Edward was a vampire. Luckily, Margaret let it be and ended our session earlier. Not that I minded.

Charlie was acting a bit weird tonight. He kept checking on me and even cut his TV time to spend some time with me. I wrote it off on the fact that I was attacked yet again. Around eleven p.m. he headed upstairs and I followed his example. I was hoping I'd be able to fall asleep fast but my mind kept working in overdrive.

I was starting to think that maybe I was never supposed to make it out alive in Phoenix and all of these incidents were life's way of telling me so. That maybe death was out to get me. Great, now I was being paranoid. Good going, Bella! I shook all of these crazy thoughts out of my head and forced myself to relax. After all, tomorrow will be a long day.