Hiya, back sooner than before :) Some more drama for you...

Chapter 10

A month. I had been grounded for a month because I refused to tell Charlie and Sue who I had spent that Saturday with and lied about being with Rosalie. I was grounded for so long, by the time I became a free person again the bruise Jacob had painted on my face had faded completely and Seth was pretty recovered himself.

I spent an entire month helping Sue with household chores, spending my weekends stuck in my bedroom with nothing to do but read and listen to music – the one thing that kept me going was Edward. He would text me constantly and call me late at night after everyone else in the house was asleep. His voice was what helped me survive that very long month. And, of course, my lunch times at school were the highlight of my life.

Recently, however, we had been having a few close calls that left us tense and on edge and it fucking killed me but it was putting a strain on our relationship, especially after Mr Greene nearly caught us red fucking handed. I had to hide behind the classroom door, half dressed, as he and Edward had a lovely little chat – all the while I was praying to god he wouldn't notice my bra sticking out under the corner of Edward's desk.

Edward rushed to close the door for Mr Greene as he left the classroom and we heaved big fucking sighs of relief when he strutted off down the corridor and out of sight.

"That was way too fucking close," I placed my hand over my pounding heart as I rushed to retrieve my bra. "He was practically standing on this at one point."

Edward ran his hand through his hair and slumped into his chair, shaking his head, his eyes squeezed shut. He pinched the bridge of his nose and I knew that was a bad sign. "If we carry on like this I'm going to have a heart attack."

I tried to lighten the mood as I plopped myself onto his desk in front of him, "Don't worry, you're not that old."

He didn't laugh and seemed to be in a shitty mood the rest of the day pressing a chaste kiss to my cheek before sending me on my way. Our phone call that night was short and he told me he was on cafeteria duty the next day so we couldn't spend lunch together, hence my shitty mood the next day.

I was well intent on buying my lunch quickly then spending the rest of the hour behind the gym, smoking, alone. That didn't plan out very well.

"Hey, Bella boo, haven't seen you in ages."

"Don't call me that, Riley," I shuddered as I paid for my BLT and headed for the exit. Suddenly, his hand was wrapped around my upper arm, halting my movements.

"Where d'you think you're going?" He asked with a grin. "You haven't spent lunch with us since I don't know when, you're coming to sit with us." And he proceeded to drag me over to an empty table.

"Yeah, uh, if you hadn't noticed, Riley, Rosalie and I aren't exactly on speaking terms right now." But he completely ignored me, pulling out a chair and guiding me to sit down with his hands on my shoulders. At first I was glad to see it was a table pretty close to the doors – I could make a quick escape if Rosalie turned up – but then I noticed that Edward was stood about a meter away from the table, leaning against the wall with his arms folded.

We both quickly glanced away from each other when our eyes met.

Well this was going to be fucking awkward.

"Riley, come on," I said, "do I really have to sit here?"

"Yes." His tone was firm and left no room for argument. I sighed as I unwrapped my sandwich. "So, who's "E"?"

I stared at him. How the fuck had he remembered that?

"What?" I asked, stalling.

"You know, the guy who sent you the note."

I saw Edward tense out of the corner of my eye. Fuck. "He's no one, Riley."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes. Can you just drop it?"

"Do I know him?"

"No, leave it alone."

Riley chewed on his pasta, staring at me with a frown. "You're an awful liar, Bells."

"Bullshit," I scoffed, "I have a cop for a dad, remember?"

"Aah, so you are lying!"

I sighed heavily, "Riley, if this is the only topic of conversation you are interested in then I'm gonna leave."

He put his hands up in surrender, "Alright, touchy subject, I get it." He paused and I was fucking grateful until he spoke again. "So what's happening with you and Rose, how come you don't talk anymore?"

I groaned and took an angry bite of my sandwich.

Riley looked around as though checking for eavesdroppers before whispering, "Did she find out you took her boyfriend's v card?"

I coughed, choking on some tomato and reached for my bottle of water. Edward stood fucking frozen, his eyes fixed on us. Shit, shit, shit. I had to let him know somehow that this definitely did not happen recently.

"Riley, that was years ago, okay? It happened one fucking time and it was before they were even dating. And I swear to fucking god if you say one word to Rose I will chop your balls off."

Riley didn't look at all bothered by my threat, in fact he grinned, "There you are, Swan. Haven't seen you for a while. There's been this moping, miserable girl who took your place."

I stared. "What the fuck are you talking about, Ri?"

"Bella, the last time I saw you out having fun was the party the day we came back to school, ever since then nobody's seen you. You don't come to parties anymore, hell you don't even sit with us at lunch you always sneak off somewhere." I was shaking my head but Riley ignored me. "Whenever I do see you you're in a bad mood and all miserable."

"I'm not." I snapped, "I just don't have time for petty arguments they're a waste of my time."

"Your friends are a waste of your time, you mean." It wasn't a question.

I didn't know what to say. I was just wrapped up in Edward at the moment, he was the only good thing in my life right now. He made me laugh and all my friends seemed to do at the moment was piss me off or make me feel shitty about myself. But I couldn't tell Riley this, so I gave him the first excuse I could think of. "I was grounded."

He rolled his eyes telling me that he didn't accept that as an excuse but he went with the change of topic. "What for?"

"I went out, lost track of time, fed Charlie some lie about being with Rose and our phones died and he found out I was lying."

Riley laughed, "Yeah, you can lie my ass."

I hit his arm, "I fucking can and you know it. I would have gotten away with it if Rosalie hadn't called at the house for me earlier that morning."

He arched an eyebrow, "So she's trying to make amends?"

I shrugged, picking at the sandwich that I was no longer hungry for.

"I don't understand girls at all." He shook his head as though trying to shake his confusion. "They're so fucking bitchy and pathetic, all best friends one minute then bitching about each other behind their backs the next. Men are simple. You don't like someone, you punch 'em. End of."

I glared at him, "I'm not bitchy and I'm not fucking pathetic. You have no idea what went on so you can shut the fuck up." Riley simply rolled his eyes then chuckled when I added, "Rose got a fucking tennis ball to the head that told her I was pissed at her so don't go telling me I'm that fucking complex."

"Look, why don't you come to homecoming with me? We'll dance the fucking Cha-Cha-Cha, drink, I'll show you a good time then when you and Rose are both good and drunk you can hug and make up. Sound good?"

I frowned. He was doing it again. Why was Riley asking me out? We were friends. And Edward was standing right fucking there! Not that Riley was aware of that at all, nor should he care. "I don't think I'm going to homecoming."

"Why not?"

"…Grounded?"

"Bullshit. I'm taking you to homecoming, and that's the last I want to hear about it." He looked pretty pleased with himself when Emmett and Rose came and sat down and he informed them of his plan.

"I'm not going, Ri, and that's the last I want to hear about it."

The smug smirk was wiped from his face as I stood to make my exit. I heard Rosalie call my name but I didn't turn back. I just kept on walking.

*FT*

"So Riley asked you to homecoming?"

I stopped editing a photo of Edward on my laptop and focussed my full attention on his voice.

"Yeah." If he had heard that at lunch then he should have heard my response to it.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"Just checking you're still there."

"Mmhmm."

Silence.

I didn't like this silence. It made me feel fucking hollow and empty.

"So-"

"I think-"

We both spoke at the same time.

"You go." I told him.

"I think you should go."

"Okay…I was just going to ask if you were busy this-"

"No, Bella, I meant I think you should go with Riley. To homecoming."

I frowned. "What?" He didn't say anything. "What do you mean? You want me to go with Riley?"

"No I don't want you to go with Riley, don't be ridiculous."

I was really fucking confused. "Well, you're gonna have to explain, Edward, because I really don't understand what is it you're saying."

"I just…" He sighed and I could picture him pinching the bridge of his nose, a crease between his brows, hips lips turned down in a frown, such a contrast to the happy Edward, eyes sparkling at me, laughing on the screen of my laptop. "Maybe it will be good. You know, maybe it's a good idea to have people see you with someone."

"Why?"

"So they won't suspect anything."

I shook my head in confusion, "Edward, I'm really struggling here," my voice was harsher than I meant it to be, probably in response to his own distanced voice. "You're going to have to help me out a little bit more. Who suspects us?"

"No one."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Well we can't keep sneaking off every lunch time to have sex in my classroom – no scratch that, because its hardly sneaking, we're doing it right under everyone's nose and at some point, one of us is going to slip up or someone will walk in a second sooner and it will be out in the open for the world to see."

I understood what he was saying. I did. So I didn't understand why it hurt so fucking much. I knew that we didn't want anyone to find out about us, I knew we would both get into trouble, he could lose his job and though it technically wasn't illegal, Charlie would have fun trying to pin something on Edward. I knew all of this, yet it fucking killed me because it felt like he was ashamed.

Was he ashamed?

Was he ashamed of me?

The question was on my lips but I held back, I pulled the words back in fear of sounding fucking pathetic, because it sounded pathetic to me.

"Listen, I've gotta go, I'll see you later."

"Ok-" The endless monotone ring told me he hand hung up before I could even finish. "Bye then." I murmured.

I sighed placing my phone down beside the open laptop on my desk and stared. I didn't understand. I couldn't even express my confusion because I was that fucking bewildered.

Why was Edward off with me? I was sure I hadn't done anything to upset him. Maybe the whole Emmett thing pissed him off. I was going to kill Riley. But I couldn't even yell at him for it because he had no idea about Edward and I and screaming at him would surely raise his suspicions and that's what Edward was worried about.

"Bella, come and do the dishes please." Charlie called up the stairs.

I rolled my eyes and forcibly pushed myself towards my bedroom door as I could slowly feel myself already beginning to lose the will to live. Cleaning dishes under Sue's critical eye while listening to Charlie ramble on about how this is teaching me respect or some shit like that, on top of the crappy phone conversation with Edward, was definitely not what I need right now.

"The pan isn't clean, you need to wash it again."

I wanted to take the frying pan and smash it around the side of Sue's head, but I bit my tongue from saying anything and tightened my hand around the handle of the pan, playing out mine and Edward's date in my head to calm me. We hadn't been on one since as I was grounded but I was hoping we could go this Saturday. Or rather, I had been, but homecoming was this Saturday and he would probably want me to go to that instead – keep up appearences and all that. I frowned. Or maybe it was an excuse. Maybe he would rather spend the night chaperoning a bunch of high school students and watch me "date" some guy, than spend the time with me.

Maybe the Emmett thing had pushed him over the edge. Maybe he really wasn't okay with everything that I had told him and Emmett – my own best friend's boyfriend – had been the final straw.

I can't say I blamed him. I probably would have felt the same being in his position. Who would want to date someone like me? I fucking deserved what I got. I was such a fucking hypocrite, crying and holding my own self fucking pity party because of him when I went around fucking men for fucking money like some whore. I fucking deserved everything I got and no amount of whining and bitching and complaining was going to change the truth of the matter.

"BELLA!"

I jumped, spinning round, soap bubbles all up my arms, a sponge in one hand and a dripping frying pan in the other. "What?" I gasped.

Seth was staring at me strangely, looking me up and down as though he had never seen me before, before he asked, "Are you okay?"

I frowned, "Huh?" I sounded breathless.

"You've been scrubbing that pan like you were trying to scrub straight through it and I've called your name at least six times."

"Oh, sorry." I turned and rinsed the pan under the tap, noting the Sue and Charlie were no longer in the room.

"Bella?" Seth placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed as I rinsed my own hands and dried them. "Are you alright?"

I turned my head, giving him a weak smile. "Yeah. I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

Seth shrugged, "You been a little out of it these past few days."

I shook his hand off my shoulder and made to leave, "I'm fine, Seth. Thanks."

I had one foot out the door when he spoke again. "Bella?"

"Yeah, Seth?" He was looking at me strangely again.

"You know you can talk to me, right? If you ever need to." He looked so much older than what he was when he said that.

I forced a smile again for his benefit but said more sincerely, "I know, Seth. Thank you." Before I bolted to my bedroom.

I locked the door behind me and sat myself down, moving my cell off my laptop onto the desk beside it and opened the computer, signing into the Facebook account I rarely used.

If Edward wanted me to go to homecoming and be seen by everyone with another guy, then I was going to give him what he wanted. And if it was on Facebook then the world would know about it in a matter of minutes.

I searched for Riley and wrote on his wall.

I've been thinking about what you said and I've changed my mind. Pick me up at eight. We'll have fun at homecoming x x x

*FT*

The rest of the week passed by slowly. I saw very little of Edward and spent every lunchtime with my friends. Or rather, I spent every lunchtime with Riley while Rose and Emmett occupied the same table. Rose tried to talk to me and I didn't protest…too much. But I only spoke to her when she asked me direct questions and she received very minimal answers. I could see Emmett glaring at me from across the table when Rose looked all put out and heartbroken by my terse responses but I didn't give a shit. He could suck my dick.

My plan worked. After my little Facebook post the entire student body was talking about it the next day and I received a text from Edward on one of his free periods letting me know that he had heard as well.

You're going to homecoming with Biers. Every student in the school is talking about it. x

I replied quickly. I'm doing what you wanted x

And I got a fucking detention for having my phone out in lesson. But I didn't care. I was doing this for Edward. For us. I was doing something to make this relationship work and though I felt both a strange of combination of nerves and excitement to even think the word, I sat through my entire detention with a smile on my face.

*FT*

I pulled on my nude slash pale pink platform heels and stood in front of the mirror tugging a little on my dress. The upper half was pale pink, fitted and matched the colour of my shoes; thin straps held it up and the rest of the floating skirt was navy, with an intricate pattern of sequined diamantes around the empire line. I'd painted my nails to match the skirt. I kept my make-up soft and subtle and my hair in natural waves. Edward liked me natural.

The doorbell rang and I heard Leah squealing downstairs. I rolled my eyes and made my way carefully down the steps in my heels, just in time to see Charlie opening the door for Felix.

I gaped as he stood there looking all cocky, he raised his eyebrows when he saw me and licked his lips with a grin. I felt fucking sick. Sue and Leah came out of the living room, all smiles, Leah wearing the long purple bridesmaid dress from Charlie and Sue's wedding.

"Mr Swan, Mrs Swan, it's a pleasure to meet you." Felix said politely. Dipshit.

Charlie scowled, "That's Chief Swan to you."

I grinned. Go Charlie. He had a knack for picking out the douche bags. It was his job.

Sue slapped at Charlie's arm before holding out a hand for Felix who kissed the back of it. Sue gushed. "Oh, what a polite young man, you can call me Sue. You take care of my daughter, now."

"I'll look out for both of them," Felix nodded his head in my direction, "don't worry about that."

Charlie moved and blocked me from Felix's view when suddenly Riley appeared next to him at the door.

"Hi, sir, how you doing?" Riley asked.

"I'm good thanks, Riley," Charlie said, pulling Riley inside while shaking his hand before putting an arm around him and clapping him on the shoulder, "and enough of that sir, crap, you make me feel old. How many times do I have you tell you call me Charlie?"

Riley laughed, "Sorry about that, Chazz."

"Don't push your luck," Charlie said in mock seriousness before laughing.

Felix looked like he would punch Riley if he could. It was fucking hilarious.

"No need for you to look out for my Bella, boy," Charlie said to Felix with a barely masked glare, "Riley's got it all under control, isn't that right?"

"That's right, Chief," Riley said with a grin, slinging his own arm around Charlie's shoulders.

"Come on, Felix, let's go," Leah squealed, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from the door.

"Mm." Felix grunted and followed her out.

Sue closed the door behind them and turned angrily to Charlie. "Why couldn't you be nice to him? You're nice to Bella's date." Sue sneered the word.

"I don't know that kid but I didn't like him one bit. Riley here I've known since he was a toddler. Went to school with his father."

"Yeah, Charlie, why'd you have to be so mean? You had him running off with his tail between his legs." Riley grinned.

I rolled my eyes as him and my father bantered back and forth for a while before I'd had enough. "Can we please go now?"

"Sure," Riley laughed, taking my hand. His was too warm and didn't feel right. "See ya later, Chief."

"You look after my girl, now." Charlie said.

"You know I will."

And we finally left the house.

"You look nice," Riley said as he drove us to school.

"Thanks," I said, looking out the window.

That was all that was said the rest of the drive.

As we pulled into the parking lot I glanced over to the staff parking lot and noticed the sleek, black Vanquish parked right near the exit. Edward was here.

Homecoming was pretty shitty at Forks High School. As was prom and every other dance. They were all held in the gym with Mr Banner as the DJ and streamers and balloons for decorations like we were five year olds. But the girls fucking loved it, squealing and shrieking about what to wear and who was going with whom. The way I saw it, it was a waste of my time unless someone spiked the punch. But I wasn't here to enjoy it at any rate. I was here to put on a show. Edward would see. He would see through what everyone else was seeing. I was doing this for us, for him, I had to. I had to make him see that I was serious about us. I wasn't some fucking school girl who had a pathetic little crush on him, nor was I going to mess this up. I was serious.

I had been feeling things that I hadn't felt in a long time, not since Florida. I felt fucking happy. He made me so happy. And I couldn't bear the thought of losing him.

I couldn't lose him.

Fuck. Please don't let me lose him.

"Want a drink?"

I glanced towards Riley before nodding and he dragged us over to the refreshments. He handed me a plastic cup of punch which I took but before I took a sip he shook his head, looked around to see if anyone was watching, the took out a miniature bottle of vodka from his inside pocket and poured some into my punch before I could stop him.

"I don't-"

"Heeeey! Belly!" I turned to see Emmett lumbering towards us, Rosalie hurrying after him. "How are you, Belly? Long time no sp-hic-speak!"

I arched an eyebrow. "Kind of early to be this wasted, isn't it, Em?"

Riley looked at me weirdly but I ignored him.

"Lighten up, Belly, it's a fuckin' party!"

When there was a drunk Emmett, all grudges were forgotten for the night. But I guess he had a point. If I didn't buck the fuck up and at least pretend to have fun people were gonna get suspicious which was exactly what I did not want.

So I smirked at both him and Rose before downing my plastic cup of spiked punch and handing it back to Riley for a refill.

"Whoop, whoop!" Emmett yelled, throwing his arms in the air. Rosalie rolled her eyes with an amused grin she tried to hide. I laughed and high-fived Emmett.

Riley shot me another accusing look that I totally didn't get but took the cup from him, grabbed his hand and pulled him into the middle of the gym where people were dancing.

I wrapped one arm around his shoulders, occasionally taking sips of my drink as we danced, rocking our bodies to the music. His hands were everywhere, on my hips, my waist. I was cautious as to not to let him go too far yet keep up the façade so people wouldn't notice. After all, I was Bella fucking Swan, and "fuck" was all but my middle name. People fucking expected me to let him grope my ass. I felt a little sick at the thought of Riley touching me like that. Everything just felt wrong after everything had felt so right with Edward and just imagining anyone else touching me like that again made me shudder.

"You want another drink?" Riley half shouted into my ear over the music.

I nodded, not needing to stand on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek due to my heels.

He walked off through the crowd until he disappeared.

I felt numerous eyes watching me, clearly gawping at seeing Riley and I together and that was when I felt him. I felt his eyes watching me and I turned to see Edward, stood at the edge of the makeshift dance floor looking incredible in his charcoal grey suit and black tie against his crisp white shirt.

There was something in his eyes though, I didn't know what it was but his emerald orbs were haunted by something and I felt…no, I knew something was wrong. In that moment I didn't care that we were at school, I didn't care that he was my teacher, I was his student, I didn't care that we were surrounded by my peers and teachers – his students and colleagues – I needed to talk to him. I could feel it. Something really wasn't right. I needed to fix it.

But all of a sudden he was gone from my view and in front of me stood Rosalie, in a stunning red dress that suited her perfectly, with a perfect blonde head of curls that were fucking blocking me from getting to Edward.

"Bella. I'm so fucking sorry."

"Rose, I really-" I tried to tell her that now really wasn't the time but she wouldn't let me talk.

"Bella, please, listen to me. You're my best friend, okay? You have been since we were fourteen and I fucking miss you. I don't give a fuck about what the fuck your problem is. You could have killed someone for all I care, I just want my best friend back." I finally looked at her, I mean, really looked at her and saw the purple marks under her eyes carefully concealed with make-up. I saw the tears in her eyes that she was trying to blink back and I actually listened to what she had to say. "I know I said some horrible things but I just…I worry about you, Bella. I fucking love you and it makes me crazy when you do stupid things that could end up getting you hurt. And I will not stop caring, but I miss you and I don't want to fight about it. So can we please, please get over this stupid fucking fight and just…hang out again?"

I gave her a small smile. "I love you, too."

She giggled through her tears and threw her arms around my neck. I hugged her back, "I'm sorry, too." I told her. "For everything I said. All that shitty stuff I said about Emmett and everything."

Rose pulled out of the embrace shaking her head, "It's okay. I mean, not all of it was true of course, like Emmett fucking some other girl but…but the stuff about me thinking everything is fucking perfect." She sighed, "It's not. Nothing is perfect but I want it to be so badly, because I love him so fucking much and I just want everything to…to be perfect."

I nodded, only now realising exactly what she meant, because I felt the same way. I wished everything with Edward and I could have just been easy. And to be honest I think if I were a few years older or if he was a few years younger, or fuck, if he weren't teaching at Forks everything would be perfect. But we can't have fucking everything. And despite all of that, despite the fact that the odds were stacked against us I felt like I was who I was meant to be when I was with him.

In a world of Renee and Victoria and Charlie and Sue I finally felt like I wasn't alone when he was with me. I felt like I could fight against it all. I felt like we could fight against it all together. I felt like I, Bella Swan, me, I felt like I could get a fucking happily ever after despite all the shit going on in out lives.

And that's what Rose wanted. Fuck it's what everyone wanted. A fairytale.

"I understand." I told Rose.

She smiled sadly before exhaling heavily and shaking it off, she dabbed her fingertips under her eyes to make sure her make-up hadn't run before grabbing my hand and dragging me to the refreshment table where Riley and Emmett were leaning on each other, howling at something that was apparently fucking hilarious.

I shared a look with Rose and we rolled our eyes at the boys before taking their spiked plastic cups for ourselves, grabbed their hands and pulled them out onto the dance floor.

Riley spun me around in circles, laughing before he wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and swayed our bodies side to side – too slow for the upbeat, fast paced Black Eyed Peas. I pulled out of his arms but spun round to face him, keeping hold of his hand so he wouldn't think anything of it – so the rest of the school wouldn't think anything of it – and laughed with him and the rest of my friends as Emmett danced the fucking Chicken dance just because he felt like it.

Nearing the end of the night, I found myself sat at one of the tables placed around the edges of the gym, watching everyone dancing and laughing, some trying to point discreetly to me and then to Riley who was dancing with Emmett while Rose took pictures on her cell. I felt like my mission had been accomplished.

I took a deep breath and realised only then that for the past couple of days it had felt like something was sitting on my chest. I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I felt like Edward and I could finally relax, I mean, sure, we weren't going to be sneaking around school as much as we used to, but perhaps we could go out more. The thought had me feeling fucking giddy.

My phone chimed and I pulled it out of my bra – best place to keep it when I didn't have a bag on me, and my dress hid it well. It was from Edward. I smiled as I opened it.

You're beautiful tonight. You're beautiful always. Forever. Remember that. X

My smile was from ear to fucking ear. But then I remembered. I remembered that look in his eyes. And suddenly the text no longer made me feel happy, it no longer made me want to smile. Maybe part of it was the alcohol, maybe I was dizzy, but the text made me feel sick. Something was sitting in the pit of my stomach and it felt like fucking dread. I felt like something bad was happening – just like when I looked into Edward's eyes tonight.

Suddenly I was on my feet and rushing out of the gym into the cold night. Fall was in the air tonight and it made me feel even worse. Like it was the start of something bad.

I ran to the parking lot, as fast as I could in my heels.

The sleek, black Vanquish was gone.

*FT*

"Did you have fun at Homecoming?" Seth asked as I drove us both to school on Monday morning.

He had stayed round his friend's Saturday night and didn't come home until late on Sunday so we hadn't really had a chance to talk. Not that I felt much like talking. Edward hadn't spoken to me at all since he sent that text at homecoming and the dread I felt in the pit of my stomach still hadn't left.

I shivered and Seth wound the window closed that he had opened when he first got into the truck. It was a little cloudy today and looked like there was going to be a storm.

"Yeah, it was okay." I murmured. "Did you have a good time? I saw you with Rachel." I had seen him for about five seconds before he and his new girlfriend drifted off into writhing the sea of people that was the student body, rocking and grinding on the dance floor.

Seth nodded enthusiastically, grinning, "Yep. She's my girlfriend."

He had told me this already. It was about the only thing he said to me before he wandered off into his bedroom with a dreamy look on his face eleven o'clock last night.

I gave him a small smile, "That's great, Seth, I'm happy for you. Just watch-"

"Yeah I know, watch out for Jacob. He's not gonna be a problem though, Rachel spoke to her dad and after he got suspended and everything I think he'll be leaving me alone."

I nodded.

"So…you and Riley looked like you were getting along."

I nodded.

"You dating each other?"

I gave a half shrug. "Not really. Just went to homecoming together."

Seth nodded but didn't say any more on the matter for which I was both grateful and confused. I mean, I liked to tease Seth about Rachel and sure he could take it, but the kid could dish it right back and yet he said nothing.

My phone chimed in my bag and I practically threw it at Seth, "Can you get my cell out?" I asked quickly.

His eyebrows rose but he did as I asked.

He passed me my phone and I glanced down to see it was a text from Rose. My heart sank.

"Expecting a text from someone?" Seth asked, eyebrow arched.

I shook my head. "No. It's no one. Doesn't matter."

Seth nodded but looked at me weirdly. The kid had been doing that a lot.

I sighed before parking the truck in a spot next to Rosalie's car.

Seth hopped out, calling a "See you later," over his shoulder before jogging over to Rachel and a group of his friends.

I started making my way to the cafeteria before I changed course and found myself rushing down the English corridor to Edward's classroom. He wasn't there. But a woman was.

She was sat at his desk, going through what looked like pop quizzes. I cleared my throat and she looked up.

"Hi," she said with a bright smile, "can I help you?"

"Oh, I, um…I was just wondering where Mr Cullen was. I had a question about the essay he set."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr Cullen isn't in today," she said sweetly, "but I can help if you like?"

"No thanks, that's uh, that's okay." I turned to walk out the door but spun round to ask another question. "Do you know when he will be back? Is he sick or…?"

The woman shook her head, "No, I think Mr Greene said something along the lines of an interview…I believe it was at a school in Chicago so I'm not too sure when he'll be back. If you have any questions I'm sure I could help-"

"No thank you." I was out the door before she could finish.

I found myself with my back pressed up against a locked stall door in the bathroom taking deep, heavy breaths, my hands trembling. I dropped my bag and fell to my knees retching to be sick. Nothing came up.

I sat back, leaning against the door, my hand on my rapidly rising and falling chest.

He was gone.

Edward was gone.

Why was he gone?

Why did he leave?

I needed him. Fuck. I needed him.

I buried my face in my shaking hands and I felt drops of water hitting them like fucking bullets. I clenched my hand into a fist and bit down hard so no one could hear the silent sobs that engulfed me.

I told him everything, I told him fucking everything excluding him but I told him everything about my sister, I told him about my Renee and Charlie. He made me feel safe. I felt so fucking safe with him. I felt safe enough to tell him about those men. I quickly pushed myself forward as I retched again, sobbing, trying so fucking hard to hold it back.

It was me, I realised with a stabbing pain in my chest, I had driven him back to Chicago to the parents he despised because he was running from me.

He had left me. I needed him and he left me just like my mother, just like my sister. He had left me and I fucking deserved it.

I was tainted. I was fucked up in the head. I was fucking broken and he deserved better.

Last night came rushing back, when I felt like I was fucking capable of anything if he was with me – just like he always said I was. I felt like I was capable of a happy ending. This only made me cry harder because that had been a fucking lie. I hadn't lost anything. I had never had it to begin with.

And somehow that hurt more.

A fairytale just wasn't in the cards for me. I wasn't worth it. And he didn't think so either.

Oh dear, Eddie's left :/ ... Please don't kill me!

Bella's dress can be found on my blogger and I will try to update as quickly as possible.

Review :)