I stared blankly at her for several seconds. Brother? No! I'd never heard a more hateful word. This wasn't fair. I loved him he couldn't be my brother!

"Bella. Bell!" Alice finally broke through the haze of my thoughts.

"What?"

"You have to get home." She was right but I didn't want to be home. I didn't want to be told that I was actually related to the boy I was in love with. Yuck!

"He looks nothing like me." I could hear the desperation in my voice. I turned to look at Edward who was staring at us curiously. I attempted a smile and waved. He returned the smile still eyeing us in confusion. I desperately wanted to tell him everything but I could barely tell myself. As I pulled up to the house I saw my dad's cruiser in the driveway and the living room shades were drawn. Great. This was going to be like a police interrogation. I rolled the windows up before getting out because the odds were likely it would rain. As soon as I walked into the house my dad called me.

"Bella, sit." I sat on the couch across from my mother. My father paced the floor in front of me clearly angry. Finally he turned to me.

"Where you yesterday?"

"The library."

"With…?"

"My English partner." It wasn't a smart thing to do I was just trying to prolong the inevitable. I could see my mother trying not to laugh.

"Isabella!"

"Ok, Edward Cullen"

"Bella I told you, you weren't suppose to see him!"

"But I l…" I stopped. Telling my father I was in love with Edward Cullen was really not something I should do. "Don't understand" I added quickly.

He didn't answer right away. Please don't say he's your brother please don't say he's your brother, I chanted to myself.

"His family isn't trustworthy and I don't want him to hurt you." Through this whole thing my mother hadn't said anything. I didn't take notice of that at that moment though all I paid attention to was that he never said Edward was related to me in any way. On the inside I was dancing but my facial expression remained guilty. "So I'm going to have your class exchanged." My head snapped up and my mental dancing came to an abrupt halt. School was the only place I could be with Edward without having to make sure people weren't watching us. Hiding the instant pain his words caused from my face was difficult.

"But it's already half way through the year."

"You can move to advanced English." He was right. I never wanted to because I already had 2 other advanced classes. My excuses were running out along with my self-control. I bit the inside of my lip to keep from crying.

"I'd really rather not change classes in the middle of the year." He sighed and sat down next to my mother. I got to my feet and walked up the stairs. The tears came then. This was the 3rd time recently that I had cried. My life was spinning out of control. In my room I grabbed the journal Edward had given me. On the inside cover I noticed there was something written into it, engraved.

Isabella, don't ever change.

That just made me feel worse. Every day I became even more confused. I jumped when I heard a knock at the door.

I closed the journal quickly and pushed it under the bed "Come in." My mother came in and sat on the bed.

"Bella, listen I know you have been spending a lot of time with Edward and you like him. My breathing began to pick up. My mother was perceptive but I was hoping she hadn't picked up on how strongly I was feeling for Edward. "I know you don't want to but maybe you should just stay away from him for a while." So much for my mom being on my side. I nodded numbly at her. She looked like there was more she wanted to say but instead she just got up and walked out. After I heard her go down the steps I thought of something. Not once did my parents say whether he was or wasn't my brother. Sure I could just ask them but I knew I was too much of a coward to do that. Edward had asked me to call him as soon as my parents were done lecturing me but I couldn't. My thoughts were so scattered I wasn't sure if I could even form a coherent sentence right now. My eyes caught on my book shelf and suddenly escaping from reality seemed like a good idea. I grabbed a book and laid down on my bed. However I only got through a few pages, at least that I remember, before my eyes drooped shut and consciousness slipped away.

My ringing phone jolted me out of my sleep. It was Edward which didn't surprise me but the time did-3:00. Now I would be up late tonight. My waking and sleeping hours were really getting switched lately.

"Hey." My voice sounded all rough from sleep so I cleared it embarrassed at how I sounded.

"Hi, Bella. How are you is everything alright?" My heart squeezed at how worried he sounded. It just wouldn't be fair that he was my brother. I knew I had bad luck but could fate really be that cruel?

"I'm fine I just fell asleep."

"Oh. Did everything go ok with your parents?"

No. "Yeah well it was…" My throat was constricting just thinking of telling him I was switching classes. "My dad wants me to go to an advanced English class." I hoped he would believe this and not that it was actually his fault. He shouldn't feel like he was a burden when he was what made me most happy lately.

"Switching? But it's January." I know, tell me about it.

I sighed softly.
"Yeah, but my father says I should be in that class." It was a poor cover-up but I was still too tired to come up with anything better. He knew how I felt. I hoped. I couldn't help it if my parents didn't feel the same way.

"Too bad your dad didn't decide this before we did all that work on the project." I knew he was trying to make a joke but I could hear the sadness hidden in his voice. It reflected the sadness in my heart. I laughed half-heartedly anyway. "Well I just wanted to make sure everything was ok."

"Yeah everything is fine." Except I'm being kept from the boy I love.

"Ok. Well I'll see you later hopefully." Pause. "I'll miss you." I had been holding my breath but when he said this, my breath burst from me in a short gasp.

"I'll miss you too. Goodbye." Reluctantly I hung up and put my cell phone next to the book on the bed. Even though I knew he was still there right across town, just a phone call away, I felt the loss of him deep in my soul.