Disclaimer: Keeping it simple today, I do not own Twilight.
A/N: Hello once again! Well, another chapter, more events, and more reviewers to thank. That would include fairy 16, Bellaangel383, 123456789, JessiXteamZoey, Snow Angel5466, Somebody, Lauren-xoxox, Rose97, Lexigal1984, Harry Albus Potter Dumbledore, Lily Luna Snape Riddle, belle teamcullen, EroticDarkAngel, Twilets, Rosejoanna, SuperK4141, Olive, Harry Albus Potter Dumbledore X2, rosalindathevamp, rpattzgirl08, twilightamanda, CookiesAndStorms, Moonyxforever, CrescentMoon12, zetake, KAte, sweetmel21, Rori Potter, xLaurelCullenxx, LivPeace, jakeluver, and Rose-Hathaway 44, bringing the review count to over 200. I got three words to say, Wow, thank you! You guys are awesomee, reviewers and readers.
Anyways, here is the long awaited chapter...
I noticed that Bella had begun acting strange ever since the Denali's had gotten here. To be honest the Denali's thoughts were confusing me terribly. They were all over the place, and just short of gibberish. I had eventually given up trying to decode them and started using my family's minds to keep tabs on Bella. I was getting concerned over her strange behaviour. It only registered in the back of my mind that Tanya was talking my ear off. I was using Alice's mind to watch Bella. She was also keeping tabs, as was Carlisle and Jasper. You would think my first choice would've been Carlisle, but it was awkward for me as I was quickly falling for his biological daughter.
Alice lost her focus on Bella momentarily when she and Kate got into a conversation about the nomad life versus the family life as a vampire. It was a moment too long for me and without thinking I quickly switched over to Jasper's mind. What I found there nearly made me sick. Jasper noticed the change in my emotions and clued in instantly.
I can't figure it out, but she feels so isolated and upset. He thought to me. I didn't understand it either, we were all being sure to smile encouragingly at her to show her we were still here for her. It bothered me so much I leaned around Tanya and asked softly "What's wrong?" being sure to let the concern show through my voice. What I didn't expect was her to begin shaking in fear... at least what I thought was fear. Emmett had heard the question and upon Rosalie's encouragement had come to check what was going on. I was entirely flabbergasted when my simple question caused her to fall to the ground. My eyes widened in fear. Emmett decided to try and lighten the mood as the tension was practically palpable.
"Why do you always fall?" he chuckled good naturedly, then added "God love her." Love her, I repeated to myself before quickly refocusing to the problem at hand. I was confused to see that not only was she no longer on the ground, but out of the room entirely. I looked around to see that everyone was upset. Carlisle's face was torn between fear and confusion, he was fearful for what was going on with his daughter, and confused towards her actions. My eyes narrowed in on Tanya and Irina who were looking smug, oblivious to Jasper who was glaring daggers at them.
"What are you doing?" I spat at Irina, alternating my gaze between her and Tanya. They both put on innocent faces and looked at me confused.
"Edward, I honestly can say I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," Tanya told me, and as I didn't have any proof I couldn't interrogate them any further. However I did hear Eleazar think I've warned those girls about this. I made a mental note to talk to him about that.
"I'm going to go see if she's okay," I announced getting up, wanting to get away from Tanya. As I passed where Carlisle was sitting in his chair he grabbed my arm and shook his head at me.
"She needs time to think, she'll come around. If she isn't out by the end of the day one person will go make sure she's okay," he told me, but I didn't want to agree with him.
"Why can't I check now?" I challenged and he looked surprised before shaking his head and looking at me neutrally.
"Whenever she would get upset when we were human, she wouldn't talk to anyone until at least a few hours passed. The only exception being if she came out on her own, right now she has her walls up and nothing you say or do will lower them. Trust me; I used to try when she was a kid," he explained calmly, and I relented.
"Fine, but I'm going to my room for awhile," I told him. He smiled, letting go of my arm. I left the room, to my dismay hearing steps following me. I really didn't want to talk to anyone, I just wanted to be close by so if anything happened I would be the first to hear.
"Edward wait up for me," Tanya sighed as she appeared at my side.
"I apologize, but I don't really want to talk right now," I told her. I heard a huff of annoyance from beside me and I shook my head. She continued to follow me into my room. I laid out on my couch, and she positioned herself on the ground near the head of the couch.
"Please talk to me?" she tried after a very long silence between us. To be truthful I had been listening for any movement from the guest room. The only thing I heard was the occasional heart-breaking sob that tugged at my heart, making my want to go against Carlisle. I had to keep reminding myself that he was her father and he wouldn't do anything to hurt her, not to mention he knew her better.
"I already told you I didn't want to talk," I reminded her.
"It's because of Bella, isn't it?" she asked, accusation and distaste in her voice.
"So?" I snapped, silencing her for a while. We ended up just sitting there in silence. I hated how I was starting to feel bad for snapping at her, I still had no proof as to whether she deserved my anger or not. It was starting to become apparent that she didn't.
It was the evening when I over heard Carlisle ask Esme to go check on Bella. I envied her for being able to go see her, but I was happy that we would finally be able to hear what was going through the confusing mind of Bella. Esme knocked on her door being answered with a "Come in!" from the only occupant of the room.
"Are you alright?" I heard Esme ask, sounding like her caring motherly self. What truly baffled me was Bella's cold response.
"Fine," she growled, and I then understood what Carlisle meant by walls. What I didn't understand was how she lashed out at Esme, as if it was her fault or something along those lines. Through Esme's mind I could practically see the hurt that flashed across her face before she quickly exited the room.
That was the last we heard from Bella until hours later. I heard her door slowly squeak open, and I instantly toned Tanya out to listen to the world outside my room. I distantly heard Tanya laughing, but I didn't even know why. "Why does she have to stay here?" Rosalie spat, a quick scan of her thoughts confirmed my suspicions that she was referring to Tanya; who else would she hate so much?
"Come on Rose, she's technically family. Just endure her," Emmett reasoned, but it was obvious Rosalie wasn't happy with that alternative. She really wanted to kick them out. I never understood where her hatred came from, but nobody ever questioned it and she never thought about it.
Alice was whispering to Jasper urgently. I only caught little pieces here and there, something about a vision she saw. I heard Bella creep down the hallway, going the opposite direction of my room towards the stairs. The only people downstairs were Esme, Carlisle, Carmen, and Eleazar. She stopped at the stairs so I focused on Carlisle's conversation, trying to hear what she was hearing. "So she's your actual daughter?" Carmen asked Carlisle, sounding astonished. She was amazed actually, she had never heard of a case like that ever happening before.
"Yes," he sighed, his voice easily conveying the love he felt towards his daughter. I suppressed a smile at that. That task became easier when I heard Bella chock back a sob and bolt back into her room. I wanted to jump up and run to her room right then and there. I simply settled for trying to figure out what was going on in her mind, why did that simple conversation upset her so much? It made absolutely no sense.
We didn't see much of Bella for the rest of the week. I wished that it wasn't March Break. Then not only would I at least be able to see Bella when she had to go to school, but it would also provide me with the perfect escape from Tanya. She was my shadow, and she was annoyingly good at it. I had been raised to be polite, and no matter how much I wanted to act against my nature, it just wasn't happening.
I seriously hit the end of the straw when Alice insisted we all collect in the living room. She was adamant that it was very important and could NOT wait. It was just Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Tanya, and I as Carlisle, Esme, Carmen and Eleazar were out on a prolonged hunting trip, much to Carlisle's unease. Since Tanya was with us, Rosalie was listening from the garage 'pretending' to work on a very important project.
"Bella's gonna leave," Alice announced urgently. A loud clang was heard from the garage as Rosalie probably just dropped a tool in shock. Emmett was too shocked to talk; Jasper looked like he already knew the information... then again he probably did.
"Good riddance," Tanya muttered under her breath, earning a hiss from everyone in the room.
"You must be mistaken Alice," I shook my head, not wanting to believe that the girl who I was just figuring my feelings out for was going to leave us.
"I've seen it in my visions, Bella's thinking about leaving!" Alice repeated urgently, that's when it began to sink in. I couldn't think of why she would want to move thought. Everyone in the room either had a look of hurt, confusion, or pain. We heard something at the doorway and everyone turned to see Bella standing there, her face crumpled in pain. My heart leapt out for her causing the urge to run to her and pull her into a hug.
"Bella," Tanya acknowledged, yawing after. I elbowed her in the side, quickly getting fed up with her.
Jasper looked at her with the same confusion he's worn all week, as her emotions were confusing him so much, however this time it was accompanied by a look of sadness. Before I had the chance to question or convince her to stay, she bolted from the room. Without a second thought I chased after her. She had run into her room and slammed the door shut, locking it. I started to bang on the door, calling her name hopelessly, I really didn't want to break the door but I would if I had to.
Soon I no longer heard her banging around the room and that's when I decided 'screw the door' and broke it down. I was met with an empty room, which still contained almost all of her things. She left most of her stuff, so it was evident she left in a hurry. I buried my head in my hands, letting out a few sobs. Looking up I saw Carlisle, Eleazar, Carmen, and Esme standing in the doorway, with everyone else standing in the hallway. My eyes narrowed on Irina and Tanya, standing side by side, unsuccessfully hiding their smirks.
"You two," I glared at them, forgetting the manors that had been drilled into me. They flinched back from my glares, but I refused to let up.
"Edward, what is going on?" Carlisle asked, attempting to direct attention from the two who drove Bella away.
"They," I directed to Tanya and Irina "Drove Bella away," I stated with full confidence.
"What makes you say that?" Esme inquired, looking perplexed at how they could.
With a lack of any other reason, I merely answered "Who's the mind reader here?" I was too distraught to intelligently argue my point.
"We did no such thing!" Tanya defended, making herself sound distraught over the concept. I didn't know what to say after that, until Eleazar's thoughts came back to mind. He knew what was going on, that I was certain of.
A/N: There you go! Confused yet? I love reading everyone's predictions, so if you have a guess at what's going on, don't hesitate to leave it in a review. If you don't have a guess, don't hesitate to leave a review. If you don't care, don't hesitate to leave a review. Lol, anyways remember the /_\ of happiness. And now I shall go to bed, hope you enjoyed the chapter! :)