Chapter 11: Quiet
It's like you know where I'm going.
You follow me home but,
I never invite you inside.
I see what you're not showing.
I've got you alone but,
The air is so still, it's weird.
It's much too quiet in here.
I wanna disappear,
I'm hearing myself thinking too clear.
It's too quiet in here,
Make it all go away.

I got out of my truck in the middle of Forks High's car park and straightened up my clothes. I was wearing shimmering black ballet flats which matched my black and white handbag, I was also wearing a ruby red dress covered with a mini black jacket. Satisfied with how I looked I made my way into the school building.

"Bella!" I heard Dean say from behind me, oh no I thought as I turned around.

"Hi Dean." I said, putting a smile on my face.

"What happened to you? You never called me back." Dean said pouting. If I was in a better mood I would have thought he looked cute.

"Excuse me?" I asked confused and a little impatient because I just wanted to get to class.

"I called you yesterday but just got voicemail. I wanted to know if you would like to go out with me again soon." He said with a cheeky smile, I groaned.

"I don't think so Dean, I'm sorry but it's not a good idea at the moment." I answered quietly feeling a bit guilty, with a slight smile and a gentle hand squeeze I walked off to my class.

After homeroom; English and Trig passed in a blur. For both lessons I couldn't concentrate, my mind kept revolving. How long are they staying? Have they already left? Will the others come back at all? They were the thoughts that were repeating in my head.

"Bella." I faintly heard Angela whisper, I snapped out of my daze and looking around I was shocked to see that it was lunchtime and I was sitting in the cafeteria.

"Oh sorry Angela, did you say something?" I asked quietly, she looked nervous.

"I asked if you were okay?" she said softly

"Oh. Yeah I'm okay, I'm just a little distracted... Thanks." I tried faking a smile and I hoped that it had convinced her, I went back to absentmindedly spinning my water bottle.

"Are you sure you're not hungry? You can have some of my salad." She said worriedly.

"Thanks Ang but I'm fine, I had a big breakfast." I said, hoping she wouldn't see through my lie, it seemed to have worked.

"Well... Okay," Angela said reluctantly, "Jess it's rude to stare." I looked up at her words to Jessica and saw that she was staring behind Angela and Me.

"What is it?" I asked casting a confused glace towards Angela, suddenly Jessica came out of her daze and beamed almost physically bouncing in her seat.

"The Cullen's are back!" she whisper-yelled and let out a tiny squeal. I froze. What did she just say?

"E-Excuse me?" I stammered quietly. I felt my stomach drop, making me feel nauseous, when I saw Angela turn around and let out a barely audible gasp.

"I guess the Cullen's have returned." Jessica said. Her eyes on where I guess would have been where the Cullen's sat. What did this mean? I silently asked myself. I desperately wanted to look behind me to confirm it for myself, but I didn't know if I would like what I saw so I settled to believe Angela and Jessica. And although they were both my friends I couldn't help thinking that maybe it was some cruel joke.

"Bella are you okay? You look kind of pale." Angela asked with concern, I smiled a bit and took a deep breath.

"Yeah I'm okay." I said and took a long sip of my water, casting my eyes down at the table.

"Wow it's like first day of school all over again, The Cullen's are staring at you." Jessica said excitedly but I could hear the jealousy and resentment in her voice. With that aside, my stomach dropped again at her words.

"Um, I'm gonna go to class." I said quietly, I ignored Angela and Jessica's questioning stares.

"But we still have 5 minutes." Jessica whined, casting a look back at the Cullen table.

"I want to go and wash my face first." I said and stood up.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Angela asked, I smiled but shook my head.

"It's okay, I'll just see you in class." I turned around - keeping my eyes on the floor - and walked out of the cafeteria.

I walked into the bathrooms and was pleased to find that it was empty.

"Pull yourself together Bella," I whispered to my reflection in the mirror. I splashed some water over my face, being careful to not smudge my eye makeup, I could hear shuffling footsteps and muffled voices echoing outside so I waited a few minutes and then stepped out back into the hallway.

I walked into Biology and saw that I was one of the first people there. I gave a quick smile to Angela, who was sitting with Ben Cheney, and walked to my empty table.

"Ah Mr. Cullen, I'm glad to see you have returned," Mr. Banner said after a moments silence, I froze but kept my eyes on my book. "You can have your old seat next to Miss Swan." My heart started racing as I heard the stool next to me being pulled across the floor, don't look up, don't look up, don't look up... I tried repeating to myself until I heard him speak.

"Hello Bella," Edward said, the hole in my chest ached a little at the sound of his voice.

"Hello." I said, surprised at how calm I sounded. Mr. Banner turned the lights out and the television on to a movie about cells, when he turned off the lights I could feel the same electric current running between Edward and I from classes so long ago, I struggled with myself to not move closer to him.

The rest of class passed way too slowly, occasionally I would lean to the side in an attempt to get closer to him, when I'd catch myself I would lean as far as possible in my chair. A few times I thought I saw him leaning in as well, so when the bell rang to say I was relieved would be an understatement.

After Gym class I slowly made my way to my truck with Mike, he was talking about some random thing but I wasn't listening to him.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow Bella." I faintly heard Mike say once we reached my truck.

"Uh... Yeah okay, bye." I said and turned to my truck to unlock it, I gasped and dropped my keys when I felt myself being lifted off the ground and spun around in icy arms.

"Bella!" I heard a deep booming voice say loudly, I froze; I would know that voice anywhere. He finally put me down and I swayed a little bit putting my hand on the trucks door to steady myself.

"E-Emmett?" I stuttered and sure enough Emmett Cullen was standing before me.

"The one and only" Emmett said posing and chuckling, he raised his hand to pat me on the head like he had done so many times before but I ducked out of the way.

"What's wrong?" Emmett asked looking genuinely confused. The fact that he was still my big brother Emmett made me smile.

"Nothing," I said with a sad smile, I looked behind Emmett's head and over to the other Cullen's. It was the first time I had seen them altogether since my horrendous birthday, I could feel my eyes filling up with tears, and I had to blink rapidly to keep them from getting out of control. "Good-bye Emmett." I wrapped my arms around his waist and hid my face in his chest trying to withstand my chest pains he didn't break your heart. I thought to myself to help ease my ache.

"See-ya Bella." he said casually, I was glad that he didn't seem to notice the double meaning in my words, I was never good with good-byes. I took one last look back at the other Cullen's, taking in everything about them. I looked at Alice first, I saw that she was, of course, wrapped in Jasper's arms; she was wearing a black jacket that had silver lining on it which matched the silver buttons, it covered her red top that clung loosely to her; it wouldn't have suited her outfit if her fingernails and toenails weren't painted red, of course Alice would think about the small details of her outfit. She wore dark blue skinny jeans, her black and white strappy high-heels matched her white handbag with black outlines that had black ribbon and a logo that said 'Juicy' perfectly.

Jasper was dressed in more simple clothing, he was wearing a plain black v-neck shirt and over it he had a light grey buttoned down winter coat. I saw that he was wearing blue jeans that were a little faded; I looked down to his feet and saw he wore black Dunlops, on the front of them they had crossing lines in different shades of grey.

My eyes moved to the person next to Jasper and noticed that it was Rosalie. I was shocked to find that she wasn't glaring at me. She was wearing a v-neck black and grey tie-dye top that tied at the chest and wrapped around her torso, over that she had on a plain black open cardigan; her blue jeans were ripped on the knees and thighs, on her feet she had black open-toed heels, on the heel and sole there were white lines. Rosalie's handbag had the same pattern as her top, I also noticed, as I looked back at Alice to check, that both of the girls had a ring on their ring finger, but on the right hand, not the left, to a pass by person they would just look like a piece of jewelry but I knew they were actually their wedding rings.

Lastly I looked at Edward, I tried to look anywhere but at his face so I decided to look at his clothes as well; he had on a plain navy blue t-shirt but it looked flawless on him, on top of his t-shirt he wore a black zip-up sweater that showed off his muscles. His jeans were a deep shade of blue and hung loosely off his legs, his sneakers were a simple black lace shoe. I finally looked into his eyes and was immediately trapped, the amount of emotion coming out of them made me shiver but my sight of him was cut off way too early by a big head. I jumped back when I noticed the big head was Emmett and that he was still standing in front of me.

"Are you back to Earth yet Bella?" Emmett asked me with amusement.

"What?...Oh sorry." I stammered quietly, my face beginning to burn up.

"It's okay." he said chuckling, I bent down and retrieved my keys from the ground.

"Um... I'm glad you came back, it was nice to see you one more time..." I said trailing off; my mind was completely reeling now, feelings; memories and thoughts all at once.

"What do you mean one more time?" I vaguely heard Emmett say but I couldn't properly form a thought.

"Huh? Uh... Yeah I will... Um bye." I said and opened up my door after unlocking it but Emmett stopped me from getting in. I quickly looked over to The Cullen's and saw Alice holding Edwards arm, I could tell she was restraining him, I looked back to Emmett with a confused expression on my face.

"Tell me what you mean." He commanded softly, I shook my head to clear it but all it did was start a small headache, the last glance at Alice and Edward had only clouded my mind even more. I tried thinking about what Emmett had just said but the concentration made my headache worse.

"I... I have no idea.. My head hurts... Um..." I swiftly turned around and jumped into my truck, Emmett could have stopped me if he wanted to but he didn't. He didn't look happy but he finally walked away, I quickly looked at him closely trying to remember his hair, clothes and everything else about him. I watched as he met up with the rest of his family and as they began to talk, I looked on as Edward would take half steps in my direction before one of the others would stop him. I carelessly tried to start my truck but in my attempt to get away, I forgot to double pump the clutch when I tried to shift to reverse, which made the car stall; I took a deep breath and had to wait a few minutes before I successfully started the truck.

I drove home cautiously thinking about a new problem that had risen. How am I supposed to avoid the Cullen's when they dominate most of my mind?

When I walked into my house, I heard my cell phone beep signaling that I had a text message;

YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO IGNORE US. YOU LOVE US, I KNOW YOU DO.
I LOVE YOU
ALICE X

I sighed, in a way I knew Alice was right; but in another way I wanted to prove her wrong. I crossed my arms stubbornly and glowered at my cell phone. I'll prove her wrong, I lived without them for six months, and I can do it again.

[Author Note: I know this chapter probably sucked but I wanted Emmett to come into the chapter somehow. And I wanted Edward to stick to his promise about not talking to Bella about them until she's ready. I'm thinking about writing the next chapter as Edwards Pov in a repeat of this chapter, tell me what you think! So please review nevertheless, Flames are welcome as well]