Chapter Twelve

Bella's Point of View

I woke up on a soft, comfortable bed. I knew that I wasn't in Alice's room for this room had a different structure and style. The room was bright and inviting. The curtains were drawn, as the sunlight shone through the window. There were lots of artistic shelves standing against the wall. Some of them had CDs lined up neatly against them. On the other side of the wall, there were books, classic novels, standing orderly on the shelves. It looked like a mini library. There were famous quotes placed in frames and they were hung on the wall. It was the perfect decoration. I recognized some of them written by my favorite poets. I knew that this had to be Edward's room.

There was a black, leathered couch in the middle of the room. In front of it, was an exquisite fire place. There was a delicate table in the corner. It made me curious as I spotted a familiar photo in a crystal picture frame. I walked up to it and recognized it immediately. It was a picture of me and Edward in our meadow. I was leaning against his chest as he had his arms around me. He was smiling my favorite breath-taking crooked smile. That was two years ago. I wonder why he had it in his bedroom. The picture brought back so many memories. I held it against my heart, as I closed my eyes, and lied on the bed to think back.

"Bella? I thought I heard you upstairs awake," Alice knocked and entered the bedroom to sit next to me on the bed.

"Good morning Alice," I smiled. She saw the picture in my hand and chuckled.

"I took that picture one day as I followed you guys to your hideout. I knew that you two would never carry a camera with you, so I had to play photographer," she grinned.

"Did he always have this picture in his room?" I asked softly, my voice was almost inaudible.

She nodded, "Yes Bella. It was one of the most precious things to him. He would lock himself in the bedroom and look at it everynight. It was hard on him Bella, he blamed himself for everything," she sighed. We were both speechless for a moment. Neither of us knew what to say.

"Wait! There's something that I would like to show you," she pulled out an astounding photo album from the shelves. On the cover, the word Memories was engraved in a golden color. She handed it to me and smiled. I opened the album.

The sound of your voice

Is like a butterfly

It guides along

Swiftly, lovely

The words slide off your lips

Like a butterfly flutters its wings

Voice as lovely as gliding in wind

The sound of your voice makes me smile

But this moment soon fades away

And all I have is nothing

I flipped the page and I felt tears brushing down my cheeks. My heart ached when I saw they were all pictures of me and him.

Edward Cullen

&

Isabella Swan

2006

The first one was taken when we first met. We were sitting in his bedroom back in Forks, he had me in his arms and we were both smiling … then there was our junior prom… he was in a beautiful tuxedo while I was in my cast, imagine the awful comparison. The next one was taken when both of us were sitting in his shiny Volvo; we were on our way to school… I flipped through the pages and found the photos to get blurrier and blurrier since I'm eyes were now filled with tears.

"The one in the photo frame was his favorite. He said that he could almost relive the day when he looks at it. He treasured everything that reminded him of you," she sighed.

I felt guilty and gloomed as I closed the album. How could I ever doubt his love for me in the past 2 years? He had always missed me and loved me. I remembered how I felt. My life was blank when he left me. I pretended to be happy for Charlie, Renee, and Jake, while deep down inside, there was always a hole that was never filled. I was never happy. All of my memories involved Edward. Now that I think back, I have no idea what I was doing in the past two years. I went to school, got accepted in Yale, but I never felt the joy. I was lifeless…I couldn't help but let out a sob. Alice handed me a tissue and gave me a sympathetic hug.

"Bella, honey, are you okay?" Alice asked gently. I nodded my head.

"Sorry Alice. I got to emotional over the photo album," I tried to force a smile.

"He'll be back soon Bella," she whispered. I nodded and followed her to the living room.

"So what's the agenda for today?" she said cheerfully as she handed me a brand new box of cereals and a jar of milk.

"I have to study for an exam tomorrow," I said in an as-matter-of-fact tone. She pouted. She was hoping that we could go on another shopping trip.

"Aww! No shopping?" she said, disappointed.

"Sorry Alice, I don't have photographic memory like you do," I said sarcastically. I was glad that I have to study; it allowed me to escape from whatever Alice had planned in mind.

After breakfast, she dropped me off at my apartment.

"Want to come in?" I asked politely.

"Sure, I'll help you study." She said, smiling warmly at me.

I carried all of my books to the living room. She would ask me questions about the books and I would answer them. She was a great test maker; all of the questions were professional.

"Alright. What was Alexander Pope's first contribution?"

"That would be… An Essay on Criticism," I almost screamed out the answer. She nodded.

"Next. Who did William Shakespeare marry on November 28, 1582?" the rest of the afternoon went on like this. I had a lot of fun with Alice though; she made studying interesting as she made funny faces throughout the whole studying session.

I yawned after a few hours. "Bella, why don't you take a break? You have everything memorized… Relax, you'll do great," she gave me a pat on the shoulder.

"Thanks Alice. I think I'll take you up on that," I yawned again. Then, the phone rang. I ran for it, hoping that it would be Edward. Then I remembered if he wanted to talk to me, he would have called Alice on her cell phone.

"Hello?" I sounded a bit disappointed as I answered the phone. I reminded myself that it wasn't whoever on the phone's fault that they're not Edward.

"Hey Bella, it's Meagan. Listen, we have a little gathering at Dylan's place, want to come? We're going to talk about the presentation for American Literature next week. Maybe we can work on it today. So are you interested?" she asked politely.

"Umm… sure Meg," I tried to sound enthusiastic.

"Great! Pick you up at six!" I didn't have a choice. Meagan was my partner for that class. If we don't get it done before this up coming Thursday, we would fail the class.

"Who was that?" Alice asked cheerfully.

"My friend Meagan. We have a studying session tonight at six," I informed her. He made a face,

"Seriously Bella, don't you get tired of studying? We've been doing this all day!" she exclaimed.

I sighed, "If I don't Alice, I'll get kicked out of school. This isn't exactly High School," I reminded her.

"Oh that's right…" she murmured.

"Well, get some rest. I'll see you later!" she smiled and pecked me on the cheeks. She was out of the door in a brief second, I heard the Porsche driving away…

I almost collapsed on my bed. Was I still tired from shopping yesterday? My eye lids were heavier by the second; I was asleep before I even knew it myself.

I saw Edward in his bedroom. He was laughing… That's when I noticed that there was a girl in his arms… she was sitting on his laps. The girl had beautiful blonde hair, I couldn't see her face for she was facing me with her back; her voice was high and chirpy. He was rubbing her back as she leaned against his chest. Edward didn't notice me, neither did the girl. They were still talking animatedly, flirtatiously, completely ignoring my presence. Edward leaned closer to kiss the girl on the lips. I felt anger and jealously building up over me as I got closer to see who the girl was. It was Paige. I screamed and screamed… but they still didn't sense my presence.

I just noticed that there were a few typos in the last chapter. I'm really sorry about that, I hope that I am forgiven... LOL! Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter, and please review and I will continue to post more. I really appreciate all of the great reviews that you have given me already, and please continue to do so! That's what keeps me writing... ha ha! The poem that "Edward wrote" was found o the internet. I thought it would fit with the story so I copied it...

Another thing, if you want to see how Paige looks like or acts like in my mind, go to my profile and check it out.