Disclaimer: Notice how Stephenie doesn't sound a bit like Julia?

SORRY ABOUT THE LATE UPDATE!
This chapter is what happened before Bella left for Phoenix (chapter 17)

Warning: This is not a good chapter but it's been a while since I've updated.

Bella's POV

"Ms. Cope, I really, really need to sign out!"

"Sweetie, I've said it before and I'll say it again; you need a note!"

"BUT I DON'T HAVE A NOTE!"

"Sweetie, that means you can't sign out."

"MS. COPE!" I nearly screamed.

"Sweetie, you can't just sign out." I was going to shoot myself.

Ms. Cope and I had been fighting for the last ten minutes, when I should've been in English with Alice and Edward. My head screamed at me for ditching class, but as always Renee had sucked me into doing shit for her.

"MS. COPE. I NEED TO BE ON A PLANE IN 3 HOURS!"

"Sweetie, that's plenty of time. Just wait for school to end." Has this woman never been on a damn plane before?!

"That's not how it works! I need to be there earlier so I can check my bags in and get through security!"

"Sweetie, that won't take long." I wanted to smash a computer over her head.

"I NEED TO LEAVE! NOW!" I screamed as a slammed my hands down on the table.

"Sweetie, don't raise your voice! I'm sure your little plane will be there by the time you get there." Forget my suicide plan. She's first.

"You don't understand! I have to be on a plane in 3 hours to Arizona so I can meet my mom soon after. If I'm not there, she's going to do something! I NEED TO LEAVE!"

"Ms. Cope, I'm sure if you called my dad, he could excuse our little, impatient Bella over here." I whipped around to see him leaning against the administrative door.

"Get lost Cullen." I turned my head back to Ms. Cope only to see her staring at Edward the-all-mighty Cullen.

"But, really Ms. Cope; would taking such drastic measures be a necessity? Bella's impatient, my dad could be with a patient and you're a very busy lady. It wouldn't be that big of a deal if our Bella signed out, would it?" I rolled my eyes at his body right next to me at the front desk. I almost gagged at the sight of Ms. Cope's face.

The exact face of a horny teenage girl, as if the celebrity of their dreams just shredded all of his clothing and danced for her in his birthday suit.

"N-n-nooooo, that's not necessary. Bella, have fun on your little flight." She didn't even look at me once during that entire sentence. Freaking ridiculous.

I pushed off the desk and walked out the office door with my backpack on my shoulder.

Edward came up behind me and asked, "Why are you going to Arizona?"

"Because I want to."

"Ah, so it's not because Renee is threatening you?"

"Why would my own mother threaten me? Are you stupid?"

"Are you stupid? Have you really forgotten how bad you are at lying?"

"I don't know if it's because your eyes are stupid, but I'm not lying. I'm just tired."

"How long are you going to be gone for?"

"Long enough to clear my head."

"Clear your head of what?"

"Nothing in particular."

"You know you can always talk to me."

"Yeah; sure." I replied skeptically.

"Why don't I just drive you to the airport? Taxi's not worth it. Sitting at the back with a weird driver talking on and on, purposely slowing down at lights and you know what they—"

"I can afford it, thanks."

"Okay, if you're sure. So… does Alice know about this unexpected adventure?"

--------

So I sat beside the stupid shiny Volvo owner in his stupid shiny Volvo. We had dropped my car off at my house and picked up my ratty old suitcase. We sat in his car on the way to the airport while Edward tried to get a conversation started for the past ten minutes.

"So… Arizona, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Why are you going to Arizona?"

"I've said it once, so I'll say it again; because I want to."

"There must be a reason you're so abruptly leaving." He asked accusingly.

"You may think you know me inside and out, but you don't. I can leave whenever I want to. It's not like I need the University education." I spat.

"I know you well enough to know that you don't want to depend on your grandmother's money from the fifties." Ah, yes. My legendary pop star grandmother with multiple Billboard hits, sold out concerts, T.V. shows, number one international records and whatever else the late fifties had offered her.

"That doesn't matter. Money is money." I rested my head on my knuckles. We were quiet for a while until he started talking again.

"Why are you acting like this?" This is the one conversation I did not want to have in the car.

"Acting like what?"

"Don't pull this crap Bella."

"I'm not pulling shit."

"Why are you all of the sudden avoiding me."

"If I were avoiding you, would I really be in your car right now? No I wouldn't. So just shut up."

"I had to blackmail you to get into the car. And apparently now, Jessica Stanley knows more about you than I." I froze.

"That's an interesting accusation. How do you figure?"

"She keeps dropping little hints everywhere about why you're acting like this. I can't connect the dots though, but I do know something's wrong. I have suspicions."

"Well, you can shove those suspicions up your hairy ass." He turned and looked at me with hurt eyes. I turned my head and stared right ahead.

"Alice is going to be so disappointed. No Barbie doll for an entire week and a half. She's going to be really depressed and lonely!"

"She'll get over it. She has Jasper after all, doesn't she?"

"Rosalie is going to be sad that no one's going to sit in the garage with her and talk about the latest gossip on Perez Hilton."

"We don't go on the fat, hypocritical guys' website. We have magazines for that." I huffed.

"Emmett is going to be sad when he can't have a worthy opponent for sports."

"He has two brothers." Has he not noticed he's one of them?

"Jasper's going to be sad there won't be anyone there to read with him for hours in Carlisle's library."

"Hey, how about instead of hiding in the bushes, you come out with it already Cullen."

"I'm not hiding anything. I'm just simply saying how much everyone's going to be disappointed." I stayed quiet.

"But, don't fret Bella. They're use to it." He continued.

"They're not going to be disappointed. I'm coming back soon." I argued.

He didn't say anything back, and almost instinctively, anger swelled up inside of me.

"You have no right to guilt me." I sneered.

"I wouldn't need to guilt you if you would quit being such a disappointment."

"I got it the first time, Cullen. I'm a disappointment."

He didn't reply and we both stayed silent until the airport came into view, and we drove into the airport parking lot. He picked up my suitcase from the trunk and we silently walked together to airport café. We sat down by a window and ordered two large Vanilla Lattes.

"Bella, could you do someone you've known for the past 12 years a favor?"

"What kind of favor?" I took a sip of my latte.

"Could you honestly answer my question?"

"Maybe." I replied hesitantly.

"Why are you going to Arizona?" Screw, like a few hints could hurt.

"I just… have to go and fix something." He suddenly got a twinkle in his eyes and leaned forward.

"Bella, whatever it is, we'll fix it. Together." He said while grasping my hand.

"Not everything can be fixed." I pulled my hand back.

"We can try; it won't matter as long as we have each other." But we won't.

"Edward, your not my mom or my dad. I don't need you to take care of me. I can handle my own problems; I'm wearing my big girl undies."

"We've always taken care of problems together. You know you can always talk to me." he tried grasping my hand back.

"This isn't OUR problem, Edward. We're not little kids; we are not at an age in life where we can take half of the blame so we don't get in too much trouble. This is MY problem. Whatever I do, I'm going to have to take the consequences on my own. There is no 'us' anymore. Just me."

"You're right! We're not little kids; we're grown-ups. I've spent pretty much my entire life making sure you didn't fall on your face, mean boys didn't pick on you because you were the size of a leprechaun, you didn't feel left out about anything and things that sound stupid but that mean a lot to me. Just two days ago, when I couldn't find you at Licks, I finally realized why I was so panicked about you dating." I looked up to find him staring down at me.

"Stop." I said weakly and tried getting up.

He forcefully grabbed me back, sat me down and just stared into my eyes for who knows how long. I could just see him dying to tell me something I didn't want to hear so I looked away.

"STOP IT! I mean it Edward. STOP."

Edward grabbed my hands and bluntly said, "I really, really like you and these feelings are too strong for us to stay just friends." I waited fifteen Mississippis for him to say 'joking' or to laugh, but none of these things happened.

He snapped my chin up, leaned foward and gave me a gentle chaste kiss on the lips quicker than I could've ever imagined a person moving.

"N-no." I stared at him as if he were crazy.

"What's the no to?"

"This!"

"Us?"

"No Edward! There is no us! There's a you and me. Edward and Bella. Two separate people!" I shook my head.

"Exactly! Edward and Bella! Can't you see that we're meant to be together?!"

"This is not a romance novel so stop with the 'we're meant to be together' crap!"

"But it could be, if you wanted it to be. We can be anything you want!"

"We're not an ice cream mix. Even if we were, I would be vanilla; you know, one flavour?"

"How do you know that?! You haven't even given us a chance!"

"It's just awkward and there is no us!"

"Well! We were our each other's first kisses!"

I rolled my eyes, "In the eighth grade for a promise we made in grade two!" He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair.

"You're not ready for a relationship; is that what your trying to say?" I just looked away wordlessly. He sighed.

He looked into my eyes, grasped my hands and said, "I don't know if you know this Bella, but I'm going to wait for you."

"Alice or the other members of your family would not appreciate their family member sleeping in an airport." He rolled his eyes.

"I don't mean it that way. I'm going to wait until you're ready to be in a relationship."

"Why would you do that?"

"Remember in the third grade when you thought your hamster, Hamster ran away and you called me? Then I told you to look in your closet where you had your macaroni picture frame? You found him two seconds later and that weekend you baked me cookies to show your appreciation?" He smiled.

"Why is that relevant?" I asked.

"I knew Hamster would be there; it was like a clear message. This is another perfect example of how good I am. I know this is going to happen."

"Believe what you want, Cullen. I have to go, the flight is pretty soon. Wouldn't want to miss it." I got up and picked up my bag.

He pulled me into a big bear hug and whispered in my ear, "Just watch, Swan. You're going to be mine. No matter what you say, or what you do. I don't give a damn. You, Isabella Marie Swan are going to be mine." In the split second that sentence flowed out of his mouth, Renee and Jessica's faces appeared in my mind.

I pulled away instantly dropping my bag in the process.

"NO!" I roared and shoved him back.

"W-what?!"

"NO, EDWARD ANTHONY MASON CULLEN. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! NO!"

"Bella-"

"NO, CULLEN!"

"BEL-"

"N-FREAKING-O!"

"JUST LIS-" I took a deep breath and stopped him mid-sentence.

"Edward, I want you to listen me very, very carefully. There is no us. We're best friends and we're only meant for that one purpose. There will never be a 'us'. Never, do you understand me? N-E-V-E-R. Never. I will never feel anything but friendship for you. Do you understand? I WILL NEVER LIKE YOU IN THAT WAY." I half-yelled urgently.

He stood there looking stunned. I got my bag off the floor and grabbed my latte. When I looked back up, I saw emotions I never wanted to see on Edward's face flicker through his eyes. I closed my eyes and sighed.

I opened my eyes to see Edward Cullen, my best friend in the entire world walk away from me for the first time in my life.

That's the airport scene.

It's really random and awkward. I didn't know how to tackle this chapter.

I know you might be wondering why Bella would keep thinking 'how could he do that after he said…' in the previous chapter. It'll all reveal itself. Don't worry about it.

Sorry again about the late update responses on the PMs!

-Love, Julia.