A/N: Well I'm trying to update faster :S. What does everyone think? Thanks for having so much patience with me, you guys are amazing, I love you all so much!

IhateJacob1: I love you too Izzy XD lol sure you weren't referring to me but WHATEVER. Anywho, enjoy the chapter.

Well, hey there peepz! Jalice here! Yeah, I am her beta and IhateJacob1's co-beta. So, yeah. Enjoy the chappy and let us know what you think. :)

Chapter 26: Missing You

I laid on my bed, in my new room and thought of my dreadful day. Today had been my first day at a new school that I was joining halfway through a term. It reminded me of my first day at Forks High, but in this school I was a subject of derision rather than entertainment. However, I turned my thoughts away from my awful school and towards some of the rumours that had already sprung up about me. It was like; gossiping was a course this school offered.

"I heard that her mother has been married 6 times." One person had whispered.

"Well I heard she was pregnant and moved here to have an abortion." The other giggled back.

"I heard that she was secretly married and she moved out here because her husband was mistreating her." I snorted out loud at that one.

It was in my first period that I became victim to complete humiliation. I could feel my cheeks heating up just thinking about it.

I entered the elaborately decorated classroom, to find plenty of students milling about, but no teacher. I awkwardly stood to cone side, unsure of what to do or where to sit. A baby-faced blue-eyed adolescent with acne and a camera approached me. It was like Mike, Tyler and Eric, three boys from my past, all rolled into one.

"Hey b…babe, how… how's it h…h…hanging?" He stuttered.

This was obviously the social reject of the school, looking to befriend someone that he assumed was just as pathetic as he was. I decided that he wasn't worth answering; I merely narrowed my eyes at him until he fled, almost knocking over a desk in his haste to escape. Job done, I was about to relax when three more kids approached; two guys and a girl.

The girl was redheaded and quite pretty. Not quite Rosie pretty, but then again, who was? She was the spokesman for the group, and took the liberty of introducing the three of them to me.

"Hi, it's great to meet you, I'm Victoria, and this is James and Laurent," she said, first gesturing to her right, and then to her left. I nodded meekly in the general direction of these rather intimidating new people.

I offered her my hand saying "Nice to meet you too, I'm Bella," but ignoring my offered hand, she leaned in and wrapped me in a firm hug. This was so reminiscent of my first meeting with Alice that I began to wonder whether I would be able to make friends here, and maybe even find a tiny shred of my previous happiness.

I shouldn't have got my hopes up.

James flung an arm over my shoulder. I silently appraised the two guys; noticing that they were both quite handsome in their own way. James had blonde, long hair that he tied back at the nape of his neck and piercing blue eyes. Laurent was dark, with black dreadlocks and eyes so dark that they were almost black. The three of them escorted me through the masses of teenagers to four desks that were strangely untouched. If I'd looked around, I'd have noticed that the giggling from all sides was more malicious then curious, but I kept my head down and my eyes averted.

The teacher never turned up for that lesson, I asked Victoria about it but she just brushed it off, returning instead to questioning me. Throughout the hour long period, she questioned me on my life before here. At first, I was guarded in my answers, but I desperately needed someone to confide in. Edward's family had been my only real friends, and I couldn't exactly phone one of them up and tell them all the whys and wherefores of why I left their brother. Their loyalty to him was much stronger than their loyalty to me I was sure. So in bits and pieces, I told Victoria the entire story; she seemed like a nice enough people, and maybe she would understand what I was going though. All I needed was one person, one person to hold me and tell me that I'd done the right thing, I knew that that would make all the difference.

When the lesson ended, I had begun to regret telling Victoria. I got the feeling that she had ulterior motives. As I'd explained what happened, the three of them had expressed all the right emotions in all the right places, but they just seemed too passive, and their emotions seemed to practiced to be real. I vowed to be more on my guard with them, especially Victoria.

I almost got the impression that they'd done this before.

But I ignored my gut instinct, instead taking Victoria up when she offered to show me to my next lesson. Telling me it was in an obscure part of the school, I trotted after her and James, who were walking together, arms wrapped around each other. I glanced towards Laurent and noticed him looking longingly at the happy couple.

"Do you like Victoria or something?"

Laurent looked at me sharply, and in that glance, I saw everything that I needed to know.

"No," I mused, The reason you look at her…then like that is because your jealous of the relationship they have.'

"That's not true!" he whisper shouted.

"Don't bother denying it; I can see it in your eyes. I had that once, but I gave it up. He was everything that I'll ever want. But don't worry, it'll be your turn soon enough. You seem like a sweet handsome, kind guy." I looked up at him, questioning my new 'it's too late for me, but you still have a chance' act. It felt like giving up.

I was about to continue when he interrupted me, smiling maliciously. "You're wrong." And with that he pushed me into a closet that Victoria was so kindly holding open for him. I had been so caught up in talking to him that I hadn't noticed the deserted corridors.

The door slammed behind me, and the key turned in the lock. I sighed; I should have known right from the start that this school was going to be hell.

It had taken me 27 minutes to pick the lock and find my next classroom. Upon entry, the teacher had waved aside my mumbled apologies, checked her watch and said 'under half-an-hour? Well I guess I owe you $30, Miss Busborg. Ah well, you win some, you lose some."

I was extremely confused, until the girl next to me explained that James and Victoria always befriended the new girls and locked them in some form of cupboard or enclosed space. The entire school then took bets on how long it would take her to get out of there. Apparently the shortest time was 17 minutes, when someone had simply kicked the door to the cupboard down. The longest however, was two days. The girl had fainted from lack of food and water, and had had to be taken to hospital. I would have liked my neighbour for explaining this all to me, but then she went on to ask whether it was true that I had been rescued from a brothel by a man who was now paying for my education in return for sexual favours. After that I pretty much ignored her.

I lay back on my pillow, today had been horrendous, tomorrow would be just as bad, and sleep deprivation would simply make it unbearable.

My last thought, because I succumbed to the escape of sleep, was "Edward, if only you could see me now."

Review, it means the world to me : )