So I was still just working on the prologue, but I feel like there is just too much to introduce before I get to the thick of the storyline, so it's going to be a few chapters of set up. That said, I hope that you are all still enjoying the story.

Chapter 2

Bella

My alarm screamed out into the cold Washington morning. It woke me up quickly and I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I looked around and was disappointed to find that although I had left my window open, and allowed for the cold air to blow in, my room was once again empty. I hadn't seen Edward or any of his family in four days. Today was Friday and I couldn't be more ready for the day to be over and for it to be the weekend.

The first day without Edward I had spent time with my other friends and I had felt an incredible sense of freedom, that is until I went to see Jacob. Since then I have not heard from either of them, I hadn't even tried to get ahold of Jake. I didn't know what to say to him.

The second day without Edward had passed by slowly. I felt tired and a bit sluggish. By the third day, I was grumpy and in a downright foul mood. I was exhausted and felt like I was dragging heavy weights on my legs. My shoulders seemed to slump forward and I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I thought that I must be getting sick.

Today, the fourth day, I was fighting a losing battle just trying to get to the bathroom to shower. I stumbled the whole way there and when i finally made it in I had to rest against the sink. I shook my head, gave in, and called Charlie to let him know that I couldn't make it to school today. He had noticed my decline this week, so he agreed without much resistance.

I decided to skip the shower and just crawled back into bed, I don't remember when I fell asleep. It was a restless sleep filled with nightmares. I screamed as I was jolted awake in a cold sweat. I couldn't remember much about my dreams but there was a dark coldness chasing me, I don't know how else to describe the icy danger I saw, or rather felt. That's not where my nightmares ended though, because then there was a giant black wolf barreling after me as well.

I was able to make it to the restroom a bit easier this time, so I took a warm shower in an attempt to shake off the incredible cold that had come over me. It didn't work. I turned the water as hot as it could go, and even though my skin was glowing red, I still felt cold deep in my bones.

After my shower I was drained of energy once more. I made my way back to the bed and slipped back into a nightmare filled sleep.

The next time I woke up Charlie had just gotten home from work and was checking in on me.

"Hey Bells, how you feeling?" He asked.

"I'm ok. Just tired." I responded, I had to force myself to say even that much though, I didn't feel like talking to anyone.

"Ok kiddo, just rest, I'll bring some dinner up later on." He said gently before he closed the door.

I listened as his footsteps grew softer and farther away. I stared out my window for awhile, but fell asleep at some point.

I must have slept through my dad dropping off food because when I awoke once more there was food sitting on my desk, it didn't matter much either way, because I had no appetite. In fact, I couldn't remember the last time I ate at all.

The next time I woke up, there was a blanket covering my form and cold, solid arms were wrapped around me. I decided to pretend I was still asleep. I knew that I wouldn't have long before he figured out that I was awake, but I needed to come up with what I wanted to say before we had any sort of conversation.

Before I could get very far into my thinking I realized that this is the first time I have felt truly awake in the past few days. My mind fog had lifted and I felt… normal. I must have slept off whatever it was that had made me feel so groggy.

"I know you're awake." His velvet voice called out to me. It was so smooth and perfect, I felt calm and comfortable. "How do you feel?" He questioned.

"I feel alright." I spoke the truth, but it was a long time before I would come to realize that I had never told him that I hadn't been feeling well at all.

A few weeks had gone by and we were well on our way to graduation. Things had gotten back to normal between Edward and I, I had even convinced him to let me spend more time with my friends. I don't know why, but I had never told him about mine and Jacob's conversation. It seemed like something private, something that I wasn't willing to share with him, but that doesn't mean that I didn't try to fill my time up with other friends, because I certainly did.

I was sat down between Edward and Angela currently, and just like every other day since Edward and I had begun to sit with them Jessica and Lauren were staring at Edward while Angela and I talked and Edward pretended to eat and not notice his audience.

"So Bella, I heard that there is going to be a big bonfire in La Push this weekend…I know that you are friends with the Black's, so maybe you could get us in?" Jess said. Jessica was a bit of a gossip, and definitely the party girl type, but I know that she had good intentions, I have no doubt that this was more Lauren trying to get into the party than Jess. She probably thought that I would be more inclined to say yes since I have a soft spot for Jessica. Too bad for her, she didn't know that I apparently don't have any business in La Push anymore, so I doubt that I would be able to get in myself, much less Lauren, who has quite the rep on the rez.

"Um. Maybe. I can try." I answered quickly. No one seemed to notice my mood drop considerably, except Angela. She was perceptive, but she wasn't invasive, so I knew that she would ask me about it later when no one else was around to hear.

As for Lauren and Jessica, they seemed to accept my answer and move on to talk about other things. Mostly, the cute guys who are from the reservation. Mike, Tyler, and Ben who had kept quiet so far did not have much tolerance for their conversation, so Tyler was the one to speak up.

"Can you guys believe we are getting ready to graduate?"

"Yes! I feel like it can't get here soon enough! I just want to be out of this town!" Jess squealed.

"Amen! I need some new man meat!" Lauren said suggestively causing Jess and Angela to giggle, and for all the men at the table to roll their eyes.

"Well where do you guys plan to go to school?" Angela asked everyone at the table. Everyone gave their answers with Tyler and Lauren going to community college in Port Angeles, Jess planning on going to school nearby in Seattle, and Mike heading towards Sunny California.

"Ben and I actually have news." Ange said as she looked at Ben. He continued where he left off. "We've actually both been accepted into Engineering school in Missouri!" He said excitedly.

"Why would you want to go to Missouri, it's so beautiful here, or even California…" Lauren said. It was a question several of us had on our minds, but she was the only one rude enough to say it allowed.

"It's a great school, and it will be an adventure… I mean neither of us have been farther east than Colorado." Ben answered her without getting frustrated.

"That leaves you guys, where are you going?" Mike asked. I appreciated that he had included Edward in the conversation because until this point, he hadn't said anything at all. But just as I was about to admit that I wasn't sure where I plan on going, Edward answered for me.

"Bella and I will be attending Dartmouth in New Hampshire in the fall." He said. I swung my head to look at him so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash, but when was that decided? I had no plans to go to Dartmouth. I had applied to appease Edward, but it wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want to be that far away from Charlie for the first thing, but I also had developed a love for the sleepy town of Forks since I'd gotten used to it here.

Edward just looked over, and smiled down at me. He gave me the same look the he had all those weeks ago when he had proposed. The look he got when he was sure that he was going to get exactly what he wanted without any resistance or argument from me. But just like he was then, he would be wrong.

Lunch period was over and we all dumped our trays and headed out in separate directions for our classes. Edward gave me a peck on the cheek and went on to his math class while Angela and I headed to History.

"Ok, so you know I am not one to pry, so if you don't want to talk about it, it's ok, but what was wrong earlier when the girls were talking about La Push?" she asked softly as we walked into our classroom and sat in our seats. I know that she felt like she had been pushy, but really I wanted to talk to someone about it, I felt like I was bursting at the seams, but I wouldn't talk to anyone other than her about it.

"No, honestly I've really been wanting to talk about it." I told her. She looked at me, and encouraged me to go on. "I went to the Rez a couple of weeks ago to see Jacob, but when I got there he looked totally different. He cut all his hair off and he got a tattoo!" I don't know why, but I decided to leave out the part where he grew a foot and about fifty pounds of muscle overnight.

"That's pretty strange." She said, "But why does that upset you so much, is that tattoo weird?" She asked me, and chuckled a bit because she knew that a weird tattoo would not make me this upset.

I laughed too at first, but I went back to serious when I told her what Jacob had said to me that day. I felt tears prick my eyes, but I was in luck because Mr. Sullivan interrupted, "Ladies, anything you'd like to share with the class before we begin lecture?"

Angela quietly shook her head, and I of course blushed and muttered a "no sir."

Class seemed to fly by today and soon the bell rang signalling our next class and the continuation of our conversation since we both had gym next.

"I've got to say Bella, that seems really out of character for Jake." Angela spoke up first as we walked into the locker room."I know that I haven't actually ever met him, but I feel like I know him vicariously through you."

"Yeah, but he never really gave me a chance to talk to him about it, and what I haven't said, or really thought much of, is the fact that he hadn't spoken to me for about a month before he said all of those things to me." I really hadn't thought much of that at first, but maybe it did have something to do with the changes he seems to have made both physically and in his personality.

"That is pretty hurtful." She concluded. "He's a jerk and you deserve better friends than him anyway. Just so you know, I am always here if you need me."

"Thanks Ange, that means a lot." And it did. Even though we were about to be thousands of miles apart, Angela and I would become very close not long in the future. "Come on, let's go get this over with." We both groaned, knowing that we were running today, while it was cloudy as per usual, it wasn't actually raining.

Author's note:

This chapter is definitely shorter than a lot of them will be, it was just a decision to make this one either short and the next one average length or make them one extra long chapter, I liked it this way better.

Again, reviews are motivating, and helpful when they are constructive :)