Finally my lovely loves; our T and S are finally going to come face to face with the Twilight Characters...again.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that this goes well!

This story is now on Wattpad! Pen Name is Tulika98! :D

Enjoy!

Reviewers:

Mira Black-Snape - Well, hope you like this chapter!

GraceEllingson - Thanks, here's hoping you like this chapter!

lolliexbee - Let's keep our fingers crossed then!

Her hair was longer, I thought idly as there was silence on both sides of the door.

Isabella Marie Swan, my best friend in the Twilight World had only slightly changed. Not that I was expecting any changes, duh, I mean, I didn't even think for a second I was ever going to see her again but the sight of her did make me take a look quickly.

She was looking pastier, her dark hair and eyes, so similar to mine, if not a little less bright had clearly not been exposed much to the sun. Her back length hair now hung to her waist and she was wearing her usual full sleeved t-shirts and a pair of sweats and socks. In contrast, I was sure Stephen and I looked hilarious.

She was the poster child of Sunless Sorrows while we both were tanned and looking very, very thunderstruck…from the marketing lands of Sunny lane.

She was still gaping at us when Stephen spoke up, in his dry voice. "If neither of you are going to speak, I'm going home." He said.

I shot him a quick look.

Bella blinked furiously then threw her arms around me. "Oh god, here I thought I was never going to see you again! Dad, Dad, look who finally decided to come home!"

I had wrapped my arms around her, purely to keep myself from falling off but I still cringed when she said 'come home'.

There was a shuffle of footsteps and then I was in the firm and manly grasp of Chief Charlie Swan.

"You should've called. We would've picked you up." He grumbled, which was his way of saying he was very glad to see me. I looked over his shoulder to see Bella press her lips to Stephen's who was still looking like he wasn't very sure of his place in the world. I didn't blame him.

Stephen and I were carted into the living room and soon we were busy making up stories of how we got there…with a few discrepancies.

"I saw him -,"

"I was waving like mad, she just wouldn't look."

Stephen and I both stopped at that, looking at each other with varying measures of exasperation and embarrassment. It was clear he couldn't lie properly, at least not when he was still shell shocked. "I'll let you tell it then," he said sheepishly. I cleared my throat and carried on, weaving a seamless yarn of a fake meeting at the airport, a spontaneous decision to surprise everyone and I ended it with an emotional 'so happy to be back'.

Charlie and Bella didn't look like they suspected anything so they just nodded along.

"This is amazing; you're back before Prom…now I won't have to sulk at home and Edward won't mope!"

Stephen and I both choked at that.

"Come again…?" I asked, my eyes watering.

Bella looked at me slowly then enunciated. "Prom…I mean, I knew you were a junkie and I knew you would be back but still, I'm just glad you won't be missing Prom. You'll have to help me though. I have no clue what to do,"

I squinted at her. "Bell…since when did you become a party-gofer?" I asked.

"Well," she cast a shy look at Charlie and Stephen, "I took a leaf out of your book. I don't want you to sit at home because of me, like you did at the Spring Dance." She said.

"That wasn't…" I caught Stephen's imperceptible move and shut up quickly, not bothering to correct her. Instead, I put on a huge grin. "That's awesome, Bells. We'll knock their socks off."

I didn't have to look at my Partner in Crime to know it would be anything but awesome.

My room hadn't changed. Correction – my room looked like it had been memorialized. It didn't seem like any one had even wandered into the room during the time I was gone. I didn't know what to feel about that. Even the clothes, I'd left draped on my desk chair were there. I was swiping them off when I caught Bella walking Stephen to the end of the driveway in my window. His hands were back in the pockets and so were Bella's. It looked like the awkwardness of seeing each other after six months of no contact had finally caught up.

"How do you feel about school tomorrow?" I turned to see Charlie leaning in the doorway.

"Oh, you know…I'll be fine." I said lamely.

"Well, just so you know, you might just face a mob, if what Bella tells me is true, your friends missed you," he said.

I nodded. "I missed them too." I said, meaning it. I did miss Angela and Lauren…I wasn't so sure about Jessica, Mike and Eric and of course, there were the Cullens to consider.

"Charlie, what's…up…with the…you know, Cullens?" I asked, haltingly. I didn't know what I wanted him to answer. I just knew I couldn't handle 'I think they left,' or 'T, Edward's moved on,'

"They're still here. I expect, they'll be the most surprised when they see you tomorrow. Edward really watched out for Bella the first couple of months when you and Garrison left." He said before waving a goodnight.

I just stood there, wringing out the sash of my bathrobe.

Bella and I were walking through the school hallways.

Nothing had changed, except maybe the dirty looks I was getting thrown from people I had never even spoken to.

"She's back…? OMG, she's got guts, after what she did…" I caught one blond girl saying behind her hand and frowned, looking down and hurrying after Bella. The surprising thing was that she was basking in the attention. "Hey, Bella," "Hi Bella," were echoing all around us and she lapped it all up.

What was happening?

"Hey, you don't look so good. Do you want to go home?" Bella said, looking back at me with a concerned expression.

"No," I said, watching people watch me.

Why were they being so hostile? What had I done? Ok…maybe, I'd ruined the Twilight love story, but…what did they know about it?

"So, she's back, is she?" I quickly looked over my shoulder to see Alice and Rosalie with Jasper and Emmett looking at me with cold looks on their faces as they swarmed around Bella. "Yeah, she is," she smiled at me and hers was the only look that contained even a shred of warmth.

"Too bad," Alice sneered while Rosalie twirled Bella's hair and Jasper and Emmett gave me stony looks.

"Alice, be nice, let's not ruin her first day back."

I froze. No, I completely stilled, my world stopped spinning as I saw the tall figure emerge from the Cullen's midst. He had on a smile too but it was nowhere near the smiles he used to give me. It was purely friendly, like I meant nothing to him but just a girl he knew in school.

I stared as he wrapped an arm around Bella's shoulders and plastered a kiss all over her face. I gasped, falling back as they kept kissing, while the Cullens watched me triumphantly. "See…they're finally together. Good riddance from you," Rosalie snapped at me.

"Stop it, you're not real!" I yelled and they broke apart before looking at each other then Bella stepped up to me, making me take a step back.

Her skin was pale white, her eyes a luminous golden and her movements weren't jerky and unsure but nimble and graceful.

"We're sorry, Tulika. It's only fair. You took his from me once; but you know he belongs with me, don't you?"

"Go to hell," I snarled but her face didn't change, she still had that condescending look on her face.

"Give up, T. You can't have him."

I spun around, trying to get away from them but I was surrounded. All around me were familiar and unfamiliar faces. Charlie, Billy, Jacob, Stephen, Mike, Jess, Angela, Lauren…all of them, circled me and chanted like a sick cult: Give him up, give him up, give him up…

"No, please," I whispered as I sunk to the ground, clutching my bag to my chest.

"Tulika, wake up, or we'll be late!"

I gasped loudly, turning over, trying to see if my mother was in my room, looking at me like the nutcase I was beginning to believe I was.

"Mom…?" I called and someone who was not my mom stepped into my doorway. "We have half an hour, T. Come on," she said and vanished again.

"Bella…?" I whispered and looked around my surroundings so quickly I wrenched my neck. Blue walls, white furnishings, clouds and fog at my window…

I was in Forks.

"You're quiet."

I looked at Bella as she drove, watching the road instead of me. Of course, Bella wasn't comfortable with feelings. I couldn't help but feel a little wary and angry of her. I knew the dream was just that…a dream; Edward and Bella would never betray me and Stephen like that but what vampire Bella had said had hit right home. I knew Edward belonged with Bella. Why was I still so set on him, then?

Because you love him, and he loves you, now shut up and focus; this day is going to be difficult enough without you complicating it further, my brain told me and I wholeheartedly agreed.

"I'm just tired. Guess the jet-lag is catching up to me," I mumbled and she nodded as she pulled into a free space. I flinched when the comfortable roaring of her truck was cut off and looked around for the Volvo, of course, it wasn't here. What was present was Rosalie's red convertible, with the top up and the paint still gleaming.

I pretended not to be worried about that. Did that mean that only four of them were here? Was Edward not around? He had fled before and I wasn't altogether sure he wouldn't do it again. Hang on…hadn't Alice seen me coming?

"I heard Edward really looked out for you when Stephen and I left." I said in a conversational voice.

"Yeah, he thought I was going to lose it about Stephen but I could tell he was really trying to distract himself from you. I mean, you guys were still just going out; it had to be hard." She said.

She didn't imply if there was anything else going on but I had to trust them. She did seem faithful to Stephen.

Speaking of the devil…

He walked out with Ben and smiled at us. "You girls ok?" he asked, throwing me a quick glance. "Yeah, we're fine," Bella reached up towards him and for a second I had an image of Edward kissing her flash through my mind.

I quickly looked away and cleared my throat.

"Um, I have to go and catch up on the teachers and the material. I'll see you later ok?" I asked. Stephen pulled away from Bella and fixed me with his observant eyes. I just gave him an apologetic glance and left.

Vampires' aside, if there was a person who could tell what was up with me, it was Stephen. The boy may be a pure bred 2017 American, but his mind was still on the same wavelength as me. It made us best friends, and also created a whole lot of complications to keep from one another. Now that we'd shared the same trauma, we didn't need secrets, but some things…I just couldn't tell him until I was ready.

The first four classes passed without much attention needed. I did get gaped and stared at but thankfully without the entire violence I'd been bracing myself against.

The tricky part was seeing the gang. Lauren and Angela of course hugged me within an inch of life while Mike and Erik muttered their gladness at my return. Erik seemed a whole lot more excited; guess he still thought I was going with him to Prom. Then, of course, no one knew I'd started dating Edward Cullen.

I remembered him saying he didn't need to be chauvinistic to let people know I was unavailable. I smiled sadly at that.

Jessica seemed a little less jubilant at my arrival but a look from Lauren had her straight and she was gushing about how we needed to go to Port Angeles to shop for dresses.

I nodded along with them listlessly.

No matter the fact, I had a huge amount of studying to do if I wanted to go to senior year; I was starting to feel like I had to work twice as hard to win my friends back properly.

It will be better when you see them; I told myself religiously when I caught Stephen's eye from across the aisles. He was talking to some guy but his eyes were fixed on me over his shoulder. I pursed my lips at him and he sighed, a look of long suffering on his face.

I tried not to be offended at the look.

It wasn't long when I caught the tell-tale mass of ink black accompanied with honey blond. I just had to glance out of the corner of my eye to see which pair it was. Alice and Jasper were sitting diagonally opposite to me, which wasn't their place. They always sat two rows over but I guessed it was a special occasion.

The people whose place it was gave them a look, and even as Jasper looked up, they were looking for another place to sit. Even Mr. Bertie didn't comment on this change as he started his piece on Communism.

I tried to sit with my head buried in my arms, trying to avoid the glances from my school mates and Bella from the seat next to me when a neatly folded paper brushed my hand. I looked at it and raised my head. Being short had one perk; the teacher couldn't really see what I was doing. I glanced once at the suspicious pair but they never once looked in my direction. The only acknowledgement they gave of my return was the change in seating.

I snatched the paper up and opened it with fumbling fingers looking at Alice's almost elfish handwriting.

I see the rumors are true…I didn't see this coming.

I stared at the lines for a bit before picking up my pen. I closed my eyes, willing her to see the words I was writing.

We need to talk.

I folded it up and slipped it into my pocket, before finally paying attention to what was being taught.

Even as the bell rang, I was being massed outside by the crowds itching to get to lunch. "I'll catch up," I promised Bella and she bit her lip, looking over my shoulder once before nodding, following the crowds. I turned around and faced the two vampires who were looking decidedly uncertain. I smothered a snort. That must be a first for them.

I steadied myself and took a deep breath.

"It's really me, you know." I said.

Jasper crossed his arms and looked at Alice who tilted her head, her shiny black hair, brushing her shoulders. "We know it's you. What we don't know is…how," she murmured.

My shoulders slumped. "I can't answer that…I only know I'm not dead…and I'm back," I looked up slowly. "Can I at least get a hug?"

Alice still just stared at me for a moment before she walked forward, confident and graceful and wrapped her willowy arms around me. I smiled against her shoulder, looking at Jasper. "Don't stand on ceremony, Hale. You can hug me too." I said. He looked torn but I could tell I was winning. He sighed and wrapped a carful arm around my free side before both of them pulled away together. Alice inspected my face. "We need to get to Rosalie and Emmett. Sit with us," she said.

I nodded before asking the inevitable. "What about…him…?" I asked.

It was Jasper who answered. "He's still here. He's not at school, though. I think he's hunting…or so he told us. Edward…keeps taking off nowadays, we want to ask…but we've found it prudent not to." He shook his head and I remembered that he had Empathy. If anyone really knew what Edward was going through…it was Jasper.

"He keeps holding out. The first time he disappeared we found he was in Denmark before he came back, saying he had to keep an eye on the Swans for you and Stephen. He hasn't disappeared for months now, but he just…keeps leaving us behind." Alice explained and I sighed, rubbing my eyes.

"I need to see him."

"And he needs to see you, but we need to prepare the others for this situation…Jasper, find Stephen, he needs to sit with us too." Alice said. Jasper nodded and after a smile for me went off as Alice led me to the cafeteria to the Cullen Table.

"I don't know whether to say it's cool or terribly horrible." Emmett said finally, putting his feet on the oak centre table in the living room.

The Cullens had been told our entire experience from the scratch which had taken up the better part of Lunch. After school, of course, Stephen and I rode in the BMW and were now sitting in the Cullen's opulence. Carlisle and Esme had flooded me with their love and warmth and now they were sitting looking at us worried.

"Does this mean you're immortal? You can't die?" Emmett asked and Rosalie frowned at him.

"I think we have more complex matters to deal with," she said.

"No, let him ask," I sighed, waving a hand.

Emmett grinned and opened his mouth but Carlisle stood up. "We will have no more talk about that matter. Even if you and Stephen are past the trauma, reliving it is not good. Besides, we can't be of much help. We will have Mr. Sorenson over sometime soon and ask him for more details but right now no one is to prod them about it." He cast a sharp look at Alice and Emmett who looked sheepish before kissing Esme on the cheek.

"You have something more to deal with, my dear." He told me and I nodded. He patted my head before picking up his briefcase and vanishing out the door.

*Shudders*

So, now that our Prince and Princess are among our friendly Vamps who thinks Eddy is going to be a peice of cake?

Muahahaha! (Sorry, that came out of my sleep deprived brain)

Love you all!

Review! Review! Review!