This isn't what Stephenie Meyer wrote, but I sure wish it was! I couldn't find exact dates for everything in canon, so I've set Sam's first phase in April 2004 and assumed that his relationship with Leah continued, though strained, until February 2005. If you like this, consider checking out my main project, Tenebrity, which is a rewriting of Twilight.

Sam had disappeared the week before our third anniversary. He left the hospital where his mom was resting up and never came home.

We were scared to death, of course. There were search parties out every night. Chief Swan worked overtime to help out, but he did sit us down and give us the talk about how Sam was a legal adult and if he just up and left there wasn't anything anyone could do about it. I couldn't believe that he'd do it, though. Not my Sam. We had a future together—and sure, it was a shitty future, but it was ours.

Rumors flew: he'd gotten drunk and broken his neck, I was knocked up and he was running ("pulling a Uley," they called it), he was shacked up with a Forks girl (which Forks girl it was changed daily). The kindest one I heard was that he'd left to track down his dad and drag him home.

After two weeks we'd just about given up hope when he just walked in my front door like nothing was wrong. He wouldn't talk to any of us about what had happened, not even me. He just said "don't worry about it" and "it won't happen again."

But that was just the beginning. He got distant, then he started skipping school. He'd never say why. When summer rolled around, he got really into tribal history, and then made friends with one of the troublemakers in town, Paul. Near the end of summer he told me to keep Seth away from the hospital when Dr. Cullen was on shift. I tried so hard to get some answers after that, but he wouldn't say anything, so I gave up.

Sam had come over, out of the blue, after spending two days not answering his phone. Not that that was weird, he'd been disappearing a lot for the last year. The minute he walked through the door, I knew we were going to have a no-holds-barred, knock-down-drag-out fight. That was the nice part about dating Sam, he was always good for an argument when you wanted one.

Only, I didn't want one. Not tonight. I was done. I'd been done for months, only I'd never had the guts to do anything about it.

"Hey, Lee-lee," he greeted me, reaching out to muss my hair. I pulled away with a frown.

"Where were you?"

His expression went empty. "Out."

"Doing what?"

"You know I can't tell you that."

"I don't know," I said, but not angrily. Not anymore. "You won't tell me that, either."

"Leah—"

"No." I took a deep breath. "This isn't working out, Sam."

"Leah—"

"I can't be with someone who doesn't let me in. I'm not gonna be your mother."

He looked like I'd slapped him. "Leah, please. I love you."

"Yeah, I know. But not enough to change anything."

"It doesn't have to be like this," he said quickly, and for a minute I almost hoped. But then I saw his face change—I saw him choose whatever it was instead of me. "But maybe it should be. I'm sorry, Lee-lee."

"Me too." I sighed. "Go home."

He left without saying anything else and I leaned against the door, feeling like someone had punched me in the face.

I ran, hardly paying attention to the familiar trail. The wind pulled hair out of my ponytail and into my eyes but I didn't bother to brush it away. I knew my face must look a sight but it wasn't like there was anybody out here to see it. Second Beach wasn't a popular destination in February.

I rounded the last turn and slowed down just enough to get over the driftwood without breaking an ankle. When I hit the beach, I turned right without even thinking about it. Quateata was where I went when I needed to think. I got to my favorite spot, dropped to the ground, and put my head in my hands.

Tears threatened and I rubbed my flannel sleeves over my face. Even though I'd known for a while this wasn't going to keep working like this, it was still hard as hell to do anything about it. That was why I'd left it so long. I sniffed, trying to convince myself that I'd done the right thing. That this wasn't the biggest mistake of my life.

Somehow it felt worse than if he'd just decided to leave me for good. This way it was my fault, so everything that happened later would be my fault too. It felt like I'd stabbed myself in the gut with a knife and now I couldn't stop twisting it. I pressed my knuckles against my mouth, wishing I could be some heartless bitch who breaks up with boys for fun like in the movies.

"Oh, sorry," someone said from behind me. "I didn't know anyone was here."

I looked over my shoulder to see a tall Forks girl looking awkward. I recognized her from somewhere, but couldn't quite place her.

"You look upset," she said. "Do you want company, or to be alone?"

When she asked, I realized that I didn't want to be by myself. "You can stay."

She came and sat down near me, but not too close. I appreciated that. "We've never been introduced, but you're Leah."

"Yeah."

"I'm Angela... my mom loved the Bee Gees."

Angela. It was a soft and pretty name. It fit her. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," she replied. "Do you want to talk or do you want to hear me talk or do you want to sit in silence?"

I smiled, feeling a little better already. "You're good at this, aren't you?"

She looked down at her hands, tucked into the sleeves of her denim jacket. "I've had practice."

"I broke up with my boyfriend," I admitted in a rush. "It was the right thing to do, but…"

"That's rough," she said, without pity in her voice. That was nice. "Sometimes doing the right thing is really hard."

"Yeah."

We sat in silence for a while, just looking out at the foggy ocean. The company helped.

After a while, I felt like I could go back. "Thanks," I said, standing up. "This was nice."

"Yeah," she agreed. "We should do it again sometime."

"I'd like that." If I wasn't going to be spending every day with Sam, I would need more friends. "Give me your phone?"

Angela extended it to me and I took it, added my number under "Leah" and handed it back.

"Thanks." She looked like she was going to say something else, but then she didn't. I wondered what she was thinking.

"It was nice to finally meet you, Angela."

"Likewise."

With nothing left to say, I turned and headed back toward the trail to La Push. I might be sad about breaking up with Sam for a while, but I was pretty sure that I'd done the right thing. Now all I had to do was keep believing that.