A/n: I seriously did not know what to write for this chapter. So I decided to just sit and write whatever came to mind, and let the words flow. This is from Bella's point of view in the months after she cried at her work.

I do not own the Twilight series or any of its characters. I can only wish.

I sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror for the hundredth time today. I just couldn't find an outfit that I liked. An outfit that made me feel good about myself. Normally I wouldn't care. But today was sort of special. After all, you only really graduate from high school once. At least, humans do. Vampires? Well they are a different story.

A few months ago, I wouldn't have cared anyway. Then I was still numb. I was still unable to feel and it was still hard to breathe. But ever since I broke down crying the first time, I started feeling more. Whether I wanted to or not. The dam that I held my feelings behind burst open that day, and my attempts to repair it were futile.

Eventually when the memory and subsequent crying spells started, I learned that it was easier to just let them happen. I stopped fighting it. Each time I broke down, Mike was there, holding me while I sobbed into his chest, never complaining once about how long it took me to calm down. Sometimes I calmed down fairly quickly, but there were times where it took hours for the sobs and tears to slow.

And each time I cried like that, I felt just a little better than I had before. It was like a little piece of my pain, my hurt was washed away with the tears. As if the key to being better was to let it out the way I had been. As time passed, I stopped crying every time the memories would hit me. It stopped hurting so much to think about the Cullens and of Jake.

And after a couple months, I realized that I was healing. I was able to live. I started hanging out with Mike or Angela more often, and sometimes I was even asking them to hang out instead the other way around. And I enjoyed going out with them. Sometimes we would go see a movie, the three of us, or once we drove to Seattle to see a concert. Bottom line was that I was living and having a social life, and I was beginning to actually enjoy it.

This summer Angela, Mike, and me were taking a road trip around the country, to see the sights and generally have fun doing whatever we wanted. Charlie was so happy that I was finally starting to be ok again that he went out and bought us $500 in gas gift cards as well as an extra $200 in gift cards for fast food restaurants.

Angela's and Mike's parents bought us even more gift cards to take with us once they saw how much having the two around helped me. So now we had a lot of money for gas, restaurants, and grocery stores with our gift cards. Our month-long trip was now at least half paid for.

My musings were interrupted when Charlie yelled that we were going to be late. He stood by the door with a huge, excited smile on his face, camera in hand and ready to go. The ride to the school was quiet, with an air of excitement emanating from Charlie. We parked and he left to go see the other parents while I went to wait with the other graduates.

I smiled as I found my friends, accepting hugs from each of them.

"Hey Arizona."

I smiled at Mike's nickname for me. It grew on me over the last few months.

"Hi, Mike. Hi Angela. You guys ready?"

"Of course Bella. We are still leaving on our trip in a couple weeks, right?" Angela asked.

Mike nodded his agreement as I replied, "Of course. I can't wait. A trip with my best friends is just what I need."

Both grinned at me. This was the first time that I openly called them my friends. They sandwiched me in a hug from both sides, and I grinned.

For the first time in months, I knew that no matter what happened in my future, I would be ok. I had my best friends. I had my parents. Everything would work itself out. In time, I would be able to fully heal and move on. I was sure of it.