OK!! This one is for Brindalyn and bloom sky. Thanks for the reviews guys!! You rock!! This chapter is kind of short, though. ANYWAY, on with the story!!

I pulled on some fresh jeans and a black t-shirt. Then Bella came in.

"Nice room," she commented. "Edward and Mrs. Allen seem to be getting along great,"

'Oh, yippee.'

"You don't like her?"

"She's okay. Like I said earlier, she's just annoying." I sat on the bed and sighed. "She may never leave, now,"

"When she first got here, I heard her ask how you are. And I've seen in her head that you had been gone for over a year, that one day you just up and disappeared. Why is that?" she had racked Mrs. Allen's brain for information. Smart kid. "I also saw that you used to like her a lot more, before you disappeared. She says you were bright and happy, and that you would laugh all the time. She doesn't understand the changes,"

"But you want to," I finished for her. She nodded. I took a deep breath.

"Okay. I'll tell you. You'll probably find out most of it at school anyway. Maybe you need to know how we met, first." I suddenly glared at her. "But no reading my mind. That goes for you, too, Edward," I added, knowing he was listening. "Some memories are just plain private."

She nodded again. I heard Edward say "deal" under his breath.

"Well, about nineteen twenty I was changed. I wasn't like other newborns. I didn't crave blood as much as most, so I was able to walk among the humans within a couple months. I couldn't hunt them, because I could hear what they were thinking. They had lives, families. So I started hunting animals, and moving around every three or four years. I moved to New York in 1959, that's where I met him. I just so happened to bump into him on the sidewalk. Keeping up with the human charade, I fell.

'Sorry,' I'd said

'No problem,' he replied in a heavenly British accent. I nearly fainted, when he turned around. He was a vampire, I could tell by his eyes, and the way he looked at me, like I was something to eat. But, he didn't look like a normal vampire. He looked human. He was warm, his skin soft. 'Are you hurt?' he offered me his hand to help me up.

'No,' I accepted his hand. He looked a little startled at my cold hand.

'Are you sure? It was my fault, I shouldn't have stopped so suddenly.'

'That's okay. I should've been watching were I was going,'

He watched me for a moment. 'Can I buy you a drink?'

'I'm only sixteen,'

'I didn't mean that kind of drink. I meant like a soda or something,' he amended.

'Sure, I guess.'

We went to a diner on the far side of town. He'd told me his name and that he was in town with a couple of his friends.

'Alice likes to shop,' he said when I learned he was staying right across the street from the biggest mall there. 'And Jasper loves Alice.'

'Odd man out, huh?' I teased. He shrugged.

'Sorta. I wouldn't mind finding someone right for me, but I do like to be alone a lot.' he pretended to drink his soda, watching me the whole time. I couldn't keep my eyes off him either. We must have sat there for hours talking, until the manager kicked us out. Then we went walking, still talking to each other.

He was so… interested in everything. Always wondering how things worked. He always spoke his mind, but knew when to tone it down. And he was polite as ever." I sighed. "We fell in love in that one night, and were together every day from then on.

"We moved here about two years ago. Starting again. It was fine until…" a sob sneaked it's way out of my body. "Until a year ago. He told me he was going hunting, but he never came back. I went out looking for him after four days. I searched for weeks and weeks, but found nothing. When I got back here, I found a note on his pillow. He said that he was only doing this to protect me, but he couldn't tell me what the danger was. He said that he'd be back within a few months. That was the June before last." I pulled my legs up and wrapped my arms around them, hiding my face in my knees. I felt Bella place her arms around me. We sat like that for a few minutes, then I took a deep breath and raised my head. "After that, I didn't really do anything. I didn't go to school, I didn't have the massive parties we liked to throw. All I really did was hunt. I'd be gone for weeks at a time. But now I'm back, and still depressed, but at least I'm trying."

It was quiet in the back room for a long time. Only the endless chatter of Mrs. Allen echoed throughout the house. I was about to get up when it happened. I caught the tiniest hint of spearmint crossed my nose, and I almost had a heart attack. It was his scent. He'd always smelled like spearmint to me.

"It can't be," I whispered.

(insert evil laughter here) CLIFFHANGER!! Am I mean or what? (Kara certainly thinks so) Review!! Please!!