Stephenie Meyer owns all of the rights.

"Oh, I'm with the vampires, of course."

– Twilight

I plodded along side of Alice as we headed to their house, or so I assumed. I was still trying to figure out how I could make a run for it, but now that they knew that it was really me, I figured it'd be useless; they'd just track me down. And, I couldn't turn and run the other way – back to the school – because Jasper and Emmett were flanking Alice and I from behind.

Just great.

"Alice," I murmured softly as she continued to drag me down the sidewalk. "Really, I appreciate your kindness and everything, but I've got to get to school. If word gets out that I skipped, I'll be in a lot of trouble back at the home!"

"Oh, nonsense, Bella. Don't worry about a thing. If it comes to it, we'll have Jazz butter them up a bit." She shot a wicked smile and I gulped. I didn't like the idea of that.

We walked for a bit longer in our odd group. I couldn't help but wonder why we hadn't seemed to have passed Rose or Edward, though I wasn't going to inquire about either one. I was sure that Rose still felt that I was scum and that Edward hated my guts. So, why even bother asking? I sure as hell didn't really want to see either one of them.

Okay, maybe I wanted to see Edward just a tiny bit.

But not very much.

Honestly.

Okay, who was I kidding? It had been 50 years since he had left me alone and weak and despondent. And I still loved the man completely and unconditionally, as if he had never hurt me. But the truth was, I knew that there had been truth behind his words. When he said that I wasn't good enough. I knew that the only lie that he told me was that he loved me and that it was he, not I, that wasn't good enough. I couldn't get him out of my head for all of these years; I guess that's why true love sucks.

But you know what? I didn't have to worry about it. I didn't have to worry about his apologies or anything: I knew that they wouldn't be heartfelt. It wasn't possible that he loved me, so who cared? I might as well act indifferent, too. I might as well act as though it didn't matter anymore because, in all honesty, it didn't. Who was I to change his mind after 50 years? You couldn't tell me that he had been mourning me for this long, so it mattered very little to me.

Some time during my musings, Alice had pulled me off the sidewalk and was leading me up a fairly worn path. The grass we were walking on was dying from the excessive amount of wear that feet had put on it. It amused me to know that the Cullen children took to walking to school instead of driving. I wondered why that was, but I couldn't find my voice to ask.

"Our house is right up this path," Emmett informed me from behind. "We're really secluded back here."

I nodded my head. Seclusion and the Cullen family seemed to go hand-in-hand. I remembered when they were living in Forks... how secluded the house had been. Of course, since my change, I had seen the house once. It was right after I changed; I had wanted to say "goodbye" to all things familiar. And, for whatever reason, my brain told me to go say my farewells to the Cullen house. I had been so sure in thinking that I would never, ever see them again. I guess you could never been 100 sure about anything. Unless you were Alice, that was.

In no time at all, Alice had me sitting in their living room. I was sitting on a brand new couch made solely of leather, by the looks of it. It was smooth and I enjoyed it; I had enjoyed the simple comforts as things such as this since I had been "on the run," so to speak, for so long. The Cullen house in Shoreline was painted in mostly white, just like it had been in Forks. It was a beautiful sight, though, since everything here was kept immaculately clean. You'd never be able to tell that there were seven people living in this house just by looking at it.

"Esme?" I heard Alice call softly. Had I been human, I doubted that I would have been able to hear the pitch of her voice. It moved by so fast, but she needn't yell. Everyone in attendance here had perfectly fine hearing.

Jasper and Emmett were sitting on the couch across from me. I could tell that they were studying me from the way they were looking at me. I was sure that they were trying to figure out the pinched expression that my skin seemed to wear – before I had been changed, I lost a lot of weight due to my depression. I obviously couldn't gain it back now. It didn't look horrible, but it was different than how they chose to remember me. I think that they were also trying to figure out what I had been doing for the past 50 years. I wasn't sure that they actually wanted to hear the tale, though; apart from that, I wasn't sure if I would be able to tell the tale. It had been a hard 50 years.

Alice took the seat on the couch next to me. She started to stroke my hair while waiting for her "mother" to come downstairs. I wondered what Esme had been doing, but that wasn't really important at the moment. What was important was that I was in their home. Which reminded me—

"Where's Edward?" I asked, slightly fearful. I turned my gaze to Alice's face that remained stone like and calm.

"He, Rose and Carlisle are hunting," she replied simply. I found that answer to be strange, but what did I know about Edward's hunting partners?

"Does he know about... this?" I asked, meaning me. I shot a look towards Emmett. I was wondering if Emmett had told Edward his suspicions or not.

"No," Emmett replied, exhaling a deep breath. "I wanted to tell him, but he and Rose left before school let out yesterday. And this one–" he exclaimed, pointing a finger at Jasper, "wouldn't let me. 'Don't do that to him. That's not fair, Emmett,'" He replied, imitating Jasper's voice.

"Maybe if you took into consideration his thoughts and feelings, Emmett!" Jasper exclaimed, exasperated. "You haven't had to deal with how he feels for the past 50 years! It's not pleasant, okay? And, you can't even act like his emotions don't set the tone for the rest of this family. It's hard to be so empathetic! And then all of a sudden you're all happy and..."

Jasper's voice trailed off and I looked up at him. I was wondering why he stopped yelling – it had been yelling – at Emmett, but I found that I didn't have to look hard. Esme had made her appearance into the living room. The look on her face was stern. I could tell that she was looking at Jasper, not pleased with his yelling.

"Sorry, mom," he said ashamed.

"What were you carrying on ab–" She stopped her words as her eyes fell on me. I immediately turned to Alice for comfort. Although Esme didn't scare me, I felt highly nervous and embarrassed and shy. I just wanted to hide away. This was the family that I had spent so much time trying to not think about... and here I was, in their living room of all places!

"I guess I needn't ask why you're not in school today. So you were right, Emmett?"

"Yup. Everyone doubted me," he said with a nod of his head. "But I knew that it was our Bella the moment I set my eyes on her pretty little head. She looks exactly the same."

I raised my head off of Alice's chest to look at Esme. I mumbled a brief 'hello' and then kept my eyes downcast. Esme slowly approached me and then gently hugged me. She rubbed my back briefly before pushing me away to look into my eyes.

"Oh, Bella," she murmured softly as her gentle fingers traced along my cheek bone. She held my gaze with her eyes, searching for something. I wasn't quite sure what. "It's been so long. Edward will be happy to see you again, I'm sure."

I shook my head roughly. No, he wouldn't. I knew that he wouldn't. I couldn't bring myself to say it, but I knew it. I knew with every fiber and being of my body that he wouldn't be happy to see me. I was one hundred percent positive about that.

"We'll see soon enough," warned Alice, "They're pulling into the drive as we speak."

I was feeling even more nervous. When I heard the doorknob start to slowly turn – how excruciatingly slow it was! – I started to panic. "Alice," I breathed, scared. I had pulled away from Esme's motherly embrace and was now back to clinging onto Alice. I think that if I hadn't been so serious about how scared I was, Jasper and Emmett would have found this highly amusing.

Three bodies entered the doorway and turned sharply into the living room. Rose was in between the two gorgeous men. How any one man could look that good was beyond me. Even though I had lived a long time, they were still exceptionally beautiful. All the Cullen's were. I still felt unbearably plain when I was in the same room as they were. I knew that I was beautiful to an extent..., but not this beautiful.

"What's going on here?" A male voice asked. The melodic tone which the voice held hurt my ears. Was it possible that the angel's voice sounded the same after all of these years? I looked around the companions who were sitting on the couch wildly. I wanted to urge them to block their minds, but if they hadn't already, it was over. It had been over the second that Edward pulled into the drive. I wasn't sure if they had blocked their thoughts or not. I wasn't sure if I could handle being around him. It went back to my previous thoughts: how many ways could one persons heart and soul be beaten and bruised and still expect that person to be able to act happy? I was unsure.

"We've got great news!" Bubbled Alice.

"Yes, I can see that...," Carlisle mused out loud, his eyes finding me. I clung onto Alice's arm tighter now. Edward's and Rose's eyes were on me, too. Edward looked confused and Rose looked angry.

"Bella's back!"

I felt the breath rush out of me as a deadening silence filled the house.