A/N: Well good evening everyone! My update is actually on time. I said by Friday, did I not? I wrote this entire thing today because I had no school. I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Ugh! I keep forgetting to put this on chapters, but I still don't own Twilight, or Edward, unfortunately. You'll be the first to know if I somehow obtain the rights to them, but that'll never ever in a million years happen.

Do the hand jive! It's chapter five!

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My mom couldn't be dead. She just couldn't be.

Chapter 5: Unexpected is an understatement.

I was drowning in my own self pity. What could I have possibly done to deserve becoming an orphan- an orphan?! Where would I go now? None of my grandparents were alive and my parents were both the only children in their families, so that wouldn't work out either. Well, I could move in with Rachel… but he would be at family gatherings, and what if I was still attracted to him? It would be just sick to fall for my cousin. Ew.

There were always my parents' friends, but then again none of them really liked me or understood me anyway. Where would I go? Who would I be? I bet the government wouldn't allow me to stay here by myself either- which completely sucks. Chances were I'd be moving so I wouldn't even have Rachel.

I didn't eat anything the rest of the day, there was no point to it. Food is comfort- ask anyone who suffers from the results of the 'see-food diet'- and I didn't deserve any. In fact, I didn't deserve anything or anyone. What was the point of anything if no one wanted me? And more importantly- why didn't I just fricking kill myself already? Because Renee wouldn't want that. That's why.

My life is far from okay.

~*~*~

In the weeks that followed, my friends and even my parents' dreaded friends were going through my house like a drive-thru, talking to me and looking at everything and telling me stories about my mother that I didn't care to listen to. Rachel was the one that came three times a day to make sure I was eating, showering, etc. She knew I wouldn't have done it if she hadn't been nagging. The first few times she was here, I screamed at her to leave, but now, I hardly said anything at all. I didn't know why she even bothered if I never left the house. I couldn't be all that great of a companion, anyway.

Brian even stopped by a few times too, much to my dismay. Each time, he would try to do something nice for me, like taking care of the lawn, or bringing over dessert or something, but it only reminded me of how much I missed my parents doing these things. And he was still flirting with me shamelessly, too. Wasn't he supposed to be cheering me up, not dragging me down? Wait-never mind, I deserved Brian.

One day, on a particularly bad day I might add, someone knocked on the door. It was eight in the morning on a Saturday in the middle of July. I immediately knew it was no one around my age, because they would all be in bed for at least six more hours. And the fact that the car parked on the street looked way too expensive to be one of my friends' cars.

Maybe whoever it is will go away if I just ignored it. But that didn't work either, because they just rang the doorbell twice. Ugh, some people just don't know when to quit. I begrudgingly rose from my butt imprint in the couch and wrenched open the door and was met with a man dressed to go with his car. Very snazzy in a black suit, and probably about thirty years old.

"Hi," I basically grunted. Great, now I talked like an ape and looked like one too. I hadn't showered since yesterday because Rachel usually didn't show up until ten anyway. My hair was probably a ratty mess, along with the craters that were the bags under my eyes. But I looked even worse compared to Mr. Big shot over here.

"Hello. Are you Isabella Swan?" he asked kindly.

But his kind attitude didn't help clear up my grumpiness. "It's Bella." I yawned. "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry to bother you so early, especially since it's summer vacation and all, but my name is Mr. Sinclair. I'm your mother's attorney." He held out a hand as if to shake my hand, but then thought better and pulled it back. I wasn't gonna shake his hand anyway. "Can I come in?"

"Whatever."

I walked back to the indent in the couch and sat down, pulling the blanket up again. The house wasn't completely dirty, luckily, thanks to Rachel and her mother constantly coming over, but it wasn't exactly spotless either. I had eaten in here since they left yesterday and didn't really care how big of a mess I made. There were ketchup stains on the carpet and potato chip crumbs scattered about the floor. Mr. Sinclair sat down in the now scratched up leather chair that used to be my father's. He looked kind of pain-stricken.

"Well, Miss Swan-"

"Bella. Just Bella," I insisted.

"Okay then, Bella." He cleared his throat. "In your mother's will it states that if and when she died all her possessions would go to her husband-"

"Who is no longer around, get to the point." I motioned with my hand for him to get on with it.

"What are you talking about?" He actually looked confused. Poor guy.

"He left. What, did they not get an official divorce or something?"

"Um, I guess not. When did he leave, exactly?"

"It's been over two years now," I said sadly, looking down. His eyes widened incredulously.

"Wow, okay then…" He took a quick look at the will again and then looked at me. "It also says here that you would also go to Mr. Swan because she didn't want you living with some stranger. I wouldn't either actually."

"I don't want to live with Charlie! He doesn't want me either! Why should you force us to be in close quarters if neither of us can stand each other?" I screamed, getting defensive.

"Hey, hey, easy there kid. I can't force you to go live with him, but would you rather go live with someone you've never met before in your life?" he asked.

"I guess not…" I sighed and then muttered, "Stupid reverse psychology…"

"Well, I'll get in contact with Mr. Swan and make arrangements for you to move to Washington." He smiled and straightened the papers and placed them in his briefcase.

"Washington?!" I screamed at him again. That was close, way to close to him.

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"No, no. That's fine."

He looked like he would rather be anywhere but here. I didn't blame him, I was a total basket case. People should want to get away from me. "Well, I'll be on my way now. Call if you have any questions." He said the last part quietly, and I could almost hear him praying that I wouldn't call.

~*~*~

How could fate do this to me?! Washington is where he lives and I don't want anything to do with him. Well, I did, and that was the problem. If I fell hard for him again, I would only fall flat on my face, and it would hurt way worse than a stab in the back. I couldn't risk seeing him again, because I didn't want the emotions that would follow the sight. Or did I? Okay, well I did, but I was afraid that he wouldn't want me back this time. But that was insane. Maybe he just lost my number or something. Yeah, that's it. And when Rachel visited, one of his friends was in the hospital and needed someone to talk to. Yep, that's what happened, he probably had an obligation to a friend or something.

It was five till ten in the morning, almost two hours since Mr. Sinclair left. Rachel would be here any minute to make me breakfast, and I needed someone to talk to, for the first time all summer. When she did get here, she just let herself in, because she knew I wouldn't get up anyway, no matter who it was.

"What do you want for breakfast?" she called from the kitchen.

"Nothing," I replied back.

"Oatmeal it is then."

Even though I didn't want anything, I had to admit that the oatmeal was absolutely amazing. She sprinkled cinnamon and brown sugar over it to make it flavorful. After I was done with my bowl, I even went to go get some more, both because I loved it and because I needed to warm her up for the news she was about to receive. When I sat back down, I wolfed down my second helping and set the bowl on the floor.

"Hey Rachel?" I started.

"Yeah, Bells?" She looked startled. I hardly ever talked to her more than necessary anymore.

"I have something to tell you…" She nodded her head in encouragement and gave me her full attention. "My mom's attorney, Mr. Sinclair, stopped by the house today."

"Oh. What for?" She looked confused by this start.

"He talked to me about her will. And how all her possessions, even me belong to Charlie. Why would I want to go live with him? He lives in freaking Washington, for god's sake! Why would I want to move across the country and be uprooted from my place here when I only had two years of high school left?!"

"Wait. Where does he live?"

"Somewhere in Washington. Mr. Sinclair didn't know exactly where."

"That's where-"

"Yes, I know." I sighed. "What am I gonna do?"

"Why are you so sad about this? It's fate! You two were meant to be together, why else would your dad have moved to Washington?"

"Maybe because he couldn't get a job anywhere else? I don't know…"

"Don't worry about it." She looked down. "I'm really gonna miss you, Bella," she said sadly.

"We'll be friends forever, I promise. Don't you remember the BFF rings we gave each other back in the sixth grade?" I laughed, we were both so stupid back then it was unbelievable. That was also the year we vowed to each other that we would have a double wedding and everything, too.

"Oh yeah, I still have that ring too." She laughed.

We spent the rest of the day exchanging stories about when we were younger. How could I have just stopped talking to her? I hadn't realized how much I missed talking to her until today, and I'll have to move soon too! How could I have been so stupid to just worry about my problems when she went through a period of time when I stopped talking to her and seeing me in so much pain all the time? She didn't deserve that kind of treatment, and I intended to make it up to her before I had to leave.

"So, did Brian ever get the hint that you don't really like him? Or is he still going for it?" I asked.

"No, but he definitely likes you again. Hasn't he stopped by at all?"

"Yes," I scoffed. "Why can't he just give up already and except the fact that no one wants him? I guess he'll get that realization when I'm not here anymore."

"I hope so. But then he'll just come after me again! That's how I got him to get over his little crush on me. I told him that you liked him. Wait not liked, loved him. The look on his face was priceless. He totally believed me! And you deserved that after you made that little love letter." She narrowed her eyes at me and attempted not to smile, but failed. We both burst out into laughter. "I'm never gonna forgive you for that you know."

"Hey, I wouldn't expect anything less. How about we go out to eat tonight? I haven't left the house in weeks, so I'm probably whiter than ever."

"Yeah, you look like a ghost."

"Thanks," I replied facetiously.

"No problem. So where do you want to go? I heard there's a new pizza place in town," she hinted.

"Sure, let's go there."

We took her car to the pizza place. She ordered a basic pepperoni pizza while I ordered a spinach and sausage pizza. She raised her eyes at me in disbelief, and I just shrugged. It was time to mix it up a little. We were so hungry that we both ate the whole pizzas. So much for her diet…

She dropped me off and then proceeded to laugh hysterically. Instead of elaborating on why she was laughing, she reached across the seat to close my door and drove to her house down the street. I was puzzled. Did I have sauce all over my face or my shirt or something. No. I turned to walk up the driveway and was met with my answer.

"Um, hi Brian…"

He ran over to me with a huge smile on his face and handed me a bouquet of roses. Oh, god, not again. "Hey Bella. These are for you. There's sixteen roses for every year that we've lived next door to each other." Yeah. We had lived next door to each other for our entire lives. I'm so lucky, aren't I?

"Thank you…?" It sounded like a question. "Um, not to be rude Brian, but why are you here?" Actually, I fully intended it to be rude. "Other that the flowers, I mean."

"Well, I heard that you were moving…" God, what a stalker! "And I decided it was time to tell you something."

I'm pretty sure I knew what he was going to tell me, and I desperately needed a polite response.

"I'm in love with you, Bella. I am, always have been, and always will." He leaned in to kiss me, but I leaned back and ended up falling on the grass. He opened his eyes in alarm. "Bella! Are you okay?"

"I'm…not so sure, I need to go in and ice my knee. Good night!" I lied, I was absolutely fine. Rising from the ground, I ran into the house and slammed the door behind me, leaving a dumbfounded Brian standing in the driveway.

I cried. Why was I crying? Because despite how annoying Brian had been over the years, I would miss him too. And he just admitted after most likely his whole life that he had been in love with me. Or was he just attracted to me? Love was so confusing. Well, I knew I never loved Brian, I mean, please don't make me gag. But there was someone else I wasn't sure about…

And that made me cry even harder. I would leave the one person who even knew about us, Rachel. Sure we could stay in contact with each other, but it would never be the same as all the endless phone calls during the night or all the sleepovers. I knew she would be sad about me leaving, but she wouldn't be nearly as sad as me, because I would be leaving everyone I knew and loved, while I would be the only one leaving in her life.

Life isn't fair.

~*~*~

The next day, Mr. Sinclair called to inform me that my father had said yes to me moving in with him. He said that Charlie was the police chief in the small town of Forks, which was so small that I had never even heard of it. Only about three thousand people lived there. There was that many people just in my high school here. How pathetic.

He asked me when the best time for the move would be, and I replied saying that it would be best to move immediately, as to not dwell on the idea for too long to make me even more upset. He understood, and arranged for me to pack and move there tomorrow.

I called Rachel to tell her and told her that it would probably be best if she didn't help me to pack, because that would only make it that much harder.

I spent the rest of the day deciding on what to bring. At the same time, I wanted to bring stuff to remember Renee, but then I didn't, either. Would Charlie even allow her stuff in his home? He said he hated my mother and I both, so why would he want reminders of her? Why did he want me, anyway?

Rachel came over the day after, and said goodbye…most likely for good, considering it wasn't likely that we would see each other again. There were tears, and laughs, surprisingly, about how dumb we probably looked and sounded, saying goodbye and thinking we would never see each other again. Of course we would try at the very least. I mean, what two friends wouldn't try to stay in contact?

She left soon after. Besides her, there wasn't anyone I actually wanted or needed to say goodbye to. I couldn't face anyone else…or Brian, for that matter.

My phone buzzed. I was surprised it was even charged, although Rachel probably took care of it. I looked at the screen and realized I had received a text message from…EDWARD?!

I flipped open the phone and read the message:

Hey babe, meet me at the mall once you get in town.

What the…?

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A/N: I'm sorry, I had to cut it off there. I have a five-day weekend, so I'll try to get at least two more chapters up by Tuesday, since that's my last day off…

So yeah! For those of you that are annoyed by me talking about American Idol constantly, I apologize. You should watch it if you don't. Add me on , my name is ashtong21, just like it is on FF.

As for my other story, Sweet Karma, I don't think I'll continue it for awhile unless I get more readers.

Next chapter will be Bella's move to Forks, and I'll have it up by either tomorrow or Sunday, so be on the lookout!

Please review!

Ashton.