Discliamer: I don't own Twilight, blah blah blah. Do I really have to put this every chapter? I mean, I'm pretty sure you get the message. And by the way, sorry it took soooo long to post, but Fan Fiction was being weird and stuff.

Bella's P.O.V.

"Forget them, Bella, we've got to get to class," Sam said beside me. Edward heard her, though whether he was hearing her thoughts or her words I wasn't sure. Either way, he glared at her, and I couldn't help but grin. I'd almost forgotten how much Sam had gotten on Edward's nerves while she was living with the Cullens.

"Yeah, let's go," I said, looping my arm through Sam's as we headed for the school building. We walked down hall and I smiled at all the looks we got. Some were the usual gaping, while others were clearly wondering what in the world Sam was wearing. I thought she looked cute; the outfit was totally her style. We had to part ways soon, considering our different schedules. I walked into my first class, and groaned, loudly enough for the whole class to hear me. Sitting there, next to the only empty seat left, was Edward Cullen.

"Bella!" he called happily. He stood up and quickly crossed the room to give me a hug. I stood there stiffly and refused to hug him back, but that was as much as I could do with all these humans watching.

"Get off of me," I growled, this time low enough that only he could hear. He let go, looking hurt as he sat down. I sighed and slid into the desk next to him, hating that I had a class with him. He started to say something but at that moment the teacher walked in and began talking about the rules and such. I smiled, already liking the teacher just for saving me from listening to Edward.

About halfway through the period Edward slid a note onto my desk, timing it perfectly so that the teacher wouldn't see. I glared at the little piece of paper, folded carefully, intending to not even open it. However, after a few minutes my curiosity got the better of me. I had to know what he what he could possibly come up with to maybe change my mind about him. I unfolded the paper, smoothing out the creases before looking at the words printed there in his elegant script.

I'm sorry, for everything.

I snorted at the four little words, so inadequate. I knew he didn't mean just for hugging me. He was trying to apologize for all the hurt he'd caused me, all the pain, and I wasn't buying it. It was going to take a lot more than that for me to forgive him.

Sorry isn't fucking good enough.

I scribbled my reply quickly, and then realized that it was something Sam would say. It was the truth, but it sounded too mean said that way. I quickly went back and scratched out part of it.

Sorry isn't ------- good enough.

I sighed as I looked down at my edited message, but folded it up and handed it back to him anyway. I heard him chuckle at first when he saw the scribble, but then his face fell when he realized what the message actually said. He wrote something down and passed the paper back.

I'll make it up to you.

I glared at the words. He could never make it up to me, no matter how hard he tried. If he spent the rest of his eternal life trying to get me to forgive him, it would never happen. This was mostly because I wouldn't let him. I wasn't going to just stand by while he threw himself all over me, trying to earn my forgiveness. It would be way to annoying. If he didn't knock this off soon Sam and I were out of here, and I would go to extra measures to ensure that I never came face-to-face with Edward Cullen again.

Like hell you will.

I realized once more that I sounded like Sam. She was rubbing off on me, and I didn't see this as a good thing. I scribbled out my error and wrote something new.

------------------.

No, you won't.

I passed it back, and this time he had no reply. I studiously ignored him for the rest of the class, keeping my eyes straight ahead. When the bell finally rang I bolted before he got the chance to stop me. I smiled a little in spite of myself. Now that I was a vampire he couldn't get the best of me, not physically at least. I remembered how he'd dazzled me in the parking lot, and it scared me. I'd thought I was over him. I'd thought that all I would be feeling when I looked at him was anger. Truthfully I wished that was all I felt. Anger, hatred, those were emotions I recognized and was familiar with. This knew feeling was something I hadn't known in a long time and they were barely a part of me before now.

"Hey!" Sam called as I walked into my next class, which we thankfully had together.

"Hey," I said, trying to sound cheerful, but she caught on to my expression.

"Lemme guess, one of them was in your first class," she said, and I merely nodded. "Which one was it? The overly perky chick, or the bitchy blonde?" she asked now.

"Neither," I replied, hating how I felt a twinge of anger when she said that about Alice, "It was Edward."

"Oooo, that's gotta suck some major—"

"Sam!"

"What?!"

"Tone it down a bit," I said simply and we finally took our seats. Over the past five years I'd grown accustomed to Sam's bold personality, but she still had the ability to shock me. I remembered a conversation we'd had awhile back.

"You're power is so cool," Sam said, after I'd finished the exercises I did to keep my shield strong, "I wish I had something like that."

"You don't seem like someone who'd care about a power," I blurted before I could think. That was something about Sam. She always compelled me to say exactly what I thought, when I thought it, probably because she did the same.

She shrugged as she replied, "I just think it'd be nice to have something that makes you special."

"Well, maybe you have a power and you just don't know it," I suggested.

I could see the doubt in her eyes as she said, "Like what?"

I had to think for a minute, recalling all the things that Sam did well. "Super smart-assery skills?" I offered up. She laughed, but I could see that she liked the idea of that.

I tried to stay focused on the class and not think about Edward and the rest of the Cullens. When it came down to it, there shouldn't have been any question about it. I hated Edward, and while I didn't hate the rest of them as strongly, I wasn't prepared to let them back in my life. But do I really? I found myself thinking.

Sam noticed that I looked worried, and so did her best to distract me. We got a few dirty looks from the teacher, but then Sam's day wasn't complete unless she pissed someone off. I hoped that if she got it out of her system now she could follow my lead and ignore the Cullens when lunch finally came around. I was sadly mistaken. When we walked into the cafeteria, carrying two paper bags that were supposed to be our lunches, she immediately looked at the Cullens' table before turning to grin at me devilishly.

"I know that look, and we're not going over there to piss them off," I said. I didn't have to read minds to know what Sam was thinking.

"Aww, come on, it'd be fun," she said, smirking at Edward, who was watching us across the cafeteria. He winced, which meant Sam was thinking something either really cruel or really dirty. Knowing her, it was probably both.

"No!" I said firmly and perhaps a little too loudly, as a few humans turned around to look at me. I walked over to an empty table, as far away from the Cullens as the little cafeteria allowed, and sat down with my "lunch" in front of me. After a few moments of looking longingly over at their table, Sam followed me, pouting.

"You never let me do anything," she said, like I was her mom. For a minute we just looked at each other, and then we burst into laughter.

I looked down at the paper bags before us, so much different than the untouched trays of food sitting in front of each of the Cullens. When we were planning our return to school I'd figured that if we brought our lunch from home it was less noticeable that we didn't eat it. Plus we weren't so rich that it was okay to pay every single day for a lunch that was never touched. So we each got a bottle of water in a plain brown paper bag with a bunch of napkins stuffed down inside of it to make it look like it was full. We pulled out our waters and unscrewed the caps, but didn't make a move to drink them.

"Shut up," I told Sam a few minutes later, when I caught her making faces at the Cullens' table again.

"But I didn't say anything," she said, a sarcastically sweet smile glued on her face. I glared, but kept quiet, that is until I saw her doing it again a few moments later. I reached over and whacked upside the head. I hoped no one had noticed how there had been a loud clunking noise when my hand collided with her head. "Ow!" she protested, rubbing her head, though I hadn't hit her hard enough for it to really hurt.

"That's for thinking it," I said. She opened her mouth like she would add something else, but no words came out, and she fell quiet. After a few minutes we began talking about plans for the apartment we'd rented, the horror movie we'd seen the week before, and how it was impossible to find a store that stocked decent goth ware (this last one was mostly just Sam ranting). It was our normal conversation, our routine, and the Cullens were all but forgotten.

When the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch period, we stood up and joined the masses of people trying to squeeze through the cafeteria's two exits. When we got out into the hallway I felt a familiar presence behind me, and I turned to see Edward Cullen standing about three feet from me. Damn, I thought. I couldn't see his family, but that didn't mean they weren't out there somewhere, watching. Sam came to stand beside me, her arms folded across her chest, one hip jutting out to the side, and her face set in an all-too-familiar look, which was somewhere between a glare and a pout. She was in full-on smart-ass mode, with a dash of stubbornness thrown in for good measure. I could already see snarky comments forming in her mind, and apparently so could Edward, because he winced.

"Sam," I said quietly, but I couldn't continue. I didn't know what I wanted her to do. It felt like I should be telling her to knock it off, but another part of me wanted her to chase him away. I couldn't tell which part was stronger, so I kept quiet, letting her name hang in the awkward silence.

I mean, it wasn't really silent, as there were humans rushing by on either side of us, laughing and calling out to each other. None of them seemed to matter though. I could still smell their blood wafting around us like the most seductive cologne, and I could still feel the occasional body bumping into me, but it all faded to the back of my mind. All that mattered was here and now. This one little bubble of time and space that enclosed Sam, Edward, and me. None of us spoke, and the silence was intense, but I couldn't bring myself to be the one to break it.

"We need to talk," Edward said finally. It was such a standard line, such an unoriginal choice when people either broke up or got back together. Was that really what we'd done though? Broken up? And what did Edward want us to be now? Back together? More importantly, what did I want us to be? That was a confusing question, not to mention a dangerous one. More than anything I'd ever faced, I fear the answer to that question.

"Now's not exactly the best time," I told him, taking care to make sure my gaze remained steely.

"Why not?" he asked.

As if I was Jasper, I could feel the annoyance rolling off of Sam. "Hello! There's like a hundred fucking normals around," Sam said, using the word we'd come up with for discussing humans without their noticing. We'd started using it back when we were both a bit shaky on the veggie lifestyle, but even as our self-control strengthened the term stuck. I saw the comprehension cross Edward's face as he read the definition in Sam's mind.

"You run away from me any other time," he said, "Now's my only chance."

"Don't think I won't bolt at top speed through a crowd of normals," I told him, "I've done it before."

"Then how come you're not running yet?" he asked, his eyes challenging. I glared back at him steadily. He was starting to piss me off.

"None of your damned business," I said. I could feel myself sliding into a position that mirrored Sam's, and for two seconds I wondered if we wore the same clothes anyone would be able to tell us apart.

"Look, I just want to say, I shouldn't have left," he started.

"And you're sorry?" I said sourly. He nodded vigorously, until he caught on to my expression. Then he wore a confused look. He wasn't used to not being ahead of the game, and that gave me some weird satisfaction. "Well I've had enough of you stupid sorry's," I said, "Since that seems to be all you've got these days."

"Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhh," someone said, like the noise they make on T.V. when a person gets dissed badly. The voice came from a ways away, and I wouldn't have heard it if not for my vampire senses. I couldn't see the source of it, but I suspected Emmett.

"W-What?" Edward asked, caught between looking incredulously at me and glaring over his shoulder at his brother.

"You heard me," I said.

"I-I don't understand," he said now, though I thought he did really.

"You've told me you're sorry. You've said you'll never forgive yourself for leaving. What you haven't told me is why Edward. Why the hell did you leave in the first place?" I said, my tone still artic.

"I did it to protect you!" he said, voice rising the slightest bit.

"Protect me?! Yeah right! After you left the gangsters got me!" I yelled back, ignoring the stares a few passing humans threw my way.

"That wasn't my fault!" he protested.

"Yes it was! You're the one who made me this way!" I shouted, gesturing towards my perfect body.

"You just said the gangsters did that!" Edward replied.

"If you'd been there with me they never would've come near me at all!" I said.

"As I recall, this used to be what you wanted!" he returned angrily. Leave it to Edward to use my dreams against me, my silly human dreams from twenty years ago no less.

"That was before I realized I'd be alone," I said. My volume had dropped ever-so-slightly, but not enough to be called normal talking.

"You wouldn't have been, I would've been there,"

"No you wouldn't,"

"Yes I would! I would've done it myself if they didn't beat me to it,"

"But you still left!"

"I'm sorry,"

"Stop saying that!" I shrieked. Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Sam, somewhere between worry and laughter.

"Maybe you two should continue this some other time," she muttered, nodding towards the crowd that had begun to gather around us. They were all humans, except for the glimpse I caught of Alice and Jasper. Alice looked almost happy, Jasper was clearly in pain, and all the humans merely looked confused. Before anyone could say anything else I bolted, running at human speed for the nearest exit. I got out into the parking lot and picked up speed, running faster and faster, going nowhere in particular.

OK, just so you know, when Bella and Edward are passing notes, the ------------- means Bella scribbled out what she had previously wrote. Sorry it looks weird and all, but that was the best I could do. Please review? :P