Hello, I really need to apologise for my absence. Honestly, it's nobody's fault but my own. Basically, I had so much homework to for my History, literally loads. And that was just on top of my other homework. And then my laptop charger broke so I had to order a new one, but here's the chapter!

I hope you enjoy this chapter and sorry again for the long wait!

I love the fact that I've got so many reviews already! You all make me so happy, you're the reason I update.

Darcy is writing this story.

Disclaimer – SM owns Twilight.

"Hey, Bella!" Alice called to me across the cafeteria. I walked over to the lunch line and queued for what seemed like forever before I grabbed a slice of pizza and a bottle of lemonade. Walking over to join Alice at our usual table, I was greeted by Emmett sat in my spot.

"Get up." I said.

"Huh?" He asked, confused. He had pizza sauce wiped all over his face and was mid chew.

"First, wipe your face and chew, chew, chew and swallow..." I waited until he had done what I told him before I continued. "You're sat in my seat." I told him.

"What? Can't you just sit there?" He pointed to the seat next to him.

"No, because that's my seat."

"Well, I want to sit here." He replied, cockily. He sat up further in his seat and shifted into a 'manly' pose.

"Well, I want you to get your ass out of my seat before I make you." I glared at him.

"Oh yeah? What're you gonna do Smella?"

Flashback

"Smella! Over here!" Emmett called to me. I ignored him and pushed my glasses further up my face.

"Hey, Smella! What're you reading?" His voice was closer now, right next to me. I looked up to see him smirking at me; at his sides were Jessica Stanley and Edward Cullen.

"Um, nothing." I muttered, looking down again. He snatched the book out of my hands and threw it to Edward before I could grab it back.

"Wuthering Heights?" Edward asked, his nose scrunching up.

"Why are you reading this? It's an old person book!" Jessica asked, looking at the book like it was offensive to her in some way.

"Because I like it." I replied, blushing a million different shades of red.

"What do you mean you like it?" Edward rolled his eyes, shifting his weight to his left foot.

"Shh!" The librarian shushed him.

"Sorry." He rolled his eyes again.

"Why are you reading in the library?" Jessica asked, I looked at her like she was stupid.

"Well Jessica, people normally read in libraries, that's what they're for." Where did the confidence come from? Go me!

"What did you just say to me?" She asked, glaring. Emmett and Edward were chuckling silently behind her at my remark.

"Oh, erm...nothing. I er, I didn't say anything Jessica." I muttered.

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

"So, what do we do with the book guys?" Edward asked. He walked away from me a bit, pacing up and down. He had a concentrated look on his face, like he actually cared what happened to it.

"Well, Bella. What do you want us to do with it?" Emmett chuckled.

"Give it back to me, please." I said, quietly.

"Huh? I didn't quite catch that. Could you repeat it please?" Edward asked, leaning towards me and cupping his ear with the hand that wasn't gripping my book.

"Please, give me my book back?" I asked a little louder. "It was my Grans, please don't ruin it." My Gran had been dead for a few years, and the book was one of my most favourite things I had of hers.

"Oh, it was your Grans!"Jessica shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "That's why you want to keep it."

"Hmm, what a predicament we are in." Edward murmured. His beautiful green eyes sparkling.

"Shhh!" The librarian shushed him again.

"Well, I think I might keep this." Edward said, pulling his bag off of his back a throwing my book into it.

"Please, please don't!" I begged.

"Too late, I already did." He laughed and then all walked off without giving me a second glance. I sat there for what seemed like forever, brushing never ending tears away from my face. I walked out of the library and walked straight into Emmett.

"Ew, want do you want?" He asked me.

"Nothing, it was an accident, sorry." I murmured, trying to get past him.

"I need to get past, Emmett." I sighed.

"And?" He asked.

"You need to get out of my way for me to get past."

"Oh yeah? What're you gonna do Smella?"

End Flashback

I froze, tear pricking in my eyes. Emmett seemed to realise his mistake, because he stood up straight away and sat in the seat next to the one he was in.

"Thank you." I said as I sat down in my seat.

"No, Bella I'm so sorry. I'd completely forgotten about that, and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings by calling you Smella, I swear. I thought that since we're okay now...you know...you wouldn't mind me calling it you?" He said, apologetically.

"Emmett it's fine, really. And I don't mind you calling me Smella as long as you keep it between the two of us, 'kay?" I smiled.

"Thanks, Bells! I knew there was a reason I loved you." He told me, clutching his heart.

"Oh, har har." I chuckled, shaking my head.

Alice drew us into another conversation. I tried to pay attention, I really did, but it was hard. She was talking about some shopping spree she wanted Angela to go on, she asked me but I politely declined. Why did I keep getting these flashbacks? I mean it's like I'm reliving that part of my life all over again, was it just a bad idea coming back here? Alice was talking about everyone coming to my house tonight. She knew that Emmett lived next door, so she thought we could have a barbeque on my lawn. If I was smart, I would have said no. I wasn't paying attention so I didn't think to tell her that Jacob was coming over later with Nessie.

"Alice!" Someone called. I looked over to see Edward walking over to us.

Bow chicka wow wow...

Phwoar. Honestly, I tried not to stare at the way that his white t-shirt clung to his pecks, or the way his too tight skinny jeans clung to his legs. Queue the pile of Bella Goo on the floor.

He pulled a chair up next to me and I caught a whiff of him. He smelt gorgeous, like a mix of light cologne and summer. I felt myself physically shudder. Turning my head back to the pizza, I played with the ages before taking a large bite out of it.

"Mom said that you were going to a barbeque tonight at Bella's house?" He asked, turning to look at me. I nodded at him before looking at Alice.

"How in the hell does your Mom know Alice? You were just talking about it like 10 minutes ago!" I asked, shocked.

"Oh, I already asked my mom last night. I knew you'd say yes." I rolled my eyes and looked back at my pizza, glad I had control of my life. Yeah right.

"Anyway," Edward continued in his gorgeous, honey melted voice. "I was wondering why I wasn't invited." He asked looking at me to answer.

"Hey, don't look at me! I didn't even know about it until about 10 minutes ago!" I defended myself.

"Okay, okay!" Alice intervened. "Edward, come to the barbeque. Jeez! I have to do everything around here."

I laughed quietly to myself and looked over to see Edward doing the same. The bell rang out and I stood up, throwing my rubbish in the trash and set off walking towards Biology. I sat down and took out my pencil case and books and put them on the table. The seat next to me scraped along the floor and the sound made me shudder.

"Hey, Bella?" Edward asked me, I turned to look at him. Did someone just turn the heat on?

"Yeah?"

"I was, um, wondering, are you okay with me, you know...coming tonight?" He asked, scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh, erm...yeah, no I don't mind." I smiled at him.

"Oh, really?" He seemed shocked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I was always so horrible to you, and I thought that maybe you'd want to...I don't know, um...not have me there? I don't know, I guess I just..." I cut him off.

"Edward it's fine, really."

"Okay, thanks." He grinned. "Oh, is Jacob going to be there?" He asked.

"Oh, yeah. He was going to come round with his girlfriend anyway." I told him.

"What?" He asked, confused.

"What?"

"You said, 'he's coming round with his girlfriend'...you're his girlfriend, aren't you?" Crap, crap, crap, crap, double crap, crappity, crap, crap, CRAP!

"Oh, about that, so you see...I erm." I trailed off.

"You what?" He asked. I sighed and looked away, deciding to just tell him.

"Okay, so I never really was going you with Jake. He's been dating his girlfriend Nessie for ages now, and when I got back here I was so annoyed with you all about what happened when I was here last time. Me and Jake decided we would pretend to go out to annoy you all. I don't know why in the world me dating someone would annoy you, but Alice said it would...anyway, Ness didn't mind it so we both just played along. But Jake's one of my best friend's over here, so it wasn't awkward or anything."

I braved a glance at him to see anger all over his face.

"So, you pretended?" He spat.

"Yes, why?" I asked, defensive.

"How could you do that? Do you have any idea how that could have made any of us feel?" He ramble on.

"Do you realise how you made me feel when I was 11 years old and I broke my leg when you tripped me up in the cafeteria? Do you realise how it made me feel when you and your friends would ridicule me in front of everyone until I cried? Or do you realise how it felt to have you take my Wuthering Heights book when it was the only real thing I had left of my Gran?" I asked, letting all my frustration out.

His eyes softened and he looked at me apologetically.

"Bella, I'm so sorry, I don't think you could even understand how sorry I am that any of that happened. We were young and we were stupid, mean and arrogant. We didn't care about your feelings at all and I'm so sorry that we put you through that Bella, I truly am."

I wanted to trust him, but my head was telling me I was setting myself up for more hurt. My heart, however, was telling me to forgive him and put this whole mess behind us.

"Okay," I sighed, looking back at him.

"Okay?" He asked, confused.

"I forgive you, Edward. I already forgave Emmett anyway, so..." He smiled a crooked grin that made me near enough faint.

"Thank you, Bella, you don't know-" He was cut off my Mr Banner finally entering the room, only about 15 minutes late with some stupid excuse about a staff meeting. He started off on a lecture I'd already studied in Jacksonville, so I doodled on the corner of my notebook; intricate little swirls flowed across my page. I was just about to turn over when a folded piece of paper was shoved under my way. I looked at Edward to see him making notes on his paper, a smirk on his face. I opened the paper and held back a gasp at his handwriting. Was there anything about the boy that wasn't perfect? Sigh.

Nice doodles.

It said simply, I raised an eyebrow and grabbed a pen, adding a note to the piece of paper and hitting myself internally for ruining the page with page with my messy scrawl.

Thanks, I'm quite proud.

I received a note back a few moments later.

You should be, those are some pretty intense swirls. Shouldn't you be paying attention to this lecture?

Nah, I studied this in Jacksonville.

Oh, smart ass, are we?

Oh Shut up.

I didn't say anything!

Okay, then...stop writing.

Ouch Bella, that burned. It really did.

I try. Shouldn't you be listening to this lecture?

Nope. I'm smart enough to ignore Mr Banner.

Smart-ass.

Oooh, feisty.

That's me. Bella Swan.

Oooh, nice name. I'll have to forge it sometime.

Yeah, it might take a few decades to decipher the complicated mass in the letters of my name.

Fuck me, that was one intellectual sentence.

Language Mr Cullen.

Yeah, yeah.

Looking forward to tonight?

I passed the note back over to him, but the bell rang just as her was about to send it back. He shoved it in his pencil case and said his goodbyes before walking off towards his next class. I walked to gym and was happy to find out that my teacher wasn't in, so we got out early. I walked to my truck and got in, driving to the store to get some meat for the barbeque tonight. Getting home, I sorted out the meat before running upstairs to check my email. There was one from my mom asking how I was, and there were a few junk ones that I deleted without reading. I picked up my cell and dialled Jake's number.

"Hey, Bells! Long time, no speak." He answered.

"Jake, hows life down on the Rez?" I asked.

"Good, good. We still on for tonight?"

"Yeah, but there's a few others coming as well. Barbeque time."

"Oh, does that mean I have to tell Ness she can't come?"

"No, they all know we're a fake. You can bring her along and be all lovey dovey again."

"Great! I'll see you later then."

"Yep, bye Jake."

"See you, Bells."

I hung up and rang my Dad, telling him to be careful and work and I'd see him when he got home tomorrow. He had to go to Seattle and sort out some major crimes going on over there, and he was staying overnight to make it more convenient for himself.

At around 5, Alice showed up on my doorstep with a bag of snacks. She put all the crisps and chocolates in bowls and then put cling film over them to keep them fresh until everyone turned up. She but the soda's in the fridge and then went over to my stereo and plugged her iPod in, turning it on to 'Please Don't Let Me Go' by Olly Murs.

When someone knocked on the door at half 5, we all went outside and set up some chairs and tables, put the snacks on them and opened the windows, so we could hear the iPod music blaring from the speakers. 'Teenage Dream' by Katy Perry was playing now, and Alice was jumping around singing like a crazy person. Emmett came outside and saw her, joining in. I was just about to die from laughter when Emmett pulled me up with surprising strength and lifted me like a fireman, spinning me round in a circle.

"Emmett! Put me down!" I shouted. He laughed and spun me faster.

"Emmett, I swear to God! If you don't put me down right now I'm going to puke all over your head!" He laughed and slowed his circles.

"That's a pleasant thought." A velvet voice murmured from my left. Or was it my right? My head was spinning. Emmett put me on the floor and I closed my eyes trying to regain my sight, I took a shaky step forward and fell to the side, laughing. I lay on the floor for a moment before Emmett shouted "Pile-On!" This of course, meant Alice, Emmett, Jasper and Jacob all piled on me.

"Guys! I can't, breathe!" I managed to gasp out.

"Hey, get off of her, she can't breathe." Edward told them. I felt the relief as the weight left me and I took a deep breath, standing up and sitting in my chair next to Alice.

"Man, that was rough." I muttered.

"Ha, tell me about it. I was right after you!" She laughed.

"Man, where's this grub! I'm starving!" Ben shouted towards Jake and Emmett, who were manning the food.

"It's gonna be a while, mate." Emmett told him.

"KARAOKE TIME!" Alice shouted. Oh, the joys.

"Okay, but let's do it like a Spin the bottle type thing," Angela suggested. "Like whoever spins it gets to decide the song for whoever it lands on?"

"Plan, Angela." Alice muttered.

After we were all situated in a circle, me in between Ness and Jasper.

"Okay, rules. You've GOT to sing. No excuses." She paused.

"Is that it?" I asked.

"Um, yeah actually." She laughed. "I'll spin first."

She got the empty cola bottle and spun it around on the plastic folder she'd put over the grass to make spinning it easier. It landed on Jasper.

"Okaaay, Jazz." Jazz? What's going on! "I dare you to sing...Iris, by the Goo Goo Dolls."

I've got to give it to him, he did it pretty damn well.

After a few more spins, I was proud of myself. I hadn't had to sing once! Of course, when it got to me I span it and who did it land on? I'll give you 3 guesses.

"Okay, Edward. I dare you to sing, 2 Atoms In A Molecule by Noah And The Whale."

I couldn't stop staring. I honestly had to stop myself from drooling and making a little puddle on the grass in front of me. The way his throat constricted when he hit certain notes and his eyes held more emotion than I thought possible. When he sat down again, I found myself watching him. He caught my eye and I blushed looking down. Angela spun the bottle and it landed on me. I groaned and fell back against the grass.

"Okay Bella." I sat up. "Sing Always by Bon Jovi." Edward's eyes snapped to me, so did everyone else's, what was all that about?

I stood up and went over to the iPod, picking the song on the playlist and listened to the opening music.

This romeo is bleeding, but you can't see his blood
It's nothing but some feelings
That this old dog kicked up
It's been raining since you left me
Now I'm drowning in the flood
You see I've always been a fighter
But without you I give up

Now I can't sing a love song
Like the way it's meant to be
Well,I guess I'm not that good anymore
But baby, that's just me

Yeah I, will love you, baby
Always and i'll be there
Forever and a day, always

I'll be there, till the stars don't shine
Till the heavens burst and the words don't rhyme
I know when i die you'll be on my mind
and I'll love you, always

Now your pictures that you left behind
Are just memories of a different life
Some that made us laugh
Some that made us cry
One that made you have to say goodbye

What I'd give to run my fingers thru your hair
Touch your lips, to hold you near,
When you say your prayers, try to understand
I've made mistakes, I'm just a man

When he holds you close, when he pulls you near
When he says the words
You've been needing to hear, I'll wish I was him
'Cause these words are mine, to say to you
'Til the end of time

Yeah I, will love you, baby
Always and i'll be there
Forever and a day, always

If you told me to cry for you, I could
If you told me to die for you, I would
Take a look at my face
There's no price i won't pay
To say these words to you

Well, there ain't no luck in these loaded dice
But baby, if you give me just one more try
We can pack up our old dreams, and our old lives,
We'll find a place, where the sun still shines,

Yeah I, will love you, baby
Always and i'll be there
Forever and a day, always,

I'll be there, till the stars don't shine
Till the heavens burst and the words don't rhyme
I know when I die you'll be on my mind
and I'll love you, always.

Going to sit back down, everyone was staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing." Everyone muttered. Too much vodka? At the end of the night, everyone left, even Alice who was originally going to sleep over. I cleaned everything up and brought the chairs inside, put the leftover snacks in bags and locked the door and windows, before walking up the stairs and to my room, ready to fall into bed. Something caught my eye as I went to my drawer to get my pyjamas. On my bed, sat a parcel wrapped in silver paper with a note on top.

I walked towards it and picket up the note.

I'm sorry. X

Was written in Edward's handwriting. I placed it carefully on my desk and grabbed the parcel, un-wrapping it gently and literally burst into tears. In my hands, was my old copy of Wuthering Heights.

I don't own 'Always' by Bon Jovi, but it's one rockin' song. Check it out if you haven't heard it before.
Please leave a review? I'll love you forever if you do. Virtual love! (: