A/N: I loved the comments on the last chapter. A lot of them went something like "That was horrible! And I so want more!" You are all masochists! Haha ^_^ Thank you all so much for the amazing reviews.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

~*~Words of Wisdom~*~

Edward

I couldn't believe the admission I had just made to the shocked girl standing before me. In not so many words, I had just told Bella that I couldn't be her friend because I wanted to be so much more than that. I saw her face change and I knew that I needed to take it all back and fast, but before I could say a word, she was gone. What did I just do?

"Damn it, Edward," I heard Emmett say, but I couldn't look away from the spot where Bella had just been standing. "I know this is hard for you, but did you have to break it to her like that on her birthday? I can't believe you! I told you how much it affected her this last week and you go and give it to her like that?"

I looked up. Emmett was standing in my doorway looking both disappointed and furious. But he wasn't mad at me for what I had just said, he was mad because…oh, no. The words that had involuntarily erupted from my lips started dancing in my head. I said that I wanted her. She heard that I didn't. And I screamed it at her.

I got up to go after her, but Emmett was already there pushing me back down.

"I have to go find her!" I hollered. I was doing a lot of that today.

"No, Edward. It may have been incredibly stupid to break her the way you did, but it would be ten times worse if you went after her. You needed to separate yourself from her and that's exactly what you did. You'll just confuse her if you go running to her now. You did what you had to." I put my head in my hands and grabs fistfuls of my hair.

"I didn't," I said in a strained whisper. I looked up again to see a puzzled look on Emmett's face. "I wasn't pushing her away. It was a confession. She saw how messed up I looked and she wouldn't leave it alone. All she wanted to do was help me, Emmett. She didn't understand why she couldn't and I said it all before I could stop myself. I just didn't want to hurt her anymore. It was a kneejerk reaction."

The set of Emmett's jaw was clenched tight and I could see him working over the words I had used in his head. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, they bore into me and the voice he used when he finally spoke was low and dangerous sounding.

"Do you have any idea how lucky you are that she didn't hear the meaning behind that statement? If it was anyone other than Bella that you said that to and they caught on, you'd be in jail, Edward."

"Yes, I know," was all I said.

But if Bella had caught on, then jail would have been the least of my worries. I never wanted Bella to know how truly I had betrayed her faith in me by falling for her. I couldn't bear it if I saw the look of fear and disgust that would cross her face if she knew exactly how much I cared about her.

"So, I take it I'm running the meeting without her?" I nodded without looking at Emmett. "Great."

Our discussion ended as the designated students for the LitMag staff drifted through the door. Emmett and Bella were supposed to supervised the meeting since I hadn't been there all week, but with the way Bella left, I highly doubted she would be back to talk about poetry and short stories.

I tried to focus on the meeting, but my mind would always settle back on Bella. I missed her so much. I didn't care if I couldn't be with her the way I wanted to, I just wanted to be able to talk to her again. It was killing me to have her so near and to not be able to do a damn thing. And I wasn't the only one hurting. Emmett told me how badly Bella had taken my rejection.

At first, he thought she was fine, but when he left the building last Wednesday, he saw Bella crying in Alice's arms. He also told me how sad she looked the next day and how it got progressively worse as the week went on. I could tell Emmett had reservations about telling me how she was doing, but I had to know if she was okay.

She wasn't and then on top of everything I had already put her through, I made her think that I didn't want to be anywhere near her. I was so sickened by how much I wanted her as I said the words that I could only imagine her thinking that my self-loathing was directed at her. The thought made me cringe. How could she take my words so out of context? I could never hate her. She was my everything.

I needed to stop thinking that way. She may have been my everything, but she wasn't mine and she never could be. As much as I would have loved to have been able to meet Bella in some other capacity, I didn't. I was her teacher. I mentally sighed. I used to love being able to say that I was a teacher. Now, the word just made me sick.

Finally, the meeting was over. I was relieved when we were able to leave a few minutes ahead of schedule. I needed to get home and try to take my mind off of the hell I was in. But when I got to the parking lot I froze. Bella's truck was still there and it had been an hour and a half since she ran from my classroom.

I took a deep breath. There could have been a number of reasons why Bella's truck was left behind with no Bella to be seen. I walked over to it and peaked in the window. All of her things were strewn about the cab, including her cell phone. I couldn't help the panicked feeling that was growing deep inside my chest. If something happened to her it would be all my fault.

"Hey, what are you doing? You're supposed to be staying away from Bella." I could hear the irritation in Emmett's voice, but I could really care less.

"If you haven't noticed, Bella's not here. What if something happened to her, Em?" Thoughts of some creep grabbing Bella from behind ran through my mind.

"Don't be ridiculous. It's her birthday. She's probably out with Alice." And as if the Gods were laughing at us, Alice pulled up at that moment in her yellow Porsche.

"Alice!" She looked at me quizzically. "Is Bella with you?"

"No, I was supposed to pick her up after the meeting today to take her out to dinner." I looked at Emmett who cursed and walked over to the janitor who was busy emptying trash cans. "She's in trouble."

It wasn't a question. She said it like she was stating a fact. I snapped my head back to Alice. She was glaring at me as she pulled out her phone and called Jasper to bring a blanket, a water bottle, and to come help look for Bella. I was about to call the police, but Alice stopped me.

"We don't need the police. There's no need to worry Charlie until we find her. She went into the woods." I was starting to get really frustrated with this girl. I was about to argue her knowledge when Emmett came back.

"The janitor says no one's in the bathrooms. We should start looking. It'll be dark in a few hours." I was gone before Emmett could finish.

My head was spinning with scenarios. What if she was lost and wandering around scared or unconscious somewhere because tripped over something like she always did. I could see her being attacked by an animal and lying somewhere in a pool of her own blood or falling into a river and not being able to get out. She was out here somewhere cold and alone and it was all my fault.

"Bella! Bella, if you can hear me I need you to answer me or make some noise!" I listened hard for anything from Bella, but all I could hear the other's calling out. It sounded like Jasper had joined us.

We walked and shouted for twenty minutes, but I still hadn't heard a thing. We were spaced out to cover more ground, but still close enough to hear each other. I was farther ahead than the others and frantically searched for any sign of Bella. There was nothing and every horrible thing that I had imagined began to morph together into one giant ball of nerves in my stomach.

"Bella!" I could barely breathe, but I still screamed louder. "Damn it, Bella! Where are you?"

Another twenty minutes passed and the light was fading faster than I could look. I felt the hot liquid trail down my face as heaved my breath and I shouted into the surrounding trees. In all my adulthood, I had only cried a handful of times, but Bella had captured my heart so fully that the emotional strain of losing her had sent me to tears twice in the span of one week

But these tears made me angry. How dare I cry when Bella was lost out here because of me? I called again and again and after the thousandth time calling out to nothing, I heard a faint cry. I stopped in my tracks and surveyed my surroundings. Part of me thought that I might have imagined it, but then I saw the faint outline of a person on the ground merely fifty feet away.

I ran faster than I had ever run in my life and collapsed on the ground next to her crumpled form, pulling her into my lap. She was shaking from both the tears and the cold and her palms were bloody from trying to crawl out of the forest. Her hair and face were a complete mess of dirt and twigs, but she was still the most beautiful creature I had ever laid eyes on.

"I'm so sorry," she cried, though her voice was almost completely gone. "I'm so sorry, Edward." Her words pierce through my heart. What on earth did she have to be sorry for?

"Shh, Bella. It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong. Shh." I turned my head away to not yell in her ear. "She's over here! I've found her! She's right here!" Then I turned back to Bella and rested my forehead against hers. "God, I thought I lost you. I'm sorry, Bella. I'm so, so sorry for everything that I've done to you."

It sounded like she was trying to respond, but quiet sobs replaced her speech before she could get it out. The others were there within minutes, Jasper wrapping Bella in a blanket while Alice was trying to get her to drink some water. Emmett came up behind me to pull me away, but I didn't budge.

"They've got her," he whispered in my ear, his tone gentle, but firm. "You have to back away, now."

I disentangled myself from Bella and handed her off to her friends. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. I only got a few feet away before I fell to the ground again. Emmett knelt beside me and kept a hand on my shoulder to let me know that he was there. It was a simple gesture, but it meant a lot.

I kept my distance as Jasper steadied Bella in his arms and carried her out of the woods. Alice stayed by his side trying to talk to Bella and Emmett stayed behind with me for support. I waited for Alice and Jasper to leave with Bella before I made my way to my own car. I barely registered Emmett asking me if I was going to be alright before he left as well.

As I sat there clenching the steering wheel, I couldn't help but think of Bella's broken little body when I held her. There were traces of blood on my shirt from where she clung to me. It was painful to remember, but I couldn't flush it from my mind. Part of me felt like I didn't deserve to, like it was my punishment for my hurting her.

I don't know how long I sat there staring out the window at nothing, but eventually a silver Jeep pulled up beside me and my phone rang. "Hello?"

"Come on, get in the car," Emmett said on the other end, sounding resigned.

"Emmett? How long have you…"

"Fifteen minutes. I've been waiting for you to leave, but, well, you're still here and I know that you're going to beat yourself up all night if you don't go see how she is, so come on. We're going to the hospital."

Emmett hung up the phone before I could reply. I knew that he didn't approve of my feelings for Bella, but he was a great friend. And he was right. I needed to know if she was alright or I wouldn't be able to do anything. So, I got out and locked my car and climbed up into Emmett's Jeep.

The ride to the hospital was silent. My mind wouldn't leave Bella and I wasn't going to be good company until I saw her or at least knew how she was doing. Finally, we pulled into the ER parking lot and Emmett told to sit in the waiting area while he went and found out what was going on. I must have been really out of it because it seemed like only seconds later he was holding a cup of coffee out in front of me.

"Damn, Edward, your hands are shaking. You need to calm down." I looked down to where I was grabbing the coffee and, sure enough, the liquid was jittering because of my trembling hands.

"I didn't even realize. What did the nurse say?"

"The doctor's still checking her out. She'll let us know when it's okay to see her." I nodded and we sat in silence for a few minutes until Emmett broke through my thoughts. "I get it."

I looked up confused. "Get what?"

"I get it, I get you and Bella. I might not like it very much, but I get how you guys fit. I spent a lot of time with her this week and you two think the same way. And I also get how much you love her because I saw it on your face tonight. I get it, Edward. I really do."

"Yeah, well…it's not like it makes that much of a difference does it? I'm still her teacher."

"After she graduates…"

"No," I said a little too forcefully. "I'm sorry, it's just…Even if she did feel the same way, I could never hold her back like that. She's got a bright future ahead of her and I'm not going to keep her in Forks when she could go out into the world and be great. You should read some of the stuff she writes, Emmett. It's brilliant and heartbreaking and wonderful. She's so gifted. I just wish she'd see it," I laughed. Bella never saw herself clearly.

"I guess see your point. What exactly are you planning on doing once she's gone?" I looked up, confused by the question. "You could barely function this last week, Edward. Hell, I had to push you into the bathroom to shave this morning. Do you really expect to be a good teacher once she's completely gone?"

I looked back down at my coffee. I'd never really thought that far ahead before. The truth was that I could barely remember how I survived life before Bella and the thought of her being gone was something my mind automatically rejected. It sound cliché and idiotic to say that you can't live without someone, but that's exactly how I felt. I couldn't imagine my life without Bella.

"Look, Edward, I know that it's impossible to think about right now, but I want you to know that I'm here for you, man. No matter what you do, I'm your best friend first, alright?"

I nodded, not knowing what to say. To be perfectly honest, I didn't really know what he was saying. I knew he wasn't giving me his blessing to pursue Bella, not that I would do that in the first place, but it sure as hell sounded as close to a blessing I was likely to get from Emmett. I was utterly shocked, to say the least.

"Hey, there's Chief Swan. I'm going to go find out what's going on."

Almost as soon as Emmett left, Alice walked around the corner eyeing me. She seemed to be readying herself for something as she took a deep breath and made a beeline directly to me. I could feel the nervous ball start in my stomach again as I took in her posture. Was there something wrong with Bella?

"Come with me," she said when she reached me and turned on her heel. As short as Alice was, I was finding it incredibly difficult to keep up with her. We kept walking until we reached a room and then she turned at me with the devil's glare in her eyes.

"What the hell did you say to her?" Alice was furious as she had every right to be, but I was still an authority figure.

"Alice, I'm a teacher." She glared harder and I was actually starting to become a little afraid of Bella's tiny pixie-like friend.

"Here's the thing, Mr. Cullen. I don't care if you're a teacher. You could be the president of the United States of America and it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference. You hurt my best friend and if I weren't in danger of losing my internship over something stupid like violence, I'd be giving you a piece of my fist right now instead of my mind.

"She won't tell me what you said to her, but I know it must have been bad because Bella doesn't freak out like that over nothing. What the hell is the matter with you? All she ever did was care about you and you go and say something stupid to mess it all up. I am so tired of being the only one that knows what the both of you are feeling and damn it, Mr. Cullen, I know you feel something, so don't try to deny it!

"Now, you are going to walk into that room and straighten out this mess that you've gotten yourself into with that mouth of yours before I kick your ass ten ways till Tuesday, internship be damned. It hurts me just as much as it hurts you to see her like that, but I have to see her more so we're doing this my way, since you obviously haven't got a clue."

Alice walked away then, leaving me shocked and gaping outside of Bella's room. My brain couldn't even process half the things she said. But a lot of it made sense and at that point, I had two options; get close to Bella again and risk everything or walk away and let the both of us live in pain day in and day out. To say that I was stuck between a rock and a hard place was an understatement. I was screwed.

A/N: Alice was my favorite part of this chapter, by far. I could have written and entire novel of her ranting at Mr. Cullen.

If you guys haven't done so yet, check out the thread for this story over on the Twilighted Forums under AU-All Human.

http:/www (dot) twilighted (dot) net/forum/viewtopic (dot) php?f=44&t=1540&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

You can see teasers and chat about stuff that doesn't come up in the reviews. Plus, we have lots of fun over there. ^_^

Thanks for reading!