"Oh, shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"Bloody hell, Bella! I told you we shouldn't have tried that!"

"How the hell was I suppose to know the alarm would go off!"

Okay, so looking back now, I can see that this wasn't my best laid out plan. I knew the lady who lived in the giant house at the end of Lincoln Street. She came into the store I worked at every week. I overheard her talking to one her rich bitch friends. She said she would be going to Paris for a whole month. Which means that giant house with the Olympic size pool would be entirely vacant. How could I pass an opportunity like that up?

I convinced James to go with me. He refused to at first. I don't blame him. Another mark on both of our records and we were toast. But once I mentioned a few things we could be doing in that big pool all by ourselves, I knew I had him hooked. And it all would have worked out perfectly, if it wasn't for the fucking alarm. Seriously, who has a motion detector set up around their pool? Rich people, that's who.

James' car was parked a few streets down. We just had to get there before the cops showed up. I was running as fast as my small frame would let me. Adrenaline pumped through my veins as my heart raced faster than my feet would carry me.

"Almost there, Bella." James grabbed my hand and pulled me along. I struggled not to trip as I kept pace with him.

I quickly jumped in the passenger's seat when we reached James' black Mustang. He hit the gas so hard, my head flung back and hit the head rest. "Woo-hoo!" James shouted. "That's a rush!"

I started laughing with the excitement of the moment. "Now that was awesome."

"Yeah, if you count being close to heading back to the slammer awesome, then that it was."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic. We were out of there like a bat out of hell." I leaned back and put my feet up on the dashboard.

"Hey!" James reached over and knocked my feet off. "Show Charlotte more respect than that."

"Oh, it's Charlotte you're worried about, is it? Then tell me," I lightly touched his knee and started working my way up his leg. "Is Charlotte the one that is going to be rocking your world tonight?"

James and I had been friends with benefits for three months at that time. I liked it that way. I tried the boyfriend thing twice, and both times they ended up being assholes. It just made sense to me not to put myself in that situation again. I knew James still wasn't over his ex, Victoria, dumping him. We both got what we wanted out of each other, without all the emotional shit to get in the way. It was the perfect set up.

"Slow down there, sex kitten. Let me at least pull Charlotte over before we start."

I quickly moved my away from his leg and crossed my arms across my chest. "You keep going on about your fucking car and you won't be getting any tonight."

"Aw, is someone getting jealous?" James teased. "Don't worry, babe. I'll be between those legs before you know it." He started tracing my leg with his fingers the same way I did to him. Warmth started spreading across my abdomen.

"In that case, you better make it sooner rather than later," I teased back, using my seductive voice.

We found a spot in the woods that was out of sight and pulled over. We alternated between smoking pot and messing around in the back seat of the Mustang. Before I knew it, three hours flew by. I needed to be back at my place before my mom got home from her night shift. We drove back in comfortable silence.

"Pick you up after school tomorrow?" He asked.

"As always." I gave him a kiss and headed inside.

I didn't see my mom's car in the paring lot, which meant I beat her home. Good. I wasn't in the mood for another threat to send me off to boot camp. It was all bullshit anyway. She could never send me away. Who would take care of the bills and making sure the rent got paid on time if I was away? Renee might hate me, but she liked that I took care of all the responsibilities while she was off doing god knows what with her flavor of the week.

I was just stripping out of my clothes when someone knocked on the door. Well, pound on it is more of what they did. I was sure it was mom, who probably lost her damn keys again. I threw a T-shirt over my bra and panties and headed for the door.

"Am I going to have to attach the key to your head, Renee?" I said as I swung open the door. But it wasn't Renee on the other side. It was the fucking po-po.

Three cops stood there with stern expressions. Well, the older cop looked stern. The younger cops were too distracted by my red bra showing through my thin, white shirt. "Well, hello boys. And Mack. What do I owe the pleasure of your company to?" I leaned on the door and tilted my head, flipping my hair in the process. The younger cops were still catching flies with their open mouths, but Mack was quick to respond.

"Enough with the shenanigans, Bella," He said, crossing his arms across his chest. "We got a call from the security company saying there was an intruder on Mrs. Johnson's property."

Oh shit! I didn't show any emotion. Any sign of shock and they will take that as confirmation that it was me. "And so you just assume any house intruders in the area are me now? You pigs are supposed to go to school to learn about constitutional rights, aren't you? I'm sure there is something in there about not persecuting the innocent or whatever."

The younger two finally snapped to attention when I referred to them as "pigs". Now they all wore the same face that was supposed to intimidate me. Nice try, boys.

"What you failed to noticed when you were too busy taking off your clothes to have a midnight dip with your boyfriend in someone else's pool, was that Mrs. Johnson's security system includes a camera. We have a photo showing it was you and James that were intruding on Mrs. Johnson's property."

"So, you guys got to see me naked then. Did you like what you saw?" I licked my lips and jutted my hip out. The two young ones faltered, but Mac only got more upset.

"Enough, Swan! Let's go. We're taking you in."

"You have got to be shitting me!" I shouted and straitened up to match their stances. "That has to be a violation of my privacy or something!"

"Judge Lopez warned you what would happen if she saw you in court again. Say goodbye to house, you won't be seeing it for a long time." Mack was enjoying this. He has dealt with me plenty of times, and I'm sure he'll be happy to have me in juvi and out of his hair. That's where I was headed, Juvi. No way out of it this time.

"Can you at least let me change first? Judging by the way Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb behind you are staring at me, I can only imagine the catcalls I'll get from my fellow convicts."

"Hey! You better watch the way to talk about an officer of the law," The chubbier one said as he jutted out his chest.

I rolled my eyes. "Where do you find these guys, Mack?"

Mack put his hand up to stop us all from saying anything else. "Bella, go inside and get changed. You have two minutes. Anderson, you go in with her."

I gave them a big smile and sauntered to my room. Once the the door closed me off from them, I could feel the weight of the world tumbling down on me. I didn't want to be locked up. Sure, I acted like I didn't give a shit about my life most of the time, but I really did. At least, I cared about my future. As soon as I graduated next year, I was planning on taking off to the east coast. To New York or Boston or some other big city. I didn't care, as long as it was as far away from Oregon as possible. Now that won't happen. For me, or for James.

Oh shit, James! I grabbed my cell and moved away from the door. The phone only rang once before he answered. "Bella! Did they get to you yet?"

"Yeah," I whispered into the phone. "I am in my room now. They're waiting outside to take me in. How about you?"

"I drove by my house and saw them waiting outside. I'm driving out of town now. I'll have to ditch the car in a while. I know they'll be looking for it."

"Jesus, I'm so sorry to get you into this."

"Nah, don't worry about it. It comes with the territory when you hang out with a crazy bitch like you."

The cop knocked on the door before I could respond. "Times up, let's go!"

"Dammit, I'm out of time. Where are you going?"

"I know some people up in Seattle, so I am heading that way. If you can get out, meet me there. I'll come find you when you get here."

I hung up the phone and threw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie. After I slipped on my shoes, I was climbing out the window. I didn't have one of those moments where I stopped and thought of my options. I didn't think if it was stupid to be jumping out of the window when our apartment was on the second floor. I just knew I had to get out of there now. Which is a good thing, because if I knew before hand that I would land right on my wrist, I might not have jumped.

I didn't have time to think about the pain. I held on to my wrist with my other hand and made a circle for the parking lot. My mom was home now. Her old Ford Taurus was in it's usual spot. I crouched down next to the bushes, avoiding the street lights. I could hear my mom talking to Mack.

"She has another thing coming if she thinks I am bailing her out this time! She can sit in that cell until the judge decides what he wants to do with her."

Motherly love at it's finest. I took a chance and started crawling toward my mom's car. I was hoping in the surprise of coming home to see cops at her door, she would have left her keys in the ignition. And she did. I told her that her forgetfulness would eventually bite her in the ass. I climbed in the car, not bothering to close the door all the way. I looked over at the apartment. They were all inside, probably just now finding out that I wasn't in my room. Now was my chance.

I started the car and pulled out of the lot, nicking the car behind me in the process. I didn't breath until I was on the highway. I kept looking behind me, excepting to see flashing lights at any minute. But none came. I ditched the car a few towns away and headed to the bus station. Luckily I happened to pull on the jeans the had my wallet in in them. Once I bought my bus ticket to Seattle, I had nothing to do but sit and wait.

The adrenaline was wearing down and I was exhausted. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. Twenty minutes passed. My bus would be here in five minutes. I did it. I am going to make to Seattle after all. As soon as I had the thought, I spotted two cops coming in the entrance.

There was a chance that they weren't there looking for me, but that wasn't a chance I was willing to take. I ran away. I knew how much more shit I would be in for that if I was caught. I wasn't giving up now. I spotted a bus that was just loading up the passengers and headed that way. I wanted to run, but knew that would make me look suspicious. The bus driver was busy loading up the passengers' bags in the compartments. A few people milled around the bus doors. I walked up nonchalantly as possible and stepped inside. Thankfully, there were a lot of empty seats. I headed to the back of the bus and sat behind an old lady.

I sat as low in my seat as possible. I looked calm, but inside I was a mess. What was taking this bus driver so long to load up? Why were some some people not in their seats yet? I wanted this bus to move. Now. After a few more agonizing minutes, we were finally heading out of the bus station. Just like back in my mom's car, I didn't breath until we were on the highway. Well, I got away from the cops, but I didn't know where I was headed.

I tapped on the old lady's shoulder. "Excuse me, where is are bus headed?"

I expected her to give me a weird look for not knowing this, but she just turned to me and flashed me a big smile. "Forks, dear. We're going to Forks."

"Forks? Where the hell is Forks?"