Hiya! sorry ive been updating really slowly, the IB program has officially taken over my life...and I'm trying to make things last a little while just to amp up some suspense! :)

so, the tension is starting to mount in Forks, and secrets and stress are just mounting up for Bella! I don't know what she's going to do if she doesn't get out soon (hint, hint) and maybe get some of her sexual tension between her and Edward out as well (hint, hint) so watch out for the next chapters! things are gonna get dicey!

and, if you like this chapter (or if you don't) be sure to review for me! :) enjoy! Oh, and don't forget about guessing who the mysterious person with victoria is! ! ! !

Every night he could only hope that Victoria would somehow stumble upon him. She told him before why they could never plan their meetings. He always thought that Alice was the strangest one of the Cullens, but he could have never guessed that she was a psychic. For that matter, he could hardly believe that Edward could read minds. One more thing about him to hate.

Luckily for him, Victoria came across his scent just then. He started spewing information before she could greet him. "I overheard them talking about something with wolves. I don't know what that means, but that's what I heard. Oh, and there was going to be a fight between two guys. Someone named Paul and Emmett Cullen are going to fight."

"I see."

"So, will you take me with you now?"

"I still need more! Now, baby, you need to be careful this weekend. Go to that silly little dance with the rest of your friends. There's going to be too much going on in the woods to meet me. Try sometime after the weekend. I don't want you getting hurt." Or found out.

I So Do Not Understand These Motives

I can't believe it.

I still can't freaking believe it.

It's not real. This is a dream. No, scratch that. It's a nightmare. A horrible, scream-worthy nightmare.

And, trust me, I've been screaming quite a bit.

I'm thinking of making it my new favorite pastime. Well, that and slapping mythical creatures. That's always fun. And now that I think about it, I think one or more of them definitely need a slap for this.

Take Edward, for example.

I should have slapped the lying butthead when we got back. The second that bitch jumped into his arms, he should have gotten a facial high five from me.

I shouldn't have run away. That was mistake number one.

Wait a minute. Obviously, that wasn't mistake number one. It was probably like mistake number one hundred thousand million. Otherwise all of this probably wouldn't have happened.

And everything had been going so well!

My parents even thought Edward and I were back together. Heck, in the deep recesses of my twisted mind, I had almost begun to think that we were back together. At least I did the first night we were back. We went out for dinner and a movie with my parents. We were going to visit my grandmother, but I didn't want her to attack Edward just in case she figured out he was a vampire. So, instead, Edward and I grinned and acted like the most non-couplely couple on the planet.

But, there was just something plain off about everything. Don't get me wrong, I was happy just to have Edward around, but I could still see that there was something on his mind. Unluckily for me, my new mind reading abilities weren't in sync. The only clues I had were his actions.

He was just too precise with his movements around me like this was the last time we were ever going to be around one another. He kept his arm around my waist the entire time we were with my parents, which made me slightly giddy and confused at the same time. He wouldn't usually do something like that in front of my father if he wanted to have that arm the next day.

I had needed some motherly advice and I needed it stat. I just had to wait until she brought him up because there was no way I would do it myself.

"Sarah?"

"Yeah, mom?" She and I were lying out on our patio in the backyard trying to soak in some sun before it was supposed to rain the next day when we had to leave when she finally brought him up. She hadn't grilled me about Edward at all the whole weekend, which was surprising to both me and Edward. He had expected her to jump on me about our relationship the day we got there. He told me her mind was full of questions about him, but she was trying to be polite about us.

"Honey, is there something going on between you and Ethan?"

Thank God! I knew it was going to come eventually, but I didn't expect her to wait this long. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just, I've been watching you and him together. There's something different about you two now. Now, before you go telling me that I'm just imagining things, I want you to know that if there is a problem between you two, you should just tell me and I can help in any way I can."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I hate lying to my mom, but I felt it was my obligation to at least try to lie simply because it's the teenage way.

She knew I was lying, too. "Honey, you remember when your father and I were in Forks for your uncle's wedding?"

Where is she going with this? "Yeah…it wasn't that long ago."

"That's my point. When we were there, Ethan and you couldn't seem to get your hands off of one another, and, on the off chance that you two were apart, you would move around the room like magnets. He moved, you moved. You moved, he moved. It was strange at first, but I got used to the idea that you and this boy really were head over heels for each other." I started to say that he still was, but she wouldn't let me interrupt. "You two still do that, only there's a sort of hesitation. Like you're both too afraid to come close to one another that you'll explode or something."

I hate it when she's this on it. I hate that Stephanie Meyer wrote Bella's mom as such an observant person and it made my mom even more so than she already was. "It pretty much feels that way." I muttered.

"I heard that." She grinned at me. "Sarah, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Of course, Mom, it's just…" Oh, God, I'm going to cry right here in front of my mother. Thank goodness Dad took Edward out to another one of my uncle's house to watch some sort of basketball game. I didn't need him to hear me cry over him again.

"Sweetie, is this about when you two broke up?"

"Well…yeah…" I sniffled again.

"Have you two been getting along since he got back? Or is that where the hesitation is coming from?"

God, how does she do it? "God, Mom! Do you have to read my mind about everything? Well, here's the thing: I hesitate around him now because I don't trust him anymore. The bastard," I forgot how she doesn't like it when I curse, "Sorry, butthead, left me brokenhearted back in Forks and then he came back and just expected that everything was forgiven! I couldn't bring myself to forgive him so easily, but I still love him, Mommy!" She pulled me into a hug, which of course made me really start crying. I was on a roll now. "Tell me what I should do."

I'm surprised she didn't do a little song and dance about being to drag my inner-most secrets out. "Oh, honey, you have to do what's right for you. Trust can't be bought, it has to be earned. When you feel that you trust him again, then maybe you can give him another chance. But, if he blows it again, he's not worthy of my baby girl." I wish he could have heard that. My mom will beat his ass if he ever does this to me again. "He's no Edward Cullen, is he?"

It was a completely normal statement for her to say. We both read the books. She loved them as much as I did. She knew how madly in love with Edward I was even before I met the real one.

"No, that's the thing. He is." I decided something at that moment that would again change our lives, hopefully for the better.

"Mom, I really need to tell you something and I should have told you when I moved to Forks. Well, actually I did tell you but you didn't entirely believe me because, believe me, it sounds completely ridiculous, but it's all true. Everything I'm about to tell you is one hundred percent truth. And, don't interrupt me while I tell you this because it's a long freaking story."

I couldn't even think about what the Cullen's would think about me telling my mom after what happened when Edward and I arrived at the airport.

Lucky for me, Mom took everything pretty well. She was a little concerned that I had been bitten by a vampire already, but she got over that when I told her about Ava. That was a bit rough to talk about. I had to make her swear not to tell anything about it to Ava's parents or anyone else for that matter. But, now she's decided to bring Ava's parents to her wedding after Victoria's taken care of.

I didn't quite tell Mom everything. I didn't want to talk about what happened in Volterra other than just the book and movie stuff. She didn't need to know that I'd pretty much pledged allegiance to Aro while I was there. She also didn't need to know that Marcus was currently in Forks on a mission that involved me.

Something that she didn't help me at all with that I was desperate for some sort of advice on was Jacob. Her only contribution was "Well, don't hurt him like you did in the book…or Bella…or whatever. He seems like a very nice boy with very nice muscles. Is he really that toned?" You can probably tell how that conversation went on from then on in.

But, something my mom and I did work out was what I was going to do about Edward.

She had to question how different he was from the books, and all things considering, he isn't that much different. The only difference now is that he knows about the books. She thought that he and I should go out on a date or something small like that. "Take it slowly, see how things progress."

This is when things took a turn for the crappy.

So, I was about to ask him if he wanted to go somewhere to talk and…well, just talk, as we drove back to Forks together in the airport when we were assaulted by a white blur with strawberry blonde hair on top. I say we were assaulted, but I meant Edward was physically assaulted while I was psychologically assaulted by one damn blur.

"Edward! I've missed you!" I heard her coo to him. Once I figured out it was a woman practically on top of Edward, well, let's just say my mother would have been shocked to hear some of the things that came out of my mouth. And once I figured out exactly who that woman was, well, it was a lot worse.

I didn't say anything which we were actually at the airport. I waited to vent my shock until I was alone in my room. I'm pretty sure that the entire town could hear me. Actually, I bet Jacob could even hear me.

I bet my parents in Kentucky could hear me. I bet even Aro could hear me and suddenly thought "That scream sounded oddly familiar. Oh well, I must go ruin the lives of everyone around me! Oh no! This momentary pause at the sound of the scream put me behind. Now I'll have to send Felix out to pick up some puppies and kittens and other small animals for me to blow up for my entertainment tonight. You know, I should really be nice to everyone instead of being a complete and total ass. I think I'll let that poor Bella Swan girl with the identity crisis just stay with the people she loves instead of forcing her to work for me for one hundred years of agony and torment because of the fact that she did it for a man that she has unsure feelings about due to the fact that she cannot trust anyone other than herself…"

Okay, so maybe Aro wouldn't have gone on for that long. And there's no way he'll ever let me out of that stupid deal. Thinking this, of course, made me scream even louder.

Thank God everyone else was out of the house at that point.

Yesterday was just messy. And it doesn't look like today is going to be much better.

Ava and I were sitting in my car since we drove together to school today. I had had to tell her about my mom knowing everything since Alice forced me to the night before. Thankfully, she had blocked Edward's thoughts before her rampage (a lucky trick that I also taught Mom before Edward could get any idea of what I told her). I didn't tell them everything that my mom and I discussed because I didn't really want to admit that I was going to ask Edward out after his little show at the airport. The humiliation was too big even for me to face.

Ava stayed the night so we could have a more one on one chat about everything after Alice left. Actually, I kicked Alice out because she wouldn't give me any information about why it was here. Nothing. Nada. Not even what kind of suitcase it brought, which is very important because it signifies how long it plans to stay.

Plus, from the looks of things Ava was going to have to force me into school today. As of now, I can't move. I just can't bring myself to get out of the car and face Edward and it.

"Bella, you haven't said a thing since last night. I think I know what's bothering you."

This is actually not the first thing I've said since yesterday. I said quite a few things yesterday that would make censors cry, but only when I was alone.

"Really? You know what's bothering me? Please, enlighten me."

"You're worried that I'm upset that you beat me for valedictorian, but, truth be told, I'm really extremely happy for you. You're probably also worried that I'm mad about you telling your mom that I'm still alive and that she can't tell anyone, not even my parents, but I'm not! I'm a little confused as to why you told her and refuse to tell Edward that you told her, but I'm not mad. I'm still your best friend, okay?"

Well, she was right. Those were some things I was worried about, but not the big one. "Thanks, I feel loads better."

"Oh, come on. You look like you're about to shoot a puppy."

An interesting idea. "Do you have a gun?" Heck, screw the puppy. I'm going right after the man I love.

No, I don't love him.

Not anymore.

Not after this.

This is just so wrong on so many levels! But, I still can't seem to get the damn butterflies in my stomach to settle down whenever I think of him.

Did I say that out loud? Whoops! Ava grabbed my hands and made me listen very closely. "Bella, I'm telling you this because I care. Don't let Edward know about this. You can't let him know about your little episode about him and her, or they win. You've got make him so sorry that he's with her and it'll all be over. She'll be out of here before you can say 'Twilight' and he'll be down on his knees begging you to forgive him."

This is why I love her. She's already been through stuff like this with past boyfriends and knows exactly what to do. "But is he even with her? She could just be here for a visit, right?"

Apparently Ava is just as much in the dark about the nature of its arrival as I am. "I have no freaking idea! From what Emmett told me, she just showed up this weekend while they were out and about and asked to go with them when everyone went to get you from the airport."

A small bubble of hope rose inside of me. "So, is there a possibility that they aren't, in fact, together?"

"I wouldn't be so sure, Bells." Well, the bubble just popped. "This chick means business. I didn't want to tell you this, but I think she slept with him last night." Scratch that, the bubble shattered, leaving tiny painful piece of bubble in my chest, my brain, and every other vital organ inside of me.

Oh, hell no! "WHAT? ARE YOU EVEN KIDDING ME? HE LOST HIS VIRGINITY TO THAT?!HOLY CRAP! I'LL BEAT BOTH THEIR ASSES!" Wow, I didn't know it was possible for the entire world to turn red.

Just as quickly, the world snapped back into its normal grey color. Ava had to physically restrain me from leaping out of the car to rip its head off. "WHOA THERE, BELLA! I didn't mean like that! That's just nasty! I just meant they were in the same room last night. Well, now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have said they slept together since we can't sleep."

Ava and I really need to work on her definition of 'sleep together'. "Oh, my God, Ava, I think I just had a heart attack. So, what you're saying is that they were in the same room all last night, right? Well, couldn't you hear what was going on in there?"

She looked down, bashful. "Well, Angel and I were kind of—"

"Never mind! I get it." Gross to the power of ten!

If I weren't so worried about Edward suddenly having sex with someone who is not me, I would kick her out of my car. I was silent for a while until I actually thought of something that I desperately needed her opinion about that I haven't actually heard. "Ava, do you think I should I take him back?"

Whoa, she actually almost did a flip in my car! "ARE YOU EVEN FREAKING KIDDING ME? HELL, YES! Sarah, this is your guy. He's your soul mate. Yours! You need to fight for him. He's just blinded by grief over the fact that you dumped him. He's trying to get over you, but it's not going to work because he's way too hung up on you. If you show him what he's missing, then he'll come crawling back to you faster than when Alice and I run to Saks when they have a sale. It's like I told you, just don't let him know that you actually want to take him back. It makes all the difference."

Deep breath. "Okay, I can do this. I'm just going to go in there and be mature about it. I'll be calm and cavalier and act like it doesn't bother me at all." Ha, like that's actually going to work.

"Good, that's perfect. It'll drive him up the wall, and it'll provide great entertainment for me."

I'm choosing to ignore that. "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this."

Ava's reassuring smile just turned into a grimace. Oh, God. What could possibly make things worse?

"I'm glad you think so because the double whammy has just arrived."

I hopped out of that car faster than when Alice goes shopping at Saks. I took one look at the situation, and jumped back in the car. Ava hadn't even bothered to get out. "Son of a bitch, I can't do this."

"I couldn't even handle that." I think I'm going to throw up. Actually, no, I want to throw up because maybe, just maybe, it'll kill me. I don't know how, but maybe it'll kill me. If not, I could just go wait in the woods until Victoria finds me. I think her stupid torture tactics would be better than this. "So, did you see any blood yet?"

"Well, since I'm not out there, I doubt there's any sort of blood. Besides, Edward's got his new girlfriend to hold him back if he gets too riled up."

"Bella, I highly doubt Tanya could hold Edward back from beating the crap out of Jacob even if she tried." She said its name. I could've handled it (despite the fact that I'm fixated on somehow avoiding this situation), but she went and said its name. The very someon-thing that Edward and I talked about all through Twilight time has come to ruin my Eclipse time. I hate her. I hate her! I hate her!

Tanya, not Ava. Ava's the muscle for me.

I have to do this. But, I can't. No, I can. No, I can't. I CAN! I CAN'T!

STOP IT!

I'm doing it. I just have to make my legs move and control my temper before someone is blown up.

It's now or never, Bella. I'd rather it be never! "Come on, let's go." Ava jumped out of the car immediately. I noticed, though, before she did that she had that dazed look on her face that I notice all of her victims have when she forces them to do something. "That's strange…oh, well."

There was definitely a very serious situation going on here. Tanya dropped Edward off for school, I suppose since she's such a considerate…whatever she is to him (I don't really know since I haven't had the will power to ask anyone other than Ava, and what a great help she was), and Jacob was waiting for us outside. Now, this would all be well and good if I'd been there with Edward this morning because I can actually stop a fight between the two goofballs and Tanya can't.

"Sorry, I don't have any leeches on my speed dial." Ah, so they were just starting.

I sauntered up to the face off without a backwards glance at Edward's newly acquired shadow. "Why, hello Jacob! I was wondering when I would see you again. You know, I only included this part of the book when I gave it to you so you wouldn't try that joke. It wasn't funny in the book and it isn't funny now." Jacob did not appreciate my sarcasm if that's what the scowl he shot at me meant.

Edward seemed to want to somehow hurt Jacob despite the fact that they were both well aware of this part of the book. "You could have reached me at Bella's house, of course." Jacob growled at Edward in response.

Light bulb moment! "What are you talking about, Edward? You haven't been to my house in ages. I highly doubt Jacob's phone skills are that good as to catch you in the few moments you might be there."

Ha! That went towards my make Edward more jealous than I am plan and made Jacob stop shaking all at once! "Bella…"

Wow, I really can do this. And I'm not even trembling. Sure, I think my blood pressure's a little high, but other than that, I feel no adverse side effects of being bitchy to Edward. "What? It's the truth and you know how I feel the truth is the most important thing at all times." I smirked at him before turning my attentions back toward Jacob. I forgot how much I actually missed him. "So, what happened this weekend while I was away? Did Paul and Emmett get into a fight even after I tried to solve the issue before it arose? And, by the way, thanks for showing up to that, you butthead!"

Well, there goes my so-called name-calling ability. "They didn't start out fighting, but that red-head pushed the big one—"

"Emmett."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, the red-head—"

"Victoria!"

Jacob's eyes blazed. Well, there goes his temper. I wonder how soon it'll be before mine goes off too…"WHATEVER! VICTORIA LITERALLY PUSHED EMMETT ON TOP OF PAUL AND THEN THEY STARTED FIGHTING BECAUSE THEY WERE ON TOP OF ONE ANOTHER!"

Clearly Edward's has already blown. "Well, Jacob, perhaps you could scream it louder and then everyone could hear you!" Edward yelled back at him.

This is going to turn into a blood bath really soon. People were starting to gather to watch the fight break out, and, to be quite honest, they're going to get to watch me beat both of these guys up pretty darn soon! "Hey, at least I told her! You were with her all weekend sucking up to her parents and not telling her about this!"

I wonder how Tanya is taking all of this. When I turned to look, I found that she had parked the BMW that she'd borrowed from Rosalie and was heading our way. If she comes and talks to me, this really will turn into a fight. "I didn't know until I got back and I haven't seen Bella since then!"

Jacob scoffed. "Liar! I know exactly what you've been doing at night! You seeBella all the time!" JACOB! Don't say that stuff out loud! Wait, Edward's been watching me?

Edward's tone suddenly sounded deadly. "You have no idea what you're talking about, mutt. At least I'm keeping her safe."

Jacob's tone matched his. "You have no idea what I've been doing to keep her safe." If this argument had been between me and Edward, I would have been kissing him by now. Jacob and Edward were so close to one another, their noses were practically touching.

And the temper finally shows up. "Alright! That's enough out of both of you. Okay, for one, back away from each other. NOW!" Good, they listened to me. And now I have their attention.

Jacob is clearly waiting for me to tell Edward off and Edward's clearly waiting for me to tell Jacob to beat it. Well, they're both going to be disappointed. "I'm disgusted with both of you. You're acting like two children fighting over a piece of candy! You know the whole reason I tried to get you to work together was so that I could finally figure out which one of you could be the bigger man and accept my help or work together on something. I guess neither of you are quite as macho as seem to think you are."

Ava was enjoying this entirely too much. She was trying to keep her laughter as quite as possible as I scolded the two guys that were in love with me. Well, maybe two guys were in love with me. One for sure. Anyway…

"Edward, you know I told you to talk to me about all of this. I don't care if you were too busy hanging out with your new girlfriend to tell me when we got back, you should have told me." I've said something that shocked him, but I'm not sure which part of that statement was shocking. I didn't bother waiting for him to give me some excuse before I moved on to Jacob. "And Jake, you know better than to make a scene here. If you wanted to talk to me, you should have just called. I've been waiting for you to call me back or even write back for weeks!"

Abruptly, he looked up at me and said, "I had nothing to say." Crap it! I hate that freaking line from the clip of the movie I've seen.

But, it does give me an idea.

"Well, I have tons of things to say. Hang on." I grabbed his arm before he started his motorcycle. Oh, this is going to be good.

"The principal's on his way to discourage loitering on school property. Let's get to English, Bella, so you're not involved." Edward tried to reach out to me, but I sidestepped him. I wouldn't be going to English today if Jacob didn't mind me going with him, which he won't.

I looked over to Ava and nodded towards the principal coming towards us. "Cover for me?"

I took her smile in response to mean that I was doing exactly what I should be doing to make Edward more jealous than I was. "No problem."

Edward caught the gist of what I was planning to do and managed to get his hand on me this time. "Bella, what are you thinking? You're the top student in the school. You'd have to be insane to—"

I cut him off when he mentioned insanity. He has no right to call me insane after all the things that have been going on apparently behind my back, and now I don't even care if I sound as cold as I thought I did. "At the risk of sounding like a know-it-all, the technical definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different outcome. If you really wanted to talk about insanity, it would have to be about you and me." Shock. That's the only thing that registers on Edward's face, but I keep on him. "Apparently it's quite insane for me to think that you will ever be honest with me about anything." Score one for Bella! "Tanya's waiting for you. You shouldn't keep her too long."

I meant that in every single way possible.

I saw the hurt in his eyes. I really burned him. I know it was wrong of me, but I had to let out all the anger and hurt that's been inside of me ever since he left last year sometime and this just happened to be it. It felt good to be so cold and unforgiving instead of holding back everything I've been thinking about.

I started to feel a pang of guilt, but I smothered it by turning away from him and climbing onto Jake's motorcycle behind him. I saw Jacob smile at Edward before he turned around to me. "You sure about this? You seem pretty pissed."

He has no idea. "Oh, I am, but at the moment I'm angrier at someone else." I threw Edward a very pointed look towards Tanya and Rosalie's BMW. I'm sure he got the picture when I wrapped my arms around Jacob's torso. It was mean to both of them, but I couldn't very well fall off the motorcycle, could I? "Let's go."

Now he's just joking around. "You're not worried about getting into trouble, Miss Valedictorian?"

At least, it would have been a joke if the principal had not chosen that exact moment to intervene. "Okay, everyone get to class! Senior year isn't over just yet. That means you, Mr. Crowley."

Jacob grinned back at me. "You're in for it now." Edward and Tanya braced themselves as the principal reached our little party.

"I mean it. Detention for anyone who's still standing here when I turn around again." He pauses to take in the situation, and his eyes widen when he sees me on the motorcycle. "Mr. Cullen, Miss Cullen, Miss Swan, and their guests…do we have a problem here?"

Edward makes a swipe for my arm again, but I keep my arms firmly locked around Jacob. This is getting risky, but I have complete faith in Ava to help me out. "Not at all, Mr. Greene. Tanya and Jacob were just leaving. Lizzie, Bella, and I were just headed to class." Edward sent me a pleading look while Mr. Greene was eying both Tanya and Jake. I'm thinking he liked Tanya a little more than a married man his age should, but he's clearly intimidated by Jacob's guns. And I mean his arms.

Thank God for Ava. I seriously do not know how I would survive all of this without her. "Actually, Mr. Greene, there is a problem." She locks his gaze with hers and I see his eyes glaze over. "Bella got a major case of cramps and called in sick this morning. Jacob was never here. In fact, you weren't here this morning. You were in your office listening to your secret obsession, Justin Beiber, on the radio when you dozed off and had the strangest dream about three students and two people you've never seen before. Got it?" He nods dumbly and heads back in, conceivably to listen to Justin Beiber. That was definitely not the story I would have come up with, but then again I'm not the one with the power of persuasion. "Have fun, Bells."

Edward is literally standing with his mouth wide open. I wonder if he'll still be in this position when everyone leaves. It would be an interesting spectacle, to say the least.

"Have a great day at school, Eddie." I winked at him before Jacob ziped us out of the parking lot. And here I thought today would be boring.

TADA! Are you happy, sad, angry? I thought bella should go a little wild after Tanya showed up and ruined things for her! review, and tell me what you think :)

Preview for the next chapter:

"I haven't been depressed." He mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

No, you've just been obsessing over whether or not I'm going to call you. "Oh, really? Well, then what have you been?"

"I've been tired. And bored. And tired again. Then repeat it all and the day's over. The question is: how have you been, Bella?"