Author's note: Hello everyone! I just got my computer back! YAY! My sister took it without telling me. I had unsaved work on it, well half of what I wrote disappeared as well. See how evil siblings can be? But anyway, I was blown away by the amount of reviews I got. I mean the last time I checked, there were only 5 reviews on this chapter, then suddenly whoosh! I got 18. 191 reviews in total. You guys just completely blew me away. Thank you so much. And just so you know…This is the third last episode. So if you want to know how it ends….well BLOODY WELL REVIEW THEN. Hehe love you all!

Disclaimer: I'm still wishing that I'm Stephanie Meyer, but we all know I'm not, so…merde!

Game over

Part 16

Day 73

He hates me, he hates me not…So which one is it? By the looks of things, I'm guessing it's the former. Edward hadn't talked to me in about a week now. He hasn't looked at me, or even said a single word to me. His cold behaviour is putting a strain on the whole cast of 'Romeo and Juliet' and most of all he was slowly digging a hole in my heart.

It's been a week since that dreadful baseball game, he still hasn't said anything to me. He's still ignoring me at school, and now thanks to him Ms. Culling is making me deal with him. "Maybe he just needs a slight persuasion, dear" she had told me.

I didn't know what I did that was so wrong. You know, wrong enough for him to give me the cold shoulder. Well, at least I use to be clueless, now I know.

I decided to confront Edward this morning, but his answer surprised me and absolutely blew me away…not in a good way either.

I caught up with him during lunch time. Actually I pretty much screamed out his name, but it seemed like he didn't hear me at all. Hmmm…

I know I was attracting attention to myself, but I felt the desperate urge to have Edward look at me. I caught up with him and pretty much spun him around to look at me. He looked down at me, the same irritation in his eyes.

"What do you want Swan?" he said roughly.

Whoa! I know! Back up! What was up with the attitude?

I gave him an angry look, my stance was weakening by the minute, and my face was turning red with every look that I got. I forced myself to look at him straight, and tried to hold his gaze. "Why are you acting like a jerk?" I said. That was pretty blunt, but it was the first thing that popped in my head.

Edward snorted to my dismay. "I'm being a jerk?" he said slowly, his eyes narrowing. I shivered, it was that cold gaze once again. I shook it off and looked away then looked back at him.

"Can we talk please?!" I said. I hate to say this, but my voice was edging towards desperation. "No Bella, you've been calling the shots for too long now. Whatever you want to say, you can it right here" he replied, his voice was filled with finality.

I groaned desperately and consciously looked around the gathering crowd. "Fine! Then why have you been avoiding me?! I don't deserve to be treated like dirt!" I said with an extra ounce of dignity. Edward just smirked at me and his green eyes froze over.

"Are you sure about that? I mean, you pretty much lead me on. You tell me we should be friends, then you lie to me. Wow, I don't know Isabella, I really don't know" he hissed. I froze. So that's why he was mad at me?

Because I lied? Because I didn't tell him about Charlie being fired?

"Friends don't keep secrets…Look, I'll get over it. But for now…Just don't."

Then he walked away from me.

I felt the guilt a moment too late. When I looked up, he was swallowed up by the throng going inside the cafeteria.

I pushed down the hurt that I was feeling. I went inside the library, away from all the noise, I was the only one inside the library, and once again, I was left with my own thoughts.

Day 74

He's still not talking to me. My whole life is still a mess, Charlie is still jobless, and did I mention Edward hates me?

Renee finally went back to Jacksonville. The house felt empty and quiet without her. Charlie has been going over at Billy's three nights in a row now. I don't know, but I think Charlie said something to Jacob.

He came by this evening when I was home alone.

I heard a tap on the door and I went to open it. My face lit up instantly when I saw Jacob standing there. "Oh Jake, I'm a mess" was the first thing I said to him before hugging him tightly.

For some reason I was able to open up to Jacob. I was able to talk more than I've ever done before. I found myself talking to him, telling him about my true feelings about Edward, and Edward's cold attitude towards me.

"Bella, I know this might be hard to understand, so please don't be so dense when I say this" he started, looking at me for encouragement. I nodded, a signal to tell him to go on.

"No matter which way you look at it, there's only one way to describe that do-erm-Edward's action; he likes you. Simple as that. Lying to him had hurt him badly. He's a lovesick idiot!" he said rationally, looking pleased with himself.

I looked at him doubtfully. "I don't know…If he did, then he would understand…" but I trailed off. I paused for a moment too long.

How could he understand? I never told him anything. I had jumped to the conclusion that if he found out about Charlie he would feel nothing but pity towards me. Would he really have?

Now that I come to think about it, there's just no way of knowing anymore. I jumped the gun, now its too late.

I had told Edward that we should just be friends, but friends don't keep secrets from each other.

Right at that moment, I felt the desperate urge to bang my head against the wall. I looked at Jacob then. "What do I do now? I don't want to let him go Jake" I said in a small voice. Jake gathered me in his arms and hugged me tightly.

"You'll know what to do. I don't have the right to tell you what to do. After all, I want a piece of you too" he said chuckling. I looked at him then, to see if he was serious.

"I know, I know! That ship has sailed away" he said, sounding distant. I felt guilty. I'm really starting to warm up to Jacob. He was like the brother I never had, no kidding, he was definitely my best friend right now seeing as Alice hadn't said a word to me either.

She's a little too pre-occupied with Jasper right now. Did I mention that they've finally came to their senses, had finally caught up with each other, and by the looks of things, they weren't letting go anytime soon.

I'm happy for Alice, so there's no way I was going to spoil anything for her. She's happy, I feel that telling her my feelings would just wreck her mood.

But that still doesn't give me the answer. What do I do?

I seem to be asking that very same question a lot lately. I need to pull myself out. I need to fix this.

Uh-oh, I just got a message from the twins: Meet us at the park near you house

Day 75

Well…Hello Ms. Fix it! Umm, where do I even begin? Should I drop the bomb or linger around for a little bit?

Hmm, well since its good news, might as well drop the bombshell; It's over. Zilch, kaput! James Malone has left the building, well more like he's been shifted off to some reform school from hell! Hurrah for Bella!

Believe me when I say that I was jumping for joy when I got the call from the twins, then I dropped down just as quickly as I got up. Just because James is gone, doesn't mean Edward still doesn't hate me.

I need to come down from this little cloud I've built around me and face the facts, maybe Edward just doesn't want me back anymore. So just to get my mind off of things, let me explain James Malone's downfall.

You will laugh…not with him, but at him. He's a loser that needs to be spanked (no kinkiness intended).

Sorry, let me take my time. I feel free, so free that I feel like I'm going to inflate (not very flattering, but I can't believe I had the answer of getting rid of him all along, but due to my own stupidity, I failed to notice it!).

So here goes; You know that little text message I got from the twins yesterday? Well I thought they were going to drag me to the park then do something stupid to me, but no, they had news for me.

"James is gone" Sam said in a serious voice. I looked at him as though he had lost his marbles. Then I started laughing like I lost my marbles.

"Can you not joke about this please? It makes me sick!" I said uncomfortably. The twins passed a meaningful look between each other, then out of nowhere they released their Cheshire cat smile.

I stood between them feeling like the whole world was about to drop on my head. I could tell that they had done something to James, not that I was at any liberty to complain…but you know…he's still a person….Urgh! Who was I kidding?

To be honest, the only thing going through my mind was please tell me you killed him, please tell me you killed him, please tell me you killed him. My mind kept repeating the same words that when another voice spoke, it didn't make any sense to me.

"They're not joking Swan, you of all people should know that us Striker don't joke about serious matters like these" said a lucid voice coming from behind me. In my utter confusion I spun around and my eyes met brilliant hazel eyes.

I was standing in the middle of the park staring at a beautiful brunette who was the spitting image of the two boys standing on each of her side. It was like staring at the dark Sam and Sean.

It was Marie, the oldest Striker sibling. She had attended my school, she graduated two years ago. I stared at her, my eyes mixed with curiosity and confusion. "Marie? What are you doing here?" I asked in a small voice.

I was never close to Marie, hell I was never friends with her. I never spoke to her at school, and I never got to see her after she graduated. I didn't know what to think.

Okay I did, but for dramatic effect, lets pretend I didn't okay? God, this is making me act weird all of a sudden.

So anyway, I stared at her like an idiot for a good five minutes until she gave me an annoyed look. "Are you going to keep staring at me like a gold fish? Because honestly, its creeping me out" Marie said in a sassy voice.

I felt the heat creeping up my cheeks, and I instantly swallowed. "Um, sorry, but what do you mean when you say that James is gone?" I said slowly, trying very hard not to show an inkling of how I was really feeling.

Then I sort of froze when I saw the same smile Sam and Sean had only moments ago pasted on her face. "Well lets just say that I know a little something about lil James that was scandalous enough to have daddy dearest send him to reform school" she said coolly. I shivered slightly as the wind blew, making me shiver and weak at the knees.

It turned out that Marie use to date James Malone and had broken up with him due to some 'private' reasoning which instantly made me curious, and like what they always say Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

All the while all I could think about was, God, what did you do? I could hear my mocking voice asking the same question to James, but of course if I had asked that question, the more realistic term of what he would do to me would be 'bite my head off'.

James did something to Marie, that I know. And instead of telling authority, she did it the Striker way…of course, I mean why did it even surprise me? (insert intense eye rolling). Now she's out to get him, and I quote, "I will never leave him alone until he's in hell!" she said this with such wrath that I wanted to scratch my head.

The fact that she was helping me still surprised me though. But before I dwell more on that fact, she told me something else that hit me like a freight train. "And oh yes, thanks to that awesome Doctor, Mr. Malone finally believed all the hype about his psycho son!" she said in a wild voice, her hands fisting to her sides.

I looked at her, it seemed my heart had started beating double time. "What doctor are you talking about?" I said, my pitch going higher. Marie looked thoughtful for a second as she pondered on the name of the Doctor.

"I think it was Cummings, no, maybe it was Calvin? I know it starts with a C" she said vaguely, then just like that my brain switched on straight away. "Doctor Cullen?" I said, my voice was shaking.

Marie looked at me then. "Yes! That's him, do you know him? I met him, and I have to say, he's rather tasty for an old guy…" Marie ranted on as I stayed silent.

What could Carlisle have done to change everything?

Marie read the confusion and gave me my answer straight away. "Well you see, this Carlisle, it turned out that he's a business associate of the Malone's. In other words, he's a kiss ass Doctor, but you already know that. I went over to the Malone mansion in Seattle and attempted to make Mr. Malone see reason" she said rationally, "After all, the guy had the right to know that his son is a prick right?" she said in a strong voice, all the while I had picked up a leaf and was already half way with tearing it apart.

"So anyway, like usual I got kicked out of the bastard's office, and just as usual, I was screaming out profanities to make him see reason!" she said, looking utterly serious.

"On my way out I accidentally rammed in to Doctor Cullen. And it seems he's also got unsettled business with James the retard, something about a baseball game he gate crashed, before I knew it, Mr. Malone was listening to me and Dr. Cullen. It was so bizarre. And get this" Marie said, her voice suddenly turned serious.

"It turned out that Mr. Cullen is this big hot shot who owns hospitals around the world, so there was no way in hell Mr. Malone could afford to lose him as an associate. Then as soon as I started talking, backed up by Dr. Cullen of course, Mr. Malone finally came to accept the truth…That his son is a douche bag" Marie ended in a flourish, sounding utterly pleased with herself.

I was gaping like a moron, I didn't know what to think. If that's true then that would explain how Alice seemed to have endless cash for shopping, and how Edward can spend so much on cars.

Moving to Forks, I thought everything would be normal, you know, normal kids, normal town. But not so much. Marie Striker pretty much ruined the way I looked at the town.

But all the same, I couldn't help this heavy feeling rising up inside of me. Was I really that dense? The Cullen's had always been so wealthy, yet none of them felt like sharing the fact that they were multi millionaires.

Geez-Louis, Now I know how Edward felt. God it feels like somebody just kicked my balls, which is pretty impossible seeing as I don't have any, but from what I've heard it's a very bad, heart wrenching feeling.

I suddenly felt sick, I knew I had to go and talk to Carlisle and thank him, but what do I even say to him? Thank you would definitely suffice, but what do I do about Edward. I can't just leave everything hanging.

I looked from one Striker to another and sighed mentally. "Can one of you give me a ride to the Cullen's?"

The twins instantly raised their hands but Marie swatted them away like flies. "No way, if the two of you drove, she's not going to make it in one piece. Psychos" she uttered, whispering the last word. Sam and Sean glared at her as I tried to stifle a giggle.

The twins looked at me as if I'd betrayed them. "She's got a point you know" I added, shrugging.

Marie and I both headed towards her car and nearly fainted, well, I nearly fainted, for parked in front of me was the most ludicrous car that just by looking at it told me that it was anything but slow. I swallowed hard and tried to find my way inside.

I heard Marie giggling behind me. "Um, Bella? You might want to stand back" she said, smiling mischievously. Why she was driving a supercharged V8 type of car, I will never know. First hot rods, then the Swedish Koenigsegg supercar. Don't ask me how I even know this. I think hanging around Sam Striker has finally gone through my brain!

Surprisingly I found that Marie was a safe driver. Oh she was still running over the speed limit alright, but not too much like the twins or even Edward.

On the way to The Cullen's house (Or should I say mansion?) I was struck by a very awkward silence. The silence was so deafening that I thought I was going to go mad. I gave Marie a sideways look trying to figure her out.

Maybe she didn't just help me because she wanted revenge on James, perhaps she wanted to really help me…like you know, she actually cares about me getting screwed over.

Marie sensed my gaze on her and she looked at me for a second before redirecting her gaze back to the road. "I'm guessing your wondering why I'm doing this for you?" she said in a solemn voice. I shrugged, a gesture that she took as encouragement to go on.

"Well, before you came the twins were always so weird and moody. Not to say that they aren't already, but you know, they were worst before. Being the rich kids made them smug, and having you around seemed to bring them back to Earth. And would you believe it? Their actually being nice to me now, when before all I got was bad names and pranks being pulled on me" Marie laughed. I could totally imagine what she was saying, the twins were insane, probably more when I first met them.

I fell quiet once again and just looked out my dash board. I sighed, "Thanks" I whispered. Marie looked at me then smiled. "Hey no sweat, its not everyday you get to save a Striker, let alone the twins" she said coolly. I looked at Marie then, admiring her guts and half wishing I had the same.

I felt like crying when we got to the Cullen's house. I got off the car and headed slowly towards the house. I was about to press the door bell when I the door swung open. Alice was smiling down at me, her face glowing.

Then she jumped on me and gave me a spine breaking bear hug. "OMG BELLA! WHYDIDN'TYOUCOMEANDSEEMEEARLIER?WEHAVESOMUCHTOTALKABOUT!" she said rashly while I let her drag me inside. She was still chattering on when Jasper descended the stairs and gave me a wan smile.

I smiled back at him then looked down at Alice. "I'm actually here to see Carlisle, if you don't mind. I'll talk to you later, okay?" I said in a soft voice.

Alice nodded and directed me straight to Carlisle's office. I took a breath before knocking twice. "Come in" I heard him say from the other side. I opened the door and was slightly shocked by the gigantic room. It was all hardwood from the ceiling to the floor. Surrounding the room were photographs, some I recognised as Edward, Alice, and Emmett, while others I didn't know at all. I looked curiously at one of the photographs that had about four men in it, including Carlisle.

I heard a cough from my left and I jumped. I smiled sheepishly at Carlisle before walking awkwardly towards him. "Is there anything I can do for you Bella?" he asked gently, pointing at the chair, motioning for me to sit down.

I shook my head and politely refused. "Oh no, I won't be long. I'm here to say thank you. I heard from the Striker's about what you did. Thank you so much…For saving me" I said slowly. I didn't know what else to say.

I was starting to sound like a broken record. "Bella, don't worry about it. You're like a daughter to me. Nobody dares to hurt one of my family" he said solemnly. I knew my lips were starting to quiver. That was the nicest thing I've heard in a long time.

I felt speechless, the silence was taking over once again and I couldn't do anything about it. I heard a sigh and I looked at Mr. Cullen. "Is there anything else dear?" he said, his eyes were scrutinising me, looking at me as if he could see right through me. I shrugged slightly and smiled.

"Thanks again" I said, before turning around to leave. Then I was abruptly stopped. "I think you need to talk to Edward dear. After all it was his idea to have me confront Alastair Malone. Edward…really cares about you, you know?" he said softly. I spun around and tried to read his eyes. But all I could find was the truth, nothing more, nothing less.

I slowly walked out of the room. My head was hurting so badly. I felt like how I felt when I first found out Santa Claus wasn't real. The confusion was making my head spin and I somehow ended up standing in front of Edward's room, just staring at the door.

Instead of going inside, I went back home, like the coward that I was.

So here I am once again. In bed. I've finally decided on my next move. I have to make things right again. I just sent Edward a message ten minutes ago. So, lets all crossed our fingers and hope, for once, that Isabella Swan doesn't screw this up.

Fr. Bella

To: Edward

I surrender, I'm every bad word in the dictionary

So please come and see me!

Actually no, you have no choice,

I'm coming over

xo

Bella