***IMPORTANT***

I'm very sorry for the mistakes in the last chapter (You know, Bella getting from Phoenix to Arizona in a day), but I live in the South of England and I totally don't know these things, ok? Thanks for pointing them out all the same. I've gone back and changed it so that Bella was in Phoenix hospital, not Forks, ok? But now she's awake, she's going back to Forks (on a plane) with Charlie and Renee, who wants to come and make sure that Bella's happy there. Leila still came in, but that's more realistic because Bella's still in Arizona. I'm sorry if there are any errors in this chapter or the last chapter because of the changes I made (ie: time errors and stuff.) but feel free to point them out (kindly please- I am a sensitive soul *sniff* XD) and I will try to change them.

Yes, so now I feel like an absolute idiot, but I hope that that one mistake (come on- you can forgive one can't you?) hasn't put you off reading the rest. Let's just put it this way: if you want Alice's plan to work and Bella and Edward to get back together, then put up with the little errors because Bella needs to be in Forks for that to happen, ok?

Also, if my one mistake in the whole thing suddenly makes this a bad story (directed only at one person and you know who you are) then I think that that could be a teeny bit hypocritical, perhaps? I don't know what mistakes you have made, but everyone makes at least one mistake in their life and I did get a bit offended when you said that this mistake ruined a good story. Nobody else seemed to think that.

Meanwhile, thanks to IsabellaDangelo for pointing out my mistake in a really nice way. Thank you so much and I'm glad that you don't think it's a bad story.

Right, and now I've got that out of the way, please enjoy chapter 13:

Disclaimer- If I owned it, I wouldn't be putting a disclaimer at the top, would I?

Hold on, baby, you're losing it.

The water's high, you're jumping into it

And letting go.

And no one knows,

That you cry but you don't tell anyone

That you might not be the golden one.

And you're tied together with a smile, but you're coming undone.

- Tied Together With a Smile, Taylor Swift (yes, her again. But she rocks. I love Taylor Swift! XD)

Alice POV

I checked over my reflection in the mirror in our old bedroom. Jasper watched me, his eyebrows narrowed.

"Alice, are you sure that you're doing the right thing?" he asked, still concerned. I had told him my plan and he didn't like it, but, being my loving supportive husband, had agreed to help me with it. He was worried that what I was doing would make Edward cross, and I was sure that it would, until he realised how this could benefit him as well. He had decided to stay home while I went to school; I would be less conspicuous that way, and he wouldn't have to forcibly refrain himself from temptation.

"Yes," I replied as I carefully tucked a bit of my now blonde hair behind my ear. It had been a bit of an experiment dying my lovely hair, as I didn't know what would happen to it, but it had turned out okay. I would be dying it right back to its normal colour as soon as my plan had been carried out though.

"Love you," I told him, planting a kiss on his cheek before waving and skipping lithely out of the door. I climbed into the silver car I had purchased to keep up appearances (a bright canary yellow Porsche wouldn't have been appropriate to drive to school, so I had to leave it hidden in our garage) and sped Forks High School. Of course, I had made sure that the car was fast. I would need it if I wanted to get from here to Alaska within two and a half hours. (A/N- is THAT right? I don't know how long it takes to get to these places, but, if Alice was driving really, really fast would they be able to get to Alaska in 2 hours? Someone please answer in a review or PM because I can't post the next chapter until I know.)

"Can I help you?" Ms Cope, the receptionist, asked as I went into the office, playing at being the scared new student.

"Yes. Uh… my name's Mary Brandon. It's my first day today," I said.

"Of course." Ms Cope nodded and handed me various sheets of paper. I wasn't paying attention to what she was saying, but I seemed to nod in all of the right places.

"Thanks," I called over my shoulder as I proceeded to building 3.

Secretly, I was a little worried. I really needed Edward right now; he was the one that always checked that no one had figured out what we were. Now I desperately needed no one to recognize me, but I knew that trying to deflect the attention would be hard as the only new student. And that was why I had purposefully pulled a few strings and joined on the Wednesday. Because I knew that I wasn't the only new student.

As I entered the classroom, it was buzzing with excitement. My extra senses picked up her name several times over and I stared out of the window from my seat. Just before the bell went, the door opened and she came in.

"Bella!" Eric called from nearby, as did just about everyone in the room. Thankfully, no one appeared to notice me.

Predictably, Bella flushed a deep red, the blood pooling in her cheeks as all of her old friends dashed across the room to meet her. Her arm was in a bandage and she had yellowing bruises in various places, but other than that, she looked fine. I smiled, but then her eyes looked over to meet mine. She blinked, surprised at something and then looked away again, towards her friends.

I looked away from the group of people and back out of the window as I went through my timetable in my head to see who I had what lessons with. I couldn't see whether they'd pay any attention to me or what they'd say until they'd made up their minds what to do, which was irritating. Stupid, subjective visions. But then, I saw what I'd been looking for. In Biology, Mr Banner would sit me right next to Bella, in Edward's old seat. Bingo.

Bella POV

I waited outside in my truck for ages before deciding to go in. The anticipation had lessened and the nerves were much bigger than I ever expected them to be. I knew what I was really worried about seeing him and what he'd say, whether he still felt the same way about me or not, whether he'd be pleased to see me or not. But I didn't have to face him until later, so I forced myself to focus on the present moment, rather than the future.

I hesitated outside the classroom, but then took a deep breath and went in. Everyone greeted me with enthusiasm, Eric, Mike, Jessica and Angela the first to come over. Eager to avert their curious questions over what had happened to my arm and why I had moved back, I looked around the room. There was only one person still sat in her chair, and I didn't know her, but somehow I felt that I recognized her.

She was staring right back at me, but she was smiling kindly. I blushed and turned back to my friends.

"Oh, Bella, it's so good to see you," Angela said gently, "Would you like to come sit by me?"

"No, come sit with me," Mike argued.

"Okay, settle down, guys," Mr Mason called the class to order and everyone took their seats, leaving me standing at the front. Mr Mason smiled at me, "Welcome back, Bella."

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"Feel free to sit where you want." He waved his arm dismissively and I took the seat next to Angela, apologising profusely to Mike and telling him I'd sit with him in English.

The morning went as to be expected with everyone trying to get me to sit with them. I was flattered by the unnecessary attention, but I didn't particularly like being in the spotlight so I tried to throw it off of me a few times.

"Who was the new girl in the classroom this morning?" I asked Mike in English as soon as he brought up my arm, wondering why it was in a bandage.

"Oh, she's new today. Her name's Mary, I think. Mary Brankdon, or something." Mike shrugged and shot another question at me. I sighed and skirted round the question with a semi-truthful answer. I decided to put up with the attention for a while; they'd get bored soon enough.

I ate in the canteen with Jess, Angela, Mike, Eric and the rest of our usual crew and looked over to the Cullens' table, surprised to see that they weren't there. I felt disappointed; so much for seeing Edward. My first day back and they weren't here. But I comforted myself with the fact that they'd be back tomorrow.

I realised that I had been clinging to one last shred of hope when I felt a fresh wave of disappointment as I went into Biology to see that our shared table was empty apart from three glass beakers holding what I presumed were three different liquids, though they were all the same colour.

I sighed and sat down, dumping my books on the desk. I began to doodle on the cover of my brand new notebook.

Suddenly, someone pulled the chair out next to me. My head snapped up, but it wasn't who I thought it would be. It was Mary.

"Hi," she said. She had a beautiful voice, more like singing than talking.

"Someone already sits there," I told her apologetically, "He's not here today, but he'll probably be here tomorrow." Hopefully.

"Oh, Mr Banner told me to sit here." Mary looked confused as she took the seat anyway.

"Oh." My eyebrows pushed together and I looked at Angela. She smiled apologetically and looked at Mr Banner. He wasn't looking up so she came over and whispered in my ear.

"The Cullens have left, Bella," she said.

"What?" I gasped. If I had been disappointed early, I didn't know the meaning of the word, "Left?"

"Yeah. They moved to Alaska or something. They're not coming back," she informed me.

"Oh. Right," I said, trying to keep the sadness that I felt creeping up on me into my tone, "Thanks."

Angela smiled again and went back to her seat, all before Mr Banner looked up. When he did and began to speak, I was barely listening. The Cullens had left? Why? When? Was it anything to do with me?

"Do you want to go first?" Mary's voice broke through my thoughts.

"No, it's okay. You can," I said.

"You don't know what we're doing, do you?" she laughed, a lovely tinkling sound.

"No," I admitted.

"It's okay. I'll do it," she said easily. I watched as she used a pipette to put a tiny drop of one of the liquids on to a piece of indicator paper. I followed suit and copied her with the liquid in the next glass and a new piece of indicator paper, trying to bury the inexplicable loss I felt inside.

I watched as Mary did the last one, occasionally flicking a strand of bobbed blonde hair behind her ear. Suddenly that feeling of recognition that I had felt this morning washed over me, just stronger.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"No." She looked up at me and immediately I knew what was familiar about her. Her eyes were a deep, burning gold colour.

"Oh. It's your eyes," I tried to explain my strange question, "They're the same colour as… a friend of mine."

"Oh." She looked back down again, watching the indicator paper as the colour slowly changed. We wrote the results down in a table and didn't speak again for the rest of the lesson.

When the bell rang, I collected my books together and began to leave, but Mary called after me, "Bella?"

"Yeah?" I turned back.

"Would you like to go shopping after school tomorrow?" she asked.

"Uh… why not?" I agreed. Something drew me to Mary. I didn't know what it was, or why, but I felt like I wanted to spend more time with her, get to know her.

The following day came quicker than I had thought it would. Renee - who was staying with Charlie and I whilst I got settled in, in the spare bedroom – was delighted that a friend had already asked me shopping. Maybe she didn't really believe that I did have friends and this was the first bit of proof she had.

"Who is it?" Charlie had asked.

"Uh… well, she's new, but her name's Mary Brandon," I answered honestly.

"Oh. Don't know her family, then," Charlie said gruffly, "Not friends with Jennifer Stanley anymore then?"

"It's Jessica, Dad," I corrected him, "And, yeah she's still a good friend."

"And Angelica? And Mike Newton?"

"Angela," I sighed, "Yeah, she and Mike are nice too. But I was sat next to Mary in Biology and she seemed nice as well."

"Good," Charlie nodded.

"Well, you'll have fun, I'm sure." Renee had been beaming, happy that her lonely daughter had finally found friends.

"Yeah, I'm sure I will," I had said, but deep down inside, I was desperately unhappy. Sure, Forks was better than Arizona because I still had my friends and stuff, but my previously main motivation was now non-existent, so Forks was not living up to my expectations.

I pulled into the parking lot half an hour early for school, deciding to hang round outside for a bit and, I couldn't believe that I had just thought this, enjoy the rain. It was bizarre. I knew that the sunshine generally made people happier, but I seemed to be happier in the rain, even though my reason for liking the rain was missing.

"Hey Bella," Mary Brandon greeted me from behind as soon as I climbed out of my truck.

"Oh. Hi. I didn't see you there," I said, locking the truck.

"You're early," she noted.

"Uh… yeah. So are you." We walked to the edge of school, where there was a little shelter over a bench.

"Yeah. I felt like coming in early today." She shrugged as we sat down on the bench.

"Mmm. Me too."

"So…" Mary sighed, "Where did you move here from?"

I blinked at her for a moment. That was the exact same question Jake had asked me when I was back in Arizona, "Uh. Well, I lived in Arizona, and then I moved here, and then I moved back to Arizona and now I'm back again," I summarised.

"Why?" Mary enquired.

"It's a long story."

"I have time."

"Yeah, but not enough," I sighed.

"Well, you could tell me the start," she suggested.

I didn't intend to tell her, but suddenly, I found myself telling her everything from the start: how I exiled myself to Forks for Renee and Phil; how much I had hated it here; how I had met Edward and how I had felt about him then; how I had been in a coma and how Edward's voice had brought me out of it; how he had left me and how sad I had felt; how he had left me a necklace and a note assuring me how much he loved me; how much I had missed him; how I had been abused by Phil and Leila; how friendly Jacob had been; how happy I had been to move back to Forks and then how sad I was now that I knew that he wasn't here. Everything. I literally poured my heart out to this girl I had only just met. And it scared me. Hell, it scared me.

But what scared me even more was her reply, "You're ready," was all she said.

"For what?" I wondered, wiping at my red eyes with the back of my hands.

"Do you want to come round my house this weekend?" she asked, as if the previous exchange hadn't happened.

"What am I ready for?" I wasn't giving up that easy.

"Oh, nothing. My parents just want to meet you, that's all." Mary shrugged, in an off-hand way, "Straight after school tomorrow, you can come back to my house and meet my family."

"Uh…" I hesitated. Wasn't it a bit early in our friendship to be 'meeting the family', so to say? And the way she said it scared me; it was more like someone taking their new partner home to meet their parents than a girl saying that to a new friend. Oh, what the hell? I decided, "Sure," I said. I needed to live a little.

Alice POV

I was surprised that Bella had poured her heart out to me this early in our friendship, but happy as well. It was strange to hear her feelings from her own mouth, hear how she thought that she had reacted to everything that had happened; hear how she had felt, and still felt, about Edward.

She was ready to go and see Edward. She was ready for me to take her there. She was ready to come face-to-face with the person she loved. I wasn't sure I could say the same thing about my brother, but he could handle it; he was a big boy now. He might just kill me in the process, but I was fairly certain that as soon as he saw Bella, he'd forgive me.

The bell went then and Bella and I both went off to the form room. The rest of the day went in similar fashion to the day before; Bella was pounced on the moment we entered the classroom and everyone's subconscious told them to leave me alone, so they did. Bella sat with her now large group of friends at lunch and I watched from outside as I had done yesterday. I saw her eyes scan the canteen for me several times, but I didn't go into the canteen. Everyone would just want to know why I wasn't eating and I didn't feel like the 'ohmygod, she's anorexic' rumours.

Our shopping trip also went as expected. I shopped until Bella dropped, at which point I sighed and rolled my eyes and let Bella forcibly drag me back to the car. But I think, however much she complained, I think that she enjoyed herself and maybe even put Edward to the back of her mind for a short while.

"Uh… thanks for the clothes," Bella said as I stopped outside Charlie's house.

"No problem at all, Bella," I sang, "You need those clothes so, so badly. Wear that nice dress tomorrow," I ordered. I had bought Bella a beautiful blue dress (A/N- think prom dress in the film just without all the frills) always with the intention to force her to wear it for when I took her to see Edward.

"Uh… a dress? To school?" Bella bit on her lip, "Have you not noticed how much of a klutz I am?"

"Bella," I sighed, "You have to wear it. It looks gorgeous. And it'll be nice for you for when you meet my family."

"Okay," Bella caved and I grinned.

"Thanks," I called as she walked up her drive.

"You're welcome!" she called back, "See you tomorrow."

I nodded and waved, before driving off. I went back to our old home in Forks, where Jasper was sat in one of the bay windows waiting for me, as always.

"How did it go?" he asked as I came in.

"Great!" I exclaimed, "I got Bella the most gorgeous blue dress for when I take her to meet Edward tomorrow…"

"What?" Jasper narrowed his eyes, "Tomorrow? Alice, what happened to the 'it will probably take a couple of weeks'?"

"Well, she's ready now." I shrugged.

"Alice!" Jasper cried, "You can't just drag her over to see Edward. She'll have a panic attack and he'll kill you!"

"It'll be fine," I assured him.

"How can you know that Alice?! It's not like you can see what their reaction is going to be until they've actually decided to react is it?"

"Well… no," I admitted grudgingly, again cursing my stupid objective visions.

"Exactly."

"But, Jazz, it's going to work. I just know it is. You should have heard what she said. They belong together, Jasper. It's going to work," I insisted stubbornly.

"Well, I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into," he warned.

"I do," I replied, "Oh, by the way, you've got to get to the house before Bella and I, but only a split second before so that they don't get a chance to question you."

"What?" Jasper gaped at me, "And how am I supposed to do that?"

"You'll think of something. You're smart, Jazz."

"Remind me why I do this," he sighed.

"Because you love me. And I love you." I smiled at him and he groaned.

"Fine," he gave in, "But it's your neck."

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Like? Love? Hate? If you hate it, I'd prefer you didn't say, although constructive criticism is welcome in a friendly way (NB: -I don't have a clue what NB stands for but I know it's something like note, so I'll use it anyway :P- I do not react well to horrible stuff like "This story sucks". If that's what you think, please point out what is bad about it. Ta)

AND I am very sorry for not replying to all of the reviews for the last chapter, but I have to go out and I thought that maybe you'd prefer it if I updated rather than replying to all of your reviews ;). I probably won't reply to them now, but if you review this chapter I will reply tomorrow. XD

Sorry that this wasn't a daily update but I had to a) re-arrange a load of stuff (yes, entirely my fault, but still time-consuming) and b) finish writing this chapter and begin the next.

Again, more than 3,000 words. Almost 4,000 in fact. Thank you guys so much for all of the nice reviews of the last chapter, but do you think we could get to 30 for one chapter??? That is my new aim. If you're reading this, please just review.

S'il vous plait?

And you have absolutely NO IDEA how strange it has been changing Alice's name to Mary. It just doesn't suit her at all, in my opinion anyway.

And, yes, in the next chapter BELLA AND EDWARD WILL COME FACE-TO-FACE!!! XD Exciting, I know! This chapter's quote isn't actually a very good one because I had to not give much away. But here it is:

"Alice?" I asked, finally finding my voice, "I thought your name was Mary."

"Well… you see…" she sighed, and then decided to spill, "That was a lie. My name's Alice."

"Yeah, her name's Alice," Emmett laughed, "And, dude, she is so, so dead."

"I am not!"

"You will be when Edward gets back, Ali! Woah. He'll be mad this time! This is worse than the tutu scenario!"

"Don't call me Ali!" Alice snarled.

So, the truth is soon to be out! It's so exciting! Well, I'm excited, I don't know if you are…

And the bad news?? There aren't many chapters left! It's nearly over! This is so sad :(

And someone please tell me that if someone drove at an average of say, 100 mph, could they get from Forks to Alaska in about 2 hours? I can't update until I know, so please tell me!

Remember: Daily updates only happen if you review!

Steph