"I don't see why I can't just visit him, Edward," Bella yelled. "I don't even have to talk about this," she pointed to herself, gesturing her change. "He was, is my best friend. I can't just turn my back on him. Charlie wouldn't have wanted that."
Edward heaved a huge sigh. They were in his room, making room for Bella's few things. "Don't you understand? I broke the treaty. We will lose all the peace Carlisle worked so hard to gain. I don't think they found out yet, other wise we would have heard from them. If they see you as one of us, all will be lost."
This was their first argument since the transformation. Bella was still defending Jacob because of the friendship they had when she was depressed.
"He'll want to know if I'm alright. I don't want him to think I've dropped off the face of the earth."
"He won't. Esme sent a letter saying that you were staying here to recover from the shock of the accident," Edward grinned as if this was the perfect idea.
Bella threw the stack of CD's she was holding on to the bed. "What about our school friends? Angela, Ben, Mike, do we abandon them too?"
He smiled. "That's a short list. And they have each other. But, you're right. You, Alice, and I do have to, some how, finish out the school year."
"Fine, so when can I visit Jacob?" she tried to say that with a little humor, but he wasn't amused. No, don't ask again, please?
Later that night, Bella and Esme convinced Edward to play them some music on his piano. He started with Esme's song and ended with Bella's lullaby. Carlisle was at the hospital and wouldn't be home until the morning. Emmett and Rosalie went hunting. Both of them were excruciatingly thirsty and wanted to have some fun. Alice and Jasper both hid away in Jasper's room.
Wednesday morning dawned with a predictable cloud of rain. This was the day they were set to go back to school. Bella was afraid of being around humans. She wasn't sure how her lack of thirst would hold up around her old friends.
As Bella, Edward, and Alice got into the silver Volvo, Edward looked at Bella. "Are you sure you can do this? We can miss the last two months of our senior year, you know."
She looked back at him with raised eyebrows. "Are you questioning my self control?"
"No," he said softly. "You just looked a little sick."
Bella leaned over and kissed him. "I'll be fine. Apparently all goes well today. Alice didn't see any attacks on our part."
Alice looked at Edward and grinned. We will have a wonderful day. Nothing exciting happens and I mean that in a good way.
The drive to Forks High School was quiet. There were no spoken words or unspoken conversations. People stared as the familiar Volvo pulled into the parking lot. Bella got out with her jacket on and the hood up. She was fully aware of her differences and knew that the student body would notice them. Edward put his arm around her and Alice went in a different direction.
Luckily for the vampires, there were no finals to make up. It was the last few days and classes were boring. Bella knew that at some point she was going to have to take off her jacket, or at least put the hood down. Edward tried to send comforting thoughts to her throughout the day, but it wasn't working. Being back in Forks High School reminded her too much of Charlie.
They caught up to Alice at lunch. Bella didn't get any food to pretend to be human.
"Angela wants to talk to you, Bella. Alone," whispered Edward. He and Alice went to pretend to be thirsty for a soda as Angela came over. Bella slowly looked up, keeping her head back in her hood and hands in her pockets.
"Hi Bella," Angela said as she sat in the seat that Alice was just in.
"Hi Angela," Bella wasn't entirely ready to be comforted by another human. Another human would bring up her parents' sudden deaths and her changes.
She looked at Bella cautiously. "Are you going to be all right? That was horrible, what happened to you, I mean."
"I think so. It's just really hard. I never spent that much time with Dad, and I moved away from Mom, and now they're gone. But, I am staying with some nice people now."
Angela tried to scan her face but she could only see the faint glow of her pale face. "You're staying with Edward aren't you? He has a nice family to take in another teenager like that."
Bella laughed a little. "Yeah, Carlisle and Esme are kind. So are the others, they took me in like family." I wish I could just tell her everything. I don't think anyone would like that. I hate hiding things from her. She glanced down at the floor. "I'm sorry I'm not much for conversation, Ang. I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things."
Angela smiled kindly. "I understand. Just remember, you can tell me anything." She touched Bella's arm and walked away.
No sooner had she left than Edward and Alice were back at their normal seats. Alice looked a little discomforted.
"Bella, you do know that you can never tell another human what we are, right?" she was leaning toward Bella and saying this very quickly.
Bella looked down at the table. "I know. I would just be nice, you know, to be able to tell her everything."
"I know, Bells. But, we can't do that." Edward wrapped his arm around her comfortingly. They sat there for the rest of the lunch mod in silence. Mike Newton kept looking over at Bella.
She and Edward were laughing to themselves on the way out the door.
"Seems like Newton's more jealous than before," said Edward playfully.
"Eventually he'll understand that I'm not available and he'll just have to stick with Jessica." Bella cringed at the thought. Jessica really started to get on Bella's nerves. She just would not stop staring ever since Bella came back.
The rest of the day passed quietly. In gym class, Edward and Bella sat in a corner watching their class mates who wanted to play basketball. Bella could not keep her mind off of Jacob. He looked so hurt when she saw him last. She wanted to comfort him, but she knew that her mere presence would make him turn into a wolf. Jacob would never be able to talk to her in human form simply because of her smell. And if he hated it when Edward heard his thoughts, he would definitely hate it if she was hearing his thoughts.
At last the bell rang and all the seniors ran out of the school, never having to return except for graduation. Bella and Edward walked quietly to the Volvo behind Alice. They drove home in happy silence. They were done at Forks High School and could continue their lives. They planned to go to collage in Alaska.
When the Volvo pulled into the driveway of the scenic Cullen house and entered, there was a surprising message on the answering machine for Bella.
"Hey Bella, I know you're here since you aren't at my place. Look, I'm sorry about Charlie and Renee. I need to talk to you. Call me when he gives you the chance. I hope you call soon. I've missed you. Bye." It was clearly Jacob's voice on the phone.
Okay, I just want to say sorry about the long wait. I read Eclipse so this is going to be very hard to write. I'm also sorry for the short chapter. I hope the next one is longer and updated sooner. Please review.