Chapter eleven. I'm right here, fools.

Edward's POV

"What do you mean, she's gone?" I asked. My head flicked back and forth from Rosalie to Alice.

"We mean, she's not there in her room, gone", explained Alice slowly, "she might've skipped out of the window."

"Crap", muttered Emmett.

"Call her", ordered Jasper. Alice got out her phone and dialled her number. Everyone waited in silence.

"Turned off", Alice whispered flipping her phone shut, "where do you think she is?"

"Jacob?" suggested Rosalie.

"But she's pissed with him", Jasper pointed out.

"Or that's what she wants us to think", said Alice, "no one heard what happened with her and Jacob really. Maybe they planned falling out so they could see eachother."

"No", whispered Emmett", "she said… in the kitchen…"

The look on Emmett's face was heart breaking. He really did care about Bella. So did everyone. What was she doing? What was going through her mind? Did she really think sneaking out would resolve anything? Where was she going anyway?

"Alright", Emmett said once he recomposed his expression but no one was fooled, "my parents are coming home for dinner. If she's not here by then, we'll tell them she snuck out. She'll have to come back some time, I'll talk to her then."

"Aren't you going to try and find her?" I asked. Did he really want to wait for Bella to come back? What if she really was with Jacob? I shuddered at the thought.

"No", said Emmett, "she can take care of herself." His tone was suddenly icy.

……………………..

Bella's POV (just after she ran up the stairs in the last chapter)

I ran out of the room and sighed. I couldn't tell anyone about what Jacob had said. He was too venomous about it. Emmett was here for me. It was Jacob who was wrong. I quickly went up the stairs and into my room.

"I think I should talk to her", I heard Rosalie say, "come on, Alice. Let's go."

I heard them walking up the stairs but I knew I didn't want to talk to them. I couldn't. Jacob was a friend but what he said was too much. Emmett was my brother. Whatever he did, he was still my brother. I couldn't tell Rosalie and Alice anything. I pulled down the string to the stairs of the attic and climbed up. Quickly, I pulled the stairs back up and waited.

"Bella? Can we come in?" said Rosalie.

"It's my room too", said Alice. I heard the door to my room open and some footsteps.

"She might be in the bathroom", said Rosalie softly. I waited and closed my eyes.

"She's not here?"

"No, I can't find her", Rosalie said, slightly panicked.

"Let's go downstairs", said Alice. I sighed when there were no more noises or voice.

When I opened my eyes I realised I hadn't been in this attic for ages. It was dusty and dark. I fumbled around looking for a light switch.

Tripping over some boxes I landed right on my bottom. I sighed and sat up.

Looking around, I could see boxes and boxes of things surrounded me. Most of which belonged to my parents. There were boxes marked 'photo albums', some marked 'first toys' or 'school pictures'.

I stood up and finally found the light switch. When I turned on the light I suddenly realised how big the attic was. There were some shelves with framed pictures there, some awards and certificates that I never knew existed and some medals too.

Curiously, I opened a box and pulled out a photo album. This one was called 'Bella & Alice, first b-day'.

No one really would guess that Alice and me were twins. She was so different from me. She had slightly shorter and had dark spiky hair. Her skin was lighter and her eyes were light hazel. My hair was longer, a brown chestnut colour. I had dark brown eyes and my skin was creamy white.

The pictures on the first page showed two babies, one smaller with dark hair, which I recognised as Alice. She was sat next to another baby, which was I of course. We were both staring at the flickering candle on a big birthday cake curiously. Emmett was in the background. Tiny little Emmett with curly dark hair. He was smiling and his dimples showed perfectly. He held a little blue wrapped parcel proudly.

All of the pictures in the first couple of pages were just of Alice and me. Or sometimes me and Emmett. Or maybe of Emmett and Alice. Some were of us three together. My eyes nearly watered as I saw how happy we looked. None of us had a care in the world. No arguing, no fights. Just happy little babies.

Edward's POV.

"Dude, cut it out", snapped Jasper.

Emmett stopped pacing for a few seconds, and then started up again. I sighed heavily.

"Emmett, she's fine", Alice reassured, "you said she's a big girl, she can take care of herself. She'll be home soon anyway."

"How do you know?" demanded Emmett, "she might've gotten into an accident whilst crossing the road or something just as silly. You know Bella."

"Pacing around the living room isn't helping, Em", Rosalie said, "you said to wait for her, and that's what we're doing. Without giving ourselves a brain haemorrhage. Sit down and stop pacing."

"Maybe waiting wasn't such a good idea", Emmett mumbled, "Why would she just take off like that? I thought everything was fine. She looked fine. Didn't she look fine? Rose? Alice? Anyone? I swear, she looked fine."

"Emmett", I snapped, "she looked bloody fine!"

"Yeah… thanks", he mumbled sighing.

"I don't think waiting is the best idea too", I added, "She's probably cooling off somewhere. I think we should go find her."

"What if she's with Jacob?" asked Alice. Oh yeah, that's a good thought.

"Then we drag her out", hissed Emmett.

"Calm down", soothed Rosalie, "she's not with Jacob. She said they fell out."

"Maybe we should go look for her anyway", said Jasper directly to Emmett, "it's no good sitting here doing nothing."

"If we can't find her before half six then we tell my parents", Emmett said.

"Shouldn't we tell them now?" suggested Alice.

"No", said Emmett shaking his head, "they'll worry for nothing. Let's go get Bella."

Bella's POV

I heard the front door slam shut. I looked out of the window to see Alice, Jasper, Edward, Rosalie and Emmett walking out. Rosalie got into Emmett's jeep with Emmett whilst Alice and Jasper took a different car. Edward got into his shiny Volvo.

They left without me. That's nice.

I wondered where they were going. It was nearly six; maybe they went out for dinner. They could've asked me…

I went back to the boxes. Maybe Alice and Rosalie got offended that I didn't want to talk to them. I would've thought at least Edward would want me to come along.

Three different engines gave a start and the vehicles pulled out and away. I guess running upstairs probably offended them or something. Or they just didn't want me to come along. Ouch.

I shrugged off the feeling of rejection and went back to the boxes. I opened one up that was marked 'legal papers'.

There was a thick file in the bottom of the box; something long, silvery and shiny peaked out of it. I retrieved the mystery object to find that it was a necklace.

'Isabella Swan', I was written in silver letters. Swan? Isabella Swan? My surname was Cullen. Isabella Cullen, not Swan. Or maybe this belonged to someone else. An old aunty that I was named after or something.

I dropped the necklace and dug out the files. The first thing my eyes hit when I opened it up was a word.

Adoption.