Hey! Sorry for taking so long…. had my exams (-___-) last month, and my Phase Test before that, so please don't kill me! ^….

I won't take so long now!

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I woke up to find myself completely at a loss regarding what to do. Memories of last night flooded back. Not that I hadn't dreamt enough of it. So I sort of had a flashback, with the most important things in most detail.

Last night can't be described. The whole Cullen thing, with their secrets and their..skills, and their promise of an explanation…

But the strangest thing had happened at the very end. It was all the more surprising because it happened after they'd left, when I least expected.

I'd just entered home when I realised that Mom was nowhere to be seen. The living room lights were out, and as far as I could see, so were those of her room. That was very strange. Usually she'd wait for me if I was so late, which I rarely was, and I'd come to realise that I was in for it when such an event occurred. So why wasn't she awake today? Or was she?

"Mom?" I called, and then wondered belatedly whether I should've done that. I'd certainly save myself a lot of trouble if I just crept upstairs. But this was creeping me out, and I wondered if she was okay. So I walked with silent steps to her room.

Her door wasn't locked. It was just ajar, and I gave it a little nudge to provide me a wide enough space to peer through. I felt chills down my back, and could only stare as I saw Mom, staring back at me.

She was sitting on the old rocking chair by the window, her blanket on the floor, her hands clutching tightly the arms of the chair. Her hair was dishevelled, as if she'd just got out of bed, and her eyes.. they were wild, staring at me as if they'd seen a ghost. I'd never seen Mom like this before, and felt more afraid than I'd been throughout today.

I pushed the door fully open, going inside.

"Mom? Is everything alright? I'm really sorry I'm so late. Is something the matter?" I asked that again, for she had hardly reacted to any of my words, just looked at me, with countless emotions passing through her eyes in those brief seconds.

"Mom, what happened? MOM!"

She had just stood up, in such a sudden movement that she'd almost stumbled, and I went forward to steady her. She took hold of my arms in a pincer grip. I almost couldn't believe Mom had so much strength, and tried not to wince.

I was about to ask her again what the matter was, when she preceded me.

"Emily!"

"Mom? Mom, I'm right here..What's the matter?" I was utterly scared now, not only by the hoarse throaty voice she used, but also by her tone, afraid, desolate , frantic.

"Emily where were you?" I could tell by her wild eyes that my coming home late could definitely not have caused this.

"Mom I had a late shift at work, and then I got held up…by traffic." Yeah right. As if she'd believe that. But what else to tell her. Hey Mom I almost got attacked by a group of men while I was walking along an unknown alley with a girl who is a member of the mysterious, inhumanly beautiful, and from what I'd seen, really freaky, Cullen family.

"Who were they?" Mom almost..rasped.

And even if I didn't know the reason behind all this, I should have known that this would lead to them. God, I'd really had had enough of them in my life already! Yeah, and I'd still go to them tomorrow.

I almost didn't know what to reply. Almost.

"Um..they were just friends from school. Edward and Nessie." I added that since my answer seemed too crude, but she didn't seem to be waiting for more, since all her attention had been caught by a single word.

"School? They're in your school? And they're your friends?!"

Okay two words.

"Mom calm down! There's no need to get hysterical- "

"Don't you tell me what's needed! How could this have happened right under my nose. Why have I never seen them before?If they're in her school then -" She seemed to be talking to herself now, so I took a moment to think. Why was she freaking out like this? Sure, I didn't have many friends, and I'd actually never had any with such expensive cars to give me rides home, but this was definitely too much. There was something she knew and I didn't .

Had she really never seen them before? I couldn't think of one occasion where they'd ever met, even Dr. or Mrs. Cullen. I tried to think this was just related to me, but something told me this had to do with them. It wasn't just my 'friends' part that was causing Mom to freak out like this, but the fact that it was them that I'd referred to. Oh-kay….Now that I'd finally decided to myself what the cause was, I just had to find the actual crime. That is to say, if I was correct.

So I turned back to my mother, and again prepared myself.

"What's the matter? Why aren't you telling me the truth?" I tried to sound as angry and hurt together as I could.

"Emily.." Mom seemed to have been surprised and I think sad to see me so frustrated, and that probably mellowed her a bit.

"Please. Please just tell me what's bothering you. I can't just stand here and not know…Please."

"No. You can't know. Its not that simple. But you're not going near that boy again," and she brought an air of a command into her voice as she saw me beginning to protest, " or his..family. And you are not staying away this late."

I could only imagine the expression I must've been wearing, but it had to be of shock and aggravation. For this to happen tonight of all nights. "Come on Mum…you're not serious."

"You can call yourself lucky I'm allowing you continue this school."

"What?! Mum.. this isn't fair! You can't just ask me something like that without even giving a proper reason!"

"Reason? Well just think of it as a 'Because I said so' order."

"This is ridiculous! Well you know what, I think you're being unreasonable, and I think I'm gonna do what I want!"

"Emily you are not going to defy me on this!"

Her eyes had on her wild expression again, and I really considered whether I want to cross her further. I weighed the option of not telling her and seeing Edward and Nessie again tomorrow versus fighting her now on the issue. I must admit, it seemed pretty sound to follow through with that. But it was so frustrating to not know why Mom was so adamant on her stand. But maybe just now was not the right time to push her. But I had to meet them tomorrow, to clear all those questions that had, till now, been my only puzzles.

"Alright Mom. I'm going to bed!"

And with that I stormed, okay, tried to storm, to my room, where I waited for hours for sleep to find me.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Oh yeah, 'Twilight does not belong to me etc.'…

After the long hiatus!

Please Review! =D

~ C