AN: I got finished with this chapter pretty quickly, so thought I would post it early to make up for the lateness of the last one. Thank you to april666king, DizzyIzzyCullen, and team jazper for your reviews. Also thank you to new reader ellaryne for all your reviews today. I hope you guys enjoy this one. This chapter is unbeta-ed, so the mistakes are all mine. I will update with a beta-ed version if I have one in the future.

Enjoy!

Bella

My afternoon is quiet. Charlie doesn't go back to work, and stays at home with me instead. Maybe he doesn't trust me to be alone. I guess I don't blame him for that, although I know that I'll never attempt anything as stupid again.

I spend my time catching up with the school work I was given yesterday. I take my time with Calculus as I seem to struggle with the subject the most. Maths has never been my strong point.

Before school finishes for the day, Charlie gives the Principle a call demanding to know who was responsible for me leaving early. The phone is in the hallway, so from my position at the table in the kitchen I can hear everything that Charlie is saying. He raises his voice a couple of times, but when he hangs up he seems pleased. He joins me at the table.

"I just got off the phone with the school."

Well, duh Dad.

"I guess you heard that, huh?"

He scratches at his moustache. Maybe me hearing his conversation has made him uncomfortable. I haven't really heard him raise his voice before.

"Anyway, it seems you have a friend who stuck up for you. Angela Weber? When you left, she defended you to your teacher, and later to the Principle- told them some of the things she had witnessed, and who by… like the gum in your hair."

He looks at the offending piece of hair. I knew I should have tied it back up. I move to hide it.

"That Mike kid has been suspended for a week. There's a zero tolerance policy on bullying at the school which he seems to keep breaking."

Huh- so that's his name.

"Even though he won't be there, it doesn't mean you have to go back. I don't mind if you want to take a couple of days off."

That's a nice offer, but I can't do that. I want to thank Angela, I've only known her for less than a day but she's been so great to me already. She didn't need to be. And maybe Alice will be back in tomorrow.

I shake my head, "I'll go."

Charlie smiles before saying anything else. I think he's happy to hear me talking.

"Okay… but just call me at the station if and when you need to."

Before I can answer him, the phone rings.

Saved by the bell.

Charlie leaves to answer it. I return to my school work, but I can still hear his side of the conversation.

"Hello?... Carlisle, how are you?... Uh, yeah- as well as can be expected… Sure… That's a nice offer, but you don't have to… I'm not sure if we're up for visitors to be honest… Uh, alright, well tell her we said thanks… Yeah, bye now."

Is Dr Cullen coming over?

Crap, I picked the wrong day to have a breakdown.

Charlie walks back into the kitchen and over to the refrigerator. After grabbing a can of Vitamin R, he tells me that I don't need to cook tonight as Dr Cullen's wife is coming over. Apparently, she wants to meet me, and she's bringing food.

I don't think I have much choice by the sounds of it.

The afternoon passes by slowly, turning in to twilight before there is a knock on the door. I've been working all afternoon, so I welcome the break. Plus, I realise that I haven't eaten since this morning. It won't be long before my stomach starts to make a noise.

Charlie beats me to the door. I had to clear the table anyway as we will be having a guest over for dinner.

"Esme, come on in," I hear him say as I approach the front door.

As I do, I'm greeted by Dr Cullen's wife.

"Isabella? It's lovely to meet you."

Esme hands my father a container that she has brought with her and comes closer to me. I smile to be polite, but I realise that it doesn't feel forced. There's something about Esme that seems to automatically improve my mood.

Before I can say anything to return her greeting, she pulls me into a hug.

At first, I want to resist. The only person who ever really hugged me was my mom. But Esme feels… comfortable, as if I'm receiving a hug from a mother. I return her embrace a little harder. It's been ages since I was last held like this.

"Where's my hug?"

The moment is interrupted by a newcomer.

Alice!

Of course- Esme is Alice's adopted mother.

I let go of Esme and move over to Alice. It's good to see her. She doesn't wait for me to initiate the embrace, and instead wraps her arms around me, effectively trapping mine at my side.

"I'm sorry I wasn't at school today, Isabella," she says as she squeezes me before letting go.

"Bella," I say after clearing my throat.

Alice looks shocked for a brief second but covers it up with a big smile.

"Bella," Alice repeats.

Charlie ushers us all into the kitchen. He makes conversation with Esme while Alice tells me why she wasn't around today.

"I had some appointment in Seattle. I should have mentioned it yesterday really. Hey, can I use your bathroom?"

She says it all so quickly that it takes me a second to catch up. I nod as Charlie interrupts his conversation to let Alice know where it is. Maybe he thought I wasn't going to answer her question.

"We can't stay for long, unfortunately," Esme tells us, "I just heard so much about you, Isabella, that I wanted to meet you for myself," she gushes.

Should I be worried about what she might have heard? Then again, it's not like Dr Cullen would have told her anything because that would be confidential, right?

"I appreciate you coming over," Charlie tells her. "And for cooking, too. Bella could do with a break for a night."

"Oh, it was no problem," Esme tells him.

"Bella? What's that in your hair?" I hear Alice ask. I jump slightly. I didn't know she was behind me. I didn't even hear her come back down the stairs and into the kitchen. It didn't take her long to use the bathroom either, I notice.

"Uh, Bella had a bit of a rough day," Charlie tells Alice.

I feel annoyed that he's talking about me like I'm not even here. I would have told Alice if I wanted to.

"It's nothing," I tell them all.

I really should have cut it out by now.

"It doesn't look like nothing," Alice says, with an edge of anger to her voice. She reaches up and feels the left over gum in my hair. "I can get that out for you. Have you got a pair of scissors I can use?"

Charlie moves to open the drawer that he was leaning against. After rummaging through it, he finds the scissors and hands them to Alice after asking if it's alright with me.

"Why don't you girls go and do that upstairs?" my father asks us.

Alice takes my hand and pulls me behind her, practically forcing me up the stairs. She walks up to my bedroom door which is to the left of the bathroom; as if she knew already that it was my room. She opens the door and peaks her head around it. When she's satisfied that it's definitely my room, she opens the door fully and gets me to sit on my bed so that I'm facing my full length mirror.

"Comfy? Great- I'll have this out in no time," she tells me as she sections the piece of hair away from the rest. "So, what happened at school? Did I miss something?"

"…I guess I was an easy target."

Did I say that out loud? I'm assuming I did as I see Alice's reaction in the mirror.

"Who was it?" she asks me bluntly.

"No one."

"Well, obviously someone did this to you, Bella. Let me guess- was he a jock? It was a guy, right? I don't know a girl at our school who would pick on someone else like this… Well, maybe Jessica would. Was it a guy named Mike?"

I want to stop talking about this now. I don't care about what happened today. I just want to forget the whole thing.

"It doesn't matter." I try to put as little emotion in to what I say as possible. It's scary how easy that is to do that.

After a brief period of time, Alice begins to speak again, "Fine, I'll drop it… for now."

She smiles at me through the mirror. I notice I have a scowl on my face so try to change that in order to look friendlier. My attempt at a smile just turns into a grimace though.

She turns her gaze back to my hair and snips away the gum. She does so in silence. I don't attempt to make conversation.

"There, all done. It's actually not really noticeable."

Alice collects the cut off strands of hair and throws them away into the bin next to my desk. I walk over to the mirror to inspect her handiwork. She's right; I can't notice the difference in length.

I reach over to the chest of drawers to grab my hairbrush. I didn't brush my hair after my shower earlier so I decide to do it now. My hand meets thin air though. I look over to the space on top of my drawers but can't see the hairbrush anywhere. But, that's where I always keep it. Where else could it be?

"What are you looking for, Bella?" Alice asks me.

"Uh… my hairbrush."

Alice's expression changes for a brief second. I'm not sure what she was thinking, or what the emotion was, but she quickly hides it.

"I'll help you look."

I leave Alice to look in my room while I head towards the bathroom. Maybe I left it by the sink this morning. But it's not there either. It's not in the cabinets, or in the shower, not that I thought it would be. I walk back to join Alice who is sitting on my bed.

"I couldn't find it, and I didn't want to pry through your things," she tells me.

"Alice! It's time to go," Esme calls from downstairs.

"Coming!" she shouts back.

I follow Alice back down the stairs so I can say goodbye at the door. Alice grips me in a tight hug before her mother can get to me.

"I don't know if I'll be in school tomorrow, Bella. If the weather is nice again then my family and I are going hiking."

"Oh."

I was hoping she would be there so I wouldn't feel alone.

"Why don't you give me your number so I can let you know in the morning?" she asks me after taking her own cell phone out of one of her pockets. She hands her phone to me so I can input my number.

"Thanks," she says as I hand it back. "Night, Bella," both her and her mother tell me as they leave.

"Well that was awful nice of them," Charlie comments as he closes the door and walks back into the kitchen. I follow him so I can heat up the food and eat. I realise how hungry I am when I smell the pasta dish in the container.

I'll eat dinner with Charlie and then I'll go and hunt for my hairbrush. I'll need it when I wake up in the morning.

Edward

I could hear Alice's thoughts coming from a mile away. She seemed to be excited about how well the visit went by the sounds of it.

I wasn't excited, though.

I'm nervous.

I'm wondering what Alice and Esme could have taken of hers that has her scent still attached to it. Would it fuel my bloodlust? Would I want to go running in the direction of the Swan house? What if I couldn't get enough of it?

That's something I've realised since first catching her scent this afternoon. It's like I'm almost craving it. I don't know why, because the bloodlust makes the burn in my throat intolerable.

How could I want something this much? I didn't know it was possible until now.

Surely it's not a good idea for me to be around her?

"Oh, Edward!" I hear Alice call in her sing-song voice as she prances through the front door.

And there it is… the scent that's been tormenting me since this afternoon. It's not as strong, but I can smell it coming from both Alice and Esme.

They've touched her.

I can't decide how I feel about that. The monster I try to hide feels possessive over the girl in some way. I don't like that they've got her scent attached to their clothing. But my logical mind shrugs it off- what is she to me anyway? Right this minute, she's nothing.

What are you thinking, Edward? I hear Jasper think from his room upstairs.

I choose to ignore him and try to get my emotions in check.

"Ta da!" Alice sings as she presents me with a hairbrush. "Here. This belongs to Bella," she tells me as she hands it over.

I hope this works, I don't want Bella to realise that I've stolen from her, Alice thinks.

"You haven't stolen it, we're borrowing it," I tell her as I take the object from her hand.

I bring it closer to my face to inspect it. The smell gets stronger the closer I bring it towards me. I can detect a hint of strawberry, freesia, and… lilacs, I think.

I feel the venom begin to pool in my mouth.

I immediately throw the brush away from me. It ends up breaking a window on the other side of the room.

"This isn't working!" I practically shout.

"There's no need to have a tantrum, Edward," Esme tells me as she walks away to clean up my mess.

"I'm sorry, Esme. Leave it and I'll get rid of the glass." It's my mess after all. She doesn't though, and quickly starts to get rid of the broken glass.

We're going to need a new window.

Jeez, Edward. Trust you to have a hissy fit, Rosalie's thoughts tell me from where she is in the garage.

Ed, man. Just give it a try! I want this to work. We all like Bella, I hear coming from Emmett, who is helping Rosalie out in the garage.

"Look, Edward," Alice begins as she retrieves the hairbrush, "please be patient. Just try." She hands it back to me.

"Fine," I acquiesce as I grip my fingers around the brush.

I can do this.

I attempt to sniff the object again. As I do, Emmett enters the room.

Well, that just looks weird.

I can see what he's thinking. Reading his mind, I see myself through his eyes. And I do look weird. In fact, I look incredibly creepy.

"Whose idea was this again?" I murmur to myself mostly as I lower my hand that's holding the brush to my side.

Carlisle decides to join us at this moment.

"Perhaps just being in the same proximity as her scent will be enough," he suggests.

"I hope so," I reply. I'm fed up with this plan already. "But this can't be enough, can it?"

I see what you mean. I don't know if you'll be ready in time for the start of school on Monday, Carlisle tells me with his thoughts.

"Do we need a new plan of action already?" Rosalie asks as she joins her mate's side. "Does Eddie not like this one?"

"It's just not going to be enough," I tell her through grated teeth. She knows I hate that nickname.

"I think he's right," Jasper informs the room as he joins us from upstairs. "Comparing how you felt earlier to how you're feeling now, I just don't think that the scent from that brush is strong enough. And even if it were, the scent will fade over time."

"So, we keep going back then? Take something different each time and replace the last one we took," Emmett suggests.

"There's a chance that she would notice that. Even if she didn't, her neighbours might wonder why one of our family turns up every so often to break and enter into the Chief of Police's house," I tell them quickly.

"How about you just see how things go on Monday?" suggests Esme. "You'll have your brothers and sisters around to help you. Jasper would be able to help with how you're feeling, and Alice would be able to see if something were to happen. And you, Edward, would know what the people around you were thinking. If someone were to suspect something, then you would know. If Bella was worried, then her thoughts would show it."

"I don't know if it's such a good idea to risk it," I reply.

"I think you underestimate your willpower, son," Carlisle tells me.

"I'm not comfortable with taking the chance."

"Okay…" starts Alice. "What if she came here? You know, like for a study session or to watch a DVD? That way your reaction wouldn't be public, and if something were to happen, then it would be in a controlled environment. We could just take her home again and remove her from the situation."

"I like it," Rosalie says. "I'd like to get to know her."

"Me too," says Alice excitedly.

"So would I," adds Esme. "I think she could do with some friends right now."

"Oh that reminds me, Carlisle," Alice begins. "She talked!"

"What?" he asks her, stepping closer towards her.

"She talked to me! We had a conversation, sort of, but she spoke."

I can tell Alice is ecstatically happy about this.

"You mean to say that she's never spoken before?" I ask. I'm confused about this. Was she a mute?

"From what her father was suggesting," Carlisle says, "she stopped talking after a recent traumatic event."

What could have happened to her to make her stop talking?

"But it's great to hear that she's starting to recover. I really should call Charlie. Maybe I can get Isabella to talk to me on the phone," Carlisle adds, almost talking to himself.

"She prefers Bella," Alice states.

"That's good to know, thanks," replies Carlisle.

Think I'll go do it now, he thinks as he walks out of the room.

"And I think I'll text Bella to see if she wants to come over tomorrow," says Alice.

"I thought you said it was supposed to be sunny tomorrow?" I question.

"I meant in the evening," she corrects me.

Perfect, I wonder if she likes guitar hero, I hear Emmett think enthusiastically.

"In the meantime, Edward, it may be a good idea for you to hunt," Alice adds.

"I'm fine, I went yesterday."

"Just trust me, okay?"

Come on brother, I'll go with you, Rosalie thinks.

At least it gives me something to do for now.

After all, I seem to have nothing but time to spare.

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