So, this is a little later than I'd planned. Sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you like it. I'm kind of afraid it doesn't flow as well as it could...

If I was Stephenie Meyer, I probably wouldn't be really freaking excited about going to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Wednesday. But I am. (:

Christmas Misery--

Bella's POV.

I sighed as I hugged Charlie goodbye. We were at the airport in Seattle, and I was going to spend a week in Florida with Renee and Phil, for Christmas. I was kind of excited, although I worried about how Charlie would do without me. I made Alice and Edward promise they'd check up on him.

Speaking of Edward…We had gotten a lot closer lately. Maybe it was because we were always partners in school, or maybe because his sister was my new best friend. Or, maybe he was just making sure that I was alright after I had spilled all my thoughts about Emmett to him. I don't know—but I'm not exactly complaining. I rather enjoyed having Edward around all the time. There was something about him that just…pulled me to him.

Maybe I'm crazy.

"Have fun, and be safe, Bells," Charlie said, pulling away. I smiled. Charlie was never mushy. Kind of like me.

"You too." A woman summoned me to the boarding gate and I walked to my plane.

My first impression of Florida was…eww. Hot, crowded, and sunny. I had lived my entire life in a forest, and there were hardly any trees here. But, I was excited to see my mother, who absolutely glowed as she ran to me when I saw her. "Bella!" She pulled me into a hug. "It's so great to see you!"

I laughed. "I missed you too, Mom." Behind her, Phil grabbed my bags; I hadn't brought much.

"Shall we?" he asked. I had always liked Phil—he's a nice guy. And my mother enjoyed him, so. Renee linked her arm through mine and led me to the car.

"We have so much to catch up on!" she said excitedly. That was Renee—always full of energy, always doing something. Kind of like Alice, only minus the ridiculous shopping obsession.

It took about twenty minutes to get to their house from the airport. It was small, and cute, with tons of personality that had my mom's name written all over it. She led me to my room. It was a lovely shade of blue and had pictures of me all in it.

"Thanks," I said. Renee beamed.

"Dinner's in an hour," she said. "We're having your favorite—fish tacos."

Over the next few days, my mother and I swapped stories of our lives. I hadn't seen her in over a year, and a lot had happened. She told me all about Phil's job and how they were always all over the place, and I told her about how Charlie was doing and other news from Forks. Not much had changed there…not much ever does.

On the fourth day of my visit, Renee asked me the question I knew I couldn't avoid.

"So, Bells. How are you and Emmett doing?"

I couldn't meet her gaze. "We're…fine." She didn't say anything, but I could feel her eyes on me. Finally I looked at her.

"Just fine?" she asked. I gave her a small smile and nodded. "Uh oh," she said.

"What?"

"I know that look."

"What look?"

"The look that says, 'I really don't want to talk about it, but at the same time I do'." I rolled my eyes at my mother. There were many reasons why I considered her my best friend. And that would be one of them—she knew me too well.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I played with my hands.

"Oh come on, Bella," she said, moving closer to me on the couch. "You gave me that same look when you came here one summer and told me you had started your period, but you didn't know what to do when it came while you were at Charlie's." At that point, Phil had walked into the room. But when he heard the word "period," his face paled and he immediately turned around and went somewhere else. I chuckled with Renee.

"He's such a wuss," she said. "But seriously. Tell me what's wrong."

I avoided her gaze again. "Nothing's wrong…per say…"

"Are you having sex?" I looked up at her, startled. She was always so freaking blunt.

"No," I said.

Renee visibly relaxed. "Oh good. I was worried…"

I rolled my eyes again. "It's just…" She looked at me expectantly. "We've gotten less…close? We're still together but I hardly see him. He's always busy with something." I sighed. "I don't have proof that he's doing anything, you know, bad," I said as a horrifying feeling entered my chest, "and I hope to God that he's a decent guy and wouldn't do something like that. Especially when we've been together for four freaking years."

She stared at me. "Oh Bella…" She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close. I found that I couldn't cry, even though I kind of wanted to. There was something—someone—in the back of my head…the person who had last comforted me like that…

"It'll be alright." Renee's voice brought me out of my thoughts. "Everything will work out how it's supposed to."

I nodded, and sat up. "Do you have any chocolate ice cream?"

My mom laughed. "As it so happens, I think I do."

The next day—Christmas Day—there was a small package on the front doorstep, addressed to me. It must have been delivered the day before because I didn't think the post ran on Christmas. I walked with it back to my room, examining the box. My name and address had been printed on a label, so I couldn't identify any handwriting. There was also no return label; this person obviously didn't want me to know who they were.

Maybe it's a bomb.

I grabbed a pair of scissors off the desk in my room and opened the box. Inside was several sheets of wadded up red and green tissue paper, and sitting on top was an even smaller box with a note under it. With curiosity building inside of me, I unfolded the note first. It too was typed. The box looked too small to be a bomb…

Dearest Bella,

I hope you find this gift to be just as beautiful as I find you.

Merry Christmas.

The "Merry Christmas" part was handwritten, in a very pretty, loopy script. It reminded me of something, but I couldn't put my finger on it. So, with my curiosity about to explode from me, I put the sweet note to the side and untied the red bow around the obvious jewelry box.

It was a gold necklace; the charm was a loopy heart with several small, what appeared to be diamonds embedded in it. It was the prettiest necklace I had ever seen, and I felt immensely flattered that someone had been kind enough to buy it for me. But, who was it?

My mind jumped to Emmett. It would make sense for him to do something like this, but I didn't think he had the funds for it and we had planned on exchanging gifts when I got back to Forks. Besides, his mind is always on other things. So who else has a crush on me? Mike, Jake, Eric, Tyler… But, like Emmett, none of them couldn't afford something like this. "Just as beautiful as I find you…" And they certainly aren't as charming and romantic as this mystery boy. Or I guess it could be a girl too, but I really hope not.

As I put the necklace on, my thoughts slipped to Edward. I was always finding myself thinking about him too much. His green eyes, his messy hair, his laugh, his amazing body…and how whenever I'm with him, I feel…good enough.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror over my desk. My chocolate brown eyes glared daggers back at themselves.

"Snap out of it, Bella," I said quietly to myself. I slapped my cheeks for good measure, as if to wake myself up. "Edward is off limits. You're taken."

Sighing, I stood up and went to help Renee prepare our big Christmas feast. And I couldn't even try to fight the disappointed feeling that had landed in my chest.

And here comes the drama... REVIEW!