CHAPTER 2

It did not take long for the rest of the family to find me. I imagined that the scent of my tears led them to investigate. Upon finding me, Esme rushed to my side and hugged me close.

"Bella, what's wrong? What happened dear? Where's Edward?" she asked soothingly.

"He…he left…he didn't…didn't love…me," I cried into her shoulder.

"What do you mean? Bella, tell me what he said," Esme said quietly. I felt someone sit down next to me and instinctively knew that it was Alice.

I took a deep breath and calmed my sobs enough to say, "he said that he didn't love me, that he'd never loved me, that he'd used me. He said that he didn't want me anymore and he couldn't be with me. He said that it wasn't my fault, it was his. I don't understand. What did I do wrong?" I whimpered. "I must have done something, he's so perfect, it couldn't have been his fault."

"Now you listen to me Bella. This is not your fault. I had no idea Edward could be so callous but after this…you didn't do it. It was his fault Bella. I'm so sorry, I should have told you," Alice said quietly.

I jerked my head to look at her. "You knew that he didn't love me?" I demanded. "You knew and you didn't tell me?"

She nodded, "I hoped…he seemed to be coming around. I hoped he would fall in love with you. You were already so important to the family. I knew that none of us wanted to lose you because of him so I kept quiet. When he told me himself…I told him not to tell you, I told him to try. It seems he didn't do very good. I'm so sorry."

"I…I need to go home," I said, struggling to my feet. Once upright I immediately got dizzy and swayed toward the floor. Strong, rock like arms caught me. "I'll take her," Emmett said.

"No, my truck, what about my truck?" I said quietly.

He chuckled. "I'll drive you home in your truck then run back here. It will be a breeze. I'll be back soon," he said to the rest of the family.

He carried me out of the house and put me in the passenger seat of the truck. We were almost to the highway when my tears overflowed again. He immediately stopped the truck and pulled me over so he could hug me.

"I'm sorry for what Edward's done Bella. You didn't deserve this. You deserve so much better then Edward," he whispered against my hair.

"But I want him," I whimpered back.

"I know. But at least…well now you won't have to deal with trying to compete with someone who's perfect at everything," he said, trying to cheer me up.

Instead I cried harder, "he's not perfect. But he's closer than me. He's better than me. He could make me fall in love with him. I'm obviously not very good at that, or he wouldn't have left me," I said.

"Oh Bella, you're good at that. Haven't you noticed how much we all love you? Even though we shouldn't?"

I sat back and glared at him, "it's not the same Emmett. It's not the same kind of love."

He raised his eyebrows. "How do you know?"

"I—" I cut off, not knowing how to reply to this. Then I said, "please take me home."

He nodded and still holding me next to him, he drove me to my house. He walked me all the way to the door and stopped. "I'll see you at school tomorrow Bella."

I nodded, "um, I need a favor Emmett."

"Anything," he promised.

"When Edward comes back, tell him I never want to speak to him again."

He nodded again and hugged me before turning and running at super human speed into the forest. I let myself into the house and heard Charlie's voice, "hey kiddo, was that Edward?" he asked.

I bit my lip to keep from crying and walked into the living room where he was watching a game. "Um, no. It was Emmett, his brother. You…you won't be seeing Edward anymore," I replied quietly.

"What happened? I thought you were going so well," he said, immediately concerned.

"So did I. And then…he broke up with me," I said, skipping the details and fighting the tears that I would not let Charlie see.

"I'm so sorry honey," he said, coming and hugging me.

"I know dad. Um, I'm going to go up to bed, I'm tired…"

"You don't want any dinner?" he asked.

I shook my head and went to my room. The minute the door closed I was sobbing on my bed. Around 1:00 in the morning I fell into a fitful sleep and woke feeling even worse than before. I dressed in a daze and went downstairs to find Charlie making eggs for breakfast. Even this simple meal was normally difficult for him, but somehow, perhaps in light of my recent emotional upheaval, he'd made the eggs to perfection. Too bad I wouldn't be eating anything.

"Hey kiddo, hungry?" he asked.

I shook my head, "not really."

"Ok, well I gotta go, the department is short handed today. Mary called in sick."

I nodded, "okay. I'll see you tonight then."

As soon as he left I got in my truck and went to school. I was at least fifteen minutes early and the only students there were Mike and Jessica. As soon as they saw my truck they came over.

"Bella, hey you're early today," Jessica observed.

No shit Sherlock, I thought to myself. What I said was, "well, Charlie left early and I didn't want to sit around an empty house waiting for school."

"Oh. Are you okay? You look kind of…pale," Mike said.

Jessica saved me then by saying, "come on Mike, you know she's always pale!"

He looked like he wanted to argue but kept his mouth shut instead. As more students started to show up I went inside, not wanting to see Edward, I would see enough of him in class. My day passed in a blur but I did notice that Edward didn't sit next to me and I didn't look around for him. I walked to lunch by myself and was met at the door by Angela.