A/N: Thanks for being the wonderfully wonderful reviewers that I know and love! I promised myself not to get on Habbo until I successfully posted another chapter. I have Mountain Dew and peanut butter M&Ms to help me get through it!

Chapter 11

BPOV (A week later)

Edward and I were walking out of the mess hall hand in hand when Tootsie approached us. Sweat glistened on her ebony arms as she firmly situated the straw hat on her head.

"Looks like fourth and fifth grade camp along with middle school camps are cancelled." She stated glumly looking over the water.

Shock crossed my face. "Why?" Not that I was looking forward to hormonal preteens.

She shrugged. "Well, I didn't want to share this with you, but it seems like the number of campers have been lax this year. The sad thing is it's not just for summer camp. Troops haven't been coming here in awhile." She sighed. "I'm afraid the owner's going to sell it."

"How awful." I commented as my eyes scanned the trees just in time to see a bright pink t-shirt coming toward us.

"Edward, Edward." Jordan breathed out as he headed toward us bending over to catch his breath.

"You alright there Jordan?" Edward asked while patting him tentatively on the back.

"Rachel… trail… ankle… nature walk." He huffed out trying to catch his breath still.

"Where's Jake?" I asked him bluntly.

"Conley." He said standing straight now as his breath came in steadier. "She got stuck on some thorns so he's dressing her wounds."

Edward looked at me with helpless eyes and then focused them back on the woods. "Go play superhero." I forced myself to say.

He bent down and quickly placed a kiss on my forehead. Jordan collapsed on the ground and I laughed because everything he did, he over exaggerated. I turned on my heel and headed toward the cabin. I decided I would call Carlisle and Esme to see how things were and also to see if we had any mail.

I stepped out of the humid summer day and into the cooler cabin. I took a couple of steps and sat down on the floor as I searched through my bags for my phone. I picked it up and the missed call notification flashed on the small screen. I clicked a couple of buttons and a familiar name flashed on the screen. I smiled and was glad Riley had called. I hit send and waited until I heard his happy voice.

"Bella?" He asked as if he hadn't seen me in months.

"Hey Riley." I smiled as I hopped up on my bed.

"How's North Carolina?" He asked tentatively. His tone was guarded.

"Humid." I answered as I remembered the sweat the rolled off of everyone in the hot sun. "How's Forks?"

Riley chuckled then took a deep breath. "I wouldn't know. I'm in California."

I gasped. "Ah, why are you in California?" I was curious, vacation maybe?

"Looking at job offers actually." He replied nonchalantly.

This struck a chord in me. "Are you serious?" My voice came out as almost a squeal.

He laughed once again. "Well I figured when you accept that scholarship then you'll want to know someone here." He paused. "Because I'm assuming you're going to take the scholarship."

I sighed as I laid back. My head hit the pillow and my eyes traced patterns in the rough wooded ceiling. "I'm thinking about it." I said out loud for the first time.

Riley sighed. "I'm glad. This is a big opportunity for anyone. What did Edward say?" He asked.

I groaned. "He told me to go for it."

Riley chuckled. "See, I knew he would."

I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. "Yeah, a modern day fortune teller." I paused. "So why are you moving to the sunny state?" I asked.

"To follow your darling." He said then laughed. "No, I was thinking about taking night classes at Stanford." He paused. "I'm thinking of becoming a school counselor or something."

That was just like Riley. Of course he'd be the one to help teenagers with their problems. I probably could of used someone like him in my time of need. It seemed as if my old life was an eerie nightmare just waiting to pounce back in my face. It seemed stupid though I was safe now.

"You there Bella?" Riley asked his voice a little concerned.

"Yeah, sorry just thinking." I replied a little distracted.

Riley seemed to understand. "Okay well I'm headed to an interview so I'm going to let you go."

I looked at my watch and saw it was two here. That meant it was eleven over where he was. "Okay, bye Riley."

"Bye Bells." He said and I heard the car door slam.

"Good luck." I told him but the silence stopped and I heard the click of the end button. "Or not." I laughed as I rolled onto my stomach searching through my contacts for Esme and Carlisle.

I successfully found the number and hit the send button. I heard the phone pick up and then Esme's soothing voice filled my ear.

"Hello, Cullen's residence." She seemed tired.

"Hi Esme, is Bella." Esme gasped. "Oh, what a wonderful surprise."

I smiled loving the instant warmness that Esme had. "Hey, how are you? You sound tired." I commented.

She yawned. "Yes, well one of our neighbors' father is in the hospital so I've been watching their children. I forgot how much work it was to raise young ones."

I laughed. "Oh, well at least now you're sure you don't want anymore." We hadn't mentioned my pregnancy scare to Esme or Carlisle. It was better that only Alice, Riley, Edward, and I knew about it.

She laughed. "I knew that after Edward darling, he was so hard to potty train."

I could imagine a pale baby faced boy with striking green eyes as he ran around the house with his pants down screaming. I hoped that one day that would be our little boy running round the house screaming. There was a sharp pang in my stomach and I placed my hand on my flat stomach and rubbed it nostalgically.

"Oh dear I forgot to tell you." Esme interrupted my little daydream. "We've got some mail that was forwarded to our house from Forks. There's a letter from Stanford addressed to you. It looks rather formal."

I sat up with a little excitement. "Oh, well I might come by to get it soon." I made a mental note.

"Oh, okay just tell me when so I make sure to be home." She said then I heard a loud crash. "Oh dear, the kids just broke Carlisle's grandmother's vase."

I was amazed at how her voice was even calm when she was dealing with crazy kids. What I wouldn't give for her patience. "Well I'll let you go then." I said hoping her house wasn't too destroyed.

"Okay sweetie. I'll tell Carlisle you called." She said and I heard her struggling with something, probably a kid.

"Thanks Esme. Bye." I said feeling bad for her.

She hung up without a goodbye and I understood. She had a lot on her plate trying to watch children. I had been doing it for two weeks and I was worn slam out. I didn't even have to keep them in my house. They had the whole outdoors to explore.

I climbed down from my bed to go look for Conley. I hoped she would let me borrow her car, doubted it, but a girl could try. I quickly put my phone on my bag and slipped on some flip-flops.

There were some kids idly sitting on the ground while others sat on the lodge porch. I didn't see any counselors in sight. "Where is everyone?" I asked out loud.

All heads turned to the lodge and I caught a glimpse of bronze hair through one of the windows. I headed toward the lodge anxious to see how bad off Conley and Rachel were. Well, I wasn't too worried about Rachel, but I was worried about Conley.

I took the steps one at a time and cautiously opened the front door. I stepped into the cool AC and saw everyone gathered around a table. I picked up my step and wedged myself in between Emmett and Jasper so I could se what was going on.

"We need to take her to the hospital just in case." Nancy insisted always being the smart one.

"I'm fine. I'm sure it's just a sprain." Rachel insisted.

Edward gently held her ankle and I saw that it was swollen. He had plenty of practice doing this with me. "I don't know if it's broken but Nancy's right. We should probably take her to the hospital."

Rachel clenched her teeth together and winced with pain. "I just want something for the pain. I'll be fine."

Tootsie elbowed herself through the circle of teenagers. "No Edward's right. Let's take Rachel to the hospital."

"Conley too." Jake inserted earning a glare from Conley.

Tootsie agreed. "Yeah those cuts look bad." This brought my attention to the deep gashes on Conley's right leg. There were purple bruises all around the cuts and dried blood laid on the perimeter. The look of it made me nauseous.

"I'll drive." Jake volunteered.

Alice shook her head. "No, we'll have to go to Dad's hospital and we need to stop by there anyway. Let me drive."

Jasper pulled Alice close to him. "No way, it's our night off."

Edward sighed and for the first time since I walked in the room his eyes fell on me. "I guess I could take them."

I tried to put on my happy façade once again but it just wasn't showing this time. "Go play superhero." I whispered inaudibly.

He smiled weakly and despite Rachel's protesting he scooped her up in his arms. She giggled and held tightly to his shoulders with a wide grin on her face. A slight flush covered her cheeks and her olive skin was perfectly clear despite the humid temperatures. It was hard to deny how pretty she was.

Jake slithered his arms under Conley's arms and picked her up as Edward had Rachel. Nancy held the door for each of them as they left the lodge. I sat down on one of the old couches in the lobby and hugged my legs to my chest.

Is this what was to become of Edward's life when I was gone from it?

A/N: So i broke my promise by the time i reached the bottom of this. I got on Habbo, but i was working on this while i was on habbo so it all works out! This is more than i promised and i hope this can hold you over until my PC gets fixed. BTW... I hope you liked my little plotline twist. Hey, at least you got it today!

Kayla