A/N: Right so the views on Edward's POV are yes but not from the last chapter. This is all from the next morning with some of the previous night thrown in (don't worry, not a lot, just a few references).

I'm aiming for 3000 words in this chapter so I'm sorry if it took a while to put up.

One thing I definitely have to say is thank you all for the reviews! My email account has been moved and no links are showing up on any emails so replying to you all is nearly impossible.

Thanks to:

heh-laney for reviewing on the prologue

bellestormes, RAWR.cookie., sovoyita (lol I seen said socks the other day!), Fatima-FireandIce, Miss.Megan, hershykisses211, xo-harlequin girl-xo, Horsefreak01 (I'm in the middle of replying to your PM now!), and bloodredeclipse for reviewing on chapter 2

sovoyita, Luvntwilight, bloodredeclipse (I don't think anyone could have kept their mouth shut either), Xx EdwardLova xX, OBlossom, and stargazer611 for reviewing on chapter 3.

OnceACullenForeverAVampire (aka Pretty.Odd.): Michaela, I am in the next room, I can here you going 'ow', there is no need to put 'the magnets are hurting me' in a review.

There is a bit about Jasper in this but it will be a key factor to the story so don't just skip over it. The song is 'Breaking the Habit' by Linkin Park, I thought it would be good considering what Bella is thinking about.

Sept 3rd

Edward Cullen

Sleeping last night was barely an option. After everything that had happened yesterday, I couldn't sit still, let alone lie down and allow exhaustion to creep through me.

I couldn't believe Bella was back. I had never clicked with anyone outside of my family and even then I wasn't very close to them. Rosalie and Jasper were friendly towards me but we weren't close enough to be friends. It had been ten years since I had lost my best friend and now she was back, although her current state worried me.

Seeing her in Biology was like seeing another person. Granted, she had grown up, but none of her bright and optimistic essence that I clearly remembered as a child was there. Her eyes held more hurt and pain than someone of her age should know. After reading the envelope I felt like punching something. For somebody to have pushed Bella to those extremes was sickening.

After dropping Bella off I decided to do something that I hadn't done before, I called Jasper.

When he was younger his father left his mother to join the army. He was only a toddler when his father left but had seen more abuse than some adults would have. When his father returned from service, Jasper was a teenager. He could remember everything that had happened and would not let it happen again.

After years of fighting, he finally convinced his mother to go the authorities and file for a divorce. Together, they broke away from his father and started to live a somewhat normal life. Jasper was asked to go into therapy with his mother and soon after, she was diagnosed with a strong form of depression. For five years, Jasper was the only one to look after his mother. If anyone would know what would help Bella it was him.

Thankfully Alice gave me his number without question and he answered quickly. I explained everything I had read and everything I had noticed including what had happened when Mike and Alice touched her. He listened intently and came to a conclusion.

'It definitely seems like an abuse case but there is something bigger in there. From what you have said, she seems to have no experience in social situations so she will be uncomfortable with large groups for a while. Also she will be used to being alone so getting her to open up will take a long time. You have to let her trust you before you ask or do anything big. That will take a while because she doesn't seem to trust herself.'

I ran through his answer as I got ready for school. It was five o'clock in the morning and the sun hadn't even risen yet. I sat down at my laptop and decided to do a bit of research myself. Tapping my fingers against my wooden desk, I waited for the search engine to load. Once ready, I began to type.

Phoenix abuse cases July

'You shouldn't be doing that, you know.'

I jumped in my seat and turned to glare at Alice who was standing behind me.

'And you shouldn't sneak up behind people,' I spat back, shutting down my laptop.

She shrugged and sat on my bed.

'Your tapping was annoying me because I was woken up by your shower.'

She hopped off the edge of my bed and proceeded to rummage through my things.

'Why shouldn't I do it?' I asked cautiously. My search had been very blunt, nothing to assume it was Bella I was looking for. I quickly created excuses in my head ranging from school assignments to medical research for college applications.

'Research stuff about what might have happened to Bella.'

I stared at her and panicked at how she could have known. She just laughed at me and continued to walk into my closet.

'Don't look so afraid. I have been dating Jasper for over four years, I do know what abuse can do to a person. You have to let her talk to you in her own time. Don't force her or find information yourself. If we want to help her then we have to get her to trust us again and then get her to tell us what happened.'

I frowned, of course the pixie was right.

'Tapping into the physic power again, are we?' I mumbled grumpily, tiredness was keeping in now.

She appeared back into my room, dragging one of my belts behind her. She looked at me for a moment before bouncing out of the door.

'At least some of us aren't grouchy in the morning. Get some coffee before you face the rest of society,' she sang as she went into her room.

I looked over at the clock and decided that and hour and a half was plenty of time to make some coffee and get something to eat. I bumped into Emmett on my way downstairs and he looked like death.

'Rough night?' I asked as I past him.

He groaned and swore under his breath as he walked past our parents' room.

'In case you haven't noticed sunshine, it's still night and some people were still sleeping when you decided to have a shower in the middle of the night!'

I chuckled to myself and watched as he attempted to walk into his room, only to bang repeatedly into the door.

'You have to open it in order to get in,' I laughed.

'Yeah…well…ugh, I need caffeine,' he mumbled as he almost pulled to door off the hinges. What he was doing out of his room, fully dressed in yesterday's clothes, at this hour, I didn't even want to think about. A loud banging told me Emmett had come into contact with something solid.

'OW! Shhh-'

'Emmett Cullen!'

'-oe…um has anyone seen my shoe?'

I was laughing hard at this show. Dad was standing in the hall, staring at Emmett's door. He shook his head and mentioned something about 'unreasonable use of swearing'. He turned around and looked surprised at the sight of me going into the kitchen.

'Something must be bothering you. The last time you were up this early… actually you have never been up this early, you were even born during the afternoon.'

He smiled and started up the coffee machine, a purchase we made last year when we decided our family drinks too much caffeine for a normal pot to hold. I sat down and put more forehead on the cool marble worktop, effectively keeping myself conscious. The hum of the machine was the only noise in the kitchen, even the refrigerator was silent.

'Do you want to talk about it?'

My parents knew just about everything that was going on with us. We always had open relationships and with Dad being a trained paediatrician and having a completed a course in child psychology, he knew if something was wrong.

'It's Bella.'

'Ah, I thought it would be that.'

There was something he was keeping from me. He was a good liar, but I was the most perceptive person in the family. I waited for him to speak. He handed me a large cup of black coffee and sat on the stool next to me.

'I've been speaking to Charlie for a while now. He asked me before Bella came down to arrange for her file to be sent from her hospital in Phoenix to here. You and I are both aware of the confidentiality that surrounds files so I am not allowed to look at it until she comes in and I am not allowed to tell you anything.' He paused for a moment to sip some of his coffee.

'I will tell you this, the file is one of the largest I have seen. When I was speaking to Charlie he told me of how distant Bella became after her mother remarried. He said that every time they went on a vacation together, she would seem different. When he rang me yesterday he was afraid she had ran away or done something even worse.'

I clenched my cup harder.

'That was why I was anxious when I rang you.'

He downed the last of his coffee and stood to place the cup in the dishwasher.

'Anyway, I'm sure that you are happy to see her again, regardless of how she is.'

I smiled at him in thanks and walked over to get something for breakfast. Dad chuckled beside me.

'I think it's a bit late for breakfast.'

I looked at the clock. I had half an hour before school started and still had to make sure Alice and Emmett were up. I wanted to pick Bella up but I didn't want to have two annoying siblings in the car to make her more uncomfortable. Dad picked up his briefcase from beside the kitchen door and turned to me.

'I'll tell you what, I'll give Alice the keys to the Porsche and then you can pick up Bella. That way you get to her house on time, Alice gets a chance to ride her precious car, and your brother and sister finally realise how much they value your wake-up calls.'

He grinned at me and walked out. I ran upstairs to grab my bag and car keys and was in the Volvo in no time. Backing out of the driveway I could see no light coming from either of Alice's or Emmett's rooms so they probably had both decided to sleep in. I laughed at the thought of them rushing down the highway to school an hour late.

Turning off the highway, I was beginning to grow nervous. What if Bella had left already? What if she wasn't coming to school? What if she didn't want to see me again? I should have called first but I didn't have her number and I would be too embarrassed to ask Dad for it. I had never been more anxious to see a girl before.

Hang on, 'anxious to see a girl'? I was picking up Bella, as a friend, who used to hang out with me when we were younger, as a friend. She had only been in school a day and I was already developing feelings for her.

I shook my head to clear it as I pulled up in front of her house. Thankfully the truck was still there from when Alice and I dropped it off last night. Charlie's cruiser was gone. I was debating getting out and knocking on the door when it opened. Bella walked out and walked down the drive, looking down at the pavement below her. She looked startled when she seen my car outside her house. I opened my window and leaned out slightly.

'I thought, maybe, you'd want a lift to school.'

When she didn't respond or move from her frozen position, I launched into excuses.

'Well the roads are really bad at this time of year and after what happened yesterday-'

I stopped when she smiled at me and started to walk over to the passenger's side.

Smooth, Edward, really smooth. I mentally kicked myself and tried to at least be coherent.

Once Bella had got in, I sensed that talking was one of the last things she wanted to do. We sat in comfortable silence for the ride. Halfway through, I decided to put on some music. One of my favourite albums was left in the player from the time we drove to Seattle last month. Linkin Park blared out of the speakers. I apologised and adjusted the volume, Emmett and Alice seemed to have hearing problems and listened to music at an inhuman volume.

I looked over at Bella to see if the music was ok and she just smiled at me. I switched the track to one of my favourites.

Memories consume
Like opening the wound
I'm picking me apart again

I started to hum along, unaware of what was happening to Bella

Bella Swan

Waking up that morning had been difficult. My eyes were sore and my head pounded from crying so much yesterday. I looked up at my clock and rolled over to get some more sleep after seeing I had a good twenty minutes before my alarm would go off.

I sat up and looked back beside my clock.

There sat the glass of water and the bottle of sleeping pills. I hadn't taken any last night and yet I had no nightmares or trouble getting to sleep. That was the first night in a while that I had not needed any of the pills to sleep.

I rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom. I took my time getting ready, keeping myself busy with trivial things and not rushing anything.

I was grateful that Edward and Alice had dropped my truck off last night. Charlie had already gone and walking was not desirable in this weather.

I felt surprisingly different today, lighter in a way. I put it down to people being nicer here than back in Phoenix. I was also surprised at my longing to get back to school. I had a strong feeling that the educational aspect had nothing to do with it though.

After packing my bag and grabbing my coat, I walked out. I looked down at the pavement and thought over how I would act around Edward and Alice today, if they still wanted to be around me. I couldn't not talk to Edward again, Alice maybe I could get away with not saying anything to.

My head jerked up when I noticed a familiar shiny Volvo sitting outside the house. I froze when I seen Edward sitting there. He opened his window and offered me a lift. I tried to say yes but my body was frozen. He launched into excuses and I smiled, finally unfreezing from my position, and walked up to the car.

The ride was silent, but not awkward. Edward seemed to respect my want to not talk. After a few minutes he turned on some music.

I had to smile at Edward's manners. He kept looking at me to see if I was ok with the music. He seemed to get the message once he put on a different track. I settled into my seat and listened to the lyrics, watching the houses fly by outside.

I don't know what's worth fighting for
Or why I have to scream
I don't know why I instigate
And say what I don't mean

I mulled over the lyrics and thought about my own pathetic excuse for a life.

I don't know how I got this way
I guess it's not alright

I knew that a lot of the stuff that had happened in my life was not ok but I was the one who had brought it on, I was the one who had not done anything to stop it. If I had just said something back then, then I would not be sitting here, it wouldn't have happened.

So I'm breaking the habit

Maybe sitting here was a good thing though. Maybe if I had said something then something might have happened to me.

I'm breaking the habit tonight

Maybe I was meant to sit here. Maybe I was meant to tell Edward.

A/N: Next chapter will be Bella again, unless you guys want Edward for another one.

Lol I was just watching the Gossip Girl season 2 promos, I couldn't help laughing at Blair's 'A lifeguard is like a Kleenex, use it once and then throw it away'.

Just one small thing before I finish off, chapter 2 got 10 reviews but the last one got 6, would it be too much to ask for 9 reviews on this chapter? I'll get Alice to take Bella shopping in the next one if you do, or, whatever else you guys want to happen (within reason). :)