AN: Here's the next chapter! It's a lot sooner than I expected, but that's what happens when you get sucked into writing. But before we get to the new stuff, there's a few things I want to say. First, thanks to my reviewers and everyone who favorited the story and put it on Alert. It's nice to know that people enjoy reading what I write. Second, this chapter takes place three years after the Prologue. It's mainly just to see what Bella's been up to for three years and to see what's changed in her life. The next chapter will be along the same lines, only for Edward. So, sadly, there will be no Edward/Bella interaction.. Technically.

Disclaimer: Sadly, I still own nothing. Stephenie Meyer has the rights to everything that you recognize in this story.

Chapter 1 – Fit To Be Tied

BPOV

I watched the guests leave my parents' house. As soon as the door was shut, I ran up the stairs, ignoring my mother's attempts to get me to stay.

"Isabella, you can't lock yourself up in your room all day," she called. "We have more guests coming later!"

I spun around to look at her. "Unless it's Alice and her new husband, I don't want to see any of them." I turned back to the hallway and hurried toward my room.

Afternoon parties were becoming a favorite of my mother's. Now that she had finally arranged a marriage for me, she made up excuses to celebrate it. I couldn't stand it. She insisted that I be more social and outgoing to show that I would be a good wife.

She obviously didn't get the memo that it wasn't the 1700s anymore. Women had a lot more rights, including choosing who they marry.

My bedroom was my only safe haven. I installed a lock from the inside that would keep my parents out. They were furious when they found out, but they couldn't do anything about it. The room was simple, but it fulfilled my purposes. The walls had built in shelves that I'd spent years filling with books. The bed, despite the fact that my mother bought the accessories, had grown on me. I wasn't particularly fond of them, but I didn't want to burn them like I had originally.

Alice, my best friend since I was three, had given me an amazing sound system since she knew that I loved music. She knew that it was the one thing guaranteed to calm me down after a stressful day.

I pulled out a mix of my favorite classical songs and stuck it in my CD player. The melody of Debussy's Claire de Lune filled my ears. There was nothing better than just sitting back at letting the music take over after a stressful day.

I have no idea how long I lay there, just listening to the music. I heard a familiar knock on my door right before the doorknob jiggled. I smiled, knowing exactly who was there. it only took me a second to get to the door and unlock it.

"Was it really that bad?" Alice said as I opened the door. "Music and the lock? What happened?"

"Alice, let her breathe," a deep voice said beside her. I looked over to see my best friend's new husband, Jasper Whitlock, standing next to her. It was weird knowing them as a married couple since we had all been inseparable as kids.

"It's fine, Jasper. Come in, guys," I said. I stood aside to let them both in and locked the door behind them. "My mother decided to spring this one on me this morning. Usually she gives me at least a day's notice."

I plopped myself back on my bed. Alice sat next to me and ran her fingers through my hair soothingly. Jasper pulled the chair over from my desk and sat next to the bed. The two of them had been with me through everything, so it was natural that they would be with me then. It was a shame that they couldn't do anything to help.

Alice, at less than five feet tall, was a princess in her parents' eyes, and now Jasper's. She always had everything she wanted, even if it was against what society wanted, since she was an only child. If Alice wanted it, Alice got it. And, being an amazing friend, she would smuggle things right under my parents' noses. Which is how I got the lock.

Jasper, on the other hand, towered over the both of us at six feet four inches. He was the middle of five boys and, so far, the only married one. He was always one to follow the rules exactly how they were given to him. There was no reason to bend them. The only thing he ever fought for was Alice. She was the only thing worth fighting for in his opinion.

"If it was just one of her normal parties, it couldn't have been too bad," he said cautiously.

I scoffed. "Oh, I wish. No, she had to go and invite James' entire family and parade us around, as a couple, like we were some trophy."

"Bella, you know that's Jasper's family that you're talking about too," Alice said.

"Yeah, you managed to get the only good one in the entire family," I commented. "No offense, Jazz, but James is an ass."

He just laughed and nodded. "Believe me, I know. Why do you think I moved out as soon as I could?"

Alice gasped. "That's it, Jazz! We can have Bella move in with us to get her out of here!" She was practically bouncing as she formulated the plan in her mind. I sighed, knowing that I had to stop her scheming.

"Ali, that's not the way it works," I said. "My parents aren't like the Whitlocks. They don't understand. They just want me to get married and be done with me. They figured that since you were so happy with Jasper, I would be perfectly content with James. Apparently they don't see him like we do." I groaned and covered my face with one of the decorative pillows that I normally throw on the floor.

My betrothal to James Whitlock was finalized almost two months before, just weeks after my twenty-second birthday. My mother's countdown to the end of my eligibility in society was supposed to be continually echoing in my head, according to her, but I couldn't hear it. The engagement meant nothing to me. Of course, no one saw that except Alice and Jasper. I knew they wouldn't be able to do a thing about it either.

"I'm sure James will be better once he's settled down," Jasper said. "Maybe it'll get better once you give him a chance." I had a feeling he was only trying to make me feel better.

It wasn't working. I moved the pillow to glare at him.

"Jasper, have you seen the statistics for situations like this? The marriages end in death, divorce, or domestic abuse," I said, staring at the ceiling. "Very, very few end well. I think your marriage makes up that entire percentage."

Alice leaned forward until her face was directly above mine. "This isn't completely about James, is it?" she asked.

"Ali, please don't-"

"Bella, are you withholding information?" Jasper asked, a teasing lilt sneaking into his voice. I groaned and tried to bury my head in my pillow again.

"You need to tell me, Bells," Alice sang, pulling the pillow from me.

"For once, I feel completely out of the loop," Jasper said absently. "It would be nice to be filled in on things."

"She's in love, Jazz," Alice said. "Plain and simple."

I shot up and faced my best friend. "Alice! How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not in love with him?"

"And those nights that you came back from the local pizza parlor happier than I've ever seen you? I don't think it's because of that Jacob kid," she said. I groaned and fell back on the bed. "I still want to meet the paramour, by the way. When's the next meeting? It's either this Saturday or next Saturday… I lost count." She smiled sweetly down at me.

"You… are an evil pixie." I avoided both of their gazes, not wanting to talk about Edward with either of them. They wouldn't understand.

"Okay, so far I've got that it's a guy, you've been seeing him for a while, and you don't want anyone to know," Jasper mused. He counted each item off on his fingers, but still managed to seem detached from the conversation. "Please, just let me know if I missed anything."

"Well, when you disappear in a completely predictable manner, it's not that hard to keep track of you," she said with a shrug.

"You don't even know where New Moon Pizza is!" I exclaimed.

"Of course I do," she said, offended. "It's around the corner from that tattoo parlor… Like a block and a half away."

I rolled my eyes. "Great, so I can add stalking to your list."

"Considering I've known the schedule for around a year now, I think withholding information might technically be on that list too," she continued.

"Alice!"

"Okay, honey, I think it's time that we get all the information out in the open so that we're all on the same page now," Jasper said. If I wasn't so mad at his wife, I would have been amused by his frustration. As it was, I was getting increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation.

No one really knew about Edward and I except the Jacob and the other guys at New Moon Pizza. Well, at least on my end. Edward may have told people, but he never let on. It was just an unspoken rule that I wouldn't tell anyone I knew. It wouldn't end well. New Moon Pizza was a central location – not really, Edward just refused to take me anywhere that I wasn't comfortable – and we always knew that the food and the service were good.

"Remember about three years ago when I was sore for about a week for no reason?" I started. Jasper nodded. "Well, there was a reason. Mom had set me up on another one of those stupid blind dates in the hopes that I would find someone. I ditched as soon as I could, equipped only with the black sweatshirt that I stole from you freshman year of high school." I proceeded to tell them about that night in full detail, not sparing anything that I could remember. It probably made one or both of my friends uncomfortable, but I got so into telling it, that I didn't notice their reactions until I finished. "So, we made a deal that he wouldn't shrug off my gratitude in exchange for me learning self-defense."

"I stand by my conclusion," Alice said, dancing across the room to go through one of the shelves of books. "You're in love with him." I rolled my eyes and decided to ignore her at the moment. I turned to Jasper, hoping for a better reaction.

"So that's where the muscles came from," he said. "Tell me, did you take actual classes, or did you learn from Edward?"

I laughed. "I started with the classes, but Edward said they weren't teaching me the right stuff." I smiled, thinking about how that change came about.

"Edward, it's a certified class," I said, confused. "The teachers are licensed and everything."

"Just because they have a fancy, signed piece of paper with their name on it, doesn't mean that their lessons are adequate," Edward retorted. He looked angrier than I'd ever seen him. His hair was more mussed than usual, considering he had run his fingers through it every time I said something he didn't like.

"Then what do you want me to do? Risk getting hurt more by learning from experience?" I asked, dropping the pizza in my hands out of frustration.

Edward flinched. "Of course not, Bella," he said. He buried his face in his hands. "That's exactly what I don't want." He took a few deep breaths before looking back up at me. "What I meant was that maybe you need a better teacher. But since the people they license these days only seem fit for teaching children's karate, the best you're going to get is me."

"You?" I said, incredulous. "And what makes you qualified?" It came out snippier than I would have liked, but thankfully he ignored the tone.

"Sixteen years of martial arts training," he informed me nonchalantly. "And not with one of those just-out-of-college guys who think they know everything. No, I had a seasoned teacher. That's what makes me qualified."

"Well, I guess you are," I said, surprised. I'm not sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn't that. Now I understood exactly where he got his muscles. It wasn't just working out.

"So, does that mean you'll stop paying some God awful amount for nothing?" he asked. He looked hopeful. It seemed like he liked the idea of teaching me something. I wasn't going to complain either. Honestly, what girl would pass up the opportunity to learn from him?

"Only if you'll let me pay you that same God awful amount," I said. He opened his mouth to protest, but I beat him to it. "And if you won't take it, I won't let you teach me." He stared at me in disbelief.

I'd learned over the past few months since I'd met him that Edward didn't have much of anything. The only family that he associated with was his cousin, Emmett, and Rosalie, Emmett's girlfriend. I couldn't tell if he left his parents or the other way around, but they weren't there regardless. He dropped out of college to work at Twilight, his tattoo parlor, and ended up running it when the manager got married. He spent most of his time either at work or smoking. When I pointed out that I hated even the idea of smoking, he mentioned that he'd tried to quit, but it hadn't worked.

But even with the little that he had, h wasn't keen on having too much money. He was happy with the little that he had. I knew he wouldn't be happy with me paying him, but I needed to try. I wasn't happy with the idea of him living the way he did now. The amount that I would pay him could at least get him a better apartment and food than he had.

"Bella, you know I can't," he said.

"No, you can. You just feel that it would be stealing from me," I clarified. He smiled weakly, but I could tell that he wasn't convinced. "If it makes you feel any better, it technically isn't even my money. You'd be stealing from my parents." He chuckled softly at that idea.

I waited for an answer, but all I got was him pushing an uneaten pizza crust around his plate. He usually ate them, but he said he wasn't in the mood. After a few minutes, I sighed.

"Look, I don't want you to do this for nothing," I said. "But I also know that you want me to have the skills. So I'll make you a deal. I will pay you half of what I'm paying now for lessons. That way I'm still paying you, but you'll feel less like you're robbing me."

"Fine. But that means that I'm going to put you through an actual training," he warned. "I'm talking full warm ups, actual routines, everything I know."

I gave a dramatic sigh. "I guess I can deal with that," I said with a groan, hoping it would at least get a reaction out of him. I could tell he already knew that I would agree, so I had to break him of his withdrawal.

Edward laughed, finally bringing emotion back into his eyes for the first time since we started that discussion. "You really lay it on thick when you need to, Swan."

"Bella? Earth to Bella…. Bells! Jeez, she's not even listening. Jazz, check if she's alive."

"Of course I'm alive, Alice," I grumbled. "A girl's allowed to daydream, you know."

"And exactly who were you daydreaming of? Oooh, it was Edward, wasn't it?" Alice was bouncing excitedly on the mattress next to me. I groaned and let my chin fall forward into my chest.

"Ali, honey, let's give Bella some space on the whole Edward thing," Jasper said carefully. "It looks like she doesn't really want to talk about it." Ah, Jasper…. Always the voice of reason.

Alice started to answer, but there was a knock on my bedroom door.

"Isabella, I know you're in there," I heard. My jaw dropped and I whipped my head around to look at Jasper.

"He said he was going to the Hamptons for the weekend," I hissed. "He said he wasn't going to be around."

Jasper raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Don't look at me. That's more than I knew."

"Isabella?" James called again. "Your mother said it would be alright if I took you out to dinner. I know you like to have some say in where we go, so please open the door so we can talk."

I took a deep breath before walking over and wrenching the door open. "This really isn't a good time, James," I started.

"Well, you seem to be entertaining guests," he said. "Is there any reason I wasn't informed?" He smiled patronizingly down at me and I gagged. Most women saw that look and swooned. I wanted to rip it off his head.

"Well, first of all, we're not married so you're not entitled to know about every single aspect of every single part of my life. Second of all, even if we were married, I'm allowed to entertain without a chaperone. And third, aren't you supposed to be in the Hamptons right now?" I didn't even care that I was being hypocritical with the last question.

He wasn't even listening anyway. His eyes were focused on the room behind me. I'd forgotten that he hadn't seen my room yet.

James pushed his way past me in order to enter my bedroom. He didn't say a word, preferring instead to inspect every aspect of my personal life without my consent.

"Books? Music? Is that really all you have in here?" he said when he finally looked back at me. "Aren't girls' rooms supposed to be filled to the brim with mementos from their handsome suitors? Where are the things I sent you?"

Stuffed in a drawer where I don't have to see them, I thought bitterly. However, I didn't have enough guts to actually say that. "Locked safely away where I can't lose them. Doesn't that mean more?"

"Yes, I suppose you're right," James mused, turning back to look around the room again. Alice turned to me and silently pantomimed throwing up behind his back. I barely managed to turn my laughter into what I hoped was a convincing cough. "We'll just have to get you some useless trinkets that you can keep on display so that you'll have something to show, but you won't care if it gets lost. Yes, that's good."

"Wasn't there something specific you came in to talk about, brother?" Jasper asked, subtly mocking James' formal diction. Thankfully James was dense enough to miss his brother's humor.

"Ah, yes. Thank you, brother," James said. "Isabella, your mother has agreed to let me accompany you to dinner out on the town tonight."

"Out on the town?" He was really starting to get on my nerves with his formality. He thought I liked it though.

"Yes, of course," he said. He turned to me and stood with his hands folded behind his back as if this were some affair of state. "She did mention, however, that you weren't up to having any company besides my brother and his new wife. So I would be willing to extend the invitation to them as well."

"I'll be ready in one hour," I sighed. James smiled and made a show of kissing my hand before leaving the room. I instantly tried to wipe off any traces of his DNA left on my skin. "I hate being engaged. I hate this society. I hate not being able to choose for myself…."

"Well, at least he thought of your comfort level," Alice said, trying to be helpful.

"He knows what's expected of him," I said. "Unfortunately, so do I. the only way I'm getting out of this dinner is a serious medical emergency."

"I could go steal a car and hit you with it," Alice offered.

I smiled over at her. "That has got to be the nicest thing anyone has said to me all day." I looked out my window, barely able to see New Moon Pizza in the distance. "But I have to do this. It's this or nothing, right?" Reluctantly, I pulled myself off my bed and over to my closet, wanting nothing more than to run three blocks across town to a nondescript tattoo parlor to see the one man I actually wanted to be with.

Too bad he was also the one man I could never have.

AN: Yeah, that ending was a little sad, I know. Believe me, I'll make it up to you guys. Especially if you review.... :) But don't get used to me posting so often. I had April Break this week and I was procrastinating a ton on homework. That's not going to happen too often.

Next Chapter: We find out what Edward's been up to for three years....

Remember, please review!!

-Kaylee