Ok so a few people have told me that they don't understand or are confused by some things. I've purposefully left a few things a mystery for now. At the end of this chapter I will summarize everything so far and try to clear a few things up. If you have an extra questions, comments or concerns don't be afraid to let me know. I promise I will get back to you.

Playlist: Dirty Little Secret by Strung Out (no not the song by All American Rejects, yuck! this is a way better and different song) and When I'm gone by Three Doors Down (think of it in an Bella and Charlie way not a Bella and Edward way)

__________________________________________________________________________________

The first two weeks of classes where luckily not as bad as the first day had been. My creative writing teacher, Mr. Weidman (pronounced wide-man and yes, his name matched his appearance) turned out to be very interesting. He was a former theater actor turned English professor. Our first big assignment was a short story. He said I lacked imagination and my story contained no magic. I could only laugh at the fact that he thought my story was too normal. I wonder what he would say if I wrote about my own life. My guess is that he would either have a heart attack or recommend I get mental help.

Just as I was imagining Weidman's reactions to my life story my phone started ringing. I played around with the idea of not answering it; I was not looking forward to hearing from anyone for the next 36 hours. Today was Friday, September 12th, the day before my birthday. It no longer held the meaning that it once did. I would never be older, I will be forever eighteen. It did, however, have a very important meaning to Charlie. To him I was a year older and he no longer was the father of a teenager. Yay, the big 2-0, not. September 13th would always remind me of when he left. He didn't leave me on my birthday but it was when he started to act differently. I now am aware that he acted this way because he no longer cared for me. As if I needed one more reason to hate my birthday.

I picked up the phone and saw that Aislinn was calling. What a relief, hopefully Charlie forgot about it and wouldn't pester me about a get-together.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hey, I'm on my way home from art class. You're going to be home when I get back, right?" I was confused because she said this almost accusingly.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Bella I know you better than anyone and because of that I know how you are dreading tomorrow. Charlie hasn't seen you for over a year. I know you talk to him a lot but you know he wants to see you. Your birthday may not be important to you but it is to him. Besides, I want to meet him. You know I already feel close to him."

"Hey it's not my fault that you have the ability to see my memories as if they are your own. I know you want to meet him but at the same time you know how hard tomorrow will be for me. Plus Jake will want to know everything. What do you have planned anyway? I know you and Charlie have been talking about it. "

She sighed in frustration before continuing, "Nothing is planned. Charlie is still fully aware of how sensitive you are to this time of year and well, everything else. He just wants to see you so I told him we would spend the weekend there. It will be minimal, no party, just you and Charlie catching up for lost time and me meeting my new 'dad'. He said that Jake calls and asks about you a couple times a week but that it is up to you to have him there or not. I'll be home in a few minutes we can talk about it then if you want."

"No, it's ok. As long as it's just us three catching up and no party I think I can handle it. I'm sorry I've kept you from him for so long it's just, well you know..."My throat was starting to close up and the memories where on the verge of spilling past the dams that I'd built to keep them back. Once they seeped out they drowned me in misery and I was unable to do anything but curl up in a ball and do my own pathetic vampire version of crying. If the thought of going back to Forks put me on the brink of depression how would I handle actually being there?

"I know, dear. Don't worry about it I will have plenty of time to get to know Charlie. Your happiness is most important and I know you haven't been ready. I think you are now though and I know you will regret it when Charlie is gone if you don't spend as much time with him as possible. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for, Bella. You're my big sister and my only family; I won't let anything hurt you." She spoke with a lot of empathy but I could tell her last sentence was laced with fury. She hated him more than anyone could. Her gift allowed her to experience the memories of him leaving as though she was me, but with her own unique emotions in place of mine. It hurt her too but she had never loved him so she grew to hate him for what put me through or I guess put us through. I loved him so much that I could never be mad at him. It was an entirely different case for her.

"What in the world would I do without you my little Aislinn? You say I'm your rock but you don't know how many times you've saved me from myself. "

"Ok let's not get too lovey-dovey now," She giggled. "I've saved you from yourself but you've saved me in different ways. I'll be there soon; do you need me to pick you up anything? Do you want some contacts?"

"No, no way. My eyes may freak Charlie out a little but at least they aren't red. I'll see you when you get here. I love you."

"I love you too, bye."

I jumped off of the couch I had been sitting on and made my way up to my room to pack. I opened my closet and stared into it blankly, I wasn't quite sure what to bring. After a few minutes of internally debating with myself I heard the soft purr of my Audi coming down the driveway. Aislinn made her way up to me and laughed when she saw my hopeless expression. She touched her hand to me and nodded in understanding.

"I wasn't exactly sure what I should bring either." She admitted. "I think you should dress like you did when you lived with Charlie. You know the whole comfortably cute thing."

I reached into my closet grabbed a few shirts, my Portland State University sweatshirt, a few pairs of jeans and threw them into my bag.

"You should bring the pictures of Ireland. I mean you where gone for over a year he probably wants to see what you where up to or at least what he thinks you where up to."

"Yeah good idea." I walked over to the desk beside my window, grabbed the photo album we had put together for this exact purpose and put it in my bag. "Ok, I'm all packed. I hope this weekend is as pain free as possible."

She came over and embraced me in a tight hug. "It will be, Bella. I promise you it will be. You deserve to be happy. So I was thinking, let's go hunting and then watch a movie to pass the time."

"Sure, what do you want to watch?"

"Well a girl in my art class said I looked like someone named Nicole Kidman and she's in a movie about an Irish girl called 'Far and Away' so I was kind of curious about it. Do we have that one?"

"It's kind of romantic, but sure we can watch it. I have it around here somewhere; it used to be one of my favorites. You don't really look like her though. Humans usually say that all redheads look alike but your hair is more auburn than just red and your features are more like Kate Beckinsale but in a five foot three inch version. "

"Oh, let's watch something else then, I didn't realize it was romantic. We can watch something else."

"No, I really like that movie and I'll be fine. I've got to learn to not be so fragile." I was assuring her that I would be alright but I couldn't really convince myself.

We spent the next few hours hunting, both of us drank until we couldn't take another drop. This weekend was going to be hard enough and we didn't need our thirst making it any harder. After we hunted we got home and I put the movie on. Aislinn really enjoyed it but she almost cringed at what she deemed as their horrible accents. Her accent wasn't very strong but even I could tell the difference. She had timed everything perfectly. A few seconds into the ending credits the sun started to creep out and then was quickly hidden behind a blanket of clouds. There was no free time to sit around and let my thoughts consume me. We both went our own ways to get ready and met at the car within a few minutes. We put our bags in and I turned to get into the driver's seat but Aislinn stopped me. I looked at her and saw that her deep golden eyes were filled with worry.

"Bella, I don't want to make a big deal about this but I am concerned about you and I just wanted to make sure you know that everything will be fine."

"Yes, I'll be fine. I'll have Charlie and the best little sister anyone could have ever hoped for there to help me. If everything goes well maybe I'll call Jake and spend some time with him."

She smiled and I noticed the worry was gone from her eyes as she walked over to the passenger side of my car. Good, at least someone believes I'll be ok even if I don't. The drive up through Oregon and into Washington was going to take a few hours, even at our pace. Aislinn made sure that there was never any silence. She knew how easily my mind could wander off if I wasn't distracted. I refreshed her a little about Forks and Charlie; what he liked and didn't like to talk about and what to bring up to distract him from a touchy subject of ours.

"Bella, how are you going to tell Charlie how you came into money?"

"I'm just going to tell him the truth."

"WHAT! Are you insane Bella?" She shrieked at me.

"No, calm down. I'm not going to go up to Charlie and say 'hey Dad, just thought you should know that some anonymous person sent me stock market tips for the next 5 years along with a check for a quarter of a million dollars to invest in it, I thought it was a prank but it turns out it was legit and now I'm a millionaire.'"

"Ok well you said that you were going to tell him the truth?"

"Yeah but not all the details. I'm going to tell him that we learned a lot about the stock market in economics senior year and that before I left I invested part of my college fun into it and got lucky. So he'll know the partial truth but not all of it."

"Did you ever figure out who sent you the tips?"

"No. Whoever did was careful to cover their tracks."

She started whispering "Do you think it was…"

"No," I snapped and cut her off. "People who don't care don't do things like that Aislinn." I had to get control of myself fast before I bent the steering wheel. She quickly started talking about something else and I was once again calm and distracted from my thoughts.

The rest of the ride was quiet and before I knew it we had turned onto my old street and it brought back a flash of memories. I parked my car out front, took a few unnecessary but calming breaths and turned to look at Aislinn.

She was looking out the window with awe in her eyes. Apparently this place held almost as much emotion for her as it did for me. I cleared my throat and snapped out of her gaze. She turned and looked at me apologetically.

"Sorry. This place just feels like home to me too."

"No, its ok," I reassured her. "I know it's hard for you to have my memories along with yours. It's probably so confusing being somewhere for the first time yet remembering watching sports with Charlie and cooking in dinner in the kitchen." I made sure not to mention any of my favorite memories of this place. He wouldn't be brought up this weekend. That was the one way to ruin this for Charlie and Aislinn and I couldn't do that to them, I couldn't make Charlie watch his empty shell of a daughter anymore. I had to be strong, for them.

She still looked a little sad but flashed me a warm smile. "At times, yes it's hard but knowing what you've been through saves me from prying questions out of you which I know you couldn't handle. Plus I'm sure it helps you to have someone who really understands it all."

"You have no idea how much it helps, little sis." I really was glad that if I couldn't have him in my life that I was at least luck enough to have a friend like her. I took a deep breath to calm myself before continuing. "Ok, enough stalling, let's go see Charlie. I wonder why he hasn't ran out here by now." That was strange now that I thought about it. Charlie would usually call me a couple times once I had arrived.

"Well when I talked to him yesterday I told him to be cautious at first, that being back was a hard thing for you to do and to give you a couple hours to adjust before letting out the emotions."

"You, Aislinn Cadence Kelly are a freaking saint!"

"I love you too, Bella."

We got our bags and made our way up to the house. I took in a deep breath and I could already smell the familiar scent of my home, but it was stronger now as everything else was to me. I could hear Charlie already on the other side of the door but when I realized he was trying to make it seem like he wasn't anxious I knocked on it lightly. He counted out to himself for five seconds then opened the door.

His look was one of happiness and then shock as he took in my appearance. He stuttered a few times before closing his eyes, taking a breath and starting over.

"Hey, Bells. Look at you. I'm, well… I'm just so glad to have you home."

I was so glad he was the same Charlie. He was really happy but trying to play down his emotions as always. I felt so guilty for all this time we've spent apart.

"Hey Dad, I've missed you so much." I said to him while I pulled him into a hug. He shivered when he felt my cold skin. These things seemed so normal to me, I'd had over a year to adjust to them and it took a few moments for me to register just how big my changes would be to him.

I spun behind him so that he was now looking at Aislinn. "Dad, this is Aislinn. I believe you two have spoken."

Her face lit up like a child on Christmas morning. "It's so nice to finally meet you Da… I mean, Charlie." She squeaked. She was so excited I'm not exactly sure how she kept from jumping up and down.

He took a moment to look her over and glanced back at me, undoubtedly noting the similarities in our appearance and then gave her a hug.

"It's so nice to meet you too, kiddo. I'm glad Bella has a friend like you and I'm glad you were able to convince her to come up for a visit." Charlie looked so happy and if I didn't know better I'd say that he was about to tear up.

I told Aislinn to go put her things down in my room, that's where she would be "sleeping." I didn't want to go in there. She knew why but Charlie didn't. He thought I was just being polite.

We made our way into the living room and I took it upon myself to start the conversation. "So, Dad… how has everything been lately?"

"Well, Bells… everything has been pretty good. Billy and I went fishing last weekend. I told him that you might be coming up to visit. He said Jake would want to see you and I told him that I'd talk to you about it but that is was up to you. I don't really want to go into that or how I've been right now. I haven't seen you for a year, kiddo. I want to know all about this last year and a half. I've missed you so much."

"Yeah, Dad, I know. I don't really know where to start though."

"Well how about you start with after graduation, then what happened when you got to Ireland and end at right now."

"Ha-ha, ok Dad. I don't really want to go into after graduation right now so I'll start with Ireland. Well I got off the plane and it was eerily similar to Forks. The landscape is disturbingly green and the sky is covered with grey clouds. I didn't know then that the town I was headed to is the fourth cloudiest place on earth. Go figure, right? Well My original plan was to stay in the bed and breakfast in a small town called Maam, yeah like 'yes ma'am' but without the apostrophe, and then make my way to Dublin. So I got my rental car, drove to Maam, checked into the bed and breakfast and went out to explore some sites. Well on my second day I ran into this little one at a pub in town." Charlie started to frown when he heard that last little bit.

"Dad, don't frown I wasn't drinking. The pub there is also the only restaurant in town. Why I always end up in small, cloud covered towns I'm not sure but that's what happens. Anyways I ran into Aislinn and I mean literally ran into her and knocked her down, luckily neither of us had to go to the hospital."

Then Aislinn interrupted and began to tell the story. "So once I got up and found that all of my appendages where intact I looked at Bella and I knew she obviously wasn't from my town. So I asked a bit about her and we ended up talking all night and became good friends. I'd never met anyone from America, not many tourists bother going through my town."

Then I cut back into the story. "Well Dad you know how uh… different I was before I left?" His eyes widened with fear of speaking about it so I just nodded in understanding and continued. " Well Aislinn kind of got me out of that for the most part. She quickly became my best friend and I decided to stick around with her for awhile instead of traveling around the rest of the country. Well in that time we both kind of had a…transformation and only we knew what the other was going through. Needless to say we got really close, like sisters and when it came time for me to leave we didn't want to be apart. I knew I couldn't stay there because it would hurt you too much. So Aislinn decided to come here and go to school with me and well, here we are." As I explained in minimal detail to Charlie what happened while I was gone I couldn't help but wonder if I would ever be able to tell him the truth. Maybe on his death bed? No, I'd much rather his last thoughts of his daughter not be of her as a monster. I guess he'll never know.

"Well that sure is a good idea for a movie if I ever heard one."

"You have no idea, Dad." I replied while Aislinn looked at me with a smirk on her face, I couldn't help but laugh back.

"So, Bells… you say you've had a transformation? Is that why you're wearing the gray contacts? Your eyes are nice, I don't understand why…"

"Dad… um… well, they aren't contacts, actually. My eyes are gray now." He looked at me like I had just spoken some alien language.

"What do you mean your eyes are gray now? How could they go from deep brown to light gray?"

Well Dad I'm not entirely sure but when I had finished my transformation into a vampire my eyes weren't the usual newborn-red. They where dark gray and got lighter every day. Then when I met the Volturi they said something about the Myth of the Martyr or something like that but I'm still not exactly sure why I'm the only vampire on earth with different eyes. Ha, how nice it would be to be able to say that to Charlie.

"I don't really know, Dad" I said while looking at the floor, I felt too ashamed to look at him. "I'm not a doctor I can't explain it. One day I just kind of…woke up and they were different. They started out darker and have been getting lighter ever since."

___________________________________________________________________________

Ok here is a little summary of some important facts so far and some explanations to clear a few things up.

Bella is a vampire. She is going to PSU and living with another vampire named Aislinn (pronounced eyez-lin) whom she considers her sister. Bella has the same power that she had in Breaking Dawn and Aislinn can access a person or vamps memories as if she was there experiencing them too. She doesn't know what people where thinking or feeling during these memories so she interprets them in her own way. For instance she's touched Bella and she knows all of her memories. She doesn't have to keep contact with someone to keep their memories but in order for her to see any new ones she has to touch that person again. So she experienced Edward leaving Bella as if she was Bella, therefore she felt the pain of his words but not in the same way that Bella did. She wasn't in love with him so she was just angry at what he did and doesn't forgive him like Bella does. I hope this makes sense. I don't want anyone confused at her powers. She does have another power but that won't be revealed for a little while.

Aislinn is Irish and Bella met her while she was in Ireland. There will be more of an explanation as to why she went there and what really happened while she was there later. You learned in chapter 2 though that it was someone named Tallis that changed them both.

Bella made a lot of money in the stock market after receiving an anonymous letter with a few tips on it.

Bella has met the Volturi and she has gray eyes. They have never been red.

If you are wondering what other power Aislinn has, why Bella's eyes are gray, what happened when she met the Volturi or why she was changed just tune in. Everything will be answered!

The more reviews I get though the more I tend to want to update faster. Even one review really inspires me.