Chapter 11: Forgiving and Forgetting

Bella's POV

Emmett came home. Everyone was excited and happy.

Everyone except me.

I was glad that his family got him back, but now, I would have to face one of my biggest fears - being just friends with Emmett Hale.

I went to give him a hug when he returned, but he just stood there stiffly, and when I let go, he walked away.

We were lab partners in Chemistry Honors, but he requested to move, and I got stuck with a new guy.

"Hi. I'm Shane Winston," he said politely.

I looked at him and actually smiled a real smile. "I'm Bella Swan. It's nice to have someone new. I just got here last year. I came after winter break."

"Where did you come from?" he asked.

"Phoenix, Arizona. It's nothing compared to here. I'm guessing you're from Europe…?" I could tell by his amazing and hot accent.

"Yes. Britain actually. You don't have anything against that do you?" he questioned, mocking irritation.

I laughed. "Not unless you have anything against Arizonans."

"Not one thing, I'm happy to say." He grinned, and so did I, an automatic reflex to his bright personality.

"Um…would you like to come over tonight and hang out? I broke up with my boyfriend two weeks ago, and it'd be nice to have someone to socialize with. I'm…not friends with anyone else here. It's a long story…"

"I would love to. Shall I bring a movie?" He sounded genuinely excited.

"That would be nice."

I gave him my address, and then, class started. It went by fairly quickly, with me taking every chance I could get to look at Emmett. I don't know why I kept torturing myself. I couldn't be with him, or anybody else for that matter, without realizing that John was right, that Jasper was right.

The day passed slower than Chemistry did - I didn't have the British hottie, Shane Winston, sitting right next to me.

I cleaned the house, meaning to get one for myself now that I was eighteen, and realized it was too cramped. We would be in my room, and it wasn't Emmett's mansion. God, I missed him.

No, Bella. You don't need him. Stop thinking about him.

The doorbell rang, pulling me out of my self-scolding. I smiled when I opened the door. "Hey, Shane. Come on in."

"Thank you. I didn't know what kinds of movies you liked, so I got you one of every genre. Horror, romance, comedy…the works." He grinned widely, showing his perfectly white teeth.

I took him to the kitchen with me, getting us popcorn, then we went upstairs.

"Sorry. My room is small…"

"It's okay. I love it. It's simple."

We sat down on my bed, and I put a random movie into the DVD player Jasper set up for me. The title flashed upon the screen, and I unconsciously smiled.

"You like Romeo and Juliet?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes. I believe you're a fool if you don't like a good love story," he explained.

"I'm no fool. This is my favorite movie…" Okay, it was now moved down to second place. Dawn of the Dead occupied space number one.

We watched the movie in silence, occasionally looking at each other. We were sitting against my headboard, and he had his arm around me. It felt natural for it to be there, like Emmett's had.

Tears began to form, and Shane paused the movie, even though it was almost over. "Are you okay, Bella?"

"I'm fine. I just thought about something, and it triggered the water works. Sorry. If you're uncomfortable-"

He cut me off. "I'm perfectly content. I want to help. You can trust me if there's something you want to talk about."

I smiled sadly and nodded. "There is. It's really personal, though, and really long."

He glanced at his cell phone. "Well, we have plenty of time, and I won't tell a soul."

So, I explained the rape and beating in detail. I never told anyone the specifics of what he did, except the detective, and only said it was a haze. But I felt like I could trust Shane Winston. I knew I could.

"Oh, Bella. Have you not told anyone?" he whispered.

"Everyone knows, but you're the only other person besides that detective guy that I told in such grave detail. I'm sorry if I disgusted you. You can leave if you want…" I whispered.

"Stop saying that, Bella. I want to be your friend."

"I need one of those…"

He smiled. "So do I."

We talked and hanged out for a little while longer. He left at a quarter till ten, and I found myself elated to have a real friend, not one that felt obligated to be one because I was dating Emmett.

-----------------------

"Hey, Juliet!" Shane called from three cars down from mine.

He quickly adopted that as my nickname after we watched the movie that one night weeks ago. Eight weeks ago actually - two months.

He walked up and hugged me tight. "Hello to you, too, Romeo."

We smiled at each other and went into the school, then into Chemistry. I glanced over at Emmett, and he locked eyes with mine. At first, the gaze was loving and full of longing, but it quickly hardened into an expression full of regret and disgust. He looked away and began talking to Marie, a girl from Texas with bleach blonde hair. I overheard their conversation.

"Well, I'm a new cheerleader here. They're thinkin' 'bout makin' me captain," Marie said, her southern accent strong.

"I guess we could always go out sometime. It's only right for the star quarterback and head cheerleader to have a date," he grinned.

"What time are ya gonna pick me up?"

"How's seven tonight? It's Friday, and we can do anything you want…" he growled in a sexy voice. My sexy voice.

Then, Marie whispered, "Oh, there's so many thangs I wanna do with you, darlin'."

She kissed him passionately for just a moment and began heading to her seat behind Shane and me.

"Stupid, southern bitch," I mumbled under my breath.

"Excuse me?" she asked, stopping in front of our lab table.

For some reason, I was feeling braver than usual. "Oh, I think you heard me perfectly fine, or should I repeat it slower for you? The bleach might be getting to your brain."

"Okay, fucktard. You have no right to say that about me."

"Actually, I do. It's in the Constitution. But you probably don't know what that is, do you?"

"Yes, I do! You're just jealous because I can get any guy I want, including Emmett Hale."

"Oh, I'm not jealous, sweetie. I had Emmett Hale for a year and three months. I let him go. Or did he not tell you the story about he dated the freak of the school?" I was standing up, now, our noses almost touching, but I backed off to look at Emmett.

His face had shock and pain written all over it. He picked up his books and left the class room with tears in his eyes.

"Emmett!" I called, running after him.

"What do you want, Isabella? To embarrass me in front of my friends? Humiliate me? Well, mission accomplished." He kept walking down the hall until he got to the locker we used to share. It was my locker now. He ran his hands over the front, then opened the lock. The picture I framed for him was still there, but it was frameless, now. "You kept it?"

"Yeah. I love you, Emmett, really. We just can't be together right now. It hurts too much. Please just let us be friends at least."

"Whatever, Bella. I can't be your friend because it makes me want to break down and cry." He was fighting back tears, then he hit the locker with his fist. "Damn it, Bella! I'm in love with you! I want to be with you forever and always, but that fucking John guy is determining your life's path! Do you realize that?! Do you fucking realize that, Isabella?! He's making you think stupid shit that you shouldn't be thinking, and he's not even in this fucking state! He's in the Phoenix prison hours away! I know because I checked last night! They gave him life without parole because he was eighteen!" I began crying, so he softened his voice. "I care about you, and John's not here. He won't ever be here with you again. He's gone, locked away, and I want you to let me love you."

"I can't, Em…I want to, but-"

"Don't worry about it, Bells. Just don't. I'm not going to bother you again, and I don't want you bothering me. From now on, we're not 'Bella and Emmett: Most Loving Couple' like from the yearbooks last year, we're 'Bella: Loner' and 'Emmett: Quarterback'. Got it?"

"But why?"

"Because I don't want to keep falling in love with you and only remain your friend. If we go our separate ways, we both might have a chance of forgiving and forgetting. Forgiving each other for even allowing ourselves to be together for so long, and forgetting about everything we ever had." He kissed my forehead and began walking down the hall.