CHAPTER SIX- "Leave Me Alone," by the Veronicas

I didn't even have to open my eyes to know that I wasn't in my house. For one thing, I was wrapped in the softest blankets I'd ever touched, and as a second, I was warm. I hadn't felt so comfortable since before I was changed. I didn't even have blankets on my bed, just a spread sheet so that it wasn't only a mattress.

Opening my eyes, I found myself in a large, circular bedroom with pale blue walls. The bed in which I was laying had a comforter of a darker shade, but the white blanket lying on top of me was what was keeping me warm. An electric blanket.

Where was I? This room wasn't one I recognized, and I almost wandered if I was dreaming. But then- I'd never seen this room before. The last thing I remembered was being in the car with Alice, and then I wake up in this room...

"Hello?" I half whispered, sitting up in the warm bed. The cold air suddenly rushed towards me, freezing me for a moment before my body resumed its normal temperature.

"In here, Bella," a soft, familiar voice sang. The sound made me throw the covers off, running across the room and throwing open the door. The motherly woman I remembered was sitting on a white, leather couch, folding Emmett's "Damn, I'm good!" t-shirt.

"Esme!" I cried, throwing myself onto the couch and into her arms. She smelled just the same as I remembered- the normal vampire scent combined with something close to cotton and baby powder.

Esme laughed. "Good morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes." And it was the truth. Any dreams I'd had were of sleepovers I'd had with Alice while Edward was hunting. No angry werewolves or vengeful vampires to haunt my memories.

"I'll bet." she said, smiling fondly at me. "You fell asleep at seven and it is now..." Esme pushed back her sweater's sleeve to look at her watch. "And it's now three in the afternoon."

"Three?" I squeaked, my head snapping up. "I completely missed work!"

"Carlisle called in for you." I stood up, spinning around to see Alice standing in the open doorway. She danced inside, followed by her brothers and sister. "Someone brought you by the ER after you passed out in the school parking lot." Winking she continued. "Carlisle wrote it off as fatigue and ordered that you get bed-rest."

I sighed, frowning. My sick days had already been used up a long time ago, and the principal was now docking my pay for every day I missed. With all of my hunting and hiding from the sun, I was on the verge of losing my house.

"Hey, I've been looking for that!" Emmett suddenly exclaimed, stepping over and taking the "Damn, I'm good!" t-shirt from Esme. "I thought I'd lost it back in Juneau!"

"Edward stole it," Rosalie sang, brushing past us and disappearing behind a door. I sneaked a glance at the vampire in question, who had taken a seat in a chair that matched the couch. He didn't look very happy. Staring down at my lap, I glared. I had bought Emmett that t-shirt forever ago, the first summer I knew the Cullens. Why would Edward steal it?

"Are you alright?" the bronze-haired vampire asked, watching me with measuring eyes.

"Yes," I said, my frown growing deeper. "I was just wondering why you didn't wake me up for school."

"You were exhausted," he replied. His tone was polite, but there was anger in his eyes. I tried to convince myself that he was just confused with my sharpness.

"I'm always exhausted," I bit back. "I would have been perfectly fine if you'd let me go to work."

"You would have collapsed for real!" he exclaimed, sitting up straighter.

"I'm not just a human anymore, Edward." My voice was getting louder, my tone angrier. "I'm not going to get killed if I just step out of the door." I stood up to emphasize my point.

"You don't know that!" he snarled.

"And you wouldn't care!" I shouted back.

Rosalie had reappeared in the door, watching our argument with what looked like amusement. Esme was quietly trying to get us to stop shouting, and Jasper had backed up, wide-eyed. He leaned over, whispering something to Alice. I picked up the words "abandoned" and "hurt."

"How could you say that?" Edward growled, standing up as well. "You obviously have no clue about who I care and don't care for!"

"Oh, I think you made it pretty clear when you left who you didn't care for." I retorted, every pain I had felt that day dissolving into anger.

"God!" he shouted. "Why are you being so stupid?"

"If I'm so stupid, then I guess you were right; I'm not good for you!"

"Jazz," Alice murmured, and calm surged through me.

I turned my glare to her. "It was a bad idea to bring me here."

And with that, I stepped over the clothes that Esme had yet to fold and left the Cullen house.

The anger sat like a hot coal on my heart, threatening to burn me through and through. My fists clenched as I ran, trying to find something I recognized. What I found was the highway, and I followed it until I found my house, and my glare grew deeper when I saw that my car wasn't there.

How could he? I thought, slamming the front door. A thin crack appeared in the wall above the door frame. How could he try to imply that he still loved me when we both knew the truth? Did he enjoy seeing me hurt?

I knew this meant war, but I felt like a tiny country trying to defend myself against a Superpower with only a few guns and a crumbling defense. It was definite: if this was a battle, I'd be the first to fall.

The Cullens didn't say anything to me for the rest of the week. Even the rest of the month. After Thanksgiving passed, and we all returned from break, Alice, Jasper, and Emmett were back to their "Hello's." Neither Edward nor Rosalie ever said a word to me, though they both kept their eyes glued to me during class.

And oddly enough, Edward's grades dropped. At first, it was just a C on a test, and then he stopped turning in homework. After a while, his A slowly dropped to a D. I didn't ask about it though. I just assumed that he was finally getting sick of school, especially with me teaching it.

Of course, after being in their home, and seeing Esme again, I felt as if another piece of me had been ripped away. They were the closest thing I had to a family now, with Charlie gone and Renee busy with her new- alive- daughter. But how could a family hurt and abandon someone like that?

I knew they regretted it. I could see it in Alice's eyes when I show up wearing a blouse or a skirt that she'd bought for me that day at the mall. And in Edward's, when I merely walk into the classroom. But I wanted to feel angry. I had too. They left me, condemned me to thirteen lonely years. I wasn't ready to forgive just yet.