Disclaimer: Twilight is still not ours. Now that certainly is a shocker, isn't it?


Jamie's Point of View

"SURPRISE!"

Shit.

There in front of me were my four ex-best friends from Florida, Natalie, Olivia, Heather, and Meaghan. And, standing in the middle like he owned the world, was Mark. I was positive some cruel God of Fate was in the skies, laughing. Let's make Jamie's miserable existence even worse. That would be fun. Tiny black and white dots swarmed in front of my vision. My knees buckled. I heard some gasps of worry from my friends. Yeah right.

Mark caught my elbow. "Whoa there, don't want to fall now, do we?" he said, his smile almost passable for a smirk. I couldn't help but compare his cool attitude to Jacob's friendly, easy-going nature. They were so far apart they were barely comparable.

"What are you doing here?" I spat at them. Mark's blue eyes flashed with cold understanding. Olivia, Heather, and Meaghan seemed dismayed, as if they actually thought that I wanted to see them, while Natalie looked away, she always did that when she knew she did something wrong.

"Parent's work," Natalie said tersely. She was definitely the most tolerable of the four (besides the fact that she was real), as she had only known about Mark's other girlfriend for a few days before I had found out and had been planning on telling me later that day. The only problem was, was that the only reason she had held out as long as she did was because she wanted someone else to tell me, as to not piss off Mark. Pretty much everyone wanted to be in Mark's good books, even if they were a year older than him like Natalie (and Heather), he was one of those people that you had to be friends with or you felt like dying. He charmed like a snake.

"Oh, my dad mentioned something like that," I said. My mind flashed back to the month before when my dad had revealed that people from Florida were moving to Forks because of work. I had met my friends and Mark through Dad's work. Our parents all worked in the same department. One of them moving here was bound to have happened. I should have known. "But that's not exactly what I meant," I continued on in conversational tone, "Let me make things a little clearer to you. What are doing at my house when you know you're not welcome here?"

You're still ma—?" Heather was cut off by Mark.

"We're here to apologize Jamie," he said softly, dipping his head like he was ashamed. My eyes narrowed.

"Oh really?" I asked, feigning intrigue.

"We're like, really sorry Jamie," said Olivia.

"When you were mad at us…" Meaghan trailed off like it was too painful to talk about.

Heather said, "Yeah. Like, I can't even believe we even did that to you." She had finally caught on.

I looked over at Natalie, wondering if she would actually apologize. She hated being thought wrong and would go to any lengths to be proven otherwise. She cleared her throat, still gazing off to the right. "I-I'm sorry." She met my eyes. "I should have told you." I knew she meant it. She didn't say anything she didn't mean, it was one of the reasons why I had liked her, you know, besides the fact that she was a popular Junior and I was a lowly Sophomore. I had been so shallow back then. I decided that I should probably forgive them. They had apologized. And why did it matter anyway? It's not like I actually cared about whom my friends were anymore. Pain lashed through my heart at the meaning behind this thought.

"Okay," I said wearily, "Sure."

Olivia grinned. "Oh, thank you Jamie! I'm so relieved." At least someone was.

Mark didn't react. He was smart enough to know he wasn't forgiven. He turned to the girls, flashing them a rather seductive smile, "I think I'm going to talk to Jamie alone if that's all right with you." Meaghan giggled and started on her way, followed by Olivia and Heather. Oh no he did not. Natalie hesitated, glancing at me, before leaving me alone. With Mark.

I cleared my throat. "Maybe they don't care that you want to talk to me alone. But I do."

"Jamie," he said with a sigh, "Hear me out."

I waved my hand. "Go ahead," I encouraged dryly. I crossed my arms. "But don't expect me to change my mind, you son of a bitch."

"That sounds reasonable," he said, unperturbed. I grunted incredulously. "I really did come here to apologize Jamie." His eyes bore into mine, leaking truth.

"You know, you should become an actor. You'd make millions," I commented mockingly.

"Jamie. Please." He ran his head through his hair, leaving it sticking up in places. Very innocent. It occurred to me that he might be telling the truth. I batted the perilous notion aside. C'mon Jamie don't fall for his tricks. That's what he wants you to think. I opened my mouth and closed it, unsure. And with that, he knew he had me. Perfect…for him. "I know I made a bad decision last year when I cheated on you...but I've learned from my mistakes. I've changed. Believe me." I closed my eyes letting out a gust of wind.

"But last year…You-you nearly killed me Mark. I loved you. I really thought I loved you. I thought we were going to go off to college together and get married or something. I-I genuinely believed that you thought the same. And then you cheated on me. We were going out for two years! Two freaking years Mark!" I held back tears. "I was devastated. Destroyed."

Mark grabbed my hand and held them between his. How cool his hands were surprised me, I was used to the heat of Jacob's hands. "I did love you Jamie. I do." I pulled my hand away in shock.

"Don't say that. Don't say that you love me. I've been hurt too many times to believe in that," I said, my voice thick, "Really Mark, I don't even know if I want to be your friend. You don't even know me anymore. I'm different. Darker. Deeper."

He gazed down at me, placing his hands on my shoulder. "But you're still Jamie and that's what matters," his voice was passionate, intense. It was so hard not to believe him. So hard not to let my good memories with Mark consume my bad ones. "Jamie, please be my girlfriend. Please. It'll be like just like before. Perfect." Out of nowhere he pulled out a red rose. I stared at it numbly. My heart was beating jaggedly, painfully. You shouldn't do this Jamie. You can't. But the idea was so attractive. That maybe somehow Mark would fill this hole within me. That maybe he would somehow help me move on. But Jacob. Oh but Jacob. How can I do this when I can barely move without him? When I can barely breathe in his absence?

But Jacob was a monster and Mark…wasn't. At this thought I burst out crying. Mark instantly helped me inside and sat me on the couch. Then he let me lean on him and he stroked my hair. And then I honestly didn't care if he was lying to me or not. I just wanted him to pretend that he loved me. Because even though he wasn't as good-looking as I remembered, and he had cheated on me, and he was manipulative…he was still someone. And someone sounded pretty good to me, who had no one. So after I had stopped crying, I said, with determination, "Yes. Yes I will."

Something in me broke. Some essential segment of my soul shriveled up and died. How could you? said an accusing voice in my head. My tears returned.

The voice had sounded exactly like Jacob's.


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