Hi everybody!

Sorry again for the delay but the good news is that the pre-Christmas rush is over, so I can get back to writing on a regular basis instead of the one lame chapter every couple of weeks.

Thanks for sticking with me you wonderful wonderful readers you.

Giant thanks to Cat316, joyce05, xxSottoVocexx & IAmAFactoryGirl for following this story, waiting for updates & jomaxrox for fav'ing, kammz30 for following and fav'ing, madkins for fav'ing and reviewing, and jansails, BelleBiter, frostedglaze, Edlovesme & VioletDream13 for reviewing. You guys are amazingly supportive and I love you all to bits!

I really enjoy hearing all your thoughts about this story. It's such a confidence booster to receive such passionate responses to the characters, whether the character is good or bad. It's fantastic!

:-D

Emmetts POV

My sides are aching and my chest feels uncomfortably tight, like I just can't seem to get enough air into them. I feel like I'm suffocating.

I've never laughed so hard in all my life.

Watching Cullen run down the street was hysterical. For a guy with such a huge brain, you'd think he'd be able to control his limbs a little better than he does. He looks like one of those puppets on strings. What are they called again? Matchsets? Marybeths?

Whatever.

"Well...some excursion huh?" I laugh awkwardly. The others slowly begin cracking smiles and before long everybody's laughing along with me.

Except for Cullen.

It wasn't like I expected him to welcome me back with open arms, not after the way I treated him anyway, but I never thought he'd react like that. When I heard him talking shit about me, I was surprisingly proud of him. He never stands up for himself. But to here him call me a bully kind of hurt.

I never set out to make Edward's life miserable, I just wanted to toughen him up a bit. My dad always said that, in life, only the strongest survive, and the earlier someone learns that the better.

That was my first mistake. Taking advice from a no-good drunk who couldn't hold a job if his life depended on it. Hell, he couldn't even stop my mom from leaving. What would my father know about survival?

And he's wrong...the strong don't survive.

The strong get lost because they're too proud to admit they don't know where there going.

The strong go hungry because they've always relied on others to take care of their needs.

The strong are forced to come crawling back with their tails between their legs and apologise.

And the biggest apology of all is to Cullen.

The others were right to choose him as their leader and the ones who didn't, James, Vicky, Rose and I, only did so because we didn't want to admit defeat to someone like him. But now that we're tired and hungry, our pride really isn't so important.

"Edward!" Bella suddenly screams. My head snaps around, looking down the street for Cullen but the only thing I can see is his pack sitting on the ground.

Shit...

"No no no," Bella whispers frantically as she rushes towards where Cullen was standing. "Edward!"

I'm totally confused. I mean, I'd understand if it was Whitlock freaking out, Cullen's tiny sister even, but Bella Swan?

Hmm...looks like Cullen's got himself a little girlfriend...

I'm impressed.

"Grab your things, we gotta go," Laurent says as the others pull on their packs and follow Bella.

"Where?" I ask. We just got here, they could at least let us rest for a while before we head off again.

"Edward's headed back to the campsite," Mike says as he passes. "We have to catch up to him."

"The campsite?" I'm confused, why the hell would we want to go back there? That place gave me the creeps.

"Yeah, Edward thinks that's where Jacob's headed so we have to get there first," Mike explains, walking faster.

"Okay," I say slowly, jogging to catch up to him. That makes sense, I guess. Wait...who? "Who's Jacob?"

"Oh man, you guys missed so much," he laughs. "Listen carefully, I'm about to blow your mind."