The next day, I moved the furniture back how he had it and put my boxes in the car. I had a long drive ahead of me.

The only thing I was etching to do was visit the beach one last time.

I looked at my cell phone and found it was almost 9am.

Ehh, just for a second. I told myself.

I made my way down the sandy shore and let the waves hit cover my feet with think goopy sand. The winds were present, but they were just soft and comforting.

"Bella?" a voice asked.

I turned around and moved the hair out of my face.

There stood Sam Uley in all his glory.

He had on a pair of cut off jeans. No top or shoes. His facial expression when he fully looked at me was…love? I looked at him curious.

No… it couldn't be….could it?

I shook my head. Nice try Bella. But this is Sam Uley... He took your friends remember?

"Sam." I muttered, turning away from him and putting on a game face.

As strange as this sounded…I felt…I don't know. There was this weird feeling between us. Like I was beginning to like him.

But he took your friends! I reminded myself. He took away Jake, then Embry, and Quil, Leah, Kim and lastly Seth.

"Bella, look, I can't imagine how hard this must be on you…but I would really like-…"

I huffed. "Your right Sam, you can't imagine. So please don't make it any worse. Just…go away." I said with pain.

I wasn't feeling pain because I though of the guys, but because I told Sam to go away.

What the hell?

"Bella…I'm so sor-…"

"Don't even finish that sentence." I growled.

He looked at me shocked. Apparently he didn't get bossed around very often.

"If you were ever 'sorry' Sam, then you would have fixed this. You wouldn't have let my friends tear away from me one by one; and you sure as hell wouldn't have taken Seth away from me."

I turned back and began walking away. I looked over my shoulder one last time, finding Sam still frozen in his place

"Tell Paul he can have his house back, I don't want it anymore." I yelled and was off.

I drove everyday and most nights. Sleep wasn't my number one priority right now.

-SAMS POV-

As I was out patrolling, I saw that girl, Bella, which the whole pack seemed to love and miss.

Quickly, I phased and then put on some cut offs.

I walked down to where she was standing and called to make sure it was her.

"Bella?" I asked.

She froze and then looked at me.

Shit. I thought to myself.

I felt something shift in me and felt my heart melt into goo.

I just imprinted.

Suddenly, all the guilt I had felt for her these past few weeks piled up and hit me like a ton of bricks.

She responded, saying my name in a monotone voice.

I guess I deserve that one.

I didn't know what to say, so I winged it.

"Bella, look, I can't imagine how hard this must be on you…but I would really like-…"

I felt like I was rambling and she cut me off with a huff. My heart pounded in my chest. This wasn't going very good.

"Your right Sam, you can't imagine. So please don't make it any worse. Just…go away."

Pain laced her voice and I felt overly guilty.

"Bella…I'm so sor-…"

She cut me off again and growled. I stood there shocked. Did she just growl at me?

"Don't even finish that sentence." Her eyes narrowed to slits.

"If you were ever 'sorry' Sam, then you would have fixed this. You wouldn't have let my friends tear away from me one by one; and you sure as hell wouldn't have taken Seth away from me."

I sighed. Yup, I definitely deserved that one too.

She turned back and walked to the house. She looked over her shoulder one last time though and yelled to me.

"Tell Paul he can have his house back, I don't want it anymore."

When she was out of sight, I stripped down and immediately phased.

I ran as quickly as possible to my house.

When I walked inside, everyone was sitting in my living room with the TV on. Seth was still moping and upset, while Jake looked guilty.

"Sam?" Jared asked as I slammed the door.

All eyes were on me and I froze up.

Fuck, I just imprinted on Paul's sister.

"Dude, you ok?" Paul asked dully.

"I-I…I just imprinted on Bella."

The room gasped and then went silent.

Before I knew it, Paul had me by the color shoved up against the door.

"Do you mean to fucking tell me that if you would have seen my little sister the time we turned wolf, she would have been here right now?" he growled.
"yes." I said shocked.

He slammed by body against the wall and I had enough. "Get off of me Paul." I commanded.

He grinded his teeth; his body was forcing him to let do.

"What did you say? Did you tell her? We need to go talk to her." Seth said scrambling out of his chair.

I cleared my throat and looked at Paul. "Before she left the beach, she told me to tell you that you can have the house back. She doesn't want it anymore. Her words not mine." I said holding my hands in the air as he felt tempted to push me against the door again.

"Shit." Seth said and ran to the door.

"Move!" he yelled and ran to Paul's place.

Everyone followed, including me. Seth was running faster than I had ever seen possible.

When we got to the house, Seth opened the door and we all gasped.

The house was empty and bare. Tears formed in Seth's eyes as he looked all around.

"No." he whispered. "No, no, no, no." he shook his head and yelled.

He ran up the stairs and into his room. Leah followed him, worried for her little brother.

"Bella!" he cried in pain.

We heard a thud and all ran to go check it out.

We found the door ajar in Bella's room and it empty.

Seth was on the floor crying while Leah was there comforting him.

I swallowed hard and nodded to the guys to let Seth have his moment alone with Leah.

Paul was still standing at the door, a mask covering his face.

His eyes scanned the whole place. He took a glance in the kitchen and then the family room.

"The furniture is back how I had it before she moved it." He said to me.

I stood there silent. This wasn't good.

Jake and Paul walked up the stairs and paled. "It was like she erased everything that resembled her." Jake chocked.

Paul paled even more and kept walking up to her room.

When he got there he lost it. Tears flew down his eyes and he touched the walls.

They were the only reminder left of Bella.

"Guys, you might want to come see this." Embry said quietly, breaking the moment.

We all waked down the stairs, including Seth and Leah.

Paul followed Embry into the kitchen and we saw Quil standing by the fridge.

"She left a note." He muttered.

But before Paul took it he ran his fingers over the notes he once left Bella.

"She…kept them all on the fridge." He sniffled.

Without another word, he took the note off the fridge and read it.

Dear Paul and anyone else, who reads this,

By now I will be on my way to college. I accepted the scholarship to Columbia and driving there.

But before you stop reading this, I wanted to say I'm sorry. For whatever I did to get you all upset or turn away from me, I truly didn't mean to.

I am also especially sorry for the way I treated you at Sue's Diner. I shouldn't have acted like that, no matter how upset I was.

Paul, I am so sorry for the way I have acted as a sister. I shouldn't have come out and burdened you with my life.

All of you, please, take care of yourselves and keep going on with your lives just like you did before I arrived.

I made sure to clean up and put everything back the way it was.

I also bought some cans of white paint and put them in room I slept in, in case you wanted to repaint the walls.

Hope you all can take in my forgiveness one day.

~Bella

He tossed the note and covered his eyes with his hands. Emily tried comforting him, but he just pushed her away and walked out of the house.

Seth grabbed the note and quickly read it.

Tears came to his eyes and he threw the note.

"No!" he shouted with such emotion.

"It wasn't her fault!" He cried, kicking the bottom of the counters with his foot.

The wood splintered and he sobbed.

"Shh, it's ok Seth." Leah whispered while hugging him.

As soon as she said those words, he retracted from her touch.

"Nothing will ever be ok again Leah. Bella left because she thought she was hurting us! She feels guilty because she thought it was her!" he let out a breath that seemed to come out as a sob. He was falling into pieces. "But that wasn't the truth…"

"We left her because we had to keep a secret." He whined.

"I should have screwed your orders!" Seth began yelling at me.

"If I would have told her…"

"There was no way you could have done that." Leah sighed, trying to comfort him again.

"I could have tried. Don't you see? She could have been here right now and we wouldn't have been in this whole mess."

"Dude, she was going to college anyways." Quil said, trying to make him feel better.

"And she was going to visit!" Seth yelled. Everyone winced.

"I know you all heard her at the restaurant. She was going to come back. She was going to come back for me." He cried.

"Seth, dude. Come on, hold it together." Jake said slapping a hand on his back in a manly way.

Seth's eyes flickered and tears fell harder. "Get off me!" He yelled to Jake and walked out of the kitchen.

As he looked up the stairs his eyes flickered again. He didn't even make it up one stair. All he did was turn around and walk out the door.

We found Paul standing outside, sobbing and tugging at his hair. It was like he was having a melt down.

Seth looked out towards the beach and then all of us. He spoke softly this time, barely even a whisper.

"She trusted me ya know. Like really trusted me. I guess I didn't really give her a reason not to before I changed, but she told me everything, just like I did with her."

"And we always had fun. Even when she said she was in a bad mood, she was still so great to be around." He sniffled and glared at Paul.

"And every time we were together you seemed to have a problem. Every fucking time!" he yelled. Paul began to tremble and we all backed Seth and Paul away.

"Seth, calm down." I ordered.

"Calm down?" he said looking incredulous.

"How am I supposed to calm down when I just lost my best friend?" he shouted.

"Hey, she was our friend too man." Embry said defending everyone.

"Oh really?" said Seth. He seemed to be a real hot head today.

"Did you know she blames herself for her mother's death? Or why she moved out here? Do you know that she had nightmares every night till she moved out here and met me? Did you know that? Did you?" he yelled.

Embry shook his head and bowed in sorrow.

"Exactly. You weren't there. You all never were. You weren't there to help her fill out college applications or paint her room. You weren't there to bond with her and be a BEST friend to her."

He let out a deep breath as he continued to shake furiously.

"You were never there to make her laugh or make her smile. And you all definitely weren't there to pick her up and cradle her when Paul left her. Because if you were, your hearts would have all be breaking and you would have felt totally helpless like I did." He let out a hiss and fisted his hands.

"You. All. Were. Never. There. So never ever say she was a friend to you too like she was to me, because she wasn't"

He was so close to phasing and Kim and Emily were still around.

"Seth, calm down." I commanded again.

He looked at me and almost popped a vessel. "Don't you dare start with me Sam. Do you know what you have done?" Seth asked, poking a finger in my chest. I moved back a little, but he kept coming closer.

Leah grabbed his arm but he sent her the most ferocious glare she backed away.

"You….you broke her. You broke ME!"

Tears formed in Seth's eyes again and I felt truly sorry.

"I won't be able to see her beautiful white smile again, or hear her amazing laugh. She won't be at Paul's house up in her room singing and dancing to music or painting her walls. I won't be able to get to drag her away from the kitchen or the house as she protests with laughter or dance with her in parking lots. We won't be taking anymore silly pictures or watching the sun set holding hands. She will never be here again."

It was like he was facing the facts himself. "I broke all of my promises to her. We were supposed to do so many things, just the two of us. And now…she's gone- because of this. And that's on you." He gritted and then phased into a wolf.

Pain was etched on his face and he ran into the woods, howling in pain.

Paul gazed at the woods and pulled his hair, walking to the woods.

"Paul." I said.

"Leave me alone for a while Sam." He said, his voice wavering. He drifted from everyone and walked to the beach.

-BELLAS POV-

I'm beat. I stopped at some nice hotel and checked in for the night. It's almost been a complete day since I left everyone behind.

My heart is slowly sinking, but I will recover. I will make sure I do.

Night has fallen and I slip into bed, turning off the lap while hoping each day will get better.

-SAMS POV-

The rest of us sat at Paul's place just waiting for Seth and Paul to come back. It was eerie. The walls were bare and blank.

She did a really good job of erasing herself. I thought.

Paul walked into the house, shutting the door behind him.

We all stood up and he looked at us.

Watery tears filled his eyes and he went to Emily. She rocked him on the couch as he cried in her arms.

Slowly, we left, leaving everyone by themselves.

-BELLAS POV- (Set 6 years later)

I walked down the stage, smiling like a fool. I had just graduated from UCLA.

You may ask how this is possible, so let me tell you.

I went to Columbia, yes, and within 4 years I had my degree. I majored in photography and got a teaching certificate.

Then I went of to UCLA and got my masters degree with English as my minor.

"Bella Swan." The man called.

I smiled, walking on stage to take the diploma and shake the man's hand.

"Congratulations." He smiled.

I nodded and looked over to see Phil in the crowd standing up and whistling.

I laughed, feeling a blush come on as all his team mates were there too whistling and smiling.

Walking off the stage I thanked the heavens I didn't trip.

Sitting back in my seat, I pulled out my phone and texted Phil.

What are they all doing here?

~B

My phone vibrated and I looked down.

They wanted to see their baby girl graduate. =)

-P

I laughed and blushed; looking back to they all were. All of the guys on the team waved and smiled at me. I gave a small wave back and texted Phil.

Way to embarrass me.

~B

I heard them all try to hide a laugh by coughing, but that caused an old grumpy teacher to look at them and narrow her eyes.

When the ceremony was over I ran over to the team.

"Bella!" they all chimed.

"Hey everyone!"

I gave a round of hugs to the massive men and then went to Phil. He was the small one on the team.

"Congratulations!" he smiled.

"Thanks." I blushed.

"You have one smart kid on your hands Phil." Ty laughed.

I blushed even harder which caused all of them to start laughing.

"Oh shut up." I muttered.

Ty put his arm around my shoulder and we all walked out the door to celebrate with a dinner.

Ever since I left La Push, I came closer to Phil.

I attended Columbia University and since it's in New York, he and his team visited often. I got to be really close to them. And then when I went to UCLA, it was in California, which was another one of their pit stops.

We went out and got a quick bite to eat before Phil turned to me.

"You should really take that job" he insisted.

I rolled my eyes but he continued. "Look, I know you don't want to go back to La Push, but it's a great job offer Bella. And you never know, you may not run into them for a while."

I sighed. Damn him. He was always right.

"I'll call tomorrow." I groaned.

He flashed me a grin and hugged me to him. "That's my girl."

Unfortunately, it was the next day. I grabbed my cell phone and called the principal saying I would accept the job.

She sounded really excited and told me I start in a week.

My eyes popped out. A week?

I told Phil and he pushed it off. "It's no problem. We can have the guys help."

I nodded silently laughing. That would definitely be a sight to see. A bunch of tall muscular men moving in my stuff.

Within two days, I was in Forks, at Charlie's old place, unpacking my stuff. Phil was right, it wasn't a problem.

While some of the guys helped me cleaned and dusted, the rest moved in furniture.

They asked me where I wanted everything placed and if it was ok.

Within the day we were done. It was getting late and we just devoured over 10 boxes of pizza.

"Thank you for everything guys." I told them; giving hugs on the way out.

"It was our pleasure Bella." Joe said with his deep voice.

I flashed him a smile and watched them all leave.

When I was off by myself, I stood by the door, taking the place in.

Man this was going to be weird.