EPOV

"Edward let's go we barely have time to get ready and go to school."

That got me out of my stupor. The others were home. They had flown in while Alice and I were on our way from Italy. We had already met them at the airport. It was only Alice and I who will be attending high school this time around because Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper had supposedly graduated while we were away since they were posing as seniors during our time here.

I felt a deep sense of coming back to where I belonged while driving into the parking lot at school. I have so many treasured memories of Bella in this school. I desperately hoped that I could rekindle the love Bella had for me those days. As soon as I entered the lot I searched in vain for her truck. My heart sank it was not there. I glanced at Alice. She was still smiling.

"Don't worry Edward she will be here. I have seen it."

Alice was thinking about taking Bella shopping. She was running through all the different collections. She had memorized them all.

"Come on Alice she won't go shopping. You know her dislike of shopping."

"Want to bet?"

"Ok. Fine. Try taking her."

"You can come too you know." She starting going through the men's collection. There were some nice t-shirts but I was shocked when she went through the underwear collection. They didn't cover anything much.

"May be you can model some for her."

What? She did not say that. I looked at Alice horrified. She was giving me one of her impish grins.

"Oh! Don't be such a prude Edward. You know she might like it."

No way was I going to model such indecent clothing in front of my Bella let alone wear any. All my underwear was very decent and covered everything that should be covered. I hoped Alice did not go ahead and purchase any of that stuff for me. I cringed at the thought of Esme finding any of that in my wardrobe. My birth father would have had a heart attack had he been faced with today's fashions.

"She's almost here let's go."

I felt a load lift from my heart. It was with a lighter heart that I got out of the car, only to be bombarded with a string of angry voices shouting at me. I glanced around me in bewilderment. I couldn't understand what was happening, so much of hatred all thrown at me. I had never been the focus of so much anger.

"I will tear him limb for limb if he ever touches her again." I turned in surprise to see the anger in Taylor Crawley's head. He was etching to come towards me but Lauren's hand held on to him.

"How dare he show his face again, now he'll try to steal her all over again", that was Mike Newton. "He turned her into a zombie. He doesn't deserve her." I flinched as I grabbed hold of Alice for support as visions of Bella took over his head, Bella walking through the parking lot seemingly staring at the ground all the way to school. Bella sitting alone in the table at the cafeteria we shared together just staring at nothing and eating nothing. The attempts he made to try to talk to her. She didn't even seem to hear him. Then his thoughts turned to the last couple of months. Bella was working at his store. But still she was just like a robot doing everything he asked her to do. He felt hurt at her seeming unwillingness to go out with him. In actual fact it was more like she didn't even understand that he was making any advances. She seemed to be in an eternal state of being.

I was so focused on reading Mike's thoughts that I was surprised when someone jerked me from my grasp on Alice. I let go of her and turned toward the person near me. I got the shock of my life to see Angela standing in front of me pulling me away from Alice. Her hands were shaking and her normally calm and angelic face was red with fury.

"How could you treat her so badly, you… you… you.. jerk." I guessed she didn't even have words for the names she wanted to call me. She was such a calm and collected girl with only kind thoughts in her mind. I had always found my refuge in her thoughts. Now her thoughts were so violent, her body shook with the force of her anger. She dragged me away from Alice and pulled me to a corner in the parking lot out of sight of the other students. I was glad to get away from all the unfriendly attention directed my way.

"Get out of here now, before she comes. I don't ever want her to lay her eyes on you. She will not recover from it if she sees you. Please I'm begging you." Angela was now in tears.

"Leave before she comes. I can't watch her go through that again."

Her memories hit me with such a force that I fell to my knees in front of her. An almost lifeless Bella laying on the couch in her living room, in a sort of a catatonic state muttering 'he's gone' repeatedly with a vacant look on her face, Angela's desperate repeated attempts to try to revive her not making the slightest impact. Charlie Swan crying in a corner…. my god Charlie was crying. I started sobbing into my hands again. Dr. Gerandy was administering some kind of a drug to try to make her sleep. So many people were cramped up into Charlie's living room. Almost every important figure in the village was there. Some of the kids from the reservation were also there. They looked very angry while the others looked confused and relieved. Then Angela's next thought 'at least they found her before anything happened to her' took me by surprise. That brought me out of my shock.

I finally found my voice while still on the ground looking up at her.

"Please Angela tell me what happened."

She didn't look angry anymore, she looked as if she was bemused.

"As if you don't know, she went looking for you in the forest after you left her. If it wasn't for that huge reservation guy I can't imagine what would have happened to her over night in that forest in the cold."

"Oh god… do you mean to tell me that she went after me?"

"What did you expect?"

"I didn't know. Angela I'm so sorry. I never imagined she would try to follow me. I .. I… thought she went straight home. In fact we were just near Bella's back garden when I left. Angela, I can't tell you how sorry I am for everything that happened. I'm so sorry."

"If you are sorry and that concerned for Bella's welfare you should leave before she sees you."

"She already knows I'm here. She came and got me."

I can tell that surprised Angela.

"She… she saved my life Angela. I heard that Bella was dead and I tried to take my life and Bella, she came and saved me." I decided that Angela deserved to know the truth, at least as much as I can tell her.

Now it was Angela's turn to be out of words. "You thought she was dead? Why?"

"Rosalie heard she jumped from a cliff and .. and thought she was dead. I misunderstood her and decided that I didn't want to live without my Bella."

"What? Why would you try to take your life when you don't even love her anymore?"

It was time for the truth.

"I still love her Angela. I have always loved her and I will continue to love her for the rest of my existence. She means everything to me."

"But how.. how could you leave her?"

"I thought when Carlisle got the job and we had to move that it was better if I broke up with Bella so that she can move on and lead a normal happy life."

"Normal life? Can you even begin to understand how much that girl loved you? I don't think it was just a teenage romance. I have always felt Bella is a very serious person, she would have never taken something like the relationship you had lightly. I also remember how much you seemed to love her. I can't imagine how you could bear to leave her."

"I couldn't Angela. Lying to her and leaving her was the most difficult thing I had ever done in my life. I didn't realize how deep her love for me was. I had just decided to come back to her when I found out about the cliff diving incident."

"Ok. I believe you. So you are back together with her again then?"

"Not exactly. She doesn't want me anymore. I don't know what's happened to her Angela. She saved me and she let me hold her, but she … she…" I faltered; I couldn't find the words to explain the way Bella was now behaving.

"Oh…she's still not out of it is she? I loath to admit this but may be you are the only one who might be able to bring her back…..since you are the one who made her her…."

With that she broke down. I patted her on the back afraid to hug her for fear that she might feel my cold skin. I felt like the worst kind of scoundrel to have made this kind hearted girl cry. Alice's voice broke through my thoughts. "Edward, she's here."

I let go of Angela looking around for Bella. She was getting down from Charlie's cruiser. She moved away from the car as if she was in some kind of a trance and started walking towards the school. Alice hopped and went right up to her to speak with her. I heard their conversation and couldn't believe what I was hearing. Alice was asking her whether she would go shopping with her. I couldn't help but smile at the response she's surely going to get from Bella. Guess I should never bet against Alice. Bella simply looked at Alice and answered her "yes". That was it; with that she continued walking towards what I presumed was her first class. She didn't take anymore notice of Alice or anyone else around her.

"Please I'm begging you…. Please don't leave her again…"

I heard Angela's voice beside me as if I was in a dream. I turned to her and made the promise that I hoped to never break for the whole of eternity.

"Angela, I promise you I will never ever leave her."

She stood there nodding her head as I started walking in a hurry to get to class and try to secure a seat near Bella. I ignored all the thoughts around me in my haste to get to my Bella. Alice was in a different class from us for English. She had made sure that I had most of my classes with Bella which was such a relief to me. I was so happy that Carlisle had called ahead and enrolled us in school again.

At the door to the class room I paused to admire my Bella, but I was greeted with a growing unease at her behaviour. Her face was pale and haggard like I noticed yesterday night but her bones were more pronounced in the daylight. She seemingly stared into space looking at nothing in particular. There was nothing happening behind her vacant eyes. It was as if… it was as if… I struggled with the words I didn't even want to think of in my mind… it was as if she was dead… there was no life in her. Nothing was left of the bright, beautiful girl who had stolen the heart of a vampire and countless others. She didn't even make the slightest acknowledgement of me when I quickly took my seat next to her. I couldn't believe my luck when I found that both the seats near her were vacant.

Then I heard the thoughts of Eric Yorkie.

"I should have sat next to her even if she didn't talk to me. I should have tried more to get her attention. Now that Edward is back I won't ever have a chance with her again." In his mind I saw Bella sitting in the same chair with the same expression a countless number of times. Oh god what had I done to her. I was more determined than ever to bring my Bella back to me.

"Good Morning Bella."

She didn't even turn to me, but she did say a very quiet "Morning."

At least she was speaking to me. I was glad I had got some kind of a response. Our English teacher walked in at that moment and started our lesson. We were doing a character analysis of Pride and Prejudice. Bella took very neat notes in her book. I noticed that her hand writing had improved. She did not have any doodles on the side of the pages as she usually did. Everything was very neat. She even arranged her pens and pencils in a straight line. I decided I would speak to Bella again.

"Bella can I have a pen? I forgot to bring mine." I was lying through my teeth but I wanted to see whether she would give one of hers to me. She didn't even check whether I had a pen on me, I covered the tip of my pen poking up through the pocket of my denim.

I saw her lift a pen from her desk and place it on my table. Ok fine. At least I had an object touched by Bella belonging to her with me. I slowly raised it to my nose and inhaled her scent on it. I hoped she wouldn't ask me for it when we finished classes. She still smelt of freesia and strawberry shampoo. I was thirsty but I no longer craved the tempting aroma of her blood. Instead I felt a heightened desire to touch her. I barely restrained myself from touching her. I will have to some how keep my desire under control. Bella would definitely detest me if she ever noticed how much I wanted her now that she didn't want me. She would think I am the worst possible masochist in existence.

Bella didn't speak another word in her next two classes with me. Alice had the fourth class with her. I sat next to Bella in all her classes. As luck would have it there was always a vacant chair next to her. When I thought about it, I realised it was not luck that the chair next to her was always vacant, but it was the fact that everyone just treated Bella like an inanimate non-responsive object now and they didn't even bother to sit next to her. Angela did sit next to her in the only class they had together but she didn't talk with her. Angela kept sending furtive glances my way in intervals hoping to catch my eye and when I finally looked at her, she smiled. Bella seemed to be totally unaware of the exchange and just stared at the teacher taking notes. She wrote everything down in all her classes as if her life depended on it.

I looked for Bella when we reached the cafeteria for lunch. She was sitting in a large table with Angela and the others. I was wondering how I could join them after I purchased my lunch, when Alice took the initiative and walked right up to the table and asked Bella whether we could sit with her for lunch to which she nodded yes. I could see the others were not happy about this except for Angela who again smiled with both of us making room for me to sit next to Bella with Alice on her other side.

As soon as we sat Alice started talking about her plan to shop with Bella and even invited Angela along. Alice and Angela dominated the conversation all through lunch while Bella just ate an apple and I stared at her. The others kept shooting daggers at me. I forgot to eat until Alice nudged me and screamed 'eat something you idiot'. I took something that looked like a piece of fruit and ate it with distaste. I managed to steal Bella's soda bottle top again and hoped the others didn't notice it. I hoped to keep it as a keep sake with my other bottle top which I stole the first day I sat with Bella for lunch. I looked at the others and tapped into their thoughts to make sure I was safe. Mike, Taylor and Eric were all furious that I sat next to Bella. Lauren and Jessica were happy to see me back but they too didn't like the idea that I was sitting next to Bella. When I looked up Lauren stared at me and asked me,

"So Edward how long do you plan to stay this time?" In her thoughts she thought, I bet I can make him stay longer than Bella did she must have not satisfied him in bed. A hunk like that needs a lot of attention.

I answered "Indefinitely."

This made Jessica smile at me. "You should go out and enjoy yourself." I could show you some really nice places.

I quickly got out of her head. I looked at Bella hoping she would look jealous like she usually did when these two tried to get my attention, but all I was greeted with was a very unresponsive Bella still eating her apple and staring at nothing. She didn't even seem to notice the conversation going on between Alice and Angela over her head with her name mentioned several times. It was as if she didn't hear them. She was in another world. For the first time since I got back I felt a shiver run down my back. Bella was sick. Something was seriously wrong with her mentally. I wondered why she was not taken for treatment. I made a mental note to ask Carlisle to get all her medical records. I was going to make her better no matter what it took. I was going to get my Bella back. What I couldn't understand is how she was managing to get through her studies. She must have got through the term tests to still be in class. I decided to get her school records as well. I would come tonight and check them out. I had nothing better to do now that Bella didn't let me spend the night with her anymore.

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