A/N: As usual, I want to say a huge thanks to my awesome PTB betas Say Goodbye Again and luinvinial . Without PTB I wouldn't be posting this fic.
Watching Bella at school was so upsetting. She looked lifeless these days, as though all the happiness had been drained from her world. I guessed she'd been much more attached to Edward Cullen than I'd thought.
I wished there was something I could do to help her, but Bella didn't seem to notice the people around her anymore, and I didn't want to pry. Her personal life was private; she should be the one to start a conversation if she needed to talk.
Still, there were moments when she scared me. She never answered anything with other than "yes" or "no," and that only when someone adressed her. She never said anything of her own will, and she wouldn't look people in the eye. I got the sensation that most of the time she wasn't really there.
I bit my lower lip. Had I been too absorbed with Ben? Perhaps she'd needed a friend when Edward left and I hadn't been there for her. But I'd tried to call, she just never picked up the phone anymore.
And I couldn't blame her. I shuddered just to imagine how I would feel if Ben abandoned me and I never saw him again.
Why would Edward do that to Bella in the first place? He'd seem to be a really nice guy, honest and caring. Jess would roll her eyes at me and say, "He got tired of her, obviously," but I considered her opinion on the matter slightly biased. Somehow, I thought there must be some other reason.
There she was again today –gray and with a lost look– sitting alone in the farthest corner of the table. Poor Bella. How could I help her? Maybe letting her be was the best way. Maybe she needed time, and she would eventually snap out of it by herself. Maybe some sort of miracle would happen and she would smile again.