Chapter Two - (Isolation)

BPOV

It's my sixteenth birthday. Yay, me… not.

My birthday has become one of the worst days of my life. It brings back too many memories of my past and how happy my family and I used to be. Yeah, that's all turned to shit now. It's been three years since my mom took off on me and Charlie.

As I have a shower, I can't help but seethe about the past. I still don't understand why she decided to up and leave; I called her everyday but she never answered. She eventually disconnected her number, which I'll admit, hurt almost as much when it sunk into my brain that she was never coming back. I often wonder if it was even hard for her to walk away from us at all or if it was as easy as breathing. Does she miss us or is she relieved to be gone of us? I miss her every day, but that doesn't mean I'm not pissed off with her. She's my mother — she wasn't meant to abandon me. She was meant to be there for my first day of high school. She was meant to be here on my 'sweet sixteen,' to go shopping for Prom dresses with me, and she was meant to be at my graduation. But she won't be. And I doubt my 'father' will even bother to turn up at my graduation.

You see, not long after Mom left, Charlie began to resent and blame me for her leaving. At first, I just thought he needed someone to blame because he was hurting, but he never stopped blaming me. He never stopped being cold and heartless towards me. I don't really blame him though; it probably was my fault that she left. I should have told Charlie what Mom said to me the day before Thanksgiving. Or it could have just been me. Maybe Mom was just fed up with me.

My phone begins to ring, and I know who it is. She calls at the same time every year to wish me a happy birthday. I don't know how many times I have to tell her it's not a happy birthday.

"Hey Jess, what's up?" I continue to get ready, trying to put my dark blue jeans on with one hand.

"Hey Bells!" She is way too chipper in the mornings. "It's your birthday, that's what's up! Happy birthday!" I sighed into the phone and put my long sleeved green shirt on with my black tank top over the top.

"It's hardly necessary to wish me a happy birthday, Jess; you know I don't celebrate it anymore." This time I hear her sigh into the phone.

"Really, Bella? You're still doing this? It's your sixteenth! You have to celebrate it — it's like some kind of birthday rule or something. Don't you remember our conversation when we were ten?" I laugh at the memory. We had said we were going to have a huge party for our sixteenth birthday and everyone in town would be talking about them for years. "C'mon, Bella, don't be so difficult. Please, please, pleeeease? You can't not celebrate yoursixteenth birthday!"

I groan at her and roll my eyes. "Fine. But it's just you and me, all right? No one else." She starts squealing and I have to pull the phone away from my ear otherwise I'll most likely lose my hearing.

"Trust me, Bella, you won't regret this." I highly doubt it, but I don't tell her that's what I'm thinking. Jessica has a tendency to be a little over the top.

"You better make sure I don't." She laughs at me, and doesn't realize I'm a hundred percent serious.

"Don't even worry about it. I've gotta go now, but I'll see you tonight — be ready at eight." I sit down on my bed and put my head in my hands. I really hate this day.

I go into the bathroom and brush my teeth, gazing at myself in the mirror. I haven't changed that much over the years — I've filled out a bit more, my skin has become clearer, and my hair has become a bit longer and darker but that's about it. Okay, so maybe I have changed.

As I walk down the stairs, I pray to all that's holy in the world that Charlie has already left for work. But I obviously get no such luck. There he is in the kitchen, reading the newspaper and drinking his coffee.

I ignore him and go straight to the cupboard to get my coco pops before going the long way to the fridge to get the milk so as to avoid him. I sit down across from him and eat my cereal quietly. He coughs, grunts, and fidgets in his chair — obviously a sign of being uncomfortable in my presence.

"So, sixteen, eh? Got any plans?" He may be talking directly to me for once, but he's still detached with no emotion in his voice at all. I sigh and slouch back into my seat.

"Not really. Jess and I are just going out for dinner or something. I wasn't going to go out, because I hate celebrating my birthday, but Jess twisted my arm." I look over at to him to gauge his reaction and he's as still as a statue.

"Hmpf, you used to love celebrating your birthday." He looks over to me and quirks an eyebrow at me.

"That was before my mother decided to disappear off the face of the earth without saying goodbye." There was a fiery rage in his narrowed eyes, and I know he's about to blow up at me once again.

"Your mother wouldn't have fucking left if it wasn't for you,so you only have yourself to blame for that. And if you weren't such an imbecile and came to me with what she said to you then she would still be here, and your birthday wouldn't be shit." He stands up abruptly, pushing his chair back into the wall in the process, grabbing his keys off the bench and storming out of the house. A few seconds later, I hear him speeding off down the street. Stupid damn law enforcement — they don't even follow the rules.

I clean up the dishes, going upstairs to clean the bathroom and grab the washing, you would think that he would be grateful for all the work I do around this house since mom left — I took on all the tasks that she used to do. But no, I get no praise. Maybe he just thinks she's still here and is the one doing all the work. The crazy asshole wouldn't surprise me.

I decide to go to the store to get something for dinner. As I pull up to the parking lot, I notice a black Mercedes that I have never in my life seen before. There must be some newbie's in town. As I hop out of my truck and begin to walk inside, I slip on some ice and fall straight on my ass.

"Shit! Ahhh, stupid damn ice; making me even clumsier than I already am." I go to get up, but I only just fall straight back down. I sit there feeling defeated. Could my birthday get any worse?

"Uh, are you okay?" That voice has to belong to an angel. I look up, and yep, he's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Captivating green eyes and gorgeous disheveled bronze hair. Yeah Bella, I bet you look real cool just gawking at this random guy.

"Oh, um, yeah. I'm just, you know, chillin' on the ground." He laughs and I blush scarlet. Can I be any more of a loser?

"Cool. Sounds like fun. You wanna like, chill standing up or something?" This time I'm the one laughing — at least he has a sense of humor.

"Sure, why not." He places his hand right in front of my face and I take it. As he pulls me to my feet, this electricity runs up my arm causing me to flinch away from him which almost causes me to fall over again. But he grabs a hold of me just in time, looking at me in an odd way. I look away from him and put some distance between us, brushing off the wet gravel that stuck to my hands.

"I'm Edward Cullen. I'm new in town." He looks me in the eyes and I get lost in them. His lips form into an odd but very attractive crooked smile that makes my breath catch. Wow, that was weird.

"So you're the newbie with the Mercedes?" His smirk turns into a full blown grin and he shakes his head as he walks over towards the car before leaning up against it. He waves his hand towards him(,) gesturing me to follow after him, so I do.

"This is my Uncle's car. My car's a silver S60 R Volvo." He seems to be very proud of that fact. Boys and their damn toys. "And speaking of my Uncle, here he comes now." I spin around in the direction where he was looking, and see a tall blonde haired, blue eyed man walking towards us with a warm, genuine smile on his face.

"Making friends already, are we?" Edward groans at his Uncle and gives him a pointed look as if to say 'shut the hell up'.

"Yeah, this is uh, um." I realize in that moment that I never told him my name, and start to laugh under my breath. He looks at me and quirks his eyebrow at me.

"What, you don't even know her name? That's not very nice, Edward." He smirks at his Nephew and I figure that it's my fault that Edward doesn't know my name, and should probably put him out of his misery and introduce myself.

"I actually didn't get the chance to introduce myself to him, Sir. My name's Bella." He extends his hand out to me, I hesitate but I take it anyway.

"Nice to meet you, Bella. And please, it's completely unnecessary to call me Sir, Dr. Cullen or Carlisle is just fine, dear." He smiles at me again and I give him a smile back. I take a look at my watch and realize I've been here for nearly half an hour. I need to get the food, like now.

"I'm sorry but I need to get going. It was nice meeting you Dr. Cullen, See ya, Edward." Edward's smile falls slightly and if I'm correct, he looks a bit disappointed.

"Wait. So do you like, go to Forks High or something?" He asked me. My nose automatically screwed up at the mention of that hell hole of a school.

"Unfortunately," I reply. His smile comes back onto his face, and I begin to walk away but hear him call out.

"Maybe I'll see you there then." I turn back around, quirking an eyebrow at him, and he just stays standing there, smiling at me.

"Maybe." I turn my back on him and walk into the store. I figure that because I'm going out with Jess tonight that I might as well just cook something simple for Charlie. Not that he would even care anyway.

"Mmm, this smells great, Nae." Says Charlie as he walks through the front door.

Yeah, the crazy thinks she's still here. As soon as he walks into the kitchen, his face falls and he glares at me.

"Yeah, pretty sure I cooked it and not her considering she isn't here anymore!" And with that, I practically throw his plate at him, storm up to my room and collapse onto my bed. Way to ruin my good mood Charlie.

My phone begins to ring, and I don't have to second guess as to who it is. I feel bad for doing what I'm about to do, but I'm just not in the mood to go out anymore.

"Hey, Jess. Look, I don't think I'm going to come out tonight—" I get cut off by Jessica screaming in my hear.

"What? You have to come out; I booked a restaurant and everything!" I can hear her seething from here.

"I don't feel well and I'm just not in the mental state to be going out. I'm really sorry." The other end of the line stays silent for a while before she finally sighs and speaks.

"Fine, Bella, whatever. You know, since I'm your best friend and have been putting up with your bullshit for ages, I thought you would at least just suck it up and humor me for one goddamn night. But I guess even that's too much to ask for." My jaw drops open in shock; she's never spoken to me like that, ever. The line goes dead.

Another awesome birthday for me.

Jessica has been constantly trying to call me, but all I ever seem to do is disappoint her or upset her. So I thought I might as well just stop talking to her all together; that way, I can't hurt her anymore like I keep doing. All I ever seem to do is be a selfish, whiny bitch that causes everyone else pain when all they try to do is make me happy.

Maybe I am the reason my mom left. Charlie has every right to blow up at me, abuse and blame me for her leaving. I mean, she was the love of his life and she just up and left without any explanation at all. Who does that?

I don't know why she would tell me that she loves me no matter what happens, but not say anything to him though. It could be what Charlie said to me — I'm an imbecile who can't read signals that people give me. Perhaps Mom wanted me to keep pushing her for questions on why she was acting the way she was. What if she didn't want to leave?

But what do I know, right? I'm just useless and not worth anyone's time.

I have to go to the store again to pick up this week's groceries. This time I pull up around the back and park there instead of the front, not wanting to risk embarrassing myself in front of the whole of Forks again.

I walk around the corner and see Edward exiting the store with his head down, playing around on his phone. I turn around abruptly, practically sprinting back around the corner to avoid him. I've been putting off going to the store for this exact reason — I didn't want to run into him again. If I can't keep my friends that I've known since I was eight being disappointed in me, I highly doubt I won't disappointment some insanely attractive new kid.

Insanely attractive new kid. Really Bella? You've met him once, and he saw you fall straight on your ass!

He probably only felt sorry for me anyway; only being nice for the sake of seeing me be the typical klutz I am. Why would a beautiful, God-like male be interested in a loser like me, who's mother couldn't even handle being around her anymore?

The answer — he wouldn't.

Note: [Beta'ed by: Jenndur]

Thankyou so much for reading, and giving me your support! it means the world to me!

-Natalee-x