Author's Note: This story will be in Bella's POV only. There will be no direct dialogue between characters until Chapter 13 because all chapters up to that point are Bella's memories of the past.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyers owns Twilight.

Chapter 9. Moving Forward

Up until graduation, things continued to stay the same for the most part.

I was still alone and ignored by everyone.

Well, almost everyone. The only exceptions were James, Jacob Black, and Dr. Cullen. From the time he went to prison and up until he was released, James and I exchanged letters once a week. It still kind of amazes me that Charlie never found out that I had kept in contact with James while he was in prison.

I had also spoken to Dr. Cullen a couple of times due to my clumsiness getting the best of me a few times. He still treated me like a daughter and always gave me a small smile when he saw me. I wasn't too sure what to make of that though. I figured he was either a very good actor, or he was completely oblivious to the fact that I had essentially become a social outcast. I couldn't decide which was true.

As for Jacob Black, there had been a few occasions over the years when he had to drive my father home because he was too wasted to drive himself. When that happened, he'd greet me and chat a little, but he never tried to talk to me if he saw me outside of those rare instances.

During those last few years I was in highschool, aside from the anniversary of my mother's death, there wasn't a time where I felt more hurt and alone than I did on my birthdays and on holidays.

James was the only person to wish me a happy birthday each of those years. I don't know how he did it, but he somehow managed to have a small cupcake and a gift delivered to my house on those days too. My own father didn't even wish me a happy birthday or get me a gift. Even though I didn't expect him to do anything, it still hurt.

Holidays weren't much better. I'd get a call or a letter from James and then I would cook myself dinner while my father busied himself with getting wasted.

The week before I graduated highschool, I received an acceptance letter to the University of Chicago. I hadn't felt that excited in a long time. A few days after I wrote a letter to James telling him my good news, he sent me one asking me if I would like to stay with him while I went to college. I figured that by the time James was released from prison and done with his parole, I would be 18 and it would no longer be illegal for me to stay with him, so I accepted.

Two weeks after graduation, James was finally released from jail. But since he was going to be on parole for a few months, during that time he would be unable to leave the state. Because he didn't want to cause any more trouble for me, he decided to stay in a hotel in Port Angeles until he was done with it.

It was three long months before he was finished with his parole. During that time however, I turned 18.

The day I turned 18 was the day I started packing up all of my belongings to take with me to Chicago. Two days later, James helped me hire a moving crew to move my things across the country. They came by after Charlie had left for work the next morning and they had cleared everything I owned out of the house within a few hours. I did a quick walkthrough to make sure I didn't leave a single thing I owned behind, and then James and I headed to the airport to begin our journey to our future home.

I didn't even bother to try and tell Charlie or anyone else I knew that I would be leaving and moving across the country. Hell, as far as I knew, nobody else besides James and I knew that I had gotten accepted into college.

And that's the way I wanted it.

I didn't want anything to do with Forks or the people in it. I didn't want people to know where I was going to be, not that they would care anyways. I just wanted to put the past four years behind me and move forward.

With James.

A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter. I have also decided that there will eventually be some dialogue in this story, but it won't be until later in the story. Also, Edward will eventually be in the story later on, so hang in there!

Feel free to leave me a review if you want. This is the longest story I have ever attempted, so it would be nice to know what people think of it so far.

See you next time! :)