Bella's POV

I woke up the next morning at around eight. I thought about just lying there all day. I didn't wanna move. I just wanted to lay there in my own misery. But I remembered my conversation with Seth and that was what he told me I shouldn't do. He said that I shouldn't let Jake win like that. Maybe he was right. I didn't want to hurt Jake or anything, but I didn't wanna be hurt by him either. Seth said if I started to move on with my life, it would eventually stop hurting. I wasn't sure that was true, but I should at least try. I didn't wanna hurt Charlie again by falling apart again either.

I forced myself out of bed, grabbed a change of clothes and went to the bathroom. I quickly showed and got dressed before going downstairs. Charlie was already at the table with his coffee and newspaper. "Morning, Dad."

Charlie turned to me. "Hey, Bells. Where's your truck. I got home late last night and was worried when I didn't see it. I thought something might have happened to you until I looked in your room and found you asleep."

"I left it at Jake's," I said, flinching slightly as I remembered the horrible conversation I had with Jacob on the beach.

"Oh, so he's better now. That must make you happy," Charlie said.

"Yeah, he's just fine," I said with hurt and bitterness in my voice.

"Well, that's good. I know you've missed having him around," Charlie said.

"Yeah, well, I'm going to have to get over that. Jake wants nothing to do with me," I told him sadly.

Charlie looked at me in disbelief. "What?"

"He doesn't wanna be my friend anymore."

"Bella, I'm sure that's not true. Where you did you get that idea from anyway?" Charlie asked.

"From him. He told me himself that he didn't wanna be my friend anymore. He said I didn't belong in his life. Then he left me on the beach," I said before going over and sitting down. I looked down at my hands, afraid I'd start crying if I looked at Charlie.

"Bella, are you sure you didn't misunderstand?" he asked. I couldn't blame him for being skeptical. I couldn't believe Jake had done this either. I never would've thought he'd abandon me like this. Then again, I never would've believed he would've either.

"I'm positive. Look, I don't really wanna talk about it anymore," I said. Talking about it really hurt. It was making it hard to try to follow Seth's advice.

Things were silent between the two of us for a while. Then about five minutes later, Charlie spoke again. "If you left your truck at the Black's, how'd you get home yesterday?"

I finally looked up at him. "Seth Clearwater found me at the beach. He brought me home."

"Seth's a good kid, although the last time I visited the Clearwaters, he and Harry were getting into it," Charlie said.

I could only assume that Seth's fight with his dad had to do with the situation between his sister and Sam Uley. He had said that things were tense in their house. "Yeah, he was nice. He didn't even mind when I got his car soaked."

Charlie frowned. "How long were you at the beach?"

I shrugged. "I didn't' really keep track."

"Jake just left you there in the rain?" Charlie asked with an icy edge to his voice. He was getting mad at Jacob, probably because he was appreciating the similarities between this and what happened a few months ago.

"It's okay, Dad. I'm fine," I assured him.

"And if Seth hadn't shown up? How long would you have stayed there? Would I have had to send out another search party like when…?"

"Dad, please don't," I begged. I did not wanna be reminded of that. I was already on the verge of falling a part due to both incidents. Going over it all again would push me over the edge.

Charlie sighed. "I'm sorry. I just can't believe he would leave you alone like that knowing what happened last time. I'm going to be speaking with Billy about this."

I was about to ask him not to do that when I heard a knock at the door. I immediately got up and went to answer it. I opened the door and found Seth there. "Hey, Seth."

"Hi. I brought your truck back," Seth said as he held my keys out to me.

I gave him a half smile and took them. "Thanks. Do you wanna come in?"

"Sure. Leah's not here with my car yet," Seth said before stepping inside.

I closed the door behind him and led him towards the kitchen where Charlie was.

Charlie turned the second he heard us. He stood up when he saw Seth with me. "Hey, Seth."

"Hi, Charlie," Seth said.

Charlie held out his hand for Seth. "Thank you for helping Bella yesterday. I really appreciate you getting her home safe."

Seth shook his hand. "It was no problem. I wasn't about to leave her there in the rain. I was taught better than that."

"Yeah. I thought Jake had been too," Charlie said with anger in his voice.

"Dad, please stop," I pleaded.

There was another knock at the door. "That's probably, Leah," Seth said.

"Seth came to bring me my truck and his sister came so he could get home," I explained to Charlie before turning to Seth. "I'll walk you out."

Seth nodded. "See you later," Charlie."

"Bye, Seth. Thanks again," Charlie said.

Seth and I walked back through the house to the front door. I opened it to see Leah Clearwater there. "Hi, Leah. Thanks for helping Seth help me."

Leah shrugged. "Seth's my baby brother. Although, I would've helped anyway. Your boyfriend left you alone in the rain because he's an asshole. My ex is the king of assholes, so I'll do what I can to help."

"Well, Jake wasn't my boyfriend. He was just my friend," I said.

"Maybe, but he was still an asshole. Besides, I hear you did have a douche bag boyfriend leave you too. You just don't seem to have great luck, do you?" Leah asked.

I flinched slightly at the mention of him. "He didn't love me. That's not his fault. I guess it's not really Jake's fault that he didn't love me either. I wasn't good enough for them."

Leah rolled her eyes. "You sound stupid as hell right now."

"Leah!" Seth admonished.

Leah seemed to completely ignore Seth. "I know stupid. When Sam first left, I wondered what I did. I thought I must have done something to make him stop loving me and turn to my cousin. I holed up in my room for weeks over it."

"You did?" I asked surprised. I thought I was the only one who'd reacted that way. I thought losing him was a thousand times worse than any other breakup. I thought that no one else could possibly understand what it was like. But Leah seemed to take her breakup pretty damn hard too.

"Yeah. Seth had to pull me out of it. He came into my room and told me I had to snap out of it, that I wasn't acting like myself. He said I was letting Sam and Emily win by falling apart like I was. He said I needed to get on with my life and prove that I didn't need Sam to be happy," Leah said.

"Yeah, he said something similar to me," I said.

"Only I didn't call her stupid, and I didn't call you stupid either," Seth said with a glare.

"Well, you should've because I was and right now, so is she," Leah told Seth before turning to me. "Your boyfriend was an asshole and so is Black. They told you they loved you and that they would always be around and then they left you like trash!"

I could hear both anger and pain in Leah's voice. She was far from over what Sam had done to her, though she wasn't letting it destroy her life. I didn't know how she managed to survive.

"You didn't do anything to deserve being treated the way they have. You've gotta get that. Stop letting them win by telling yourself that you did deserve it. You gotta realize that they were assholes and that they left you because of their own pathetic issues. Get angry at them because they're the ones who deserve it. Just stop wallowing in your pain because it lets them win," Leah said.

"I don't know how," I said. I wanted to do what she said. I wanted to stop hurting, but I just didn't know how to do that. I wasn't even sure it was possible for me. It seemed to help a little when I had Jake, but I didn't anymore.

"You got your cellphone on you?" Leah asked.

I nodded and pulled it out of my pocket.

Leah took my phone from me and started messing with it for a few moments. Then she gave it back. "My number's programmed into your phone now. Call me. I'll help you stop being stupid."

I chuckled slightly. "Thanks."

"Come on, Seth, let's go," Leah said.

Seth stepped out and looked over to the driveway and frowned. "You brought your car. What the hell, Leah? You know I hate driving with you?"

"Get over it," Leah said before heading for her car.

"See you later, Bella," Seth said before following his sister.

I watched the two pull out and then went back inside.