Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, and no copyright infringement is intended.

Inside the house I tried to escape upstairs to the sanctuary of my bedroom, but it wasn't to be.

"Edward Cullen, you stop right there." The voice stopped me in my tracks. Slowly I turned around and stared at the person who demanded my attention.

"Mom, please. Can I just go to bed? It's late." I whined.

"No. I told you we would talk later, and now is, well, later." She folded her arms across her chest and raised her brow at me, a sign she was waiting for me to defy her.

I sighed as I made my way back down the stairs, following her into the lounge where my father was sitting waiting already. Once inside I threw myself onto the couch and waited for the inevitable lecture. What happened next surprised me.

"Edward, I'm not going to tell you what to do or who you should be hanging around with, you are nearly an adult. So, what I am saying is, think about things. Don't just do something because you want a reaction from people, or you want to be popular." She paused, turning to my father who opened his mouth to speak, silencing him with a raise of her hand. "Just remember that we will love you regardless, and those who cannot see it, well, they will show their true colors soon enough. When they do, we will be here for you."

I was speechless, I had no idea what to say which gave my mom chance to add something extra.

"Oh, and Jessica? I really don't like her, I don't want you to date her, but it's your life and you will find out soon enough if she really is the right girl for you. Personally, I know who that is and I think you have let the best thing to happen to you slip right through your fingers. I can only hope both of you will see sense soon. As your grams would have said When you start touching, you stop thinking. When did my son stop using his brain?"

I looked to where my father was sitting, and he was nodding in agreement. Finally, he spoke. "I don't know what happened between you and Jacob to cause that mess outside, but I heard some of it. All I am going to say is that you need to sort it out, he's your best friend Edward, he stood by you through thick and thin. Don't lose a friend over this."

With that, both my parents stood, my mom kissed my head and my father simply patted me on the shoulder as they left me alone, making their way upstairs, I assumed to bed. My mind was racing at a million miles an hour. I had plans, I had this all worked out in my head and now tonight, well it could ruin it all.

Luckily it was the weekend, so I slept late. After what happened last night, I was grateful my parents already had plans. I remembered them saying they would be out for the day so I would have the house to myself to work through this mess and 'sort out my priorities.' Or whatever bullshit they'd said. To be honest, I stopped listening as it all sounded the same.

I laid in bed for a while, just staring at the ceiling. Last night had been fun, hell Jessica was certainly forward and I liked that in a girl. In a way she reminded me of Tanya, and in another she made me realize how different it was with Bella. I couldn't stand being bombarded with the memories of us, what we had together and more importantly, what I had lost. Things had moved on, there was no going back now. Getting out of bed, I made my way to the bathroom. I groaned when I saw my reflection in the mirror. My face was sore and swollen. My eye had started to bruise where Jake had hit me. Touching the eye socket I winced in pain, knowing full well by the time Monday rolled around I would have a black eye to wear to school. It would give them all something else to talk about, distracting them from the gossip that would surround my date with Jessica. Doubtless everyone would know the details she chose to share before I even turned up on Monday. It's just the way it worked in high school. Staring at my reflection, I wondered who it was staring back out at me. I'd never been in trouble before and certainly never had a fight. Now, I was not only dating Jessica, I was going to turn up at school with a black eye having fought with my best friend. The rumor mill would go into overdrive. Great.

I heard a familiar sound, the message alert on my cell phone. Dashing from the bathroom, I grabbed my cell phone and smiled when I saw Jessica had messaged me.

'Morning, thanks for last night. I had a blast. Wanna hang out today? x o x'

I smiled wider, at the words on the screen, she was eating out of the palm of my hand. I quickly replied. Sorry, got plans. Another time?"

I'd only just placed it back on the nightstand when it beeped. I chuckled to myself, thinking it was a very quick reply from her, showing she was keen, bordering on desperate to see me again. Only it wasn't Jessica, who had messaged me, it was Jake.

'You're a dick, and I'm not sorry for hitting you. Keep outta my way, our friendship is over.'

The words quickly wiped the smile from my face. I didn't know what to say to him, nothing I could say via text message would make this right, and I wasn't sure if I should just go round there and talk to him face to face. I'd planned on doing that, which is why I blew Jessica off.

After a quick shower, I threw some clothes on and grabbed my car keys. My parents hadn't said I was grounded, so I couldn't see the harm in heading out. As I turned the key in the ignition music blared from the speakers and I sped out of the drive towards La Push. I didn't care about what Jake had said to me, he was my oldest friend and I didn't intend to lose his friendship over something as trivial as who I dated.

As I pulled up outside his house I could see his motorbike parked outside, this meant that he was home. I stepped up the wooden steps that led to the porch, nerves ran through me as I raised my hand to knock on the door. A loud voice stopped me as I was about to make contact. "Jake's not home." Turning I saw Sam leaning against my car.

"Oh, hey Sam." I called. "Any idea where he is?" I stepped down from the porch, approaching him only to freeze a few feet way. Sam's pose was defensive, arms folded across his chest as he stared at me. "I need to talk to him."

Sam slowly shook his head. "I wouldn't bother him today if I were you. " Then he stepped forward, I wanted to back away from him, but I didn't. All I could was watch as his hand reached out and took hold of my chin, tilting my head to the side. "Wow, he sure got you good didn't he?" Only then did I pull away, trying to ignore the amusement that tinged his tone. "Looks like I taught him to fight well."

"If you mean, taught him to throw punches at someone who wasn't able to defend themselves, then yeah you taught him well. You must be so proud of him." I sneered back.

Sam smiled at me. "Listen Cullen, you clearly had this coming after your display last night with Jessica. You really shouldn't lay down with dogs, or in her case bitches, you will only get fleas. Now, I suggest you leave before Jake gets back, I don't think another-"

He never got to finish what he said as a familiar car pulled up and Jake leapt out of the passenger side, slamming the door behind him, running towards me shouting.

"You've got a fucking nerve showing up here today!" Then when he was in front of me, he began to push me, I staggered backwards. "Was my message to you earlier not clear enough? Or maybe you need another pounding like you got last night huh? With a final push from Jake I fell to the ground, he was soon leaning over me, his face contorted in anger. "What is it going to take for you to get the fucking message? You want me to beat it into you?" He drew his fist back, causing me to close my eyes and put my arms over my face in defense.

"Enough!" Barked Sam,

"No, it's not." Jake sneered. "He's not welcome here anymore, but he doesn't seem to understand."

"Jake, stop. Please?" I heard sobbing coming from Bella as she choked out those words. I watched as she jumped back behind the wheel of her truck and sped away.

Jake glared at me as he spat. "I'd better go after her. Fix up what you messed up. Again."

Sam shook his head. "No, leave her for now. She's stronger than you think."

It felt like time stood still, but in reality it didn't. When I finally managed to pull myself together. Sam came toward me. "Edward, I think it's for the best if you leave, now."

I nodded and walked toward my car, glancing back only once I was safe inside. Sam and Jacob looked like they were arguing. I had to get out of here, before Jake decided to come after me. The car responded quickly as always, the tires screeched as I pulled away. Driving down the empty road that led from La Push to Forks, I knew I didn't want to go home, to an empty house where my own thoughts would drive me crazy, so I headed down to First Beach, the place I would normally go to just think and work things out in my head. Sitting in the parking lot I could see there was a storm moving in. The irony of this event was not lost on me. I watched as the waves rolled high on the beach. I just needed something to distract me. My foot hit the brake pedal, bringing the car to a screeching halt as I knew where I could go. Turning the car around, I drove to my new destination, hoping I would be welcome when I got there.

Nerves hit me as I knocked on the door, I was the last person they would expect to see standing there when they opened it. A loud rumble of thunder sounded overhead, signalling the storm was getting closer. I began to wonder if they were home, if they weren't I would wait for them to come home, even if it meant sitting here in the cold. I knocked again, this time harder, praying they would be inside. Rain began to fall in a torrential downpour, drowning out all other sounds. I turned to look at the storm that was now directly overhead, but not really surprised how quickly things changed around here. I didn't hear the door open until they spoke.

"Edward?"

Spinning back around to face them, I was lost for words, my mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.

The initial look of shock on their face, was quickly masked with indifference as they asked. "What are you doing here?"

My voice came back to me. "I needed to see you, to explain."

A shake of the head saw them take a step back inside, closing the door in my face. It was now or never, and I had nothing more to lose.

I put my foot in the door, stopping it from closing fully as I spoke, hoping my words would be enough as they were all I had.

"Bella, please, give me five minutes. That's all I am asking for, five minutes of your time. Then if you tell me to get out, and never speak to you again, I will accept it." She looked at me, I could see the conflict in her face, so I pressed on. "Five minutes, please?"

She nodded slowly, opening the door. "Okay Edward, you better make this good."

Authors Note.

First of all, thank you to all those who had faith in me. I cannot tell you how much that means. But there is something I need to address, if you want to attack me as one particular 'reviewer' chose to do, and make it very, very personal, then at least have the guts to sign in and give me a right to reply to you. The review has been deleted. I knew the last chapter would be controversial, and a lot of you did express your thoughts and opinions, and I appreciated the honesty, but when I was personally attacked, that is not on.

No one is forcing anyone to read this story, if you don't like it, don't read it.

HUGE thanks to ETphonehome for pre-reading and supporting me. The line. 'When you start touching, you stop thinking.' Came from a reader, so thank you for allowing me to use the line Hippie star.