AN: Sorry for the amount of time between updates, but this story's muse is proving to be more stubborn than I expected when I started it. I promise to plug away at it and update as often I as I can get new chapters written. I never want to post anything that I'm not happy with, so sometimes that means a little extra time to get it right.

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Bella POV

"You gonna sleep all day, girl?" I blinked, bleary-eyed, and tried to figure out who was talking to me and why they were doing it. When my vision cleared enough, I saw that it was Leah.

"Your dad left for work a while ago. You want breakfast first, or a shower?"

"What?"

"You have to eat to build your strength back up. You also have to shower so that you don't reek. You'll be doing both, but I'll let you pick the order today."

My stomach felt a little off, so I opted for the shower first. I didn't want to put either Leah or myself through the embarrassment of a vomiting episode if I put anything in my stomach just now. She got the water started, and it was nice and hot by the time I'd managed—with Leah's help—to walk the twenty or so feet from my bed into the bathroom.

"So, I took a look at your kitchen after I got here—boy, do you guys need a grocery run."

"Um…" my voice trailed off. Going to the grocery store had become one of my weekly tasks practically as soon as I'd moved up here. But considering how shaky I was just now, I certainly wasn't up to it. Leah seemed to think the same thing. "Nope, girlfriend, you aren't getting out for a while yet. You'd fall flat on your face before we made it to the car. Get a move on with that shower—hot water won't last forever, and cold showers only sound good in trashy romance novels."

I knew only too well that she was right about the size of Charlie's hot water tank, and got started on my shower routine, minus shaving my legs, which was just too much effort this morning. Leah stayed out of sight in the hallway, but kept up a running conversation.

"You must be pretty tough, too, changing states and schools in the middle of high school," she said. It took me a minute to remember our conversation about toughness from yesterday.

"I guess so. Mom really wanted to travel with Phil—he's her new husband—and I guess I thought I owed it to her to give her the chance. And Charlie to spend some time with me before I went to college." Although, I honestly hadn't spent all that much time with him once I had gotten up here. I'd quickly gotten caught up in…them.

"Make some good friends?"

"I guess." And there had been some nice people up here—I'd just ignored them in the thrill of being found interesting by a family who'd always ignored everyone around them.

"Who?" Leah didn't let up and I ended up telling her about the kids I'd eaten lunch with for a while: Angela, Jessica, Lauren, Mike, Ben, Eric, Tyler… I wasn't quite sure what it was all about, but it did serve to remind me that I wasn't alone here after all.

After my shower, Leah insisted on brushing out my hair for me; I was stunned when she told me how envious she was. "Mine has never grown like this. Short and straight's how it's been for a long time—at least once my mom stopped torturing me with those pigtails your mom mentioned."

I didn't mind getting Leah's help down the stairs, what with my usual balance issues, and the off-feeling I had today. She sat me down at the kitchen table and got to work making me some breakfast. "I can—" I started to say.

"Stuff it, Bella. You barely made it down the stairs. You have no business standing up and trying to cook. I get that you don't want to be helpless, but you've got to be realistic that it's going to take you a little while to be back to normal. Try to do too much too soon, and you'll either be stuck here a lot longer than you have to be, or you'll be back in the hospital."

I sighed, but couldn't argue with her—the doctors had told me exactly that before I'd been released. And for all that we'd really only spent a couple days together so far, Leah had me pegged pretty well. Within a few minutes, she had a bowl of oatmeal on the table in front of me, along with a banana. One bite revealed that the oatmeal had been liberally dosed with brown sugar and maple syrup. I ate as much as I could, and more than I'd thought I could—Leah had kept giving me looks when I tried to stop too soon.

We watched a couple movies before having lunch, and then Leah went through the fridge and cabinets to see what was available and what things needed to be put on the shopping list. This was followed by another movie that I napped through. I should have known that there actually had been a reason for all of Leah's questions in the morning, but I was surprised when the doorbell rang. Leah went to answer it.

"Bella, you've got visitors." My jaw dropped to see Angela and Jessica walking in.

"Hi, Bella," Angela sat down next to me and gave me a hug; surprised, I returned it.

"Thanks. Hi back. And hi to you, too, Jess."

"How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm…better than I was," I decided.

"And you'll get even better," Jess announced, "because we're here. We can gossip, slam our exes, watch movies, paint our nails…whatever you want."

"Well, you girls have fun without me for a while. Bella, I'm going to run and take care of this list." And in a blur, she was gone.

"So are you really okay?" Angela asked.

"I don't know," was my admission. "I guess I've been so sick for so long that I haven't had time to think too much."

"Did you know he was going to be moving?" Jessica wanted to know.

I shook my head. "H-he said it was a sudden decision, an opportunity his father just couldn't pass up. But…he was acting funny the last few days…"

Jessica got up from the chair she'd sat in and moved to sit on the other side of me. "Bella, I think he must have known longer than that. I'm no expert on hospitals, but my mom works at the bank, and businesses just don't hire new people on the spur of the moment. The hiring process takes time: application periods; reviewing applications, resumes, and references; at least one round of interviews—usually there's a couple rounds of those; background checks, and then they make an offer. So either his dad didn't tell them until it got to the end of the process…or he knew earlier on and didn't want to tell you." Her hand reached over to squeeze mine.

I knew that wasn't how it had really happened, but it was a logical scenario for anyone who didn't know. Maybe they counted on people thinking this way anytime they relocated.

"Why?"

"Maybe he didn't want to worry you until he knew if it was going to happen or not," Angela offered sympathetically.

"Or maybe he just didn't want to be single for his last few weeks in town," Jessica shot back. "Guys can be jerks like that."

I looked at her in question.

"I broke up with Mike again. For good this time."

"I'm sorry."

"Thanks, but it was time. We'd been off and on, and on and off, for so long that it was like our relationship was an endless carousel ride. There were times when I really liked him, but other times…he annoyed the hell out of me."

I had a pretty good idea of what at least one of the annoying things was. "Like when he ignored you?"

"Yeah. I'm not stupid, Bella. I know Mike asked you to prom this spring, and that you turned him down. I'm also pretty sure that you were behind him asking me, weren't you?" I nodded. "Thought so. I just wish I knew why I said yes. I could easily have gone solo."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to be with someone." I knew that only too well, and also knew that I was alone now. I couldn't imagine wanting to be with someone now.

"Maybe so, but I plan on waiting a while and finding 'Mr. Right'. We're still in high school, after all. Nothing says we have to have a guy on the line by the time we graduate. I mean, next year we'll be in college—just think of all those frat boys!" Jess tossed her head. "But enough about boys. This is a girls' day. So, any good movies here?"

In the end, we skipped a movie in favor of rerun episodes of "Friends" on cable. I'd never watched it before, but the show did seem to be funny. Noticing that, Jessica said, "If you like it, I've got the whole series on DVD, Bella. I'd be happy to let you borrow them."

"Thanks, Jess. I'd like that. If you have time, maybe you could watch some of them with me?"

She seemed surprised—but really pleased. "Sure, Bella. I would like that."

Later that night, I wondered why exactly that I hadn't become better friends with Jessica before now. I remembered that she'd been nice to me when I'd first arrived, and then… then, what, exactly? I gritted my teeth. I knew what. Edward. I forced the name out in my thoughts, and it hurt even worse than I expected this time. Had he tried to take a friend away from me like he had my future? He'd been the one to make me pull back from Jessica, and not just because I'd started spending a lot—okay, almost all—of my time with him and his family. He'd told me how selfish and insincere she was, the kinds of things she'd thought about him… Had he made it all up? How would I have known it if he had?

I didn't fall asleep that night so much as I sank even deeper into the mire that refused to let go of me. The lift I'd gotten from my visitors today was gone, like it had never existed. He'd taken everything from me: his family, my future, himself…everything.

It only took one look at me the next morning to have Leah cursing a blue streak. "Shit, Bella! Why in the world are you letting him do this to you? Yes, he's gone. Yes, he's an asshole, and a jerk, and a bastard, and every other name in the book. But some guys just are. But you can't let him defeat you like this. It'll be hard—I know it—but you can do this."

"How?" I gasped, through the numbness. I didn't see how it was possible, or if I even wanted it to be.

"When Sam left me, I hated him—I think I still do. To see him walking around with another woman, holding her, kissing her—all the things he'd done with me—I hate him for taking all that away from me, for making me face it on a daily basis. For it to be a complete stranger…part of me almost wished it was someone he'd known already; at least that way I could have told myself that he'd been thinking about this for a while, that she'd been pursuing him, but that he finally lost the battle against temptation. Maybe it wouldn't have mattered either way; maybe the one was no worse than the other."

I tried to imagine what it would have been like to watch him with someone else in Forks, but all I could feel was the reality of the gaping hole in my chest that had been there for days already and would likely stay forever—unlike him.

Leah made me get out of bed, shower, and eat, but as much as possible I tried to escape into the numbness of sleep under the cover of the movies Leah put into the DVD machine, and the medication I was given for the coughing that wouldn't go away.

But Jessica and Angela didn't stay away, coming back once together and once each alone to spend some time with me and Leah. Jess brought the first season of "Friends", as promised, and we started working through it. There were times when I did feel…something, but it never seemed to last. When I was alone at night in my bedroom, a place where I hadn't been alone, and I would sink back again.

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AN: My plan was originally to have a split chapter between Bella and Embry, but this was already at a good length, so you get Bella now and Embry next. That chapter is just about ready to go, and lots of reviews will really motivate me to post it quickly.