The rest of the day goes past in a blur. Gym sucks, as usual, but I do get a few good spikes of the volleyball that land right on Lauren's nose and one that hits Edward on the head. He smiles at me and waves it off. His nonchalant attitude bothers me.

I don't like Edward, but then again I don't really know him.

As soon as the bell rings, signaling the end of school, I run outside to meet Jasper, who is waiting patiently by the hood of my truck.

"Do you still want to study for the history test we have tomorrow?" he asks as soon as I'm in earshot.

I nod at him as I walk around to the driver side. "Yeah, that'd be a good idea. Meet me at my house in like an hour?"

"See you then," he says before he walks away.

I hop into the cab of my truck and turn on the heat. It's not that a cold out, but it is rainy.

I check my cellphone before I pull out of the parking lot and see another message from my mother. I groan before snapping my phone shut.

You think a woman could take a hint. She left us. Not the other way around. Her sending me messages, begging for me to answer her, was not the way to keep a relationship going with her daughter.

I don't even know where she is.

Renee has always been flighty. One day, she'd be perfectly content and the next, she'd be begging my dad to go on some huge vacation to some remote location that we clearly could not afford. And yet, she kept begging until we finally went somewhere, even if it was just to Seattle for the weekend.

But then, she slowly started disappearing for a few days at a time, always leaving notes that she was going to Seattle by herself to meet up with some girlfriends, or that she was going to visit her home town and would be back in a few days.

The last time she left, she just didn't come back.

There was no note, no phone call, no nothing for almost a week and a half. I thought she was dead somewhere or had been kidnapped.

But apparently, she was just fine.

She was well enough to send my father a stack of divorce papers after about two weeks.

I throw my phone onto the passenger's seat before backing my truck carefully out of my parking spot.

I still don't know where she is exactly. I know she's in Arizona, only because of the postage address on the papers she sent my father. My guess was Phoenix. She'd always loved it there and would always beg my father to go.

I'm pretty sure that she'd been there every time she told us she was going to Seattle by herself.

I pull into my driveway a few minutes later and am relieved that my father's police cruiser isn't here. I love my dad, but he's been trying to get me to answer my mother for the past week. I think he's more curious about her than I am.

I grab my backpack and my phone, which is already vibrating with a new message, before running through the now down-pouring rain into my house. I'm greeted at the door by my cat, Velma. She's a fat calico with an abnormally long tail and a meow that practically melts my heart.

"Hey baby," I say as I drop my backpack and take of my coat. She meows in response and rubs my leg. "How was your day?"

She purrs and I take that for an answer. I lean down and pick her up, scratching her behind the ears as I make my way to the kitchen.

"What do you think? Should I make Jasper and I a turkey sandwiches?" I ask. Her ears perk up at the word turkey and I roll my eyes before setting her down.

I slap together two sandwiches and toss some turkey on the ground for Velma.

I'm just pouring some Coke into two glasses when I hear my front door open.

"Honey, I'm home!" Jasper yells.

Velma takes off to greet him and I follow slowly behind her with the sandwiches. "There are drinks in the kitchen if you want to grab them," I say as I pass him, heading into the living room.

"On it. And I brought Kit Kat bars for dessert." He holds out a bag filled with chocolaty goodness. I smile and grab it from him before he takes off into the kitchen to grab the drinks.

A few minutes later, we're sitting on the floor of my living room with our history books sprawled out in front of us and our sandwiches half gone.

Jasper takes a sip of his coke before breaking open a Kit Kat.

"So. Alice seems nice," He says with a grin.

I wiggle my eyebrows. "Aw, does Jazzy have a widdle crush?" I ask in a baby voice.

He throws a piece of turkey at me, which Velma quickly gobbles up as soon as it touches the ground.

"She's attractive!" he defends himself. "You're not going to be the only girl in my life forever, Bells." Jasper says before he takes a bite of his Kit Kat bar.

"You mean we're not going to get married and have little blonde babies?"

"Bite me," he says around a mouth full of Kit Kat.

I laugh and take a sip of my coke. "Yes, Alice seems really nice. And more normal than most of the tramps at our school which is a big plus."

He grins at me. "Exactly. She'll fit in with us just fine. And she seems to be-"

Jasper is cut off by the sound of my cellphone beeping. He turns and grabs it from my couch where I had tossed it unceremoniously when I got home.

"It's your mom," he says. I can hear the sympathy creeping into his tone.

"Just put it back." I try to make my voice sound disinterested.

Being Jasper, he doesn't listen and opens up my cell, quickly reading the message.

He looks at me with the pity I hate so much. I feel enough pity for myself; I don't need him to feel it for me, too.

"Bella, she just wants to talk to you. Why don't you give her a chance?" he asks.

I know he means well but his words hurt. "Because she left, Jasper. She didn't give us a chance to change her mind. Why should I give her a chance to defend herself when there is no excuse for what she's done?" Jasper starts to speak but I cut him off. "No. Because of her, my dad is never here. He can barely stand to look at me because I look like her."

Jasper knew my mom well enough to know that it was true. We had the same long hair, the same eyes, and the same smile. Looking at me was like looking at a younger version of my mom with my dad's nose and ears.

I rub my temples. "I know I should talk to her, but it's hard. I don't understand the way her mind works. I just…don't understand."

Jasper hops up on the couch and pats the spot next to him. I obey his request and sit on the couch next to him. He throws his arm around my shoulder and I lay my head on his chest. Jasper could be a douchebag, but he was a good guy when he needed to be. Like now, as he leans down and kisses my forehead.

"I know you don't understand what's going on, Bella. But you are never going to understand until you actually talk to her." His voice is calm and reassuring. "She was completely in the wrong with all of her actions, but she may think she's justified. You need to let her tell you what happened."

I sigh and nod in agreement. "I will…eventually. Just…I'm not ready."

Jasper rubs my shoulder. "Okay."

We sit like that for a few more minutes until my phone beeps again. I scoot away from Jasper and glance at the screen, relieved to see Charlie's name come up instead of my mother's.

"Charlie's at work until late again tonight," I say with a shrug.

Jasper smiles sadly. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

I shake my head. "Nah, it's fine. I'm probably just going to go to bed early tonight."

Jasper nods. "Well if you change your mind, I'm only a phone call away," he promises.

We study for a few hours after that, stopping occasionally when I get distracted by Velma's cuteness or to make fun of each other.

It's around 7pm when he leaves and shortly after, I curl up on the couch, deciding what I want to do with the rest of my night. I flick on the TV after about fifteen minutes and am startled by the face of Edward Cullen that greets me.

"In other news, famous teen heartthrob turned up at Forks High School today, causing quite the stir!" the reporter says with a grand smile. A picture shows up next to her face of Edward getting out of the car earlier today, looking as amazing and perfect as usual.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't extremely attracted to him. When I caught him staring at me today, I was extremely flattered. He's so…well he's beautiful. I know men aren't supposed to be beautiful, but there is something about him.

He is also extremely talented. The movies I've seen him in are actually pretty decent and his songs, though lacking any emotional depth, are catchy.

I decide finally to take a shower then go to bed. I click off the TV and watch as Edward's blazing green eyes fade out to nothing.

I take a quick hot shower before jumping out and wrapping a towel around my body. I wipe the fog off the mirror and stare at myself for a long moment. My eyes disturb me. They are my mother's eyes. I look at my long brown hair that flows all the way down to my waist and stare at in disgust. My mother's hair was the same-long and brown and dull.

I glare at myself for a long moment before I crack. I reach into the medicine cabinet and push around a few bottles before I find what I'm looking for.

Scissors.

And before I can give it a second thought, I reach up and begin to snip and cut away at my hair and at the same time, I cut away my mother.