Chapter Eight

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of its characters. They all belong to Stephenie Meyer.

Thanks to Juliegirl18 for beta'ing for me, Bella's Executioner and sariedee for pre-reading and MandyLeigh87 for helping me out in any way she can.

**Remember the warning I put with the first chapter. Well, here's where it comes in to play. Some things might not be suitable for all readers...just sayin'. Read with caution.**


EPOV

You know that saying "You don't know what you've got until it's gone?" Well, I can totally relate to that now.

Bella hadn't spoken a word to me all week. I knew that I wanted her to leave me alone and to not try and be my friend, but I didn't realize how much I would miss her. She wasn't even sitting with us at lunch anymore, and of course Alice blamed that completely on me. I was positive that Jasper was going to kick my ass the next day after I pushed Bella, but he hadn't even said a word about it.

In a little less than a week, Bella had pushed her way into every corner of my life. I missed her annoying humming during class. I missed her stupid observations during lunch. I even missed her annoyingly nosey questions.

I had tried every day to get her to talk to me again. Thankfully, Mr. Banner had just given us busy work over the past few days. I'd asked her questions about herself. I asked what her favorite book was? Favorite movie? Favorite color? She ignored them all. I mentioned some songs that I thought she might like since she liked to hum. She ignored me. I even went so far as to make stupid observations about everyone in class and she continued to ignore me.

By Friday, I was fed up. I watched her rush to get out of class and decided I had enough. I gathered my things quickly and ran after her. I found her in the parking lot by her truck.

"Bella, look. This is getting a little ridiculous here," I said. She looked shocked as she turned to face me.

"Whatever. I'm just doing like you asked, Edward. I'm leaving you the fuck alone," she said, her voice full of disdain. I knew my work was going to be cut out for me. Bella was definitely going to be a hard ass and it wasn't going to be easy to get her to forgive me.

"I only said that I didn't think we should be friends. I didn't say that I didn't want to be friends. I just thought that it would be better if we weren't. I don't want you to get hurt," I told her honestly. She looked at me and shook her head.

"Your stupid mood swings are making me crazy. One minute you ask me to leave you alone and the next you're begging me to talk to you. Make up your damn mind, Edward!" she said as she packed all her belongings in her truck.

"Okay, okay. I'd like to try... to be friends. I could really use a friend," I said quietly as I looked down at my feet. After a few seconds of silence I looked back up at her to find her smirking.

"Now, was that so hard?" she asked.

O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O~o~O

The next week went great. Bella was talking to me, I was being nice to her. She was sitting with us again at lunch so Alice had no reason to be a bitch to me anymore. All was well.

At least it was until I woke up on Saturday morning. Bella was supposed to come by later today so we could work on our Biology project, but I knew the minute I looked at the calendar that today would suck. I couldn't believe that the date had snuck up on me this year. Usually I get incredibly pissy around the time, but Bella had pretty much made me forget... for once.

I was tempted to call and cancel on her, but everything had been going so well between us. I figured I could suck it up for a couple of hours while she was here. Nothing much could happen in a couple of hours. Right?

The door bell rang as I was finishing gathering the stuff for our project. I placed everything on the kitchen counter and went to answer the door. Bella stood on the doorstep, her hair pulled in a high ponytail, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I was glad that she wasn't the typical girl that felt the need to dress up. If I dated, she would be the type of girl I would choose. Where the fuck did that come from?

"Hey, Edward," she said as she stepped around me to enter the house. I walked behind her into the living room. She had been over so many times already to see Alice that she pretty much knew her way around the house. Esme joked that it was like having another daughter.

"Hey. I put everything in the kitchen," I said as we walked side by side. I could see that Bella kept glancing over at me. Even though we'd known each other for less than a month, she had a way of reading my moods. She could tell when something was wrong just by looking at my face. I just hoped that she was able to keep her questions to herself today. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

"What's wrong?" she said as we began to set up the items for the experiment. I really should have known she would do this. I should have just canceled. I really didn't want to blow up at her.

"Just leave it alone, Bella. Please," I told her. Hopefully, the word please would have the same affect on her as it did to me when she said it. After a few minutes of silently working together I heard Bella huff loudly and knew it was coming.

"I just want you to talk to me," she said as she turned around from the sink, a cup full of water in her hand. I turned around about the same time and ended up with a shirt soaked in water.

"Goddammit, Bella! Can't you just leave well enough alone," I yelled before storming off into the living room. Emmett was in there, having come home again for the weekend so Esme could do his laundry. He took one look at me and realized that I really needed to be alone. Most of the family knew that I wanted to be left alone today. Alice couldn't believe that I had actually agreed that Bella could come over and work on the project today.

I sat down on the sofa, my hands gripped tightly in my hair as I tried to control my anger. I really didn't want to be angry with her, but she just wouldn't shut up. After a few minutes I felt the couch dip down slightly beside me.

"Bad day?" she asked quietly. I laughed a little and nodded my head.

"You could say that," I said as I looked at her. She wasn't scared this time, at least.

"I'm sorry I pushed you. I should have..." she said, but I quickly interrupted her.

"It's the anniversary of my parents' death," I told her. I heard her gasp and her hand reached over to touch mine. I flinched out of the way and stood up.

"I'm sorry. If I would have known..." she said.

"Look. I know I said that we could be friends, but I really don't think that's gonna work out. I was adopted by Carlilse and Esme after they died, and it's just always taken time for me to trust people. I don't want you to waste your time," I told her honestly. And that's all she would be doing if she tried to be friends with me. She would be wasting her time trying to get a broken person to open up to her.

"I was adopted too, Edward. I know how you feel," she said as she stood up beside me. I was a little shocked, but I couldn't get over the anger I felt when she said she knew how I felt. No one knew how I felt.

"My mother was murdered, Bella." I said through gritted teeth. She stepped toward me again, but I took another step backwards.

"Mine was too. My mom and my dad," she whispered as tears began falling from her eyes. Who the fuck did she think she was coming in here and feeding me these fucking lies, trying to get me to open up to her?

"Really? Well, Bella, guess what? I bet you didn't watch your father shoot your mother and then hold a gun to his own head and pull the trigger, did you? I bet you didn't sit there for hours, covered in your mother's blood wondering what you should do? I bet you didn't wonder why your father decided to take everything that meant anything to you and leave you with nothing!" I yelled at her before rushing out of the room and up the stairs.