Hey guys !! Here's the next chapter for those of you who were anxiously waiting, lol. Sorry this chapter is shorter than the others, but i wanted to leave at where i did, so it would be more suspenseful. So anyway, please review !!!

Chapter 20

BPOV

I numbly sat in my seat and stared at Edward. I looked down at my hands for what seemed like eternity, trying to decide what I wanted. My heart was screaming at me to accept his request. Taking a gulp, I placed my shaky hand into his firm, warm one. He pulled me up and led me to the centre of the dance floor, right under the disco ball. Edward placed his hand on my waist and brought me closer to him. I lightly put my hand on his shoulder. I couldn't bear to look at him, not knowing what emotions my face would betray.

It was nerve-wrecking, being this close to him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alice and Rosalie dancing with Jasper and Emmett, and Angela talking to Ben. Once or twice, I saw Rosalie look over at us.

"Have I already told you that you look beautiful tonight?" He said softly.

"You have to thank Alice for that. She's the one who transformed me into this," I gestured at myself. "And to be honest, I would have preferred coming in jeans and a nice top." I laughed nervously.

"So, what do you think of my choice of song?" Edward asked me as we swayed slowly to the beat. To be honest, I hadn't paid any attention to which song was playing.

"I'm actually worried about hurting your feet," I laughed nervously. I was feeling incredible unsteady on these heels that Alice made me wear tonight. Why couldn't I have just defied her and worn flats? It would have made this a whole lot easier. Edward just laughed quietly.

"It's all in the leading," he told me confidently. "And as long as I'm leading, there won't be any problem. You'll be safe with me." I forced myself to look at his face. He was looking down at me, smiling. I had to do it; I had to break the ice between us. It was ripping my heart to be so far from him. I wished that it would be like it was before, with none of this tension.

"Edward, I-" I tried to say, but he placed his finger on my lips, silencing me.

"No, please don't say anything. You'll ruin it."

"But I really need to tell you this." I pleaded. He was silent for a moment, and finally nodded. "OK, this might seem meaningless, but… I'm sorry. I haven't been really talking too much to you recently. It's just, my life seems really messed up right now, and I need to get it together. Is that ok?" I looked at him expectantly.

"It's perfectly alright, Bella. Take as much time as you need." He finally said. I felt a jolt in my stomach, not the one that you get when you're afraid, but that weird feeling you get when you know you life could be perfect; you have the power to do it, but you just trust yourself enough to do it. That was how I felt. I just wished that I had the trust in myself to trust him. I was so afraid of trusting anyone, especially after what Mike did to me. Sure, boys like that could be found anywhere, but the ones that you really wanted to be with were rare. Like Edward. I was close to tears, but knew that Edward would be disturbed if I started to cry. Otherwise Alice and Rose would think that Edward did something to me. Either way, I didn't want to take the chance. The song was coming to an end.

"Bella," Edward whispered. "There's something you need to know. I will always be here for you. If not today, I hope that tomorrow… it will be different. Please remember that and know that I would never, ever let you down." I could feel my eyes stinging with tears. I looked up at Edward with tear-filled eyes, and tried to see a hidden meaning in his words. Edward slowly leaned down towards me, never breaking his gaze. I searched in his eyes and found nothing but truth, nothing but sincerity, and nothing but the pureness that was always in him. We were less than an inch apart when I realised what was about to happen. I took my hand off his shoulder and pulled my other hand out of his.

"I'm sorry, Edward, I…I just can't." I confessed.

"But, I thought… that you…" He trailed off. His face was filled with confusion.

"I do like you. A lot. More than I should. But I just don't think I'm ready for this right now. I'm really sorry Edward; I'm not being fair to you." I could feel the tears in my eyes again, and I tried to blink them away.

"It's ok, Bella." I could see that my words had hurt Edward a lot, and he was trying to keep himself calm. I could see the pain in his eyes. "Like I said, whenever you're ready." He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. I closed my eyes, hoping that when I opened them, I would realise that it was all a dream.

When I opened them, Edward was gone, and I was standing all alone in the middle of the dance floor. The tears start to fall, and all I could think about was getting away from here. I wasn't worried about Alice and Rosalie not being able to find me; I just wanted to be alone. I pulled off the stupid heels that Alice had forced me into and ran out of the gym, not caring where I went. Ultimately, to stay on the safe side, I sat in my car, and cried until I had no more tears to cry. I felt hollow, empty. When my head started to sear with pain, I fumbled around in my purse for some pain-killers, but didn't find any.

I groaned in frustration, and started the car. It was getting late anyway, so heading home would be the best option. I knew that Charlie wouldn't ask me anything; he probably wouldn't even be awake right now. I was almost home; I had just passed the intersection before my street, when all of a sudden, a shiny red convertible, with the hood up screeched to a halt in front of my car. Adrenaline raced through my blood, and my intuition screamed for me to get out of there. I reversed and started to drive in the opposite direction. Checking the rear view mirror, I saw that he was still behind me. My mind was ain a frenzied panic. What was I going to do? I jumped when a phone rang beside me. I didn't have a phone, then whose…? I picked it up with a shaky hand.

"Hello?" I squeaked.

"Ah, Bella, I see you found my little gift." A deep voice said.

"Gift? What do you want from me?" My voice was hysteric, echoing the fear that was coursing through my body. He was silent for a minute. I checked my rear view mirror again. He was gone. Though I shouldn't have, I turned my head to look back. A loud honking sound from in front of me made me spin around to look front. The red convertible was racing towards me, with bright headlights. I screamed and jerked the steering wheel to the left.

The last thing I saw was a tree. And then everything went black.

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