Well, hello there... Here we go again, eh?

We all know I don't own these characters. HOWEVER... I do fully take credit for this plot.

~Speklez

Chapter 1

Isabella Swan sat back in her cushy first class seat and closed her eyes with a sigh. 'This really is awesome. Guess the asshole was right when he said I needed to experience the finer things in life'.

The look of peaceful contentment that was present on her face morphed into a darker scowl at the thought of her ex. In her, admittedly, slightly biased opinion there were not enough mean and foul names to call him. To think that he believed himself to be so much better than her that he would say that she was not good enough for him. If anything, because he said that, it proved the exact opposite. That was her stance anyways and she didn't give two flying fucks if it made her sound like a bitch because of it. She spent the better part of a year of her young life bending over backwards to please the son of a bitch just for him to turn around and leave her because she expressed her EXTREME displeasure at him once again disregarding her wants.

'It was MY god damned birthday anyways. If anything, or anyone, had a say in how it was spent you would think that it would be ME'. An impressive growl sounded from her throat at the memory of the huge fight they had because she flat out refused to attend a party his family, his sister more precisely, put together for her even after she repeatedly said no.

Flashback

It was a rainy day, as it always is in Forks, and there was an even more powerful storm brewing in the normally passive teen. Edward, her boyfriend, had just informed her that he would be picking her up in three hours to take her to his house for her party when he walked her inside after school. She could feel her eye tic as that announcement registered in her brain. She ran the words over in her mind a few times to make sure that she did in fact hear them and was not getting upset because she THOUGHT she did. Once she was sure, beyond doubt, that he had informed her that her desires were once again being ignored, her normally bright brown eyes darkened to hardened dark chocolate, her normally passive heart shaped face pinched into a mask of pure fury.

"Fuck no." Her boyfriend was so shocked at the phrase that he was unable to respond. That was perfect and exactly what she was going for. "I told you, many times that one, I DIDN'T want a party and two, I already HAD plans for tonight and was not, under any circumstances changing them and I good and god damn meant it."

Edward stared at her for a moment as his shock wore off and a look of displeasure settled on his face. "Isabella, you shouldn't use such language. It is deplorable for a lady to speak like that." She simply raised a disbelieving brow at him. THAT is what he chose to say? Before she had a chance to respond to the reprimand, He continued, "That aside, you need to be reasonable about this. Alice worked so hard to put this together for you and you have the obligation to go if for no other reason than she took the time do so."

Jaw dropping, she stared at him in shock before finding her voice. "Here's the thing. I told her not to so I have no obligation to do shit. It is in no way my fault she didn't listen and, as always, did what she wanted no matter my opinion on the topic. I am not going and there is nothing you can do to make me. I have dinner plans with my parents and I am not breaking them. Not for you, not for her and most certainly not for a party that I repeatedly said I didn't want."

She saw his eyes flash, but didn't flinch. He took a deep breath before changing his tone and speaking again in a tone she had always caved to. "Bella, Love, we don't get to throw parties often and…"

Snorting, she shook her head before looking him in the eyes, "Edward, there are five teens in your house, one of which is so incredibly vain that she would expect a party for starting her period, that I highly doubt that parties of any sort are not common place and if they are not then your parents are not who I thought they were if they would consent to have a party for an effective stranger and not for the kids they put so much effort into adopting. That aside, I am still not going and do not expect me to feel bad about it. If you would have listened to me in the first damn place then we would not even be having this discussion."

Though she thought she heard a growl, she dismissed it as Edward spoke up again. "Isabella, this is not a discussion, this is the way it is. You are going, you are going to put a smile on your face and you ARE going to say thank you to my sister for her effort."

Both brows shot to her hairline at the declaration before she snorted hard and started to laugh. When she settled slightly she looked at him with disdain clear in her eyes even as she continued to snicker, "I'm sorry, I thought I just heard you order me to do something. I must have misheard you just now because I know that could not possibly have just occurred. You don't ORDER me to do anything, EVER, you ask and I consent or don't. As it stands however, I am not, not now or ever, going to your house for a party in my honor and I don't care how your family reacts to my absence. You can also give whatever gifts were gotten for me to charity because I distinctly remember telling you, and everyone else, not to get me anything and I know you did."

Blinking at her, Edward said nothing for a moment before he got a blank look on his face. "It would appear that you aren't the girl I thought you were if you are going to throw something like this back in my sister's face. She spent days planning this and my parents spent all day getting everything together and decorating the house for you and you are not even going to show up." Shaking his head, his mouth turned into a nasty scowl. "If you can so simply disregard my family then you are not good enough to associate with us. We have gone out of our way to make you feel welcome and one of us and you do something like this with no regret."

Crossing her arms, she jutted her hip out. "You're damn right I don't have any regret. I have nothing to regret because this should never have happened. It wouldn't have happened and your feelings wouldn't be hurt if you would have just listened to me instead of thinking that I cared about something as mundane as a birthday party. I have a birthday tradition that I partake in every year and just because I have a boyfriend does not mean that I am going to ignore 18 years of dinner with my parents and frolic off to participate in something I don't feel comfortable doing. I don't want to be spoiled by you and your family. I don't want your family buying me things I have no need for. And I, in no way, want to disappoint my OWN parents to make YOUR'S happy. Not going to happen and you need to accept it."

He crossed his arms and glared at her, "If you don't go then we are done. I do not want anything to do with someone that is not gracious enough to just show up for something that my family put so much time and effort into on their behalf."

Trying not to show how much that shocked her and how much it pissed her off, she gave a shrug, "I already have plans and I am not breaking them. If you are going to throw away our relationship over it, so be it but I am not going."

The shock on his face at her words made her laugh, but she swallowed it fast enough. She meant what she said and was not going to back down from her wants just to appease him. She was of the opinion that had he just fucking listened to her in the first place, this wouldn't be an issue. Another thing was she did not like being blackmailed and was not going to stand for it. Being forced to choose between her parents and someone else's it was a no-brainer in her book. Though she loved the Cullen's this was unacceptable and she was steadfast in her choice. She had not seen her mother since she moved across the country and was not going to pass up the opportunity to see her just because Edward was throwing a hissy fit. This was his own doing as far as she was concerned and as she had been told many times in her life when she made a mistake, you made your bed, now you have to lie in it.

Once Edward got over his shock, he glared HARD at her. "So be it then. If you will not come to your senses and do the right thing I want nothing to do with you. We're done Isabella."

Turning to the door and opening it up, she gave a wave of her hand, "Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya." As Edward stomped past her and out the door, there was no love lost when he walked passed. Before she closed the door she remembered something, "Oh, and bring my stuff to school tomorrow. If you don't, I burn everything I have of yours."

End Flashback

It was actually Rose, even though she had already graduated, that handed her the box of crap the next morning, her eyes full of mirth and a touch of respect. No words were said as the exchange was made, but it was not done in discomfort. With a corresponding nod to each other, they went their own ways and that was that. No fanfare, no disdain, no nothing that she would have expected from the one member of the family that she was positive hated her. The reason became apparent why when she found out that Edward didn't even attend school that day. Had she cared more she might have asked why when she briefly spoke to Jasper, who found the entire situation beyond hilarious, that afternoon when he picked up Alice, but it honestly had not crossed her mind to do so.

Every time she thought over her fight with him that day she kept balking at the statement he made about doing the right thing. How in the blue blazes was her not going to a party and out to dinner with her parents on her birthday not the right thing? No matter the relationship between her parents, her birthday was the one day a year that the white flag was waved and they tolerated each other long enough to enjoy a nice dinner and indulge her in a night of family time. Not even Renee's new husband Phil interfered in their tradition and insist that Renee attend his ball game instead of her dinner and wife trumps girlfriend in the demand department.

What she was having the hardest time with in the whole thing was him basically saying that his parents were better and more important than hers. It was a laughable thought and she got quite the mental chuckle from it. She might have adored the Cullen's but they were not her family and therefore didn't have the right to disregard her wishes in such a blatant way. If HER parents would have pulled something like that she would have gone, albeit under duress, but would have indulged them. She owed no such loyalty to the Cullen's and she would be damned to be made to feel bad over the situation.

It had taken Edward nearly a week to get over the apparently huge disappointment that she made as a girlfriend and return to school. They had a lot of classes together and the term awkward didn't even come close to describing the situation. It didn't help matters that she still didn't feel bad about refusing to go to the party and made no move to apologize for it. It was apparent within the first three minutes of crossing paths that he expected her to be a blubbering idiot about their breakup and beg him to take her back.

It would snow in hell first.

When he figure out that she was still not going to repent and see things his way he threw a temper tantrum that would make any three year old proud, stopping just short of throwing himself on the ground and beating it with his fists and feet. All she did was cock a brow, snort, shake her head and walk away with shaking shoulders; being kind enough to at least go around the corner to start laughing her ever loving ass off. She knew he could hear her still but felt it would soften the blow a bit if he couldn't SEE it. It was days before she could look at him with a straight face after that, her mind replaying his display in colorful detail, adding in little thought bubbles of the surrounding classmates here and there when she was bored or simply to amuse herself when the class was working on something that she had already done. Having taken honors and AP classes in her old school, even as a senior this year, there were things that she had already covered so paying attention was not necessary that early in the year.

Once the amusement ran its course, things got really interesting. Edward would make a snide remark and she would respond in kind. It would get to the point that one or the both of them would be kicked out of class for disrupting the valued learning experience. The third time Charlie was called because of the issues, he finally pried out of her the reason that her and Edward seemed to be so hostile to each other. When she finally introduced him to the Edward of her birthday her daddy was not a happy bunny. He was actually more pissed off about the callousness than she was because in truth, she didn't care. When she got down to the nitty gritty of the class disturbances and why they were happening in the first place, her father marched into the school office and demanded her classes be changed around so she was not put in that situation any longer and had an almost nuclear reaction when Dr. Cullen showed up for a meeting that was called between him and the principal due to Edward's disturbing behavior. She tried to keep a straight face when her father got going but she had never heard such language from her father nor had she ever heard certain words paired together in such a way. There was even a point that she was sure that he was just making up words that sounded bad just for the benefit of continuing his rampage. Carlisle glanced at her, she assumed to get her father to knock it off, but she just smirked at him and crossed her arms.

No one fucked with daddy's little girl.

In the end she was taken out of all the classes she shared with her ex, even getting a different locker that was farther away from Edward's to appease the pissed off chief of police, and placed in classes that were, in her opinion, far more suited to her interests. Yes, there were still requirements that she had to take but they were just at different times than Edward had them. The only time she saw him was when she had lunch since there was only one lunch period, but he sat on the other side of the room and she was too immersed in talking with her other friends to pay him much mind. The same couldn't be said about Edward, however. He attempted to turn the only time they were forced to spend together into a battle of wits and remarks that Bella would indulge him in and then turn him into the laughing stock of the school with only a few words and offhand statements before slipping seamlessly back into conversation with her friends.

It was because she changed classes that she found herself on the plane she was on. She was placed in a folklore and mythology class. Who would have thought that something like that was offered at her school? She loved it and it quickly became her favorite class. It was currently their Spring vacation and her mythology class was going to Romania for the week. There was literally myth and legend under every rock and behind every tree in that country. They were even going to visit 'Dracula's' castle one day this week. That was the part she was looking most forward to. Vampires were her favorite mythological creature, next to dragons, and to go to the home of the most famous vampire in existence was an opportunity of a lifetime and one she was nearly salivating over.

Bringing herself out of her thoughts, she looked out the window and down at the lights of the city below. They were still over soil so it was nothing she had not seen before, but was far too excited to sleep, despite the late hour. They had ten more hours on the plane before their connecting flight in Italy so she had plenty of time to catch some sleep between now and then. They had quite a long layover so her teacher arranged for a tour of a city about an hour away from the small airport they were landing at that was also, according to her text book, smothered in myth and legend. They were going to partake in a festival that was thrown every year for a guy they named a saint for dispelling vampires centuries ago by the name of Marcus. Personally she thought the name Hellsing was a far better name for a vampire exterminator, but that was something that she was sure to hear about in Romania so she could settle for Saint Marcus if she had to.

Pulling her iPod out of her backpack, she put her headphones on and let the sound of her music lull her into a sedate state as her mind drifted to all that she was going to see and experience on her trip and prayed that it was as fun as she hoped it was going to be.