The blaring of the alarm clock woke me out of my haze.

It was Monday. Everything was the same.

I still lived in Seattle. I was still a second grade teacher at Olympic Hills Elementary.
And, I was still Isabella Marie Cullen.

I remember my wedding day as if it were yesterday. It was a bright, beautiful, sunny day- rare in Seattle. I was happy, ecstatic even. I was making my momma proud, something I always tried to do, but never quite measured up to. I remember the joy I felt walking on Charlie's arm to the traditional wedding march.

One word to describe the wedding; traditional. I was dressed in a long, white, flowing gown. My bridesmaids wore long, light, peach dresses. And, it was held at the Cullen Estate. I remember my mother and Esme smiling through tears on either side of the aisle. I remember my father's tense form. I remember the nervousness I felt at being watched by so many people, and the fear that my clumsiness would take the most inopportune time to appear. That I'd trip in front of all of the socially elite guests our parents invited, seated in the elegant cream chairs to my left and right. I also remember the forced smile and dread in my grooms eyes when I finally looked at something other than my feet.

After that, it's all a blur.

I don't remember all of the people I greeted with shaky hands and a forced smile. I'm sure they were very nice. I don't remember the dinner we ate, though I'm sure it was delicious. My last memory of my wedding was Edward's forced out "I do" as though it took all of his strength to utter the words. As thought he meant anything but.

I was pulled out of my reminiscing from my alarm, blaring once again. To make up for lost time I had to rush through my morning routine. I grabbed the first outfit I could get my hands on; a cream pencil skirt and a pale pink blouse. It was a little dressy for my taste, but my bloodline, surname, and Alice took the choice out of my hands.
I threw my hair into a bun, grabbing my charcoal blazer and heels and sprinted out of my eternally empty bedroom, into the kitchen.

"You're late."

I spun around from my post at the coffee pot to see Edward bringing his own cup of coffee to his lips with his left hand. No ring. I shouldn't be surprised and my heart shouldn't feel heavy, but it does. It always does. My own ring seemed to be burning a hole through my left ring finger, and my cheeks burned crimson.

"I am. And, you're not at work." I said it with my back turned as I screwed the lid onto my travel mug.

"I'm going in late." He wasn't even looking at me as he said this. Instead, his attention was intently focused out of the kitchen window.

"Right. Well if I don't hurry, so will I." I turned around sliding on my shoes and slipping into my blazer, grabbing my purse, and coffee on the way.

I, of course, did not receive a response. And, as I walked out of the door I wasn't sure how I felt about that. How much longer could I live like this?

***
School was normal. Or as normal as it can be with a class of 24 second graders. Alice came to my classroom trying to con me into lunch- she teaches fifth grade here-but I was too distracted. And she, as usual, understood. Alice is the only person outside of my 3 year marriage that knew it was anything less than stellar. She was my best friend. Had been since we'd been in diapers. I didn't want her, or anyone for that matter, to know my marriage was a sham. That I was living a lie. But she saw through the fake smiles we gave, the tenseness in our held hands. She just knew.

All day I kept going back to the forced conversation with Edward this morning. Now, as I left the school and got into my car, I couldn't help but realize something. It was a short conversation. But, sadly, it was one of the longest conversations of our marriage.

I had known I would marry Edward Cullen, my mom told me when I was 17. She said, "Bella, honey, I know Michael likes you, and you might like him. But, you're betrothed, practically engaged! I'm not telling you what to do, sweetheart. Just remember what I said. Don't get your heart broken when you walk down that aisle to Edward, not Michael Newton or anyone else." And that was the last we talked about it.

My mother didn't forbid me from dating. But I couldn't do it. It felt wrong, like I was cheating. Which is ironic considering the revolving door of girls in and out of Edwards's life at the time. The moment I started high school-Edward was a senior-I got to see this all for myself. Though Edward and I were frequently around each other outside of school, we rarely spoke inside the walls of Forks High. I couldn't reconcile the sweet, funny Edward I knew from our parents' shared cabin to the cold, uncaring Edward I saw at school.

So, the door kept revolving. Specifically, for Tanya Denali. The bane of my existence. She was an outsider of Forks, only coming to Forks High our freshman year, but she thought she was better than anyone. She didn't think flaws were worthy of her. She thought she walked on water, because she caught the attention of Edward Cullen. Which admittedly, wasn't hard to do. If you had boobs, and legs, you had his attention. Tanya made it no secret she hated me. And till this day, I haven't found out why.
It couldn't be the fact that the guy she thought was her soulmate, the guy she was avidly having sex with behind the bleachers, was going to marry me. No, it couldn't be that, because only our families knew. Edward was too embarrassed for anyone else to know.

I thought I had escaped Tanya Denali. I thought once I graduated high school, I'd get married, move to Seattle, get a house with Edward, and move on.
But then, on one of my many hospital trips, I was introduced to the new receptionist, Ms. Denali. She was here. In Seattle. With me. And Edward.

Before I knew it I was sitting in my driveway, when my phone stared to ring. "Hello?"

"Bella? Hey! It's me. Alice. Anyway, I was thinking we should do dinner. Meet me at that cute little sushi place by your house in 30, yeah? Oh, and wear that blue dress I got you a couple of weeks ago. It will look really good with the shoes you wore today. Oh, I gotta go. Bye, Bella. Love ya."

And the line went dead.

I pulled up to the sushi place in the back of a cab, freshly changed, ready to meet Alice's approval. I walked to the hostess stand prepared to ask for a reservation for Brandon, when I saw a ball of spiky, black hair bouncing in a booth in the corner of my eye. As I approached the table Alice already has the food waiting for us.

"Eat fast, Bella. We're meeting Edward and Jas in 20 at the new club."

As I walked into the club with Alice dragging me, I couldn't help but be confused. I never went out, especially to clubs, and certainly not with Edward. I was still trying to figure all of this out when Alice pushed me into the booth with Edward, across from her and Jasper, Edward's cousin and her husband of a year.

"Helloooo, Bella. You look very," he paused to hiccup, "pretty." I turned my head to look at my highly intoxicated husband and gave him a small thank you. Still not completely comfortable in this situation, and a little more than shocked because he never talked to me, let alone gave me compliments, I missed part of the conversation.

"…I ship out next week." Jasper was finishing his sentence as I turned to Ali and noticed the sadness and dread in her eyes. Jasper was in the army, and was currently on leave. It tore Alice apart every time Jas left, but she tried to be strong.

"How long will you be gone for?" As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Alice turned herself into Jasper's shoulder.

"6 months."

I jumped not expecting my inebriated husband to be coherent right now. "Jas, why don't you and Ali go home. Spend some time together before you leave. Don't waste your time in this place." I couldn't stand seeing my best friend like this and as soon as Alice heard my suggestion, her shoulders slumped in what looked like relief.

"Are you sure? You guys will have to take a cab though, nether of us drove." He said with a hopeful expression of his face, pointing between himself and Edward.

I nodded my head yes. "I need to get him home soon, anyway." After saying goodbye to our friends, I herded Edward into an awaiting cab, told the cabbie our address, and prayed Edward wouldn't fall asleep on the way.

I managed to get Edward up the steps to the front porch, when I started looking for my house keys. I dug around my purse desperately trying to find them, when Edward's hand ran across my butt, up my back, and dangled a set of house keys in front of me.

"Here you go." I took the proffered keys and stuttered out a thank you, not sure what was going on. As soon as the door was open Edward, had me pushed up against it and kissed me for the first time since our wedding day. I'm not sure why, but I allowed him to. I'm even more confused as to why I wrapped my legs around his waist and let him take me upstairs.

As I drifted off to sleep that night with a smile on my face, and Edwards's arms wrapped around my waist as he lightly snored, I couldn't help but let out a contented sigh. We had a lot to talk about, a lot of things to sort out, but we had consummated our marriage finally, after 3 years and I was wondering if maybe, just maybe, things were starting to look up.