A/N: Read at bottom. 

Chapter 9: Revenge

BPOV

"Bella, we're back! Hey, where are you? Is Edward still here? Bell-" Alice cut off her ranting when she opened my door. I was still sitting on my bed, in the exact place Edward had left me. He left me.

At that moment I let a sob escape my chest; Alice gasped and rushed to my side, Rosalie and the boys not far behind. "Bella, what happened?" Emmett asked. Rosalie was hugging me while Alice was trying to calm down my tears. "Bella, where is Edward?" I didn't respond to him, I just kept crying.

"Bella, we need you to listen very carefully," now it was Jasper talking to me. I looked up to him, his face very troubled. "What did Edward do?" Looking into Jasper's eyes, I saw great concern, but I knew it wasn't for me. I don't want to talk about it. I need him here with me. I always need him here with me.

"He… he left me. He was so… so… he said that he was worried about me, he really feared for me. Then all of a sudden he got mad. You should have seen him, his eyes were… were black. They were terrifying and deadly, like an endless pit of anger. He was going on about how I know nothing and I shouldn't have done that and then… and then he left me." I couldn't talk anymore. The tears kept coming; the memory replaying over and over in my head.

"Bella, did you say anything, anything at all before he got upset?" I felt like Jasper was interrogating me and I didn't like it. He made it sound like I did something wrong.

"I don't know! I woke up, and he was holding me and I said something about… about being really stupid for drinking so much, but I probably won't remember that when it counts… or something! I don't know! Jasper, what's going on with him? I've never seen him so angry." Jasper sighed heavily, before turning to Emmett and nodding. "Jasper, what are you not telling me?"

"Bella, it's not really my place to say, but something happened to Edward when he was little. It was caused by alcohol and he's never really let it go. I think you drinking, being the person he cares about the most, really has affected him and not for the better. Now I need you to listen to me," he got down on his knees in front of me and looked me straight in the eye. "Do you know where Edward went?" I held eye contact with him for several moments before I looked away. I shook my head.

"I'm sorry. I don't know. I'm so sorry." I don't know what happened to him, and I don't know why but I suddenly felt like this was entirely my fault. I was still angry, but I was also filled with a lot of other emotions- one of them being guilt. "Alice can you see anything?" I turned to her, to see her looking anxious.

"Bella, I can't see anything. He doesn't know what he's doing so until he makes an audible decision, I can't help you. Jasper, the best place for you to look is back at your place. That is the most likely place for him to go. Emmett, you check around campus just in case. Rosalie, you stay here with Bella and clean her up. I will keep looking to see if he decides anything so keep your mobiles on. Bella," she took both my hands in her tiny ones and smiled weakly at me, "you didn't know, okay? Don't completely blame yourself, because I know you will. So stop crying and let Rosalie take care of you. I love you babes." She gave me a hug before walking out with the boys.

Rosalie hugged me tight to her. "It's okay Bella. Everything will be okay."

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It wasn't long after that I heard Alice's light footsteps enter the house once again. She was alone, so I guessed they had found Edward. She entered my room with a solemn look placated on her face.

"Is he okay?" Rosalie asked for me. She could tell I wanted to ask, but couldn't find it in me to voice it.

"He's pretty torn up, but I think he'll be okay. He just looks really freaked out. The boys said that they won't be at school tomorrow; just to be safe, but everything should be alright. Bella?" I was looking at the floor when she called me. I looked up to face her. "He's fine." She could read me so well. She sighed, knowing I was still stressing out and very upset. "Listen, if it's any comfort, try talking to him when they get back to school. I think he might want to." I just nodded, not really paying attention. "Try to relax. I think we might have tomorrow off as well. We need some girl time."

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I took a deep breath to calm myself. I stood outside the door to my Biology classroom, trying to get the courage to enter. What if Edward hated me now? I couldn't live with myself if he did. I had been avoiding everyone today except Alice and Rosalie. We even sat at a different table to the boys at lunch. I knew it hurt them to do it but just couldn't face him yet.

That's when I felt his presence behind me. Before I could do anything, Edward had breezed past me and into the classroom, leaving me stunned. I was frozen on the spot until the last bell rang, when I entered the room. All eyes were on me as I made my way to the back corner, but of course I couldn't make it without getting some sort of comment from Lauren.

"Why isn't Bella with Eddie-bear? Things not going well anymore?" I heard her and Jessica snicker while Mike held back a laugh.

Jessica fake gasped, putting her hand in front of her mouth. "He didn't dump you did he? That would be so terrible."

"Fuck off." I wasn't in the mood for bickering. I saw Angela looking worriedly at me from the corner of my eye and I gave her a weak smile before making it to my table.

As I sat down, I noticed how still Edward was. His eyes were locked on the table that his fists were clenched on top of, not breathing. His back was hunched forward, his face completely unreadable and blank with bits of hair hanging in front of his eyes. I had never seen him look so vulnerable.

Class had started, but I couldn't concentrate on anything except Edward. As I mindlessly scribbled on my folder with my pen, in my peripheral vision I saw him take his first breath for the entire period. I watched as his eyes fluttered slightly before his fists unlocked themselves and he truly relaxed, as if he breathed in the most beautiful scent in the world.

That's when he finally looked at me. At first it was only his eyes, and then he turned his head just a little. When I returned the gesture by looking at him, he just stared at me. It was as if he was mesmerising my features, or seeing them for the first time. Eventually he smiled. It was a small smile, barely there, but it was. I looked down unsure, and then up again to smile back. If you thought about it, it didn't really mean anything but to me, just that small smile meant the world.

I had just decided that I would talk to Edward at the end of class when the bell rang, and without even a glance my way, he stood up and exited the room. Maybe I can talk to him in gym.

My hopes didn't last long as he completely avoided me throughout the entire period. We were playing volleyball and when it came time for my team to verse Edward's, not even once did he pass the ball my way. Mike, being on my team- not voluntarily on my part- I had never seen happier. I could have sworn I even saw him wink at me… three times.

When the day was over and I walked out of the gym, I was met by my girls but it turned out that Edward had already left with Jasper and Emmett. I guess he doesn't want to talk then.

On the walk back to the house, my girls and I were talking. I could tell they were trying to keep my spirits up but since I had met Edward, any moment without him seemed pointless. We were nearly home when I felt strange, as if someone was watching us. I turned around to see if anyone was there but I didn't see anything.

"Are you okay Bella?" Rosalie asked me.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I'm fine. I just thought I heard something. I'm probably just going a little nuts in my old age." We laughed at my stupid joke but I still felt uneasy.

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It was Wednesday, exactly a week since Edward had broken up with me. Things still hadn't changed; he still wasn't even talking to me. Every now and then I would receive a smile, or maybe if I was extremely lucky, a nod in my direction as acknowledgement. These tiny things were what kept me going. Each smile my very own ray of sunlight.

It was also on this day that the girls got sick of sitting without Emmett and Jasper, so we all decided to sit together again. A strange topic began around the table- excluding myself and Edward of course.

"You know what? I haven't seen the bitches around lately. Have you guys?" Emmett actually had a good point.

"I haven't. That is actually really weird. Very observant, Emmett. I'm so proud of you." Rosalie gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as so not to upset me. "Have you seen them, Bella? They always seem to annoy you the most." I looked up for the first time all of lunch and quickly shook my head before looking down again. I seemed to be on a permanent low these days. Jasper immediately picked up on me so changed the subject.

"We haven't been hunting in about two or three weeks. Do you guys want to come with us this weekend?" I had actually forgotten about that.

"We would love to. We haven't been in a while either. Are you up for it Bella?" It was really getting on my nerves that everyone was worrying. I knew Alice was just trying to help but I felt like I was an unwell child and everyone wanted to take care of me. I am going through a rough time. My parents just died and the love of my life dumped me. Let me keep to myself for a little while.

With a lot of effort, I managed to get out, "Yeah, I'm good to go." It sounded forced, even to me.

"Are you sure, Bells? We can easily wait until… wait a little longer." The one person that would never intentionally set me off was Emmett- especially in all his innocence- but I couldn't help myself.

With a bang of my chair from knocking it backwards, I stood up. "I said I'm good to go. Can't everyone just leave me alone?" I quickly looked at Edward to see his eyes downcast then ran out as 'humanly' possible from the cafeteria.

I wanted to go home. I wanted to see Charlie again. I wanted to see Renee again. I wanted Edward back, and to hold me and love me like he had a week ago. I want things to be good again.

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It was Friday. We had all decided to go hunting tomorrow. I had talked to Alice and Rosalie after some very heavy persuasion, and they agreed to back off a little bit. Since then, they had started treating me a little more normally, even making fun of me once. It wasn't enough though. I made a decision and whether he wanted to or not, Edward would talk to me. I was fed up of life without him. One hour was torture, let alone this long.

Biology had just finished and as always Edward was the first out of his seat and out the door. Not today. Today, you are mine. I wasn't far behind him. By the time I made it to the gym, he was already in the locker room, so as quickly as possible, I went into the girl's room and changed. I came into the open gym and the only person there was Edward, sitting on the stands. Everyone else was taking their time changing.

"Edward, we need to talk." He looked up at me surprised, and then composed himself into a blank face.

"What do you want me to say Bella?" His voice was harsh, but just the sound of it was like heaven after so long.

"Anything. Say anything, just tell me what to do."

"I already told you, get over yourself. Give a damn about someone else for a change."

"I do care about someone else, Edward." His head snapped up so quickly when I said this, if he were human, his neck would have broken. "I care about you." Sadness dawned in his eyes. "I care about you, I care about Alice and Rosalie, I care about Jasper and Emmett." He shook his head and looked away.

"Bella," he stood up and walked to me. His body was close to mine. I could almost feel him against me. "If you truly cared about me, you never would have been so stupid, then brushed me off when I tried to explain to you how it affected me. No Bella, you think you care about me, but you don't." Then he walked away. He went to the rack of basketballs, as that was what we were playing today, took one and began to shoot some hoops. He got every single one in before people started to wonder out from the locker rooms.

The teacher divided us up into two groups then said play. He had other things to do apparently, so there weren't really any rules, as there was no one to apply them. It started off with just some passing of balls when the teacher said we at least had to play a game.

After ten minutes, I got bored of just standing there like every other girls and began to play with the boys. I had the ball most of the time for my team, even though I wasn't really paying attention. I was actually so out of it, that when I was about to shoot the ball, it slipped out of my hand. I was so surprised I let out a little yelp. That had never happened to me since I had become a vampire. To my utter devastation, the ball hit Edward on the back of the head, really hard. Since the ball slipped, and because of my strength, I had no control on how hard I threw it. As I saw him turn around, he winced. When he saw me standing there looking guilty, his eyes narrowed as he glared.

"Oh my god, Edward I am so sorry." He didn't even acknowledge my apology. He just stared at me.

He chuckled darkly. "Let's play." His voice was strong and the people standing around him moved away a little. I let out a huge breath. At least he's talking to me.

Everyone was paying attention now as we all moved back into our positions. Even the girls had stopped gossiping. Mike wasn't on my team today so he started off with the ball for his team. As soon as possible, he passed the ball to Edward. He made his way down the court and scored with ease. Next turn, I made the basket. Soon enough, the people in my gym class learned to just move out of way and let us play. It was basically an all out war. We would practically throw the ball at each other or if not, then we were getting the baskets in. The defence part was even more brutal. I would physically shove Edward to get the ball out of his hands and he would snatch the ball to get it back.

Eventually, the shoving didn't work because it either didn't shock him anymore or he was just used to the force. Fine, I'll just have to play dirty.

I knew that I was suffering from the lack of his touch, so I was counting on him feeling the same. Edward had the ball and was making his way down the court. I ran after him and when he stilled to make the shoot, I stopped behind him, putting my left hand on his hip, and lightly ran my right hand down his spine. He shivered and dropped the ball. I took my chance and reached around the grab it. By the time I had ran to the other side and scored, I turned around and saw him looking at me, still at the other end. He drew in a ragged breath before straightening and moving to the centre of the court, waiting for me. I had created a new pattern.

Next I had the ball, Edward softly ran his hand down my arm to my fingertips. I practically dropped the ball into his palm. Then when he had the ball, I gently blew on back of his neck and kissed it. I'm pretty sure I heard him growl. The next time was my downfall. I was just about to shoot when I felt him behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed the crook of my neck before whispering "Bella," blowing his sweet breath across my face. That is it. I was going to end this once and for all. The ball was just about to leave his hands when I kissed behind his ear, down his neck and back up before I said, "I love you, Edward."

He turned around. His face gave away nothing, but his beautiful green eyes said everything. I could see hurt, I could see pain, I could see confusion, love, anger, sadness… so much sorrow. It physically hurt me to not reach out and comfort him. Then he did the one thing I hadn't counted on, he took my hand and gave me the ball before turning and running out of the gym.

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"Bella, calm down. You don't even have to hang out with the guys." We were nearly at the closest forest in Alice's Porsche, and my girls were trying to convince me that everything will be fine. It was pretty far away, normally a 3 hour trip being in Phoenix and all, but it didn't take too long with Alice's extreme driving. We were planning on staying with Carlisle and Esme, the boys' parents as their house wasn't too far from it after our hunt. "Just do your own thing for a while, then when we all meet up later, try and cool things down a bit before reaching the house." I nodded slowly, trying to convince myself that this was true.

We arrived at the edge of the trees and all got out. The boys weren't far behind us. When they got out, Emmett and Jasper immediately went to Alice and Rosalie before running off. Edward was standing awkwardly next to Emmett's Jeep and just before turned to go hunt, he called me.

"Bella, I think maybe we should talk." For some reason, this really annoyed me. I had wanted to talk. I had been trying for over the past week to talk and now that he decides he wants to, I should just run to him?

"You think?" I said sarcastically to him.

His eyes flashed darker than their already near black. "Look, this isn't exactly my fault. You're the one who got drunk and has been acting like an idiot."

"I have also been the one trying to talk and apologize for the past week but that doesn't count for anything now does it?"

"There was no point in talking if you didn't mean it when you apologized. If you had apologized, then it would have been because you wanted me back, not because you were sorry for what you did."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is. But it's also my fault, because I didn't really explain why this was so bad and why it affected me so."

"Whatever, Edward. I'm not really in the mood to talk right now, so come back a little later." I ran into the forest as fast as I could manage. I ran a good 6 miles before I stopped. I knew my siblings weren't that far off from me but it was enough distance to let myself think.

I had already had 3 elk when I had that strange feeling again, as if someone was watching me. I looked all around me and saw no one.

"Hmm, look what we have here." I spun around to see the one person I would never expect. Her fiery red hair was flowing down her shoulders and her eyes strong. Victoria.

"Yes, I didn't expect to see you here, sweetie." I turned back around to see Tanya, skimpy looking as ever.

"Oh, are we allowed to play?"

"Yeah, I want to play with her."

I looked to either side to see Jessica and Lauren, except not them. They were actually kind of pretty. Their skin was flawless and hard looking and they smelled like… vampire.

"Not yet. We want payback to be sweet and slow… and painful." Victoria seemed to have the authority here.

"What do you want, Victoria?"

"What I want? I want you to suffer. I want you to feel the pain I felt when you took James and Laurent away, except worse, a million times worse."

"I want you to suffer for taking away my Edward." Tanya was so delusional- she still didn't get it.

"And we're here to help."

"Okay, you two shut up. You're just pointless." Victoria laughed at my comment, probably agreeing.

"Even so, they can help. It was a bit hard setting everything up by myself, so I got a bit of help for what's coming next." Victoria had a sly smile on her face that made me nervous.

"What do you mean?" What had she already done?

"Well you see, you hurt me by taking away the ones I loved. That's really painful by the way. Anyway, I decided you should know what it feels like. So for the first part of my plan, I arranged a little meeting for your parents Renee and Charlie. You see, I rang them up and told them that you had been causing trouble at school, and that we needed to see them both right away." I felt tears building up as she went on. "Charlie flew up to Jacksonville to meet up with Renee before they started to drive together to your school. The rest was rather easy. All I had to do was run the car off the road, then set the car alight. I could hear them screaming from miles away before the fire trucks came and put out the fire. It was really sad. I swear, I almost felt sorry for them… almost." I was full on crying now.

"You bitch!" I lashed at Victoria but before I made it to her, Jessica and Lauren had a hold on me from either side. "How can you be so cold hearted?" Tanya came in front of me and hit me in the stomach, then kicked me in the knee. I could distinctly feel three ribs break as well as my leg in two places.

Victoria came to stand beside Tanya. "Well, I guess it became cold when you killed the people that made it warm. So don't blame me. This is all your fault. Everyone you love is going to suffer and die because of you." I looked up to her when I realised the full extent of what she said. Everyone you love… suffer and die… all your fault. I let out a loud scream.

"Don't… take me! Kill me instead! Please, leave them alone. Take me! Just don't hurt them."

"Oh, don't worry sweetheart, we're not going to kill your precious friends now. We are going to pick them off one by one." With one last hit to the stomach, breaking a fourth rib, they let me fall to the floor and left.

I could hear my friends rushing to me, wanting to know why I screamed. The tears were endless. I had cried more in the last two weeks than ever in my life but in the last two weeks, I had been given everything, then had it all taken away… and now I was going to lose even more. My sobs were loud and powerful, my tears fogging up my vision to a point where I could hardly see, but when I felt two arms pick me up and hold me close, I instantly knew it was Edward.

"It's okay now, Bella. I'm here. Shhhh, it's alright." I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, planning on never letting go. "I love you."

Author's Note: *chuckles nervously* hi guys. How are you going? Please don't kill me? I'm not going to go on about it, but basically, I'm like a vampire- I get easily distracted. I'm not going to promise chapters like tomorrow or anything, but I will try to write faster. You should be thanking my friends Piera and Dana for this chapter, because they whipped me butt until I did it. I love reviews so much!!! The ones for last chapter were really impressive so guys, pretty please keep it up! Even when I take longer to update, when I start writing, reviews help me write faster, literally! My fingers type at a hundred miles an hour! There are 4258 words in this chapter, so that's proof! My longest chapter yet! I also give you permission to PM whenever I take too long to update. You can even give me death threats if you like. Anyways, I also have another story up at the moment that I recently started. So check that one out!!! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!

LOTS OF LOVE, Lauren xx