Charlie's fist smashes against the table, making my cereal bowl tremble. "That's it Bella! You're going home."

Confusion obvious on my face, I rip my eyes away from my bowl of cheerios towards Charlie's enraged eyes. Why does this cereal have such a happy sounding name when there's clearly no joy left in the world – when there had been no joy for the last four months. No joy since he left.

"That's exactly what I mean," Charlie says, making me realise I didn't actually answer him. "I'm sending home, you're not even here."

"I am home, Ch– Dad," I say. My eyes feel too strained from my lack of sleep to even hold his gaze.

"No, I mean you're going home to your mother. To Jacksonville. Maybe she will know how to handle you because right now I haven't got the slightest clue."

This hardly seemed fair. I had been a great daughter over the last few months. His dinner was always ready when he got home. We hadn't even had a fight since I'd thrown my mom's words in his face so that I could get out of town. Granted I had only said those things because I was being targeted by a crazed blood-thirsty vampire.

"What are you talking about? Why? I want to stay here." I can't leave. What if he comes back and thinks I didn't even wait for him.
"I haven't missed curfew, I haven't been fighting with you, why do you want me to go?" I ask, hurt. Not even my own father wants me.

"That's the point Bells," Charlie's eyes grow sadder as he sits down next to me. "You don't miss curfew because you never go out except for school and groceries. And this is the longest conversation I think we've had in months. You're not alright sweetheart and maybe your mom will be better than I am at helping you deal with your break-up with Edward. You just… you can't keep waiting for him to come back."

Hearing his name causes my heart to shatter all over again. "I have to get to school," I stand up and throw my bowl into the sink.

"I'm going out with Jessica tonight." I call over my shoulder as I focus on my backpack so I don't have to make eye contact. "We'll go watch a movie or something in Port Angeles and have dinner."

As I reach the door I hear Charlie almost whisper, "Bells".

I pause and take deep breath with my back to him and I say, "I'll be alright, Dad. I just need to stay here". I close the door behind me before he can respond.

The worst part about getting to school early is the free time. My mind isn't a big fan of not keeping busy, so I throw on my headphones and play whatever angry rock song was next up on my playlist. I pull out my calculus textbook. Mr. Varner is probably giving a pop quiz this week so I may as well be prepared. I spend the twenty free minutes I have sitting in the driver's seat, focusing on numbers.

My distraction keeps me occupied just in time to get to my English class. I'm drawing spirals and leaves in the margins of my notebook instead of paying attention, but hey, I already know English so how much can I really be missing?

We're ten minutes into the class when someone shows up at the door.

"Ah Mr Housley, we were expecting you," Mr Berty says cheerfully. I definitely was not expecting anyone.

"Sorry I'm late Mr –uh –Berty," the guy at the door says, looking at the recognisable class list in his hand. "I asked someone for directions and they sent me on a wild goose chase." He smiled.

"Anyone can be forgiven on their first day, my boy. Be sure to use the map next time. As the tragedies we will be studying in this class will teach you, you can't trust anyone!," Mr Berty says with a laugh.

"Now, take a seat next to Miss Swan in the third row," he gestures towards me. "She was new here once as well, so I'm sure she'll be happy to help you settle in." He turns away from the new guy and returns to his earlier ramblings about whichever play I wasn't paying attention to.

'Mr Housley;' settles in the seat next to me and smiles. "Hi," he says. "I'm Liam." He reaches a hand out in a friendly gesture. He seems so sincere that I accept the offer of a handshake and introduce myself. His eyes widen for a fraction of a second. His face returns to normal so quickly I might have imagined the shift in his expression.