It had been eight weeks. Eight weeks since the Cullens had returned. Eight weeks since the kiss. Eight weeks since Jacob abandoned me, and Jesse banned him from coming near me. It was like a part of me had been ripped away and the only way it could come back was for me to be with Jacob.

I didn't want to hurt anymore. I was done, completely done with Jake despite the pain it left me with. I just couldn't get him out of my head, and I didn't understand why, I felt ready to cut ties with him mentally, but my heart wouldn't let me. Kissing him was probably the biggest mistake I had ever made. It had been undeniably perfect and that false hope of being with him had imprinted itself on my brain and my heart.

He hadn't tried to make any contact with me, and I hadn't seen him properly since the day Jesse told him he couldn't see me. He had been avoiding Bella as well, or maybe it was the other way around. Two weeks after he left me, he thought he'd try and stop Bella from seeing Edward by showing Uncle Charlie her bike. Little did Jake know she was already grounded and had gotten Bella into even more trouble extending her sentence. I think she hated him even more than I did at the moment.

Alice and I were free to visit Bella whenever we liked, Uncle Charlie still liked us despite our trip to Italy, he thought we went to L.A. Edward on the other hand was only allowed in the house for two and a half hours a day with serious supervision from Charlie, safe to say he was a little more than disliked.

Bella had discussed with me about going to try and make amends with Jake, she missed their friendship but his hatred for vampires just made it too hard. He wouldn't come to reason. I told Edward about her maybe plans and he was furious with me for even listening to her. He believed all of the wolves were dangerous, forgetting that Bella was actually related to one. She was never in danger whilst visiting before but now he just wouldn't allow it. His excuses for how Jared acted with me was his proof that they can't all be trusted.

I also spent most of my nights at the Cullens' now. A few days after their return; Esme, Rosalie and Alice surprised me with a finished bedroom and a fully stocked new closet. I had officially become a vital part of the shared, close family bond and I was treated like a sister and daughter. Being with them made me forget and I loved them for that.

My dad didn't like the fact that I was never home anymore, he said he was missing me and should be spending time with my real family, with Tori. I hadn't spent time with her recently I admit it, I hardly ever saw her but that's because she's always with her boyfriend, Seth. Seeing them together also made me extremely jealous, I was treated so coldly but she was allowed to carry on with Seth like nothing had happened.

Before I left for the Cullens', I had also packed up all of Jake's clothes that he had leant me and put them in a box along with any other him related things I had in my room. They were now sitting in a box in the bottom of my closet, I just couldn't throw them away. But I still didn't want to look at them either.

After spring break Ryan had come up to me during school to apologise for how he treated me. He explained that his anger stemmed from not being able to help me, he knew he was selfish and wanted to make up for it. I reluctantly forgave him after telling him I couldn't keep giving him chances. I was being hypocritical and realised I had been doing the same for Jake only for that to come back and bite me in the ass.

Agreeing to let Ryan take me out again helped me forget about Jake for a few hours. Ryan acted like my own personal Jacob repellent, whenever I was with him, I just forgot about Jake. He ended up taking me to the movies and I actually enjoyed myself. It was safe to say it was going well.

Lunch times at school had turned into somewhat of an extravagant event. The joining of the Cullens, my friends and Bella's had created the biggest lunch group the cafeteria had ever seen. There was some tension in the group I'd admit that. Bella's friends were divided in two, Angela, her boyfriend Ben, Mike and Eric, they were the good, honest ones. Lauren and Jessica only sat with us to flirt with Jason and gawk at Edward.

My friends seemed okay with the joining, well all except for Cassidy. I think she had cut ties with me, not that I wanted to be friends with someone like that anyway, she mostly hung around with Lauren and Jessica. Scarlett was as loyal as ever, I told her everything minus a few details and she stuck by me no matter what. She just couldn't understand how I was so okay with Bella. Bella hadn't actually done anything wrong; Jacob was just an ass.

Alice, Edward and I and a few of our other friends were already sat in the cafeteria, it seemed Bella, Ryan and Scarlett's Spanish class was running late. My ears perked up when I heard my name being mentioned from the other end of the table.

"Hey Aria," Cassidy called, the pure epitome of fake niceness. "Where did you get your outfit from?" That was a question I didn't know the answer to. It had become a regular thing, the three of them would ask me where an item of clothing came from, and they would end up wearing the same things a few weeks later.

"Oh, my dress is literally just from town, cost like $10." I shrugged not wanting to make a big deal out of it.

"But the scarf and boots are Chanel!" Alice added smugly and I rolled my eyes. Living with the Cullens had its disadvantages. Every morning, I was now Alice's personal doll... but I had to admit the clothes were cute.

"No way!" I ignored the side eyes from the three girls as I turned to glare at Alice. I never used to dress like this but now I'm with the Cullens they are treating me like one of their own. Of course, no one knew exactly how close we were.

Scarlett, Ryan and Bella entered the cafeteria then and made straight for our table. When my eyes met Ryan's, it was like this feeling of longing lifted off of my chest, the problem was that I didn't know if it was for Ryan's return or Jake disappearing from my mind.

"Hey." He smiled down at me, pecking my lips before taking one of the empty seats beside me, Bella taking the one on my other side.

"Hey." I returned his smile and settled into his side as his arm wrapped around my shoulders.

"Hey guys, what you are doing?" Bella asked having her own conversation with Angela and Alice about graduation announcements.

"Helping Jessica with her speech, it's not going too well." Scarlett replied, she didn't look all that amused to be honest.

"My fellow students. Right? Right? We are the future. Anything is possible, if you just believe." Mike said, his opinion on how the speech should start.

"Nice." Angela mused and we all laughed lightly.

"Perfect." Eric smirked.

"And you got yourself a speech." Mike tossed the pad and paper back to Jessica and she looked up at him hoping he was joking.

"No this will be my speech when I want everyone to throw diplomas at my head. So, thank you." She said ripping the sheet from the pad and then throwing it back at Mike, all of us laughed again.

"You gotta embrace the clichés, Jess." Jason spoke up.

"They are the bread and butter of all valedictorians." Robbie added and I scoffed, it annoyed me slightly that they liked Jessica.

"Yeah, and that is why you are not valedictorian." I smiled at him, and he pulled a face throwing a grape at me which I caught in my mouth, and he groaned.

"Jess doesn't need clichés. The speech is going to be epic." Bella added and Edward smiled at her.

"Epic? It'll change lives." Jessica smirked.

The conversation flowed again, and I couldn't ignore the way my ears perked up as the word "murders" sounded from the next table. A group of students were all crowded around a newspaper that was spread out across the table. The works of a mass murderer in Seattle had most of the students scared.

Five people had gone missing before their bodies turned up with fatal wounds to their necks. The police thought it was the work of a strange individual and possibly even a gang, but the Cullens and I knew it to be the work of something much worse. Jasper had explained that had it been in any other city they wouldn't care but this one was too close to home. He believed it to be a newborn, their carelessness at the disposal of the bodies was making it obvious. They were watching the news closely to see if was slowly making its way to town, leaving a trail of bodies behind it.

"I've decided to throw a party." Alice beamed as everyone at the table looked at her in shock. "After all, how many times are we gonna graduate high school?" She added with a smirk, Alice, Edward, Bella and I all catching on hiding our own smirks.

"A party? At your place?" Cassidy questioned her mouth hanging open.

"I've never seen your house." Jess spoke quickly.

"No one's ever seen their house." Ryan added in, still in shock like the rest of the group.

"Another party Alice?" Edward asked evenly, his face not showing any amusement.

"It'll be fun." She tried to stare him down, but Bella cut in.

"Yeah. That's what you said last time." Their gazes noticeably shot to me, and I realised the last party was on Bella's birthday. The night I was bitten.

Everyone became immersed in conversation about the party, about what to wear, who would be going, what the Cullens' house would look like and thankfully no one noticed Alice as she began to have a vision. Quickly, I dropped my barrier to have a look.

It was Victoria deciding to come back to Forks in a few days' time, as another chance at trying to get to Bella... and me.

When the vision finished Edward, and I exchanged glances before he put on a fake smile for Bella.

I had told the Cullens about my encounter with Victoria eight weeks ago and about her having a plan for something else, Alice hadn't seen anything about it or about her until now so maybe this was it. I had also given Carlisle the piece of Victoria's neck I had broken off, he explained that she would still be fully functional without it and would no doubt want some sort of revenge.

"Alice? Alice!" Obviously, someone had noticed. Angela was looking at her funny, waving her hand in front of Alice's absent face.

Edward acted first, laughing like it was nothing. I smiled as well but glanced at Bella, she looked frozen in fear. I didn't know how we were going to get around this one. "Is it nap time already, Alice?" He teased.

Alice flashed back to reality. "Sorry, I was daydreaming, I guess."

"Daydreaming's better than facing another two hours of school." Ben said.

For the rest of our lunch Alice threw herself back into conversation, trying to make out as if that little episode didn't really happen. Bella and Edward mostly sat in silence, I wasn't sure if Edward was going to tell her or not, last time I didn't tell her about Victoria, Jake got involved. Bella knew that I knew what it was too, so I tried to keep myself distracted, immersing myself in conversation with Ryan about our next date.

By the end of the day, I had decided I was going to go back to the Cullen's after school to collect my things before spending the night back at home. I had decided to do the right thing, and I would tell Jesse to call a meeting where I could explain to everyone what was happening with Victoria and what she was after.

Alice and I were already waiting in the back of Edward's Volvo deciding it would be best for Bella to not be told about Victoria's visit, it would only make her want to rush her transformation.

"She can't be here, Victoria will catch her scent and run straight to her." Alice said as she leant against the inside of the car door.

"Well, what are we going to do with her then, we can't just hide her, Victoria would be able to seek her out easily. Well, that's only if she gets through." With all of us now being able to go after her there was a higher chance, we'd be able to catch her.

"Maybe she could be hidden?" Alice began, she looked deep in thought.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I looked at her expectantly.

"I mean, do you remember the tickets Esme and Carlisle got her for her birthday? The tickets to see her mom?" Alice asked. "Edward can take her to her mom for the weekend, we'll handle Victoria."

"Okay, that's a good plan. But what if Victoria figures it out?" I asked, we couldn't let anything go to chance.

"She won't." Alice reassured and I nodded. "I'll think about it once he's in the car and he can ask her when they are alone. I'm sure he can come up with an excuse for the vision by himself." I agreed with her plan, Bella being out of town seemed like the safest thing to do, the least she knew the better.

Edward and Bella arrived shortly after our conversation ended and the ride back to the Cullen house to drop Alice and I off was quick with Edward's driving. Alice made sure to give Edward a pointed look as we got out the car, but he nodded agreeing that our plan was a good idea. When I got in the house, I realised I didn't have to pack anything, I had clothes, bathroom essentials, a phone charger and schoolbooks already here for me. All I grabbed was my school bag and phone before saying goodbye to everyone and driving home.

When I got back, the house was empty except for Jesse and Paul, Dad was still at work and God knows where Tori was, most likely with Seth. I tried not to let that get to me.

"Hey Jesse, can you call the pack round I have some news for you guys?" I asked him as I took a seat on the couch beside him. Our reunion was brief, he knew I didn't really like being round here at the moment.

"What kind of news?" He asked turning the TV off.

"It's about Victoria. I'll explain when everyone's here." I told him and he nodded.

"I'll go call the guys." Paul stood and left the room quickly.

"Everyone?" Jesse asked sceptically with an edge to his tone. Sam had ordered the pack be civil with Jake despite the lack of respect for him at the moment, they still needed to act as unit with Victoria around.

"Yes everyone. He needs to know as well." I crossed my arms over my chest and sunk back into the couch.

"I don't want you getting defensive over him again." Jesse warned and I rolled my eyes. I'm way past that, it had been two months.

"Jesse I'm not getting defensive. He has a right to know and you know that. You're his friend, you shouldn't shut him out, I have a right to, but the others don't. He's your pack brother." I argued and he sighed.

"Okay, you can shut up now, I get it." He gave me a small smile before standing and leaving the room. "I'm just gonna call Dad."

About half an hour later, everyone was gathered in our kitchen, Jake included.

"I'm just gonna make this quick. Alice had a vision, and it turns out Victoria is coming back Saturday night. She's looking for Bella again and now me. The Cullens will be hunting her on their land, I just thought I'd tell you guys in case she crosses over." I explained and Sam nodded.

"Okay, we don't need the whole pack out as we've gone after her before-" as Sam spoke, I felt Jake's eyes on me the whole time and I fought with everything in me to not look in his direction. I knew Jesse was itching to throw him out.

"Don't think that you'll be joining the boys in this." Dad interrupted, his words directed at me, and I scoffed.

"Who said I was going to run with them anyway?" I began and relief washed over Dad and Jesse's faces. "Besides I'm going with the Cullens." I crossed my arms, and everyone's eyes burned in fury.

"That's a stupid idea. There's no way you're doing that!" Jesse spat and I shrugged.

"You can't stop me. It's already been decided, I'm more use on their side instead of yours. I'm the fastest and strongest out of them when I want to be." I informed them and Dad shook his head.

"I don't want you getting hurt." Dad said placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Dad, I'm not a fragile little girl anymore." He nodded sullenly before nodding his head towards the guys telling them it's alright.

"Just make sure none of them come on our land." Sam warned and I nodded. Like they'd do that anyway.