Kiss Me Now, Kiss Me Never

The Price of One

***again the first section will confuse you***

Boston

Tears fell relentlessly down my cheeks as thunder roared overhead. I could not believe that he was doing this to me. After everything we had been through, all the trials and tribulations that we had overcome to be together. It was all for naught; he had chosen his family over the love of his life.

Foolish girl, you aren't the love of his life.

I was nothing more than a challenge. That was what he'd claimed from the beginning of our troublesome relationship. He had never seen me as anymore as a means to "sow his wild oats," as Mother had said before.

I'd been foolish to believe in his charm; his bright green eyes had always kept me under his spell. Now, he had to rid himself of his mistake – me.

I ran from him; it was the only thing I could think to do. I had to put as much distance between him and me as I could. We weren't meant to be together, and now I faced a terrible future. Who would wed someone that no longer had her virtue intact? I would be tossed aside for deceiving my potential husband.

I did not want another for my husband and lover. I wanted only him.

Scoundrel – he was nothing more that. I sighed heavily as the pain in my chest increased with every step I took. The side of my body ached from exertion as I fell to my knees, unable to go any further. I raised my head to look at the darkened sky and gasped as the ice cold drops of water fell onto my flushed skin. I cried out silently as my skirts became heavy with rain.

I breathed deeply and choked back a sob that threatened to overtake me. I looked upon the forest floor; the bright autumn color of the fallen leaves darkened and dulled as they became soaked beneath me. I felt as though my overwhelming sadness was bleaching the color from the world.

A low rumble and a snapping twig alerted me to another being approaching. I looked up slowly, cautiously trying to discern my surroundings. My eyes met a pair of glowing orbs.

Oh God.

Its growl sent a shiver down my spine just before it lunged. "Anthony!"

September 1998

I sat up quickly in my bed as lightning flashed outside my window. My body was drenched in sweat, and my heart raced painfully in my chest.

Another dream – the remnants started to trickle from my consciousness as I struggled to hold onto a piece of it. I scrambled across my bed for my purple journal that sat on my nightstand. I pulled my pencil from its holder and wrote a new journal entry.

September 13, 1998

I remember her shivering body that quaked with her sobs and sadness. The rain that soaked her skin was just a flicker in her mind. Her pain was unbearable, and I felt it like it was my own. I felt the ache in my chest as her heart broke. Despite her pain, the first word she uttered in her time of need was his name – Anthony.

I popped my neck and ran my fingers through my short hair. I sighed, wondering what crap I'd have to endure tomorrow at school with my new haircut. I reread my entry and noticed the date, my fifteenth birthday.

"Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Bella, happy birthday to me."

I sang my own little birthday song in my mind, smiling to myself, but it soon turned to a frown. No one would be singing the clichéd song to me this year.

Everyone fucking hated me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

It had all started in the middle of May.