New Moon

For months, Bella attends school, gets excellent grades, works at the store, cooks for her father, never gets in trouble, and gets home on time. Finally, Charlie has had enough: “You’re just…lifeless, Bella” (95). He wants her to do something—go live with her mother, see a counselor, anything—to get her depression off dead center.

Bella doesn’t want to leave Forks. She knows counseling requires honesty, and if she tells the true story about Edward, she’ll end up in an institution. Charlie says simply, “You can’t keep waiting for him” (97). Bella promises to go out with a friend.

She hurries off to school, where classwork keeps her distracted. She asks Jessica to go with her to a movie in Port Angeles. Jessica, miffed at Bella for ignoring her for so long, reluctantly agrees. They drive to the coastal town and watch a movie about zombies. Bella hopes this will be better than watching a romance, but when the last woman alive shrieks in horror as an expressionless zombie attacks, Bella identifies with the zombie. She goes out to the hallway before the movie ends.

They walk to a McDonald’s; on the way, they travel along an unlit street with a bar. Lounging outside are four men; they resemble the four who tried to assault her a year earlier.