Trouble is a friend but trouble is a foe, oh oh
And no matter what I feed him he always seems to grow, oh oh
He sees what I see and he knows what I know, oh oh
So don't forget as you ease on down the road
— Trouble is a Friend, Lenka

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Bella could follow directions and she could follow them well; it was when she was given no direction that her decision-making abilities began to lapse. Combined with boredom, restlessness, and an unfaltering feeling of guilt, it became even more difficult not to act on impulse, which was perhaps the only reason being injured and incapable of just apparating anywhere she wanted was a good thing. Not that it was completely foolproof; Bella had taken to wandering the grounds near the MacFusty home without any supervision (and only because they didn't know), much to her friend's disdain.

Maybe she was just hoping a dragon would eat her, because as much as she did enjoy her life, she didn't like the idea of having to face the trouble she knew was ahead. It was cowardly — she knew that — which was the likeliest reason, even beyond a love of her own life, that she hadn't gone ahead and wandered straight into an "accident".

She'd sent out a few letters to a select few people (namely, men she probably shouldn't be sharing the details of her situation with), but none of them were Cora, Lucy, Regina — people who she was now thoroughly convinced would hate her if she suddenly reappeared without any prior notice. Besides, even if she did reappear, what would she do? She had no job to return to, no safe place to run off to, and no money to live off of. People would ask questions, and she knew her willpower had withered to the point where she'd likely give into any questions asked and tell the truth. What then?

Would society greet her with sympathy as the debutante tormented to misbehavior by her father's abuse? Would they look down on her for not quietly taking her punishment? Would they demonize her for causing the social downfall of her own family by having her father labeled a criminal? None of them, not even the first option, were really desirable.

She knew three things, though:

1. She had to go back sometime. The MacFustys wouldn't hide her forever.
   
2. If she did go back, her revealing the truth was an inevitable truth itself.
   
3. She would fall, whether on her own or alongside her family, if the truth about her father came out.

There was no avoiding them. She had to make a decision, and she needed to do it before more gossip arose.