Wow! Thanks for the reviews and follows and favorites, so far! I appreciate everybody's concern and yes, it was a dick move on my daughter's dad's behalf.

I'm going to time jump to a more present day time. I just felt like I needed to provide a little bit of background on why Bella is the way she is and I will provide more about her relationship with James and how it coincides with Rebel's life. Also, we'll see from Alice and Rose, Bella's best friends. They're going to take on the characteristics of my two best friends. Trust me, they're a blast!

BPOV: (Present Day)

"MOM!" I hear getting yelled down the hall of my parent's house. I swear, it just fell like I fell asleep. I look at the clock and see that it says 6:30 in the morning. I DID pretty much just fall asleep. Being a terrible insomniac doesn't do much for me when your 11 year old has to go to school by 7:00 am.

The door flies open and I thank God I had the sense to not have my sort of boyfriend Jacob over last night. Rebel likes him pretty well, but there's just some things a kid doesn't need to see... or hear.

"Mom. It's already 6:30. You've gotta get up and take me to school." Rebel huffs and turns around to stomp out the door. "And I'm hungry. Nanny and Pappy said there was some stuff to make breakfast, but there isn't any time."

Ugh... Mom and dad had went to Seattle to visit his sister for the weekend and figured that they could spend all day today (Friday) and tomorrow and come back Sunday. They said I need some alone time since Rebel will be with her dad. I don't want to even know which skank he's got at his house this time around but I hope she's gone by the time he picks her up from school.

I sit up, wipe the sleep out of my eyes and light a cigarette. It's something that I regretfully picked up a a couple of years after my split with James and I'm not going to lie and say I don't enjoy it. It's one thing I can control in my life. That, and my tattoo addiction.

I look down at my wrist and see my daughter's signature from when she was 7 and smile. My tattoo guy, Ron, got every detail of her penmanship to the t. Finishing my cigarette, I throw on some pajama pants and flip flops and walk down the stairs.

Passing the hall mirror I shrug when I see my hair looks like a hot mess and decide it's going to continue to look like that until I get home to get ready for work. I see my kid sitting at the bar in the kitchen, playing on her iPhone and laughing about some text her little friend sent her. I shook my head, only imagining what the heck could be that funny between two 11 year old little girls. But then again, my kid is hilarious, so it's hard to tell.

"Ready to go?" I grab my keys and she shrieks. "What?"

"You can't take me to school looking like that." She waves her hands in my direction.

I look down. I have a t shirt and a bra and shoes. "I look fine and I definitely look better than the other moms. They all look like they're 60. Don't worry about what I look like." She rolls her eyes and stomps out to the car and I laugh.

I start up the car and put music on and play some One Direction song that I've unfortunately learned because my kid is a fan. Them and Bieber... WTF. We're nearing the school and because she was a pain in my ass this morning about what I looked like, I decided to put on a little show.

"And we danced all night to the best song ever!" I yell/sing at the top of my lungs and dance horribly on purpose as we're pulling up to the drop-off. She looks mortified. It's hilarious to me.

"Mooooooom." She drawls out and whines but I see her lips twitching.

"You know you wanna' dance and sing with me. Just let it happen." I continue to go at it a little harder and she starts cracking up even if her face is red. I pull up and the principal is smirking and I look around and flip him off and he starts to crack up.

"Shut your face, Emmett." I growl and he opens the door for his favorite student/pseudo-niece.

"You wound me, Bells. Your dancing skills leave something to be desired, pal." He mocks and I flip him off again. "Nice outfit, by the way." Rebel is almost puce by this point her face is so red and she doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. Her pretty blonde hair is covering her face and she struggles to get her backpack out.

"Okay, your dad is getting you from school today. If he gives you any shit, you call me and I'm coming to kick his ass." I tell her, very seriously. She rolls her eyes. "I'm serious. If worse comes to worse, call Mamaw Angela or Papaw Ben. One of them will take you, I'm sure."

She leans over and hugs me. Sigh. That's the little girl I knew once and loved all the time. "Okay, mama. I love you. Even if you're insane."

I bust out laughing and wave both her and Emmett off as I pull away. My cell rings and I dig in my purse to find it, sighing when I see Alice's name light up on the display.

"What, Alice?"

"Don't 'what' me, bitch. Is that any way to answer your phone?" I laugh and she keeps going. "Anyway, I just wanted to call and let you know that we're going out for Jasper's birthday tonight at the bar. You're going. Don't give me excuses. Invite Jake if you want to. The more the merrier. It's free pool night."

"Yeah, that sounds like fun. Let him know I'm buying him the cheapest beer possible." She laughs and I smile. "Anyway, I'll talk to you later. I have to get home and get ready for work. Thank God I have the weekend off. I need a beer or twelve."

Walking into work, I sigh in disappointment. It's already busy and I just want a nap. Even if I do own the place, it still sucks to be an adult.

"Hey, Bella!" Charlotte chirps from the stacks of books she's putting on shelves. "We just got a new shipment in. Should be good for sales."

I walk over and take a look and nod. Some book about vampires and zombies. It ought to get some YA readers in here. I start some coffee and start making up the batter for the muffins when the door chimes and James walks in.

"Is Bella here?" He asks Charlotte, looking her up and down and she gives him the bitch brow and he backs up with his hands raised in surrender.

"She'll be up here in a few. How about you go over there, away from me, and have a seat. Keep your eyes off of my ass." I stifle a laugh and she keeps doing her job. Wanting to get whatever this is over with, I make my grand appearance.

"What do you want, you man whore?"

He smirks. "Good to see you too, Bella. Looking as bitchy as ever." I flip him off and he laughs. Even just a couple of years ago we wouldn't have been able to banter at all without me wanting to strangle him.

"Seriously, douche bag. What do you want? I've got shit to do."

"To the point, as always." I keep staring. "Anyway, is there any way you can get Rebel tonight?" Unfuckingbelievable. "What? What's that look for?"

"No fucking way, dude. You do this to me every weekend. You have some excuse not to get her on Friday nights and it's bullshit. Whatever old lady you wanna' bang, you can do that on your old time."

By the way, it turns out James has a thing for well off older women. Like, damn near old enough to be his mom. Who knew?

"Please! Bella, I met this chick at work and she wants to go out for some dinner and drinks and she's really nice and I mean, her face isn't that great, but I can get over that. Plus, she's got kids Rebel's age."

"Get bent, asshole. I have plans. Take her out Sunday. I'll even get the kid earlier, but it's not happening tonight. It's Jasper's birthday and we're all going out to celebrate. Spend some time with your kid, man. She freaking loves when you guys do stuff together. How about you put her first for a change?"

I was getting madder and madder the more he stood there.

His face was turning red, much like Rebel's had done earlier this morning and he rubbed his hands over his face.

"I swear to God. Fine. Thanks for nothing." He huffs and walks out the door.

I shake my head and Charlotte laughs. This isn't an unusual turn of events. Some things will never change and I just wish he would get his head out of his ass. At least this time he didn't ask when I was going to give him a son. Yeah, he does that. Apparently, "over my dead body" isn't an acceptable enough answer for him.

So, yeah. My daughter's dad had a really bad habit of blowing our kid off to spend time with old ladies. And yes, I have been known on occasion to embarrass my kid in this exact manner. She secretly loves it.