Beta: Manhattans Sowrite

Pre-reader: angmclure

I was on my way to my locker when I caught site of a blonde mop, and I groaned when I notice it was Newton. He was perched by my locker, leaving me no escape route since my lunch money was inside. He lifted his head and a huge grin spread across his face when he noticed me looking at him. I don't know what expression was on my face, but it seemed to give him the confidence to walk my way. I contemplated jumping out the window that was to my left, it was opened and we were only two stories up.

The fall couldn't hurt that bad, right?

"Hi, Bella. You look lovely as always," he said while wiggling his eyebrows.

"What do you want, Newton?" I asked, rather annoyed.

He looked around before answering. "I was wondering if you could, you know, get some stuff?"

My ears perked up; this was about drugs.

"You're going to have to be more specific with me, Newton." I crossed my arms together and tapped my foot impatiently since I was getting really hungry.

"Oh... erm... I need a gram of weed."

I narrowed my eyes at him. He came to me for a gram of weed? Who the hell did he think he was? Ten dollars was not worth my time. I was about to tell him off when an idea stuck me.

I checked my pockets.

"Oh, no! I seem to be out. Maybe you should go talk to Cullen? He always has some on him," I said in the sweetest voice I could muster.

I smiled while watching him walk away, making my own way to my locker.

Selling drugs has its ups and downs like everything else. The perks included easy money. The downfall would be dealing with idiots like Newton from time-to-time. It's people like him that make us easy targets for the cops.

When the crew first got into the drug scene, I wanted nothing to do with it. Once I saw how much money they were making, that was a different story. I gave it a test run by giving into my curiosity and never looked back. The more money I make, the more things I could get for my little angel. I made sure to stick to weed and some of the pills. No selling hard drugs for me.

Once I was in the lunch line, I let out a sigh. Did everyone magically want to eat cafeteria food today? I cursed Mike for making me wait for my food. If I arrived five minutes ago, I can almost guarantee I would be one of the first in line. I turned around and spotted someone bouncing in place. One my eyes locked with Alice, she steadied her rhythm and walked up to me. I pinched the bridge of my nose while thinking of this morning's conversation.

"Bella, you don't need to wait in line. I already got your lunch," she coaxed. I looked up at her and nodded. We started to walk to our table when she pulled me back. She looked determined about something, and I had a feeling I knew what that something was.

"What the heck was up this morning? You never keep secrets from me. Why are you starting now?" she questioned with a pout.

"Fine, Alice. After we're done at Newton's, why don't you crash at my place?" I looked her in the eyes. "You have to promise me right now that you won't hate me. You'll have to see it from my point of view. This is serious Al, I can't fuck this up."

"Okay, Bella. Thanks for trusting me." She put her arm around me, or attempted to, which made me laugh.

My eyes caught sight of Cullen, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. Newton was with him, and Edward took a step back looking at him like he grew a second head. Mike's demeanor went from calm to alert, he shot his hands out in defense. Edward took a step towards him when Mike pointed in my direction. Edward's head snapped our way, and his eyes locked with mine. I should have known that Mike would tell on me. From Edward's hard gaze, I'm sure I will be hearing from him soon.

"What time do you want to meet up tonight?" Jasper asked once we were at the table. Alice gave him a kiss on the cheek and sat on his lap.

"How about we meet at the skate park around seven?" I looked at Em. "Make sure to have all the stuff."

Emmett gave me a salute. "Sir, yes sir."

I rolled my eyes, and he earned himself yet another slap at the back of the head from Rosalie.

"Could you take this a little more seriously?" Rose asked.

"C'mon babe, you know I take this seriously," he said pouting. She just rolled her eyes and smiled at him.

"Swan, must you do everything in your power to piss me off?" I turned around and Edwards expression made me chuckle.

"What ever do you mean, Eddie?" I asked, batting my eyes at him.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "First of all, don't call me Eddie. Second, don't ever send a fucking idiot like Newton to me again for a gino. It's interacting with people like him that will get us busted."

I turned back around and focused on my lunch. I never thought pizza would look so good, but then again, I am starving. Edward sat beside me, turning my chair so I could face him. Why must he pester me 24\7?

"I wasn't done talking to you, Swan," he said in a husky voice, making goose bumps on my arms.

"Cullen, can you just leave me the fuck alone? I swear to God, sometimes it seems you fight with me just to get my attention. I'm flattered that you care about me so much. How about you back off? I'm not in the mood," I snapped, not liking the reaction I had to him at all.

He laughed and tiled his head forward, whispering in my ear. "I think it's the other way around."

I snorted. "Yeah right, I'd rather have Newton than you."

Emmett boomed out in laughter, fist bumping me.

Now I see the times they change, leaving doesn't seem so strange, I am hoping I can find, Where to leave my hurt behind.

Twice in one day, that's never a good thing.

"Sorry guys, I have to take this." I got up at the same time Alice did, but I put my hand up indicating for her to stay. She pouted and sat back down.

I answered my phone once I knew I was away from prying ears. "Hi, mom. I thought I was calling you tonight?"

"Sorry, Hun. I forgot I had dinner plans with Phil. I know you're on your lunch, do you mind if we talk now? I don't want to wait until tomorrow."

I laid down on the familiar grass on the football field. No one came back here during school hours. "It's okay."

"Thank you, I'm sorry about the dinner plans. I would have canceled, but we made the reservations a month ago."

"Don't worry about it, but who's going to take care of Damien?"

"The neighbor said she would, you know those two are thick as thieves." A wave of jealousy hit me. "Now, about this weekend, I talked to your dad and everything is planned. Your plane leaves Port Angele's at six in the afternoon on Friday. I'm going to be at the airport waiting for you at nine. Hun, have you talked to any of your friends about Damien yet?"

I let out a sigh. She knew I never told anyone down here about Damien and especially James. She worries about me, she thinks I need counseling. I let her know on more than one occasion that my self-defense classes were my therapy. I guess I should tell her that I'm going to fill Alice in on it tonight. "No, Mom. No one knows anything. I don't want people at school to pity me. Alice figured something was going on with the phone call this morning. So, I'm going to explain it to her tonight."

"That's good, you always put a shield up and never let anyone in. It's not healthy. You need to express your feelings, or one day your just going to blow up." I rolled my eyes.

"Mom, I'm not as fragile as you think I am. I have you and dad to talk about my problems, that's enough for me," I mumbled.

Alice walked out of the school doors, she looked around and found me. How the hell did that pixie know I was here? Sometimes its like she's psychic, and it's creepy.

"Hun-"

"Mom, I have to go. My lunch hour is almost over. I love you, and tell Damien I said I love him, too," I whispered so Alice wouldn't hear me and hung up.

Alice took a seat beside me on the field. "Okay, Bella. I know you told me to wait until tonight, but I can't." I looked at her; she pouted again. Damn that pixie to Hell.

"Fine. Can we cut school? This is going to take a while," I said, defeated.

She was beaming by the time I threw my backpack on my shoulder. We walked back to the parking lot and drove off in her yellow Porsche.

"I had a feeling you were going to ask to cut school." There she goes being all psychic and shit.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I was thinking of going back to your house since Charlie's working." I nodded.

The ride back to my house was quiet. Once we were there, we went in my room and sat on my bed. "Okay, spill."

I let out a deep breath. "Alice, you have to promise me even if you hate me after this, you won't tell a soul." She nodded, crossing her heart.

"Erm...well...the reason why my mom is calling is because I have to go back to Phoenix for court. And, well...to go see my son." I looked to see Alice's reaction. She blinked at me a couple times before going in a fit of giggles.

I, for one, did not think this was funny.

"Oh my God, Bella! You almost had me there," she cleared her throat. "Now, tell me why you're really upset."

I looked at her, and I was more than pissed off by this point. This is one of the reasons why I never bothered telling anyone when I knew they wouldn't believe me.

"This is why I never told you. Can you be serious for five minutes of your life." I snapped.

Her face paled with every word I spoke.

"No way," she whispered.

I let out a frustrated grunt and took my Blackberry out, dialing my mother's number. Once the phone started ringing, I put it on speakerphone. "Bella? Aren't you suppose to be in class? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, Mom. Everything is fine. I decided I needed the afternoon away from school. Alice and I are back at my place, and I told her the reason why I'm going down there. Could you please pass the phone to Damien?"

"Okay, Hun. Did you tell her about James?"

Fuck. I was trying to avoid that topic. Alice looked even more pale now, if that was even possible.

"Who's James?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

"I guess you haven't. Sorry, Bella. You should have told me I was on speaker phone. I'll be right back, I'm going to get the little guy."

I looked at Alice. "I'll explain after," I mouthed.

"Mama! Mama!"

"Hey Hun, how's your day going?" I answered, beaming.

" Good, guess wut?"

"What?" I asked exited.

"I got a gold staw in daycare for drawin in the lines!"

"Wow, that's awesome! Mama's so proud of you! Did Nana tell you I'm coming to see you this weekend?"

" Weally? I can't wait to see you!"

"I can't wait to see you, too. You have no idea how much I miss you." My voice cracked at the end.

"Miss you mama, wove you."

"I love you too Damien, more then words can say."

"Bye Mama, wove you."

"Bye, love you, too."

I chanced a look at Alice and noticed the tears streaming down her face. I walked over to the bed and tackled her in a hug. I wasn't one for tears.

"Oh my God, Bella! I'm so sorry I didn't believe you. Why didn't you tell me? I thought you were a virgin," she asked, confused.

"Okay...when I was 14, I was raped by a 17-year-old named James. I'm sure you can piece the rest together?" I asked, arching a brow at her.

She nodded, horror stuck. She opened her mouth to say something before I put my hand up to cut her off.

"There's more?" She put her hand over her face.

I launched in the story about what happened at the store that one day I went to get formula.

"I'm going to kill him. You know that, right?"

I rolled my eyes at her. If only it were that easy to get away with murder. I would of done it by now.

"No one can touch him, Al. It would look bad on me and I'm sure he's waiting for me to make a mistake. I worked too damn hard to be where I am right now. I can't have anyone jeopardizing Damien. Do you understand?"

"Bella, you have to tell the others. How can you sit here and tell me this without crying?" she asked, her eyes softening.

"I promised myself two years ago I wouldn't shed another tear for James. I refuse to give him the satisfaction that he still has an effect on my life. And no, we can't tell the others. You know how Emmett is, he'll put himself in jail just to beat him up."

Oh, God. I shouldn't have told her; she's going to slip. They're all going to know and treat me different. Fuck.

She seemed deep in thought. "You're right, Bella. All three boys would go to jail. They would make it their life-long goal to hurt him." She looked at me. "I promise I won't tell a soul. Thank you for trusting me with this." She bumped her shoulder with mine. "You know I love you, right?"

Here we go with the mushy stuff. Sometimes I hate the female chromosome.

"Yeah, yeah. Love you too, Pixie Bitch."

I turned around to look at the clock, and it was already 6:30. Fuck, we're going to be late.

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