This, as sadistic as it sounds, was actually one of my favorite chapters to write, so far. I LOVE the response I'm getting! I'm having a Sally Fields moment, 'You like me! You really like me!' Thank you guys so so SO much for all the fantastic reviews that make me all smilie, and thank you my anonomous reviewers that I wish I could thank in a reply! I don't own Twilight, and this chapter is dedicated to... I don't know, it's dedicated to whoever reviews it, just so see if even more people will review!

Monday is when the whispers started. The stares, the apologetic looks, and the variations. Those were killer. The second I dismounted Jacob's bike, I heard them. I looped my arm through Jacob's and readied myself.

"I heard she wouldn't so he went to Emily instead," I heard someone whispering- that is, until Jacob cast them a death glare as we walked by.

"I heard that she was cheating on him with her best friend," someone else was saying. "That she had been for months, and he found out, so Emily was comforting him."

That one wasn't even worthy of a look.

"Well, I heard that she wasn't even serious about it. She didn't even introduce him to her family after three months, but Black knew more about her than he did, so he got fed up... Now look what happened."

The people that weren't making up their own stories were casting me sad looks and patting me on the back. By the end of the day, I was emotionally exhausted. Just as we were walking out to the parking lot, we ran into Nahuel, who now decided to go from begging to burning.

"You're so glad this happened, aren't you?" he said bitterly. "Now you can be with him without worrying about being accused of cheating on me."

If that wasn't enough, none other than Jane was talking to a few of her cronies on the sidewalk, her back to me. "She's such a harlot. She's practically glued to Jacob, like nothing's been happening there, and she gets Nahuel, too? She had it coming, I say. Nahuel just saw too late, so he had to act fast and get away from that freak gene pool."

I brushed past her swiftly, Jacob in tow, not looking back.

"I think she heard you," one of her friends whispered.

When we got to my house, I stormed in, rushing past Edward and Bella to my room, Jacob on my heels. I made it into my room, dropping my stuff, then rushed to my bathroom, locking the door and leaning against it, sobbing into my hands.

"Nessie!" Jacob called through the door. "Nessie, please open up."

"No!" I choked back.

"Nessie, open the door!" came Edward's voice. "Please, just come out."

"No, I want to be alone," I called back.

They kept trying to persuade me, even Bella trying to help a little, then they gave up and let me be. When I was dry-sobbing, out of tears, I washed my face and opened the door. Jacob had been sitting against it, and nearly fell back when I swung the door open. I went to my bed and flopped down on my face, not wanting him to see me all red and puffy. He sat next to me and rubbed my back, combing his fingers through my bronze curls occasionally.

"Why are they making this my problem?" I demanded to my bedspread.

"Because people are hateful and love gossip. This is pretty big for Forks, and you're the questionable pawn. People are taking sides for you, either you were treated wrong, or you deserved it," Jacob said, brushing my hair to the side in an attempt to see my face.

A light knock came from the door frame. "She came out, I see," Edward said, coming to sit on the other side of me, Bella following him and sitting in my computer chair. "What exactly happened?"

I turned my head to my older brother, getting air but not showing Jacob my blotchiness. Edward, along with the rest of the family, had seen me at my worst. Then again, so had Jacob. "People have decided I'm the reason for my troubles."

"How immature," Edward muttered. "It'll pass, trust me."

I looked up at him. "Edward, this is the biggest thing at Forks High since Coach Leopard married his senior student a week after graduation."

"And soon something else will get their attention," Bella assured me.

My look hardened. "I doubt it. Do you know happened when we were heading to the parking lot?"

"What?" she and Edward asked in unison.

"Someone said I was a harlot and deserved it, because I was with Jacob and Nahuel at the same time, and that Nahuel was smart to get out of my 'freak gene pool'," I said bitterly. "Oh, and Nahuel has gone from begging for forgiveness to being a jerk because he thinks I've moved to Jacob now."

Edward's look darkened significantly at my words. "Who called you a harlot?"

"Well," I said, huffing. "Everyone's thinking it, I'm sure, but Jane Tory said it out loud."

Edward didn't look happy. In fact, he looked murderous. Bella's eyes widened and she shook her head incredulously.

"Look, don't say anything to Mom and Dad, they'll flip," I said, hiding my face in my comforter again.

"Which is why I should!" he argued. "No one has any right to treat you like that."

"Get a time machine, go back two months, tell Nahuel that, and let's see what happens," I said.

Jacob pushed his hand under my hair and started working at the knots in my neck. "I agree with your brother, Nessie. You can't go everyday with people acting like that to you, you need to put a stop to it."

I groaned. "I don't want my family getting involved. They already think I'm a freak as it is; if I sic my big brothers on them I'll get called a spoiled brat, too."

"How do you think Emily is getting through this?" Edward asked. "The Youngs are being supportive and understanding. I was speaking to her brother just yesterday and their whole family is making plans. Their parents are transforming the kids' old playroom into a nursery, their grandparents are going through storage for old baby clothes, and the Weber family-you, know the preacher and his wife and kids- their all helping out as well. The least you can do is let Dad talk to the principal about you getting called names and having rumors spread about you."

I took a moment to clear my head and take it all in. Emily was the one with the life changing event, I was just suffering the aftershocks of my ex-boyfriend's mistakes. I needed to get a reality check and remember I wasn't the one who had to live with this the rest of my life. I just got to be a spectator. "Fine. Just not yet, if it hasn't let up by Friday, then you can tell Mom and Dad."

"Deal," Edward said, after a moment of hesitation. "But I'm picking you up from school Friday, I want to see if I can pick up anything. I see something I don't like and Mom and Dad are told."

"Fine," I agreed reluctantly.

"Okay, well, I'll leave you alone now," he said, getting up and walking out.

"Call me, Nessie, if you need anything," Bella said, coming to my bedside and stooping for a moment, giving me a one armed hug, very affectionate for Bella. "I'm sure Charlie could give you some legal advice." She winked as she said the last part.

"Thanks, Bella," I said, peeking at her through some of my hair.

She gave a little nod, said to Jacob, "Tell Billy Charlie invited him up for the big game next weekend," and left.

Jacob then released a particularly tight knot and I moaned in relief. "Thanks, Jake."

"Your welcome," he said, soothing the muscles with his fingers. "You really should listen to your brother."

"I should but I won't," I said stubbornly, moving a hand to push my hair all the way over my head, giving Jacob better access to my tense muscles. "I'll figure something out. It's just the first day; how bad can it get?"

Note to anyone visiting the inside of my mind: never ask 'how bad can it get?', because the answer…

Just don't ask.

I should have listened to Edward and Jacob. Though neither said 'I told you so', I know it was going through their heads. We got out of the last class after that week, through break, and then another week of sad glances and different rumors, I thought I was doing well. Edward didn't see anything that bothered him Friday, but insisted on picking me up the Friday after break as well. It seemed to be getting a little better for me, almost good, even. That is, until instead of aiming for my back, someone spoke their thoughts straight to me.

Jacob and I were walking out to the parking lot when I spied Edward, leaning against his Volvo, and waved, getting his attention. He smiled and walked up the sidewalk, toward us. Then Jane Tory stepped into the path, obviously not seeing him, and came up to me.

"How's it feel to be the second most pitied girl at Forks High?" she asked, crossing her arms and smiling falsely.

"Jane, I have to-" I tried, attempting to walk past her, but she cut me off.

"Just to let you know, I see through you're little act," she said, spitting the words at me, her face now twisted in a malicious sneer. "You're just loving all this attention you're getting, aren't you? You get all the pity because you're boyfriend was bad and went off to play with Emily."

"Jane, just-" Jacob tried to interrupt.

"I know you just like the attention," she spat. "You're just putting on a show for everyone, making them think you're this sad little girl who was done wrong, but I know you never really cared about him or you're 'best friend'. You're just a little slut who wants every guy she sees. Like you and Black haven't been together, and I'll bet he's in on your little act, too. And if he isn't, better he find out now than later. But trust me, I'll make sure everyone knows it. You're just an attention hogging, faking slut."

I was stiff and my jaw refused to move by the end of her little speech. Jacob was shaking with anger, and would have probably ripped her bottle blonde pony-tail out of her stupid head if Edward didn't jump in first.

"You do not talk to my sister that way, ever," he said, causing her to spin around in fear. "Stay away from my sister, and if you bother her again, don't doubt you're parents will be involved."

If I wasn't so immobile, I would have fussed at Edward for being so childish as to threaten, in simplest form, tattling. Jane didn't say anything else, but cast me a death glare and walked away, flipping her barely-saved hair over her shoulder.

Needless to say, the ride home was silent. Jacob rode his motorcycle to let off steam, saying he was going to his house to get something. Edward didn't even try to talk to me, he had to practically carry me to the car. I stood, shell shocked, for a moment after she left. Jacob continued to shake, and Edward waited patiently until one of us spoke.

"I need to go home, I have to get that DVD we were talking about watching tonight," Jacob finally said. He didn't even look at me when he brushed past Edward to his motorcycle, putting my bag in Edward's outstretched arms.

"Let's go home," Edward said to me, taking my arm and pulling me along to his car.

He didn't say anything, but I knew he was going to tell Mom and Dad and most likely everyone else. I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, focusing on staying composed and thinking about what she had said.

I had three main thoughts rushing and racing through my head on the ride home. The first: they were getting brave. Jane Tory had the nerve to say in my face what everyone had been thinking. Or what everyone will think, if her venom penetrated the impressionable, gossip craving students of Forks High. The second: again with Jacob. Why didn't people believe that Jacob and I weren't hiding anything? We'd been friends since diapers, practically, and they were making that into a scandal. The final thought, though: did Jacob believe her? Did he really believe that maybe I wasn't as honest as he thought? Did he think I used him? Was that why he refused to even look at me when he left?

"Nessie, we're home," Edward said, making me realize we were actually pulling into the driveway. He parked in the garage, and I took the back door through the laundry room and pantry area, a good way to avoid people, unless they were washing clothes or looking for preserved or canned food product.

I took the staircase behind the kitchen all the way up to my room, where I dropped all of my things, stripped down, then locked myself in my bathroom with the water as hot as possible. I scrubbed my entire body down, then brushed my teeth until they squeaked and brushed my hair until it frizzed up from friction. When I dressed in my pajamas, then went back into my room, Jacob still wasn't there, but I had a message on my vanity mirror in dry erase marker.

Nessie,
I love you!
Jasper

I wanted to cry when I read it, and I refused to erase it. Jane Tory and the others against me made me forget that people actually cared about me. They even made me think I deserved what they dished out, but my goofy brother's simple feel-good-note was enough to remind me otherwise. But Jacob was still absent, and I didn't know why. I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes, pretending that Jacob was there, massaging the back of my neck like he had the first time I heard Jane's vicious opinion. Suddenly, the imaginary massage was real, and before the first knot was gone, I was sitting up and throwing myself at Jacob, literally.

"Oh my- Jacob!" I squeaked, throwing my arms around his neck and squeezing for dear life. Over his shoulder, right in his ear, my rambling began. "I'm so, so sorry, what she said isn't true!"

"Ness, I-" he tried to interject, attempting to loosen himself.

"I would never use you, you're my best friend!" I continued, tearing up now, squeezing tighter at the prospect of him leaving again.

"Nessie, I just-" he choked.

"And I was so upset when you left because I thought you believed her and I couldn't stand it if you-" -he managed to wrench my arms from his neck and held me back to look him in the eye- "-didn't like me anymore."

"Oh, honey," he sighed, pulling me back tight to him, hugging me back finally. "Of course I didn't believe her."

"Then why did you run away?" I asked pitifully.

"Because I was going to kill something if I didn't," he laughed, a little breathlessly from my arms locked on his neck. "Jane talking about getting everybody against you pissed me off. I was seriously planning to rip her hair out."

I grinned to myself. "I knew it."

"I had to clear my head, I didn't want to comfort you until all thoughts of violence were gone," he said, running a hand up and down my spine soothingly.

We just kind of held each other for a few minutes, pouring all of our love and comfort into it through the silence. I finally pulled back and looked at him.

"How are you supposed to react when someone calls you a slut?" I asked seriously, cocking my head theatrically.

Jacob gave me a confused look, then realized I was joking around. "I don't know, I've never had the pleasure."

I rolled my eyes and laid my head on his shoulder, finally realizing I was in his lap but not wanting to move. "Are your legs numb yet?"

"No," he laughed.

I sat quiet for a minute. "Why didn't you look at me, when you were running away, I mean? That's what hurt the most, that you wouldn't look at me."

He sighed. "I'm sorry, I just didn't want to chase her, and if I saw your expression I would have. All I wanted to do was scoop you up and hug the life out of you, but I knew if I looked into your big brown eyes I would want to commit a murder."

I giggled. "My eyes have that much affect on you?"

He laughed. "Yes, because no matter how hard you try, you can't hide your emotions in them. I can always tell what you're feeling, which is why I feel so guilty now."

"What are you guilty for?" I asked. "You were saving us all from possible imprisonment."

"But when you were talking before and I made you let me go, you looked like you were about to cry, and I hated myself because I made you look like that," he said, giving me a squeeze.

"I feel so pathetic," I admitted. "I get upset because someone calls me a name and my best friend leaves my side for five minutes."

"Well, don't, I shouldn't have stormed off without an explanation," he said. "And for the record, I do like you; in fact I love you, and you should know that. No doubt there, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

I smiled and hugged him tighter, then got off his lap to allow him regular circulation. I decided instead to lay back down, hinting to Jacob, who laughed at my antics, to go back to my neck. "You're too good to me," I murmured, smiling as he relaxed knot after knot.

"Nah, my sisters get stress headaches, did since they were young, so I learned how to work out the kinks," he said, not losing pace. "It scored me big when they felt all better and wanted to take their baby brother out for a movie or ice cream."

I giggled. "Nice. Well, you'll have to settle with a payment of my insane family and the company of me."

He laughed. "I'd make the trade any day."

I sighed and let him continue to unknot my neck. "Only you."

"They don't know what they're missing."

A/N: Eep, I had to add that last bit of fluff. You know me. PS- Like the new penname?

~Sidney