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Chapter 7-

Charlie was livid. He was pacing the living room muttering to himself. His face was red and I could see a vein popping out on his forehead. I had never seen him this angry in my life.

"How could you Bella?" he spat out. I could clearly read it on his face that he was disappointed with me.

I just sat there holding my head in my hands. Last night was a blur to me. The last thing I remembered was Jessica telling me to take a drink. I knew I should have listened to the rational side of my mind but no, my ego had to come in between. I had woken up this morning with a pounding headache wearing the same clothes as last night. Which makes me question, what exactly happen last night and why was I home? Wasn't I supposed to stay over at Angela's?

Charlie had waited for me to wake up before he stormed into my room and told me to shower and meet him downstairs in ten minutes for I quote 'A family meeting'. I had hardly had time to make a cup of coffee before I was bombarded with half disappointed and half anger filled looks.

"You are freaking seventeen years old or have you forgotten?" He shouted "Imagine my plight when a frantic Reverend Weber calls me up at 2 Am to ask me if my only daughter has made it home because she had left the party without his daughter. And let me tell you, the cherry on the cake, my intoxicated daughter turns up at my house passed out in the arms of Paul Lahote out of all people. I thought you were more mature than this Isabella Marie Swan" he bit out.

Damn it. Charlie only used my full name when he was mightily pissed.

Wait What. Paul brought me home? I don't even remember meeting him last night at the party.

"Do you have anything to say in your defense?" asked Charlie using his Cop voice making me feel like I was a criminal in his custody.

"I am sorry dad. I didn't mean to get drunk. I guess I got carried away" I said honestly, looking at my feet.

He nodded his head

"Now, generally I would have grounded you for this but I know you didn't mean to behave in this manner. So I am letting you go with a warning. But next time you do something like this, there will be repercussions."

"Thanks dad. I promise I will be more careful in the future" I said

"Umm Dad" I started "Did Paul actually drop me home last night?"

He nodded his head "Poor boy. He was terrified that I would shoot him and I almost did till he explained to me that he had found you in this condition, alone in the party"

Shit. From listening to other people's drunk tales, I knew that a person when under the influence of alcohol, does atleast one stupid thing that they regret in the morning. And just my luck, I had absolutely no memory of my debacle.

"Can I go and apologize to Paul right now? Also I wanted to thank him for bringing me home safely last night" I mumbled.

He nodded his head

"Bells" he said after a couple of minutes "Why don't you invite Paul over for dinner tomorrow night? Even I would like to formally thank him and apologize for how rude I was last night"

I smiled. With all that was going to happen in the future, I wanted my parents to like Paul and accept him as a son. Renee would be easy. All she ever wanted was for me to be happy irrespective of who and where but Charlie was slightly more difficult to please. Maybe my getting drunk fiasco was not completely fruitless.

"Sure Dad" I said and rushed to my room. I changed into something more presentable and applied a tinge of make up to hide the blackness under my eyes before sitting in my battered truck and driving towards the reservation.

Finding Paul's house was a complicated task even if it was on this small of a reservation. I had no idea where he lived and I had never been to anyone other than Jake and Sam's house when I used to hang out with the pack.

As my truck passed the little quaint red house, I decided to stop and ask Billy for directions. As the tribal chief he would definitely know where Paul stayed.

"Hey Billy, hey Jake" I said as I walked in through the open door. Billy was watching TV and Jake was cooking in their open kitchen.

"Hey Bells" said Jake giving me a huge smile

"Hello Bella" said Billy moving his wheelchair so that he could face me

I hugged Billy before ruffling Jake's hair. Jake was taller than me but I could still reach his head. That would become an impossible feat after he phased.

"Hey" he shouted in annoyance

"Bella come sit. You staying for lunch?" asked Billy

"No, Charlie will be waiting for me. But I need your help for something else?"

He waited for me to continue

"I wanted Paul's address"

He nodded his head before taking a piece of paper and scribbled something on it.

"Bells, why do you need Paul Lahote's address? Is he troubling you or something?" asked Jake looking concerned.

"No Jake. Nothing of that sort. Actually, he helped me out yesterday so just wanted to thank him" I said reassuring him.

"He is not a good person Bells. You should stay away from him" scorned Jake

Before I could say anything, Billy beat me to it.

"Jacob, I have told you before. You should not judge a book by its cover" said Billy strictly

Jake scowled and went back to cooking

"Bella, I think you should go and see Old Quil. He told me certain things which concern you and wanted you to meet him" said Billy. Though his tone was of a suggestion, I knew it was an order.

"Okay. I will go see him in the next week"

He nodded his head and I started walking towards the front door.

"Bella wait" said Billy "After talking to Paul, come back here. I will call your old man also. Have lunch with us"

"Okay" I smiled

Paul lived on one of the extreme ends of La Push. There were hardly any houses in the vicinity. A bike was parked in the driveway. I knocked on the main door and waited for a few minutes.

Finally Paul opened the door "Hey Bella. Come in"

I noticed that he was just wearing a towel and his hair was wet indicating that he had just taken a shower. I blushed looking at his chiseled body.

"Have a seat. I will just be back" he smirked noticing me blushing.

I sat on the couch and looked at my surroundings. Though his house was small and the exteriors were in shambles, the interiors were clean and gave a warm home like feeling.

"So, how's the hangover?" he said entering the room now fully dressed

"Ya.. About that" I started embarrassed

"Chill you don't need to be embarrassed about anything" he said reassuring me "Coffee?"

"Sure" He went to the kitchen and started making two cups of coffee. I followed him to the kitchen so that we could talk.

"I wanted to apologize about last night. I was drunk and I don't remember how I behaved also Charlie told me you dropped me home so thank you for that"

"No problem" he said smiling and handing me the cup of coffee

"But tell me one thing Bella?" he continued "Why did you drink so much in the first place?"

"Honestly I don't know. I guess I got carried away" I said sighing

"Happens" he said giving me a genuine calm smile

"By the way who is Ange?" he asked me

"Ange? Oh you mean Angela? She is a friend from school. Why?"

"You told me you were with her yesterday and I tried looking for her but could not find her"

"Oh, she probably just disappeared in thin air"

To be honest I was upset with my 'so called friends'. I know I was to be blamed for my inebriated condition but they could have stopped me from making a fool of myself.

"So will you tell me now, what all acts of stupidity did I commit yesterday?" I said slightly giggling

"Well if you are so sure" he questioned me and I nodded my head

"You danced in a pretty sexy manner" he said smirking

Dancing and me? I was born with two left feet. Wait, Sexy and me? I have never heard the adjective 'Sexy' being used for me.

I held my head in my arms and looked at him mortified.

"Oh that's not all. You played Beer pong and called me a party pooper" he pouted in an adorable manner making me laugh

"What else?" Ya let's just rip the band-aid in one go

"You also sang Karaoke"

"I am a terrible singer"

"Ya.. Everyone in Forks and La push knows this by now"

I hit him on the arm in a playful manner.

"But you know something Swan?" he said now completely serious

I looked up and waited for him to continue "You were happy, glowing in fact. You should be like this more often"

I looked at him questioningly

"Geez Swan, I don't mean get drunk more often. Sing, dance, laugh, crack lame jokes. In short be yourself. Life is too short to be a pretentious pompous ass"

I smiled

"And by the way has anyone ever told you, you look even more beautiful when you laugh and have fun" he said bringing his mouth to my ears and saying in a low voice.

I blushed. I could feel Goosebumps on my arms and legs.

He chuckled. He sure knew how to get a reaction from my traitorous body.

"Umm Charlie wanted to invite you over for dinner tomorrow night to thank you for bringing me home safely last night" I said changing the subject

"Your father's one scary man, Swan. I almost said my mental goodbyes"

I hit him on the arm again "he is a cop and a father"

"So you coming tomorrow?" I asked him

"Sure"

"So I will see you at 6?"

He nodded his head

"Oh by the way, you kept calling me Pauly for some reason. Terrible nickname if you ask me and you also called me cute" he said giving me his trademark smirk.

I decided to take his advice and channel my inner confidence "You are cute, Pauly" I winked at him and left.

The next morning in school was an exact déjà-vu of the past. It was the day when Mike, Eric and Tyler asked me out for the spring dance. I was livid when Mike asked me out and pretty much gave him a hearing. He had the audacity to ask me to go with him after he played that stupid prank on me with Jessica, not to forget he was unofficially with Jessica since months.

And my answer this time was also the same. The only thing that did not happen was Edward talking to me. I was somehow still not on the Cullen radar and I was glad for it. Slowly but surely, Paul was making his way in my heart.

One conversation that stood out in the entire day was the one I had with Angela just before Lunch.

"Bella stop" she said from behind me as I was walking towards the cafeteria. Angela and I had not got any time to talk since morning.

"Yes Angela. How can I help you?" I said in a formal tone. I was angry on her and I was not even going to try to hide it.

"I am sorry okay. I know I messed up"

"Where were you?" I asked her

"Actually Ben and I got a little carried away and one thing led to another so we left to go back to his place" she said slightly embarrassed.

I did not know how to react to this information. I was happy for her though. Ben and she had been thinking of taking this step since weeks but still she should not have left me stranded. I was supposed to go back to her place for the night.

"I just need some time to process all of this. I will see you tomorrow" I told her and left

After that Lunch was weird as no one was talking to the other. Angela kept giving me sorrowful looks while Lauren kept glaring at me, for what reason I have no idea. Eric and Ben kept staring at all of us.

I was walking towards my truck when I saw Lauren standing in front of it.

"Yes Lauren" I sighed

"How do you know Paul Lahote?"

"Umm he is a friend" I said. I could not understand her curiosity.

"Stay away from him. He is mine" she sneered

Wow, delusional much. I rolled my eyes.

"Ya and that is why he decided to spend time with me instead of you" I told her calmly

She gave me another glare but moved out of my way. I sighed again and sat in my truck.

That night I was reading a book in my room when I received a call. I checked my phone to see Emily calling.

"Hey Em"

"Bella" her voice was filled with panic

"What is wrong Emily?" I asked her worriedly

"Jared phased"