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A/N: Thank you so so much to our amazing beta, TheHeartOfLife1, who, despite being insanely busy, managed to find time to help us out with this chapter! We love you and are so grateful to you for everything you do for us! When we eventually snuggle, there will be many, many cookies!

To you, our amazing readers and reviewers, thank you so much for your patience waiting for this chapter. As you all know, real life happens and sometimes it's just not possible for us to stick to any sort of schedule, but we love you all and appreciate your amazing comments and kind words.

To my girl, Weezy, it is an honour and a privilege to write with you and even more so to call you friend! I can not wait to snuggle you in SIXTEEN DAYS. You're the best and I love you!

Now then, enough of me (Hev99) waffling! On with the show!


Letting Go Of Maybe

Chapter 9

Isabella Swan POV

I was so tired. It had been the weirdest and longest day of my life and it was very much not over yet. My hands were encased in Emmett's in a way that was probably completely inappropriate, but I didn't care and, amazingly, it didn't appear that he did either.

A flash of something unidentifiable ran through me when his skin met mine, and I was beyond shocked by it. Then his words - those words that made my blood run cold - came out and it was all I could do to stay as remotely conscious as I did.

They were letting Mike back in.

I knew they would, and yet at the same time I couldn't quite believe it. Did Principal Greene not care about what he did to me? What he could, and probably would have done to me if it hadn't been for the intervention of the man sitting opposite me, saying sweet words that I couldn't for the life of me understand. This man who, not ten minutes ago, terrified and confused me, was sitting in front of me, holding my hands as though they were made of glass. My brain was scrabbling around so frantically for an explanation for his sudden tenderness that I almost missed his apology.

"I'm sorry I've been such an asshole to you," he said, so quietly it seemed almost as though he were afraid if he spoke too loudly I would break into a thousand tiny pieces, much like the glass I had destroyed what felt like hours ago. Maybe I would. I didn't know.

I could feel everything and nothing all at once. When his eyes locked with mine, it felt like it would be easy to forget about anything and everything else, just as long as we could stay this way forever. I never wanted his hands to release mine. I was certain that the moment he pulled away, as he inevitably would, I would fall and fall, spiralling and spinning into a vortex that only existed in my mind.

He said that he wanted to help to protect me. Jasper too. That between them they would never allow Mike to be anywhere near me again. His voice was so fiercely determined when he spoke that I wanted desperately to believe him. I wanted to believe that, just because he couldn't get close to me or get his hands on me, he couldn't and wouldn't torment me in other ways.

Those eyes and that smirk. I would have to look at them everyday, knowing that the principal of my school - the man who was charged with keeping all the children in his care safe - allowed him back into the school, either knowing what he did, or not believing that it happened. Either way, Mike had won. I couldn't escape from the fact that the guy who tried to force himself on me was more important to the school than my safety and comfort. A sudden wave of worthlessness swept over me as I realized that they were probably right. Even a would-be rapist was worth more than me. In fact, Principal Greene had no reason to even know who I was. I'd always prided myself on that in the past, thinking that staying away from his office was a good thing. Now, it seemed, my relative anonymity was working against me.

My thoughts swum around and around, and it wasn't until I felt a slight increase in pressure on my hands that I realized how long we had been silent. Jasper had not yet returned, though I could hear footsteps upstairs, and my hands were shaking inside Mr. McCarty's grip. He was holding eye contact with me, his perfect blue eyes sparkling with emotions I couldn't put names to, and it seemed he was waiting for me to say something.

I didn't know what to do or what to say. My thoughts were trapped in an endless, dizzying cycle and the only one that stood out in that moment was that I didn't have any choices here. Just like Mike gave me no choice when he pinned me to a locker and touched me against my will, clamping his disgusting hand over my mouth to remove even my option to cry out for help, now Mr. Greene was giving me no choice.

Forks was a small town; it wasn't like I could request a transfer to get away from him. The only options I had were either insane and inadequate homeschooling by my erratic and educationally-not-brilliant mother, or going on as normal and facing him every day.

My mom.

She was flighty and unreliable, but she loved me, completely and unconditionally and, suddenly, I wanted her more than anybody else in the world. I wanted her to hold me and tell me that everything was going to be alright, regardless of whether it was true or not.

It was ridiculous. I was eighteen years old and going to college in the fall, but somehow, after a couple of steadying breaths, I managed to humiliate myself completely by whispering words that would surely make him laugh at me.

"I want my mom."

He didn't laugh. He didn't even smile. He just nodded seriously, squeezing my hands one more time and saying, "I can call her for you, if you'd like."

I didn't say anything. I couldn't. I just nodded, feeling tears prickling at my eyes at the thought of the embrace I so desperately wanted.

He moved to stand, attempting to release my hands, but finding himself restrained by the death grip I didn't even realize I had on his fingers. I looked down at our hands and could feel him do the same, but I couldn't force myself to loosen my grip. The thought of losing the contact that was grounding me sent irrational waves of panic through me and it was all I could do to look up at him apologetically.

"Here," he said, pushing our hands together so that both of mine were encased in one of his, as he pulled a cell phone from his pocket. His hands were so big. Not the scary kind of big, the safe kind. Suddenly I believed that when he said he would protect me, he meant it. "I'll need her number," he pointed out, his phone now waiting in his free hand.

Numbers. Right.

"I... Uh... I think..." I couldn't for the life of me think about what my mom's cell phone number was. Numbers were the furthest thing from my mind and I just stared at him blankly, hoping that he would somehow magically just suddenly know the number, via some weird brain version of osmosis. Apparently biology... or physics... or whichever science it was, didn't work that way as he just looked at me, his expression understanding but still enquiring.

Blessedly, Jasper chose that moment to enter, towing a confused and groggy looking Alice behind him. His eyes widened slightly and a small smile slipped onto his face when his eyes took in the fact that Mr. McCarty was still holding my hands in his. I hoped he wasn't reading anything into it. He was simply being kind to me. Nothing more.

"Jasper, I need a phone number for Bella's mom. Do you have one?"

He quickly fumbled for his phone, where he always joked that he stored his entire life. Without Steve Jobs, he argued, his life would be a disorganized mess, much like mine with my old, battered but faithful Nokia that I couldn't quite bring myself to part with, no matter how much Jasper nagged me to get a smart-phone.

"I'll call her," he offered, dropping Alice's hand gently and wandering into the kitchen with the phone to his ear. Alice moved forward and sat beside me on the couch, tucking her feet under her and eyeing me with a mixture of interest and confusion.

"Are you okay, Bella? What's going on?"

I looked pleadingly at Mr. McCarty, not much wanting to tell Alice about what happened with Mike, but knowing if she was going to be asked to watch out for me, she needed to know. He held my eyes for a long moment, not saying anything, before he nodded slightly and squeezed my hands again, then launched into telling her what he saw that day in the corridor. It was strange hearing it from his point of view. I had been so dazed and frightened that day that, despite the fact that it happened to me and not him, his view of things seemed much clearer than mine.

"He is being allowed back into the school tomorrow, and-"

"What?" she exclaimed, her face full of outrage. "How can they let him back in? What the hell?"

"I know," he responded, his head dropping dejectedly as though he felt he was somehow responsible for this turn of events. "I don't want you going anywhere near him, Al. I'm serious. He's not safe for young women to be around, and the last thing we need is for you to get hurt trying to protect Bella. All I ask is that you come to me if either of you has a problem of any kind with him. Or any other young man for that matter."

"Sure," Alice replied simply. I was sure that she would have no qualms about going to her big brother if anything happened. The question I had to ask myself though, was, would I?

"Bella?" he started, turning to face me again, his eyes asking me the very same question. "Will you come to me?"

Was it just me, or was his question more loaded than it seemed? In theory he was asking me about Mike, but in reality it just sounded like he intended it to mean much more. But what more was there? Were my stupid feelings - that he couldn't possibly reciprocate - getting in the way of my logic again?

I looked away from him, back down at my lap, but nodded reluctantly.

"We'll fight this, Bella. Don't think that you have nobody in your corner, because I assure you, you do. One way or another, he won't get away with what he did, and he will not be getting back on the football team, no matter what his daddy might think." The way he spat the word "daddy" made me realize that he wasn't ignorant to Michael Newton Senior's influence in the town. I wondered how long he would get away with snubbing Junior before said influence forced his hand. No matter how much we might have wished things were different, money talked and his family had more of that than they knew what to do with.

"Thank you," I whispered. "And thank you for stopping him. I never got the chance to say that. If it hadn't been for you, I don't know..." I trailed off, not wanting to think about the rest of that sentence.

He smiled in response, giving my hands one last squeeze before releasing them as Jasper walked back into the room. Apparently they had relaxed somewhat as he had no trouble pulling his hands away this time.

"Your mom's on her way, Boo," Jasper said softly, sitting on the arm of the chair and putting his arm around me, squeezing tight. "She's pissed," he added with a pointed look in Mr. McCarty's direction.

"Yeah," he replied, standing up with his hand cupping the back of his neck. "She's not the only one."

When my mom arrived, I fell into her embrace like I was seven years old again and she held me tight, cooing and stroking my hair as I allowed myself to silently cry on her shoulder. I knew how pathetic it must have looked to Mr. McCarty, but I couldn't care in that moment. My heart was hurting and my mom was the only person in the world who knew how to make it better.

"You want to go home, baby girl?" I nodded into her shoulder. I was torn between never wanting to leave Mr. McCarty's home and desperately wanting to be alone in my bed where I could wallow as much as I wanted, without worrying about who was watching.

My mom talked all the way home about how ridiculous and irresponsible it was to allow a "child like that" back into a school. I was thankful for her chatter; since she barely paused for breath, I wasn't expected to do any more than listen and nod where appropriate.

My dad was still playing poker with his friends from work when we got home, so I sloped gratefully up the stairs and crawled into my bed, without even changing. Kicking my sneakers off, I curled up and allowed myself to fall apart. I buried my face in the pillow so that my sobs could not be heard downstairs and eventually must have cried myself to sleep, since the next thing I knew, I awoke to my dad leaning over, kissing me on the forehead and pulling my blankets up snugly around me.

"It's going to be alright, Bells," he whispered, and I wasn't certain whether he could tell that I was awake in the darkness. I closed my eyes again and snuggled deep into my bed. I dreamed restlessly about what would happen the following day and woke to the blaring of my alarm, nervous and wishing I could stay in bed where I was safe.

~:~:~:~:~

The school seemed smaller somehow. More crowded. Everywhere I went I looked over my shoulder, just waiting for him to jump out at me. I jumped at every loud noise, scanned each classroom before I walked in and flinched each time my eyes found his arrogant form. He was strutting around the school like he owned the place - like nothing ever happened - and I was walking around like a deer in the headlights. By lunchtime I was exhausted from my hyper-vigilance all morning and when Jasper met me by my locker, I slumped into his side.

"Long morning, huh?" he observed, eyeing the bags under my eyes with distaste.

"Something like that."

We walked into the cafeteria where we were meeting Alice for lunch as usual, but my stomach rolled violently when I saw him sitting provocatively at our usual table. He was going out of his way to make me feel uncomfortable and my feet froze, unable to walk into that room where he had decided he was, once again, king.

"Boo? Lunch," Jasper attempted, trying to coax me past the door.

"I lost my appetite," I replied, before turning on my heel and walking briskly into the girl's bathroom, where I promptly emptied the contents of my churning stomach.

My head was spinning and tears were dripping down my face without reserve. I wanted to scream and shout and smash everything I could see, crying out that none of this was fair. I never did anything but get ill one day and now I felt like a prisoner in my own school. I was a straight A student with an impeccable discipline record, but because my dad was a cop and not the most successful businessman in town, and because I preferred to read than throw a football around or wriggle my ass cheering on those who did, I was being forced to share air with the scumbag that tried to hurt me.

Suddenly filled with a surge of anger, I slammed out of the toilet cubicle, stopping to rinse out my mouth and wash my face, and I walked out of the room, heading in the direction of Principal Greene's office. If he was going to be a coward and let him back in then he was damn well going to give me his reasons why. I was pissed and he was going to know it.

Adrenaline powered through me as I stomped down the corridor, feeling empowered by the idea of standing up for myself. I was usually passive to the point of idiocy, just like my dad, but this was my principal putting not just my safety but also my education in jeopardy, and that I would not stand for.

Reaching the office, I slammed the door behind me and barked at Mrs. Cope that I wanted to see the principal and now. Looking a little flustered she picked up the phone and dialed through to his office, murmuring softly into the receiver, too low for me to hear.

"He says you can go on through," she said eventually, looking a little confused. I soon realized why when I stalked into the small room with a face like thunder, to see Mr. McCarty already in there with a matching scowl on his face.

"Ah, Miss Swan, why don't you take a seat. We were just discussing you."

"Oh, were you? Were you explaining to him what the hell I did to deserve any of this? Because if you were, please, enlighten me, because I would very much like to know what I'm being punished for." I could feel that my face was beetroot red and my hands were shaking. I couldn't quite believe that I just shouted at the principal. For a small moment I was mortified, until I looked up and saw the look on Mr. McCarty's face. He was gazing at me with an expression of pure pride and I felt my blush deepen when I realized he was proud of me for standing up for myself.

The room was deathly silent for a long moment. The only sound was my labored breathing. I wasn't used to shouting at authority figures and I could feel the resulting anxiety coursing through me. Principal Greene looked stunned and didn't seem to be able to speak for a long while. I smiled a little inside, realizing that I had surprised him. He hadn't expected little Isabella Swan to give him any trouble over this.

"Well, ah..." he floundered, all his usual calm authority gone. "You're not being punished, Miss Swan. I'm sorry you feel that way. But, things being the way they are-"

"You mean the fact that you're too much of a coward to protect the girls in this school from a guy who believes that he has the right to touch anybody he wants to?" I barked, not even caring at this point whether I was crossing the line by calling the principal a coward to his face. If he didn't expel people for sexual assault, he would have no grounds for expelling me.

"I believe in giving people second chances, Miss Swan. Please sit down." He was trying to regain the authority he had very clearly been lacking up to this point, but I would not let this drop.

"Sure, why not? Give the poor guy a second crack at the whip so that next time he can get it right. Next time I'm sure he'll take care to molest his victim where there's no chance of somebody coming along and stopping him." I slammed down into the chair he had gestured to, glaring at him and enjoying watching the way that he squirmed in his seat. I didn't look, but I could feel Mr. McCarty's eyes on me and I wondered whether he was still smiling.

"Well, I... Ah... I think molestation is a bit of a strong word."

"Really?" I huffed, "What would you call it then?"

"Well, I don't know. I wasn't there."

"No. You weren't," I said pointedly, my eyes boring into him as he clutched at straws that weren't helping him. "Maybe Mr. McCarty can tell us what he would call it," I suggested, pleased at the opportunity to turn to him.

He had a look of complete wonder on his face and, for a moment, he didn't seem to realize we were both looking to him. Maybe it was unfair to put him on the spot that way, but he didn't seem fazed when he looked to Principal Greene with the most serious expression I had ever seen him wield and said, with no hesitation, "What I saw was sexual assault. Possibly attempted rape."

"You're sure about that?"

"Unequivocally. He had his hand covering her mouth, stopping her from calling for help. Why would he do that if, as he has repeatedly protested, he believed she wanted what he was doing to her?"

We both turned to the principal, waiting for him to attempt to reason his way out of this one, but he didn't. He was silent, his chin resting on his fingers, which were forming a pyramid while his elbows rested on the desk in front of him.

"I'm not a trouble-maker, sir," I said, quieter and calmer now. "All I'm asking you to do is keep me safe so I can get the education I need. I haven't learned a thing all morning. I was too busy looking over my shoulder, hoping that he wouldn't be behind me. Is it asking too much to be able to go to school and not have to be afraid the whole time?"

"I'm sorry, Isabella. My hands are tied. His father threatened me with the law if I didn't reinstate him immediately."

"Yeah?" I started, standing up and slamming my hands down on his desk, angrily. "Well my father is the law."

I didn't like playing the "my father's the Chief of Police" card very often, but my blood was boiling and I wanted him to realize that Mike wasn't the only one who could play dirty.

My veiled threat made, I left the room, letting the door slam closed behind me and ran almost headlong into a figure that tottered precariously on high, spiky heels.

"Bella?" It was Jessica. She put her hands on my elbows to steady me, but I shook them away, far too mad to deal with her right now.

"Get your hands off me," I barked, before turning on my heel and rushing away, ignoring her feeble, whiny-voiced protests behind me.

Emboldened by my new-found confidence, I made my way back to the cafeteria where Jasper and Alice were sat with their heads together, talking seriously.

"She's nowhere, Alice. I looked everywhere. I even paid a freshman to go and check in the girl's bathrooms for her."

Slumping down in the seat next to him and making him jump almost out of his own seat, I smiled apologetically at him.

"I'm sorry, Jasper, Alice."

"Boo, where the hell did you go? I looked everywhere. I was worried."

"I went to see Principal Greene," I explained, earning myself raised eyebrows from both my friends. They were both well aware of my usual debilitating shyness and neither of them seemed quite able to believe that I took myself there off my own back.

"I was pissed." I shrugged and smiled at the expression of pride on Jasper's face as he hugged me.

"That's awesome, Boo. I hope you gave him hell."

"Yeah," I answered with a smile. "I think I did."

Emmett McCarty POV

Watching Bella leave while she looked so broken didn't do much for me. In fact, it didn't do much for my temper either. I was furious about the situation, even more so after seeing just how much it affected her.

I called Kate as she'd asked me too, but we spent the hour on the phone talking about how the school system was flawed and the fact that the town's wealthiest family had too much power. My training had prepared me for a lot of things, but going up against the pompous ass that was Michael Newton Senior and the never-ending stretch of his money was all new territory, and Kate and I vowed to start doing some research so we could go up against him, fully armed with laws and facts.

The fact that Kate was willing to help made me feel even better about my decision to give what we had a chance. I wasn't going to lock Bella out anymore, either. I would try and be her friend, even if it meant I had to always be aware of what I was doing around her. It was a stressful thought that had me tossing and turning in my sleep. I'd always been a decent morning person but after a night like that, I was a bear with a sore head.

Things went from bad to worse when I got to school the next morning and found a note on my desk from Principal Greene, letting me know that I would be taking Michael back on the team. It wasn't a question, it was a command, and I didn't play those games. Unfortunately for Howard Greene, he was not prepared for the wrath I unleashed against him during lunch. It would have been sooner had I not had classes.

The moment my class let out at lunch, I marched to his office and pushed into the small outer administration area Mrs. Cope ran.

"Emmett, this is a welcome surprise."

"With you it's always pleasant, Mrs. Cope. Is he in?"

She gave me her usual wink and smile before dialing through to Howard's office. I watched her closely, looking for the denial I was sure was coming. When she scratched the top of her head with her Bic pen, I knew I was about to get denied.

"Emmett," she started as she hung up. Unfortunately I wasn't in the mood to denied, so I stomped past her desk and threw the door open anyway.

"How did I know you wouldn't take no for an answer?"

"Because this isn't something you can hide from, Howard," I said calmly, my voice filled with the quiet, lethal venom that made him shrink back in his seat. "If Newton is back on the team, you're short a coach."

"You can't do that."

"Watch me. When you offered me the position, you said my rules. That was the agreement and if the team didn't win, we would renegotiate. If it's my rules, Michael Newton is not on the team."

"Emmett, you can't walk away. You're taking us to the first regional championship we've seen in almost thirty years. Do you know how big that is for a school our size?"

I did know and he knew it, so I raised my eyebrows in challenge. I guess we'd see how important the school was in comparison to the Newtons and their money. He had a choice to make, and though I knew it would let the team down if he chose to stick his nose up the Newtons' asses, I knew the guys would understand. From what I understood, most of them disliked Mike anyway.

"Seems to me you have decide what's more important to you," I said, leaning forward and resting my hands on the back of the chair that was facing him. "If you want my opinion, your cowardice is grating. Michael Newton may have money, but this is a state school and he knows it. How far will you let this go, Howard? When do you start risking the integrity of the school to please one man?"

"That's not-"

"Yes. It is. And you know it. The fact that he's even in school to begin with is a huge moral issue, and it was only out of respect for you that I didn't go over your head to the school board. I'm beginning to see that was a huge mistake."

"Watch yourself, Emmett. That's the second time you've threatened me with the school board."

"Because you know that you're in the wrong. What that kid did . . . his endgame . . . Well, you would have a lot more than me and the school board to worry about. The people of this town entrust us to look after their children while they're here, and you've completely disregarded that."

"The kid messed up. He knows he's messed up."

"That's bullshit and you know it! He's a manipulative weasel, just like his father. If you're scared of him, tell him I went over your head and you had to reinstate the discipline until a hearing."

"Why is this so important to you? You were a kid once, too. We all did shit we weren't proud of."

"I never forced myself on a girl," I snapped, my hands gripping the back of the chair with enough force to make the skin on my knuckles almost two shades paler than the rest of me. "Anyone with a sister or a mother knows how vulnerable that can make a person. Isabella Swan has never hurt anyone. She minds her own business and does as she's asked, and the one time she expects something from us, she's been let down. Don't tell me that doesn't weigh on your conscience, because it sure as hell does mine."

The silence in the room hung between us. It was loaded and weighted and I knew he was beginning to see things through my eyes. I just needed to push a little more.

Unfortunately I never got the opportunity. The buzzer on his desk sounded and he picked it up, turning in his seat so he could avoid my eyes.

"Send her in," he sighed, pushing the phone back into its cradle and turning his eyes to the door. It didn't take a second before it was pushed open. What surprised me was the face stood at the other side of it.

Bella's eyes were dark and narrow and she stomped in. Her hands were balled at her side and tremors worked their way through her body. She was wound so tight she looked like a bomb about to go off.

"Ah, Miss Swan, why don't you take a seat? We were just discussing you."

If I'd thought her eyes had been narrowed before, it was nothing in comparison to the way she looked now. Had she been capable, I was sure she would have spontaneously combusted on the spot.

"Oh, were you? Were you explaining to him what the hell I did to deserve any of this? Because if you were, please, enlighten me, because I would very much like to know what I'm being punished for."

For a second I was stunned. I'd never seen Bella angry and I sure as hell had never seen her stand up against an authority figure. As much as I hated to admit it, she looked beautiful in her rage. Whatever had happened had pushed her over the ledge she'd been precariously balanced on since the whole thing had happened, and this was her stepping off. I'd never been more proud of her.

Hearing exactly how she felt about the whole thing made her reaction the night before make a lot more sense. She was right, of course. She was the victim, yet she was the one being forced to suffer because the asshole behind the desk was too weak to stand up to someone he thought was influential.

I looked between Howard and Bella and almost burst out into a fit of laughter at the look of abject horror on Howard's face. It seemed I wasn't the only one Bella had surprised with her sudden need to be loquacious.

"Well, ah..." Howard looked to me for support but I shook my head, enjoying this verbal punishment. He and I both knew he deserved it, but it wasn't hard to see he was out of his element. He desperately tried to wriggle his way out of things, verbally, but she was more than a match for him.

"You mean the fact that you're too much of a coward to protect the girls in this school from a guy who believes that he has the right to touch anybody he wants to?" she asked, her tone accusing.

It was a fair question, whether he liked it or not. It was exactly what he was doing. He was letting a student objectify the girls in his class and, by not punishing him, he was letting all the other students know that it was a standard that wouldn't be upheld.

I kept quiet in my corner and let Bella unleash her fury. Her cheeks, now a rosy pink, flared with her anger. Her dark hair hung over her shoulders and shook with the force in which she spat out the words. I'd never been more proud of someone for standing up for themselves.

The fact that weeks ago, this girl had been too afraid to speak out and give her opinion in class, but had now morphed into the astoundingly articulate woman that was stood in front of her principal, handing him his own ass, made me giddy.

It wasn't until the two of them looked at me that I realized I was being brought into the conversation. Thankfully, I'd been following their conversation, even if I had missed my own name interjected in there.

I backed Bella up a hundred percent, because she was right. It wasn't a case of boys behaving badly. What Mike Newton did was sexual harassment, and I was certain that had I been delayed in walking down that corridor, it would have progressed to the point of rape.

Bella left, leaving her last words hanging in the air like a gunshot. Howard's already pale skin was pallid with a tinge of green. If I'd had to hazard a guess, I would have said he'd forgotten exactly who Bella's father was.

"Emmett, these are serious accusations. Are you sure about what you saw?"

"Sure enough to stand in a courtroom and testify to it. She was helpless and he was restraining her. I have no doubt where it was headed."

"Do you think we can reach a compromise?" he asked, his elbows on the desk in front of him.

"What do you propose?"

"Newton is off the team indefinitely and if there are any complaints, they get directed to you. We pull him from his classes and put him in remedial as a punishment that will be indefinite. We will also instate a new rule that he cannot be within fifty feet of Miss Swan, and if he is caught breaking the rule, he will be expelled immediately."

"No go, Howard. Letting him back in here is setting the wrong standard. He needs to be kicked out. For good."

"And where's he supposed to go?"

"Not our problem. What does Newton have over you that you're stalling?"

Howard sat behind his desk, looking more and more frustrated by the second. Did he owe the Newtons money? It wasn't as though they were the mob; they weren't going to break his knees for not paying up on time. It was a small town; sure it would be awkward, but it was about time they were brought down a peg or two.

"Your silence speaks volumes, Howard. Get him out of here before he does anymore damage. If you feel it's necessary to home school him so you can please Senior, that's on you. You say your hands are tied, well I'm afraid so are mine. If he's not gone within the next hour, I'm going to the school board and putting in a formal complaint."

Howard picked up the phone on his desk and dialed out to Mrs. Cope.

"Can you have someone hunt down Michael Newton for me, Mrs. Cope. Make sure you send a boy . . . No, I don't think you're . . . I'm sorry. I know you've been doing this longer than I have. Yes, Mrs. Cope, thank you."

"You're doing the right thing, Howard."

"Yeah, we'll see about that."

I waved him off and stepped out of his office to face Mrs. Cope, who was slamming her stapler down on piles of unsuspecting papers. Her scowl made her look older than I was sure she was.

"Well?" she asked, a little less irritable than she had been.

I made the world-renowned Baseball gesture for 'outta there,' and she gave me a smile of victory. I suspected that was exactly why she hadn't put up much of a fight when I waltzed into the office. The woman was good at her job.

"I knew having you here would be a good thing for the school," she beamed.

I would have stayed and talked to her longer, and maybe even would have liked to have caught a glimpse of Newton's face when he exited the office, but I knew I had to tell Bella so she'd have peace of mind, even if half the day was over.

"I'll talk to you later, Mrs. Cope."

"You better," she chuckled, stapling with a little less enthusiasm than she had before.

With that, I took off into the corridor and scanned the students that were leaning against lockers and talking. With the bell so close to ringing I knew that she'd have to head down this way soon. Her locker was . . . The fact I knew where her locker was didn't really correlate with the "trying to avoid her and pretend she didn't exist" routine I'd had going on. Neither did the instant recognition of her dark curls falling over her shoulder.

Shaking off my self-denial, I made my way toward her, calling her name to stop from startling her. Unfortunately she was firmly in her Bella-zone and still didn't hear me approaching. When I finally reached out and touched her arm, she almost went through the roof.

"Bella, I was calling you," I mused, shaking my head in good humor. Unfortunately, I finally followed the direction her eyes were trained in and saw Mike Newton making his way down the corridor, looking like the smug bastard he was. "Come on, come with me."

"This is such bullsh–honkey."

"While I agree with you, we don't have long until the bell and I would prefer to talk to you now." I smiled, nodding toward the closest empty classroom.

"Oh right, sorry," she mumbled, looking down at her feet awkwardly. It was as though she'd forgotten whom she was speaking so candidly with, and now the reminder had pushed her back into the shell she seemed to keep around her protectively. "Is this about me yelling at Principal Greene?"

"In a way," I replied, holding the door open for her and stepping inside. I left the door open behind me as the rules stated, and stepped inside, instinctively moving toward the desk and leaning against it.

As it was my nature to teach, it seemed it was hers to slide behind the desk and look politely interested.

"Am I in trouble?"

"No, not at all. In fact, I think you'll be surprised at the result you got."

"I don't follow," she said, her eyes searching mine with such an intensity I had to shift my position to politely look away from her. Those brown eyes of hers unnerved me, but that wasn't due to anything she'd done, that was because of the dreams her chocolate brown eyes and the body they were attached to starred in.

"You going in there and standing up for your rights, not only as a student, but as a woman, has had the desired effect."

"Sir, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

I laughed; I couldn't help myself. "That would require me knowing what you think I'm saying, and I've never been much for the mind reading."

"Sorry. Are you saying that he's been suspended again?"

I shook my head, and took a chance, crouching down in front of her and putting my hands on the desk that sat between us.

"No, Bella, he's being expelled."

"Really? I mean . . .Well, I didn't think . . . I just said what I was feeling."

I watched her as she tucked the loose strands of her hair behind her ear. I could see she was stunned and I knew I had to say more. If I wanted to bridge this gap I had created and be a bigger man than I had been up to this point, I had to tell her more, I had to make her trust me.

"Well, it worked, and I just want you to know how proud I am of you. I know you had to be pretty upset to march in there like that, but you made your point, and you didn't let him intimidate you into changing your mind."

"How could I?" she said, her eyes looking into mine with earnest. "I couldn't think straight all day. I was too busy looking over my shoulder. I kept thinking about what he'd done. What if he tried that with someone else and they weren't as fortunate?"

"Well, you nipped that in the bud, didn't you?"

She shook her head in disbelief before a broad smile spread across her lips. She couldn't believe this; she couldn't believe that she'd made a change. I'd meant what I'd said to her. I was proud of the way she'd handled herself and the situation. She'd made a stand as a student, for herself and all of the other female students that were within reach of Michael. She'd thought it was out of her power, and she'd proven herself wrong.

"Thank you, Mr. McCarty, for everything. I think you backing me up in there helped just as much."

"It was just the truth," I said, stretching up to my full height. "I meant every word I said in there."

She nodded, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"Why don't you head to class? I'll see you in English."

"Ah, yes, thank you."

She pushed out from the seat and stood up, looking undecided as to what to do next. Rocking onto the balls of her feet, she gave me a wave and pulled her bag over her shoulder before rushing out the door and into the stream of students that filled the space.

Having some justice served felt good. I'd never thought I would be happy about a student being expelled, but in a situation like this, I felt it was completely justified. Even if he had simply had an error in judgment, he could never take it back and Bella would always be haunted by what he'd done. However, as it stood, I knew he held no remorse for what he did; he only regretted getting caught. I'd seen it in the way he'd looked up at her through the bleachers the day before and, from Bella's reaction, there had to have been some kind of altercation. This was for the best – I unequivocally believed that.

As I walked out of the classroom into the thinning halls, I was aware of the students in the hall that weren't moving. They were all turned in the direction of the lockers. At the other end, Michael Newton Junior was being supervised as he cleaned out his locker.

As I turned and headed toward my class, I held in the smile I felt like showing and instead opted for a look of complete indifference. Justice had been dealt out fairly, and now we were free to move on with our lives.


Thank you for reading! :)