CHAPTER 10

Jacob's POV

I raised my eyebrow in question, waiting for him to continue.

"A friend of mine has 'dated' her a while ago. Let's just say he has some very interesting pictures of her." Edward said, shaking his head in disgust of whatever memory that passed through his mind.

"What's your plan? Post the pictures all over the school?" Jasper asked, always worried about other people.

"Hell no." He rolled his eyes. "Just threaten her. Tell her that you will post them all over school and online, if she doesn't stop the rumors."

"You think it'll work? It's not like people don't know that she's a whore." I asked.

"Knowing it and seeing pictures of her sucking on a dick while some other guy is fucking her ass are very different."

"Whoa."

"I know."

"When was that?"

"Few months ago."

"Fuck, I dated that whore."

"Ew." Emmett looked at me in disgust.

"I know. Alright, send me those pictures."

"You'll get them tonight. I need to talk to the guy first." Edward turned to leave. "I'll see you later Jasper."

When Edward and Emmet got in the car and left. I turned to Jasper.

"Man, I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean to hit you."

"I know, it was an accident. Are you fine?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." I started walking towards the car but groaned as a sharp pain passed through my back again. It felt like someone stabbed me with a knife.

"Jake, let me check your back dude your shirt is stained in blood."

Jasper went behind me and lifted up my shirt.

"Fuck! Jacob we need to take you to the hospital right now! Your whole back is peeled off; you've lost a lot of blood, shit! Get in the car right now!"

I managed to sit in the car, but couldn't lean on my back at all. At the hospital after cleaning the open wound from all the dirt and bacteria, the doctor sewed my back. I wasn't allowed to bend my back much or the stitches would rip. This fucking sucked, but I guess I deserved it for acting like such a dick. My back was the last thing on my mind right now. I had more important problems to worry about.

…

BELLA'S POV

I do not want to go to school.

I don't want to face all the humiliation again.

Even if the rumors are false and the only people that mattered believe me, it was still difficult to go through it.

Fuck high school.

I barely slept last night, Edward didn't respond to any of my texts. Jasper called Alice and told her that everything was taken care of, but he didn't give her any more information than that.

What the fuck did that mean? Everything was taken care of?

Was Edward hurt? Did they really fight? What was going to happen?

The only reason I went to school today was because I wanted to see him. Know that he was ok. I looked like a complete mess. I let down my hair so it would cover my swollen eyes and the dark circles under them.

Alice came to pick me up with Rosalie because they didn't want to leave me alone.

I love them,

"If that bitch opens her dirty mouth again I will rip all her hair off." Rosalie said when I got in the car.

"I kind of told her to mind her own fucking business yesterday, hopefully she got the message." I mumbled, remembering the incident in the bathroom after 1st period.

"Just saying, I've always wanted a reason to give that whore a piece of my mind, and I won't lose this opportunity. Are you feeling better?"

"I guess so." I didn't want them to worry about me. I was a big girl, a stupid rumor like that wasn't going to hurt me that bad. I wasn't going to let it happen. "Alice, have you talked to Jasper?"

"I have, but he didn't tell me anything about the fight." She looked at me through the rearview mirror her eyes full of understanding and worry. "He just told me that everything was fine, and that Edward found a way to stop the shit talkers."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, not comprehending anything. How was Edward going to make Jessica stop talking? Teaching a cow how to bark would've been easier than teaching Jessica to shut her mouth.

And I was right.

Jessica and the rest of her friends kept whispering and snickering throughout the whole first period. I showed no emotion whatsoever, and concentrated on my class work and didn't let them to get on my nerves. Angela kept glaring at them; and even showed her middle finger when one of them laughed out loud. Didn't know she had it in her, but it made me smile a little.

Thankfully, I didn't have other classes with them, but during lunch I could feel people's gazes on me. Rose and Alice were trying their best to distract me, but I still felt the hurt. I hated being the center of attention, I always felt invisible around a big crowd of people. Now all this negative attention was suffocating me, but I had to be strong. I wasn't the old Bella anymore. I had to hold my head high and show them that the rumors couldn't hurt me. I was right, and I was going to stand up for the truth.

I rushed to 5th period, my heart beating hard in my chest and my nerves eating me alive.

"Please be here, please be here" I kept repeating in my head before opening the door.

A relief washed over me and my heart skipped a beat when I saw him sitting in his seat.

Then I noticed that he was talking to Mike, his features hard and his expression angry. He was telling him something but as soon as he noticed me approaching them he shut his mouth.

I gasped when I saw the side of his face bruised. Half of his eyebrow was scratched and red, and the side of his lower lip was the same.

If I wasn't so horrified, I would find that very sexy.

Who am I kidding, it was sexy. But it also made me feel guilty and scared.

"Edward." I breathed, not knowing what to ask. Obviously Jacob did this to him. And it was all because of me. I did this to him. The rumors and the shit talking that people did towards me was nothing. I could take that pain, but seeing Edward so wounded because of my stupid mistake was unbearable. I had to take a deep breath to hold the tears from flowing down my eyes. I resisted the urge to hold his face between my hands and hug him.

That's what his face did to me.

His expression was worse, if that was even possible.

His eyes held pity and concern as he looked into my eyes, probably noticing the exhaustion and the sadness. He was worried about me? Who gives a fuck about me, he should be mad at me, he should hate me, not look at me like that as if I was a small vulnerable glass that was about to be shattered.

Our eye contact/torturing was interrupted by Mike's voice as he cleared his throat and smiled at me.

"Hey Bella, how are you doing?"

Words couldn't describe how sick I was of his attempts of trying to be more than friends with me. I was sure the annoyance on my face was too obvious to go unnoticed.

"Amazing." I said coldly. I don't know why, but the fact that Edward was mad at Mike made me mad at him too, obviously he said something that had upset him, and I wanted him away from here.

"Hey, I'm on your side." He raised his hands in surrender, pouting like a lost puppy when I glared at him. "Just to let you know, I'd never believe that you would go as low as sleeping with Cullen, you're better than that."

He glared at Edward, then smiled sweetly at me, as if he was giving me the best compliment ever. My eyes were wide in shock but the shock was quickly replaced with fury. I heard a low growl in Edward's chest and I got scared that he would get in another fight. I quickly put my hand on his knee under the table squeezing it so he would get distracted.

"Just who the fuck do you think you are?" I seethed, looking at Mike and smirking at his surprised expression. "If you ever fucking talk to me again, I will kick you in the nuts so hard you won't be able to walk for weeks. I'll also tell my dad about how you do drugs before coming to school and you'll fucking rot in jail, let's not even talking about getting abused and raped there. So get your fucking ass up out of this chair and leave before I change my mind." By the time I finished my sentence Mike looked so pale that I thought he was going to pass out any second. He apologized under his breath, clearly too shocked to raise his voice and stumbled back to the other end of the classroom.

I tried to calm down my breathing but then felt a soft touch under the table. I realized I still held the death grip on Edward's knee and he was grazing my skin there with his fingers as if to bring me back to reality. I quickly let it go, scared that I probably stopped the blood circulation there but Edward caught my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine, tracing small circles with his thumb on the back of my hand.

I felt myself relax, and I whispered.

"I'm so sorry, Edward. I'm sorry." I closed my eyes for a second, fighting the tears. I wanted to get out of the class but I didn't want to cause a scene.

"Shh…Forget it. Don't cry." Edward said softly, not stopping his soft caresses.

I jumped in my seat when I heard the sudden squeak of the chair as Leah sat next to me. I tried pulling my hand away but Edward's wouldn't let go. He raised his eyebrow, daring me to say something but my breath was still caught in my throat from his touch.

"Are you ok?" Leah asked, staring at me. "You look like you've just seen a ghost, heard awful news, witnessed your puppy's death and found out your friend has cancer."

"Gee, a simple 'you look like shit' would've been less complicated." I grumbled, feeling myself smile a little at her carefree attitude. I liked seeing someone look at me without pity and not make me feel like a tiny doll.

"Fine, you look like shit." Leah rolled her eyes but smiled back. "Edward, I could say the same about you by the way. What the fuck happened to your face?"

I looked back at him, waiting for his answer, the guilt making me frown again.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter. Just got in a fight. Shit happens." Edward mumbled.

"It sure does. You both look like hell. Does this have to do with those fucking rumors that the whole school is talking about?"

"Leah." Edward voice held a warning in it, his voice firm and careful as if he was trying to hold in his anger.

"Shit, I'm sorry Bella. I didn't mean it that way." Leah looked at me apologetically. "Ey don't give a fuck ok? This school is full of crap and shitty people. Don't let it get to you, if anyone ever bothers you let me know I'll burn their dicks. Or vaginas."

"Don't worry about it, thanks Leah." I smiled at her. Still nervous of Edward's hand holding mine. It did weird things to me.

Leah didn't continue the conversation, probably understanding that it was too personal, but I was dying inside with the million questions running through my head. I had to bite my lip constantly to stop myself from attacking Edward with my questions, knowing he wouldn't answer them now. I kept staring at his face, observing the wounds and imagining different scenarios in my head of what happened yesterday.

Whne the bell ran he let go of my hand and got up to leave. I followed him out of the classroom, walking fast to catch up with him. He walked all the way to the end of the school building, towards the back of the football field where there were no people around. Finally we reached behind the bleachers, surrounded by the dirty walls around us. I looked up at his face, he was much taller than me, and his hard expression made me feel even smaller. He looked like he was fighting something inside him.

"Tell me what happened." I demanded, my voice shaking slightly.

"Everything is fine." He assured me. "Trust me, it will get better. It will get fixed."

"The rumors?" He nodded. "How?"

"You'll see, Jacob and I talked yesterday."

"Talked?" I was so confused. "You look like you guys almost killed each other."

"Well that too, but we talked after it." He smirked a little bit, but then grimaced, probably because of the scratch on his lip.

"Edward you didn't have to, it was all my fault, I'm so s-"

"Stop apologizing." He interrupted, his voice annoyed. "It wasn't your fault. We all say stupid stuff when we're drunk. It's not your fault that some people can't shut their fucking mouths."

"But your face-"

"I've had it worse before, I'll survive."

"That doesn't make it better."

"Well you can kiss it better, if that'll make you relax."

I rolled my eyes, my lips twitching to fight the smile. The old Edward was back, and I was glad for it. I was sick of this drama.

"We should head back to class." I said, looking down on my phone. Rose and Alice were waiting for me and were probably worried sick.

"Yeah, if you want to, you go first. I'll come a minute later."

"You know what? I know the truth, and my friends do too. I'm not gonna stop myself from talking to you just because they might get the wrong idea. They don't fucking matter, I'm not scared of what they say anymore. I haven't done anything-" My words got caught in my throat when Edward pulled me into a hug and wrapped his big arms around me. I was in shock for a second before I wrapped my arms around his waist and breathed in his minty smell.

He felt so good.

I closed my eyes, just enjoying his embrace and the warmth of his body, never wanting to let go.

When did I start wanting to be close to him so much?

He chuckled, his mouth close to my hair, his chin resting on my head.

"That's the answer I was waiting for. I knew you were strong enough."

He ruffled my hair as we both slowly pulled back and smiled again. "Let's go show them all the fucks we give, tough girl."

I rolled my eyes again, feeling my cheeks heat up from his hug and smiled to myself.

He made me forget about all of my problems.

After school as Rose, Alice and I walked towards the parking lot my eyes widened in shock as I saw Jessica and Jacob talking to each other.

"What the fuck is going on?" Rosalie asked, when she spotted them too.

There were probably fifteen people around them, yelling and laughing for some reason.

When we walked closer to their direction, I noticed Jessica's horrified and furious expression, her whole face was red and eyes wide as she was yelling at Jacob.

"Give it fucking back right now!"

The students were yelling. "No! Give it to us! Jake show it again!"

Jacob was glaring at Jessica, his voice full of venom and disgust. "I've warned you, don't doubt me." He said coldly. "Tell them the truth right now or I'm sending it to everyone."

"You wouldn't! I'll press charges against you!"

"This is considered underage sexual intercourse you fucking idiot, the only person going to jail here will be you! So unless you want to ruin your whole life in a matter of seconds you better tell them the fucking truth right now before it's too late."

"Fine! THE FUCKING RUMORS WERE FALSE! I LIED! BELLA IS A FUCKING VIRGIN AND SHE NEVER CHEATED ON THIS ASSHOLE!" Jessica's eyes got watery as she screamed at the students. "Now give me your fucking phone!"

"Not before you apologize to Bella." Jacob pointed at where I was standing and the rest of the students' eyes followed the direction of his hand.

Rose Alice and I were rooted on our spot, our jaw's touching the ground and eyes probably popping out of our heads.

I was struck dumb, not believing what was happening.

"Fuck, Bella I shouldn't have said those things about you. I didn't know they were false." Jessica said, her voice still full of venom and hate and her eyes glaring at me murderously.

Jacob raised his eyebrows, clearly not satisfied with her statement. Jessica shrieked, too furious to care that by this time, almost half of the school was gathered around us.

"Fuck I'm sorry! Give me the fucking phone and delete that shit!"

I had no fucking idea what she was talking about.

All I knew was that Jessica Stanley just apologized to me in front of everyone.

And she said that the rumors were false.

If I wasn't so shocked I would've laughed at such a ridiculous thought.

But it was true, it just happened.

"Holy fuck." Rosalie said, shocked as well.

"I had a feeling this was going to happen," Alice smiled.

Rose and I looked at her at the same time, our eyebrows raised giving her the "what the fuck?" look.

"What?" Alice looked innocent.

Jessica stormed off towards her car and drove away quick like a bullet.

Some people high fived Jacob, telling him "you go man! Nice job! She deserved it!" before all of them separated their own ways.

Jacob approached me, and I noticed he had a hard time walking.

"What happened to you?" I asked, his face was worse than Edward's and he looked like he couldn't bend down his back at all. He was standing straight like a stick and it didn't look right.

"Nothing, doesn't matter." Jacob looked tortured, his eyes pleading. "I'm so so so fucking sorry Bella. I'm so sorry for everything I've done. I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry for the rumors."

"Jake stop, you were drunk. You didn't mean that stuff, just like I didn't mean the stuff that I've said." I took a deep breath, refusing to cry. He looked like he was in so much pain. I didn't want to see him like that. "The important thing is that it's fixed now. Thank you, I appreciate it."

"I had to fix it. I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't do something about it. God, I was such a dick to you Bella. I'm sorry; the break up hurt me so bad that I lost all my senses."

"Please stop apologizing Jake. I'm sorry too. I know I've hurt you."

"I know, but it didn't give me the right to act that way. I had no right to say such things to you."

"I don't understand. Did Edward make you do this?"

"He didn't make me. He talked some sense into me, and it just opened my eyes."

"Oh Jake, I'm sorry for all of this. It shouldn't have ended this way."

"No, I'm sorry. Let's just forget all this fights have happened. I promise I'll leave you alone. I won't try to get back with you. If you ever need a friend, I'll be there for you. But I won't bother you any other way."

I was so shocked by his words that all I could do was nod.

Jacob looked at something behind me and his eyes turned sad for a second before he composed his face again.

"Be careful, you deserve the best. I never want to see you get hurt again." He looked behind me again before slowly walking back to his car. I saw Jasper kiss Alice goodbye before going to open the door for Jake and helping him sit in the passenger's seat. Then Jasper sat in the driver's car and drove away.

"Shit, he got stitched on his back yesterday." Alice told me, seeing my confused and horrified expression.

"What? How?"

"He fell on some sharp rocks, but Jasper said he's gonna be fine." She assured me and looked at something behind me. This time I turned around to see what it was.

Edward was standing few feet away from us, leaning back on his silver Volvo, his eyes never leaving my face.

And just like that, Edward made my life alright again.

...

AUTHOR'S NOTE

/

Did you like that? =] Tell me what you think! Better get a lot of reviews if you want a quick update! I want your opinion, thank you so much for subscribing!