Alright guys. So… I just found out that this is my most popular story… and that over four thousand of you have read it; almost two thousand of you check it regularly (in March)! Whoa! You do not know how much that means to me. THANK YOU! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Sorry, I had to spaz out for a moment… anyway, here's the next chapter. (:

BPOV

That night, I slept restlessly.

As hard as I tried, I couldn't find the energy to fall asleep. Though my eyes were closed, my mind was wide awake, thinking about things that I would rather have not thought about.

Even when I finally did drift into sleep, my subconscious state continued to haunt me with hellish, demonic nightmares, not only about the day ahead of me, but of the evil hospital that I always find myself in.

At five o'clock, I gave up, and forced myself out of bed. I wandered silently into Edward's bathroom and once the door was closed behind me, I ripped the shower curtain on and turned the water on as high as it would go.

A long, hot shower was exactly what I needed.

The water woke me up physically. Emotionally, I had been awake for hours. Physically, my body felt achy and tired. Even in the warm water, chills from the cold outside air shot up my back.

I stared at the blank tile, not knowing to think.

Today was going to be one of the most difficult days of my life. Everyone knew what had went down on Saturday - you'd have to be living under a rock not to know. It was on the news for Christ's sake.

It wasn't so much as that people knew, but it was more of what they thought of me.

I turned off the water and wiped the tears that were streaming down my face before I wrapped a towel around myself.

I dried body and brushed my hair, and with the towel still around me, I walked back into Edward's empty room. I picked up the pile of clothes that Alice had left sitting out for me.

She had picked something that I would have worn, rather than one of her choices. I pulled on the dark wash jeans and the carefully pulled the grayish-blue shirt over my head. My wet hair left water stains on the fabric, not that I cared. It was just water.

Downstairs, I heard the clatter of people walking up; footsteps in the hallway, cabinets opening. Taking it as my cue to join everyone else, I quickly made the bed, and went downstairs, the smell of coffee hitting me like a heat wave as I opened the door.

"Bella." Esme said. "Good morning. I made some breakfast; toast, scrambled eggs, and either tea or coffee. What would you like?"

The way she worded it made it sound like I had no other choice.

"Um, a little bit of eggs… two slices of toast… and some tea, please." I asked her, not in the mood to argue over something as stupid as breakfast. And besides, my baby needed it just as much as I did.

She fixed my plate and handed it to me. I took a seat and the table and ate slowly.

"Edward, Alice!" She called. "Come downstairs! You're leaving in an hour!"

An hour of sanity was all I had left.

The two of them both came down, both dressed and ready to go. Alice wore a black skirt with a hot pink top. Not a hair out of place, her makeup looking absolutely perfect. She had a messenger bag resting on her hip, which seemed to go with her outfit perfect.

Edward, on the other hand, dressed a bit more casually. He wore a light blue polo with jeans. His bronze hair looked messy, as usual, and his green eyes looked hazy in the morning light.

I took a sip of my tea and smiled as Edward sat by my side, eating from the plate in front of him.

"Alice, are you sure that's not too short?" Esme pressed.

"No, mom. It's fine." She mumbled, irritated as she grabbed her breakfast plate and shoved toast into her mouth. Someone was obviously not in a good mood this morning.

The rest of breakfast was very uneventful. Everyone was talking, but I couldn't hear them. Not even if I had tried too could I have. I was too nervous and anxious to eat, so talking was out of the picture.

I sat in silence, picking pieces of my food and chewing, but not tasting.

"Bella?"

I snapped my head up and saw Edward standing by my side, holding his hand out, his black backpack slung over his left shoulder.

"Are you ready to go?

Anxiety shot through my heart as I stared up at him, nodding. Realizing that I wasn't going to move, he grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly, and led me out of the kitchen and to his car.

Esme called behind us, wishing the three of us a good day as we got into the shiny Volvo, and Alice into her Porsche. She had never driven to school with Edward.

The drive to school seemed to go by so quickly, more quickly than usual. My breathing deepened as Edward parked the car and pulled the key out of the ignition.

He turned to look at me, and held my face in his hands.

"Everything is going to be alright." He kissed my forehead softly. "You know that I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"You can't stop them from thinking." I whispered. "And you can't stop them from talking."

His mouth lingered by my ear. "Watch me."

I closed my eyes and nestled my head against his neck. He wrapped his arms around me reassuringly, occasionally kissing my cheek, and whispering words of encouragement.

"I think I'm ready." I said softly.

"You sure?"

"Mhm."

He pulled me away from him, kissed me on the lips, and got out of the car. I pushed my door open and stood up slowly, looking at the group of kids who walked in and out of the school.

I froze.

Edward was by my side, holding my hand. "I'm right here. It's going to be alright, Bella."

I nodded slowly and took my first step towards the school.

As we walked through the doors, I looked around slowly watching as people went along with their days. My eyes met the eyes of others for a brief moment, and then they went back to doing whatever it was they were doing.

Yet, I still felt as though their eyes burned into my back as I walked away.

I stopped at my locker, with Edward standing not too far behind me. As I grabbed my English book, someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned, and found none other than Angela Weber smiling at me.

"Hi, Bella." She told me. Her voice was quiet, like it normally was. Through her round glasses, I could see the sorrow in her eyes. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened."

I nodded.

"But, here's a list of your makeup work. And I managed to talk to the office and their not going to count your absences." She told me, handing me a list and some papers. "Here are my notes and homework… you can copy them if you'd like."

That was so sweet of her. She was probably one of the only people in school who didn't think I was terrible.

"And I have something else as well…" She said, a little more excitement in her tiny voice. "Turn around."

I turned and found Mike, Eric, and Tyler standing behind me holding a big basket. My cheeks flushed bright red as they handed it to me, yelling surprise. I held it to the side as the four of them all gave me a small hug.

"You guys… this is so… unexpected." I told them, my voice breaking into an awkward laugh.

Mike shook his head. "Bella, we're your friends. We've always got your back." His eyes flickered to Edward, who was now leaning against the solid black locker.

I smiled and held up the basket. "I should probably get to class now, but thanks again."

They all waved as Edward and I walked to first period together. So far, things had been going fairly well. A couple of people had told me that they were sorry about what happened, a few others gave cards, and some people who I didn't even know smiled at me.

Plus, in English we watched a movie purposely so that I could start catching up on my makeup work, which wasn't too much, especially with Angela's notes.

And to think that I thought people would hate me.

The bell ran, cuing that first period was over. The teacher flipped the lights back on, nearly blinding everyone, and opened the door. I put all of my papers back in my binder and walked side by side with Edward, who walked me to my next class, which is something that he rarely does anymore.

He held onto my elbow and kissed me softly on the lips before he ran off.

"Slut!" I heard someone call in-between coughs.

I didn't even have to turn to guess who had said that. Not knowing if I was angry or upset, I walked into trigonometry, not looking at a single soul.

I opened my binder and started working on the warm up, of which I had no idea how to do.

"So, Bella…" Lauren said, sliding into the seat next to me.

I ignored her, and scribbled onto my paper.

She sighed and knocked my binder off the desk. I glared at her, pissed off by the smirk on her tan face.

"What do you want?" I spat between my teeth.

"Oh, nothing… I just wanted to know what's like to have a boyfriend who only loves you for your ass." She snickered. "I still can't believe that he would actually sleep with someone like you."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Edward Cullen's baby… huh." Lauren thought for a moment. "That would have been one pretty baby. Except for the fact that it would look you too." She rolled her eyes.

"But, that's not -"

"Oh, shut up, Bella. You know that it's true." She leaned in closer. "You're just another pathetic, little whore."

Jessica was soon by her side, smirking just as wickedly as she was.

"It was probably the best for the world that your baby died. We don't need the daughter of a whore walking around - and an ugly one at that."

Tears stung my eyes as the two of them laughed bitterly. Their voices echoed in my ears, ringing louder and louder why the second.

"Oh, is the poor baby going to cry?" Lauren asked, pinching at my cheek.

"I'm still pregnant." I said softly.

"What's that? I couldn't hear." Jessica added, cupping her ear.

"I said I'm still pregnant." I said loudly. A few people turned to look at me, shock filled in their big eyes.

Jessica and Lauren looked at each other for a moment before they busted out laughing once again. Lauren put her hand on my shoulder and looked at me very seriously.

"Bella, you don't get it, do you?" She asked, as though I were oblivious to everything. "Nobody believes the slut who cries wolf."

The whole class was laughing now. Laughing at me… laughing at my baby. I wanted to scream.

I am not a slut. I am not a wore. And I am not a baby.

Not being able to take another moment of the teasing and the laughing, I grabbed all of my books and ran out of the room, fighting tears the whole way there.

I ignored the words that Lauren continued to scream at me. I just ran. I ran down the hall, out of the school, in the parking lot… to Edward's car.

Yanking the door open, I sat in the passenger seat and put my head against the leather seats of the car. Tears were pouring down my cheeks uncontrollably now. There was no stopping it.

My whole body shaking, I turned the radio on, and cried even harder as I heard the familiar lines echo through the car:

Don't you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine…

Everything was going to be okay.

Everything was going to be just fine.

And… end chapter! I hate Lauren. Haha, wow. You know a character is horrible when the author even hates them… what do you think should happen next? Review, review, review!