Hmm... I really dislike this chapter, I found it hard to write. But hey, I did it no matter how much I didn't like it.

Read and review :)

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An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie, for an excuse is a lie guarded.
- Pope John Paul II

If you do not change the direction in which you are going, you will end up where you are headed.
- Confucius

Four months later- The night after the last day of junior year...

Bella's POV:

"Bella, I really don't think this is a good idea..." Chloe said, glancing up and down the street nervously, checking to see if anybody was watching us.

"Aw, Chloe...Sweet, naive, Chloe. Come on, lighten up a bit, have some fun," I said, giggling and shoving her playfully.

"Bella, you're drunk, you don't know what you are doing," Chloe said, frowning and crossing her arms.

"I'm not that drunk. I only had a weensy bit, honest!" And then I giggled again.

"Yeah, a bottle of vodka, 5 cans of beer and half a bottle of wine is only a little isn't it?" she said sarcastically.

I rolled my eyes. "Come on Chlo, do you want to win this bet or not?"

"Yes, but if you're the one who is driving then I would rather not," she replied.

I spotted a black Porsche and made my way over to it. Chloe caught up with me fast. "Bella, what are you doing? I thought we were going back to your house to get your truck?"

"No," I stated as though it was obvious. "You know my truck can't go over sixty miles an hour. We need a car that can do over one hundred." My eyes were gleaming as I finished the sentence and I trailed my hand along the black paint on the car, sighing and wishing I had a car this beautiful.

"Bella, stop, let's just go home and forget all about this bet," Chloe said, looking at the owner's house, checking to see that no one was peering out of the curtains at us.

"But I need to win. That fucking prick, what's his name? Oh yeah, Johnny, needs to learn his place. Fucking cocky little shit he is. Thinking he is all that just because he got the new land rover, and shouting about how girls can't drive good cars."

"Just ignore him; you can have a go at him when you are sober and at school in front of everyone. We don't need a race to prove ourselves."

"This is more fun."

"Bella, please, I'm already grounded, I don't want to get arrested as well," Chloe pleaded with me.

"Such a pretty car," I muttered, trailing my fingers along the windows.

"Bella, don't even think-" And without warning, I clenched my hand into a fist and punched the window with all the strength I could muster, and it shattered into hundreds of small pieces. I cried out as the glass cut into my hand, but I gritted my teeth and pushed the pain away. I took another swig of the vodka and found that it helped me deal with the pain a little. Then I reached in the car and opened the door from the inside and climbed into the driver's seat.

"Chloe, get in, quick!" I said, because I could see the owner coming out of his house shouting at me, with a phone n his hand. I opened the glove compartment and thankfully, I found the spare keys. I still don't understand why people kept spare keys inside of the car, it didn't make sense. But I wasn't complaining, without them I couldn't have stolen the car.

I slammed down on the gas, zooming down the street. Chloe was gripping her seat with a look of uppermost terror on her face. I looked at the speedometer and I was going one hundred and twenty miles an hour.

"Woo!" I shouted, as I turned on the radio and found some rap music, and turned it on full blast. I glanced over at Chloe and she was shaking with anger. "You know what Bella; I am fed up of your stupid ways. Once we get to the square, I am going to get out of this car and go home. Fucking hell, is this how you're going to spend your pathetic life, on drugs and alcohol? Well in a few years I'll probably see you living on the streets, begging," she shouted over the thump of the heavy baseline.

Her words hit a nerve, yes; this was the way my life was going; spiralling out of control. And there was nothing I could do about it. If I stopped and moved away from temptation and back to Forks, I would have to face Edward again, and I couldn't do that. I felt better this way, the drugs and alcohol somehow managed to keep a little bit of my sanity left, if that made any sense. We had entered the square by now which was crowded with noisy, drunken, teenagers. I was pretty surprised that the cops hadn't come to break it up by now, but then again I was pretty surprised that I hadn't managed to crash the car yet.

"Get out then and don't come running back to me when you find that you have no friends," I said harshly.

She undid her seat belt and glared at me. "Oh, it's not me who I'm worried about; you will be the one who ends up having no friends. People are already beginning to get fed up of you. Why don't you go back to Forks where you belong," she spat and climbed out of the Porsche.

"Fuck you Chloe," I shouted after her, she just flipped me off and walked towards Sophie, Ellie and Abi, who were hanging round with some lads that I hadn't met before.

In the time I had been in Forks, they all seemed to have matured much more and never come out for any fun. It pissed me off; I came back to Phoenix to get away from Mike and Edward and to get some sense of release, but no, everybody changed in my absence...

"Stupid party poopers," I muttered as I climbed out of the car and walked towards Johnny who was staring at me and the car with a look of wonder on his face.

"Like what you see Jonny?" I said, with a sly little wink.

"Is that your car?!" he exclaimed.

"I recently acquired it," I replied, leaving out that I stole it. "Well, are you ready to get started then or what?" I asked, holding out my hand for him to shake.

"Yeah." His smile turned cocky again and he held my hand. "We race around the road that goes around five blocks and comes back here. The first one to arrive here wins. If you win, I won't say another sexist comment about you and your friends. I win, and you become my slave for a week. Is it a deal?"

I shivered when he said the word 'slave' but I swallowed my fear and shook his hand back. "It's a deal," I said boldly and got back into my car, whilst Jonny entered his Land Rover.

Through the broken window I could hear Luke shout out at everyone to gather around and watch as he stepped in the middle of the two cars.

"On your marks! Get set! GO!" he shouted, waving his arms down as he said go.

I slammed down the pedal and sped forward, whizzing past the buildings whose silhouettes I could only just make out. Next to me, Jonny was doing the same, going at the same speed.

Snarling a little, I pressed the gas down even harder and shot forward. I turned on the radio to add to the vibe and began singing along to that as well.

I was three blocks away from the square by now and in my rear-view mirror I saw Johnny gaining on me, his face twisted into one of anger. I smirked and face forwards again, and turned another corner onto a new block.

Only two more left now... I saw my phone ringing in the seat next to me, and at a quick glance I saw that it was my Mother, probably ringing to tell me off or threaten to send me back to Forks... all that usual shit. However, I ignored it; I would deal with her later.

I turned onto the last block, and at another glance behind me I saw that Johnny was only a few meters behind now. I pushed the pedal down even harder than before, and I turned the corner back into the square. All of the girls were jumping up and down when they saw it was me who had come first, and I could make out the boy swearing at me and looking disgruntled. I smiled and drove towards everyone.

However, as I was going too fast, I lost control of the breaks. I tried to stop the engine but it kept flying me towards the statue in the middle of the square. I turned off the radio and could hear girls screaming and see their faces of horror – which probably matched mine- as I smashed right into the statue.

I could smell petrol and smoke; I could see pieces of the statue fall onto the car, some even smashing the front window. I felt a searing pain in my head and ribs. People were screaming even harder.

And those were my last images before I fell into the awaiting darkness.

----~~~~----

Slowly, I came to my senses again. Around me I could hear the beeping of a heart monitor and the breathing of someone who was sitting nearby. I could hear the hustle of people in the corridor as they walked past, talking about certain patients and who was finishing their shift and when, or people complaining that they hadn't had their break yet because so and so made them work overtime yet again.

I groaned and brought my hand to my head, it felt as though that someone had whacked a hammer against it.

"Bella, are you awake?" A familiar voice asked.

"M-mum, is that you?" I stuttered, as I struggled to open my eyes. "Where am I?"

"You're in hospital sweetie, you had a bit of an accident," she said, grabbing one of my hands in both of hers in a comforting gesture.

Images flashed through my mind. Chloe, Porsche, Jonny, race, winning, crashing. There was also a lot of screaming and a lot of blood.

I blinked a few times, letting my eyes adjust to the bright light and finally opened them to take in my Mother's face, smiling down at me. "What happened?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

"You can't remember?" she asked, sounding concerned.

"No, I can. What I meant was what happened after I- uh- you know- crashed."

"Well, someone called the police and ambulance, but when they arrived no one was there apart from you in the wreck. It took them almost twenty minutes to get you safely out of the car, you were losing so much blood..." my mother trailed off at the thought of what would have happened if they hadn't got me out in time.

"I'm sorry mum; I messed up big time didn't I?"

"Yes, you did. It was a miracle that you weren't even killed, not just from the crash but by the amount of alcohol you consumed beforehand. Honestly Bella you could have had your stomach pumped from the amount that you had drunk, and where on earth did you get it all from? I know that I don't have that much stored at home."

"I'm sorry, I really am." I felt a lump rise in my throat at the thought of what I had put my mum through whilst I was getting treated.

"Where did I go wrong? Where did Charlie and I both go wrong Bella? Did we not bring you up properly? Did we not teach you the dangers of drugs at a young age?" she moaned and put her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking, signalling that she was crying. I just wanted to open my mouth and tell her that I was raped and then she would cry even more and hold me whilst I cried as well. She would call my Dad, who in return would arrest Mike for rape, then maybe Edward will find out and come and see me to apologise for jumping to the wrong conclusions, and then everything would end up happily, ever after, with rainbows and unicorns and smiling daisies... (Yeah right, like that would ever happen.)

But I didn't.

"You're sending me back to Forks, aren't you?" I stated the realisation of what I had just done dawned on me. I would have to go back to Forks and face them. Again.

Renee lifted her head and stared straight into my eyes, no emotion present whatsoever, just the solid darkness her eyes turned to in those few seconds. And on a closer inspection I noticed that she looked paler than usually and had dark circles and bags under her eyes as though she had recently had trouble sleeping. "No honey. That decision is not up to me anymore. It is now up to the courts. You have a trial coming up in three weeks time. You damaged State property, not to mention theft and underage drinking. It is beyond my control now Bella. Look where you've ended up. With a possible criminal record – which if you get it will be incredibly hard for you to get a job with- and I have had to tell them about the illegal drug use. I hope you realise that what you have done has shamed me and Charlie. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that you are my daughter." She pulled her arm away from my hand as I had reached out to touch her and stormed out of the room, brushing the furious tears away.

"Mum!" I called, my throat sounding thick as I pushed back tears, but I received no answer.

I fell back onto the pillow, crying. I was such a stupid bitch. I had no friends, a possible criminal record and I could get sent to prison for the next few years. If that happened I could never graduate and go to university and get a good job. My whole life was basically over.

And it was up for the courts to decide my fate now in three weeks. I just hoped that they went easy on me.

If you are thinking 'who the hell puts spare keys inside the car?' Well I actually know someone who does, so I kinda got the idea from them.

Also, do you think I should change the rating to M, because I found a fic that was rated M just for language, but mine has language in and a tiny bit of rape. So if you would help me out with that as well it would be appreciated.

And there is sixe chapters left now, so I aim to have this story finished in about 2 weeks if all goes well :)

And if you read my other stories, there is an authors note posted on my profile recently, so you might want to go and read it. It has nothing to do with this story, only if you read my other ones.

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