Okay i haven't forgotten about this story actually been working on this chapter for awhile now just couldn't get the words to flow until tonight so here ya go Thanks for the Reviews always love hearin from ya EnJOY by the way get ready for some more action something is brewin if don't catch the forshadowing....

Chapter 24

Couldn't sleep last night thoughts of being the towns latest gossip king, thoughts of everything blowing up in my face overwhelmed my thoughts and even now as I rise for school I fear what lies outside my bedroom. I drifted somewhere between restful sleep and restless turmoil tossing and turning never really feeling able to relax. The only way I can deal with it all is to deal with the rumors and gossip as it comes I guess, I can't deny what isn't lies although if I had stopped to think…never mind too late now.

I trudge downstairs, my mother giving me the silent treatment, my sister still sleeping I grab some toast and head out the door with my belly still rumbling I'll have to remember to eat a large lunch today. The cold air does nothing to calm the tension in my body or the tiredness in my eyes. When will everything in my life allow me to catch up when will it all come to a halt so that I can figure it all out. I didn't ask for this, none of it.

I glance up at the sky and decide I have time to swing by the council building and see who is around, Drake for sure but weather or not Quil or Clearwater are there is always up for grabs. I won't have time to see Brey until after school, when will they release him, will Sadie be at school today?

Drake no longer in isolation is lounging on the couch in one of the front lobbies looking alert and awake. Wish I felt that alive. He glances up as I walk in.

"Hey, You're up early." I smile plopping down across from him in one of the overstuffed chairs.

"Didn't quite get to sleep yet. You know you don't have to keep doing this."

"What?" My brow furrows wondering what he is getting at.

"Coming by here acting all buddy buddy with me and all, I know you don't like me any more than you did last week."

"I thought I explained this already, regardless of weather we are friends or not we are part of the same pack therefore stuck together and I would rather us all be civil instead of at each others throats. You don't have to boast to your friends about me, but you have to know at some point we will be seen together. Hell, what happens if Walker pops one day soon or even Arden anyone just about has the potential you know."

"You can't be serious."

"Wouldn't joke about this so I'm not coming by here to force my friendship on you, but I would rather we have some semblance of a friendship rather than me having to be a dictator. I don't want to force anyone to do my will."

"Sure, sure. You are gonna be late for school." I roll my eyes at him as I head out.

The second I step into the school, I hear the whispers and almost outwardly cringe at what I hear. My mother's worst fears, the rumor mill is working and along with it my name is being pushed into the biggest mud puddle there is. I take a deep breath and start towards my locker. I smell them and hear them long before I register what is happening. The group led by Arden Black, several other guys both in our grade and older backing him, and me not willing to put much stock in their actions allow them to back me down the hall into a dark corner.

"Stay away from Lil." Arden sneers and I find myself smiling at him, which only aids in making him look angrier.

"I mean it, Brey may still like you and your twisted mind, but the rest of us don't like the idea of you going after little girls. What are girls our own age too much for you to handle?" Emry growls at me and shoves me back though I willing give against his assault.

"I'm not gonna fight with you." I say my fist clenching against my urge to change, my strength going toward not outwardly showing the trembles rippling through my body.

"Gone soft huh, first running from Drake now your not even gonna defend your own actions." Arden cackles.

Another deep breath and the bell sounds loud overhead and the crowd slowly dithers off leaving only Arden and me standing alone at the end of the hall. Our eyes meet for a moment and I almost forget he isn't quite the friend my brain sees standing before me. He looks down and away first his bravado failing without his audience, showing me that there might not be much holding him back from our friendship—just maybe his pride. I start to walk past him my shoulder almost colliding with his, but before it does I pause.

My mouth opens as if to say something, anything, but the moment passes and sure enough, my mouth closes before I utter a word. I pull myself away from him not wanting to start anything when I am already late to class. The confrontation replays in my mind instead of thinking about what exactly we are learning in class.

It is similar throughout the day hearing the snide comments about either my relationships with younger girls or what exactly I was doing talking to Drake and his lackeys. Could my life at school get any worse? I don't want to know.

"Mr. Grey…." I hear a teacher call and I look up from my desk to realize I am sitting in an empty classroom. I blink my eyes several times before I hear her speak again, "Mr. Grey, school let out 15 minutes ago."

"Sorry." I mumble wondering why I hadn't heard the bell.

"Are you alright?" She asks as I gather my stuff. I glance at her for a moment and nod before walking out of the door.

An awful day not that I remember much of it, tried to block out anything and everything I heard which just so happened to include the teachers. How on earth am I gonna fix this? I'll just have to keep my distance from Lil and Sadie until that rumor settles down, it is my own damn fault for being do public to begin with. What gave me the right to do that to her? Gosh, she must be upset about this whole thing.

My feet take me to the one place other than my home I thought of as just that home. The Uley's house though I know nobody is home, I sink down next to their front steps and close my eyes. Wishing everything that has happened away, it must all be a dream. The whole world is just wrong.