Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer

A/N:

So I was going to try to post the Edward/office chapter next, but I was having a lot of trouble writing it and ended up writing the Bella/nurse chapter instead. I know everyone is probably more looking forward to seeing what's going on with James and Edward, but it was either this one or a longer wait for the next update. *shrugs*

All right, so anyone who reviewed last chapter might have a problem reviewing this one. I went back and deleted the Q&A chapter, forgetting that it would move all the other chapters back, which means if you reviewed last chapter it will probably tell you that you already reviewed this chapter if you try to review it. You can do one of two things then. You can either go back and review on an earlier chapter and I'll know that you mean this one, or you can send me a PM with your review. If you don't feel up to either though I'll understand! No worries. ;o) I would go ahead and try it anyway, who knows, maybe it will work out okay.

Lot's of great reviews for the last two chapters. You guys are completely wonderful! Thanks so much for reviewing, and for taking the time to read this story. We're almost to the end now, a good couple of chapters away still, but we're coming up on it, and hopefully you'll think it's worth it (hope so!). Anyway, thanks!

******************************************************************

Bella

Rose and Alice walked me to the nurse's office, their arms wrapped protectively around me the entire way. I didn't need their support, but it felt good to have it none-the-less, comforting to me to be surrounded by them.

I had to admit that I was still a little shaken up. I had never been hit before, by anyone, much less a guy, so I was still a little overwhelmed by what had happened. My sense of security was shattered for the moment and I wondered how long it would be before I got it back.

The three of us were quiet the entire walk to the nurse's office, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I was going over what had happened in my mind, trying to process everything. Not just James hitting me, but Edward's reaction to it, then their whole fight.

When I thought about Edward in the principal's office I panicked a little, wondering how much trouble he would get into because of this, hoping it wouldn't be a lot. I wish I was with him, to defend him if he needed it. He had just been coming to my rescue after all, I didn't think it was fair that he get punished for that.

James, on the other hand, I was really hoping ended up getting kicked out of school, or at the very least suspended for a long time. Not just for my sake either, but for all of us. It had taken so little for him to snap and strike me, what was to stop him from doing it again, to someone else?

When we approached the nurse's office, Rose yanked open the door and the three of us headed in. Mrs. Neffron, the nurse, looked up at us when we entered.

"Everything okay ladies?" she asked, her eyes coming to a rest on me.

I hesitated, not sure how to explain what happened. Thankfully, Alice spoke up before I had to.

"Bella was hit in the face, at lunch. Mr. McDonall told Rose and I to escort her here," she said.

"What were you hit with, dear?" she asked.

"James Black's hand," Rose said dryly, clearly not willing to skate around the subject.

"You were hit by a student, by a guy?" she asked.

I shook my head yes, but remained quiet. What was there for me to say really?

Mrs. Neffron had me sit up on the table so she could examine my face. I have always hated the tables found in school nurse's offices, or doctor's offices. They were uncomfortable and, despite the paper covering them, your skin always stuck to them. I was wearing pants today, but I still eyed it dubiously, thinking that it would somehow get the better of me anyway.

Just as she was about to examine my face the phone in her private office rang and she excused herself to go answer it. I looked at Rose and Alice, who were both just staring at me, at my face. From the looks on their faces mine wasn't looking too hot right now.

"How bad is it?" I asked.

Alice's face scrunched up, but she answered, "Not bad really. You'll definitely be able to tell for a day or two, but a little make-up will help some."

I stared at her hard, trying to decide if she was being honest or trying to be kind. After a couple of seconds I turned to look at Rose, the question written on my face.

"You look like shit, honestly," she answered.

"Rose!" Alice yelled.

"What? Like she's not going to look in a mirror the first chance she gets and see for herself? It's not like it's permanent or anything. She looks like shit now, but in a week she'll be back to her old self," Rose said, defensively.

I groaned and closed my eyes, wishing I could just disappear. I don't know if I could take a whole week of looking like I had been hit. I could only imagine the stares that would inevitably come.

"Where's the closest bathroom?" I asked.

Rose pointed to a door next to Mrs. Neffron's office. I walked over and opened the door, fumbling to find the light. I flipped the switch on, then closed my eyes for a moment, hoping to gain a little strength before I looked into the mirror.

When I opened my eyes again I stepped up to the mirror to have a look and gasped. It was bad. My lip was busted, swollen, and crusted in blood. My entire left side of my face was puffy and I could already tell it was going to bruise. Bad.

I was shocked to see how much damage had been done. I knew that his hit had been hard, but I didn't think it had been this hard. I stepped back from the mirror, not wanting to have to look at myself any longer. I knew it was temporary, but that wasn't improving my mood any.

It suddenly occurred to me that Edward was going to see me looking like this. Edward, the most beautiful man I had ever seen, was going to see me swollen, busted, and bruised. I wondered if I had looked this bad in the cafeteria, but didn't think so. I could feel the swelling in my face, and this part, at least, was relatively new.

Damn James! I hoped all over again that this would get him expelled, at least then something good would have come from it.

I went back out and sat on the table again, just as Mrs. Neffron came back into the room.

"They called your father dear, he'll be here in a little while," she said.

I groaned again, loudly.

"They shouldn't have called him. There was no need for him to come down here," I said.

"It's school policy, they have to," she explained as she gathered up some stuff that she would need.

She turned to Rose and Alice, saying, "Girls, you can head back to class now, I'll take care of her from here."

Rose and Alice both looked at each other before turning back to Mrs. Neffron. I could see that they weren't supportive of this idea, and truthfully, neither was I. I wanted them around me right now. Their presence was keeping me together.

Alice was the one to answer, saying, "No offense Mrs. Neffron, but Bella is our best friend and she was just attacked by James Black, without provocation. We're staying here with her. We just need to know she's okay."

"If we go to class right now there's no way we'll be able to concentrate on anything anyway. Plus, I'm sure it will make Bella feel better if we're here with her," Rose said.

"It really would, Mrs. Neffron. Their being here is helping to keep me calm," I said.

I was touched by their concern for me, and their willingness to stand up to Mrs. Neffron in order to stick by me.

Mrs. Neffron apparently was too, because she answered, "All right girls, you can stay then. You can take a seat up on the other table if you want."

Alice hopped right up onto it, but Rose eyed it dubiously, opting to remain standing instead.

Mrs. Neffron proceeded to try to clean up my face some. She gave me a wet rag to wipe up my lip and an ice pack for the side of my face. She used a light to examine my eyes, though I'm not sure what for. She seemed satisfied by whatever she saw though and stepped back from me.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

I had to think about it for a moment. I had been so busy processing everything, including how bad my face now looked, that I hadn't noticed whether or not I was in any pain.

When I finally stopped to take stock of how I felt, I realized that I felt like shit. My entire face hurt and I felt like my head was about to explode from the headache I was just now noticing I had.

"Not good, actually," I finally answered.

"Well, keep the ice pack on your face for at least twenty minutes, then give it a break for a little while, then reapply it. You want to do that throughout today, it'll help with the swelling. You should take it easy for today and tomorrow, at least. That was a bad blow you took, and you need to give yourself some time to recover," she said.

"Okay, thanks," I said.

She turned to look over at Alice and Rose, then looked back to me.

"Your father should be here shortly, Bella. The front office will send him over here, and I'll talk to him, let him know you're okay and what you need to do. Meanwhile, you can just lay down and relax until then. Alice and Rosalie can hang out here with you to keep you company. I'll leave you girls alone, but knock on my office door if you need anything or when your father shows up, okay?" she asked.

I nodded my head in agreement, and she turned to Alice and Rose to get their nods of ascent before she headed back into her office.

"How do you think Charlie's going to handle this?" Alice asked.

"Not good. He's probably going to flip out a little bit, and demand blood or something like that. I'm definitely not looking forward to this," I answered truthfully.

"What did you say to James, right before he hit you?" Rose asked.

"I don't even remember anymore. I know I was really angry at him and I think I called him a monster, but besides that I'm not sure. Nothing that would justify this reaction," I answered.

"No, I didn't think it would justify this. I only wanted to know what had pushed him over the edge. It couldn't have been much. You two hadn't been talking for very long before he hit you," she explained.

"I know I was telling him I wanted to stay away from me, but he wasn't getting it. It's like he's in denial or something. Anyway, I doubt even he could imagine that I'd want anything to do with him after this," I answered.

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry. I feel like this is all my fault," Alice said.

"How is it your fault? It's no one's fault but James's," I said.

"Because I should have seen this coming. If my visions were working right maybe I could have prevented this. Or, if I had reacted earlier, anticipated what he would do earlier, maybe I could have warned Emmett in enough time for him to get to you. Instead he only had enough time to stand up out of his seat. I'm so sorry," she said.

"Alice. This is no one's fault but James's. It would be just as easy for me to assume part of the blame, to say, if I hadn't said whatever it was I said to push him over the brink then he wouldn't have hit me, but that's not true or right. This happened because James allowed it to. Nothing I could have said would justify his reaction. I'm not responsible and neither are you. We will not assume any guilt here, that would only make the situation worse. No, you couldn't have known or stopped him, it's not your fault. The guilt lies solely with James. I won't have anyone else assuming responsibility for what rightfully belongs to him," I explained.

"She's right, Alice. It's not your fault. Nor is it Emmett's fault or Edward's fault, though I'm sure they'll both try to claim some responsibility. It's wrong to think like that though. James is a bastard who let his temper get the best of him, he was the one who struck Bella, all the blame here goes to him," Rose said.

I was glad to see that she supported me on this because, like she said, I was sure that Edward at least was going to try to accept part of the blame, though I didn't know why Emmett would.

"Why would Emmett think it was his fault?" I asked.

"He was the first one who noticed you guys come into the cafeteria, the first one to see you arguing. He was also the first one to see what was going to happen and the first one to try to react. Even if he had reacted sooner though, I doubt he would have reached you in time. It happened so fast that there was really nothing anyone could have done," Rose answered.

I knew then that I was probably going to have to convince Edward and Emmett that this wasn't their fault. It was funny how many people felt guilty over James's actions. I wondered if James was feeling any guilt, or if he didn't give a shit. I doubted he cared, and it pissed me off even more that he was probably one of the only ones not feeling guilty about all of this.

"I hope he gets suspended," I said.

"Even if he doesn't, which I think he will, his father will probably ship him off again. His dad is big on reputation, and doesn't forgive James when he does something that his father feels is embarrassing to their family name. This is definitely one of those situations," Alice explained.

"Good. It will make our lives a hell of a lot easier if he's not around anymore. Maybe we could get back to normal again," I said.

Just then I could hear Charlie calling my name and I took a deep breath to steady myself, preparing to calm him down.

The door opened and he walked in, still calling out my name, I could hear panic in his voice.

He stopped dead though as soon as he saw me, looking at the damage done to my face. I knew that it couldn't have improved any since I had looked in the mirror. In fact, I was willing to bet that it had actually gotten worse since then. So I could only imagine what he was thinking when he saw me, but I knew it couldn't have been good.

He walked over and hugged me, careful about not hurting me though. It was a long hug, longer than I was used to getting from him. Charlie and I were not big on displays of affection, when we hugged it tended to be the half-hug kind of thing. This hug was a lot different, bigger and more natural. I could tell he was trying to be reassuring, but I wasn't sure which one of us he was trying to reassure.

Finally he stepped back and out of the hug, grunting quietly to cover up his awkwardness.

"Dad, don't worry. It looks worse than it feels," I said.

"Somehow I doubt that, Bells. What happened? They said someone hit you?" he asked.

"James Black did. We were in the cafeteria and we were arguing. He got mad and smacked me in the face," I explained.

"James Black is back? When did that happen? That kid is nothing but trouble. I swear, I'm going to arrest him on charges of assault for this. That little shit isn't going to get away with this. He's gotta know that he can't hit girls, and especially not my daughter," he said.

"Dad, just wait to see what the school does first. If they expel him and he gets sent away again then it's fine. As long as I don't have to deal with him anymore, I'm happy," I said.

"Bella, he hit you. From the looks of it, he hit you hard. There's no way I'm just letting him walk on this. He's lucky that I don't go over there and kill him now for this. No one, and I mean no one lays a hand on my daughter," he said, his voice getting louder as he spoke.

The nurse must have heard him then, because her door opened and she joined us.

"Chief Swan, I'm Mrs. Neffron, the nurse here," she said as she held out her hand to shake.

Charlie shook her hand, asking, "How is she? Should I take her to see our doctor? Or to the ER?"

"No, she's fine. Nothing seriously wrong or anything, just sore and bruised. She should take a day or two to recover. I'd recommend keeping her home for at least tomorrow, maybe the day after as well, depending on how she feels. If she has persistent headaches, or starts to feel drowsy or dizzy then be sure to call her doctor, but for now just give her some Tylenol and let her rest, oh and make sure she uses the ice pack throughout the rest of the day," she said.

I could see that Charlie was taking everything she said very seriously, and I had a feeling that he was going to try to hover over me today, which was the last thing that I wanted.

"I need to go back up to the front office to talk to the principal, is it all right if Bella hangs out here until I'm done?" he asked.

"That's fine. She has her friends here to keep her company," Mrs. Neffron answered.

I don't think Charlie had even noticed Rosalie and Alice until then. When Mrs. Neffron pointed them out he turned to greet them.

"Girls," he said as he nodded his head in salutation at him.

"Hi Charlie," Alice said. "I don't think you've ever had a chance to meet Jasper's sister, Rose. Rose this is Charlie, Charlie this is Rose."

Charlie went over to shake Rose's hand, saying, "It's nice to meet you Rose."

Rose returned his greeting, saying, "Likewise, Chief Swan."

He looked the two of them over before asking, "Can I trust you girls to look after Bella until I get back?"

"Sure Charlie, we'll take care of her," Alice answered.

Charlie nodded his head, satisfied, before turning back to me. He looked me over again, and I could see that he was hesitant to leave.

"Dad, I'll be fine," I said.

He nodded then turned and left. The nurse headed back into her office, telling us again to knock on her door if we needed anything.

"Well, that went better than would be expected," Alice said.

"On our end anyway. I doubt they'll have as much luck at the front office," I answered.

Rose snickered, I guess enjoying the vision of my father raising hell in the principal's office.

"What do you think the chances are of him going back to work today? I have a feeling he's going to hover, and I really don't want that," I said.

"I'd say slim to none," Rose answered.

"Why don't you convince Charlie to let you come back to our house today? Esme will be home to keep an eye on you, which should satisfy him, and he can go back to work without having to worry about you," Alice said.

It was a good idea. I doubted it would take much to convince Charlie. He'd want to get back to work, but wouldn't want to leave me alone. If he knew I was over at the Cullen's house with Esme home he should feel more confident in going back to work.

"It's worth a try. Do you think Esme would mind? After all, Edward's probably going to be getting into trouble today, do you think she'd really want anyone over for that?" I asked.

"I doubt that she'll make a big deal over Edward fighting James. If it was unprovoked she would give him hell over it. I think though that knowing it was in reaction to James hitting you, will probably make it okay. She won't be happy over it, but I doubt she'll get upset either," Rose answered.

"Anyway, we should be able to ask her as soon as we get out of here. She's probably over at the front office with Edward as we speak. They would have called our parents in over a fight and since Carlisle's at the hospital today it would be Esme they probably got a hold of. We'll ask her before we leave. If she says yes then she can reassure Charlie if he's undecided about allowing you to come over," Alice said.

I shook my head, happy with the plan. It would be nice to go over there and hang out with them.

I was hoping too that I would be able to talk with Edward, which would be a lot easier if I was at his house. I needed to thank him for defending me. I needed to have a conversation with him, to tell him my feelings for him were starting to change. I knew that the time for honesty had come, that after today he definitely deserved it.

I was nervous about what I would say to him, but kind of excited too. I knew things were about to change between us and I was looking forward to it. I had already been starting to think of us as a team, a couple almost, now even more so. It was time I told this to Edward, to let him know that I was starting to have feelings for him, and hope that he returned those feelings.

I wished that I didn't look like shit for our little talk, but I knew that it wouldn't matter to him, and I didn't want to hold off on this. He had more than earned my honesty with him, I felt like it would be unfair to wait to talk to him until I looked better.

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. I wasn't even sure if Charlie was going to allow me to go over to the Cullen's house today, so it was pointless to get all worked up over something that might not even happen today.

Still, I knew that one way or another the conversation would take place, and soon. I was ready to own up to how I felt for Edward, and see where we went from there. Now that I knew it was going to happen, I was looking forward to it. I couldn't wait to see what tomorrow would bring for me, for us.

*********************************************************

A/N:

Not the most exciting chapter, I know. We had to see Bella after the big fight though, and I just thought that I might as well write it up now while I was stuck on the other chapter. Hopefully you liked it a little.

I should have the next chapter up tomorrow. I'm going to start working on it now, so hopefully I'll get it done sometime tonight or tomorrow morning. So, keep your eyes open for an update some time tomorrow.

Thanks again everyone! You guys are awesome. ;o)