AN: Good morning. A few more chapters left. Thank you for reading.

Chapter 14

Edward was leaning against my locker at the end of the day.

I had been dreading seeing him after Alice's admission. I didn't know what to say to him. At first, I saw myself crying on him from all the sadness I was feeling. Then the rage took over and I wanted to scream in his face. I could see myself beating against his chest with my fists.

He had been missing from school. I guessed he had skipped to avoid my anger. The thought gave me some solace, but my solace was now gone. Here he was, blocking me from escaping this hell.

"Hey." He wouldn't look me in the eye.

I pushed him away from the front of my locker. "You're in my way."

"You talk to Alice?"

I felt his eyes on me. "I did. She had quite the story about your weekend."

"Oh."

"That's all you got?" My hand shook as I tried to turn the dial to put in my combination. "I would think that some explanation and some groveling that will get you nowhere would be perfect right now."

"I don't remember what happened." He stilled my hand on the lock. I looked up at him. "Let me do that for you."

"I suggest you stop touching me, asshole." He let go as if I burned him. "Why don't you find Alice? I'm sure there's plenty you can do together."

He slammed his fist against the locker next to mine. "I have no clue what happened!"

"I get that you don't know what happened. Repeating it a million times doesn't change that you were there, Edward. Getting drunk to deal with something won't make it better."

He looked at those black combat boots of his. I found myself looking at them too. They were all scuffed on the ends.

"You got me all worked up and—" he muttered.

"I got you worked up and that led you to maybe having sex with my best friend? I'm a girl and can change my mind as much as I want. It's okay for me to feel so much and decide not to be in a situation I'm not ready for!"

He looked up at me with wide eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"No. You're just a horny asshole who can't deal with life." I steadied myself. I would not cry in front of him again. "We all have troubles, Edward. Growing up isn't about getting drunk and having sex. It's about trying to make smart decisions. You should try it sometime."

Both hands went into his face and he rubbed his eyes hard. "I . . .I . . . God, Bella, I know that none of this was your fault! You are the only girl I want to be with—"

"Until you get wasted and there's another girl ready and willing?"

"No! I just need you to know that I understand that you aren't ready. I shouldn't have tried to talk you into it. Sometimes I just shouldn't talk." He looked pained. I couldn't deal with looking at his face. Right now, as far as I was concerned, Edward was either a liar or a fool. "I was upset. I know you weren't meaning to get me worked up."

My locker was a lost cause. Who needed to study history tonight anyway? It wasn't like I would be able to concentrate. I stared at the steel in front of me. I needed the safety of my bedroom to really think about what happened today.

Slowly, I turned to face him. "Using my supposed shortcomings to vent about instead of dealing with what happened Saturday night isn't cool. I want you to leave me alone. That goes for Alice too. I need to get to the bus."

I started to head down the hallway, but he quickly caught up and took ahold of my arm. "When can I talk to you again?"

"Let's start with never, Edward."

XXXXXX

It had been a week since my world imploded. That might sound self-centered. There was much bigger and more pressing things in the world than a dumb teenager getting betrayed by her best friend and boyfriend. I knew this, but it didn't feel that way to me. I wanted to wallow in the pain for a bit. It hurts losing people you care about.

Our cafeteria table was far quieter now that everyone had split up. Edward was now sitting with James and all of their buddies. He would just stare at our table and spin a bottle cap on the table top. I would occasionally look over and see Tanya yelling at him. He would grumble something and try to catch my eye. I would turn away from him. It wasn't like I was trying to look at him at all, but I just couldn't help myself.

Alice, on the other hand, sat in the far corner of the cafeteria. The first few days, she was all by herself. She wouldn't eat at all, but just stared at the window at the parking lot. Her skin was so pale and she was painfully thin. Recently, Jasper joined her at the table. I could see him talking softly to her and everyday he would bring an extra brown paper lunch bag for her. Occasionally, Jasper would talk her into taking a bite of an apple or a nibble off of a bagel.

Today, her head was resting on her arms. Alice's eyes were watery as she stared at Jasper. He rubbed her back gently. There was no spark left in her.

"She's really sick," I whispered.

Jacob crushed his coke can with his hand and let it dropped to the table. "I'm so mad at her, but she looks so awful!"

"I know," I agreed. "Is it weird that I'm worried about her?"

"No, because you are a good person, Bella." Jacob gave me quick hug.

I wanted to hate her, which I did at first. It was fading to just sadness. Alice was broken and we let her go down the rabbit hole. I had no idea how she could dig her way out of it. A horrible home life, added to the drugs and alcohol was a toxic combination.

The more I thought about what both Alice and Edward said about that night, the more it bothered me. It didn't make any sense.

"I have no idea what Jasper Whitlock is doing over there!" Jess spat. "Mostly after what she did to you, Bella!"

"I just can't forget about her, Jessica. I'm mad, but I really think she got in too far. She needs someone to be there for her. For the first time, I actually respect Jasper."

"What are you feelings for Edward?" Jacob wondered.

"I'm still so angry, Jake. I don't think he understands any—" I began, as Mike headed to the table. One look at his face made me stop worrying about Edward. "What happened to your eye, Mike?"

My friend's eye was swollen and starting to bruise. He shrugged and sat next to me. "It's no big deal."

"Mike, tell me," I implored. He glanced at Edward, but quickly looked away and down at his lunch tray. "Did Edward hit you?"

Jacob gave a long whistle and said, "Damn."

"It's no big deal. I didn't know that he was there. I was talking to Garrett about you," Mike explained. "Nothing bad! I promise! Just that a dance is coming up and—"

"You wanted to ask me to it?"

"Yes." He gave me a small smile. "I have bad timing."

It was more than bad timing. Edward was falling apart at the seams and took it out on Mike. He was mad about his parents, upset about what happened between us, and it all made him a volatile mess.

I pushed myself away from the table. "I'll be right back."

Mike grabbed my hand. "Just ignore it, Bella. He's out of control. It isn't safe."

"I'm not frightened by Edward Cullen. It will be fine." I moved toward Edward's table. He stared at me as I approached.

The truth was that I wasn't scared of him at all. My heart was already broken, so what could he do to me? A fractured heart hurt more than anything else in the world.

"Edward—"

He put his hands behind his head and looked at me coldly. "What?"

I wanted to slap him. He was being a bully and he was treating me like I was the bad guy. Did Edward ever really like me? Was I just a game? Was he playing a see how fast he can get in the virgin's pants kind of game?

"You need to leave Mike alone." I kept my chin up. I was going to be brave.

"Your boyfriend crying to you about me?" Edward gave a mean chuckle. "Why don't you take him to the boiler room? That always made me feel better. You have a special touch, Bella."

Tanya punched him in the arm. "Stop being an ass, Cullen."

The whole table was watching my confrontation with Edward. Actually, everyone in the cafeteria was gawking at us. Our relationship was under a microscope and all our flaws were laid out for the rest of the school to analyze and mock. We would be the school gossip for the next week.

"Mike's my friend and hitting him isn't cool. Cut it out, okay?" I crossed my arms in front of my chest. Trying to guard myself from his anger.

"Run along to that nice nerd. I bet your dad is loving him." Edward face was a mask of nonchalance, but their was a fire in his eyes. "We aren't together. I don't fucking care what you think."

I think I might hate this guy.

"Of course, you don't care! The only thing you fucking care about is fucking my best friend!" My voice carried through the cafeteria. I heard a gasp. It had to have been Alice.

Tanya stood and motioned toward the hallway. "Why don't you cool off out there?"

"I don't want to cool off. I just want—" My voice trailed off. My eyes were feeling watery again. "You're right, Tanya. I need to get out of here."

"Bella—" Edward looked up at me and he his expression was softening. That he was sad too.

"Go to hell, Edward," I said sadly.

I turned and walked out of the cafeteria. I sniffed loudly, but tried to look like I didn't care that I had just embarrassed myself in front of a large group of my classmates. They probably thought they were just going to enjoy some pizza for lunch, but instead they got a free show.

My back against the cool wall, I slid down to sit and faced a row of lockers. I wished it was summer. I could just hide away from all of these people. It would be nice to forget everything. I hid my head in my arms.

"Bella girl, how you hangin'?" I looked up to find James next to me.

To say I was surprised would be an understatement.

"Why are you out here? With me?"

He gave a little smirk. "That is a very good question, kid. The rest of your buddies wanted to rush out here and protect you, but Victoria told them we needed to talk."

"About what? I'm sure you don't care that Edward and I aren't together anymore," I stated. "Go back to Edward."

"I care. Edward is way cooler to be around when you're there." James smiled. "You're a good kid."

"Thanks?" We were the same age. He was a weird guy.

James looked up at the ceiling. "I was at that party at Em's place the weekend all the shit went down."

"Oh?" Here comes all the dirty details. I wasn't sure if I was ready to hear about the betrayal first hand.

"Emmett's one sketchy ass dude," James explained. "Petey said that he was feeding Ali these white pills like fucking candy."

"Maybe Pete should have stopped her," I hissed.

No wonder Alice was a mess. She had no one looking out for her. With friends like these guys she really had nobody that night.

"Yeah," James agreed looking regretful. "I should have too, but I didn't. Edward was about to pass out earlier that night from drinking too much. Dude went to Emmett's room to take a siesta and shit. Emmett dragged Alice in there later. That asshole was in there with her for a long time and stumbled out looking fucking proud. I think she was with Em not Edward."

Things were starting to come together. The puzzle was finally forming into a picture.

"Did you tell Edward this?"

"I tried, girl He rather be miserable," James complained. "When that asshole wallows he just makes shit worse."

I needed the truth. Even if Edward and I were over, I needed to find out for Alice. Something really bad happened in Emmett McCarty's house and I wanted to find out what that was and who was the real villain.

XXXXXX

"What's the plan, Nancy Drew?" Jacob asked. "Do we get all tricky and make him admit the truth by using our powers by slipping him up? I'm thinking I could hit the truth out of him."

Sweet Jacob couldn't hurt a fly normally. The expression on his face made me think that today might be the one day that Jacob might resort to violence. Of course, after what happened with Tyler, maybe this anger was always brewing underneath his skin and getting ready to erupt.

"We'll just ask him, Jake." I shrugged and continued, "I doubt he's going to hide anything."

"We should have brought one of our parents," Jasper whined. "This could be dangerous."

"Why are you here again?" I asked. "If you aren't going to be helpful than sit in the car."

We had a posse to confront Emmett. Jessica, Carmen, Jacob, Jasper and even Mike came to help me find out the truth. Jasper was right. I should call my dad, but what would he think of all of us? What would he think of me? I wouldn't be his little girl anymore. I thought I hated the way he treated me like I was a baby, but now that I was faced with facing Emmett, I would be happy to hangout and watch sports with Dad. I would even enjoy listening to his dumb jokes.

"I'm here for Alice," Jasper muttered. That's when he blushed.

Jasper really liked Alice.

He continued, "She's with my mom and dad right now. They want her to help her clean up and stuff."

I squeezed his hand. "Thanks for helping her."

Jasper's face turned red again. "It's no big deal. My parents are, you know, doing it."

Jacob patted Jasper's shoulder and then knocked on the door. It was opened by a tall, blonde hair woman with hair that was teased into a big bird's nest. Her tank top was way too small and she wore tight jeans. There was a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

"Yo Jake, what's up with all the Muppet babies?" She didn't really talk, but snarled her words.

"We need to talk to Emmett, Rosie." Jacob's voice deepened. He seemed older around this woman. Unafraid of her. It seemed like he was willing her to say something nasty. That if she did, she would regret it. I, on the other hand, found her terrifying. She seemed like a hair puller.

She gave us all the once over and called over her shoulder, "Babe, you got Girl Scouts bringing you cookies."

"Cookies?" Emmett rushed out of a back bedroom in only a pair of he saw us his face fell in disappointment. "Damn it, woman! Don't lie about Thin Mints! What can I do for you, kids?"

He waved us in and flopped down on his stained couch. I didn't even want to imagine the causes of those stains. In the daylight, all the dust and grime could be clearly seen covering the furniture that he probably found at the dump. There were beer cans and wine bottle strewn all over the floor. I could hear crunching noises as I stepped on the carpet. This place was disgusting.

His hand went immediately into his boxers. Jessica elbowed me in the side and made a face. She was as grossed out as I was.

"I need to talk to about Ali—" Jacob stated. My friend's face was stern. He was going to get answers. Alice deserved to know the truth.

Emmett placed a single finger on his lip to silence Jacob, then turned to Rosalie who was primping as she gazed into an old mirror with a dented wooden frame. It was propped against a stack of milk crates that was being used as shelves. "Babe, grab us some beers."

She turned to him with a glare. "Get your own fucking beers, asshole. I need to take a piss."

There was quiet in the room, until Rosalie closed the door to the bathroom. Emmett let out a sigh. "That bitch has been driving me nuts all day. What about Alice? She want another ride on the bronco? She still owes me for the shit I gave her two weeks ago. I can let her pay me back like last time. It was fun times."

I watched in disgust as he patted his lap with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"She was passed out!" I cried. "Alice didn't want that to happen. She doesn't remember it!"

"You jealous, cutie? Want to get down? I can send Rosie to the store. She's the jealous type. Unless you want some threesome fun." He grabbed a bag of chips off the coffee table and started eating handfuls.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Mike stood in front of me to shield me from Emmett's gaze.

Emmett shrugged. "Ain't no thang, chicken wing."

"Edward?" I whispered. "He was there?"

"Yeah," Emmett admitted with his mouth full. Pieces of chips flew out as he spoke. "Sleeping like a little baby next to us. Didn't notice anything that happened next to him. He was dead to the fucking world. It's too bad. He probably would have enjoyed the show."

It amazed me that this guy saw no issues with what happened. He felt no remorse for what he did with Alice. Emmett thought it was normal. I think for him that it was.

Emmett stood with a yawn as he scratched his belly. "Children, if you wanna hang and drink we should get this party started. If you wanna bitch, I suggest you go home. It's almost nap time."

I hadn't noticed Jasper during this exchange, until he walked up to Emmett. His face was flushed and his voice was shaking with rage. "You raped her."

"Don't go throwing words like that around, boy. She was awake enough to know what was going down. Those pills make you goofy or forgetful. I sure as hell couldn't guess how they would affect Alice." Emmett rolled his eyes and was promptly hit in the face by Jasper.

The big man fell backward and landed on the floor.

Jasper hissed, "Go near Alice again and I'll kill you."

All of a sudden, the door to Emmett's house flew open and Edward stormed in, "Emmett, I need to know what happened the night of . . . What the hell?"

Jasper spoke for us all. "That jerk hurt Alice. I punched him."

"Oh. You did?" Edward looked surprised. Actually, we all were. Jasper was nursing his fist. He probably broke it or something. "Bella?"

Jessica took my hand. The comfort of a friend was needed. This place I found myself in made me sick. Everything felt off. I needed to think. I needed my mom's hugs to remind me that there was still love in this world. My dad's spaghetti and good advice would give me some solace. I wanted to be a kid again. To pretend that life was simpler like remembering to do my homework and having slumber parties with popcorn while watching silly movies. I needed to make sense of the ugliness I had seen while pretending to be an adult, just for a little while.

"I need to go home." I looked at Jacob. "Is Pete coming back to pick us up?"

"Yeah." Jacob side hugged me. "Let's wait outside. Rose can take care of that piece of shit."

We all headed out to the front yard. Jasper said as we walked down the driveway, "I hope I can talk her into pressing charges."

I heard sniffles and glanced at Jacob. He was crying for Alice.

I wonder if Jasper could convince her, or if Alice was just going to try and forget.

Edward cleared his throat. "Bella, can I take you home? We need to talk."

Much to everyone's surprise, I agreed with a nod of my head.

We did need to talk. One situation was resolved, but there were so many more issues that felt insurmountable. I wanted to find some peace with Edward, because I needed closure or hope. I was certain that I couldn't be lucky enough to get both.