Hello! Here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy!

EPOV

"She's pregnant?" Rosalie demanded as she approached our table. It had only been one day since Bella and I reconciled and my hopes were already dashed for a quiet, non-eventful lunch in the cafeteria. I'd even picked the most remote table to ensure just that we didn't keep adding fuel to the fire and giving the people around us any more ammunition. I kept reminding myself that at least we'd have spring break next week to let the gossip die down.

"What are you talking about, Rose?" Emmett asked, his eyes looking to Rosalie and I for answers to his questions. "That was just a rumor."

Rosalie completely ignored Emmett's question and kept her eyes on Bella and I silently demanding answers to her inquisition.

"Hi, Rosalie. How are you today? I'm good, thanks for asking," Bella spoke in mock conversation.

"Edward?" Rose demanded again.

"Rosalie, it's none of your business," I hissed, incredibly upset that Rosalie would even bring this up at school after what happened yesterday. I was so frustrated and appalled that Rose would even consider doing this here. It was almost comical, we could have this discussion literally anywhere else. Anywhere! And here she was adding more fuel to the fire. I took a deep breath and purposely kept my eyes forward looking at Rosalie and Emmett, actively ignoring the lingering glances we were getting from the tables around us. Where were Jasper and Alice? They were both pros at breaking up tension in our group.

"Are those her words or yours?" She asked like Bella wasn't even here.

"Maybe it's a sign you should butt out, Rosalie," Bella said wryly.

"Maybe you should leave Edward alone," Rosalie shot back.

Emmett was trying to pull Rose away, looking apologetically to the two of us. But Bella looked completely unfazed, only her eyes volleying between all of us. I knew better than to actually think Bella was unfazed. I couldn't even imagine how hard it was to deal with accusations and rumors when she knew the truth about what happened to her.

"I don't even know what he sees in you," Rosalie spat while eyeing Bella up and down in an attempt to make Bella self-conscious. I wondered how couldn't Rosalie see it? How couldn't she see how incredible Bella was?

Bella turned her head slightly and chuckled. "Jealous that I have an actual personality?"

"You call getting yourself knocked up part of that stellar personality?" Rosalie snapped back.

"And somehow mine is still better than yours," Bella smiled sweetly without missing a beat.

"Please," Rosalie scoffed. "I know your type. You think you're not like other girls. You do anything you can for attention, and you'll take all the attention you can get. It's pathetic. You're pathetic."

Bella sat there practically stone faced until Rosalie was done. I reached for her hand to stop her before she could do something that could hurt herself and the baby, but Bella held out her hand to stop me.

She slowly stood up, meeting Rose eye-to-eye. Of course, Rose was much taller than Bella, so Bella was left craning her neck to maintain eye contact with Rosalie. Still even I was intimidated by Bella, something about her: her personality, her aura, energy- I didn't know, but it didn't matter how small Bella was she was a force to be reckoned with. As Bella stood she met Rosalie's scowl without any hesitation. I couldn't remember a time anyone stood up to Rose- she'd never had a worthy adversary. Bella was exactly that.

"I'm going to say this once, and only once. You don't know the first," she moved even closer to Rose, now getting uncomfortably close to her, still keeping her tone perfectly even, which only made her that much scarier. "Fucking. Thing. About me, got it?"

For a split second, Rosalie looked flustered.

Bella didn't wait for Rose to recover, she just picked her bag up and with her held high she walked away. As Bella walked away, Emmett stuck his hand out to stop Bella. Even after all of this time, I knew she was still so wary of him. As he touched her shoulder, she flinched but flawlessly maneuvered herself around him. As Bella walked away, I was left stewing in anger. My jaw clenched and my eyes remained focused on the table to calm myself before I went after Bella.

"Is it even yours, Edward?"

My eyes snapped up, and I met Rosalie's furious expression. I couldn't find it in myself to care that Rose was pissed. I cared way more about the terrible things she just insinuated about Bella."I thought of all people, you'd understand."

Before she or I could say anything more, I was walking away. I knew if I stayed there, I knew I would risk doing permanent damage to my relationship with Rose.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I found Bella in our spot. She sat there staring off into the distance. For my vantage point, I could see the tears staining Bella's cheeks. I'd seen Bella cry before, but I'd never seen her just peacefully letting tears roll down her cheeks. "Bella?"

She snapped out of whatever daze she had been locked in. She wiped her eyes and it was almost like she hadn't been crying at all. Her eyes barely looked glassy or puffy. It was freaky how quickly she pulled herself together. If she had seen me coming, I probably wouldn't have even known that she'd been crying. As I got closer, I saw the sadness in her eyes. It was the only giveaway. Just as I started approaching her a realization struck me.

The sick, twisted memory of that night played again: "...while I tried not to cry because of how much it hurt. It didn't really matter how much it hurt because he didn't like it when I cried."

My hand covered my mouth as I realized that he was the reason that Bella was so good at suppressing, carefully schooling her features to show people what they wanted to see. My stomach twisted again as I was faced with the actually aftermath of what Bella had gone through. And this was only what she told me, this is only the small fraction of what she disclosed. I swallowed my realization and composed myself, I needed to be here for Bella.

"Bella? You okay?" I asked as I sat down next to her. It was a dumb question, I knew it as soon as I said it.

"Yeah, it's not like this is the last time this will happen. Everyone's going to find out anyway," she said ominously. I didn't like where this was going.

"Still, that was fucked up what Rose did. People can talk all they want. I know the truth, and I believe you."

"And I thank you for believing me, but people are going to find out that it's not just a rumor," she looked at her feet like she couldn't look at my face, "And I can't subject you to that too."

"You're not subjecting me to anything, Bella. I'm choosing this."

"Yeah, now. But what about when people start assuming you're the father? You're 17, Edward. I can't do that to you."

"You're 17 too," I reminded her, though she was probably more mature than most other 17 year-olds. She'd definitely gone through more than most 17 year-olds. "And I don't care if people think the baby's mine. I know it's not much, but I can be here for you if you let me."

"It's everything, Edward, and it's way too much for me to ask."

"You're not asking," I insisted. She stayed quiet after that. I gently laced my fingers with hers and she eased her head onto my shoulder. I was gently rubbing circles into the back of Bella's hand when I heard distant footsteps approaching.

We both looked up to find Rose and Emmett staring down at us. "Guys, not now."

"I want to talk to Bella," Rosalie demanded, though she was much more gentle than she was in the cafeteria.

"No," I shook my head, kind of incredulous that she'd even ask that. It was impossible to believe that Rose had changed her mind from the terrible things that she said to Bella. It wasn't much, but I would protect Bella from my own family's vitriol.

"It's alright," Bella whispered and took her weight off of me. I looked at her to make sure this was actually okay and that she wasn't simply appeasing Rose or I. She nodded again so I conceded. Slowly and hesitantly, I stood up and walked away from Bella leaving her with Rosalie.

"So, it's true?" Emmett asked as I walked up to him. We were far enough that we couldn't hear them, but we kept an eye on the two of them. I simply nodded, Bella was right that there was no sense in lying since eventually everyone would find out.

"Not to be an ass, but is the baby yours?" Emmett had been the only person, other than Bella and I, to not call the baby an 'it'. Emmett was one of those people that, once he decided you were important to him, he'd protect you with everything he had. If he wasn't my brother, I'd find him intimidating as hell, but underneath his fiercely loyal and bulky exterior was a softie. I'd make sure to tell Bella that later, hoping that it would help her see Emmett as less of a threat.

I pulled my lips in as I shook my head.

"I'm guessing it's not a boyfriend back home kind of situation?"

My eyebrow pulled together, slightly taken aback by Emmett's question. "How did you know that?"

"A hunch." I stayed silent waiting for him to continue. "Look, I went through it with Rose. She was a mess after what happened. They may not like each other, but the way they act, how guarded they are, I couldn't help but think that maybe they had gone through something similar."

"Similar how?" I urged him to continue.

"Well... like how she doesn't really liked to be touch if she's not in control. Like with you?" I was confused again. He rolled his eyes but continued to explain, "Look, if she told you to stop, you'd stop, right?"

I nodded. "Of course I would."

"And she knows that. But look- she's really jumpy, she doesn't like to be anywhere near me. She doesn't like to talk about home either?" I shook my head. "Yeah, it took Rose forever to be able to talk about that night."

I nodded, kind of understanding what Emmett was saying.

"Rosalie's very protective of you." Okay, I was back to being confused. Rose and I were close if only because of proximity and time. But I remembered a time that we constantly butted heads, that hadn't really changed after that night, it just kind of fell to the background. I knew I saw Rose as like a sister, but I guess I never realized that feeling was reciprocated. "You're like her little brother, but- I mean you took the fall that night, she didn't forget that. She's also not very trusting, so when it came to Bella..."

I nodded, understanding what Emmett was saying. "She thought I was being taken advantage of."

"Exactly." Emmett paused. "Anyway I talked to her. Told her that what she did was messed up. Told her what I thought. She felt pretty bad after that."

"Thanks, Emmett." It was oddly endearing that he had done that for me. It would have clearly taken me so much longer to put everything together.

BPOV

"I don't trust you," Rosalie said simply, breaking the silence. While she sat where Edward was moments ago, I kept my head forward and willed myself to not get emotional again. Stupid pregnancy hormones.

"You shouldn't," I conceded.

"You're going to break his heart."

I would not concede to that. Edward was the one good thing I had in my life, aside from Charlie, and I was doing everything in my power to make sure I didn't hurt him. "I'm not planning on it."

Her head turned towards me in accusation. "You don't plan on much though. Do you?"

"Now what does that mean?" I shot back, suddenly feeling very defensive.

She sighed. "It means that I don't want to see Edward get hurt. And you may not plan on it now, but..."

"He knows everything. He can make up his own mind about me."

"And normally, I'd trust him to. But for some reason, he can think straight around you."

I shrugged, getting defensive again. "I'm not manipulating him."

Rosalie groaned in frustration. "This isn't going the way I wanted this conversation to."

"And how's that?"

"Emmett has a theory."

"Oh?" I nodded apprehensively.

"Did Edward ever tell you about the night he was arrested?"

I shook my head, though I was starting to get a better understanding. "He said it wasn't his story to tell. I got the gist of it though."

"It was me they were defending. I went to that party alone. And at the party, this guy- he was a senior. I spent half of the night with him at the party with everyone, he kept all of his attention on me, but nothing seemed off. It was exciting that a senior was paying attention to me. I never even put my cup down, but he slipped me something, and then it all blurred together."

"I'm sorry," I whispered, understanding the fear of what she went through.

"It was a long time ago... Now back to Emmett's theory. At first he thought you just didn't like him," Rosalie turned her head and very carefully monitored my expression. "But now he thinks that maybe you're scared of him."

"I'm not scared of him," I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

"Look, Emmett isn't an academic like you or Edward, but he's smart- he pays attention. Jasper too. They noticed that about you too, you're always paying attention. I was like that for a long time, couldn't really let my guard down, you know?" She didn't wait for me to respond. "You don't talk about your past either or anything to do with Phoenix or-"

"Okay, I get it! I read like an open book!"

"No," she smiled sadly. "You don't actually. Before Edward went after you, he said out of everyone he thought I'd understand...That kind of gutted me, that I'd said all those awful things and judged you the way I'd been judged before." I stayed quiet, processing everything Rosalie said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I whispered. "I'm sorry too."

Rosalie laughed, "I've been called worse."

I wiped my eyes not liking how emotionally vulnerable I felt. "Ugh, pregnancy's made me all girly."

"How far along are you?"

"About 5 months."

"Props for hiding it this long," she laughed lightly. "And the father's back in Phoenix?"

"The father has no clue, and I'd like to keep it that way," I spoke sharply. And then sighed when I realized I'd snapped at the wrong person again. "My bad, it's just hard to think about. I'm not really ready to talk about it yet."

"I understand," she stood up and dusted herself off. "If you need an ear?"

I nodded, glad I had one person who understood. "Thanks, Rosalie."

"Friends can call me Rose."

Hello, everyone! Hope you guys enjoyed, please let me know what you're thinking so far.

I don't know about everyone else, but I always hated that Bella was at odds with most of the other female characters in the books. Like what was the reason? A lot of the conflict between the female characters felt unnatural and oftentimes unnecessary, but that's just my opinion.

I'll see you guys soon!