23

The smirk on Lauren's face grew as she laid down the paper in the middle of our lunch table. I could tell it was a newspaper article. The headline read 'LOCAL GIRL FOUND HIDING AFTER PARENTS' MURDER.'

The cafeteria was eerily quiet as everyone stood around watching Lauren and Bella's face off. I looked over at Bella. The look on her face could only be described as murderous. I saw her fist clench up a mere second before she reared back and slammed it into the center of Lauren Mallory's face.

"YOU GODDAMN BITCH," growled Bella, throwing the bitch to the ground.

Jessica made to jump on Bella's back but Angela tackled her, letting her own fists of furies go. Eric Yorkie went to grab Angela causing Ben to launch himself at the fool. Garrett took Tyler down while Kate was helping Angela with Jessica. Mike came at me but I moved and he fell to the ground. He jumped up and threw his fist at me but I blocked him and hit him square in his already broken nose.

"I"LL FUCKING KILL YOU, BITCH!" screeched Bella.

I was too busy beating down on Mike to see what was going on with Bella and Lauren, or anyone else for the matter but if I knew my girl at all, she was taking it to that bitch.

"BREAK IT UP," yelled Mr. Banner, forcing his way through the crowd. I had Mike pinned to the ground as I pummeled him with my fists. "BREAK IT UP NOW!"

Someone grabbed me and pulled me off Mike, who just laid there on the ground and groaned. I looked back to see Mr. Taylor with one hand on me and another on Bella. Mrs. Goff had Angela and Kate and Mr. Banner had pulled Ben and Garrett off of Eric and Tyler. Esme pushed her way through the crowd and looked first at Lauren, Eric, Tyler, Jessica, and Mike, who all were laying on the ground clutching at their broken noses, busted lips, and other cuts, before she looked up at me.

"GET TO MY OFFICE NOW!" snapped Esme.

I grabbed the newspaper article off the table as we were dragged out of the cafeteria through the crowd that had down nothing to help either side of the lunch time brawl. Coach Clapp, Mr. Varner, and Mrs. Owens managed to get the Stepford bitches off the ground and were dragging them behind us. Esme led us through the hallway, down to the office, and into the conference room to the left. She pointed at the seats.

"Sit. Don't speak," she ordered.

Mr. Taylor tossed me into the seat next to Bella, who I could feel shaking with rage. Her eyes were hard as steel. Garrett, Ben, Angela, and Kate took the empty seats to my right while Lauren, Mike, Jessica, Tyler, and Eric took the seats across from us. Our teachers hovered over us, while we stared each other down. Esme came back in a few minutes later with the nurse, who began examining their injuries.

"I want to know what happened right now," growled Esme.

"She attacked me for no reason," snapped Lauren, gesturing to Bella. I slid the newspaper article across the table to Esme.

"Lauren felt the need to bring this up, in front of everyone, of course," I said, harshly, glaring at Lauren. From the corner of my eye, I saw Esme pick up the newspaper article and read it. Her eyes widen as she looked from it to Bella.

"I see," said Esme, sitting down.

I looked over at Bella. She was sitting in her seat with her eyes glued to her hands as she nervously popped her knuckles. I reached for her hand but she pulled it away from me. I sighed and place my hand back onto the table.

"Lauren, would you like to explain why you thought it as ok to bring this matter up?" asked Esme.

To anyone who didn't know my sister, you would think she was calm and collected right now. However, I knew better. I could hear the venom laced in each word, the anger that was brewing under the surface ready to explode at a moments notice.

"I felt it was important for them," said Lauren, gesturing to us, "to know what kind of person Bella really is."

"Like you know her," I muttered.

"Edward," hissed Esme, glaring at me. She turned back to Lauren, who almost looked smug under the bruising that was already starting to form. "So you thought that you were doing them a favor by bringing up a very painful and traumatic event in her life. You know, I've heard a lot about you, Lauren. Not just from Bella and Edward, either. Your need to be validated by bringing down others is old. You are suspended for three days and I suggest you use those three days to think about how you would feel if you were in Bella's shoes."

"That's not fair," whined Lauren. "She hit me."

"You provoked her," snapped Esme, causing Lauren to flinch back. Esme turned to Jessica, Mike, Eric, and Tyler. "The four of you can join her in her three day suspension from this school. I don't tolerate bullies in my school, as I have already made perfectly clear to all of you before. Your parents are with Mrs. Cope. Think about what kind of people you want to be."

Mike, Jessica, Tyler, Eric, and Lauren all got up and headed out into the main room but not before glaring at the six of us. The bell rang causing all of our teacher to have to leave for their afternoon classes. As soon as the doors closed, Esme turned the six of us and sighed.

"Well, I'm not really sure what to say here," said Esme, standing up. She walked around to the other side of the table and sat down. "I respect the fact that you stood up for your fellow classmate and helped her defend herself but I cannot allow fighting in my school. I have no choice but to suspend all of you for three days."

"That's fine," said Angela, standing up. "I'd do it again. I'm about tired of that bitch."

Kate, Ben, and Garrett nodded their heads in agreement and stood up. They looked back at me and Bella, who was still staring at the table, before they walked out of the room. Esme looked back over at Bella and reached for her hand but Bella pulled away.

"Can I go now?" muttered Bella, clenching her hand into a fist.

"Bella, I'm sorry. I had no idea," said Esme, softly.

"I need to go now," whispered Bella. Her voice was shaky, tense. She looked up at me with tears swimming in her eyes. "Edward, I need to go now."

"Esme," I said, without breaking my eyes from Bella's.

"Go to the gym," said Esme.

"No, I can't go there," said Bella, quickly, turning and looking at Esme.

"Bella, I had to call Carlisle," frowned Esme.

"I can't go there," whispered Bella, looking back at me. "You know where I need to go."

"Esme, I promise to be careful, but we need to go, ok?" I asked, looking over at my big sister.

"Ok," said Esme.

I stood up and pulled Bella to her feet. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I led her out of the office, under the watchful glare of Mrs. Cope of course, and out into the hallway. The bell had just rung and everyone was coming out of their fifth period classes. Nearly everyone stopped and stared as us as we made our way down the hallway and out of the building. I led Bella to her car. She slipped the keys into my hand before climbing into the passenger seat. I climbed in behind the wheel and took off down to La Push.

Bella stared out the window as we made the ten minute drive to the reservation. I parked in the same parking space she had just weeks prior. She climbed out and headed down to the beach. Sighing, I slid out of the car and followed her. She sat down in the sand, once again slipping her shoes and socks off and burying her feet in the sand. I sat down next to her with my knees bent.

"When I was seven, I fell out of a tree and broke my arm," said Bella, keeping her eyes on the soft waves hitting the shore of the beach. It had started misting making it impossible to tell what were her tears and what was the moisture from the sky. "Emmett, being the as he usually is, had convinced me to climb to the tree. He kept urging me to go higher and higher. I was stupid then, I guess, and listened to everything my big brother told me. I had just climbed onto a branch about half way up when I heard the crack. I froze, not sure if I should move or not. Emmett started screaming at me to get off but I was too scared. My parents came running out of the house just as the branch snapped. I hit several branches on the way down. I hit the ground hard and heard the snap. My father pulled me…into his…arm…"

I pulled Bella into my lap as she started sobbing softly. All I could do for her right now was hold her as tight as I could. All I could think about was keeping the woman I loved as close to me I had never felt so helpless as I did in this moment.

"How did she find out?" whispered Bella, several minutes later. She was clutching my t-shirt in her hand.

"I don't know," I murmured, softly. "I wish I did."

"I hate her," muttered Bella.

"Me too," I whispered.

"Edward?" whispered Bella.

"What?" I asked, leaning my head on hers. Bella doesn't say anything as she turns and looked up at me.

"I…Thank you for being here," she whispered, looking down. I lift her chin up and look her in the eyes. I can see so many emotions.

"I wouldn't be anywhere else," I smiled, softly. Leaning in until my lips were almost to hers, I whispered, "I love you, silly girl."

Closing the gap before she could respond, I press my lips to hers. Bella smiles against my lips before she starts to kiss me back. Turning so that she was straddling my lap, she deepens the kiss by slipping her tongue into my mouth. I moaned and tightened my arms around her. Bella pulls her lips from mine, taking a deep breath as she smiles.

"I love you, too," she whispered, letting a tear fall down her face.

"You do?" I asked, smiling. Bella nodded her head as she lays it on my shoulder.

"I was scared to tell you, in case you didn't feel the same," murmured Bella, nestling herself in my arms.

"How could I not love you," I whispered, running my fingers through her brown and purple hair.

Bella smiled against the side of my neck but didn't say anything else. The two of us sat on the beach for the rest of the afternoon, holding each other, talking about what we would like to do to Lauren Mallory and her gang of bitches. The sun had just started to set as we stood up and headed back to her car. She let me drive us back to Forks and to the gym, where we both knew our siblings were going to be waiting for us. We climbed out of the car and I pulled her into my arms and kissed her softly.

"No matter what happens in there, remember that I love you," I murmured.

"I love you, too," whispered Bella.

She kissed me before slipping her hand into mine. We headed inside and found Carlisle, Esme, Emmett, Rose, Jasper, Alice, Renee, and Charlie waiting for us. They all looked up at us and sighed in relief. Oddly, none of them looked pissed with us. I was sure we would be getting yelled at.

"Bell, you ok?" asked Carlisle.

"I'm fine," mumbled Bella. "Just need to cool off, you know."

"Yeah," muttered Carlisle, looking back at me. "You ok?"

"Yep," I said, awkwardly. "Are we in trouble?"

"No," smiled Esme, shaking her head. "You were defending yourselves."

"Oh, ok," I said, feeling a little relieved.

"But Edward, there's something you should know," said Esme, looking over at Carlisle.

"What?" I asked, warily.

"Mom and Dad are coming."