-Chapter 22-

Eliza went straight to class after lunch. She didn't even have to look; she could feel eyes upon her the entire time. It was far worse than the first day when she stared at out of curiosity. The teacher welcomed her and asked if she were feeling better today. It took Eliza a minute to realize exactly what the teacher was talking about, before she recalled yesterday's events. "Yes, I'm feeling much better. Thank you." She said, taking her seat next to Jasper.

When the teacher began to drone on, writing on whiteboard, Jasper murmured quietly to Eliza, "That was some performance at lunch."

Eliza shrugged, "You know it wasn't like she was at any great risk or anything."

Jasper nodded slightly and chuckled, "Oh I know that, but she could only do so much without risk of exposure."

Eliza nodded and smiled ruefully, "I honestly didn't expect him to snap like that. It was a good thing m.. Isabella rolled with that punch or he'd have broken half of the bones in his hand. And I really didn't expect his friends to want to get involved. But at least it made it clear that Isabella isn't the only one with a backbone; and I'm thankful that Emmett stopped the other. That made things a lot easier. To tell you the truth I'm surprised Emmett decided to intervene."

"What do you mean?" Jasper asked curiously, regarding Eliza thoughtfully.

"Well given the state of.. relations between us right now, I didn't expect any of you to jump to her defense." Eliza shrugged, her tone matter of fact rather than accusing.

"That's true, though to tell the truth, Emmett just happened to make it there first. If he hadn't intervened when he did, I would have been there a half second later." Jasper's voice hardened slightly, "I was raised in the south, before I was turned. I consider myself a southern gentleman; I find it unacceptable for any man to hit a lady unless his very life is in peril."

Eliza snorted a little bit in derision, causing the teacher to glance her way briefly. When he observed that she seemed to be taking notes he turned back away.

Jasper frowned, and seemed briefly offended, "You have a problem with southern gentlemen?"

Eliza frowned a little bit and shook her head a little bit. "I have a problem with you describing yourself as such." Jasper's frown deepened, inviting her to continue.

Eliza shrugged a little bit, "You say you have a problem with guy's hitting girls, because you're a 'southern gentleman'. Does that include any sort of physical attack or is it just punching?"

Jasper nodded slowly, "I don't approve of any sort of violence against women."

Eliza shrugged and looked up at the board; the teacher was beginning to wind down his lesson as the class drug towards a close, not unlike an animal without water in the desert. "So, if you have a problem with it why didn't you stop it?"

Jasper frowned at that, "I was on the other side of the cafeteria, and Isabella did provoke the confrontation. I assumed she knew what she was doing."

Eliza shook her head a and her eyes narrowed. "No, that's not what I mean. I meant before that, when the asshole decided to bully Hailey and Madison."

Jasper shook his head, his voice in low in mild protest "I was sitting down on the other end of the cafeteria, nothing I could do to prevent that."

"Oh, so if she hadn't confronted him, you would have?" Eliza shot back. Jasper's frown and silence answered the question, so Eliza continued. "Hailey and Madison said that sort of thing is normal. They thought they should have been paying attention and expected to get tripped.' So it's not like it was a onetime occurrence."

The teacher finished speaking just before the bell rang for class to end. Eliza snapped her notebook closed and looked Jasper full in the eyes, her voice a low but intense murmur. "Tell me something. Allowing stuff like that to go on for all the months you've been here; is that the mark of a southern gentleman?"

Eliza didn't wait for an answer as she spun on her heels to head out the door, leaving Jasper frowning and troubled.

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Isabella turned in the sketch pad the teacher had provided before leaving for her next class. It was the only other class in her schedule that interested her at all; creative writing. She was lost in her own thoughts over the events of the art class and resulting interaction with Alice. She barely noticed the passing of time and probably couldn't have repeated the teacher's name if someone offered to pay her to do so

Isabella couldn't get the memory of Alice's hopeless expression out of her mind; and more frustratingly, she couldn't figure out why she couldn't get it out of her mind.

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Eliza was leaning against her locker waiting with her helmet and gloves when Isabella joined her, Isabella took thirty seconds to toss her books into her locker before grabbing her own gloves and helmet, before they walked down the hallway together.

"So how did you enjoy your classes?" Eliza asked as they walked through the hall, avoiding the throng (inasmuch as Forks was capable of producing a throng) of people eager to make it out the door.

Isabella frowned thoughtfully, "I don't know, they were okay. I've got two classes with members of the Cullen family." Isabella glanced around at all the kids who were staring at them as they walked out to the parking lot.

"Enjoying your newfound popularity?" Eliza laughed.

Isabella chuckled dryly. "More like infamy. It hasn't been too bad. Everyone is not sure whether to high-five me or stay away as if I have leprosy maybe because they're worried about Kevin's retribution."

Eliza snorted and shook her head. The idea that Kevin would try and get revenge was an amusing one. He couldn't hurt her and they both knew it.

"I know you had Rosalie in the morning, who else did you have class with?" Eliza asked as they approached their motorcycles.

Isabella's intention to reply was forgotten when she saw who was standing next to her motorcycle. Eliza and Isabella both sighed when they saw Edward standing there, an apologetic look fixed upon his face.

It was clear from the direction of his gaze that he wanted to talk to Isabella. Isabella just rolled her eyes and began to put on her gloves, "What do you want Edward?"

His apologetic smile flattened slightly before resuming its original wattage. "I was hoping we could talk." Isabella wondered if it was just her anger and resentment welling up or if his voice had always been so whiny.

Isabella shrugged disinterestedly and leaned against her motorcycle, "What is it you want to discuss?"

He frowned slightly and glanced at Eliza who hadn't bothered to hide her scowl at him as she straddled her motorcycle. "I was hoping we could talk privately."

Isabella hesitated a moment and then nodded slowly, "Okay fine." She turned and glanced at Eliza a moment. "Give me just a minute."

Eliza scowled further but didn't object as Isabella walked off the parking lot and away from the bikes toward a small copse of trees.

They got far enough so that they wouldn't be overheard by humans, Isabella was positive Eliza could hear, and the rest of the Cullen clan, gathered outside their two cars could probably hear them as well. Though Isabella did notice the conspicuous absence of Alice among the Cullens who made no secret of watching the two of them. Isabella turned to Edward, and fixed her hands on her hips. "What do you want to talk about?"

Edward frowned slightly, his face expressing concern. "I wanted to talk about you. What's happened to you?"

Isabella frowned at him lightly, "What do you mean?"

"I mean... what happened? You've been one of us all these years and you never once tried to contact us or get in touch, and then-." Edward started to explain.

Isabella nodded with mock solemnity as she interrupted. "I did mail a message to you, it went right to that forwarding address you so graciously provided me. The postal service must have lost - oh wait. That's right. I forgot. You didn't give me one."

Her voice remained cold, but Isabella sneered in disgust. "I always wondered whether you'd thought I'd been killed when you abandoned me in the woods or just hoped so"

Edward scowled but managed to keep from snarling in response. "It's not just that, I mean look at the way you're acting. Ignoring me, being cruel to Esme, practically snarling at me, picking fights in the cafeteria. That's not you Bella... what did the Volturi do to you?" Edward demanded as if it was his right to know.

Isabella's expression was one of absolute amazement. She wondered if he was truly that dense. "How would you know what is me and what isn't me? Are you so obtuse you don't know how lucky you are? I've killed people for far less than what you've said to me today, only Aro's desire for us to maintain a low profile has kept you alive here sparky. You don't know me at all; else you wouldn't be here wasting your lying breath." She did notice that his complaints seemed to center around him.

Edward smiled again, it was if she hadn't spoken at all which only served to anger her further. Even worse it was the half smile she was sure was meant to be charming. "I remember all about you. My Bella was sweet and friendly. My Bella was the one who cared about everyone. She didn't try and hurt them like you did Esme. My Bell-"

"I. Am. Not. 'Your Bella!'" Isabella's voice cut him off. "My name is Isabella, and I stopped being 'Your Bella' when you left me. I have no interest in being 'Your Bella' ever again. The same applies to the rest of your family. Esme, Alice, and Emmett all treated me like I was part of the family. They even went so far as to say it. But when you decided to leave me they didn't even bother with a goodbye. Every word you and your family ever said to me was a lie. The amusing human stray you took in had stopped being so amusing. Every… single… one of you threw me away. That's your family.." Isabella practically hissed the words 'your family'.

Edward looked stunned, fueling Isabella's anger further. She turned her back to him to help resist the urge to literally rip his smile off, along with the rest of his face. "You left me in the forest. Don't you recall? You just walked away. You took any mementos I had of you. You swore it would be just like you had never existed. If only." Isabella shook her head

Edward's controlled smile slipped completely and he glared at her. "I was trying to do the noble thing, the right thing, and let you live a normal life."

Isabella spun around to face him again, crossing her arms over her chest. "No, you weren't. I told you to change me. I practically begged you to change me. I would have given up my entire life for you. I gave you my heart. But... I wasn't good enough for you. I wasn't good enough to join your precious family. I was nearly as big a fool as you've remained."

Edward's voice was a growled protest, "I wanted to protect you."

Isabella raised an eyebrow, her voice sarcastic. "Protect me from what exactly? The only thing I see that you've protected me from is putting up with you, your 19th century chauvinism and your utter conviction the universe exists for you to be in it."

Edward threw up his hands dramatically, which inspired a mini epiphany for Isabella. "He is a drama queen!" she thought.

His voice came out in a plea for understanding. "From all of this. I wanted to protect you from our life, from the dangers we face. I wanted to protect you from being forced to lose your family. I wanted to protect you from becoming one of us. I wanted to protect you from the thirst, from those feral years as a newborn. I wanted to protect you from becoming a soulless monster!"

Isabella was in his face less than a moment after he finished talking, her finger pointed right at his eyes. "No. You didn't. You wanted a relationship on your terms or not at all. You wanted things your way or not at all. You made the choice to leave me because that's what you wanted. Your own twisted beliefs gave you an out. It allowed you to dump me without turning me and to think of yourself as noble and self sacrificing. You did it for yourself. You've never done anything for anyone except yourself."

Edward shook his head violently in denial. "I was trying to keep you from becoming one of us. I was trying to save your soul!"

Isabella smiled coldly. "Great job on the whole 'saving me' thing. That worked out well. Ironically enough I did eventually end up getting turned; but not in any way that forebodes good things for you." Isabella turned and strode away toward her bike.

Edward stepped in front of her, "No, we need to work this out. I love you! I won't allow things to stand like this between us!" his voice and chin were set stubbornly.

Isabella barely managed to keep from punching Edward in full in the face when he stepped in front of her. Isabella snarled at him, "There is no we or us, Edward. And you don't get to dictate 'how things stand' between us. Your opinion means about as much to as that of a mouse, no wait, mice aren't self centered with a streak of being vainglorious, your opinion means less." She stepped around him walking deliberately to her motorcycle where Eliza was waiting.

Edward responded in a voice which managed to be patronizing, condescending and whiny in a nasal way all at once. "Bella... Don't do this. There's no need for this. Come back. We can be together now, with no worry about me or my family members hurting you. You can be part of our family again." His anger was starting to get the best of him, but his tone was one of coaxing.

Edward's voice alone was enough to send Isabella over the top, but she managed to grit her teeth and take a deep breath as she strode back to her motorcycle. She picked up her helmet and turned back to face him. "I will never come back to you; and I have no interest in being part of a family that is willing to abandon someone it claims as one of its own."

She turned her head and slid on her helmet, obscuring her face as Edward stood at the front of her motorcycle, with fists clenched.

This time he snarled at her, his anger at the continued rejection getting the best of him. "This isn't over. Fate obviously intended for us to be together, or it wouldn't have brought us back together like this. You are still a part of my family. You are still my Bella!"

Isabella tore her helmet off and glared at him, her anger settling into a familiar icy rage and said simply. "Apparently you're as hard of hearing as you are stupid. Unless I give you permission otherwise, my name is Isabella. Here's something for you to consider Edward Cullen, I don't suffer ignorance well…not well at all. This is the second time you've forced your putrid presence upon me in a single day. Do it a third time, ever, and you won't emerge whole or unscarred… you may not emerge at all. You… have… no… clue… how much I want to end you." Unbeknownst to Bella she'd just completely crushed a helmet designed to withstand 100 mile per hour impacts in her bare hands. Fortunately no one else in the parking lot had the angle to see her hands when she did. Disgusted and trembling with rage she threw the now baseball sized hunk of plastic to the ground, started up her motorcycle with roar of power, backing it up with a kick of her feet and sped out of the parking lot.

Eliza however wasn't content to let it go at that having been barely restraining her tongue. "She's not yours. She's my family now and I will never let you hurt her again. That means you will never have her again, no matter how much you wish it otherwise…Cockbite."

Eliza slipped her helmet on and then started her bike, following Isabella out of the parking lot, leaving Edward there fuming and speechless.

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"Cockbite? Really?" Isabella demanded as they walked into their house, her voice half offended and half sarcastic.

Henry was sitting at the table in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, reading the paper in on his Ipad, his eyebrow raised.

As they stopped in the kitchen, Eliza shrugged a little bit, "It was either that or douche bag and I'd hate to repeat myself so soon."

"Oh? Where did you hear that bit of jargon? More late night cable?" Isabella asked with a sigh.

"Actually that one was from YouTube." Eliza said smugly, Isabella responded by rolling her eyes.

"So... err... it sounds like an interesting first day of school." Henry ventured cautiously.

"Oh you could say that." Eliza said grinning widely. "Mom decided to beat the crap out of the school bully in front of everyone."

Isabella rolled her eyes. "A normal first day, there was the confrontation with Rosalie, which I admit was at least a little cathartic. Then there was also a confrontation in which Eliza decided that the best way to finish the argument was to call my ex-boyfriend a cockbite."

"Okay, I totally agree the bully deserved it. And seriously Mom? Your ex is a dick." Eliza said with a frown. She looked like she wanted to continue but was restrained by the look on Isabella's face which looked as if her language may have went a bit too far.

The conversation was cut short when both heard a sound from upstairs and turned to see Leah skipped downstairs wearing her normal jean shorts and a tank top. She looked at Eliza, her face serious.

Eliza looked up at Leah smiling in a conspiratorial way, "Hey, how's your brother doing?"

Leah looked grim, "Seth is doing much better, but we lost Paul.".

"What?!" Eliza exclaimed, her face stricken, Isabella remained oddly silent.

"Yeah... but we found him asleep in the bathtub. We're not sure if it was on purpose or not," Leah added, collapsing in laughter at the expression on Eliza's face, just as an outraged Eliza crossed the room to pounce upon her. The two of them wrestled playfully for several seconds, a wrestling match that descended into laughter from both of them.

Isabella watched the two of them without comment, though her expression reflected slight amusement. After a few moments the chaos subsided, a still giggling Eliza and Leah pleased that her joke had had the desired effect, adjourned to the couch.

"Seriously how are they?" Eliza finally asked, as she settled down.

"They're fine, Seth's watching TV in his room, and Rachel's up talking with Paul." Leah replied stretching a bit as she settled down on the couch next to Eliza

Isabella nodded in satisfaction at the answer, "That's good to hear, they're probably already starting to get restless. But they need to rest. Did you make sure to tell them to stay put?"

Leah nodded, "They're still in quite a bit of pain. Carlisle dropped by this morning to give them some morphine. They burn through it so fast it doesn't do much good. But Carlisle said that the worst of it is over, and the pain should be getting better quickly."

Isabella nodded then looked back and forth between Eliza and Leah. "What do the two of you have planned for tonight?"

Eliza grinned, "Well we thought we'd run into Seattle, knock over a few liquor stores, blow up a few banks. See what else we could get into."

Isabella rolled her eyes and said to Leah, "Ignore her, she's been in a smart ass mood all day."

Leah chuckled a and looked at Eliza, "I figured a night of movies and games. A rematch at scrabble maybe?"

Eliza nodded and then looked at her mother, "Want to play?" She asked curiously.

Isabella shrugged slightly, "If you don't mind being beaten, badly, by an old woman."

Eliza snorted in derision.

Henry spoke, "Just so the two of you know, the forecast says there's an 85% chance tomorrow is sunny."

Isabella raised her an eyebrow, "I'm guessing that'll mean no school."

Eliza sighed, and then grinned, shaking off her momentary disquiet. "I'll go get the scrabble board!" She said, scampering away.

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Author's notes:

1) YAY! update

3) Don't worry that isn't even close to me being done with Edward. But I hope those of you disappointed with the first interaction enjoyed this one. We probably won't see school for awhile. There's... alot of stuff coming down the pipe in the story. Just a word of warning!

4) How was it? Please read and review! I get enough reviews and we'll see about releasing another chapter this weekend O_O

Next Chapter- More Bellice!