Bella's POV

After our talk, Jared and I walked back to Sam's. I planned to go home soon, but I did promise Sam that I would go back to the house for at least a minute. Besides, my truck was still in his driveway.

When we got inside, Sam, Emily, Jacob, Embry, and another boy I hadn't officially met were there. I looked over at Jacob and immediately wanted to leave. I was so hurt and angry about the things he said to me. I didn't wanna be near him right now.

"Hey, Bella. Are you alright?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks, Sam," I said.

"Um, Bella, this is Paul," Jared said as he pointed to the boy I didn't know. "I think he's the only one here you haven't met."

"Hi," I greeted.

"Leech lover," Paul greeted back.

Two loud growls could be heard. I knew one was from Jared and the other was likely from Jacob. Jared hauled Paul out of his seat and slammed him against the wall. "You will never call her that again! You will not disrespect her like that!"

Sam immediately got between the two. "Alright, both of you knock it off! You will not fight while there are imprints in the room. Paul, Bella is a member of the Pack now and you will treat her with respect."

Both boys glared at each other but said nothing.

Sam turned to Jacob. "Speaking of, Jacob, I believe there's something you need to say to Bella."

Jacob winced before turning to me. "Bella, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."

A few weeks ago I would've accepted his apology. I wouldn't have thought twice about it. A part of me still considered accepting it for the simple reason that my self-esteem was still pretty low. But if I accepted Jacob's lame apology right now, I would just be telling him that the way he treated me was okay and he would do it again. It was the same thing that happened with Edward. He treated me like his property because I allowed him to. I couldn't let that happen again, not with anyone. "Yes, you did. That's exactly what you meant."

Jacob opened his mouth to interrupt, but I held a hand up to stop him. I wasn't done. "You were lashing out because you were angry at me and at Jared. For some unbelievable reason, you feel as though we've betrayed you. I didn't betray you, Jacob, and neither did Jared."

"It wasn't like that. I wasn't trying to hurt you. I just wanted you to see that I was the better man for you," Jacob protested.

"By what? Preying on my insecurities? You knew what saying what you did would do to me and you did it anyway. You intentionally set out to cause me pain. And you think I should be with you?" I asked in disbelief.

I soon felt Jared's hand slip mine, followed by a squeeze of said hand. This was his way of encouraging me and showing me his support without words. He'd done it several times in the past when he knew I had to handle a situation on my own. This was one of those times. Jacob needed to know that I wasn't going to tolerate any more of his crap.

"I wouldn't leave you like he did!" Jacob said angrily.

"But you did, didn't you? You told me he wanted nothing more to do with me," I said. It was more than a little hypocritical of him to judge Jared for leaving my life when he did the exact same thing. The only real difference was that Jared was kinder about it.

"I didn't have a choice!" Jacob yelled.

"Neither did Jared. His mother forced him to leave and refused to let him even call me. But he didn't treat me the way you did. I didn't lash out at me as if I'd done something terrible to make him leave. And if I had decided to be with someone else, he wouldn't have been happy, but he wouldn't have set out to deliberately hurt me the way you did," I said.

Jacob looked down in shame.

"I have tried so many times to tell you how I feel about you, but you never listen. You've become almost as dense as Mike Newton. So I'm going to say it one more time. We are never going to be together, and that's not because of Jared or Edward. It's because I don't see you that way. You need to realize that. Until you do, I can't be your friend," I told him. I loved Jacob like a brother and I wanted to be friends with the boy who'd helped me come back to life after Edward left, but I couldn't and wouldn't be friends with the cruel person who'd treated me so horribly today.

Jacob looked back up at me with pleading eyes. "Bella, please, don't say that. I'm sorry."

"I've said all I'm going to about this. Accept what I've said to you and then maybe I can accept your apology,' I said.

Jacob looked at me sadly for another minute and then ran out the door.

Jared squeezed my hand again. "You did great. He needed to hear that."

"Thanks. I'm going to head home. Sam, I know you wanted me to go to the council meeting, but could I just catch the next one. It's been a long day," I said.

"Yeah, of course," Sam said.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow," Jared said before reluctantly letting go of my hand.

"Yeah, I'll see you then," I said before walking out of the house.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

I made it home to find Charlie sitting at the table with the newspaper. "Hey, kid," he said.

"Hey, Dad," I said before sitting down across from him at the table.

"So where'd you head off to this morning?" Charlie asked casually. He wasn't fooling me though. I knew he really wanted to know who I'd gone to see. I rarely left the house for anything other than school lately.

"La Push. I went to see Jared," I told him.

"Oh. Did that go okay?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah. We've decided to be friends again. You were right about Jared and Edward. I didn't really love Edward. I convinced myself that I loved him because I wanted to get over Jared. It hurt so much when I lost him and I wanted that to go away. Being with Edward helped," I said.

"No, it didn't, Bells. You just pushed the pain aside. Trust me, I know. I've made the same mistake. I think everyone who has been jilted has at some point," Charlie said.

"Was that how it was for you after Mom left with me?" I asked. I'd never really considered what he must have gone through back then, but now I could understand what it must have been like because I'd been through it too.

Charlie nodded. Dealing with a failed relationship can be awful."

"It hurt so much when Jared left. Then I got with Edward and made myself forget Jared. Then when Edward left, the pain from both hit me like a bulldozer. I didn't think I was going to survive it. The only way I even managed to come back to life even slightly was through Jacob," I said.

"Um, Bells, there's something I need to tell you about Jacob," Charlie started.

"It's okay, Dad, I already know. You asked Jacob to stay away from me. Jake and Jared have the same friends. I went to Sam Uley's today because that's where I knew Jared would be. Jacob was there as well. There's how I found out what you said to him," I explained upon seeing my father's surprised face.

"Look, Bella, I know you're eighteen and you probably feel that I shouldn't be making these kinds of decisions for you, but I really think that Jacob keeping his distance is for the best right now. For a while I thought Jacob being around was good, but now I'm not so sure. I don't want you making the same mistake with him that you did with Cullen. Plus, I don't trust Jake not to hurt you right now," Charlie said.

"It's okay. I'm not mad. I was confused at first, but now I agree. I'm not planning to make the same mistake I did with Edward. I have no intention of ever being with Jacob. I see him as a friend and as a brother. He can't so that though and until he can, I can't be around him. He made that very clear today," I said.

Charlie's eyes narrowed and began to get angry. "Did he hurt you?"

I sighed. "He said some things that were hurtful, yes. He apologized later, but I didn't accept and I won't until he accepts that we can only ever be friends."

"What did he say?"

"It doesn't matter. I handled it and I told him to stay away until he can accept that we won't be together. I won't have another relationship with someone who treats me like he tried to," I said firmly.

Charlie smiled proudly. "Good for you. What about Jared?"

"Like I said, we're going to try to rebuild our friendship. I don't know if it'll ever go beyond that. I don't wanna think that far ahead right now and Jared is very understanding," I responded.

"Good. I think you've made the right decision. There's no reason to jump into a relationship right now. You're still dealing with everything that happened with those two boys," Charlie said.

I nodded and stood up. "I'm gonna go upstairs. I have test tomorrow that I have to study for."

"Okay. How about we order out tonight? Chinese good?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, that's great," I said before heading upstairs.