AN: I really love my reviewers. How was your holiday? My birthday was . . . relaxing. Let's leave it at that. I'm so glad I received so many PM responses. It's really cool to interact with you guys. Keep writing.

I don't own a thing. Stephenie Meyer and Cecil Castellucci got it all.

Chapter 9 Here We Go Again

One lie
Mix with misunderstanding
Sprinkle with blood and poof . . . a relationship

Later that day I saw Jacob got into a quarrel with this other student. The bystanders informed me his name was Felix. He stood at a good size and height to match Jacob. When Jacob noticed me, he whispered something and they parted ways. Most students avoided Jacob and the stooges. Literally getting out of the way most times, but now every time Jacob and this Felix met there was a confrontation that ended quickly upon my appearance.

I didn't understand it. Jacob wasn't scared of anything. The teachers or the principal would toss out punishments at him and he wouldn't phase. And, he was in deep trouble for what he did to Principal Greene's house. But it looked like it was me who scared him. Almost as if he was trying to be better for me.

It was sometime in the third week of November, I was in the nurse's office after school when Jacob's always interrupted confrontations finally met their end. The nurse had gone home and I thought it was safe in there. I really didn't like all that medical stuff — especially blood. I couldn't understand how my mom managed it.

I had lied down on the examining table with my required reading for English and a pencil for underlining important passages, when suddenly two people hauled in a third dripping with blood, barely managing to stand or lift his head. I jumped up at the scent. The smell wasn't too kind to my stomach or my sense of equilibrium.

"Where's the nurse?" one yelled.

"Gone home," I answered. I swallowed hard to keep down my stomach acid as dizziness began to overtake me. I got up and carefully walked over to the wall so they could make use of the table.

"Do you know where the supplies are?" the other asked.

"Some are in those drawers. I discovered them when I was searching for a pencil."

He rushed over to the drawers and pulled out supplies, while the other guy held Felix up. The two were trying to stop the bleeding and bandage up the wounds. I had to step over to the sink and took a wet paper towel to my face.

"Tyler," the first one said. "I think we should take him to the emergency room."

"Good idea." They picked up the poor kid and carried him out.

I tried to gather the abandoned bandage wrappers from the floor to toss them into the trash bin as soon as my equilibrium returned, when a wave of dizziness hit me again. I held my breath and carefully stood to find its source. There by the doorway I saw Jacob.

"Are you the nurse today?" he asked. He had a long gash over his eyebrow that was oozing blood.

"Oh god, are you okay?" I held my breath again and ran over to the sink to grab a new wet paper towel. If I cleaned his forehead, I would be able to breathe better and I was seriously running out of air.

He went over to sit on the examination table. I placed the towel over his cut and set to cleaning it. He winced at each touch.

"Here, hold this." I gave it to him and went over to the mini fridge on the counter. I searched for the blue of the icepack in the freezer compartment. I wrapped the pack in a few paper towels like my mom once showed me and put it to Jacob's head.

"Ahh," he groaned in pain.

"Keep that there or you'll be the fourth stooge—Lumpy."

He smiled weakly. "I think he was actually one of the seven dwarfs." A light chuckle escaped from his perfect lips. I had to think of something else.

"So," I said helping him hold the ice pack in proper place, "what was the fight about?"

He was staring at me. I felt a tingle sensation arise from where my hand touched his. "Nothing important."

"You beat the shit out of that guy, but it wasn't important," I mused.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "He ran over my bike. I've been trying to get him to pay for the repairs, but he kept blowing me off."

"So you beat him up?" I was aghast. I knew he loved his motorcycle, but it wasn't a reason to send someone to the ER.

"I was defending myself. He threw the first punch," he corrected.

"Well you showed him," I commented. I glanced quickly surveying the rest of his body. "Is anything else hurt?"

"No. I got this cut from when his ring met my face. I kind of exploded afterward."

"Right, the whole Volcano thing," I remembered.

He continued to focus on my chocolate brown eyes. "You're not really with Mike, are you?"

I paused to hesitate if truth was the way to go. I shook my head. "No."

His hand went up to my neck and he pulled me to him. His lips pressed against mine with perseverance and fervor. My brain screamed, "Pull away!" with no success. I was enjoying it too much to resist.

We dropped the ice pack and I ran my cold fingers into his black disheveled loosely bound hair. He stood up and we disconnected. He rotated me to lift me onto the table. He undid his pony with one swift pull and slipped the band into his pocket. His hands caressed my face and he kissed me again.

I could feel his tongue curling and swimming around in my mouth and the jolt of electricity ran through me. My hand slipped between the strands from his head while my other curled around his body pulling him onto me as I leaned back.

"Oh, I missed you," he moaned. "I almost forgot how good you tasted." His mouth was on mine.

I blindly tried to lift his shirt unsuccessfully. I had to break the kiss and he pulled it off, tossing it aside. I wanted him, needed him. I didn't care if he had a girlfriend. Who said I wasn't a bad girl? He slowly unbuttoned my sweater vest, then blouse as he nipped at my ear lobes and neck. He moved down to my newly exposed skin as his fingers unzipped my jeans. I went for his belt, but he caught my hands.

"I don't have a condom."

He wasn't sex ready? He was always sex ready when we were together. "Try the jar over there," I pointed.

He moved over to the counter where the jar rested. He lifted the lid and peered in. I knew it was half filled with condoms.

"Do I want to know?" he questioned.

"I was looking for a pencil," I answered unperturbed. I had nothing to hide.

He obtained a handful and jammed them into his pocket then acquired another one to use. I grasped my nude tank top and lifted it over my head. I heard the clang as his belt buckle met the floor. He had already applied the condom and was grabbing his overcoat to place over us. He shuffled over with his pants around his ankles.

He licked at my tummy and maneuvered upward to my purple satin bra. His hands slid down the straps and unfastened the hook in the front. His left hand cupped my right breast and he gently squeezed. His other hand tugged down at my stubborn denims while he hovered over me. I put my hands on his strong shoulders lifting my body up so that my weight wouldn't prevent my pants or underwear's removal. I kicked them away.

His body dropped down to mine as soon as I descended. I could feel his heated breath over my shoulder as he took in air in time with his momentum. He slowly rubbed himself against me exciting my body even more. My fingers roamed his chest, curling around his little hairs.

"I want you," he mumbled into my ear.

"And you could have me," I sighed barely able to speak from the anticipation. My throat was growing dry from my heaving. He kissed at my neck before he finally thrusted into me.

His hand went up to my mouth muffling the moans and screams coming from my climax. He kept on bouncing in and out applying more and more strength forcing himself deeper. The rigidness of the examination table pressed back. I knew my bones were going to ache later, but for now I was going to ignore it. He occasionally moved his hand to connect his lips to mine. His other hand kept hold of the table, so we wouldn't fall off. I held a fistful of his ebony hair, holding it tight. A sensation I could only describe as pure bliss radiated out of me as my second round of tightening jolts signaled another climax as he had his first.

My arms pulled him in tighter while my legs wrapped around his waist. I didn't want this moment to end.

"Bella," he panted. "You need to let go."

I removed my limbs and he held on to the condom so it wouldn't spill its contents. He tossed it into the trash and washed his hands. Our bodies glistened in the fluorescents.

"Get dressed before someone comes to find out what the noise was about," he smiled. He slipped his pants back on.

I stepped off the table to retrieve my clothing, placing them on gravely.

"So you got what you wanted," I uttered, "and now you're going to go."

As if it weren't possible his grin widened. "Yeah, I got what I wanted. I got you back and this time I'm not letting you go." He came close and placed a kiss on my forehead.

"What about Jane?" I asked confused.

"I tried to explain before, she's not my girlfriend," he huffed. "She just hung around me and the guys. I have never dated, spent time alone, kissed or slept with her. EVER. It's just you. I want you."

"I thought you said because she has a bad reputation—"

"I just meant I didn't want people seeing us together and ruin yours," he explained.

"I'm not a secret. I don't want to be a secret," I said.

He was quiet for a while. "Okay," he nodded. "God, I missed you." He put his arms around me and I returned the hug.

"I'm sorry about chemistry. I know I was supposed to help—"

"I did fine," he assured me. "Mr. Banner is a good teacher. He was wondering why I never speak up in class, but I wouldn't know what to say. That's why I wanted to review with you. Well that and I wanted to ask you to get back with me."

I smiled at him. "I need to get home. Do you need a lift?"

"Yeah."

*0*

I pulled into his driveway thinking it would be better than double parking in front of his house. Most of his neighbors already removed their fall decorations and some even replaced them with winter. Jacob's house was bare.

"Did you ever get the decorations up? I asked.

"No. It's stupid. What's the point on decorating?"

"Oh I totally agree. What's the point on decorating Principal Greene's house with toilet paper?" I semi-lectured.

He paused for a minute then he gave me an evil grin. "It was fun. That's the only reason to do anything."

"The fun aspect? So you're saying I'm fun since you like me?" I stated flirtatiously.

"Oh yeah," he smirked. "When I saw you jumping around at the Savage Gord Concert, I thought 'this chick could be fun.'"

"Right the concert," I was reminded. "Isn't there another one coming?"

"Yeah, but there is a little problem." I already offered the ticket to Muscles," he explained. "I'm gonna have to order another ticket, because he really wanted to go. Maybe we could get him a date? You think one of your friends?"

"I could ask, but your group is not very popular with mine," I stated.

"They're not, maybe if they got to know them?"

"Well, they are actually scary," I admitted. He smiled. "What?"

He leaned in and slowly planted his soft lips. He moved his mouth onto my neck and a low moan escaped me. I could hear his soft laughter.

I spoke again. "It doesn't bother you that your friends terrify me?"

He moved to the other side of my neck and my eyes drifted to half mast.

"Maybe," he whispered. His hands had found their way under my sweater. I was beginning to lose focus.

I mumbled almost incoherently, "Maybe you could say something to them."

He looked at me directly in the face and smiled a bit sinisterly. "They won't touch you, not if they want to keep their limbs."

"What?" I was shocked out of my arousal.

"You're mine and they know it. As much as I tried to hide it, they knew I was taken with you," he confessed.

"Yours? I'm not property," I steamed.

"I didn't mean it that way. I just meant, they knew if any of them did something to harm you, they would have to deal with me," he explained.

"But we were broken up."

"It didn't matter." He gazed into my eyes and began to lean in.

Suddenly a pair of headlights pulled in behind me.

"Shit! My mom." Jacob jumped and pulled my keys from the ignition. "Go! Take a walk around the block."

"But my car," I protested.

"I'll switch the cars around later. Just run."

We grabbed our bags and coats then exited the car.

"Jacob what is going on?" his mother questioned sternly.

His mother and sister hopped out of their car. I tried to leave, but his mom blocked my escape.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked.

"Let her go Mom!" Jacob yelled.

I skirted around her and fled away quickly with my stuff. I had no idea why I was running.

I came back about fifteen minutes later and my MX-5 Miata was on the curb. I texted Jacob about needing my keys. He came out a minute later, handed me the keys and quickly went back in.

"Was that her?" I heard his mom yell.

It sounded like the situation wasn't resolved. I just got into my car and pulled away.

AN: You know from a third party perspective, I question why Jake doesn't want his mother and Bella to interact. What do you think? Send reviews.

Have a happy New Year!