AN: Wow, I'm so impressed with how many reviews I got. So we all waited-now what happened to Jake?

I don't own Twilight or Bad Reputation. They belong to Stephenie and Cecil.

Chapter 20 Love, Where's the Bliss?

For a week straight, every time I saw Jacob walking the halls he would turn and go the opposite direction. He sat by the door during chemistry and was out the door as soon as the bell rang. He didn't return my calls or answer my texts.

"I don't understand it," I complained to my friends Friday at lunch. "I think he is avoiding me. I must have scared him off. I can't remember the last time Volcano let lunch go by without trying to steal my food. He even blew off tutoring this week. Midterms are coming and I'm worried he won't be prepared. At least I was able to give time to Victoria instead. She was very grateful."

"Emmett told me he doesn't know what is going on with Volcano either," Rose added. "He's distracted. Whenever they got together after school to hang out, Volcano cut out early."

"Why don't you try him at his house?" Asia mentioned.

"I did that. His motorcycle was missing. I was too chicken to try his doorbell. What if his mom answers?" I feared.

"So just talk to her. She might know what's going on," Angela suggested.

"She doesn't exactly like me. Volcano seemed okay when I told him how I feel, but then he just flipped out. What am I going to do?"

I knew exactly what I should do. I needed to confront him.

*0*

Monday morning I set a digital recorder up in chem class. I told Mr. Banner before class I needed to leave early and one of my friends would pick up the recorder at the end of class. When it was ten minutes until the end bell, I stepped out and stayed hidden in a corner, ready to catch Jacob as soon as he left.

Buzzzzzzz. Class was over and Jacob walked out quickly—right into me.

"Watch it!" he yelled. "Oh . . . hi." He barely looked me in the eyes.

"Why are you avoiding me?" I questioned.

"I'm not avoiding—" he began.

"I scared you off, didn't I?" I said cutting him off. He was glancing at the ground slowly shaking his head.

"Bella, I . . ."

He lifted his head and his expression was completely sympathetic. "It's not you. There's kinda somebody else."

With those words I could have sworn everything started spinning.

"At the wedding . . . I can't get her out of my head. She's infected me and I need to be fair to you."

My face felt cold and I couldn't speak. I just stood there, unmoving while my surroundings continued to spin. Students continued their daily routine. I thought I was going to fall over. Why doesn't everything stop? Hasn't the world come crashing down?

"Are you gonna be okay?" he asked in a solemn tone.

I think I might've nodded or uttered something, because he walked away without a goodbye. People walked by me. I watched them. No one noticed me, even when everything went black.

*0*

I woke up in the health office, an ice pack was held to my head and some noxious chemical held under my nose.

"You fainted," the nurse informed me. "Hit your head. There's a nasty bump beginning to form. I'm excusing you for the rest of the day and I strongly recommended to your parents to get you to a doctor."

I nodded. She gave me the ice pack and sent me on my way.

When 3:00pm came around, I received several calls and texts from fellow students asking if I was all right. My friends visited, but I found no comfort in anyone. Jacob broke up with me. He's with someone else, someone from the wedding—probably Leah. I had no control in this unfair world. I had fallen for him and he wanted someone else.

My doctor advised I stay home another day for observation. If I don't have any ringing, blurred vision, or any other symptom of head trauma I could return to school on Wednesday.

*0*

Wednesday Jacob wasn't in school. In fact, he skipped the entire week. Rumor had it he ditched the rest of Monday to see his girlfriend. He hadn't been seen since. I suspected he was going to get into real trouble and my suspicions were confirmed when the next week Monday I saw his mom leaving Principal Greene's office. I tried to not make eye contact, but she saw me.

"Hey you, Bella!" She approached me with determination, even
when I tried to flee she caught me by the arm. "Wait, I want to talk to you."

"I don't know where your son is," I muttered trying to get free. She let go.

"I know. I just wanted to know what happened to the two of you."

"Why do you care?" I questioned sharply. "You didn't want us together." My voice was coarse. I was angry with Jacob, but since he wasn't here, she would have to do.

"That was before," she rebutted.

"Before what?" I asked curiously.

"Before my conversation with Principal Greene. See they call the parents when a student misses a whole week of class. Which means before now, Jacob has been going to class. In fact, he hadn't gotten in serious trouble for a month now. He's been doing his homework and doing well on tests."

I didn't know what to say, so I stayed quiet allowing her to connect the dots as students shuffled in the hallways.

"He was behaving. I thought he was getting detention with you, but instead you were tutoring him. You're not the bad influence I presumed. You even got him to cut his hair."

I kept my eyes down. Memories flooded my head of Jacob and me together, studying for our classes – studying each other. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. He was gone, it was over between us.

One lone tear escaped my eye and I sniffed my runny nose. "Well he's not my business anymore." I wiped my tear away with my fingers and headed off to class.

Jacob was still gone the rest of that week. I sat with my friends at lunch not really participating in the conversations. Rosalie limited her topics to sidestep about Emmett around me for fear my tear ducts wouldn't be able to handle it. It didn't matter who or what the discussion was about, I wasn't paying full attention. Emmett avoided me too. He couldn't help the situation so he thought I'd be upset. None of the stooges knew where Jacob even was. I yearned for some kind of closure, but I didn't know where to get it.

That night I took out Jacob's ponytail. I stroked the black silky strands, closing my eyes—pretending he was there with me. I took a long whiff. It smelled just like him, Blue Jean Cologne and exhaust fumes. I couldn't help it I just cried myself to sleep.

*0*

I sat at the kitchen table on Saturday fiddling with my lunch. I was not very hungry. My mother came to sit beside me.

"Honey I can't help but notice you seem really depressed."

I lifted my eyes to her. "Thanks Mom. I needed an update," I said sarcastically.

"So are you going to tell me about your boyfriend or should I say ex-boyfriend now?"

I stared at her surprised.

"Oh come now, you honestly thought I didn't know? I keep getting phone calls from the neighbors complaining about noise from his darn motorcycle."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I figured you would come to me. But honey, I'm your mother and a nurse. I'm in the business of healing. I couldn't continue to watch you in pain, waiting."

My eyes welled up a little listening to her. I shifted back to my food.

"How long have you two been dating?"

"Since October," I sniffed.

"This is the boy with the knife, right?"

I nodded. My mother was a lot more astute than I thought.

"So what happened?"

My eyes continued to water up and a tear escaped. "He likes someone else," I sobbed.

She hugged me. "Oh honey. If he doesn't want you he's a fool." She looked at me, her face in mine. "There are plenty more out there. You are the most beautiful girl around and you're messing up your face by shedding tears over that boy."

She got up to grab me some tissues from the counter.

The door bell rang several times and my mom went to get it. After a moment I heard her call my father and he joined her. I could hear there was some kind of commotion outside so I got up to check when I heard Jacob's voice yell my name. I quickened my pace to the door. I saw my mom and dad blocking off the door to a disheveled looking Jacob. The strands of his mane looked confused as if they didn't know which direction to head in and Jacob's chin was lightly fuzzed over.

"I need to see her!" he called out.

"I don't know who you think you are, but crazy strangers aren't allowed in the house," my mother firmly stated.

I came up behind them. "It's okay Mom. This is him." They moved aside and I went out to Jacob.

"What do you want, Volcano?" I asked curtly.

"Volcano. I guess I deserve that. I wanted to say sorry."

"An apology? You said you never apologize."

"I'm usually never sorry," he snickered. His face quickly turned sober, "But I get that I hurt you."

"You shouldn't be sorry. No one can help where their heart takes them." I sniffed my runny nose and my eyes became foggy. "You care about someone else, I can understand that."

"I'm apologizing, because I'm stupid."

I gave a short laugh.

"Do you remember when you asked at the wedding if I would like to dance with Leah? I told you I was with the person I wanted to dance with, that there was no contest between the two of you. I put you both side by side and you were the clear winner. But now I was unfair. I decided there was another girl I cared about without really putting the two of you side by side. I couldn't because I didn't know where she was. All I knew was she infected my brain and took over my thoughts whenever we were together. I couldn't stop the memory of her and it distracted me." My heart was racing. He was explaining, but I wasn't feeling any relief from the pain.

He paused as he took a step closer. "I figured I couldn't be right for you if I was thinking of someone else, so I ended it. You could ask Rebecca I've been moping around for weeks mourning what I lost. I couldn't have her and you were gone. I finally pulled out a picture I had of her." He pulled out a picture from his pocket and showed it to me. It was me—my twelve year-old self from his birthday party. I began to sob and crumpled to the ground.

He kneeled down to me. "I couldn't compare the two of you side by side because she's you. You are the girl. My thoughts were infected, because my brain was trying to tell me something. I was dazed, dreaming off while staring at this picture and Rebecca commented on how good you looked in it. And here is where I'm stupid, she recognized you immediately."

I gave another short laugh and dabbed my eyes with my fingers. "Smart girl," I whispered.

His hand came up to my face, aiming it towards him. "It was the song and where we were that sparked my memory." He began to sing out the verse softly. "And if you lose your way. Think back on yesterday. Remember me this way. Remember me . . . this way." He had a lovely voice.

"We were hiding from my family just like before," he said.

"On your thirteenth birthday," I murmured breathless. [A/N: check the A/N before chapter 5 for the summary of the tale]

He nodded. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't open the door," I sobbed. "I thought you were upset with me. You didn't come back and you never spoke to me at school. I didn't want to rekindle your anger."

He shook his head. "I knew your friends probably shamed you into that. I was hoping it would be better over the summer, but when I came over, you had moved. I tried to ask around to see if anyone knew where you went and I couldn't remember your name—we never really spoke and I never spoke about you to anyone. Eventually I gave up, putting what I knew of you aside. I was so sure I would never see my rock girl again I didn't realize when she found me." He smiled. "If I knew you were going to get this beautiful, I would've never waited for the summer."

My parents just stood there opened mouthed. I knew there was a lot I needed to explain to them, but for now I was going to enjoy the moment.

I grinned as I stood up. "Let me get this straight," I said with residual sobs. "You chose the twelve year-old version of me over this?" I gestured to all of me.

He stood up, too. "Again, I'm stupid," he chuckled. He pulled me into a strong kiss. His hand wove into my hair and held on to my head while the other went around my waist.

I shifted my face downward to break the kiss. "At least I know I'm my only competition."

He focused his eyes and I finally heard the words I had been waiting for. "I love you, Bella."

I swallowed hard and a tear rolled down my face. "I love you too, Jacob."

The End

AN: Well that's all folks! I hope you loved the little peek into my world. There will be one more posting, another outtake of what happened behind the scenes. Please please please let me know what you think. Did you guess this ending? If you did, what set you off?