Never Again, Chapter 18: Can someone help me name this chapter? I'll give you candy! xx

Honeeyyyyy, I'mm hooooomeee!! I kow, its been AGES. This chappie's pretty rubbish, nothing much happens and it's not as long as I hoped it would be, but I had to get SOMETHING out :L

Nah, I don't own Twilight. This plot is totally mine, though.

"It's a f**king outrage!" Jasper yelled. "You should've listened to me and pressed charges, Bella. Think how the parents'll feel when they find out what a freak their kids are going to school with! Oh, God, I'm Chief! I'll get the f**king blame!"

I rolled my eyes. Talk about a drama queen. If Edward didn't have such a big gob…It'd been fine, I told Jazz what we were planning to do tomorrow night, and had carefully edited out the fact that we'd be going with Jacob and Leah, and he didn't seem to give two shits. Until Edward had decided to open his trap.

"The nerve of that kid! Well, I'll tell you now, if he thinks he's getting away with this, he's got another f**king think coming!" Jasper was pacing behind the couch where Edward and I sat now.

"Uh huh," we replied again. We'd taken to doing that when he paused for breath, so he thought we were listening. It had been two and a half hours, for Christ's sake. He had way too much time on his hands to rant now that Alice was out of the picture. I took the opportunity to glare at Edward again.

"I know," he mouthed, an apologetic look on his face. Serves you right, twat-face, I thought bitterly.

I was still in bitch-mode, so I pretty much ignored Edward for the rest of the evening.

"Bella, will you just look at me?" he snapped suddenly as we were getting ready for bed, grabbing my arms and spinning me round. I tried to keep the shock off my face and looked at him expectantly.

He inhaled steadily, keeping eye contact with me. "Thank-you," he whispered, still staring into my eyes. He wrapped his arms around me, hugging me close. "I'm sorry."

"You've been saying that a lot today," I muttered against his chest.

"Hmmm."

I sighed. "Guess we can't go tomorrow. Jazz'd know where we are."

"Did you really wanna go?" he murmured into my hair.

I pulled back and raised my eyebrows at him. "Holding grudges isn't one of my many talents."

Edward chuckled quietly. "I've noticed." He murmured against my lips, gliding his tongue along my bottom one. I parted my lips, slipping my tongue into his mouth, moving easily against his.

Wait, what? He's in the doghouse! He's not getting out of this shit that easily. I pulled away from him fully, grabbed my washbag and went to the bathroom. I was in for a long night. Whoever told Edward that pleading was sexy would never want to meet me in a dark alley.

As I brushed my teeth, I thought about the possible ways to tell him about Leah, and how I was worried about her. Thing was, he'd be bound to overreact, like everything else.

Maybe I was hallucinating. It wouldn't be the first time.

Jacob had changed. He was almost a completely different guy. That bruise- if there even was one- had to be from something else. It had to be. In my experience, bruises are fairly easy to come across. She could've walked into something, bashed something, had something un-intentionally thrown at her, perhaps…

And Edward would tell Jazz. Who would overreact.

Yeah, I'm better keeping it to myself. If I can't control my nosiness I could always ask Jacob. He'd understand.

Wow. There's a couple of sentences I never thought I'd say.

**

Leah and Jacob were waiting for us, leaning against the Rabbit as we pulled into school the next morning.

"What's our excuse again?" Edward asked as he parked up.

"It's Rosalie's birthday, and we have to…oh, shit!"

"What?"

"Rosalie and Jasper are twins! They have the same freaking birthday! Jake knows its in April!"

Jacob and Leah were a couple of metres away from us now, waiting for us to get out the car. Edward glanced at them, and then looked back at me.

"Then it's Emmett's," he muttered as he opened his door and got out. I took a second to compose myself after that moment of madness, and then followed him.

"…So we really have to be there. I didn't realise what had been planned yesterday, its all very last-minute," Edward was saying as I walked round the Volvo to his side. He wrapped his arm around my waist, his posture almost defensive. This thing he had against Jake was going to get old very quickly.

"Hey, no problem," Leah smiled. "There's always another time."

"Definitely," I smiled back. Yeah, I lied. So shoot me.

Jacob was eyeing me suspiciously. I shot him a warning glance to leave it.

I wasn't looking forward to English- skipping was becoming a more preferable choice. But if Jacob said something to Edward… Oh, stuff it. When have I been known to run away from my problems? Never, that's when.

I walked into the English room confidently, and saw that Jacob was already there, sat at our desk, reading. Buff as he may be, he still likes a good book. We'd have huge debates on literature and plots, drive Jazz mad. We really had a lot in common, if you thought about it…

Wait…no! No thinking about it! Edward, Edward, Edward, I reminded myself as I walked down the aisle to where he sat.

He glanced up from his page for a fraction of a second, smiled briefly at me and then looked back down. I chuckled quietly to myself: typical Jacob.

I took my books out, sat down and waited for the teacher to turn up. I honestly don't know why they call them that in this place, they haven't taught me anything since I came here…

"I'm not beating Leah up, you know," came a small voice from my right.

I was momentarily confused, but I didn't want that to show. I didn't want him thinking that I'd been thinking what he thinks I've been thinking, even though I have infact been thinking what he thinks I've been thinking, (Confused? Good) so I tried not to hesitate with my answer.

"When did I say that?"

He put his book down, and turned his head to look at me with raised eyebrows.

"Bella, if you aren't thinking it, then that boyfriend of yours is."

"Jake! Why d'you think that?"

He rolled his eyes. "Cut the crap, Bella."

I sighed. "Can you blame him?" I muttered.

"No. I can't. That's why I'm setting it straight. I promise you, I literally haven't laid a finger on her." I could sense the double meaning in his words, and decided to skim past it.

"Where the hell did this come from?" I asked. I mean, it was pretty out of the blue.

He shrugged. "I figured it had something to do with why you weren't coming tonight."

"No, Jake, no it, uhh, it really is Emmett's birthday." I mumbled, looking away.

He leaned closer to me, his lips at my ear. "You've always been a terrible liar, Bells." He whispered.

"I know," I sighed.

"Hey, I'm not gonna say anything. If you guys don't wanna come, you don't wanna come. I'll play along for Leah's sake. I just didn't think you'd give me that bullshit."

"I do wanna come!" I said before I could stop myself. My big gob and me…

"What, he doesn't want you there?"

"No! No, Edward's not like that-"

"Oh, and I was, was I?" he snapped.

"What? No, I-"

"Just leave it, Bella." He said in that stern tone of his that made you leave it, made you feel stupid and inferior and rude and pathetic…I hadn't heard that in a while.

**

Aww. Does anyone else feel that Bella is a bit of a twat? Its not just me, is it?

Anyways, hope everybody had a good Xmas! Zoe, your boyf got me a hat!! And the socks are lush! I'm wearing them now:) I slipped in them on my laminate flooring earlier and whacked my head on the fridge, and my mum swears blind she hasn't heard me say the words 'Taylor Lautner' since! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME???

HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY, MOG!!! Lol ly xxxxxx :D

Oh, and people, Alice will be coming back! You don't honestly think I'd leave her out, do you? Nah, they'll be one big happy family again soon! :D

Oh, and people! New poll! Profile! Go vote! I need help! There, I admitted it :) lol jks :)

Wow, those is some fairly long ramblings... I should stop.

Reviews=something awesomely cool and Twilight related! You won't know what it is unless you review! Go!!