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Chapter 11 – A Change of Heart

NPOV

Lukas looked torn between continuing with his claims against Seth and just crying. Then his eyes then caught sight of Seth standing by the refreshments table laughing and he got angry. "Come on then Janitor! Show us your wolf then! Not so brave now you're in a room full of people are you." He ran at Seth and pulled back his arm to hit him, but luckily Mr Newton caught him first. Not that Seth looked worried, more disgusted than anything. I thought for a moment that that was quite ironic of him since he is suddenly brave now that he was in a room full of people and I almost laughed.

"Lukas, get outside now!" Mr Newton shouted, twisting Lukas's arm behind his back and pushing him toward the doors. Who knew he had it in him? Mum and Daddy were going to laugh so much over this. I decided to follow them so that I could make sure Mr Newton was ok, although I'm sure even he could handle a teenage boy.

I turned as I got to the door and saw Miss Jones walk over to speak with Seth. I don't know why but the look on her face when she looked up at him made all my anger come back and I felt like storming over there and putting myself in between them. Seth was my friend and he had proven that tonight when he needlessly tried to protect me. Miss Jones was blatantly flirting with him, giggling over what he'd just been accused of and twirling her long black hair around a finger.

What a slut! What the…? Where did that come from? Miss Jones was one of my favourite teachers. Not the best at her job, but she loved teaching so that made me like her anyway. Most of the teachers at this school struggled to find work to challenge me. But she was pretty much throwing herself at Seth in front of the entire school. Seth looked up at me pleadingly, begging me to rescue him but he's a big boy. He can deal with the flirting himself.

I decided it's more important to keep an eye on Lukas and went out to find him but he and Mr Newton had disappeared. Following their scents I made it to the office and could here Mr Newton trying to explain to Lukas's parents what had happened. He clearly didn't have a clue what went on between us so was trying to gently tell them that they needed to come and collect Lukas as he was having some sort of episode. I almost felt bad that everyone was going to think he had psychological problems over this, but after the way he had just treated me, I wasn't too bothered.

I walked back to the dance and was happy that as soon as I walked in Seth smiled at me and excused himself from Miss Jones. "Hey Vamp girl!" he laughed. "Nicely handled, I must say. Are you ready to go home now?"

"Do we have to?" I pleaded with him cheekily. "I want to stay and dance with the wolfy janitor!"

Seth beamed at me but insisted "I wish Nessie, but like I said… No fraternising with the students!" he pretended to be serious but with that smile I could tell he really wished we could have at least one dance. He grabbed me by the hand and dragged me over to Miss Jones, "Sarah, I think I'd better get Nes…Renesmee home to her parents now ok?"

Miss Jones looked disappointed that he was leaving and her eyes paused for a minute on my hand in his before she protested. "No Seth, I think its best if Renesmee wait's here for her parents to collect her, especially after what happened with Lukas." Then she turned to me and said condescendingly "Renesmee, why don't you run along and dance with your friends until you parents arrive."

Run along and dance with my friends? What am I, five? I thought to myself. Well, ok technically I am five, but I turn 6 next month, and as far as everyone else knows I'm fifteen. If she thinks she can treat me like a child and shoo me away so she can flirt with my friend, she's got another think coming! I gripped Seth's hand a little closer to me and said sweetly, "No I'm going to have to steal him away from you I'm afraid, Miss Jones. You see I've already spoken to my parents and they are happy for me to just come home with Seth... I mean, Mr Clearwater when ever we're ready. He's a very close family friend, you see." I couldn't help but be a little smug that Seth was my friend and she was just some tramp from work.

I didn't give him time to say goodbye. I just pulled him out into the hallway. As we walked to the exits, I had an idea and asked Seth if he would dance with me now that we were out of the dance. "No, Nessie. I think its best I just get you home to your family."

"But Seth," I pleaded and was ashamed to admit I sounded a bit whiny "you promised that you would dance with me again when you wouldn't get fired. We're not at the school dance anymore so that means we can dance together now." I knew it sounded weak so I went for some emotional blackmail. "My night has just been such a mess; I want to end it on a high, pleeeaaase?"

"Nessie..." he looked really tempted. "I'm sorry but no. I really need to get you home right now. Jacob will be going out of his mind with worry." And with that he walked away from me and headed to his car before continuing. "The horrible night you have just had is exactly why we shouldn't be alone in the school dancing together. That's what led to... tonight... in the first place."

Realising that Seth had gone all fatherly and was a lost cause, I followed in silence to the car. I couldn't help but replay the whole night in my mind. It was so humiliating how my first date had gone so wrong. All I'd wanted was to have fun and dance and fit into my school a bit better, and I'd ended up causing a huge drama and getting my friend in trouble with his pack. I couldn't believe that Seth had just phased like that, over something so small.

"Seth, why did you phase back there?" I asked cautiously. I didn't want to sound like I was accusing him, but I was confused. If it had been Jake, I would have been shocked too but I would have understood why. Jacob had always been over protective of me. But why would Seth care so much?

SPOV

"Nessie, I'm sorry but I didn't just happen upon the two of you at the right moment. I was outside. I over heard some of the guys in the dance talking about how if Lukas managed to get you to sleep with him he'd be the king of the school in his first week." I saw her face fall at the realisation that this had been Lukas's plan all along. I felt so terrible to break Nessie's heart like this. No girl wants to hear this about their date, especially their first ever date. But she needed to hear it. To understand that just some creepy old perv hanging around outside and spying on the kids while they made you. "I thought I'd better just follow to make sure you were ok. I heard you asking him to stop. I heard what he said about your dancing.

"I really didn't want to interfere though Nessie. I knew that this was your first date and that you could handle a little punk like that, but when he asked you to... well you know what he was asking for. I just lost it. I don't know what came over me. I should have been expecting it really, but I just freaked out and I totally forgot who you are and thought you might actually fall for his bullying tactics and do what he wanted. I'm sorry." I was so ashamed that I had doubted her. It was my fault that she'd left the dance with him anyway. If I'd just left her alone he wouldn't have led her away like that.

I was so angry at myself that I had let her get in a position like that. That I would jeopardise her safety when I was supposed to be ensuring that nothing and no-one could get to her, to hurt her.

"Seth, I was never in any danger. You saw when you came in that I had him under control. But you still changed and attacked him. What happened?" she was just looking at me so sweetly with those big brown eyes of hers and although I knew it wasn't her intention to make me feel worse, I did.

"Nessie, what he did to you and the things he said... No one should ever speak to a girl that way, let alone one that is as nice and funny and sweet and... Just fucking amazing like you." Her eyes softened as she gazed up at me and I couldn't believe how beautiful she looked. What was even more unbelievable was that I had just refused to dance with her when she practically begged me.

I had to try to focus though. Any minute I was going to have to face my Alpha and the pack to explain myself over what had happened tonight, and the last thing I needed was to be thinking about how much I would love to kiss the Alpha's imprint right now.

NPOV

I was kind of sad to notice that we had turned up the drive to our house. I was really enjoying spending some time with Seth and we seemed to be having a moment. He was such a sweetie, and I felt like we had a lot in common. As the car pulled through the last of the trees I pulled my eyes away from his and saw the door opening and both my dad and Jacob come running out. Seth barely had time to stop the car and they were at my door, pulling me out and almost fighting each other to hug me, begging me to tell them that I was alright.

"Dad, Jacob, stop it, ok. I'm fine," I pleaded, looking to Seth to jump in and save me. I should have known better. He stood by the car looking down at his feet, clearly ashamed of what happened even though I said it wasn't his fault.

"Jacob. Edward. I am so sorry! I can't believe I let this happen to her. I" Seth kept trying to apologise for something that was absolutely nothing to do with him so I cut him off.

"Seth, do NOT apologise to them!" I shouted in frustration. "You didn't do anything wrong. You are amazing and if it weren't for you I don't know how this night would have ended." I pulled away from my dad's arms and walked over to Seth and gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. He glanced up into my eyes and I thought for a moment he was going to cry. "Dad, you owe Seth. He really saved this night from being an absolute disaster!"

"Nessie, you were almost raped!" Daddy asked in almost a whispered. "How are you so calm about this?"

"Raped? Who said I was almost raped?" I asked, even though I knew that they could have only believed that if that was what Seth showed. "Seth? You think he was going to rape me?"

"Nessie he..." he cut off because not only was he unsure of what to say, but my dad had obviously heard some thought of his and let out a low growl. "It was my fault. I should've been watching you but I didn't want you to get upset about what he was saying to me, so I left you alone. I shouldn't have let him lure you away. It's completely my fault Ness."

"Seth, I'm so sorry!" I couldn't believe that he was blaming himself for what Lukas had done, or that he thought it was almost rape. "It is not even close to being you're fault and he wasn't going to rape me, he was just trying to see how far he could push me. I should have stopped it sooner." I gave him another big hug and then held onto his hand as Dad and Jacob started firing questions at us.

"Should have stopped what Nessie?"

"What did he try to do?"

"Did he hurt you?"

"Why would you leave the dance alone with him?"

"Why did you go to an empty classroom?"

"Did you let him kiss you?"

"How far did he push you?"

Damn this was awkward. I really didn't want to be standing here talking to Dad and Jacob about this kind of stuff. Especially not with my whole family stood watching by the front door. I looked up to my mum who was standing just a few feet away, looking at me proudly, and knew that this was a definite mother/daughter conversation.

"Dad, Jake, no offense, but I really don't want to talk to either one of you about this." I explained, and then turned to Seth and gave him yet another hug and kiss. "Seth, please don't blame yourself. You were my hero tonight and I will never forget how far you are willing to go to protect me. Mummy, can we go and have talk now, without the audience please?" I looked at her and she nodded and held out her hand to me.

I gave Dad and Jacob both a quick kiss, promising I would speak to them soon and then took Mum's hand and we ran back to our cottage. "Go put on your PJ's Ness. I'll make a treat for you." she said, heading for the kitchen. When I re-emerged a few minutes later, she had a huge tub of chocolate ice-cream and a spoon waiting for me. "I know its cliché but I thought some comfort food might be in order for our chat" she explained with a grin. At least I had one person who wasn't over reacting to this whole drama.

"So Nessie" she started as I picked up my spoon. "I'm not going to ask you a lot of questions or demand details. Just tell me what you want to tell me about happened first and we'll go from there." This is exactly why I love my mum so much. She totally understands when I don't want to discuss something.

"Can I show you instead?" I asked, lifting my hand to her face.

"Only if you are sure you want me to see everything," she insisted before I could touch her. "You know I'm going to get all of your feelings and private thoughts this way."

"Don't worry, mum. I don't mind," I said, and then put my hand on her cheek. I watched her as her eyes glazed over, focusing on what I was showing her.

"Nessie, I am so proud of you!" she said giving me a tight hug as we curled up on the sofa. I had finished showing her the night's events a few minutes ago and she had been silent, thinking over what she had seen. "You are such a strong young woman already. You amaze me more every day."

I couldn't help but argue against this. "But mum, I let him do that to me. I knew I didn't want to kiss him. I knew he was a jerk, but I still let him."

"I'm not saying that you were right to kiss him Nessie," she explained. "What makes you a strong and beautiful girl is that you knew it was wrong and you didn't let him push you too far. I remember what it's like to be a teenager and feel like you need to do things because it was what is expected of you. But you didn't think like that. I'm not condoning it, but from what I could see, you didn't kiss him because it was what he wanted, it was like a little science project to you.

"You figured that since he had technically already taken your first kiss, you may as well learn from the experience. The only thing that I am upset about is that you didn't get you dream first kiss." She sighed, thinking over how to explain herself. "Renesmee, a first kiss should be something magical, not an experiment. I regret that you missed out on that, but I promise you that you're next kiss will be special. It will feel right and you won't be thinking about whether you should be letting him kiss you, you'll be hoping that he never stops!"

"I hope so" I admitted. I felt almost lucky that I wasn't one of those girls who had been dreaming of her first kiss for years. Now that I knew how it felt to kiss someone I didn't like, I was really looking forward to the real thing. I started to think about how nice it would feel to be cuddled up to a nice warm, strong body, and then have it turn into more than a cuddle when I looked up at his dark eyes and big bright smile. How it would feel to run my hand through it shaggy hair. I was amazed to think that this time last week I'd never thought about dating or kissing boys, and now I was sitting here having a full blown kissing fantasy about my friend who had always been around. He would probably freak out if he knew I thought about him in this way. I think mum guessed where my thoughts had drifted to because she asked me who I was thinking about with a knowing smile.

I giggled like a little girl, not really knowing if I was sharing too much with her. But I thought after sharing with her my whole disastrous first date, why hold back now. I guessed that she would be shocked to realise my feelings had developed so quickly, from being friends to me suddenly wanting to kiss him. What I wasn't expecting though was the look of horror on her face when I said his name...

"Seth."

Uh oh! Poor Jacob! Next chapter we'll see what Jacob and Edward were up to while Bella and Nessie were talking.

Will Bella tell Jacob about Nessie's crush on Seth? What will Jacob about Seth phasing?

Please send me some reviews and let me know what you think.

xx