AN: Yeah, so Monday was like the longest day ever for them apparently. Sorry about that. (It's been Monday since Chapter 17!) I'm speeding things up cause I need to get to graduation. That being said… this is just the next day.

There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.

BUDDHA

TUESDAY, APRIL 17

Cupid's Chokehold; Chapter Twenty-Two. Bella.

I can't deny the pleasure it gave me to see Mike so taken aback when he saw me with Jacob. But I also count' deny the terror that fled through when I enjoyed the feeling Jake's arm around me, not just the warmth he provided, but the complete sense of being absolutely safe in his arms was something almost foreign—and something I wanted to feel again.

I dropped Jake off at his house and even though he invited me in I went straight home. I needed to finish my report while what I learned was still fresh in my head. I didn't walk Jake to his door, even though I should have. Walking him to the door would have been too much like a date and while I did my best to trust that Jake would restrain him, I wasn't sure he was making any promises tonight.

And maybe I couldn't trust myself.

&

A knock on the door woke me up in the morning.

"Yeah?" I pulled the sheets up to my chin and Charlie opened the door.

"Morning Bells. Uhm, school is back on today, I just wanted to make sure you got up," he remained in the hallway.

I sat up, "Thanks Dad," I looked at my clock, which was of course blank. "I'm going to go grocery shopping after school, anything you want for dinner?"

"You know I'm fine with whatever you make, Bells."

"'Kay," he stood in the open doorway awkwardly. "I'm gonna get dressed now."

"Oh, right," he reached into the room and quickly shut the door, I heard his footsteps down the stairs. After rolling out of bed and getting dressed, I left a message on Jake's answering machine. I explained that I was going to school today and he should visit his Dad and I would call after I got home from the store.

Charlie was still reading the paper at the table when I started to leave. "Bells?"

I turned around quickly, I really needed to leave. "Yeah, Dad?"

"Uhm, I just wanted to say that… I love you and if you… need to… talk about anything, if you need to tell me anything you can. I'm not the greatest talker… but, just know that I am here for you."

He nodded, silently telling me that he was done. I smiled. Heart-to-heart talks were not in Charlie's repertoire, this really meant something. Okay, so it wasn't winning best father speech of the year, but it was Charlie, how much could I really expect from him when it came to conversing?

I set my backpack down and walked over to him, I wrapped my arms around his stiff shoulders and hugged him. "I know, Dad. Thanks. I'm—I'm good now though. I'm happy."

"That's what I want to hear."

I know.

I went back to the door and picked up my bag, "I love you, Dad."

"Have a good days Bells."

"I will. You too."

"OH!"

I had almost shut the door before hearing him, "Yes Dad?"

"Can you get lasagna tonight? The family box, we can take some over to Jake. That kid could eat a whole deer by himself if he could catch it," I tried not to grimace at the images going through my head. Was Jake using his new found power to cut down on the money spent on meat? Ew.

"Sure Dad. Bye."

I ate breakfast at the single stoplight on my way to school, fulfilling part of my New Me Resolution.

The quad looked more like a funeral home than a high school. Most of the sutndets were in somber colors, if not black, the few in typical spring colors were clutching their coats around themselves. I looked down at what I had thrown on this morning. I wasn't one for flashy clothing, so picking out a yellow shirt was merely a fluke. I dug around the crevice behind my truck's seat, trying to find a jacket or something to cover my bright shirt with.

Fate working against me, I found no sweatshirt and guilt was beginning to build up inside me. Katherine's death was my fault. Everyone here thought it was suicide that took her life, but it wasn't. It was me and my humanness. I could blame Katherine's death all the way back to James picking up my scent on the baseball field. I could blame it on Edward. In the end though, it was my fault.

I braved whatever was going to happen and opened the truck door. Not only did the school look somber, but it sounded somber as well. There wasn't the typical laughter and yelling that happened before school, it was quiet with minimal talking, most students seemed to be waiting for classrooms to open up.

Angela and ben were sitting on a bench together, holding hands. I wasn't going to intrude but Angela lifted her head from Ben's shoulder and waved me over. I walked over to them and said hi.

"How are you?" Angela asked.

"I'm fine. Charlie seemed a little wierded out. I think he was first on scene or something."

"I'm still shocked. kat and I had almost every teacher together up until we started Forks Middle and she started talking advanced classes here. She's been taking online classes at some online college to get her general education over with. She didn't need to be here but she wanted to graduate with us."

Angela specifically looked at me, "Almost the entire senior class has been together since kindergarten. Up until 4th grade she was the only person who would go to my birthday parties," Angela looked at me again, "Mike moved here that year and had some 4th grade crush on me. In 5th grade we had to run the mile, though, Kat panced him just to embarace him for me. you know I talked to her on Thursday about her Valedictorian speech. She didn't seem like someone who was going to—" she started crying into Ben's shoulder.

Angela's brief biography of Katherin's life made me feel overwhelmed with more guilt. "They say that once they decide, they're happy. If that helps. I don't know if you could have done anything, Angela."

"Kat had nothing to be depressed about. She had perfect grades, she got into her dream school, her parents doted on her, her grandfather left her enough money for college. She's one of those people that have such a perfect life that you hate them… but Kat was so nice, you just couldn't hate her. She had nothing to be depressed about!"

"Depression is chemical, Ang." Ben wrapped his other arm around her and hugged her. "The district brough in counselors, do you wanna go see one?"

"Yeah, will you come with me?" Ben nodded. "Bella, will you pick up my homework for me? I'm probably going to go home early."

"Sure sure. I'll bring it by your house." It was small enough school that we had all the same teachers.

"Thanks."

The bell rang as ben and Angela walked towards the office. I just hoped they didn't get an appointment with Victoria. She would be no help at all.

&

I received a note to go to the front office during 5th period. Victoria wanted to see me. I was terrified as I walked across the quad. I handed my slip to Mr. Cope, who directed me towards an open door. Victoria sat at the desk inside the small room. Even through the day was overcast she still had the blinds down and blocking out any source of natural light.

"Bella, thank you for seeing me. I'm glad you made an appointment. It's important to talk about your grief," she said all this in her sweet, syrupy, fake voice.

"I didn't make an appt-"

"Why don't you shut the door, Bella."

She couldn't kill me right now. Somehow, stuck in this room with Victoria, far away from Jake, I was safe.

"What do you want?" I grimaced. Just because she couldn't kill me didn't mean I needed to piss her off. I followed her request and shut the door.

"I just want to talk, Bella, I promise. You'll leave this room as physically healthy as when you entered it, please sit own."

I sat down in the char across from her. "It's dark in here."

"I can never be too careful, I'm not lucky enough to have someone like the little Cullen girl with me. I'm on my own," she pointed behind me. On a coat rack was a scarf, hat and umbrella. Victoria was prepared for a sunny day. "I talked with two of your friends today. I've talked with a lot of people today, they seem really torn up over that girl. It's a shame really, she was so smart. After I told her what I could do, after I showed her what I could do, she calculated how long she had til she died. It was like a nervous tick," she twirled her fingers around her head. "I looked at her file, she was planning to go to med school. She interned at the hospital last summer under some special program."

I ignored the information she was giving me, she wanted to make Katherine as real as possible for me. "What did you say to Angela?" I asked through my clenched jaw.

"Your little mess of a friend? Simply that it was all her fault," I stared at her in horror and she started laughing. "Kidding! I told her there was nothing she could do and blah, blah, blah. I can't go losing my job here, Missy. Of course, I went to UCLA, that's the best accredidation anyone here has, they wouldn't want to lose a staff member like me," my jaw loosened up and started to quaver. Why was she trying to make small talk with me? "Isn't that a kick? UCLA! It's so sunny there, although, that is where your beloved is supposed to be, right? I can assure you it isn't."

I stopped her from continuing. "What do you want?"

"So impatient. We have the time," she laughed again. It was like being pelted by freezing cold rain without protection, sharp and painful, "Well, I have the time. You? You're on borrowed time dear. I wanted to inform you of my intentions, it won't hurt them in anyway if I reveal them to you. Your new found litter of puppies can't do much to hurt me, just give me and them a good run. I thought you should know, it's the least I could do before I make your life a living hell."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Aw, you're trying to be brave. That's so cute. But pointless. I know what you want. From the minor things like AA batteries," my façade shattered to millions of pieces. Victoria knew where I lived. She was spying on me. "You want me to leave you alone. And you want him, but shhhh don't tell. It's a secret.

"See, that's my gift Bella. I know what people want. If I had a soul, I'd want to fulfill your wants, like I did when I was human. But I'm a vampire and your little stunt you pulled last spring killed someone that I love."

"You can't love without a soul!"

"Maybe not," she grinned maliciously, "but you can still have chemical reactions. That's all Edward felt with you, Bella. Chemical reactions to your pretty face. It's scientifically proven that looks matter," she said this as if it made up for her lies.

"That's not true."

"You can google it, they had a whole—"

"Ed—Edward cared for me. He wouldn't have let me live if he hadn't, he would have just," I shivered, "he would have just killed me when he was done with me in September."

"Of course it's true. He wanted your blood and your body. It's a curse to be beautiful, isn't it?"

"I'm not beautiful." Of course, it didn't really matter at this point, but I simply couldn't accept a compliment that wasn't true.

"I bet half the boys in this school wouldn't agree with that statement. Edward certainly wouldn't."

"Stop talking about him," it was opening up the scars that were just starting to dissapear.

"But this is all about him. He found me in South America and I figured him all out. He wanted you safe and happy. I came back to ensure that didn't happen," she leaned across the desk, "How am I doing so far?"

"I'm not afraid of you," I reiterated.

"You keep saying that, but I know you want to get out of her. You're a smart girl, you can miss a bit of class."

"I have a test on Friday and I promised Angela I would pick up her homework. I can't do that if I'm out of class."

"I'm sure Ms. Weber will understand. You've experienced a tragic loss."

"I barely knew Katherine!"

"Oh, sorry, wrong tense. But, class is almost over. You should heave to your next class."

"What do you mean tense?"

She smiled sweetly, "I can't show all my cards before you call."

"Call? You mean if I—" a plan was formulating in my head, a morbid, terrifying plan "—if I let you… kill me, you'll stop all this. You'll stop terrorizing my friends, killing my peers. You'll leave this area?"

"Bella, sweetie," she cooed, "This isn't about killing you, at least not yet. You don't get to negotiate and you aren't calling the shots. Remember that, you aren't in control."

I began to hyperventaliate. I'm in control. I'm in control. I'm always in control.

"I think you should get back to class."

"Can I have a pass?" I asked emotionlessly.

"Of course," she pulled a yellow sheet of paper off a note pad and filled it out. "I'll see you later Bella."

With the yellow note in my hand I bolted from her office and to Ms. Cope's desk. "I'd like to go home."

"Of course, Isabella. I'll sign you out and call the chief to let him know. You drove today, right? That's your red truck, right?"

"Yes, thank you Ms. Cope."

I walked to my truck, as I started it up I saw Victoria peeking out from between her blinds. She smiled and I gave her my bravest bitch face. I'm sure it wasn't very impressive.

I drove back to the house and dialed the hospital and asked them to put Jake on the line.

"Bells, don't you have class?"

"We really need to talk, Jake."

"Lemme come get you."

"No, I need to go grocery shopping. I'll come pick you up. Can you be out front?"

"Anything for you, Bells. You call the shots, you know that, right?"

"Today, I'm not so sure Jake. I'll be there in ten minutes."

I hung up the phone and got back into the truck as I made my way to the hospital I made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to freak out about had just occured. It just wasn't going to happen.

I was strong and in control.

Maybe if I kept telling myself that it would become true.

My throat felt tight and I tried to couch. This was becoming too muchl it was tempting me to take Jake up on his offer to run. What would Victoria do then? Would she follow us, would she give up, would she continue terrorizing my friends and family? I'd stay here, I just couldn't risk something like that. When Victoria was involved nothing could end well.

Jake was outside like he promised and he hopped in the truck once it slowed down enough for him to get in.

"Bells, are you okay?"

"Dandy."

I knew he didn't believe me and I never expected him to, but this wasn't about me. It couldn't be right now, because Victoria had reminded me of something. Something Jake and I needed to discuss.

"What did we need to talk about Bella?"

"Vampires."

AN: 2700 words. Dies of exhaustion. You wanna know why? I HAND WROTE THIS SUCKER!

I love you all, I hope you know that, and if one person complains about it being short I will go all Pulse or Ring or whatever that Kristen Bell horror movie was and come through the computer and kill you.

Happy reading!

PS. If the next chapter is really short, I'm really sorry!

PPS. So not edited. If things don't match up, please inform me.