Okay guys here is the second part to the last chapter. Big thanks to everyone who reviewed :) Next update around Wednesday.

18. Hopeless Fool

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EPOV

When I entered Bio, Bella was already there. She didn't look up as I approached; instead she continued to doodle on a piece of paper oblivious. Her soft chocolate brown hair hung across her face creating a wall her and the rest of the class. I didn't like it; I wanted to be able see her deep chocolate eyes. I wanted to know if she was ok. It wasn't lost on me that everyone had been staring at her as I entered each of them whispering to one another and that had to be hard on her. I glared at a couple of girls as I made my way over to Bella, one of them was Lauren Mallory, I had already come to know her as a bit of a bitch and it didn't surprise me that she was one of the girls spreading nasty rumors about Bella's attack. I had overheard her and Victoria more than once say that Bella was just being attention seeking, that she hadn't even been attacked because she didn't even look hurt.

But you didn't have to see the bruises to know that Bella was hurting--it was written all over her face. You could see the paleness in her skin, the slight gaunt look about her features, the dark circles under her eyes. And then her eyes in general, they seemed more distant than usual, their sparkle was lost and they were bloodshot red.

"How's has your day been?" I asked as I placed my books down on the table next to hers. She looked up surprised to see me there, before she shrugged.

"As expected I guess," she grimaced going back to her doodle. She started to scribble over it, pressing too hard ripping the paper in the process. She threw down her pen and let out an exasperated sigh.

"I just wish people would stop staring." She glared at me defiantly, anger clear in her soft features. I could see the shine in her eyes as she fought back tears. I struggled with myself not to touch her, not to pull her into my arms and bury my face in her hair.

"Yeah that has to suck," I mumbled. Looking out the window in an effort to dispel the pull I felt towards her.

"Ya think?" she spat before sighing. "I'm sorry; you were just trying to be nice."

"Given the circumstances I think you're entitled to be upset Bella."

She didn't reply, instead picked up her pen and started to doodle again.

"You want to talk about it?" I asked.

"No."

For some stupid reason I ignored her request. "You really have no idea who hurt you?"

"No, why is that so hard for everyone to believe?" she answered through gritted teeth. I didn't miss the flicker of emotion that crossed her face before she answered or the way she tensed when I asked. She wasn't telling the truth and I had to know why and who she was protecting, was it that bastard James? Her father? Jacob? Anyone of them would be answering to me if it were so - so help me, I would not be able to stop myself. I couldn't help it when I spoke next the words just tumbled from my mouth.

"Because you're lying," I whispered. Her expression turned to one of shock at my bluntness but quickly changed to one of anger.

"Excuse me?" she growled cocking an eyebrow at me whilst her face reddened with rage.

"You're lying," I repeated, sure of it now.

"You're telling me I made it up?" she spat, her voice raising an octave in the process. Mr. Banner chose this precise moment to enter the room and stood dumbfounded at the scene before him and the room fell quiet as everyone continued to stare. It was probably not a good idea to get into this while everyone was watching

"Bella listen maybe we shouldn't…"

She cut me off as she jumped down from her seat. "No… you listen!" she screamed, glaring at me tears streaming down her face. "All of you…" she looked directly at Lauren as she spoke.

"Do you think I could do this to myself?"

She tore the scarf from her neck, tossing it at me. I looked at it confused but when I looked back up at Bella I felt my entire body go stiff and begin to shake, there was a collective gasp from the room.

"Jesus Christ," I whispered, from somewhere in the room I heard Newton say something similar. Five very distinctive dark purple bruises covered Bella's neck. I winced as I took in the sight. The pain I felt raking my own body was unbearable. I couldn't believe someone would do this to her.

"I didn't think so," she choked out as she tore from the room. I collected up her books and took after her, ignoring Mr. Banner when he told me to sit back in my seat. I did however hear him restrain Mike, who had began to curse as he struggled to come after us.

Bella didn't stop running until she reached the school car park. But I managed to catch up with her and stop her, grabbing her by the wrist. She whipped around to face me, her expression one of extreme hurt and anger.

"Let me go," she spat, tears soaked her face. I instantly released my grip on her; I didn't want to hurt her anymore than she had already been.

"Bella, I'm sorry for before, I didn't mean to…"

"Please don't," she shook her head, she was trembling and I couldn't tell if it was because she was upset or cold. Either way I wanted to take her in my arms and comfort her, make her warm.

"Who hurt you Bella? You can tell me," I whispered urgently, taking a step towards her. She took two back staring at me, her eyes wide, as the tears continued their effortless trail down her face.

"Why don't you believe me?" Her voice was thick and she choked on the words as she spoke.

"I don't know," I shook my head. "Because statistics state…"

"I don't give a shit about your statistics. I DON'T KNOW!" she shouted at me, her fists balled.

"I don't know, I don't know," she began to whisper repeat over and over, shaking her head back and forth. Her eyes closed and she began to waver unsteadily on her feet. Her knees buckled underneath her as her exhausted frame gave out and she fell towards the concrete. I quickly crossed the distance between us, dropping our books in the process, catching her as she collapsed. I pulled her into my arms and knelt to the ground holding her.

"It's okay," I cooed into her hair. I breathed in heavily not knowing when I would ever be able to hold her again. Her strawberry scent overwhelmed me and I closed my eyes as repeatedly breathed it in. Alice would kill me if she found out so I had to make the smell last so that I could torment myself with it later. I was definitely one masochistic bastard.

Bella buried her head into my chest, and I couldn't help but marvel at the fact that she fit there perfectly, as if we were made for one another. I pressed my lips to her hair as she cried and shook uncontrollably.

Finally after what felt like forever she calmed down and her breathing steadied. She leaned back and stared up at my face, her deep brown pools dragging me in as she sat their silently. I managed to break the trance her eyes held over me and trailed my vision to her neck. The sight still shocked me. I brought one hand up lightly and watching her expression to make sure it was ok, I touched her softly on the neck. "Jesus," I whispered for the second time, my hand fit perfectly, each one of my fingers matching the bruises on her neck and I shook at the thought that I could have been the one to bring this pain to her if I tried. She swallowed hard and I felt her breath against my cheek as she continued to stare at me.

I looked back into her hypnotic gaze and lost myself. She was so beautiful and fragile; I couldn't help the strong pull I felt toward her. I couldn't control myself anymore; my lips parted as I leaned in slowly. I could feel her breathing hitch as she realized what I was going to do. Slowly her eyes closed and she opened her mouth ever so slightly - inviting me in. But just as our lips brushed one another and I could feel her warmth breath mingle with mine she spoke.

"Please stop," she moaned and as much as I didn't want to, I complied. I didn't want to do anything she didn't want, I wouldn't be that selfish. I cursed myself for even trying to pull that stunt, it was inappropriate, here I had the girl of my dreams in my arms, crying and I was trying to push myself on her, I felt horribly guilty for trying to take advantage of her. I leaned back and looked at her apologetically.

"I'm so s…" I started be she cut me off.

"Please don't say you're sorry, I'm so sick of hearing that," she looked at me her expression a mix of sadness, hurt, anger and guilt. "I shouldn't of…"

It was my turn to cut her off then, "Bella don't it was entirely my fault, I just can't help myself when I'm around you." She shook her head, confused at my words.

"Why? I mean you hardly know me. I can't understand why you always put yourself between me and James, why you are always comforting me, and I can't understand why the hell I feel so comfortable around you," she pressed her hands to her eyes, covering them and groaned. I wasn't having any of that. I took her small hands lightly in mine as she looked back up at me, I marveled at her beauty.

"I don't know either Bella, all I know is I can't stop thinking about you and I…"

"Stop," she held her hand to my lips. She was shaking her head. I opened my mouth to protest but she cut me off again.

"Please just stop doing this," she cried exasperated. "You can't….I have a boyfriend. This is ridiculous."

"Bella please," I begged. Not sure what I was begging for, forgiveness? Or was I begging her to be mine?

"No, it's not fair!" she groaned pulling her hands from mine. "Stop doing it, stop putting yourself between us, stop comforting me, stop acting all sweet and perfect. JUST STOP!"

"Okay," I mumbled defeated. She pushed her closed fists into my chest causing me to fall backwards; she disentangled herself from me and stood up, fixing her clothes in the process. She picked up her scarf that lay discarded on the ground and wrapped it around her neck covering the atrocity that were those bruises. She closed her eyes tightly, concentrating on her next words.

"Just stay away from me Edward," her harsh words cut at my sides. I didn't ever want to be apart from her. I couldn't not be around her; I was going to pay for this. Alice was right she told me not to get involved, that it would make things worse, that Bella could end up wanting nothing to do with me. But I didn't listen, I was too impatient and selfish and now she was telling me to stay away.

"Bella, please… we can still be friends can't we, I know I shouldn't of…but it won't happen again. Please," I stammered, at a loss for words. I wanted so badly to fix things.

"I don't think we can," she groaned, her brow wrinkling in frustration, she was on the verge of tears and I watched as a single drop made its way down her cheek. "It's too hard, and it's not fair to anyone."

I got up to stand in front of her, and without thinking I took her into my arms again, I couldn't help it, when she cried my insides churned and I needed to hold her.

"Get off me," she moaned halfheartedly into my chest, slumping against me, pushing at me with her fists with little effort or desire to actually separate us.

"Bro can't you take a hint," a voice I didn't recognize growled from behind me. I let go of Bella and turned around to face a very large and very pissed off Jacob Black. He looked from me to Bella, and frowned.

"I don't believe we've met," I mumbled, trying to ease the situation. I wasn't sure how much of what went on between Bella and me he had caught. But it couldn't have looked very favorable considering his extremely pissed expression. I held out my hand with the pretense of shaking his.

"I'm Edward Cullen," I said. Jacob raised an eyebrow at my words and then looked at my hand and smirked. I dropped it quickly realizing he was less than interested at my attempt at diffusing the tense atmosphere.

"Keep away from Bella, Edward," he said mockingly. "I don't want to have to come and beat your ass…as fun as that might be." I had no doubt that Jacob could give me a hiding, he was huge. The only person that would stand a chance was Em and he wasn't here so I didn't want to push things so I nodded at his words.

"As long as she wants that," I added raising my eyebrow at Bella, hoping she would say otherwise but she didn't meet my gaze instead she was glaring at Jake. Jake closed that gap between them and grabbed her hand.

"Let's go," he said softly to her. Bella reacted unexpectedly as she often did, for some reason she didn't appear to be happy with her friend - which I couldn't help but feel a little please about.

"Let go of my hand Jake," she growled at him tugging her hand. Unlike me he didn't let go. She glared at him. "I can take care of myself, I don't need you to come in here huffing and puffing like a big bad wolf."

"Now who can't take a hint," I mocked. I already didn't like this guy, he was proving to be an ass, and the fact that he was holding onto the girl I so desperately wanted didn't help either.

He dropped Bella's hand and came to stand within an inch of me; I had to tilt my head upward slightly to meet his gaze. I rolled my eyes; I didn't need to have an ego contest with this fool. He grabbed me roughly by the shirt, he was shaking and his eyes grew wide as if he just realized something.

"Did you do that to her?" he growled while pointing at Bella's neck, his eyes were dark and his face was red. His question infuriated me; my hands balled at my sides and I was ready to deck the bastard. As if I would ever hurt Bella, I couldn't, it wasn't possible and I didn't need this mutt accusing me of anything.

"I would never…" I began but he cut me off.

"I don't believe you," he spat, shaking his head.

"Did you hurt her?" I spat back. He let out a low deep growl.

"Watch your mouth you filthy…."

"Jake." Bella's voice sounded worried. "Let him go, he didn't do anything to hurt me." Jake's glare bored holes into my eyes as he continued to assess me. He didn't appear to like what he saw because his grip on my shirt tightened.

"JAKE!" Bella shouted. I heard a loud slap and then a cry of pain from Bella. "Oww – Fuck!" she yelped.

Jake let go of me immediately, turning toward Bella, his expression worried. "Are you ok?" he asked. She bit down on her lip, her brow crinkling up; if she wasn't hurt I may have found it to be one of the cutest things I had ever seen. I took a step toward her, aching to comfort hurt and assess the damage to her hand, but a look from Jacob had me back-tracking.

"Yeah…I think I hurt my hand on your back," Bella grumbled clearly not pleased, her cheeks were flushed red with what appeared to be embarrassment. Jake's chuckled at her response which caused my eyes to narrow; I didn't like him laughing at her while she was hurt.

"Jeez Bella, you know not to hit me. It happens every time." I frowned then, she hits him a lot? That must mean he does something to piss her off. I didn't like that bit of information at all.

"I know, I forgot," she looked at me quickly and then back to Jake. "Can we just go," she mumbled.

"I guess," he replied looking at me evenly his forehead pinching together. He pointed at me, "If I ever…"

"Shut it Jake," Bella interrupted, this time she grabbed him by the hand and dragging him to his car - not that she would have been able to make him go if he didn't want to. I watched them get in and leave, I could see Jacob glaring at me from the driver's seat as they passed, but Bella looked the other way, refusing to acknowledge me at all.

Why is it that I'm always watching her drive away from me like a hopeless fool?

….

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