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Chapter 28

EPOV

I groaned as I saw what was about to happen before it happened. The red head that Bella had pointed out earlier, friends with Jaycee from Music Theory, came swaying by our table with her books loosely held in her arms. Right on cue she dropped her books right beside our table. "I'm so sorry, guys, I'm such a klutz." She said with a flick of her hair.

Bella choked on her laughter as she rolled her eyes and waved me on. "It's okay, my girlfriend is a natural born klutz too. My name is Edward and this is Bella." I told her as I bent down to help her pick her books up like the gentleman that I was born and bred to be.

She just giggled. "Oh, goodness, forgive me. My name is Cheyenne." She said with a flutter of her eyelashes. "It's nice to meet you, Edward. Betsy." She said purposefully getting my Bella's name wrong while trying to flirt with me.

I just ignored it but Bella couldn't, apparently. "If you are so clumsy, I suggest buying a backpack to carry your things in then. And my name is Bella not Betsy." Bella said with a roll of her eyes. "Oh, and another piece of advice, get your own boyfriend. This one's mine."

I had to bite the inside of my lip to keep from laughing but thankfully Emmett, Jasper, and Alice showed up at that exact moment. "Hey guys, we thought that was you." Emmett said as he plopped down in the seat beside me with Jasper sitting beside Bella and Alice settling on his lap.

"Cheyenne, this is my brother Jasper and his girlfriend Alice and our friend Emmett." I said doing the polite thing by introducing everybody. "Guys, this is Cheyenne. She just accidently spilled her books and took a moment to chat."

Emmett nodded. "Yeah, I think I have English lit with you."

Cheyenne just nodded. "Yeah, I think so too. Well, my friends are waving me on so I will see you guys later. It was a pleasure to meet all of you. Becky, I will take your advice and buy a backpack later on today." She said as she turned on her heel and walked away before anybody could come up with a response or comeback. It was like she purposefully ignored Bella's comment about the boyfriend thing.

"What's up, guys?" Bella asked as she turned around in her chair choosing to ignore what had just happened with Cheyenne.

Alice sighed and pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. "The four of us were talking at home before our classes started and we came up with a chore list that we think is fair for each couple. We will take care of our own laundry, and keep our own areas clean on top of this list. No more worrying about me, Bella, it's time for me to turn to Jasper for help instead of you all the time. It's time for all of us to grow up and be more responsible." She said as she unfolded the piece of paper and laid it on the table.

Bella looked it over and nodded. "You guys have supposedly been doing your own laundry since we all moved in yet I am usually the one that has to get it out of the washer and dryer, and fold it just so I can do ours. Rose and Em have gotten better since Blakely was born."

I remained silent and let her hash this out with them. Even though I had been the one to say something this morning, this was her pet peeve and battle, so I was going to sit back and let her battle it out until she was satisfied.

"I know, Belle, and we will start doing better. We don't want you to feel like you have a houseful of children when you guys have so graciously opened your doors to us without expecting much in return." Jasper said as Alice and Emmett nodded in agreement.

"We will also take turns cooking meals if you will help teach us some recipes. But will you continue cooking supper because you are such an awesome cook?" Emmett said with a puppy dog pout in place.

"BUT" Alice said loudly and quickly "we will all help you cook and we will do all the cleaning up after you cook. No cooking and cleaning on the same nights!" She said with a smile on her face.

"Shopping?" I asked because that was one of my pet peeves. The entire house just added it to the list on the refrigerator when they needed or wanted something and Bella and I had to pick it up when we went to the store. We usually stopped by the grocery store at least three times a week for either us or somebody else in the house. It gets a little old after a while, especially when trying to shop for six adults and two babies.

"We will all take turns each week. The list stays on the fridge but we will each take a week and do all the shopping. Grocery and household supplies but everybody will buy personal items for themselves from now on no more adding it to the list." Jasper said quietly.

I nodded and looked at Bella who had a contented smile on her face. "Sounds good to me guys, I just need a little help; especially with school starting back up and Gavyn. I don't mean to be a nag but I just can't do it all alone. The house is huge and so is the shopping list that goes with keeping the house up."

"No problems, Belle. We love you." The entire table said as they wrapped my girl up in a huge bear hug.

The last two classes of the day Bella and I had together. We had American Government with Alice and Jasper so we walked with them to Payne Hall for that class. We all sat at the two front tables so we could all be together and still pay attention without distraction. That class seemed to drone on forever as the teacher went over yet another standard syllabus.

"Oh my God, this class is going to be awful." Alice groaned as she glared at Jasper who looked to be in his element as he wrote down the notes that were on the board at the front of the classroom.

Bella shrugged as she wrote down the notes too. "It's just going to be a lot of note taking, I think." She told Alice as she continued to take meticulous notes in her notebook.

I groaned. "This is awful. I hate history. Why must it be a pre-requ?" I asked as I flexed my fingers from all the note taking we were having to do on the first day. I had already filled up two pages front and back and I am almost certain I had missed something.

Jasper and Bella just shrugged and continued with the notes to make sure they got them all. "The clue to passing this class is going to be taking down the notes, most likely. Remember Mr. Abetti?" Bella whispered to me quietly.

I groaned but nodded anyways because I had barely passed Mr. Abetti's class back in high school. "I hated that class. If you missed just a portion of the notes you were lost on the quizzes or tests. Not to mention there was enough of those to go around the entire school." I whispered back quietly.

Bella smiled and nodded as she looked pointedly between my notebook and hers. My page was only about a third of the way full on the back of a filled front while she was on her fourth page about to flip to a new sheet. "Great. Can I borrow your notes tonight?" I mumbled quietly.

She just giggled and nodded as she finished writing down the notes.

Once that class was over Alice and Jasper took off in their own directions as Bella and I headed towards Herty Hall hand in hand where we were taking college algebra together with Emmett. We were hoping that taking the after lunch classes together would ease a little of our discomfort from being separated from Gavyn for almost seven hours every other day. "You ready for college algebra?" Bella asked as I held the door open for her.

I nodded as I placed a hand at her waist just as her phone trilled from her bag. "I'll save you a seat." I told her as I kissed her on top of the head before heading into the classroom.

She smiled and nodded. "It's my dad so I'll be quick." She said before answering the phone as she walked a bit down the hall.

I had just sat down at a table with empty seats all around me so Bella could have her pick if she hurried with her phone call. "Is this seat taken?" I heard a girly voice ask from beside me.

I looked up and groaned when I saw Cheyenne standing there. "It is. Bella will be here in a minute." I told her before looking back down at my notebook drawing circles in aimlessly.

"Well, she can take one of the other seats I like to sit in the middle row so I have a good point of view of the teacher and board." She said as she sat in the seat directly beside me, surreptitiously scooting her chair a little bit closer to mine.

I groaned and scooted my chair over a little bit closer to the other one placing my bag in it to save Bella the other set at the three seat table.

"What's up, Eddie?!" Emmett called from doorway.

I jerked my gaze up and smiled at him in relief. "Not much, Em, is Bella still out in the hall?" I asked him as he sat in the seat on the other side of me just tossing my bag to the floor carelessly.

Emmett nodded and frowned slightly. "She didn't look happy at all. She said to tell you she will be in in just a minute."

I was instantly curious as to what her dad had said to her to make her seem upset or pissed off. They hadn't talked much since the girls' birthday party back in March. I nodded and looked around the room to see if there were any more empty tables open. Luckily, the one directly behind us was completely empty so I quickly got up out of my seat grabbing Emmett by his shirt sleeve. "Get up and grab that table right behind us, Em. That way we can all sit together." I told him as I quickly tossed my bag on the table.

Cheyenne just rolled her eyes as we moved to the table behind her. Once we were settled in at the table she turned around with a flyer in her hand that she laid on the table and slid to me. "My sorority is having a 'back to school' party this Friday night if you guys want to attend."

I smiled at her as I took the paper from her to look it over before looking over at Emmett who shrugged his shoulders. "It all depends on Rosie. You know that." He said and I nodded thinking that my decision all depended on whether Bella felt up to it or not.

"We will see. Thanks for the invite, Cheyenne." I told her as I spotted Bella walking in the room with a fake smile plastered on her face.

She slid into the seat between me and Emmett that we had saved for her setting her bag on the table in front of her taking the flyer from my hand. "What's this, Casanova?" she asked with a sly smile on her face. She must have noticed Cheyenne sitting in front of us.

"Cheyenne invited us to a party this Friday night. What do you think?" I asked her as I twined our fingers together squeezing hers gently.

She looked at me with a genuine smile. "We haven't been out in a while. It all depends on monkey though." She said quietly but Cheyenne over heard her anyways.

I smiled and nodded kissing the side of her head. "Sounds good to me, baby. Our monkey is always at the top of my list too." I whispered against the side of her head.

"Who's monkey? You do know it is illegal to own a pet monkey in the state of Georgia right?" Cheyenne said snootily to Bella who just giggled aloud at the absurdity of her comment and I rolled my eyes because she was butting in where she had no business.

"It's none of your business who monkey is. He is NONE of your concern." Bella growled at her with a smile on her face, the protective mother instinct coming out full force.

Emmett just laughed and I got curious. "Are we keeping Gavyn a secret?" I whispered in her ear.

She looked at me with a cocked head and a raised eyebrow. She pulled out her phone and tapped a quick message out which caused my phone to vibrate in my pocket.

I shook my head and pulled my phone out as she placed hers in her bag as she pulled her notebook out of her bag.

Absolutely not. I would never hide our son or be ashamed of him. Hell, I would bring him to class with me if I could get by with it.-Bella

I had to bite my lip for the second time today to keep from laughing at her attitude and protectiveness of what was rightfully hers. I quickly typed back a simple message to her.

I love you-Edward

As we were walking to the Volvo after class, I asked Bella about her phone call with her dad earlier. "What did your dad have to say earlier?"

She groaned as she leaned into my side as we walked slowly to the parking lot. "He caught my mom cheating with her assistant. He's moving back to the house in Chicago for a trial separation from my mother."

"Wow, how do you feel about that?" I asked her as I propped against the side of the car and tugged her against my body.

She shrugged. "I'm pissed off at my mom for doing this to my dad. Ever since they left for the city leaving Alice and me behind I have been so angry at both of them for shirking their parental duties. My dad has reminded me that he never wanted to leave us in the first place but didn't want to lose my mother either. His love for her is what led him to follow her because she lied and said that they would come back every other weekend to check on us."

"That's crazy that your mom basically used your dad's love for her against him." I told her as I kissed the top of her head.

She nodded as she wrapped her arms around my waist holding on tight. "She's a vengeful bitch. Dad said she didn't want us when she turned up pregnant. She never wanted kids so we were nothing more than a burden to her but the greatest gift in the world to him."

"I love you, Isabella. You are an amazing daughter, girlfriend, and mother. The best in the entire world, if you ask me."

"I love you too, Casanova. Take me to get our baby so we can go cuddle at home."

The next few weeks were huge eye openers as to how hard juggling a house, a baby, a relationship, and college was going to be. We flailed around the first two weeks like fish freshly out of the water but we eventually developed a good routine and stuck with it. We unfortunately had to miss the back to school party that Cheyenne's sorority was throwing because Gavyn decided it was a fine time to develop some sort of stomach bug which he passed on to everybody in the house.

We had officially been in school for a month now so apparently it was time for another party on sorority/fraternity row. Cheyenne was the first one to invite us, like always. She had really started pushing Bella's buttons with the way she was always flirting with me and how wherever I was she seemed to be within close vicinity.

"Hey guys, just wanted to invite you guys to another party this Friday since you missed the first one." She said as she sat on her table in front of us with her feet propped in her chair.

I heard Bella grit her teeth the same as I felt the tension creep up her spine. "Thanks Cheyenne." I told her as I took the flyer for me and Bella to look over.

"Think monkey will let us go to this one?" she asked with a secret smile on her face. We still hadn't brought Gavyn to the school but we weren't exactly hermits when we were away from school so it's not like we were keeping him a secret.

"When are you going to get it through your head that owning a monkey in Georgia is illegal? I should call animal control on you." Cheyenne said with a flip of her hair as she turned around and sat in her chair.

I had to hide my snickers in Bella's hair as she bit her lip to control her giggles while Emmett just shook his head as he texted Rose who was at home with Blakely.

"I love you, Isabella." I whispered in her ear as I placed a gentle kiss on her neck.

She sighed and nodded as she patted my knee. "Forever?" she asked, needing the reassurance every once in a while.

I smiled and nodded as I kissed her supple lips as the professor walked in and started class. I pulled out my phone and sent Bella a simple yet important message that showed how true I meant forever to be.

Marry us? –Edward

I knew she wouldn't check her phone until after class was over and that was perfectly fine by me because I had a huge surprise for her. I had been carrying my mother's engagement ring around in my backpack for at least two weeks now and couldn't find the right opportunity to ask her but like with us making love for the first time, it was just going to have to be us and be spontaneous.

I quickly tapped out another message to Alice, Rose, Esme, and Carlisle who all knew I had the ring and was just waiting for the right time. Esme and Carlisle knew because they had it in a lock box for me and I had to ask them for it. I had Alice get Bella's ring size on one of their many shopping trips. Rose had taken them to the jewelers last week to get it cleaned since it didn't need to be resized, fortunately.

She will get the message after this class. Meet us outside with monkey if you can. It's time! –Edward

Just then the professor walked in and I tucked my phone away pulling out my notebook as our last class of the day began.