Chapter 22

New discoveries and Girls night!

B POV

A few weeks later

The stitches in my lip finally fell out. I have a new scar, on my face. It bothers me, that everywhere I go, I seem to accumulate more and more hurt. More evidence that I'm still in a bad stage of my life. But then again I might just be overreacting. Everyone gets into a fight at school once in awhile. Charlie was pretty pissed, but he thought I would have good reasons for starting fight. Not to mention that Newton and Crowley had grabbed me. Effectively, cutting off my chances at Lauren.

Having the group back, was seeming to be a mistake. Every time, I look at Tina, I see what I caused. Her ankle, her busted lip and nose. Then I have to listen to Lauren and Jessica's snide comments.

Everyone else, I feel just as guilty. Raychel and Emma still had fading bruises on their necks and faces. Plus, their boyfriends were up to their necks in protection.

"Bella, no one is mad at you." Ethan tried to console my feelings. "We will gladly help you, in any fight."

"I know. Thanks Ethan," I gave him a small smile as he squeezed my shoulder.

"Yeah...now get to class!" he ordered with mock sternness. "Love you, Bells!" he called as I walked away.

"You too! Later!"

Lunch!

"Stay away from my Edward, bitch!" Lauren sneered in my ear once, I sat down at my seat.

I could feel Jessica on the other side of me. "He...is not...yours!" I said coldly. "And even if he was..." I turned to her. She scowled. I smiled sweetly. "He has to be one of the worst boyfriends; hanging out with another girl all the time..." I shrugged and turned around, letting the thought run off into silence. I felt them shift their positions. "You can leave now."

"Hmph!"

A few minutes later, I felt someone came up from behind me. "Goddamn it, Lauren! Leave me alone!" I shouted turning and punching her square in the face; I'd had enough.

The thing is; it wasn't Lauren. Or Jessica. Or any of their other girls. "What the hell, Bella?!" It wasn't even a girl. "I was coming to tell you that we're outside today. C'mon. But NO! You go and punch me and...are you ok?" he asked suddenly worried about me, rather than his self.

I blinked, feeling just fine. Except guilty. "Uh...yeah! Jake I just punched you and you're asking if I'm ok?" What the hell?!

"Exactly!" He exclaimed his hand still covering his jaw. I blinked. "You just punched me!"

I nodded. "I know, Jake. I'm so sorry!"

he takes his hand and slaps his forehead. "Oh my god! Bella! You. Just. PUNCHED. Me. That. Means. PHYSICAL. CONTACT. And you are feeling fine?" he said slowly. As if I were an ignorant child.

I blinked...blinked...and then gasped. He grinned. "Holy crow! Jake!" I squealed nearly launching myself into his arms. "This is freaking awesome!" I exclaimed quietly into his ear.

His arms tightened around me. "I'm so happy for you, Bells!" his voice thick with tears. "I love you, sis!"

I laughed quietly, wiping my eyes. "You too, Jake." I pulled from the hug, wiping the few tears away from his cheeks. "C'mon! Lets go and tell everyone!"

He smiled grabbing my hand. "Yeah, let's hope your body guard doesn't try to kill me!"

I smiled and felt a blush creep up my neck. "Yeah...he's pretty protective, huh?" We began walking outside. The surprisingly warm air, melting last nights snow.

"Bella! Come on! The guy would kill someone for you!"

I blushed harder. I felt a little light headed. Maybe it's because all my blood is rushing to my head! "No he wouldn't!" I looked down at the ground. "Why do you think that?"

Jacob pulled us to a stop, lifted my face up to his. "How blind are you?" he practically yelled. "The guy is crazy about you!" I rolled my eyes and continued walking. "Seriously Bella! I wouldn't lie about something like this! He's...crazy...insane about you!" Jacob quieted his voice so that only him and I could hear him. "He would do anything for you..."

I felt my heart flutter in an irregular way. Internally I was battling my heart and mind. My mind was telling me, that I shouldn't let my guard down so easily. To be careful of being hurt again. My heart on the other hand, was telling me differently. Trust was one of the things I could do with Edward. I could trust him. With a lot. He cared what I felt and never pushed me to tell him what happened to me to make me the way I am. "Yeah...ok. Sure, sure!" I said waving the subject off the board. "So..where's the gro-?"

Tina and Ray had jumped on me. Tackling me down to the ground and sitting on me. Ray grabbed my arms and locked them above my head. While Tina squealed. "Oh look...what do we have here?" she started squeezing the nerves in my stomach. I locked my teeth down and bit down on the giggle that was bubbling to the surface. "Bella, are you ticklish?" Ray asked digging her fingers into my armpits.

"You know I am! Stop!" I shouted while giggling loudly. We use to have these fights all the time. They started squeezing my knees, sides and calves. "Stop! Please! Jacob help me!" I squealed clawing at their hands and kicking them away the best I could.

"What's going on? Who's screamin-Bella?!" Amber laughed and started joining in, holding my legs straight!

"Amber! You're not helping, damn it! No!!!" I squealed through my giggles. I started loosing my breath, I coughed. "Stop!" They didn't. I knew I wasn't in any real danger, but I didn't like having my breath took from me. So I did the next best thing. I took a deep breath and screeched loudly. "!"

The girls stopped tickling me quickly. Jacob hid behind a nearby tree. "Hell! You trying to wake the dead?" he joked quietly laughing.

I laid still, catching my breath. I heard footsteps coming near me. "Shit!" he muttered. "Bella? Bella, are you ok?" He didn't touch me.

I nodded. "Oh yeah...just got tickled nearly to death, but yeah...I'm good!" I said sarcastically pointing to the girls.

He nodded pressing his red lips together, suppressing a smile. "You guys are in...s-so much trouble..." hes voice wavered greatly, before coughing falsely, covering up a laugh. "Sorry!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah right! Go ahead and laugh! Just remember...i know where you all sleep!" I started walking away. I stopped suddenly, struck by a memory from the past.

Flashback

"Hey Bella! Lets have a sweepover!" seven-year-old Tina bounced on the jungle gym.

Seven-year-old Bella shook her head. "I can't. Momma said no boys are awowed to stay over at my house. It wouldn't be fair if us girwls could and Efan, Robin, and Adum couldn't."

Tina put on her thinking face. She was silent for a few minutes. The bell rang, both girls jumped from the jungle and went to stand in line. "We'll call it a AW GIRWILS SWEEPOVER! Sound ok?" Tina asked her bottom lip pouting in an innocent way.

Bella smiled. "Yeah! We can start having them every momph!"

End Flashback

"Bella!?"

"Hello!? Bella?"

"What?" I asked shoving Jake and Amber away from my face.

"Whoa!? Bella you just touch Jake?" Tina asked standing near us.

I nodded. "Yeah! It was a total accident! I-"

"She punched me!" Jake exclaimed pointing to his bruising jaw.

Edward whistled lowly. "Wow! I actually feel bad for the next person to piss you off!" I smiled shyly, before adverting my gaze back to Tina.

"Hey Tina!" I said cheerily, that was our usual signal for a sleepover. I wonder if she remembered.

Answering my question she shook her head. "No!" shes protested.

"Why not?" I asked ignoring the weird looks everyone was giving us.

"Because...I want to be with Ethan tonight!"

"You're always with Ethan!" I argued nearly stomping my foot.

"Do I want to know what you guys are talking about?" Amber asked raising her hand slowly.

Ray smiled. "I think we should. It would be nice to catch up without having to worry about the boys messing with us!" I smiled at her; I knew I liked her for some reason!

"Fine!" Tina caved throwing her hands in the air. "Tonight. Your place. Six o'clock." I nodded smiling

"What's happening? What's happening at Six?" Amber asked clinging to Jake's arm.

I smiled happily. "All girls sleepover!"

That night

"Bella! I'm going to Billy's while you girls do..." he paused looking at the large living room; sleeping bags and pillows littered the floor. Chips, dip, soda, popcorn and multiple candies showered over the tables. "Whatever it is, you girls do." then ran out the door.

We laughed; Tina, Ray, Emma, Rose, Alice, Leah, Angel, Sue, Amber and I. Edward had asked Rose and Alice if they wanted to come and hang out. They were happy to. Jacob had asked Leah Clear-water, who said yes, but with an exception; she brought her cousin, Angel, along. Charlie didn't really want us alone, and since it was an all girls sleepover, he invited Sue, Leah's mother.

"I promise not to be lame or even in our business. I'm just here to make sure no guys come here, or sneak out and so that the police don't get called." she promised us after we heard the police cruiser pull away.

"Sneaking in boys..." Angel mused from the kitchen table, "...sounds fun!"

We laughed once again. Amber and I threw worried glances at one another. "Yeah. Lots of fun, but..." I started, all the girls gathered in the kitchen. "Tina, Ray, Emma, and I have been having these since we were seven. There's a reason its called an ALL GIRLS SLEEPOVER! Rule one: No Boys! Rule two: NOTHING we say LEAVES THIS HOUSE! Rule three: TALK ALL IMPORTANTS! Rule four: stay up as long as we can! Rule five: HAVE FUN!" the girls beamed at our rules. Tina wrapped her arms around me. "Love you too,Tina."

"No...I was going to say, 'Thank God! We haven't had one of these in a long time.' But," she smiled grabbing a cold soda, "I love you, Bella!"

First we went into the living room, lying on our sleeping bags.

"So...what are we going to do first?"Angel was the first to speak.

Tina smiled pulling a hat from behind her. "Ok since you asked, you pick first. Don't look!"

Angel smiled then dug around in the hat. "Um..." she mumbled tearing open a slip of paper. "Boys! Sweet!"

"Ok...boy talk." I blushed lightly. "We each go around telling about our boyfriends or your crushes. Angel you picked, you're first."

She squealed then went silent. "Ok...so, Leah don't say anything, you either Aunt Sue. But, I like this guy. Leah, you know him. Amber, I'm sure you know him. His name is...Jared."

"JARED!?" Leah, Amber, and Sue screeched at the same time; I guess Angel assumed correctly. Angel nodded, they started laughing loudly. "Jared?! Seriously?"

"I said no COMMENTS!" Angel yelled an embarrassing blush creeping up on her cheeks.

"Why?" Amber asked settling down and sipping her soda.

She didn't answer right away. "I don't know. I was over at Quills' and he was there too. They were playing some stupid video game on the PS3. I was watching them." She paused popping a few pieces of popcorn in her mouth. "When Jared died, he handed me the controller. I was like 'You know I can't play!' He smiled and offered to teach me." She blushed. Tina smiled and started snickering. "So...I sat between his legs,he put his hands on top of mine, there...was this electrical spark that sent my blood rushing. The entire time he was telling me what to do, moving my fingers with his, I couldn't concentrate. All I could feel was, his heart beating along with mine." she sighed longing for him. "I...he killed Quill and said 'see...you're a natural' and kissed my cheek." She softly rubbed her cheek; I'm assuming that's where he kissed her. "Ever since, I can't stop thinking about him! And whenever he's around, I get totally tongue tied!" She then stopped taking a long swing of her Grape Manta.

"Classical love story..."Amber sighed girly-ishly, before changing her tone back to normal, "Gag me!" Angel and the rest of us giggled.

"Ok Angel," I said licking my fingers free of cheese, "pick who's next."

she smiled evilly. "You know, I was wondering Bella?" I stopped mid-lick, my eyes wide, my heart pounding heavily. "Who are you dating?"

I swallowed thickly. "I'm...um...single."

"Then who are you crushing on?"

"No one!" I answered too quickly. Before she could protest, I continued, "I mean, I have mixed feelings for some guys, but nothing I would call a crush..."

"Like who?" she asked her nails tapping on her soda can.

"Um...well..." I couldn't say his name. I mean his sister was here, and his sisters best friend was here...I couldn't say it. "Just some guys you don't know..."

As soon as Angel was about to urge me on, Alice stood up. "Ok then, Bella pick the next person." I smiled gratefully. "Rose how did you meet Emmett? I mean, literally, he's huge!"

She laughed, flipping her hair and launched into a short,hilarious story about how her and Emmett meeting. "We've been together ever since. God knows I love that Teddy Bear more than everything in this world!"

"WAIT?!" Tina interrupted mid-laugh. "You mean to tell me, you're dating the friggin' TANK in math class!?" We all had a great laugh at her nickname for Emmett! Rose nodded. "But...you're so...petite!"

"No, that's Alice here!" Rose laughed playfully shoving small Alice.

"Yeah! But you should have seen it when I met Jasper." She laughed. "He was at his locker, I was walking towards mine. He caught my eye and right then I knew..." she sighed dreamily. "I went right up to him and said 'we're meant to be! I'm Alice Cullen. Pick me up at Seven tonight!' Then, I kissed his cheek and continued walking to my locker."

Rose kept laughing. "You should have seen poor Jasper that night! He came home, took a shower, shaved, got dressed nice, left to get some daises, came back and started hyperventilating!" Alice was laughing so hard, tears were forming in her eyes. "He kept mumbling something about a crazy pixie, sprinkling evil pixie dust on him and forever being cursed! I couldn't help myself! I just laughed my ass off til about 6:45. at that time he was near tears. I handed him a piece of paper and said 'some guy stopped by and gave me this. She says she can't wait for tonight!' It had her address on it and directions."

"Yeah and he was still five minutes early!" Alice jabbed at Rose in the stomach. "And, we've been dating ever since! I love him!" we all sighed, except Amber, who pretended to gag!

One hour later

After everyone had told their boyfriend/crush stories, we decided to order pizza and watch a scary movie. "Ok...we have," I announced flipping through our thriller movies. "Carrie, Tamera, Paranormal Activity, and Silent Hill. Which one?"

"Tamera." Angel.

"Tamera." Sue

"Carrie." Tina.

"Paranormal Activity." Rose.

" Paranormal Activity." Alice.

" Paranormal Activity." Amber.

" Paranormal Activity." Leah.

"Tamera!" Ray.

There was a tie between Tamera and Paranormal Activity. I weighed both of them. "Um... Paranormal Activity is more scary and longer and newer. Where as Tamera is old, short and not so scary!"

In the end, we ended up jumping and screaming at the screen showing Paranormal Activity! At the end of the film, no one moved. We sat in total silence...

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

We all jumped and screamed bloody murder immediately afterwards. "Girls, its just the pizza guy. Chill!" Sue laughed shakily jumping up to get the door. "What are you dong here?" we heard her asking. "Fine,just don't tell Charlie I let you guys in for a moment."

"Tina?"

"Amber!"

"Ray?"

"Rosie!"

"Em!"

"Ali?!"

The girls that were called scrambled out their spots and ran to the foyer. Angel, Leah and I followed soon after. There stood Jacob, his arms wrapped around a smiling Amber. Ethan hugging Tina, Ray wrapped in Robin's arms. The same with Emma and Adam. Alice was swimming in Jasper's eyes as were Rose and Emmett.

"Hey guys," I called they all turned, the one's I could touch, I gave them a small hug. While the others gave me nods.

"Why did you guys scream when we knocked?" Jacob asked his voice muffled by Amber's hair.

" Paranormal Activity!" We all stated simultaneously.

"It was so friggin' scary!" Alice said trembling in Jasper's grasp.

"Its ok, I'm here." Jasper cooed reassuringly rubbing small circles in her back.

When the boys left thirty minutes later, I told Emmett to tell Edward I said good night and Angel told Jacob to tell Jared the same. "Ok...new topic?" Sue suggested as she checked the time. "To pass the time before the pizza gets here?"

I nodded pulling out the hat. "Pick one!"

Quickly she thrashed her hand in and out again. "Past...?"

Amber and I visibly tensed up. "Who w-wrote that?" I asked pulling my knees to my chest.

Angel raised her hand. "We really don't know about each other. So,i thought it'd be a good idea to get the backgrounds out..."

Sue spoke up. "My past is long and boring...the end. Rose...you're next."

She nodded and stood up. "My name is Rosalie Lillian Hale, I'm eighteen-years-old. My birthday is on July 23rd. I have a twin brother, Jasper Scott Hale. I have both my parents with me, Callie and John. Before Jasper and I, my mom had a still born and a boy who died while in the womb. Out of my past relationships, my worst was Royce King. He thought he was really a king. And he wanted me his queen. We dated for awhile. He wanted more than the things I was giving him. I refused. Things got bad. Him and his friends busted into my house when my parents were out on their anniversary. Jasper was with his girlfriend, Marie. They tried, didn't succeed thank god!" She took a deep breath, we were all silent. How can she say all that without being sad? Or dropping a tear or two? I asked myself. "That's about it." Rose finished then looked at Alice. "Amber, I want to know yours..."

She stiffened, I moved to sit next to her and held her hand. "My name is Amber Marie Ray. I'm sixteen-years-old, born on April 17th on the tip of Maine. I used to have a little sister, Annabel lee, but...she was um... our father killed her. My mom was killed when I was six, five-car-pile up. My father, Stephen, and I moved to Phoenix. He changed. Becoming abusive and aggressive with me. Making me damaged goods. He got re-married to a woman, Nancy Evans. She was nice, so was he...for awhile. I met Bella a few months after they married. She and I became friends and then she and her parents got into a huge car accident. Nancy was murdered. And we both were put into the foster care system. Charlie and got us. I changed my last name to Amber Marie Swan and moved here. As for past relationships go, I've never had a boyfriend. Until Jacob." I wiped the tears off my face as did some of the girls, others were too shocked to do the same.

"When you say abusive...?" Sue asked. "What do you mean?"

Amber sighed lifting her pant leg up to her thigh. Everyone could clearly see the burn, knife, and glass scars from her former life. She turned and lifted her shirt, showing a long jagged scar that ran from her left shoulder, down into the right side of her pants. "That's what I mean, by abusive." she sighed again taking a large gulp of Orange Fanta. "Alice..." the pixie lifted her head. "I've been wondering, why did you freak when I looked at you on the first day of school. I know that look that was on your face. It was the same as Bella's when she remembers her past. What happened to you?" she whispered the last part.

Alice gulped. "Well, Edward remembers it better, but our father, Edward Sr. died when Edward was two. Our mother, Elizabeth went a little coo-coo! She lost herself in sorrow for a lost loved one. She stayed that way for awhile. She never really paid attention to me or Edward. He was forced to take care of me. His friends, James and Laurent helped sometimes. Edward gave up his childhood to deal with me. Because our mother could do no better. A few years down the line, she started smiling, cooking, cleaning and paying attention to us again. But...there was something off. She was like a robot. You know, no life, no joy in her. Anyone who hadn't known her before Edward Sr. died, wouldn't have noticed it. Everyone else though, clearly saw it. She was snippy. More violent with the whippings. Edward usually took the hit for me. Always pulling me behind him. As if I was defenseless. I was really. I thought my mother would love me. Always. And never hurt me." Tears shown in her usually brightened eyes. "Some girls move down the street from us. The boys liked to hang out with them. They were triplets. Tanya and Kate liked me, but Irina had an attitude towards me. About a year later, the boys, James and Laurent, were kidnapped. Edward called the police, but it was too late. They found their bodies in the city spring, beaten to death. Edward took it pretty hard. The girls were worse than him though. Tanya jumped off the pier and drowned herself. Kate slit her wrists in the bath tub. Her parents found her. And Irina was found raped and beaten to death in a bad part of town, after she had run away." She paused wiping some tears away. "One day, a couple years later, Edward and I came home from school and was looking for Mom. We looked everywhere and couldn't find her. The neighbors said they hadn't seen her leave. So, we knew she was there. We just...couldn't find her." she gripped her knees tightly for support. "I saw the light coming from underneath the closet door in the hall. It wouldn't budge, so I called for Edward. He came and after twenty minutes of tugging and yelling, we got it open. I wish we never did." she sniffled looking down at her feet. "Elizabeth, had the wire to the light tied around her neck. She was hanging from the ceiling. All I remember after that was me screaming so loud that Edward had to go outside and call the police. I woke up in the hospital. I had fainted and had a seizure. Carlisle was our doctor and he had heard about her suicide and took us in. Emmett wasn't too happy about it. But he lived." She smiled afterward. A small watery smile. I did too and pulled her into a hug!

"Thank you Alice," I whispered to her, "for trusting us with that."

She nodded then looked at me. "You're next."

I nodded knowing that already. "My name's Isabella Marie Swan. I was born here in Forks, Washington on February 12th. At the age of five, my parents split. Renee, my mother took me with her and fled to Arizona. When I was thirteen, she met Phil. They dated till I was fifteen, then he proposed. She said yes. After their honeymoon, they unexpectedly changed. They became abusive and aggressive with me. I met Amber, and we became real close friends. I dropped my life long friends, for their own safety. Amber and I got along real well for new friends.
Cause we were going through the same thing. Phil and Renee and I got into a car accident. They died. I didn't. Our social worker old us, that Nancy was murdered in her back yard. We were put in the foster care system till Charlie answered our calls. Three months later, he finally answers. He adopted us both and brought us straight back here. I had one boyfriend all my life, he was a real asshole. His name was Alex Fisher. He and Phil made it perfectly clear they didn't want someone with me other than them. They made me damaged goods. They made me terrified of every male to walk this earth." I finished letting the tears fall freely. Amber pulled me into a hug as Rose and Alice rubbed my back. Tears falling down their faces as well.

"So basically...you guys have had the most fucked up lives ever?" angel asked shifting in her seat before getting up and getting another soda. We both nodded chocking on our tears.

"PIZZA!" Sue yelled as the doorbell rang. We all jumped at the chance for a good piece.

"Let's watch a movie,huh?" I suggested sitting on the couch beside Amber. They all agreed. "Ok we have, Super Bad, Land of Women, Twilight and New Moon. Which one?"

"Twilight and New Moon." Alice

"Super bad!" Rose.

"Twilight and New Moon." Tina.

"Twilight and New Moon." Ray.

"Twilight and New Moon." Emma

"land of women." Leah.

"Twilight and New Moon." Angel.

"Twilight and New Moon." I said putting in Twilight.

"That Kristen chick is sooooo needy!" Tina scowled when the main girl started getting sorta stalker-ish on the Whit-locks.

"I don't care what he thinks about being careful! He can be rough with me any day!" Ray squealed. I laughed and high fived her in agreement.

"Wow! He is so sexy!" Angel said pointing to Kellan, the guy that resembles a friggin' bear!

"James is an Asshole!" Rose and Alice coursed together, before laughing together. We nodded in agreement.

Shortly after Robert saved her I tapped Amber on the shoulder twice; meaning wake me up if I start shaking. She nodded seriously before I closed my eyes.


Holy hell ! That was long! And it took a long time! Sorry! I am soooo sorry! Review review! Small chapter next then a bigger one, but not as big as this one!

~!LSATUD!~