Hey guys, remember me? I am so sorry I haven't updated in a while, my laptop broke and I had to send it away for repairs but I'm back now with that chapter I promised you.

xXx

Chapter Eight

The following Monday, I arrived at Bella's house to find no one at home, so I made my way to school hell bent on getting answers. We were supposed to meet up to work on our project, but we couldn't due to Bella refusing to reply to any of my texts or answer any of my calls.

I went to her house a few times and bumped into her dad twice but both times he simply told me she was sick, I would smile and ask him to tell her I came by and to feel better. He said he would.

He was lying of course.

Plus what's the point in telling someone who was already well to get better?

Last week there were football try outs coincidently on the Wednesday Bella and I were supposed to meet up on, so in a way it's kind of good that she was avoiding me because it would have put me in the awkward position of choosing between Bella and try outs but then again it would be so much more than just that, in a way it would be me deciding who I'd choose between Bella and everyone else and I really didn't want to have to make a choice.

However, since Bella has backed off, Alice has been coming on full force. I'm not sure where it came from but suddenly Alice was being too nice. It wasn't entirely obvious but considering we hardly know each other, it was a bit much.

Take me walking to English last week, all of a sudden Alice is holding my arm and chatting my ear off before I even take in the fact that she's there. She has so much energy and combined with the fact that she's quite short, it's quite endearing.

For most guys any way.

I prefer brunettes.

Especially the one who seems to be avoiding me for some reason.

Back to Alice though, it wasn't just that way that she was being strange, it was also the things she'd said last week like at lunch how she'd randomly said 'Now it's just the two of us'. Was there a third person I was unaware of?

I pulled up into the school car park, angrily; I grabbed my stuff from the car and stormed to the library forgoing my usual morning visit to my locker. I pushed open the library door which hit the wall with a resounding thud and causing the librarian to glare at me but that wasn't important. What was important was the brunette tucked away in the corner reading a book.

I walked up to her and stood waiting for her to answer me but instead of acknowledging my presence she continued to ignore me and read on. Frustrated, I grabbed her book and threw it on to the table beside her but she still wouldn't meet my eyes.

What was up with her?

Things had been so good on the weekend and now she was acting as though I didn't exist.

"Bella" I said still standing over her.

"Bella"

"Bella, please answer me" but she wouldn't.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked but still no reply.

"Please, just look at me, please" I begged.

She raised her head and I could see tears pooling in them.

I crouched down in front of her and held her hands, worried.

"What's wrong Bella?" she shook her head and the tears fell onto her cheeks.

"Please, just tell me if I did something because if I did, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry, just don't ignore me"

"It's not your fault" she said her voice shaking.

"Then whose is it?"

"Mine, it's all my fault Jasper. I shouldn't have come back here, it was a mistake."

"Why, what happened, what brought this on? Did, did someone say something to you?"

No reply.

"Bella?"

"It doesn't matter Jasper, I'm being pathetic as always, I need to, I need…" she was breathing erratically and tears were still pooling.

She pushed me away and stood up getting her things together just as the bell rang overhead. She couldn't possibly be considering going to class in the condition she was in. Tears were still streaming down her face. Her eyes and nose were red and her behaviour definitely was not right.

More importantly though, she would be the perfect bait for the students of Forks who were almost like piranha's ready to pounce on her when she was most vulnerable and knowing them they would enjoy it a lot.

"You're not going anywhere" I said grabbing her arm. She flinched as I did so and I loosened my grip slightly.

"Are you okay?" She turned away from me, not replying.

I pulled up the sleeve of her arm and saw a mirage of yellow-green bruises on her arm. They were small and thin in a line and slightly surrounded her arm.

I furrowed my brow, reaching out gently to touch the bruises that marred her flawless skin.

I didn't think I'd held her that hard.

Bella feebly attempted to get away, even hitting me on the chest slightly and pinching my arm before giving up.

"Jasper, let me go, please" she whimpered. The look in her eyes were beyond despondent, hopeless even.

The thing about Bella is that her eyes are extremely expressive, she could hide the emotions on her face but if you looked carefully you could see the way she was feeling reflecting in the brown orbs of her eyes.

Like now, I didn't even need to hear what she had to say because the way she was feeling was showing so clearly in her eyes. My heart ached for her, she looked, not weak, but open, vulnerable, scared like a child that goes around all day pretending that they don't need anyone's help or attention but deep down inside, they're screaming for it, for someone to care and to look after them, if only for a minute.

For someone to be her strength.

She took a shuddering breath before falling into me. I was still holding onto one of her arms which I let go of, before wrapping them around her. We didn't move or say anything, simply stood still and that was enough.

After a while, Bella pulled back. My arms were still around her and we were still close but I felt a million miles away from her. She'd put a wall up distancing herself from me.

"Jasper, I need to go to class" her voice was quiet, no emotion, no nothing.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I do"

"Why?" her eyes were staring hard at the ground as her eyebrows furrowed.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you need to go to class?"

"Because, Jasper…."

"Because what?"

"Because I do, I just do" her voice spiked a little, panic.

"Ok"

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"But I just want you to look me in the eyes and tell me that you need to go and I'll let you. Tell me you're fine and I'll let you go. Just look me in the eyes and tell me the honest truth"

"Jasper, you're being stupid, let me go"

"I'm just asking for a simple thing Bella, look me in the eyes and tell me that you're fine, that you want to go to class"

Her mouth opened and closed, a sigh escaped her lips.

"Bella?"

No response.

"I'm waiting"

I heard her snuffle.

"I…I'm fine Jasper" she stuttered.

"Look me in the eyes"

She didn't.

"I'm fine" she repeated sounding a lot steadier.

"You wanna know something?" I mused "You are a terrible liar"

"I'm not lying" she bit out indignantly.

"Then look me in the eyes!"

"I can't" she cried almost immediately. "I can't"

Tears began falling down her cheeks again and her eyes finally lifted to mine.

"You're not fine Bella, are you?"

"I don't want to go to class, I'm scared" she whimpered "I'm scared Jasper"

Staring down at the broken girl in front of me, I knew I had to do something and in that second I made a quick decision.

"Then you don't have to"

"What?" she looked up at me.

"You don't have to" I looked around quickly "Come on"

I grabbed her book and held onto her arm pulling her out the library doors. I checked left and right, making sure that the halls were empty before pulling her towards the exit.

"Jasper, Jasper, where are we going?" Bella whispered from beside me.

"I told you. You don't have to go to class today"

"So where are we going?"

"We're ditching" I smirked at her as we turned down the next hallway.

Voices filtered down the hallway as we neared the exit and I quickly pulled us down a side hallway leading to the outside grounds.

"Oh my gosh, we're really doing this" Bella said almost awe struck.

"That we are"

We ran across the grass, damp with left over morning dew.

"Jasper about-" Bella shrieked as she slipped and fell to the ground.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked as I helped her up.

"Yeah, yeah" she wiped her muddy hands on her jeans.

"You sure?" I asked concerned.

"Yeah" she said taking another step before almost slipping again.

"I don't think you are" I said stepping towards her.

"J-jasper what are you doing?" she screamed as I hoisted her up over my shoulder and began making my way towards my car.

"Speeding things up, you're kind of slow and clumsy" I laughed as she hit me on the shoulder and turned my head looking at the school.

I faced forward confused before glancing back again squinting. I could have sworn I just saw Alice, staring at us, glaring.

I got to my car and helped Bella in before getting into the driver seat and taking off.

"So where are we going?" Bella asked nervously from beside me as I drove. The roads of Forks were emptier than usual; it was eerie as though it were a ghost town.

"Not sure" I lied. I knew exactly where I was taking her, back to mine.

"Oh"

"We could go to my house" I suggested although I wasn't really giving her a choice.

"Umm, are you sure, I mean…"

"What?"

"I don't think that, that's a very good idea, it's just, you know…" her wide eyes stared back at me, fear in them.

"Where would you like to go?" I asked, disappointed.

"The park, it'll be quiet there, private and, and we can…..talk" she said after a moment.

I furrowed my brows, contemplating before asking for directions.

She was right, more than anything we needed to talk but it should be on her terms and where she felt comfortable or knowing Bella she'll just withdraw into herself and that'd be it.

xXx

We pulled up to the park after not too long, it was relatively big considering the size of Forks with multiple swing sets, slides and even a roundabout.

Apart from the odd mother with her child, the place was essentially deserted.

We walked round until we got to a park bench and sat down, not saying anything. I wasn't sure what to say. The mood had shifted completely knowing we were going to…talk.

Such a simple word.

Talk.

Four letters long.

Yet for some reason it had me dreading that something absolutely terrible was going to happen or had already happened.

I felt worse for Bella, having to tell me all about it, she's quite a private person, strong and it must have killed her to fall apart like that and here I am potentially asking her to do it again.

It's cruel of me to do so, but I neededto know, to make things right, better.

To help her.

Bella's feet shuffled awkwardly on the ground below her as she cleared her throat.

"Wh-where would you like me to start?" her eyes were fixed on a point in the distance although I doubted she was even really seeing anything.

"The beginning" I paused "After we left the library, we went to class and things were normal for the rest of the day but then you didn't come to study hall"

"I went home"

"Why?"

"Because Alice told me to"

I turned to face her in shock but she hadn't changed position, I thought back to that day, Bella hadn't turned up to study hall and Alice had walked in extremely late, I hadn't taken much notice of Alice's absence because I'd been too focused on Bella and I definitely hadn't realised that they could be linked.

I was such an idiot.

I definitely hadn't thought that there was anything odd about Alice's excuse of 'helping to clear the school of useless things' I had just assumed that she meant throwing away things the school didn't need anymore.

Edward's expressions had been odd, he'd regarded Alice with a knowing look as though he knew she was lying yet he didn't say anything and Lil, her face was weary.

But once again, I picked up on none of these things at the time.

"When did Alice tell you this?" My voice was hoarse but I needed to confirm my suspicions.

"Study hall" she paused and bit her lip "I was running late because I'd been talking to one of my teachers and by the time I was on my way to class, the halls were empty, at least I thought they were" she chuckled bitterly, darkly.

I had never seen Bella talk this way before, it was…scary. I felt unnerved.

"Alice just….came out of nowhere and she was talking to me all bubbly and sweet, like normal, like before" her voice was reminiscent and a nostalgic look had entered her eyes, her mind was far, far away from this moment. "I wasn't paying attention to what she was saying until she asked if we could talk privately and she grabbed my arm and pulled me into an empty classroom and it was like a switch was flicked"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't explain it, like she literally became another person and then she started speaking and….and it was about you, Jasper, she was telling me to stay away from you or else, she started, she was…she was saying how you…you were just going to turn on me, like everyone else and how she was just looking out for me and how you….you" Bella squeezed her eyes shut as her voice broke.

"What Bella?" I put my hand on hers and squeezed lightly.

"She was saying how you and her, you were…..it doesn't matter" she looked at me as she wiped away her falling tears only for them to be replaced by more. "It doesn't matter Jasper, nothing really matters anymore. I….I don't think we should be friends anymore, it's better for me, you and….and everyone really" she sniffed. "It's safer, it's easier than…."

"Why though?" I leaned forward touching my forehead to hers and closing my eyes. It was physically killing me to see her like this. She didn't deserve this, no one deserved this. Apart from a few people like Angela and her boyfriend Bella was pretty much alone. She was going through so much and she was handling this burden alone.

"I don't wanna hurt anymore Jasper, I hate hurting but I do, everyday, all the time. I can't get away from it and I know" she swallowed thickly "I know that one day, you're going to hurt me too, it may not be today, or tomorrow or next week but you're going to hurt me, just like everyone else" She started crying, gasping for breath.

I could feel her tears running down my cheeks, we were sharing them, but I didn't want to just share her tears. I wanted to share her hurt, her loneliness, her pain because maybe then I'd be able to take some of it away from her.

"I won't Bella, I promise you"

"You're not the first person to promise me that and the last person that did, hurt me in the end. They always do that, people make promises but circumstances make them break them" Bella sat back on the bench and took a deep breath before wiping away her tears.

We sat in silence as the Forks wind blew around us, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I felt Bella's small, warm hand curl around mine where it was next to me. I looked at her but she was still staring out into the distance, biting her lip.

"Everything will be alright, won't it?" her voice was small, like a child speaking to their parents.

"Yeah, everything will be alright" I squeezed her hand reassuringly.

She smiled slightly in my direction.

"Bella" I paused "Why did you avoid me then?"

She looked at me, confused.

"You heard what I said Jasper"

"Yeah I know but, why did you listen, why didn't you pick up my calls or reply to my texts, even if it was just to tell me to leave you alone"

Bella sighed, removing her hand from mine.

"You don't get it"

"Then explain it to me" I could feel the irritation, the anger rising.

"I already have"

"No Bella, you told me what Alice said and what you did but you didn't really say why you listened to Alice, despite the fact that it's been, how long since she spoke to you. In fact the only time I've ever seen her speak to you, albeit indirectly was when she shouted in class"

"Jasper leave it"

"Leave what Bella? I'm asking you a simple question why did you listen to Alice, despite everything that's happened" I shouted drawing the attention to the small amount of people in the park.

"Don't shout at me Jasper"

"Then stop being so difficult"

Then it clicked.

"That's not all Alice told you, is it?"

Bella eyes stared guardedly at me.

"Wha-what do you mean?"

"I mean you're hiding something from me"

"Leave me alone" she bit out after a moment.

"Huh?"

"Go away" she breathed out slowly.

"Why, Bella, please just answer-"

"Fuck off Jasper!" Bella shouted. "Just go away and leave me the hell alone"

I could do no more than simply sit there and stare at Bella. There were clearly more sides to her than I knew, not that I particularly knew that much about Bella although I thought I did.

"Fine" she said suddenly knocking me out of my thoughts "If you won't go, I will" She stood up and started walking away.

"Bella?" I called out after her but she didn't turn around simply walking faster, as I sat glued almost to the bench "Bella!"

But she'd walked out the park gates and was gone.

xXx

I was stunned.

Shocked.

Bewildered.

But most of all I was worried.

After Bella had stormed off angrily away from me, I simply drove to her house intent on waiting for her there. Naturally I was going to arrive first so I planned what I was going to say to her and rehearsed it and rehearsed it and rehearsed it while I waited for her.

And waited.

And waited.

I glanced at my watch, shocked to realise that 3 hours had passed and Bella hadn't returned. I checked my phone to see if she'd tried to call or text me but simply found missed calls and messages from Lil and her friends.

The rain had started a while back and had yet to relent. I lay back on the chair and stared blankly out the window thinking back to my life in Texas. I wasn't sure if it'd ever rained as badly as this yet in Forks this was the norm.

The thing is though, the people in Forks and where I lived in Texas were very similar in that talk spreads quickly and everyone seems to know everyone's business like after the incident, everyone I went people would stare at me with pity in their eyes, knowing exactly what happened, knowing about Lil.

When I went out, especially on the days when it was scorching, I'd keep my shirt on to hide the main scar on my arm. I sighed touching it on instinct, I remembered my mother's scream, I remembered the blood, I remembered the dizziness and I remembered the darkness.

I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts, I didn't want to go back to that place.

I tapped my fingers against the dashboard, staring absentmindedly out the window. I could see a figure staggering through the rain, I squinted my eyes and could see that it was Bella. I opened the door and ran up to her and even though she was drenched, I could see she'd been crying.

Her clothes clung to her and her hair hung wet, sticking to her face. I brushed the parts covering her face and tucked them behind her ear. A sob escaped her mouth as she buried her face in my chest.

I simply held her again that day as her body convulsed against me from the force of the tears fighting their way out of her body, saying nothing at all as I waited for her to say something, anything.

But when she did speak, her voice was small and feeble. One simple line that broke my heart.

"She was right, he didn't want me"

xXx

How was that?