How You Remind Me

For the rest of the week it feels like wherever I turn, there's a Brittany. Thankfully, I'm not accidentally pushed over again, but in every class I hear snide remarks and down every hall there's always one giving me a dirty look or whispering to a fellow Brittany. There's new rumours, too. Really horrible ones; like that I only got pregnant to go on teen mum and when I wasn't accepted I tried to abort the baby in the toilets.

By the end of the week it's become apparent that the Brittanys are actively singling me out. I tell myself to ignore them. I tell myself that it doesn't bother me. This is almost true, but today, they broke down my walls, and with a childish note at that.

After school Edward and I went to my appointment where we found out that the clot is still there. It hasn't shrunk, but it hasn't grown either and they're still really worried about it causing problems, but Esme has a way of putting a positive spin on things and I walk out with a sense of hope that everything will be okay. Edward seems lost inside his mind as he drives me home, but I'm not up for talking so I don't really care.

Once home, I have dinner, shower, and then head up to my room to do my homework. When I pull my books out of my bag, a piece of folded up paper falls to the ground. I pick it up and open it.

Kill yourself you attention seeking whore

It's all too much for me to take. I can't keep it all inside anymore and I throw myself onto my bed and cry. I cry until I fall asleep.

Saturday I wake up to missed calls from both Edward and Angela. I turn my phone off and spend the whole weekend locked in my room, catching up on homework and reading. I also look up hematoma and read some positive stories from other mums who've had it. It helps put my mind at ease.

Monday morning I'm surprised to see no Angela waiting for me and I remember that she tried calling me on the weekend, but I haven't turned my phone back on to check my voicemail.

I'm looking down at my phone's start up screen when I feel someone approach me.

"Where have you been? I've been trying to call you all weekend."

I look up at Edward and fake a smile. Something I've gotten pretty good at this past week.

"Oh, hey! Um, I turned my phone off so I could catch up on my homework without any distractions."

"But I'm an awesome distraction," he jokes.

"Sure you are," I tease.

I ask him where Angela is and he tells me she's sick, which is confirmed when I read one of the six messages on my phone.

Although Angela's not here, someone always walks me from one class to the next. If it's not Edward or Jasper, it's Eric. The one place they can't accompany me to is the ladies toilets, and that's where I am when a piece of paper is tossed over the cubicle and lands at my feet.

I try to resist reading it, but curiosity is a killer and all that…

He doesn't even like you he just feels sorry for you because you are pathetic

I blink back tears and race out of there as quickly as I can.

Lunch is spent with the group as usual, but Edward notices that I'm a little distant and brings it up. I assure him I'm just stressed about the upcoming exams and assignments that are due. He's sceptical, but he lets it slide.

Tuesday Angela is still sick. Edward questions me about dodging his calls last night and I use my homework excuse again. He's not falling for it, but I'm saved by the bell and tell him I have to get to class.

Eric is in my first three classes of the day and we silently walk between classes together. Which is new for him because the guy has a motor mouth. After my fourth class, the lunch bell rings. I'm barely out the door when I see Edward reach through the crowd and pull me toward him. He looks pissed.

"What's wrong?" I ask, as he drags me along with him silently.

"Follow me, we need to talk," is all he says, before letting go of my hand and walking ahead of me.

I follow him to the music block, wondering what I've done wrong. Once we're inside he turns and steps toward me.

"You're doing it again," he states harshly.

"What?"

"Shutting me out." He's fired up, fists clenched and jaw tight.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit!" he yells, making me jump. He thrusts his hands through his hair and looks at me, challenging me. "Do you think I don't hear things, Bella? Do you truly think that I'm completely oblivious to what's going on with you?"

I shake my head. I'm still not a hundred percent positive that I know what he's talking about, but my throat is too tight to speak.

"I hear what they say about you. What they say about us. I didn't know why it all started up again, I just thought there was a lull in things for those bitches to gossip about … You've been getting picked on and you said nothing. You got pushed and, still you said nothing!"

"Hey, that's not fair, you found out before I got a chance to tell you," I defend myself.

For some reason that's not sliding, in fact I've just made him angrier.

"You told me it was nothing, Bella. You said she bumped into you. She pushed you to the fucking ground! You're pregnant! People don't just go around pushing pregnant women! And now you're getting notes? The worst of it is that I have to hear about all this from other people. Why didn't you tell me, Bella? Have I not proven myself enough? Am I not enough for you?" He turns away from me slightly and pinches the bridge of his nose with a frustrated sigh.

I'm a blubbering mess and my words come out shaky.

"I thought that if I ignored it it'd all just go away," I admit, defeated. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise it'd make you this angry."

Within seconds I am enveloped in his arms and I feel his lips in my hair as he speaks.

"I'm sorry, it's just I hate it when you shut me out, but it's my fault you're going through this and I'm angry at myself more than you. I should have seen this coming."

"It's not your fault," I sniffle into his chest. "They just hate me for some reason."

"They hate you because of me," he admits with a sigh. "Katie's been chasing after me for a while and she's jealous of you."

I never thought anyone would ever be jealous of me. I pull away and look up at him in confusion. "Katie?"

"Brittany," he explains.

"Oh." So Edward doesn't like the Brittanys either. I get a small sense of joy from this.

"So this was never going to just go away. We have to make it go away," he switches back to the subject at hand.

"How are we going to do that exactly?" I ask.

"Well, I've already put my plan in place, but I think you should go see Mrs O'Hare and show her the notes. She needs to know what's going on."

I would much rather this all just go away without having to get the principal and Edward involved, but I realise now that I need help. Sensing my disappointment in myself, Edward pulls me back. I wrap my arms around his waist and grip the back of his shirt. His hands rest on the small of my back. I turn my head and rest it against his heart, my ear is tickled by his breath as he talks just above a whisper.

"Like it or not, you're a little fragile right now. I want to protect you. I want to protect our baby, but I can't do that if you don't let me in."

I look up at him, my cheeks wet with fresh tears, and smile. "I'll try," I whisper.

He brushes my cheek with his thumb, wiping my tears away, and there's a look in his eye that I've seen before. I know what's about to happen and I welcome it by turning my head as he leans down. His lips capture mine in a soft and tender kiss that makes my heart flutter. He kisses me once, twice more and then rests his forehead against mine.

"Brings back memories," he smiles and stands tall, looking down at me.

"Best two minutes of my life," I say in jest.

He chuckles and squeezes me gently. "Hey! It was my second time! Give a guy a break!"

"So who was your first?"

"You sure you want to know?" I nod. I don't care who he's been with before, he obviously hasn't gone back there so she can't have been that good. "Lauren."

"Who?" I try to think if I know her.

"Brittany," he clarifies with a chuckle.

"Oh!"

Dam, so he liked a Brittany at one point. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I don't have long to think about it before I feel the baby kick me really hard for the first time, crashing us both back down to reality.

I hand wrote this at some ungodly hour last night while shivering in my icebox of a room, so apologies if it's a little kooky.

I got word that some (or one) of you lovely folk have rec'd this story, and I want to thank you. *insert hug emoticon here*

So much love and thanks to all those that have taken time out of their busy day to write down their thoughts in the box below. If I could kiss you, I would, but I can't, so next time you kiss your reflection tell yourself it's from me.

Yeah, I need to eat. I get weird when I don't eat.

Oh! So there's going to be some talk about music coming up and I'll include songs that have helped me get these two on paper, so make sure you check out my profile in the coming days for my TG playlist and feel free to rec me anything you think will suit these two. My husband says my taste in music is weird. I would call it eclectic.

Much love,

BDB x

PS. Apologies to anyone named Brittany. I'm sure you're not a bitch, I am simply calling them that because I imagine them all looking like Brittany Spears in her 'Oops I did it Again' video. I hope you understand x