Sincerest apologies for my absence. Possible long winded explanation in the footnote, but I'll let you read on first :)

Confide in Me

When the bell signals the end of lunch, Edward and I hide out in the music room for a few extra minutes, and then he walks me to the principal's office. Although most people have already made it to class, we catch the eye of a few stragglers. One of them is a Brittany, and Edward puts his arm around me as we walk past her. I keep my head down to avoid eye contact.

He sits next to me when we're finally called into Mrs O'Hare's office, and I tell her everything that's happened over the last week. He cuts in when he thinks I'm being too blasé and reminds Mrs O'Hare of my condition and the consequences that could have come from the shove that made me fall over.

When she asks for names I find myself stuck, and Edward is amused when I look to him for help. He names five different girls and Mrs O'Hare shakes her head in disappointment as she writes them down.

"I'll get them in and have a talk to them," she notes.

"Katie's the one you really want to talk to Mrs O'Hare, she's the ring leader and she has a personal vendetta against Bella," he explains.

She looks to me with wide eyes. "Why would she feel any animosity towards you?" she asks, surprised.

"Because of me," Edward replies lowly.

She looks to him and then writes something down on her pad. "Did you have relations with Katie Jenkins, I mean is this a jealousy thing?"

Edward looks embarrassed. "Yes, it's a jealousy thing, no Katie and I did not have … relations," he adds reluctantly.

I almost laugh at his obvious discomfort with this topic of conversation, considering I'm sitting right here, and I'm the perfect example of him having relations.

"Right." She writes more stuff onto the paper in front of her and then looks up at us. "I'm going to let all your teachers know the situation, and I want you to go straight to them, or me, if you have any more problems, okay?" We both nod. "Okay, now, straight back to class, and thank you for letting me know that this is going on."

At the end of the day both Edward and Jasper are waiting with me by the pickup bay, despite me telling them I'll be fine and to go home.

"I could teach you muay thai," Jasper pipes up after Edward updates him on our trip to see Mrs O'Hare. "Those bitches wouldn't want to touch you then," he adds.

"Those bitches wouldn't want to touch her now, or ever," Edward fumes.

Jasper smiles at him, amused. He thumps him on the back twice and chuckles. "Put your claws back in, tiger," he jests.

"I don't think I'm in any shape to be learning muay thai," I put a hand on my bump, "but thanks for the offer. I'll just continue fighting with my wit." I smile.

"Solid plan," he nods in agreement.

When mum pulls up I can see her eyebrows just about jump off her face in surprise, but she nonchalantly leans across and greets us with a raised palm. "Hello, boys," she calls out.

"Hello, Mrs Swan," they say in unison.

This is all too weird for me. I jump into the passenger seat as quickly as my tired body will allow and tell my mother to drive already. She gives me a puzzled look, leans over me and waves again. "Bye, boys!"

"Bye!" They wave.

She finally pulls out of the parking space and waits until we're on the road before voicing her curiosity.

"What's going on?"

I'm too tired to talk about this, but then I am also too tired to have her hassle me about it all night. I sigh and tell her why the guys were babysitting me.

"She pushed you?" Mum is furious. "That bloody little bitch! I'm going to have a talk to her parents!"

I look at her sideways and laugh. My mum rarely swears, so hearing her say those words really amuses me. She throws me a sideways glance.

"This isn't funny, Izzy! You're pregnant for God's sake!"

I sigh and sink into my seat.

"I know, but Mrs O'Hare is going to sort it out, so please don't make it worse than it already is," I beg. "I just want this all to blow over."

She pulls into the drive way, puts the car in park and looks to me. "You know, sometimes I wish you'd stop being so … detached from the world. The way you react to what goes on around you … things like this don't just blow over." She stops to mull over how to get her point across before speaking again. "You're having a baby, Izzy. If you don't learn how to stand up and speak out soon, then parenthood is really going to throw you for a six."

She turns off the car, pulls the key from the ignition, and gives me one last look, before opening her door. I get out of the car and walk up to my room without a word.

I sit on my bed and mull over my mother's words. What she said was nothing I didn't already know, but something about it has me unable to think about anything else. I try to push it aside and get on with some homework, but give up and lose myself in some music, before I'm called down for dinner.

It's not until I've closed my eyes and invited sleep to take me over that it hits me. My eyes spring open in an instant.

She said parenthood. I wonder if I've said something to give her the impression that I've changed my mind, but I can't think of anything.

In fact, the topic of adoption hasn't come up for weeks.

A strange sense of panic overcomes me, before sleep takes over.

So, I would like to buy ya'll some sorry shakes, let me know what flavour ya like?

My life is hectic with a capitol F lately. I have a house that needs renovating before we vacate, plus packing, plus my 18 month old who has decided that sleep is for fools (I soooo want to be a fool!), plus an almost 6yo who's party is in 4 weeks and I haven't organised shit (give me your best snack ideas pretty please! It's a Monsters High theme and I'm stuck on spooky snack ideas!), and I also have a medical condition that likes to make my life more like an obstacle course than a golf course some days. I've never played golf, mind you, but it looks more laid back than an obstacle course.

And here is where you send hate mail. I'm going to have to scale back the updates. They'll likely be between 2-4 times a week. Possibly more if I can find time. From the bottom of my heart I apologise.

Lastly, thank you all so so much for faving and following and especially to those who also take time out to review. They keep me going.

All my love

BDB

xx

PS. That Girl's playlist is now on my profile. Check it out if you're interested :)