Chapter 32

Hey, isn't it good to know that you've got a friend?

People can be so cold

They'll hurt you and desert you

Well, they'll take your soul if you let them

Oh yeah, but don't you let them

~ You've Got A Friend- James Taylor

Bella took a protective step forward and covered half Alice's body with her own. Her fist were clenched at her sides and she was struggling to keep her composure neutral. Behind her, she could feel the art teacher trembling and holding on to the back of her shirt for support. "So you're the new principal?" Bella spoke through clenched teeth.

In front of the two women stood a man in his late 50's or early 60's. His pale skin looked almost translucent, similar to an onion. He had long black hair was slicked back into a perfect ponytail with not a strand of hair out of place. His frame was sturdy but thin and was adorned with a suit that while immaculate, looked as though it were stolen from a mobster in the 30's. Aro licked his lips and his smile turned into a leer. "Good morning ladies. Thank you for joining me in my office this morning." Aro's smile fell as he gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk. "Please take a seat so that we may discuss some matters."

It took a minute of gentle tugs, but eventually Bella was able to pry Alice's fingers off of her, and helped her take a seat in one of the chairs. Bella took the other and the women eyed Aro with suspicion. He had only become principal three days ago, and already the office had changed. Aro had cleared out all of the plants, and paintings that helped make the office feel comfortable. Instead he put up blackout drapes against the windows and changed the lighting to a dimmer setting making one almost feel like they were in an interrogation room. To make matters even worse, the AC was on full blast putting a frigid chill in the air.

"My first question is why the both of you missed the meeting on Friday." Aro grabbed a pair of reading glasses off the desk and placed them over his eyes. He had two stacks of papers in front of him and grabbed a fancy pen before looking up at Alice and Bella. "Well?"

Bella folded her hands in her lap and twiddled her thumbs. "Our apartment complex caught on fire Thursday night." Bella looked over at Alice who was fixated on a spot on the desk. "Alice called in to the office Friday morning, but we were in no mental or physical state to be in school Friday."

Aro scribbled something down on his papers and looked up at Bella skeptically. "You too don't appear to have been harmed by the fire. Nor did you go to the hospital. So my question still stands, why did you not show up to the meeting on Friday?"

"Excuse me?" Bella could feel her composure slipping. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Aro suddenly burst into laughter and continued writing on the papers. "I'm kidding. I'm glad the both of you are okay." His gaze fell upon Alice and his smile returned. "I can tell that my presence is making you uncomfortable. But rest assured, this is a professional matter so let's let bygones be bygones, yes?" Aro did not give the women a chance to answer. Instead he stood abruptly and came around the desk to face them head on. "I know that my daughter is in your class, Mrs. Black. I do hope she is doing well."

Bella was taken aback by Aro's words and exchanged glances with Alice. "Who is your daughter?"

"Why Jane of course." Aro beamed proudly at the mention of his daughter and his chest puffed out in pride.

"She is?" Bella asked incredulously. Bella almost couldn't believe it. But the longer she thought about it, the more it all made sense. Jane favored Aro quite a bit so it wasn't too outlandish of a claim. "That's great. She's doing fine in the class."

"Excellent." Aro looked towards Alice and for a brief moment Bella could see longing flash across his face. "Well, you missed the meeting but we just went over my expectations and some changes. I can go over them now-

The bell rang signaling that the school day was to begin in four minutes and Bella felt as though the heavens were singing. "Looks like we're out of time. Raincheck!" Bella hopped out of her seat, snagged Alice's arm and escaped from Aro's office as though she were on fire.

After school had ended, Bella was surprised to find Alice dragging a red-faced Demetri into her classroom. "We have gossip!" The pixie haired woman squealed. "Go ahead Demetri. Tell her about your transgressions." Alice waggled her eyebrows at the teacher who couldn't keep the brightest smile off of his face.

"Alright, so this weekend was very eventful for me." Demetri began and noticed the classroom door was open. He quickly closed it and leaned against it for support. "I spent the weekend with Max."

"What?" Bella dropped the papers she was holding and they scattered across her desk. "Really? What happened? How did it happen?" She paused and looked at the grin on Alice's face. "Did it happen?"

Demetri covered his cheeks with his hands and looked at both women excitedly. "We didn't have sex!" Demetri adjusted his tie while recalling his weekend. "I invited Max out for coffee on Saturday morning. Turns out he's not a morning person, so we changed it to lunch as he showed up late."

"Wow. I'm surprised you waited." Bella caught a smitten look paint it's way onto Demetri's face. "So you got lunch? What else?"

"We hung out all day!" Demetri closed his eyes in remembrance. "It was magical. We talked about everything. We definitely became really close. I didn't want it to end so after lunch, we went go kart racing. That very fun. I felt so youthful. Afterwards, I treated him to a movie, spoiler alert, Jurassic World 2 was amazing and Chris Pratt is hot." Demetri fake fanned himself. "I had told Max about my cat, and he apparently loves cats. So we went back to my place."

Alice nudged Demetri with hwe elbow. "Now tell her the good part."

Bella looked on with intrigue. "Good part?"

Demetri drew in a deep breath and exhaled loudly. "So we were sitting on my couch, enjoying a nice glass of wine. We were only on our first glass, so no one was drunk." Demetri looked at the women and bit his lip. "So Max suddenly starts telling me how he hasn't stopped thinking about the drunken kiss we shared before...and yeah one thing led to another and suddenly he's in my lap and we're making out. It was amazing." Demetri got a faraway look in his eyes and his blush deepened.

Bella gathered up her papers and stacked them neatly on her desk. "So are you two dating now?"

Demetri snapped back to reality and looked down at his feet. "I don't know. We didn't talk about it. But he did bring me coffee this morning and we were able to have a quick chat. That was nice."

Alice squealed again and gave Demetri a quick hug. "This is progress! Congrats!"

Demetri accepted the hug and nodded in agreement. "I think so too. But I did hear about what happened to your apartment. Sorry to hear about that. Did they figure out how it happened?"

"Not yet." Bella told him honestly. Her mind had been filled with so much over the weekend that she had given little thought to how the fire had actually started. All she knew was that the fire had consumed all of their belongings and they were homeless. "It was a terrifying ordeal. I don't like thinking about it."

Demetri held his hands up defensively. "I understand. I'm just glad the both of you are okay." Classical music suddenly filled the air and Demetri realized it was his phone ringing. "It's Max!" Demetri looked at the women happily before bringing the phone to his ear. "Hey Max...not doing anything...yes I can help..." Demetri headed out the door quickly without sparing a second glance to his friends.

"Young love. So cute." Alice gushed. "I ship it!"

Bella nodded in assent. "I do too. I'm so happy things are working out for him." She paused and brought a hand to her belly. "Do you think we can drop by the hospital before we go home?"

"Are you sick?" Alice looked her friend up and down. "You didn't inhale too much smoke did you? They said if we have a cough that won't go away we may have caught bronchitis from the smoke inhalation."

Bella lead the way out of her classroom and locked the door. "Not exactly." Bella patted the small protrusion of her belly and felt a loving warmth spread through her. "I think I'm pregnant."

"PREGNANT?!" Alice screamed down the empty hallway. "What? How?"

"Alice!" Bella shushed her friend and looked around them in embarrassment. "I'm sure you know how a person can get pregnant. I took a test before the fire and it told me I was. So I want to go to the doctors to confirm and pick up some prenatals. I made an appointment during lunch and thankfully they had an opening today."

Alice linked arms with her friend and practically skipped down the hallway. "You and Jacob are about to have a full house! How exciting, a baby! How did he react when you told him?"

Bella paused before opening the car door. "I actually haven't had a chance to tell him yet. Not with everything going on. But I want to do it in a special way."

It took the women just over an hour to reach the hospital. They had to drive all the way to Port Angeles because there was no ultrasound technician available at Forks community hospital.

The pair waited patiently for Bella's appointment and a half hour later she was finally being seen. She was told to urinate in a cup followed by a regular checkup.

"Your vitals are looking good." The female doctor told her while peering through her charts. "Blood pressure is perfect and your cholesterol is perfect for a 26 year old.

"That's good. I'm glad." Bella smiled at the doctor and nervously scratched her head. "So have the results come back?"

The doctor nodded and set down the clipboard on the counter. She scooted her reading glasses up on her head and returned Bella's smile. "You are pregnant. Congratulations. You said before you don't know when your last cycle ended, so we set up an ultrasound to figure some things out. Follow me please." The doctor motioned for Bella to follow her down the hall into the ultrasound room. She was prompted to sit on the hospital bed and get comfortable.

Bella looked around the small room after the doctor had gone to retrieve the ultrasound technician. She still was marveling over the fact that life was growing within her. It had been over five years since she had given birth to Renesmee and her daughter had been one of the best things to ever happen to her. She looked down at her belly covered by her shirt and sighed happily.

"Bella?" A surprised voice called from the doorway. The ultrasound technician that stood in the doorway was slender with silvery-blonde hair, that was pulled back into a high ponytail and reached her shoulders. "It's been a while!"

Bella gaped at the technician who happened to be a long time friend of hers. "Irina!" She hopped off the bed and rushed to give the woman a hug. "What are you doing here?"

Irina laughed melodically but hugged Bella back with as much vigor as she could muster. "I finished my training a couple years and I've been going wherever they call me. I'm sort've like a traveling technician." Irina pulled back and looked at Bella happily. "It sounds more glorious than it is. But it's enjoyable."

"It's so nice to see you." Bella wiped away a tear that tried to escape from her eye. "How's your sister, Bree? And Zafrina!"

"Well Bree is attending college in Florida. She said she was tired of the rain. She's going to be a journalist or something. You know she has the gift of gab." Irina chuckled as she thought of her sister. "Zafrina actually joined an organization that's tackling the growth of the Sahara desert. They're trying to reduce it's expansion." Irina shrugged and motioned to the bed. "I spoke to her last week and she seems to be doing well. I think she's thinking of staying there permanently. But let's return to you. I need to to lie on the bed and lift up your shirt."

Bella did as she was told and allowed Irina to perform the exam. "I still can't believe I ran into you here. The last time I saw you, I was getting married!"

"And with a baby bump to boot!" Irina giggled and turned on the machine. "It was a wonderful wedding, I was so happy for you. After what happened with Edward," Irina paused and her smile fell. "He was an asshole. I'm so happy you found a man to love you. How are things with Jacob?"

"Our relationship has been wonderful. Some minor bumps and bruises, but that's to be expected." Bella flinched when a cold lubricant was applied to her stomach. "Did you hear that Edward was released from prison?"

Irina scowled and held the ultrasonic wand in her hand like a baseball bat. "Our justice system must be corrupt for someone like him to be allowed back on the streets." Irina brought the wand to Bella's stomach and began to slowly move it around. "He can rot in hell for all I care." Irina paused and side-eyed Bella. "He hasn't gotten in touch with you, has he?"

Bella felt her breath hitch and tried to control her rising blood pressure. "He has."

Irina and swore under her breath. "I wish I could say I was surprised, but after watching the news, and reading the paper, I, unfortunately can see why."

"What?" Bella asked bewildered. "What's going on in the news?"

Irina set down the wand and crossed her arms. "Well after he was released, he tried to reclaim his position as president. But the current president wouldn't allow it. They've been going through some legal issues. Apparently there's a clause in the contracts that gives Edward the legal right to be head of the company. But there's been issues or something that's preventing him. I don't know." Irina picked the wand up again and continued the procedure. "I think Edward is up to something. But he's probably so upset with this that I can see him contacting you to complain. He' such a prick." Irina's face suddenly lit up and she looked at the monitor excitedly. "Oh! There you are! And a perfect heartbeat as well." Irina angled the monitor so that Bella could see the black and white image. "From the formation of the fetus if it looks about twelve weeks. Let me print you a picture."

Bella looked from the monitor to her belly. A slight bump had formed and she knew it was only going to get bigger from here on out. "When can I find out the sex of the baby?"

Irina grabbed the ultrasound printout and handed it to Bella. "Usually between 16-20 weeks. What are you hoping for?"

"I don't mind either really." Bella fawned over the picture and giggled when Irina whipped the lubricant off of her stomach with a paper towel. "How long are you in town for? Would you like to meet Renesmee? She's five now!"

Irina smiled ruefully and shook her head. "I wish I could. But my flight leaves tonight. Today is my last day here. It was pure luck we ran into each other." Irina threw the soiled paper towel in the trash. "Make sure you take some prenatals if you aren't already. I can get the doctor to prescribe you some, but honestly it's cheaper if you get them over the counter." She smiled down at her friend and gave her one last hug. "It really is so nice to see you. I hope in the future Zafrina, Bree, you and I can have a reunion. It would be nice."

Bella stood from the hospital bed and nodded vigorously. "It would." Bella looked back down at the ultrasound and held it close to her heart.

By the time Alice dropped Bella off at her father's, the sun had set. She had not meant to be out for so long, and what made matters worse was that her phone had died. She entered the house and flicked on the hall light. The living room TV was on the local news station and sound softly filtered into the hall. "I'm back." She called out to whomever was in the other room. When no one responded, she peered inside and found it devoid of life. A note resting on top of the coffee table caught her eye and she picked it up quickly.

Took Renesmee to McDonalds for some food. Be back soon!- Jake

Bella tossed the note in the recycle bin and paused. She pushed the note to the side and felt her blood run cold. Ripped in half, but sitting neatly on top of the recyclables sat the plane tickets that Caius had given her. She stumbled backwards into the couch and felt her legs give way. She flopped down and continued to stare at the destroyed tickets. Had Jacob found them and gotten upset at the idea? Did Renesmee accidentally tear them and tossed them in the trash?

"-I was just going for my normal late-night hike, when I came across his body like that. It was so terrifying!" The woman told the reporter. "It looks like an animal tore him to pieces!"

The reporter solemnly agreed. "His name has not yet been identified. But the local police department is working on solving the mystery of this death and figuring out the identity of the man."

The camera scanned the area and showed a fleeting image of the face of the man. Since his body was mutilated, a cover had been placed over him to shield him from the camera.

Bella's eyes widened in terror when she saw the stark blonde hair of the man as the camera panned away. "Caius?" Something covered her vision and a ear shattering scream pierced through her lips.

A/N: Thank Raylene for this update! She was like, ay, you updating or nah?

Y'all didn't ask but, the reason for my delay in updating is that I was student teaching from Jan to late April and graduated in May. I was also working part-time and all of my time was consumed. It was hectic. (Insert sarcasm here) The best part of my student-teaching experience is that my co-teacher gave me the worst experience, crushed my dreams and failed me so I can't teach what I had studied for 7 (that's right, not 4) years. It's been rough getting over all of that ya know. I'm 25, ready to start my career and then my dreams are crushed and reality kicks in. But I have an odd personality. It won't allow me to be depressed per say, but I've been feeling off for a since I graduated.

No worries though, I guess an angel was on my shoulder as I just got hired for a wonderful job that I'm very excited to work. It's not teaching, but when one door closes, a window opens right? New path, new me..?

With that said, I'm feeling really good. I've even been typing more than I have in the last 2 years combined. To everyone who has been reading this story since 2015, thank you and I appreciate you so very much. To everyone as a whole, I'm hope you're still enjoying the story and read it through to the end! A lot of things are about to start connecting and you're gonna be like 'OMG I KNEW IT'. It's about to get wild. No spoilers tho haha.

Next update will be soon. No longer than two weeks. Legit. If you don't have an update by July 17th, please feel free to spam my inbox like 'BRUH WTF YOU PROMISED!'

To all my American's, Happy 4th!

To all my non-American's, hope you're having a wonderful week!

Stay tuned, and thanks again for reading and hopefully enjoying my story!