Author Note: Thanks for the great response to this story! Safe to say that no one likes James! You guys had lots of ideas on what Edward and Bella could do!

Teasers for guessing the chapter title from Dionne Warwick and Friends (Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John) went to: Hannah2204, Team Marylou, OWT, orion03981, SassYNoleS, Midnight Cougar, NKubie, MissyDy, Lisalouise, Lilypad10, PBJilly, dawnhybb, tff000, gabby1017, TrulyOutrageous, angels04, Ninkita, and MariahajilE.

Thanks again to moosals for pre-reading. Stephenie Meyer owns all characters.

Chapter 17 – That's What Friends Are For

"All right, my first lie," I begin nervously, "was more a lie of omission. I told you about the older guy that I'd had a brief relationship with back in Chicago. What I didn't tell you is that… he was my AP English teacher."

"No way!" Jake exclaims. "The guy with the huge schlong was your teacher?"

"Who was married?" Alice adds. "What a total jerk!"

"No," I quickly protest. "He in no way used his position to seduce me into something I didn't want to do. I'd been fantasizing about him for weeks before anything happened."

"But he was still married!" she yells.

"Yes, but… although he and his wife were still on good terms, his marriage was over except for the legal part, and had been for a couple of years. There's more to it, but that's not for me to tell. I'm sorry."

"You didn't mention that earlier," she accuses.

"I didn't know everything when I told you guys about him," I confess.

"So you've talked to him since you left Chicago?" Jake asks, gradually putting the pieces together.

I nod. "It's completely random, but he just so happened to come to UMSL to teach this semester."

"He's here?" Alice screeches.

"Are you sure it was random?" Jake asks skeptically.

"I'm sure," I nod. "I knew he was planning to finish up his PhD and get a job at a university. He thought I was going to U of I when he accepted a temporary position at UMSL filling in for Dr. Maltby. It was a total coincidence.

"After several weeks, I finally allowed him to explain everything to me, and that's when he told me the truth about his marriage. It still took a couple more weeks for me to forgive him for not mentioning he was married before anything happened between us."

"Wait," Alice says, "so the mysterious guy you've been dating is your former high school teacher?"

"Yes," I nod.

"But you said it was this Edward guy who took care of James for me," Jake says.

"That's him," I nod. "One and the same."

"That hottie was your teacher? Hell, no wonder you lusted after him," Alice laughs.

"And… he's still my teacher," I confess quietly. "Remember how I told you that someone in my Literature class reminded me of my ex? Just a slight modification of the truth."

"He teaches your Literature class?" she clarifies.

"Yes. And we know that even a consensual relationship between us is prohibited so long as he's my professor. Believe me, he treats me like anyone else in the classroom and when he's grading papers, but it's still against the rules. We made the joint decision not to wait for the semester to be over before we started seeing each other… and that decision has come back to bite us in the ass."

"How so?" Jake asks.

"Someone saw us kissing at Dave & Buster's two weeks ago… and took a photo. And that person found out that I'm in Edward's class and is threatening to expose us to the Dean."

"What kind of bastard would do that?" he asks angrily.

"James Hunter."

"Oh my god, what a fucking pig!" Alice yells. "He seriously threatened you?"

I nod. "Yesterday when I was having lunch, he came up to me and showed me the photo on his phone. I don't know what to do, Alice! Edward and I don't have any brilliant ideas on how to stop James from squealing. I think he kind of wants to take our chances and make up some story if James really does go to the Dean. But it's been his dream for years to teach at a university, and I don't want him to get fired because of me!"

Alice and Jake surround me, hugging me. "Nobody messes with our friend," she says angrily. "We just need to think about this rationally. I doubt we can stop James from doing anything, but… maybe we could ensure that he has no proof?"

I blink twice. "You mean like steal his phone?"

"That alone won't work," Jake shakes his head. "It's probably backed up to the Cloud. What we need to do is get the phone and delete every copy of the photo we can find. Then we give the phone back," he shrugs. "He won't even know what's happened until the next time he tries to open the photo."

"Ok, assuming we can steal his phone temporarily, how can we find out his passcode, genius?" Alice snarks.

"He uses a thumbprint," I reply excitedly, holding up my own thumb as some sort of evidence. "I saw him unlock his phone with it yesterday."

"All right," she nods slowly, "but there's still the small issue of getting the unlocked phone away from James without him noticing long enough to delete every copy of the photo."

"Well, it's dirty and illegal, but… I think Quil may be able to help us," Jake replies.

"Quil?" I ask in confusion.

"The guy he got your fake ID from," Alice reminds me. Now I remember them telling me that Jake and Quil had been best friends in elementary school, after Jake saved the much-smaller Quil from some bullies. Though he and Jake were still friendly, he'd fallen in with a bad crowd later on, helping underage students get fake IDs… and selling drugs.

"You want to drug him?" I ask in shock.

Jake nods. "I'm sure Quil could get Rohypnol — roofies. Like I said, it's dirty and illegal, but I've heard rumors that James has roofied a couple of girls, so the prick absolutely deserves it."

"Do you think you could manage to spike James's drink?" I ask skeptically. "I mean, could you get that close to him after the way you tossed him out of my party…?"

"Yeah, it might be best if I'm not the one to do it," he agrees. "I could probably get Emmett to help me."

"Emmett?" Alice asks. "Can we trust this guy?"

"We can," Jake assures us. "He's my best friend on the team, and he hates James. Doesn't like the way James looks at his girlfriend."

"So what do you need Bella and me to do?" she asks, cracking her knuckles. It almost makes me want to laugh.

"You can be some sort of lookout, Alice," he suggests. "Bella and I will take care of deleting anything we can find on the phone."

"So when do we do this?" I ask. The more I hear of Jake's plan, the more I'm starting to think this could actually work. "James gave me two weeks to make a decision before he goes to the Dean, but I don't know that we can trust him."

"Hmmmm… well, if I can get in touch with Quil fast enough, I think tonight is our best bet. There's a party after the exhibition game tonight, and I'm sure James will be there.

"If we can't do it tonight, then… it'll probably have to be a week from tomorrow. The basketball team is leaving on a bus Friday morning to Big Rapids, Michigan, where we're playing Friday and Saturday nights. We'll be on the road bright and early on Sunday morning, but the trip could take eight hours, so it'll be afternoon before we get back to town. I know there's a party planned for after our return."

"But that's a school night!" I interrupt.

"A lot of people don't have classes on Mondays," he points out. "Still, it'll probably be more low-key than tonight's party, with less alcohol flowing, so it's not ideal, but I don't think we'll have another opportunity in the next two weeks."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Alice says, tapping the table twice. "Go call Quil."

"Aye-aye, Captain!" Jake replies with a grin, heading into his bedroom.

"I'm sorry, Alice," I whisper once Jake is gone. "I'm sorry for lying. I didn't know you guys all that well back in March, and I was worried about what you'd think of me for sleeping with my teacher."

"I can understand that," she smiles. "You know us now, though, and you still kept it from us."

"Like I said, it's not just about me anymore. It's about Edward and his dream to be a college professor… it's his career. He wasn't comfortable with anyone knowing about us, but I think even he would say this is a special case."

"I get it," she nods. "So is he still married?"

I nod. "His wife, Tanya, is still living in their house in Chicago and working at an art museum. They're planning to file for divorce soon, though."

"Wow… does she know about you?"

"She didn't last year, and if he's told her, he hasn't mentioned it to me," I reply. "He's a good guy, Alice. He doesn't always do things by the book, I suppose, but he has good reasons."

"Well, this little drugging and phone heist we're planning isn't exactly legal," she reminds me. "James has it coming to him though. What a slimeball!"

A few minutes later, Jake comes out of his room, giving us the thumbs up. "Quil and I are meeting near the Galleria as soon as we can both get there."

"Wait," Alice says, getting up from the couch. She comes back with her purse, then pulls out her wallet. "How much is it, did he say?"

"Alice, you don't have to pay for it!" I exclaim.

She waves her hand. "Pay me back later if you want."

"Chill, guys," Jake laughs. "One pill is like four dollars."

Frowning, Alice hands him a five-dollar bill. "Keep the change," she snarks.

Once Jake has the small pill in his possession, he texts us to let us know that he's meeting up with Emmett for lunch to discuss our plan — without revealing the whole story. I wait on pins and needles for the text letting me know that Emmett is on board. It's a go for tonight.

Since Edward and I have decided to lay low for now, Alice invites me to join her and Jasper for an early dinner before we all go to Jake's 5pm game together. I know she wants to tell Jasper what's going on, but I don't know him well enough yet to trust him with something like this.

While we're eating, Alice and I each get a text from Jake, letting us know the location of tonight's party.

"Something I should know about?" Jasper grins when our phones ding at the same time.

"Jake was just letting us know where tonight's party will be after the game," she explains.

"I didn't think you two were into drunken frat parties," he chuckles.

"We're not," I speak up. "This is a… special occasion."

Jasper raises an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, Jasper, but it's better if we don't get anyone else involved," I reply, hoping to appease him.

Alice glances at me before speaking. "Someone is out to hurt Bella and her boyfriend, and we're going to prevent that from happening."

"Not without me, you're not," he declares with a growl. "Not if it's the slightest bit dangerous."

"Jasper might be able to help you with your part, Alice."

"All right," she agrees. "You can come with us, but I'm sorry that we can't tell you more."

The three of us file into the arena along with a packed crowd for the exhibition game to kick off the new season. I know even less about basketball than hockey, despite attending a few of Jake's games at Lafayette.

The UMSL Tritons end up beating the Fontbonne Griffins by 93-52 in what Jasper refers to as a blowout. Shortly after the game, Jake texts that we should wait another hour or so before showing up at the party, in the hopes that James will already have had a few drinks by that point.

"What do we do for an hour?" Jasper asks.

"The Student Center is open," I point out, and the three of us agree to go there. It's not particularly crowded for a Saturday night, so I let Alice try to teach me how to play darts.

When Jake gives us the go-ahead, I decide to send a quick text to Edward.

Alice, Jake and I have things under control. We should be in the clear soon.

I turn my phone to vibrate after sending the text, since no one is supposed to know Alice or I is present at the party.

We arrive at the back door to the frat house, then text Jake that we've arrived. He quickly shows up to usher us inside and into a bedroom that turns out to be Emmett's.

"Emmett's got the pill and will try to slip it into James's next drink," he whispers to Alice and me. "He's had three or four already. Once he starts feeling off, Emmett will suggest that James lie down in an unoccupied bedroom."

"What are we waiting for?" Jasper asks quietly, once Jake has slipped out the door.

"We can't tell you," I reply with a shrug. "Jake will let us know when he needs your and Alice's help."

Jasper takes a seat at Emmett's desk, while Alice and I sit on the end of his bed. I don't know how long we wait before the door opens and Jake sneaks in.

"Here," he says, tossing the phone toward me, "tap something before it shuts off automatically. I don't know how long it's set for. Alice and Jasper, Emmett is outside and will show you to your post."

Thankful that it's an iPhone like mine, I immediately bring up the Photos, scrolling back until I see the photo James showed me. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see that there are a half dozen others taken around the same time. None are quite as incriminating, though they do show our faces more clearly. I delete them all, one at a time.

"Don't forget to go check the Recently Deleted photos," Jake says.

"I know, chill." Finding the Recently Deleted album, it's easy to spot the batch I've just deleted and remove them permanently.

"Oh, gross!" I exclaim.

"What?" Jake chuckles, coming to sit beside me.

A/N: So Bella told her friends everything (except about the green-card marriage) and Jake and Alice put their heads together to come up with a plan. Will it work? And what did Bella see on James's phone?

As if you couldn't already tell, this fic should not be used as any sort of moral guidance lol! Not advocating drugging anyone or stealing, but…

Next update on Thursday.

For a teaser: Ugh, I couldn't find anything that represents the next chapter as a whole. In desperation, I Googled a list of definitive 80s songs and found this song from a movie soundtrack that makes a very tongue in cheek title. The movie bombed in 1983, but a year later, the soundtrack had one Top 10 song known for its opening piano riff. It's not the band's only hit, but I bet it's the only one most people could name (me included, though a couple others from Wikipedia sound familiar)!