Here's chapter 23, enjoy and review please x

Edward's POV

Meeting Bella had been the best thing to ever happen to me, she brought the good out in all of us and her living with us and being part of our family brought light and happiness to all our lives. I had seen a massive change in everyone, especially Rosalie. At first she had been angry about us bringing an human into our home but once she realised how truly awful Bella's had been and how much she had suffered, she understood and actually become just as close to her as me and Alice. The whole family cared deeply for Bella and loved her in their own way. Esme and Carlisle considered her as their own daughter and the others considered her as their sister but my connection to her was different.

Since the first time I had met her properly in the hospital, I had felt a strong pull towards her and instantly felt strong feelings towards her. Seeing her so broken and hurt like that hurt me more than anything in the world, it was like I was experiencing her pain. Every time I touched her I felt electricity go through our bodies and I could heart her heart skipping beats in response to my touch. Over the past two weeks we had become closer and closer and my feelings for her grew deeper and deeper as time went on but I didn't want to rush into anything with her and didn't want to overwhelm her when she was still recovering.

Thinking about everything she had suffered no matter how many times it went through my head it didn't cause the anger or the pain to lessen. The thought of that vile man hurting her the way he had made me want to find him and kill him in the most painful way there was. He had caused her so much pain and although she seemed to be strong, I could see how deeply he had effected her emotionally. She was plagued constantly by nightmares of his beatings and the worst being when he raped her. That particular event seemed to replay in her dreams almost every night, she would scream and cry in her sleep and every time I would be there to comfort her. I was incredibly proud of her for the way she was dealing with everything.

My whole family hated seeing her having to relive the things that monster did to her and I could see how badly it affected them seeing her in pain especially when she woke up screaming and crying. Their anger towards Charlie seemed to increase each time and they all imagined different ways to kill him painfully to make him suffer the way Bella had and the way she was still suffering even now. Carlisle had surprised me the most, he was always the one who hated violence but he considered Bella his daughter and hated seeing her in pain and not being able to do anything to help her was hurting him a lot. I wish their was something I could to make it all okay for her, I wish their was a way to turn back time and stop this all from happening. I would anything to take away her pain, it was unbearable seeing her struggle.

The worst part I think for me was the way that monster had made her feel so bad about herself. The emotional abuse she had to endure from both him and the bullies had made her feel like she wasn't beautiful and deserved everything she had got which just made my heart break even further. She was the most kind-hearted beautiful person I had met and hearing the thoughts of the students around us when we were walking down the hallway of the school made me want to kill every one of them. They were just jealous horrible people and I don't know how they could be so cruel to her.

Seeing her begin to cry, I had to get her out of there. It broke my heart when she had broken down again and started crying, I think not knowing why they seemed to hate her so much was making the whole situation much worse for her. I wish I had a proper answer for her but I didn't because to be honest their was no reason for their cruelty and she didn't deserve any of their harsh words. What angers me the most is they will never understand how truly hurtful their words are to Bella and any one else that they bully.

I wanted them to leave her alone and stop with the glares and whispering. She didn't deserve any of it and quite frankly they didn't deserve to have Bella as a friend anyway because she was more caring and beautiful than any of them. She was worth more than any of them and I would make sure she knew that every day of her life. I wanted to make her happy, She deserved to smile as much as possible because her smile was truly just as beautiful as she was and every time I saw her smile it brought one to my face as well.

Every time she had started crying she always seemed to get angry at herself and I could tell it was frustrating to her but she needed to know that crying was a good thing in her situation and also expected after everything she had been through. In all honesty I think I would be more worried if she didn't occasionally cry and I wanted her to know that we were always there was her no matter what. I know she felt embarrassed crying in front of us but we all understood how much suffering she had been through and we all knew she had every right to cry.

We stayed outside for the rest of the lesson seeing as through their wasn't much of the lesson left plus I felt she needed some time to get her thoughts together and calm down a bit. We just sat together and talked and after a little while I could visibly see her begin to relax and calm down. That's the one thing about Bella that continued to amaze me and the rest of the family was how brave she was and we had become to realise how she would put everybody else's happiness and safety before her own. Jasper could sometimes feel the guilt coming from her and I knew why that was. She felt guilty for the whole Charlie situation, she thinks that he could harm us and I can tell she blames herself for that. If only she knew how nothing he could possibly do could do any harm whatsoever to us. I could tell she was also frightened about him coming after her and hurting her again but I would not him get anywhere near her ever again. If I had anything to do with it, nobody would hurt her ever again. I would do anything in my power to keep her safe no matter what. She was my life now.

It was almost time for lunch and I was worried how she would cope with going into the cafeteria with everyone being there and I wanted to protect her from it all but I knew I couldn't and she had to face it. She couldn't keep running away from everyone forever. I would not let anybody hurt her and we would all be there through it all. If anybody started on her whilst I or the others were there they would soon regret it because their was no way I would let them get away with saying horrible stuff to her. She had been through enough already, she definitely didn't need anything else right now.

'You ready to go and get some lunch darling?' I asked her as the bell signalling lunchtime sounded throughout the school. I could already hear my family making their way towards us and I could hear in their thoughts how worried they were about Bella. They all cared about her and I don't think Bella realises just how much they consider her part of this family now and wouldn't let anybody hurt her.

'Yes, let's get this over with' She said and I could almost feel the fear and nerves rolling off her.

'We will all be there with you the whole time Bella and we wont let anybody hurt you, I promise' I told her taking her hand in mine. She nodded and we made our way into the school where the rest of the family was stood waiting for us. They all give her smiles and reassured her further that she would be okay and I could visibly see her relax by my side.

Already I could hear people whispering around us and I could already feel the anger bursting inside of me, its horrible the stuff they were saying about her. How could they be so cruel? Calling her a slut, a whore and everything you could imagine. Each word just fuelled my anger even more. We made our way into the cafeteria and headed straight into the lunch line to get some food for us and Bella not that we would be eating a lot. I could hear their thoughts flying around me.

'Look at that ugly slut hanging around with the Cullen's, like any of them actually give a shit about her. She's worthless'

'Urghh, look at that skank. Wouldn't surprise me if she was sleeping with the whole family'

Their thoughts just kept getting worse and worse and I wanted to kill them all. Bella was far from a slut and she never would be a slut. I don't know how some of girls in this school have the right to call anybody a slut when they dress in skirts that barely cover anything and they actually think it's attractive! It's disgusting. It actually makes me want to throw up definitely when they come over to me in the corridors and try to flirt with me.

I didn't want none of them anywhere near me, there is only one girl in my life that I wanted to hold and kiss and that girl was currently by my side holding tightly onto my hand. Even though she still had lots of bruises and scars she was still the most beautiful girl in this whole school and the entire world.

We got our food and headed to a table at the back of the room out of the way from everyone to make Bella as comfortable as possible. I wanted to shield her from all the cruel words that were being said to her. She had enough to deal with and she certainly didn't need some stupid idiots causing her further stress. Just as we sat down I could see the girls that had beat Bella up enter the cafeteria and Bella's eyes widened in fear. She started to shake and you could see that she was beginning to panic.

'Bella we won't let them hurt you I promise' I told her rubbing my thumb over her hand to try to calm her down.

'They won't touch you Bella' Rosalie told her as well leading to the rest of the family saying the same thing. I smiled at how protective they were becoming of her and I was grateful for it. I could see her begin to calm down at their words. God seeing how badly they had effected her made me want to hurt them just as much as I wanted to kill Charlie.

'Edward their going to come over here and try to have a go at Bella. Let them, trust me Bella will handle it' Alice said too fast and quiet for Bella to understand. I frowned but nodded my head. I couldn't just sit here and let them hurt her feelings through and promised myself if it got too out of hand I would stop it but deep down I knew she needed to face this. I just hope that Alice was right and she would be able to handle it.

thank you for reading, review please