Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight Saga. I own twitchy fingers that enjoy writing for no profit.

Chapter 22: Dead Deer and Dates

Bella POV

Of course it was typical that the one night I would've welcomed a few of those dreams to guide my way through my dangerous next move, I instead had my first dream free night of sleep in several months. I woke feeling like I'd never slept better in my life, but still I couldn't help but feel a bit abandoned by Taha Aki when I needed him most.

Charlie had gotten in the habit of grabbing one of his shirts from his closet every morning and hanging it my door handle and that morning was no exception, a green plaid flannel shirt was waiting for me when I came out of the bathroom and I pulled it on once I'd blow dried my hair, and started down the stairs, still rolling the sleeves back so my hands could stick out. Knowing that if things went badly later that afternoon, I might not have another opportunity to do so, I was glad to be able to sit down for breakfast with Charlie, and I spent extra time cooking up a huge stack of pancakes and a large pan of bacon and sausage for the two of us to share. When he had to leave for work, I struggled not to get choked up and I uncharacteristically jumped up to give him a hug before he walked out the door.

"Bye, Dad. Be safe today. Love you." I mumbled into his chest as he hugged me back.

"You too, Bells. You ok? Something wrong?" He checked, holding me back at arm's length to look me in the eyes.

"I'm good. Just wanted a hug." I was skating carefully around the edges of the truth, still not wanting to lie to him, but obviously unable to share the entire truth with him.

"Well ok then kiddo. See you later." He said, squeezing both my shoulders gently, then walking out to his cruiser. Once he had left, I checked the clock. I was very edgy and nervous and I didn't want to suffer thought the whole day at school like that if I could avoid it. What I really needed was a quick trip to my hollow on the beach, but obviously I didn't have time for that. But if I made sure to set an alarm so that I didn't get lost in my own head, I figured I did have time to sit quietly and centre myself at home. Setting an alarm on my cell to go off just in time to get to school, I sat myself down on the floor with my legs crossed, let my hands fall into my lap and concentrated on my breathing as was now my usual practice.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

I imagined the sound of the waves to match each breath to and I let my body relax, allowing my nervousness to ebb away and replacing it with peace and calm. It seemed like both hours and seconds later when my alarm caught the tiny alert part of my mind and I pulled myself back to awareness, holding my calm around me like a blanket.

As I pulled up in the school parking lot, I caught out of the corner of my eye a quick glimpse of Lauren and a few of her cronies furtively carrying what looked like a rolled up carpet around to the back of the gym and I vaguely wondered what on earth she was up to now. Her nasty little campaign of bullying tactics had been stepped up a gear recently. Ever since she had met me coming out of the bathroom and asked me in a snide voice if I was giving bulimia another try and instead of getting upset like she wanted, I had calmly responded that I couldn't if I wanted to as I had no gag reflex, she had been trying to come up with ways of making me puke in public. It was the desperate act of a spoilt child who wasn't getting her way, but that didn't dissuade her in any way.

Her first attempt was predictably lame; she had one of her little clones sneak ipecac into my soda. Unfortunately for her, I instantly smelt something strange and didn't even take a single sip, just dumped the whole can into the bin.

Her second attempt didn't fare any better, despite it being cleverer. Having worked out which table I always sat at with Jake and Quil (and previously Embry) she switched out the sugar jar for one full of salt. She should've done her research better. Ever since I had been old enough to drink it, I had taken my coffee just like Charlie; black, no sugar, so it was poor Quil who got a mouthful of salty coffee, which he promptly sprayed back out of his mouth, right over one of Lauren's cronies who had been stupid enough to be sitting in the splash zone. All she had achieved that time was a coffee stained, bitching minion, and a free refill for Quil. I had little doubt that whatever she had planned this time would be aimed at me, and I resolved to keep my eyes, ears and nose open for any sign of trouble so I could avoid it once more.

The day passed pretty uneventfully right up to gym class; I had carefully stuck to an apple and bottled water at lunch, pretty much tamper-proof food and drink, though a very light meal, which suited me just fine after such a big breakfast as I'd had that morning, and had kept away from her and her friends as much as possible in the hallways and in class. As I walked to the gym changing rooms however, I noticed an unusually large number of kids milling about by the doors. Paranoid as it might have been, I immediately suspected that it had something to do with me, and that Lauren had planned to make my imminent downfall as public as possible.

I was instantly on guard.

Squeezing my way past the whispering crowd, I went into the changing rooms and walked to my locker. There was a strangely familiar smell lingering which for some reason reminded me of one of my mom's ex-boyfriends, a car salesman. I dropped my bag to the floor by my locker, catching a flash of Lauren and her friends dodging quickly behind the next row of lockers and was about to open my locker when I heard a commotion coming from the doorway. Miss Turner, the guidance councillor was pushing her way through the crowd of kids with Jessica in tow. Walking directly over to me, she put on her 'hey I'm your friend, not your teacher' expression and took a hold of my hand which was just about to click the latch on my locker.

"Bella." She said in a voice that somehow managed to combine sympathy, understanding, judgement, and excitement, "Your friend here came to me out of concern for you. She wasn't telling tales, just rightly worried that if we didn't confront you with proof of your condition, you'd never admit the truth and get the help you need to take care of yourself and your little blessing." I just stood there staring blankly at her, my mouth slightly agape. "What the fuck is she talking about?" I wondered. "Little blessing? She can't mean what I think she means, can she?" One glance at the carefully arranged expression of understanding and empathy on the councillor's face gave me the answer. "Yep. That's exactly what she means. She thinks I'm pregnant. But what proof can she possibly think she has, and what does Jessica have to do with it?" I looked over to Jessica.

"Erm, Jess. What on earth have you been telling people?" I was trying hard not to be pissed at her. Ever since the day I'd blown up at Lauren and Mike, I'd had a bit more understanding for Jess and the reasons behind her gossiping habit. In fact I'd had a quiet word with her, pointing out gently that being the first to pass on false stories didn't make her appear more intelligent, but in fact did the complete opposite once it was proved to be a bunch of lies. She had seemed to improve since then, but it looked now like she was backsliding.

"Oh I didn't tell people." Jess was quick to reassure me. "Just Miss Turner. See when Lauren told me she'd seen your sonogram picture in your locker, and then I saw how you ate at lunch, I realised that you need someone to help you understand how to take care of yourself and your baby so you both stay healthy." She gave me a genuinely understanding smile, squeezing my hand, and I felt strangely touched by her mis-placed concern. She really had been trying to help me, and by the sounds of it, the crowd around the changing room doors wasn't down to her. It was probably the result of a few well placed hints from Lauren and her friends. I squeezed Jess's hand back and turned to Miss Turner.

"We'll it was very kind of Jess to try to look out for me, and of Lauren to tell her about what she thought she saw, but I'm afraid they're both wrong. I'm not pregnant, Miss Turner. There's no sonogram picture in my locker, or anywhere else for that matter. Maybe we should get Lauren over here so that she can see that she was mistaken." I suggested helpfully. I didn't know precisely what she was up to, but I was fairly certain that whatever it was, it was in my locker, and I was determined that she was going to get a share in the treatment. "She's just over there, behind that row of lockers with her friends." I pointed out her location, and Miss Turner, a look of disappointment on her face (whether because she thought I was lying about the pregnancy, or because she wasn't getting her chance to be self-righteously helpful to the pregnant teenager I couldn't say) walked around the corner and came back a moment later towing a very reluctant looking Lauren along by her hand.

"Lauren, dear, I'm sure you were just trying to be helpful, but Bella says you must've been mistaken. Why don't you show us what it was you thought to be a sonogram picture, so we can clear this whole mess up." Miss Turner said kindly, pulling Lauren over to stand in front of my locker.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Miss Turner." Lauren was trying to wriggle out of both the blame and the strangely firm grip the councillor had on her hand, keeping her stood right by my locker door. "Jessica's obviously got the wrong end of the stick again. It's the sort of thing that stupid kids like her do." She failed to notice the hardening expression on Miss Turner's face. The councillor had a soft spot for Jessica, and she was beginning to realise that Lauren might not be the good friend she made herself out to be.

"Oh no, Lauren. I haven't got the wrong end of the stick." Jessica assured the girl she imagined to be her best friend, missing the inference that she was stupid, "it wasn't the stick, the pregnancy test, you told me that you'd seen. It was the sonogram picture, remember? You told me you'd seen the picture and it proved you were telling the truth about her sleeping with all the guys on the Rez, and that I should tell everyone about it and that they'd see the picture too if they looked in the changing room doors at the beginning of our gym class." She reminded Lauren. Then she turned back to me. "But don't worry, Bella. After we talked about how gossiping didn't make me look good that time, I knew that I shouldn't tell everyone, so instead I went to Miss Turner to ask her what I should do. I grinned at her.

"Just the right move, Jess. Thanks. You're a good friend. But really, I'm honestly not pregnant." I old her and looked over to Lauren, who was still trying to get free of Miss Turner's grip and move away from my locker. Miss Turner now had a very grim look on her face as she told Lauren.

"You're staying right here til this is all cleared up, Miss Mallory." And she reached out and opened my locker.

What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion, every detail crystal clear in every hideous detail.

As she opened the door, something large began to fall out. Something with dozens of magic tree air-fresheners taped to it. "Ah. That's what was reminding me of the car salesman!" I somehow had time to think, as the horrible scene played out in front of me. The something was a rotting deer corpse, it's maggot riddled flesh dripping as it toppled out of my locker and fell directly on top of the unfortunate Miss Turner and the much more deserving Lauren. The two of them were knocked to the ground under the stinking body, becoming covered in a mixture of putrefying flesh and wriggling white maggots, and Miss Turner screamed and promptly turned and vomited directly onto Lauren, who in turn puked herself. The sudden cacophony of roaring laughter and screams from everyone in the changing room, and those outside who had managed to manoeuvre themselves into a good position to see through the door was almost deafening. After a lot of struggling, Miss Turner managed to pull herself free from under the revolting, rotting mess and struggled, slipping in the gunk on the floor to her feet. Dragging Lauren up too, she stalked back through the changing room door with Lauren once again in tow and made her way through the crowd, which magically parted as the two passed, giving them a wide corridor to walk through on the way to the principle's office. Figuring Jessica and I would be wanted there too before long, I picked up my bag and grabbed her hand.

"Come on, Jess. We'd better get to the principle's office to help sort all of this out." I told her, and we made our own way out through the still laughing, noisy crowd of kids. "Well I gave her enough rope, and she's done a hell of a lot better than just hang herself!" I thought cheerfully as we walked to the office. "She should be pleased though; she finally managed to make someone puke." The thought set me off and it was several minutes before I could bring my giggles back under control.

In the end there was quite the crowd gathered in the principle's office. The principle herself of course, me, Jessica, Lauren and Miss Turner, who were standing alone on the other side of he room as the rest of us tried to distance ourselves from the lingering stench, Lauren's parents, and Charlie. Charlie was actually there in an official capacity, to lay charges against Lauren for transporting bio hazardous waste without a permit, though he was ready to play the angry father card if I needed it. I couldn't bring myself to meet his eyes more than once as just in the fleeting second we did catch each other's expression, both of us came perilously close to bursting into uncontrollable laughter. So I kept my head down and kept biting my lower lip between my teeth to keep myself from collapsing in giggles.

Lauren ended up with a three week suspension from school, a huge bill for cleaning the gym changing rooms and the principle's office to get rid of the lingering smell of death, the charge that Charlie had come to lay against her, which would probably result in a large fine at the very least, and also Charlie and I were to discuss between us whether or not to press civil and/or criminal charges of slander against her regarding her spreading the pregnancy rumour again. Personally, I had pretty much decided to go ahead with the charges. I had given her fair warning and she'd failed to heed it. Perhaps seeing her example might warn off some of the other more persistent gossips and put an end to it once and for all.

When we finally got out of the stinking office at about three fifteen, I couldn't drive home and jump in the shower quick enough to suit me. The smell of dead deer seemed to stick to my skin and hair, and I'd never been more relieved to get under the hot spray as I was at that moment. As I showered I reflected on how useful Lauren and her vindictive mission had actually been today. I had been so absorbed in avoiding any traps she might lay that I barely had time to think about what I was planning to do after school. The rotting deer had actually managed to completely drive it out of my head until I had managed to wash the lingering stink out of my hair. I clung firmly to the calm I had pulled around myself that morning, refusing to let the panic that threatened as I remembered what I was about to do to take over. I set myself to simple tasks again. "Step one: Write a note for Charlie." I couldn't leave the house that afternoon, knowing there was a chance things might not go the way I'd planned and have Charlie wondering for the rest of his life what had happened to me. I owed him more than that. I planned to keep my cell phone switched on so he could activate the GPS if needed and find whatever was left of me, but he'd need a reason why I'd gone out into the forest. I still wouldn't be able to give him the whole story, for his own safety, but I could give him part of the story, hopefully just enough to keep him safe. I sat down at the desk in my room and began writing.

"Dad.

I'm so, so sorry to leave you like this.

It's not something I ever wanted to do, but I need you to understand that I did it to keep you safe. Nothing short of that could ever make me do this to you, I promise, but I love you enough to put your life ahead of mine, so please try to look after yourself now I'm gone.

I can't tell you exactly what has been going on, if I did you'd just end up right back in the same danger I'm trying to get you out of. If you really need to know a little of it, talk to Billy. He knows some of it, and tried in his own way to keep me safe. But you know me; ever the stubborn girl. I couldn't or wouldn't listen and as a result I put not just myself, but also you in this danger. So its my responsibility to do what I can to get us both out of it again.

Please believe me when I say I'm not leaving this afternoon to try to get myself killed, which is what must've happened if you're reading this. In fact I'm planning on coming home and taking this letter back before you ever see it. But if things don't go according to plan, I need you to know I love you, I've always been proud that I was lucky enough to have you as a dad, and while I wish that some things had turned out different, I've never regretted coming to live with you. Not for a second. It gave me a chance to get to know you better, and to see what an amazing man you really are.

Take care of yourself, and please forgive me both for putting us both in danger, and for failing to get myself back out of it again, though by doing what I'm doing now, you shouldn't be troubled by the danger yourself any more.

I love you, Daddy.

Bella"

Folding the note in half, I rose, a little unsteadily, to my feet and, wiping the inevitable tears from my eyes, I walked over to Charlie's room to tuck the note under his pillow. If it came to the worst, and I never made it home, he'd eventually find it there and, while I didn't imagine it'd help much, I hoped it might take a little of the pain away.

I took a big, shuddering breath and released it, searching in my mind for the slightly frayed edges of my calm. Once I had control over my tears I went back to my own room and thought on what to do next.

"Ok. Step two: Get dressed. What do I wear to taunt a revenge obsessed vampire?" I wondered to myself, "Definitely not something of Charlie's. I don't want to mask my scent, or to remind her of his existence if I can help it." Opening my closet, I stood staring blankly at the contents for a moment. I had been wearing Charlie's shirts for so long that I had forgotten what shirts and sweaters I had of my own. Selecting a crimson red, long sleeved, off the shoulder sweater which would combine warmth with a tempting bare neck to hopefully draw Victoria in, and a pair of black skinny jeans, I got dressed quickly, deciding against using any deodorant, as my own scent should be as pure as possible to catch her attention. I quickly blow dried my hair - I didn't want to freeze outside due to leaving it wet from the shower - and then, perhaps bizarrely, considered make up. I never usually bothered with any at all, and it seemed strange to even consider it, but not only did I refuse to give Victoria the satisfaction of seeing any trace of my recent tears on my face, but also a morbid little corner of my mind insisted that if things went wrong and the wolves didn't show up in time, I'd rather look my best when I died and leave a better looking corpse. I again shook off the panic that threatened at that thought, and stubbornly applied a little mascara and eyeliner just to keep the morbid part of my mind happy.

I was ready.

I went downstairs and pulled on my purple D.M.s, they'd be helpful if I was clambering about in the forest, and opened the door. On the other side, hand raised to knock, and a surprised but pleased smile on his face was Sam.

"Oh fuck." I suddenly realised. "Wednesday, four thirty. Date as in dinner and a movie, not a fruit." With everything else that had happened over the last couple of days, the letter from Victoria, and Lauren's backfiring trap, the date, which at any other time wouldve been right there in the front of my mind the whole time, had been completely forgotten. I stood in the doorway, frozen for a few seconds in shock.

"Bella, hi." He said with a grin. "You look great. All ready to go?" I was still stammering, searching for a polite way out of the date as he gently took my elbow in one huge hot hand and led me over to his truck. My treacherous feet followed his lead without my permission.

"Umm. The thing is, Sam, I umm." I didn't know what to say. I couldn't exactly tell him I'd completely forgotten about our date, and had made other plans. "Oh yeah, Bella. How would that go? Sorry Sam, I forgot all about you, and instead I was planning to go off alone in the forest to try and tempt a psychotic killer to come after me so that I could get a chance to talk to some werewolves. I'd ask if we could reschedule, but there's a chance I might end up the evening lying dead I the forest and I wouldn't want to let you down a second time." I snorted mentally. "Yeah. Perfect. He'd either run away screaming, or call in the little men in white coats." I stood dithering by his truck, staring blankly at the forest as I wildly cast around in my brain for a solution. Concerned, he leaned down to peer directly into my face.

"Bella? You ok?" His musky, woodsy scent filled my nose and I could suddenly feel the tingly phantom print of the kiss he'd placed on my cheek on Monday. The sensible part of my brain shut down, giving in to my baser nature, helpfully feeding me bits of my sweaty naked sex dream alongside flashes of how Sam looked in the tight black t-shirt and dark blue jeans he was wearing at that moment. It was a little bit like being dazzled by Him, only less overpowering and uncomfortable. "Holy shit, he smells good." I noted absently. "Looks good too. No wonder I've been using him as the guy in my dirty dreams. There's no way I'm gonna get out of this date tonight without either seriously offending him or lying through my teeth. Which he'd totally realise was a lie, and then he'd end up offended anyway." I admitted defeat. I'd have to go through with the date tonight, and put off going to find Victoria and the wolves until the following afternoon. "Shit! The note for Charlie!" I realised I'd better run back inside and take it back out from under his pillow. I'd have to hide it until the following day.

"Bella?" The concern on Sam's face was increasing.

"Sorry. I spaced out there for a moment." I apologised. "I just realised I didn't leave my Dad a note to tell him I'd be out with you." It was a half truth, but one I could get away with. "Give me just a moment?" I gave him a small smile and he straightened up with a small, relieved smile of his own.

"Sure." I quickly went back into the house, ran up the stairs and grabbed the note from under Charlie's pillow. Shoving it into my pocket, I half ran, half tripped back down the stairs, narrowly avoiding a serious fall and scribbled a quick note to Charlie which I stuck to the fridge door, then headed back outside. Sam was leaning against his truck, arms folded across his chest, and one foot propped behind him on the front wheel.

"Damn" I whispered under my breath, low enough for him not to hear. "Worth risking an extra day for." I noticed a little smirk on his face, which then turned a bit puzzled and I briefly wondered what he could've been thinking about to bring about both expressions. If he'd been a vampire I would've assumed he'd overheard my whisper, but a human would've had no chance of hearing me so I knew I was safe. As I neared the truck, he opened my door for me, then went round to the driver's side as I climbed in. Once he closed his own door, he took a deep breath and started the engine. He looked a little pained for a moment, and shifted in his seat. I wondered briefly what was wrong, but he seemed to get over it pretty quickly and he aded me a pile of CDs and asked me to pick out what we'd be listening to, then pulled away from my house. "Must've had a cramp or something." I guessed, and set my mind to selecting our music. Deciding I needed a bit of a laugh to lighten my mood after the emotional roller coast my day had been so far, I picked a Tenacious D album and slipped it in the stereo.

We passed our drive comparing events of our individual days. After he had told me about his day putting up tiles in the bathroom of what could only be described as a predatory cougar's house, I shared the events of the past few weeks, and Lauren's behaviour to me, to paint a background for him so he'd fully appreciate how what happened with the dead deer came about. We were about halfway to Port Angeles by the time I'd reached Lauren's 'bulimic comment' in the bathroom and my response.

"So I told her that it was impossible or me to be even if I wanted to as I have no gag reflex." I was just about to go on to tell him about how that'd prompted Lauren to try to make me puke in public, but suddenly the truck veered a little towards the central reservation, and a strange sound from his side of he cab made me look up at his face. He seemed to be choking.

"Shit. Are you ok, Sam?" I asked in alarm, grabbing the wheel and steering us back into our lane. "Do you need to pull over?" He seemed to get his breath back and he shook his head a little. He cleared his throat.

"No, no. I'm fine." He assured me. "Sorry about that. I just sorta choked on thin air there." I ave him a sympathetic smile.

"It's ok. It happens." I told him, noting he was once again shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Must have cramp again." I guessed. "Probably pulled something at work today." As he settled back in his seat once again I shrugged it off and went back to my story. I was just rounding up the part about the dead deer and Lauren's punishments as we pulled into the movie theatre parking lot, Sam howling with laughter at my story, and me giggling along with him. He wiped tears from his eyes as he put the truck into park and turned to face me in the cab.

"You know I haven't laughed that hard in years." He told me. "Thanks, Bella. However the rest of this date goes, that's the most fun I've had in a really really long time." I smiled shyly, not able to keep back the blush that stole over my face.

"Thanks, Sam. I'm having fun too." I told him and he gently squeezed my hand. I looked up into his face and found his dark brown eyes much closer than I'd expected, staring with concentration into mine. The atmosphere in the truck cab seemed to almost crackle with static electricity, and I swallowed a little nervously. The action seemed to break his concentration and he sat back a little, releasing my hand and slapping his toned, muscled thighs lightly.

"Well we'd best get moving or we'll miss the movie." He told me and opened his door. Following his lead I climbed out and met him in front of the truck, and I felt the light touch of his large warm hand in the small of my back, leaving me to the theatre.

"Like I said on Monday, they're showing classics today, so I thought I'd let you pick between the two that are on tonight." He said, throwing me a grin. "Your choice is either '2001: ASpace Odyssey', or 'Monty Python's The Life of Brian'" I shook my head at the eclectic choices.

"We'll I've never really been much of a sci-fi girl, so it's gonna have to be 'The Life of Brian' I guess" I said with a little laugh. "I've never seen it. Is it as funny as 'The Holy Grail?'" His grin grew wider.

"Funnier" he said. "We'd better hurry or we'll miss the start." He lengthened his strides a little and grabbed my hand in his much larger and hotter one to help me keep up.

After buying our tickets - he refused to let me pay, though I did reach for my money in my pocket - we stopped at the concession stand and he bought us some popcorn and a large coke to share while we watched. The screen was packed and we had to squeeze past several people to get o the last pair of seats, right in the middle of the second to back row. As we sat down, he turned almost sideways in his seat, and pushed his legs so they were under one of mine and over the other one.

"Sorry." He said with a rueful grin. "My legs are too long to fit unless I sit like this." Stammering slightly, I told him

"N no. I it's fine." I swallowed nervously, trying to fight back the image from my dream of our legs intertwined like this, only naked. I was glad of the lights going down just then, hiding my burning face. From where he sat on my left I thought I heard a quiet groan, but glancing at him, I couldn't make out enough of his face to tell if something was bothering him. I figured he'd tell me if there was a problem, and set about attempting to watch the film and ignore the hot images that kept slipping through my mind. It wasn't easy. After about ten minutes, the heat from his legs was pouring into my own, raising a light sweat, which of course led o more sweaty, groaning, writhing memories. Sam must've found the cramped seating pretty uncomfortable as he kept shifting around, each time causing his legs to rub against mine, which of course brought on another flashback every time it happened. By the time the film was done, I was more hot and bothered than I could ever remember being in a public place, my panties almost soaked through from my dirty thoughts. "Holy shit. I'm gonna need to get to the bathroom to mop myself up!" I thought. As the lights went up again I turned to Sam and mumbled

"I'm just gonna head to the bathroom. Meet you out front?" He looked a little strung out himself. "Probably to cramp again from sitting so awkwardly." I reasoned. A look of intense relief crossed his face before he schooled it into a polite smile.

"Guess I'll do the same. See you out front then." We both rose and he shoved his hands into his pockets as we followed the crowd out towards the bathrooms and exits.

Several wads of toilet paper later, I stood outside the movie theatre, waiting for Sam to come out when one of my least favourite people pushed through the doors, inanely mis-quoting the movie.

"Oh look, it's Bella. 'Where's her foetus going to gestate?" Mike, clearly-doesn't-understand-what-slander-is Newton said loudly with a snigger.

"She's got it shoved up her box!" One of his friends yelled at the top of his voice, much to the hilarity of the whole group. I felt the anger boiling up inside, and it began to bubble over when Mike added in a smug voice.

"Well as long as she doesn't try to pin it on me. I know how condoms work, you know. It'll turn out to be the spawn of one of her little native fuck buddies." Suddenly the grin dropped off my face, and I realised that towering behind me was the definitely not little (and sadly not my fuck buddy) Sam. He stepped towards Mike, each step forcing the smaller boy to crick his neck further and further back to keep Sam's stormy face in view. Keeping his voice very quiet and even, but perfectly audible to Mikes friends Sam spoke.

"Listen very carefully, little boy." He began, widening his shoulders a bit, causing his intimidating size to be even more noticeable. "I'd be willing to bet that Bella's already told you, but apparently you're too mentally challenged to understand simple instructions, so I'm going to make it crystal clear for you." He poked a single finger into Mike's chest hard enough that it'd probably bruise. "Stop. Spreading. Rumours." He punctuated each word with a hard jab of his finger, making Mike wince. "You will not speak to her, or about her, or about any of her friends of family. Lauren Mallory is already facing criminal and civil charges for her behaviour. I'm sure your mommy would be mad and spank you if you ended up doing the same. And whether she does spank you or not, if I ever" another finger jab "hear that you have said anything" jab "more about Bella, I will be making a personal" jab "painful" jab "visit to you myself. Understood?" Mike nodded his head at a furious speed, rubbing his chest where Sam had poked him. Mike flinched as Sam bent down to whisper in his ear, his large hands clenched and trembling in anger at the spoilt child in front of him. I don't know what it was he said, but whatever it was, caused Mike to pale dramatically and stumble backwards a few paces before retreating with his friends at a very fast walk. I was feeling somewhere between disgruntled and mad, and was trying to work out exactly who i was most mad at and why, when Sam turned round to me, a hangdog expression on his face.

"Sorry, Bella. I know you could've handled it yourself, but if I hadn't have said something to him, I might've had to hit him instead, and I know you wouldn't have wanted me to do that." I was astounded. Not only had he defended me, but he'd then known exactly why I was feeling mad about his, before even I had been able to sort out what I was feeling. I let my anger simmer down. Sam had merely been trying to help, and unlike the occasions when He ad gotten a little overbearing in His protection of me, Sam had realised what he'd done and apologised straight away. I smiled at him a little and held out my hand to him, for the first time initiating physical contact between us.

"It's ok. Just try not to make a habit of it." I told him, trying to appear stern. He smiled back at me. "Or at least not on occasions when I can probably handle it myself." I amended and his smile widened to another of his beautiful grins.

"Yes m'am." He said with a cheeky wink. "So, after that little interlude, shall we get this show back on the road and go eat?" He asked. I nodded. "What do you feel like eating?"

"Anything but Italian please." I replied. Not wanting to run the smallest chance of ending up in the same place I'd eaten with Him that time.

"Ok then." He said, walking off still holding my hand. "Anything but Italian it is then." I let out a little giggle and tried touch up my pace to keep up with him. Of course I instantly tripped, and he aught me by the elbow just as he had that time in the supermarket, stopping me mid-fall.

"Sorry. I forgot how little your legs are." He apologised. I gave a mock snarl.

"Hey!" I pretended to be mad. "My legs are just perfect thank you very much!" He muttered something hat sounded a bit like

"You're not wrong there" but I couldn't be sure of what it was, so I didn't respond. He did slow his pace quite a bit though, and we wandered along at a relaxed pace til we found a promising looking Chinese restaurant. Once we'd both agreed, we headed inside and the hostess sat us at a quiet, private spot near one corner.

Talk over dinner ranged from the movie, to our friends, to the kids at the drop-in centre, to our respective family lives, and we took a long time to finish eating, more interested in the conversation than the food in front of us. I told Sam about Renee and Charlie, and he told me about his mom and the little that he knew about his dad, or Joshua as he insisted on referring to him. I told him about Angela and Ben, and he told me about Paul and Jared. We both steered clear of discussing Embry, aware that the discussion would put a dampener on the mood of the evening. As we waited for our deserts, Sam rather carefully steered the conversation towards dating and what we were both looking to get out of it. I was both relieved and nervous to get this point covered. I didn't want to give him the impression that I wanted a long term, committed relationship, but at the same time, with the rumours that I knew were flying around about me, I didn't want him to think that I was some kind of slut either. With the situation as it stood with Victoria, I was concerned that not only could I not guarantee I'd still be alive and kicking in a month's time, but also I could be painting a target on is back by becoming involved with him in any form, yet the selfish side of my nature didn't want to give up the chance to have more evenings like this one. I didn't know quite what to say or do or he best, so I was relieved when he started the conversation by laying his cards on the table.

"See the thing is, Bella. With all the responsibilities I have in my life right now, I'm just not in a position to be starting a committed relationship. I'm guessing that or you it's probably not on the cards right now either as you'll probably be heading off to college soon?" I nodded, meaning it as encouragement for him to continue, but realising a moment later that he'd taken it as agreement that I was looking into colleges. It didn't matter though. If he believed that was the reason I wasn't wanting anything too serious, then so much the better. I could hardly explain my real reasons. "So would you be maybe interested in going out with me again, and we'll just see where it goes?" He asked. "As long a we're both aware that its not going to end up with us growing old together." He added light heartedly. I grinned at him.

"Yes. I've had fun tonight and I'd like to do it again sometime." I replied and he grinned back. "You know, of course that I had a really bad break-up last time though, so can I just ask one thing?" I asked him seriously.

"Sure." He replied, putting down his drink and giving me his full attention.

"When either one of us wants to call it a day, we just say it straight out. No lies, no drama, and hopefully we can stay friends afterwards." He blew out a breath of relief and another of his beautiful, full beaming grins spread across his face.

"That's pretty much exactly as I'd want it too. I'll drink to that." He raised his glass. "No lies, and no drama." He said as a toast and I echoed it with a smile.

"No lies and no drama." We touched glasses and drank. "So that's it then. We just see how it goes."