Yes I know; I left things on a bit of a cliffhanger last chapter, but I'm such a terrible person, I have no intention of putting you out of your misery just yet. Instead, I'm flitting right back to Bella POV, and you'll all have to wait to find out how and exactly what Charlie knows (and what Sam and Billy intend to do about it) a while longer. :0p

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

Chapter 13: Warnings and Wonky Bits

Bella POV

I beat Charlie back home, and taking into account the ever strengthening wind outside, and the chill it was bringing with it, I decided to cook up something hearty and warming for dinner to welcome him home. I guessed his paperwork, and tying up loose ends surrounding the poor dead hiker and the rogue bear had kept him longer than he'd expected.

I flew around the kitchen, peeling and chopping, and throwing a huge chicken into the oven to roast, and once I'd got everything either already cooking, or prepped and ready to cook, I sat myself down at the kitchen table to finish up the last of my homework. My return to school the next day was already going to prove... interesting, bearing in mind the whirlwind of gossip that was bound to follow me there, not only from the vicious efforts of Mrs Newton, but also from the simple fact that I wasn't going to be the zombie they'd all become used to over the last few months. I didn't need to add extra trouble for myself by being behind in my school work. Nearly an hour of notes on the prohibition era later, dinner was pretty much ready, and Charlie still wasn't back. I cleared my books back into my school bag, laid the table so that when he did get back, we could sit and eat straight away, and I set about collecting up dirty laundry to run a load or two through the machine; with me wearing stuff from Charlie's closet, he'd soon run out of shirts unless I kept on top of things. I'd just finished closing the machine on the first load when I heard Charlie coming in the front door, and I called out

"Hi, Dad. Dinner's pretty much ready, so if you go wash up, we can sit down straight away."

"Ok, Bells. Back down in a minute then." He called back, and I heard him heading up the stairs as I walked back into the kitchen to bring our food to the table.

Charlie was pretty quiet over dinner, he looked a little shaken up, and I guessed that dealing with the coroner and the dead hiker's family okay had upset him more than he'd like to admit, so I decided to turn the conversation towards something completely different to take his mind off his upsetting day.

"So, Dad. You got any ideas about who I should ask for help with my motorcycles?" I asked him

"We'll it's funny you should ask, but actually yes." He replied, reaching across the table to help himself to more mashed potato. "You know Jacob Black is a pretty good mechanic. He's the one that got your truck up and running, as you know. So maybe you could ask him to have a look. It might also be a good idea for you to hang out with him while he works sometimes. If you're going to ride one, you should understand at least the basics of how it runs and how to make simple repairs." Be began spooning out extra mash onto his plate.

"You been conspiring with Billy to get me over there more often?" I asked jokingly, and he dropped the mashed potato bowl on the floor.

"What? No! What do you mean? Why would we do that?" He asked alarmed. "Woah, calm down, Charlie. I'm not so fragile that I'll fold in on myself again just cos I think you're interfering." I jumped up to grab a cloth and clean the sticky mess from the floor.

"Relax, Dad. I'm not mad. But you and Billy trying to set me and Jacob up is a no go, just so we're clear. I'm not ready to even think about dating, I'm not sure I'll ever be ready. But I am sure that if I ever get to that point, it wouldn't be with Jake. I just don't think about him like that. In my head he's quite firmly in the brother/best friend box. Anything else would just be weird." Charlie relaxed a little as I finished mopping up and sat back down.

"Oh well. Can't blame us for trying though." He quickly said, his voice sounding a little too cheerful, strained even. I guessed he'd been really worried I'd react badly to his interfering, so I let him off the hook.

"No I can't blame you. Just as long as you let it go now. Oh, and tell Billy to do the same." He nodded his agreement.

"But all that aside, Bells, Jake is probably your best bet on the motorcycles, and however sneaky I was trying to be, learning a bit about how to do simple repairs is still a good idea." I hadn't noticed how tense he still was til I saw how far his shoulders fell in relief when I agreed.

"Sure, Dad. It's a good point. I'll ask Jake tomorrow after school."

The feeling of peace and calm I'd gained during my strange sort of doze at the beach was still holding when I climbed into bed that night, and I was cautiously hopeful that I might get at least some respite from my nightmares as a result. So I was disappointed when I woke up screaming as usual, with Charlie sitting beside me, shushing me and rubbing my back to help me regain my calm. It had been the standard 'Alone In The Forest' dream as usual, but once again with that added feeling of someone or something watching me as I ran, stumbled, and crawled through the trees. Once Charlie had helped me to calm back down, he headed back to bed and I settled back down to get myself back off to sleep, ready to confront my next set of dreams and following them, get a decent bit of rest.

At first, I thought there was no difference at all in the first scene; the 'Victoria Attacks the Village' scene appeared just the same as it had all the previous times. I was weaving a basket, and watching a small group of children play this time, before the screams in the background alerted me to the fact that the vampire had arrived. Then I noticed that instead of there being just one old man standing not far behind me, there were two. They were completely identical, but whereas one was standing alert, looking to the source of the screams, the other was standing and staring right at me/not me.

"Taha Aki" I greater him, knowing now exactly who he was, although I couldn't say why there were suddenly two of him.

"Watch" he said to me, and I obediently turned to watch the other Taha Aki shake and explode into wolf form, then throw himself into battle with Victoria.

"I understand this part." I told him. "The Quileutes had a clan of shapeshifter wolves, you being the first, who protected the tribe from the cold ones." He nodded gravely and gestured for me to continue watching the fight in front of me.

"Watch" he repeated, and again I turned to witness the struggle. As had happened before, Victoria was gaining the advantage, and not me stepped forward, knife in hand. Somehow though, this time I was separate from not me, and I was able to stand by and watch as the knife was plunged deep into not me's chest. I watched Victoria become distracted and lunge at not me, and then I watched as the wolf Taha Aki took advantage of her distraction and ripped the head from her shoulders. I turned again to the Taha Aki next to me.

"Yes I know all of this. I know I'll have to sacrifice myself to save my father. Why do I have to see it again?" I asked in frustration.

"Watch" was the only response I got, and the dream scene reset itself.

This time I was cooking over a fire when the screams started, and when one Taha Aki became the wolf it was me who stepped forward with the knife, and not me who stood back and watched.

"Watch" Taha Aki told me again, and I saw me drag the knife over my chest instead of plunging it straight in, and this time the wolf was able to rip Victoria apart before she reached me.

"See?" Taha Aki asked me. "Then, and now. The same, but different. Death and life." I didn't really understand him, but I didn't want another replay so I nodded.

Instantly, the scene changed and I was again watching myself in the throes of passion with the huge man.

"Watch" came from beside me, and I looked to see Taha Aki standing there watching along with me.

"I am. But I really wish you wouldn't. It's kind of private, what a girl's 'O' face looks like" I grumbled at him, mortified that someone else, even a dream someone, was seeing me, even a dream me, in such an intimate situation. The old man gave a small amused smile and thankfully kept his attention on the me watching, instead of the me being thrust into by the gorgeous, sweaty, muscular man.

"Life, love, passion, mates" the old man stated, gesturing somehow at both the entwined couple and the huge black wolf watching from the corner. The word mates was spoken just as the man plunged his teeth into the moaning, naked me, and then suddenly I was wide awake, sitting bolt upright in my bed and breathing heavily. "Ok. That was fucking weird." I thought. Never before had I been so alert in one of those dreams. I'd never been both in the dream, and at the same time been just a spectator, watching it all take place. "Well not before this afternoon at this beach" I helpfully reminded myself, and I wondered if maybe this was the key to finally understanding what my subconscious was trying to drum into my conscious mind, and in doing so, making the dreams stop. Maybe I just had to make myself be a dispassionate spectator, therefore able to take in the facts without becoming so emotionally involved in the scene. It was something to consider. Deciding I'd do just that; consider the possibility, but not right now, I settled back down under my covers and evened out my breathing to allow real sleep to take me. I needed to get some proper rest so I would be able to cope with whatever was thrown at me at school in the morning.

I made it to the kitchen before Charlie the next morning, and was already sitting down in front of my scrambled eggs, a portion on a plate sitting in Charlie's spot too, when he wandered into the room, carrying one of his plaid shirts.

"Morning, kid. I wasn't sure, but I thought you might want one of my shirts again today." He said as he offered it to me. I smiled gratefully and took it from him, pulling it on and rolling up the sleeves between bite of my breakfast.

"Thanks, Dad. Did you sleep ok?" I asked. He sat down opposite me, tucking into his own eggs and answered.

"A few weird dreams, but other than that, yeah, thanks" he replied.

"Yeah I can relate." I said, and I took my plate and rinsed it off before picking up my bag. "We'll I guess I'd better get going. Being late wont help with whatever the day has in store for me." I grimaced slightly at the thought of how my day was likely to play out.

"Just you be that strong young woman you've shown me over the last couple of days and everything will be fine, kiddo" Charlie told me with a proud look on his face and I hoped rather than believed he was right. "And if for some reason it gets to be too much, I won't be mad if you feel you have to leave early." He added, and I was flooded with gratitude and affection for him. He knew it was going to be a tough day for me, and while he also knew there wasn't much he could do to help me at school, he was trying to give me options if I needed them.

"Thanks, Dad. But I'm sure it'll be fine. Or, well, probably not fine but at least not so bad I won't be able to cope." I gave him a kiss on top of his head as I passed him on my way to the door and he coughed a little uncomfortably.

"Yes, we'l, the option's there if you need it, anyway. Take it easy, Bells. Are you calling Jake after school about the bikes, or going down to La Push to see Him?"

"Not sure to be honest." I replied, one hand on the door, "I guess I'll see how the day goes, and how I feel at the time. Bye Dad. Have a good day."

"You too, kid" I heard as I closed the door behind me, and I jumped into my truck and headed off to face whatever the day held.

Driving my truck into the school parking lot erased any hopes I might have been foolish enough to allow myself, as every single head turned to watch me pull in and park. Everyone, from the least popular freshman, to the most popular senior, who was, for some unexplained reason Lauren Mallory, was standing around in small groups, casting the occasional glance my way every so often. Everyone except Angela Weber and Ben Cheney, who were walking over to me with friendly smiles on their faces.

"Hi Bella. Glad to see you back, how are you feeling?" Angela asked as she got to me, giving me a big hug "Don't worry, Ben and I have your back. You're not alone. Smile and don't let them see they're bothering you" she whispered to me before she pulled back.

I smiled a little, relieved. However bad things got today, I ha at least two good friends who wouldn't let me face it all alone. "I'm feeling a lot better, thanks " I said squeezing her hand and catching Ben's eye to give him a grateful smile too.

"Well you're certainly looking better than you did on Thursday, no offense." Ben said to me as we all turned and headed for the main entrance, ignoring completely the whispering kids still standing around in the parking lot. I laughed a little.

"Yeah. And smelling a bit better too, I bet." I joked. I wanted to make it clear they didn't need to walk on eggshells around me.

"I wasn't going to mention that, but yeah. Definitely." Angela teased and I jabbed her lightly in the ribs with my elbow. After opening the door for us, Ben took up a station on my right, as Angela linked her arm with mine on the left. "I know you're not much into the touchy freely thing" she explained as we walked to home room, "but a united front looks so much better to anyone who might be watching." I offered up silent thanks to anyone who might be listening for giving me such good friends and we all sat down together in the the back of the room, with Angela and Ben still flanking me.

"Ang and I have compared our class schedules and between us you've got friendly company in all your classes all week except for gym and math." Ben confided to me in a quiet tone as the other kids began to file in to the room. "I don't think your math class will be too much trouble, as the only one in there you'll really have to worry about is Jessica and she wasn't exactly in the front of the line when they were handing out brains. But gym might be a problem. You've got both Lauren and Mike in that class with you, as you know, and they're both pretty determined to make your life difficult."

"Well bearing in mind that I thought I'd be in for hell in pretty much every class, dealing with them in just gym class should be a breeze." I said, trying to sound nonchalant. Judging by the worried expressions on my friends' faces, I failed.

"Bella, you're going to have to watch yourself with those two. Lauren's always had a problem with you and she's grabbing the opportunity to kick you when you're down with both hands, and I don't know what really went down between you and Mrs Newton, but whatever it was, Mike's sticking to his mom's version of the incident, and telling anyone who'll listen all about the numerous times you've tried to get into his pants." Angela warned me seriously. I quickly gave her and Ben a condensed version of the fight at Newtons and Ben and Angela both looked disgusted.

"That woman has always been a money grabbing parasite." Ben spat under his breath, "and she's always been the first to spout any far fetched gossip when given the chance. But this really does take the cake." He looked absolutely livid. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, Bella, but there's also a lot of rumours going around about you sleeping around in Phoenix, and moving here due to a pregnancy scare. As well as a lot of stories about you being a drug addict." He looked sympathetic. "Ang and I don't believe a word of it, in case you wondered, but even if it was all true, you've never been anything but nice to both of us, and we're not ones to judge people by their pasts, only by how they treat us." My eyes welled up a little at his heartfelt kind words, and I reached out to squeezed each of their hands.

"You're good friends, both of you. Thank you." I said "There's no truth to any of it, by the way. Charlie would've caught me out the first time I got high and put a stop to that, and as for the pregnancy thing... I'm still a virgin, for fuck's sake. I'm pretty sure that makes any of the rest if it impossible." I gave. Bitter little laugh. "Mind you, short of a publicly screened pelvic exam, I'm pretty sure none of them are going to believe that for a second. Ben gave a snort of cynical laughter, which drew the teacher's attention, and we fell quiet for the rest if the class.

When the bell went, I headed off alone to my math class, refusing Ben's kind offer of walking me there as I didn't want him to be in trouble for being late to his own class. As I walked through the hallways I moved in a weird bubble of silence. The kids in front of me would whisper and giggle, shooting glances at me and then grow silent and staring as I passed. Then, once I'd gotten by them, they'd start up their gossiping again. I was grateful to arrive at my math class for the first time in my life. My heart sank though as I entered the classroom to discover the only free seat was next to Jessica. Steeling myself, I lifted my chin and strode over to the empty seat, sitting down and offering Jessica a pleasant smile.

"Morning, Jess. Had a good weekend?" I asked her, earning a wide open mouth and blank stare as she tried to work out what to say.

"Erm yeah. It was ok, thanks. How about you? Anything interesting happen?" She asked, clearly fishing for more gossip to add to her already oversized haul.

"Nothing much really." I lied, opening up my books. "Just hung with my dad and his friends on the Rez, did some cooking and housework, and caught up on my sleep. I'd been having real problems with insomnia for quite a while, and it finally seems to be letting up on me. Just as well; from what Charlie tells me, I've been something of a zombie for the last few months from lack of sleep." I managed to keep the blush from my face as I spoke, trying to imagine the conversation as a hand of poker; I was bluffing to try to get the chance to work out what was in her hand. "And if she doesn't believe me, or pass that on as a reason for my recent behaviour, I wasn't speaking quietly, so one of the nosy asses siting around us here might pass it on themselves." I thought, silently congratulating myself on my clever manoeuvre.

"So is that why you've been sleeping around so much?" She asked, seeming to genuinely believe what she was asking. "Trying to exhaust yourself into sleeping properly?" I almost felt sorry for her. Almost. She was actually so stupid that she completely believed the bunch of lies she'd been spoon fed. Funnily enough, I felt no malice coming from her at all. She didn't seem to my old my supposed behaviour against me, she was just desperate to know, to be the first with the information. I began to wonder if this wasn't the real reason behind Jessica's hunger for gossip. Unlike most of the others, she wasn't doing it to be hurtful, or out of malicious glee, she was just clever enough to know that she was as thick as the grease on a McDonalds burger, and was desperate to be the first to know any gossip so that she could use her information to disguise her stupidity.

"No, Jess." I answered with more gentleness than I would've had before my epiphany. "I haven't been sleeping with anyone." I decided to sacrifice my own pride a little to get my point across. "You saw what I've looked like the last few months; the bags under my eyes, the greasy hair, the weight loss, the smell." We both winced at the memory. "You really think anyone would want to sleep with that?" I asked her and she looked thoughtful.

"But then why would Mike's mom say all that stuff?" She wondered.

"Because I caught her out being a bitch and quit my job, so she needed to cover her ass. Making up some shit about me was an effective way of doing that." I explained just as the teacher started up the lesson, and I let her spend the rest of the hour running it through her mind.

Angela was waiting for me outside the classroom to walk with me to our English class, so I was saved the lonely walk through the hallways a second time.

"How did it go with Jessica?" She asked as we walked, ignoring the whispering that surrounded us.

"Not as bad as I'd expected." I answered, and I filled her in on what was said, and my theory behind Jessica's gossip habit.

"You might actually be right on that one." Angela mused. "But I'm afraid the same can't be said for pretty much everyone else. It's all about malice and enjoying other people's misfortune with most of them."

"Yeah I know." I sighed. "It's just nice to know there's at least one person who's not being mean deliberately." I added, and we sat down and pulled our books out. We continued talking quietly, me telling Angela about my motorcycles and my plan to get Jacob to help me with them, until the teacher arrived to start the class. I never thought I'd be grateful for Mr Berty's dry old fashioned teaching style, but right now I was glad he wasn't one for opening up class discussions. The less time my class mates had to snipe at me, the better my day was likely to go. I pretended to follow along the reading of Moby Dick like everyone else, but instead I was thinking over that first dream scene from the night before. I was right. Being somewhat distanced from the events as I had been helped me make more sense out of it. I decided that Taha Aki had kept repeating "watch" in that slightly annoying way to reinforce the idea of observing and being separate from it all. The scene repeating itself, and the old man's talking of "then and now" made me think that the first scene, the one where not me had stabbed herself, was me re-hashing one of the legends I must've read in that book, whereas the second scene where I had just cut myself to distract Victoria was me telling myself that I didn't necessarily have to die to get her attention away from my father. That right feeling washed over me with each realisation, but I couldn't see how distracting Victoria but not letting her kill me would keep Charlie safe. Sure it'd be great if I didn't have to break his heart that way, and I'd prefer to take that route of course. If I could. "Which would be just fine if I only had someone there who was able to fight her off. Which I don't." I thought in frustration. I had the feeling I was missing something important, but I couldn't for he life of me see what.

Angela nudged me to get my attention when I didn't move along with everyone else when the class ended. I scrambled to my feet, apologising to her for zoning out, and a voice from behind me said

"What's the rush, Bella? Got some drugs to take between classes?" I turned around to see who had spoken. Great. One of Lauren's cronies. Everyone else stopped in their tracks to see how I would respond.

"Why? You Jonesing for a fix?" I asked, one eyebrow raised, and turned to link my arm with Angela's then walked out, head high, accompanied by the shocked laughter of my classmates.

"That was brilliant" Angela whispered to me as we headed to Spanish class. "Just keep that up, and they'll be either too impressed with your comebacks, or too scared of them to carry on bitching at you."

"I'll do my best, Ang." I said as we walked in to our next class.

Spanish was uneventful, luckily, and it being a double lesson, it took us right up to lunch. "Now for the big challenge." I thought to myself. "There's no way lunch will go without at least one person causing trouble."

Ben joined us in the lunch queue, and after giving Angela a quick kiss hello, he turned to me and said. "All anyone could talk about in my business class was how you verbally bitch slapped one of Lauren's little clones when she started on you. Nicely done, Bella." I grinned at him, grabbing a sandwich and an apple for myself.

"Well thanks. I don't know why it is, but the last couple of days, exactly the right words come to me when I need them, instead of me getting flustered and tearful like I used to. I can't honestly say I don't like it." They both grinned back, and we sat down at a free table together. I was only a few bites into my sandwich, when Lauren stalked over to our table and stood glaring at me. The lunch hall fell quiet as everyone prepared themselves for an entertaining show.

Decided to give up on the anorexia then Bella? Or are you just planning to go the bulimia route instead?" She asked snidely, and loudly, gesturing to my lunch.

"No, I'll leave the self induced vomiting to you, Lauren." I answered. "Actually, I see your fingers look a little sore from catching them on your teeth when you shove them down your throat, I said, pointing at the first two fingers on her right hand that bore tell tale signs of her doing just that. "I've got some ointment in my bag that might help, if you want?" I offered sweetly, giving her a false smile. Her face paled, then reddened, an ugly scowl crossing her brow.

"Whatever, Whore. Just because you worked your way through all the guys at this school, and all the men on the Rez, don't try coming on to me like that, you std riddled dike. Even if I had any interest in girls, I wouldn't have anything to do with you." She looked triumphant as a number of her friends giggled and gave each other lame high fives at her bitchy comment. My smile just grew wider.

"'Whore' indicates that I take money, goods or services for sleeping with people, Lauren. Not my style at all, though I know a few people that might do that." I gave her a sudden innocently interested expression. "Hey, Lauren, who paid for your boob job?" She gasped and clutched her hands protectively to her breasts as a few laughs started around the room. "Whoever it was must've paid bargain basket prices. I've never seen such a wonky job." The laughter increased, Ben and Angela joining in openly. "You must not be very good in bed, if all you got paid for it was a Wallmart brand boob job." Even a few of Lauren's clones giggled a little at that, before she turned and silenced them with a glare.

"Jealous that I've got something decent on top, while you've barely got a handful, Swan?" Lauren sneered, eyeing my admittedly kind of flat chest.

"Not at all. It's clear to anyone that mine are all natural, whereas even if the wonky job your McSurgeon did wasn't screaming 'bad boob job' to anyone with eyes in their head, the first time you get on a plane, they're bound to explode with the cabin pressure at high altitudes." Ben let out a massive snort of laughter at this, joined by most of the guys in the hall.

"Ha! That's where you're wrong." Lauren crowed "They didn't explode when I flew to Aspen over Christmas." The roars of laughter from all around the hall at her unintentional admission of having fake tits alerted her to what she had just said. She looked absolutely livid. "You nasty, disease ridden, dike whore." She spat with venom. "Don't try to deflect attention from yourself. You walk around here like you're better than everyone else. Just cos you were able to sucker one of the Cullens into spending his time, and money on you. Well you're not. Everyone knows about you now. Everyone knows how you've sold yourself to everyone that could pay, and given yourself away for free to most of the Rez when they couldn't pay." I hid the flinch of pain I felt in my chest from her insinuations about Him as she looked around triumphantly.

"Make up your mind, Lauren. Am I a dike, or am I sleeping with anyone with a dick?" I hurried on before she could do more than open her mouth to answer. "If I'm a whore, perhaps we could ask anyone in the room who's used my services, the services of a 'disease ridden whore', to raise their hands?" Everyone looked around the hall, baring myself, Angela and Ben, who all stared stonily at Lauren. "No? No takers? Guess I'm innocent of that charge then. Maybe it's cos I'm such a big lesbian. Maybe the numerous girls I've slept with would raise their hands?" Again everyone except myself and my friends looked about for raised hands. "No joy there either. Guess I can't be a 'dike' either. Now there's no-one here from the Rez, so I guess I can't prove that one's not true either, but Lauren, why is it only the guys from the Rez who wouldn't be able to pay? Isn't that more than a tiny bit racist?" I noticed several kids in the hall begin to realise the same thing, and more than one look of disgust was now being sent Lauren's way. "Calling me 'dike' rather than just saying 'gay' or 'lesbian' was a pretty big giveaway too. Who knew you were such a bigot?" I gave her a stern, disapproving look. "So I think I'm better than everyone cos I was dating E..Edward?" I forced myself to say his name, barely hesitating over it, and clenched my fists around the pain.

I took a steadying breath and continued. "What's really got you mad, Lauren? That I dated him? Or that he wouldn't date you?" Angela laughed outright at this point, and I turned and smiled at her. Turning back to Lauren, I let the smile drop and my face became set. Angry and determined.

"Here's how it's going to be, Lauren. And I suggest you listen closely, because this is your only warning. You will not spread any more lies about me, or my dad, or about anyone I care about. If I hear of one rumour that can be traced back to you, if I find out that you've been passing notes in class about me, if you write anything about me online, I will not only sue you for slander and libel, I will also press criminal charges for defamation of character. Lucky for me that's a criminal offense here in Washington. Especially if the lies spread are in regards to diseases, such as sexually transmitted diseases, or relate to a woman's chastity. Old fashioned, I know, but the law's the law. And with my dad being the Chief of police, you think I'd find it too hard to make the charges stick? No. Neither do I." Her face grew paler and paler with each word. "Now" I said, shooing her away with my hands like a troublesome fly, "you and your lopsided sweater bumps get out of my face. My friends and I are trying to eat our lunch." Turning my back on her, I sat down and picked up my sandwich, completely ignoring Lauren's indignant spluttering and the laughter and scattered applause coming from around the lunch hall. I focused only on my sandwich for several more minutes, still fighting against the pain and panicked breathing that was threatening to overtake me after saying His name out loud. Angela touched my arm gently, and I glanced up to see her looking at me in concern.

"Bella. We've sat here for long enough to prove your 'unconcern'" she whispered. "Do you want to go outside for a bit to calm yourself down?" I looked around, noticing that everyone had gone back to chatting amongst themselves.

"If you guys don't mind, then yeah. Please." I answered, and straight away they both stood along with me, and seemingly casually linked with an arm each. Then, with my friends steadying me to disguise my wobbly knees, and carefully held back panicked breathing, we made our way out o the side door of the dining hall, and around the corner where I instantly dropped to the ground, gasping for breath with absent lungs.

It took me the rest of the lunch hour to pull myself back together, Ben and Angela quietly coaching me to get my breathing back under control. I resisted their attempts to get me to go home for the rest of the day though. I refused to let the likes of Lauren or Mike chase me out of school. When the bell rang, I was sufficiently recovered that I hauled myself to my feet, and allowed Angela to walk with me to biology class. She sat beside me, rather than in her usual spot, because her lab partner was off sick. A fact I was very grateful for since Mike sat behind me in this class with Tyler. As I sat down I heard him whisper to his friend

"Here comes the molester. Keep your hands over your junk if you want to keep it safe." I sighed heavily, he last thing I wanted after my showdown with Lauren was more confrontation, but I wasn't about to let him continue spreading his and his mother's malicious shit. I turned in my seat.

"Mike. You and I both know that your mother's story is a pack of vicious lies with more holes than a shower head. I'm sure that you know what I told Lauren at lunch?" He nodded warily, so I continued. "Well the same goes for you. In fact I'll add to it. Lauren has never liked me, and never made a secret of it, so I can understand a certain amount of animosity from her. But you? You pretended to be a friend. We talked together at school, and worked together for nearly a year. You tried to get me to agree to date you more times than I can count. But now, because you're a weak, spineless little twerp who does whatever mommy says, you're setting out to ruin me and through me, my dad, just because I had the nerve to tell your mommy a few home truths? Pathetic. You do not talk to me. You do not breathe near me. If we are forced to sit near each other in class, you will pretend I don't exist, and I will do the same with you. Other than that, you get the same warning Lauren did. And I suggest you pass it on to your mommy. Don't think for a second that just because she's an adult, I won't have the nerve to press the same charges against her. That would be a bad mistake for you both. And that's the last thing you'll ever hear me say to you." I turned back round, and began chatting cheerfully with Angela as if I'd never seen or even heard of Mike, Spineless Wonder, Newton.