Chapter 17

BELLA P.O.V

I was terrified. It had been a week since I was back at school, and my period was late. I was pacing in the dorm room waiting for Maia to come back with a pregnancy test. I was worried last week when it was a day late. Now, it's been a week. And I've been trying to avoid telling Jacob.

The first person I called was Leah. If anyone was going to be able to talk me off a ledge, it would be here. Of course she also said exactly what was on her mind.

"I thought you were protecting yourselves?" She asked.

"For the most part we do." I was chewing on my thumb nail as we talked. Of course there were a few times we didn't use condoms but I thought we were protected enough on my end to not worry about it.

"Bella, what are you going to do?" She asked. I had never been so nervous in my entire life. We were no where near ready to be parents. My dad would be so disappointed in me. Of course my mom would make the most of the situation.

"I don't know." I sighed.

"I mean, Jake would make a really good dad but he's so young." I sighed again. I knew she was right. I just had no idea what to do. "You need to take a pregnancy test." She said.

"My roommate just ran out to buy one for me." I answered. "I'm praying to god that it's negative."

"Have you told him yet?" She asked.

"No. I figured I would tell him after I take the test." I was second guessing myself. Should I call him and tell him or just wait until after I take the test?

"That's probably a good idea. Don't get him stressed out if he doesn't need to be." She was such a good friend. I didn't deserve her.

"Did this ever happen with you and Sam?" I asked.

"Yeah. Just once. Scared the crap out of him." She trailed off. "And now here we are so." Now I was panicking that this would lead to us breaking up again and I really didn't want that.

"Maybe I should just keep this to myself so he doesn't break up with me again."

"Bella, he won't break up with you. Just be honest with him." I was so anxious that he was going to abandon me. I didn't want him to leave me over something that could have easily been prevented. "You have to get it out of your head that ever time something goes wrong, that he's going to leave you. He loves you." I knew she was right. I knew it something that I needed work on. At the end of the day, Jacob was here and he did love me. He just wanted what was best for me.

"I just have abandonment issues." I whispered.

"I know you do but no matter what, Jacob isn't going to let you go through this alone." I could hear shouting in the background.

"Thank you for talking to me."

"Let me know how it goes." She said.

"I will. Bye."

"Bye." And with that she hung up and I was left on my own spiraling worried that he was going to leave me. He could easily leave me. He could easily abandon me with a baby and never look back. Of course I'm sure his father would step him and make him help me but I would never force that on him.

Maia came in the door and quickly shut it behind her before pouring out an entire bag of pregnancy tests.

"What happened to one?" I asked.

"I mean in the movies they always take more than one." She shrugged. We read the back of the box before grabbing a cup. I headed to the bathroom to pee in the cup before rushing back to our door room. I was freaking out and shaking so she had to put the drops into it for me. "What if it comes back positive?" She asked.

"I don't know." I whispered tearing up. "Jake is way too young to be having a kid right now." All I could think about was him and how he was going to react to this news. Not even thinking about the fact that I didn't have a full time job and there was no way in Hell I could be a mother right now.

I watched her use the little dropper and put a few dots on one pregnancy test before dripping a few onto another. I sat on my bed with my face in my hands. I knew we should have been a lot more careful.

"Maybe you should call him." She said.

"Is it positive?" I asked looking up. She handed it to me. Negative. I sighed in relief. I got myself together before calling him.

"Hey, babe." He answered the phone, happy as normal.

"Hey." I ran my hand through my hair.

"What's wrong?" The stress that I had been feeling for the last few days was finally hitting me and I broke down. Maia was standing beside me rubbing my back. "Bella!" Jacob said into the phone.

"My period is late." I whispered into the phone wiping my eyes. There was silence on the other end of the phone. I knew that he was probably freaking out as much as I was. "I took a test-" I started to talk but he cut me off.

"Is it positive?"

"No." I heard him sigh. My heart was pounding I couldn't imagine how fast his was beating.

"Do you need me to come see you?" He asked.

"Yeah." I sniffled. I had never been this terrified. Not when I found out that vampires and werewolves were real, not when I nearly died, twice.

"I'll be there soon." He hung up. I laid in bed while Maia sat beside me. The emotions I was feeling exhausted me. I was not ready to be a mom. Hell, Jacob wasn't ready to be a dad. We would be buying tons of condoms.

"Aren't you on that birth control that goes in your arm?" Maia asked. I had been on it for a few months and I always had a normal period.

"Yeah. But my period was always normal. I've never been late before." I wiped my eyes. "It's a lot more terrifying when you're actually having sex."

"Everyone has pregnancy scares at some point in their life." She said. "It's negative. You can relax now." She smiled softly at me. An hour later my phone rang. I jumped out of bed as I answered it and slipped on my shoes to start heading downstairs to meet Jacob.

"Hi." I said into the phone. "I'm coming."

"Okay. I'll wait at the door." He hung up and I quickly rushed down the hall and down the stairs. I opened the door for him and he right away pulled me into his arms. He held me against him and we were both quiet. Never in a million years did I think that we would be in the situation together. I wouldn't want to be in it with anyone else. "I'm sorry."

"Everything is fine. I'm sorry for scaring you."

"I wasn't scared." He commented. "I'm ready to be a dad."

"No." He nodded. "Don't say that." I sighed. "We are way too young to be parents."

"Not young enough to be having sex though."

"Jesus." I blushed, hiding my face. "We need to be more careful." I held his face in my hands. "We are not ready for that kind of responsibility." He nodded before leaning in to kiss me. "So you need to start wrapping it."

"I will." I used my keycard to open the door before we headed up to my dorm. We laid with each other for an hour before Maia announced that we were all going out. Embry and Connor came in the room. They had all decided that we were going to go the frat party down the street. As if I wasn't anxious enough. "We don't have to go you know." Jacob said as we followed everyone else down the hall.

"It's fine." I held his hand as we walked. The last thing I wanted to be doing right now was going to a party but maybe it would help get our minds off of it. "I talked to Leah about it. She said her and Sam went through this too."

"I'm sure they did. A lot of couples do." I shrugged. "Honey, it's okay. We'll just be more careful."

"It's not even that anymore, Jake. My period has always been regular. All of a sudden it's not?" I asked.

"I'm not a doctor." He answered. "Maybe you should call yours." He was right of course. I should call. There could be something else wrong.

"Would you two 40 year olds stop and have fun?" Embry shouted. I sighed following him out onto the street. We all walked down the street and somehow we were all let into the frat house. Or maybe we were all let in because Embry just busted his way in. I hated frat houses. They were all so gross. They were filled with old smelly furniture. The floors were all sticky. There were people everyone. In almost every single room there were at least three couples making out. I don't understand why we ever came to them.

Jacob right away got a beer and headed to the kitchen. I followed behind, holding one of the loops in his jeans so I wouldn't lose him. I was holding my bladder for as long as possible before heading to find a bathroom. I hovered over the seat and washed my hands in disgust but at least it seemed cleaned. And there was a nice smelling candle burning in here.

When I went back to the kitchen to find Jake, he was talking to some girl who had her boobs pushed up to her neck. I did not like the way she laughed at whatever he was saying and touched his arm. He didn't seem like he was going to stop her. Inside I was raging, watching this all unfold. It had been a rough day.

I slowly made my way over to then and stood next to Jake.

"Can I help you?" I asked her. Jacob wrapped his arm around me while I wrapped mine around his waist.

"I told you I had a girlfriend." He commented.

"No you didn't." She answered getting defensive.

"I did. You just decided to ignore it." She rolled her eyes before moving to find her next victim.

"Why didn't you stop her?" I asked.

"I told her I had a girlfriend." He defended himself. "She was the one who got touchy. I kept my hands my sides the whole time."

"I know. I watched you." I answered.

"Don't be mad. I didn't do anything."

"I'm not mad. Can we just go?" I asked.

"Yeah." He grabbed my hand and we headed back to the dorm. Once we were there I heated up some food and we sat on my bed together eating. "So far your first year of college has been... eventful." He smiled at me. I laughed shaking my head.

"You got that right."

*******

Before I knew it, it was finals. I had told Jacob that I probably wouldn't have much time to talk but he sent me flowers and chocolate covered strawberries with a cute little note. I couldn't believe that my first year of college was already over. I still hadn't decided what I was going to do next year. I wanted to be closer to home but I also knew that Jacob would never let me pick him over school.

After my last final, I started packing up the dorm room. Jacob had some to help me and Charlie was driving down now to help. I had everything stacked by the door while we waited. It was weird to be moving out of the dorm.

Months ago I thought I was never going to make it to the end of the year and somehow I was here. I did it. I made it. I didn't fail.

We went downstairs to meet my dad. He handed me some mail.

"This came from the school." He commented as we walked up to my dorm. I opened it while they were packing stuff away. "What does it say?"

"Some organization paid my tuition in full." I was shocked. I wasn't going to have to pay a penny.

"Who?" Charlie asked. I handed it to him letting him read it over. I looked at Jake, who was cleaning out the mini fridge and eating as many snacks as he could within that time. "They just agreed to pay your tuition in full?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah I guess." Jacob scoffed beside me. "What?"

"There's only one organization who would have that much money to pay off someone's tuition." He rolled his eyes.

"Who?" Charlie asked.

"The Cullen's." The name made my breath hitch. It was a name that I hadn't heard in a very long time. A name that I thought I would never hear again. And why would they pay for it? "Make's me sick." Jacob's face scrunched as he moved around the room packing.

"You really think it's them?" Charlie asked.

"Charlie, I may not have graduated, but I'm not an idiot." He answered unplugging the fridge. The last thing I wanted, was the Cullen's money. And I certainly didn't want them paying my way through college. I could handle this myself. As soon as I got home I would be going to the bank. I was returning this money.

In my rage to get home and get rid of the money, I was able to pack up the dorm in no time. We then went to help Embry and his mom. Both cars were packed up and Tiffany agreed to follow behind us. Again, I was crammed in the back seat while dad and Jake sat in the front.

I slept for some of the ride but when we stopped for food, dad said he would sit in the back if someone else drove. Jake offered so once we were all done eating, we got back on the road. He held my hand for the rest of the trip.

"What are you gonna do about the money?" He asked.

"I'm going to the bank tomorrow and telling them to send it back." I answered.

"Why? It's a crap ton of money." He was shocked that I would be so willing to give it back. It wasn't mine. I wasn't keeping it.

"I don't want it."

"Bella, you could use that money." He answered. "Who cares who it came from? You deserve that money after what they put you through." I rolled my eyes.

About an hour later he pulled into the driveway. I quickly got out and ran inside to the use the bathroom while they started unloading the car. Daisy and Lou were both super excited to see me. I gave them both a little pat before heading out to help unload the car.

"Are you guys hungry? Want me to order some food?" Dad asked as he carried in my laundry.

"Please." Jacob answered as he carried the fridge inside. Dad decided he wanted to keep the fridge in the living room so he could easily access his beers. Jacob thought it was a great idea. So that's where he left it. I started a load of laundry while Jacob finished bringing the bags in.

It felt so good to be home.

The next morning I slept it but then got up and got ready. I headed to the bank where I told them to send the money back. I also found out that were was almost an extra 30 thousand in my account. They couldn't send the money back. So I had them cash it all out to me. If there was anyone who deserved this money more than me, it was the families in the pack.

So, I split the money up and delivered it to them at Emily's. They had all gotten together to welcome Embry and I home.

"Bella, we can't take this." Sam said trying to hand me the money back.

"It's from the Cullen's. Just take it." Paul right away took the money. As he should. Their entire lives were changed because of the Cullen's. Even if this money didn't go far, it would still keep a roof over their heads and food on their tables. "I don't want it. It's yours."

"Thank you." I could tell how thankful they all were.

"Thank you for protecting me and my dad."

"Of course." A year ago I never pictured myself being here. A year ago I would have told you that I would be a vampire and living out the rest of my life with the Cullen's and hunting for animal blood. I knew now that I never belonged in that world. I belonged in Jacob's. He was my family and he was stuck with me whether he liked it or not.