Chapter 32:

To say that I was in heaps of trouble when my parents got home was well...an overstatement.

I'd been expecting a lot more discipline than I got. Actually I'd been bracing myself since they stepped foot in the door of our lavish home.

It felt like I had been in this office too many times these past few months.

The maroon walls covered in my Father's favorite paintings and the two large desks that sat side by side, the room always seemed to smell like paper.

I sat in the tan chair once again, looking at both of my parents as they stood in front of me; my Father leaned up against his desk and my Mother standing a few feet away from him, both looking directly at me.

I leaned back and folded my hands across my stomach, a slight smile playing at the edge of my lips.

This time-unlike the many others-I was actually very relaxed.

"Go ahead," I prompted.

"I don't even know where to begin." My Dad started. "Why don't we begin with why in god's name did you do that?"

"I think you know why," I presumed. "I mean you've seen what has happened the past few weeks and what happened today. Well I'm not sure if you heard what that one guy said..."

"But did you really deem it necessary to tell off a whole church full of people?" He questioned.

I shrugged. "It just happened to be that I had had enough. It just pushed me too far. I didn't really give much thought to it. I just did it."

"Well the press is going to have a field day with this. You've gotten a hell of a lot more famous these past few weeks."

I laughed dryly. "Yeah,"

"Next time, Bells...save the speech and talk to me first. We can figure out another way to express your frustration."

I nodded.

I was very surprised at how calm they were being.

Maybe it was because I was being calm...I don't know but still I expected more of a reaction than this. I thought there was going to be yelling; they didn't even raise their voices.

My Dad spoke again; "Not that you don't have a right to be fed up with all this, you knew what you were getting into when you announced it. Don't tell me you can't handle it now?"

I shook my head and sat up. "No, I can. I just got pissed off that's all."

"Are you sure this is worth it?" My Mom asked. "Are you sure he's worth it?"

I brushed off her tone of voice because I knew exactly what she meant and yes- it was an insult to Corey.

"I'm beyond sure; I don't even need to think about it. This is not a choice. There are no choices here, I love him more than anything and I will do anything to be with him. If I haven't already proved that."

She sighed.

"Can you just for once look at him as a person and not a vampire? Can you attempt to understand that I love him?"

They glanced at each other.

"That's a lot to ask for." She said.

"I don't think it is." I stated. "At least it wouldn't be if everyone didn't have a fucked up opinion of the world." I muttered.

"Language," She scolded.

I rolled my eyes.

I heard Drake chuckle quietly from the corner of the room.

My Dad looked at him. "What are you even doing in here?"

"Hey, I'm part of the family to you know!" He said with mock hurt.

I laughed.

"Just 'cause I'm not running around with vampires and fucking one doesn't mean I don't want to be apart of the family meetings too."

My parent's attention went to me. "You're doing what now?"My dad asked.

I flipped Drake off.

"He's joking," I said, looking back at them.

"For you sake he better be."

I glanced at the purity ring on my finger.

I was actually very grateful that they made me get that.

Though I thought it was stupid and pointless at the time, it's actually very important to me now.

"Don't worry," I assured. "That's one rule I'm not going to break."

"How come I never got a purity ring?" Drake inquired.

"Because it wouldn't have mattered to you, you would've done it anyways." Dad said.

Drake grinned. "True,"

Dad shook his head.

Drake flicked on the TV in the room and started flipping through the channels. "Hey Bells, look your on TV."

My god, they already had my little speech from church on the news.

Drake laughed. "You got censored."

"How the hell did they get footage of that?" Dad said.

Mom gave him a look for his language.

"Sorry," He said to her.

She nodded.

"Probably some loser kid with a cell phone," Drake said.

"You two can go now." Dad said.

"Well that was all the family bonding time we got, Bells." Drake said. "Let's skedaddle on outta here."

I got up and walked out of the room with him.

He slung his arm around my shoulders. "I'm proud a'you Bells, sticking up for yourself like a true punk."

I breathed a laugh at him. "You taught me well."

"Damn straight and don't you forget it. Oh and what's going in with Nick? I haven't seen him around much lately and one night he got home at like four in the morning."

I shrugged. "Don't ask me I don't talk to that Jackass."

He chuckled. "All right, I'll catch you later." He walked out of the room, leaving me in the hall by myself.

Corey was most likely waiting for me upstairs; he'd probably be down here in few moments. He always seems to know when I'm done having my little "family bonding" time.

I wandered into the kitchen looking for some caffeine.

I was starting to become aware again of the fact that I was going on no sleep.

I was looking for an energy drink in the fridge when I heard clapping.

I looked up and saw Nick walking into the kitchen with a grin on his face.

He stopped clapping and stood in front of me. "I just saw your speech on TV. Bravo, you stood up for your little bloodsucker."

I closed the fridge and leaned back against the counter.

He walked up to me and placed his hands on either side of me.

This was really invading my personal space.

"So I've figured out that I can't convince you too get rid of your leech but..." he glanced down then back up at me. "You will be mine." He stated.

"How do you figure?" I responded.

He smiled and put his hand on my face, stroking my cheek.

I tried to get away but he merely got closer, pushing me against the counter even more.

I was very uncomfortable with the fact that our bodies were touching.

"Oh I have plans," He said quietly. "Plans to make you mine...again."

He leaned into kiss me but right before his lips touched mine he was pulled back suddenly.

Slightly taken aback at first by the sudden fact that I had my personal space back I looked over to see that Corey had Nick pinned against the wall, his hand wrapped around his neck tightly.

Corey glared at him. "And what are those plans?"

"Get the hell off me, bloodsucker." Nick said, gripping Corey's wrist to try and pull off his hand from his neck.

"I will but first let me give you a warning; if you ever touch her again I will rip you to pieces and burn you until there's nothing left of your pathetic existence." With that Corey let go and Nick fell to his knees.

He grabbed my hand and we walked out of the room. "Perfect timing," I said.

"Yeah," He agreed. "Is it just me or does it seems like this day goes on forever?"

"It's not just you." I sighed. "I wish I had coffee. I wish I had a car to go get coffee in."

"That would be nice wouldn't?" Corey said.

I nodded. "Well there's always Drake's car, I'm sure he won't mind."

We stopped walking and I stood in front of him, my hands in his.

"You're really going to go get coffee at nine 'o clock at night?"

I nodded. "I have tons of homework to do and there is no way I can do it without caffeine."

I leaned up and gave him a quick kiss.

He smiled. "I would offer to help but I don't think I'm very good at algebra."

I breathed a laugh. "That's okay, neither am I."

"You sure about that because you don't seem to have too much trouble when you do it."

"Why do you think I'm in summer school?"

"I don't know but I seriously doubt its cause you failed."

"I did fail but it was because I missed too many days of school."

"Well then you're not stupid after all, guess I'm on my own then."

"Uh, you are not stupid."

"Yeah, sure you're just saying that because you're madly in love with me."

"No..."

He tilted his head and I laughed at how adorable he looked.

"I think you are very smart." I said. "And cute."

He smiled. "I'll accept last one."

We went to the closest café and sat at a table while we had our drinks.

I got a vanilla latte; it's like Christmas in a cup.

"So by the way, are you seriously going to start smoking 'cause that's not okay with me." Corey said, playing with the straw in his smoothie.

"Uh, no, I'm not going to do it if it makes you unhappy." I replied.

He sighed. "That's a relief. This has been the longest day ever. I can't wait for it to be over."

I nodded. "Same here."

"What do you like to do to like ya know relax after a day like this?" He inquired.

"Take a bubble bath. I love baths." I smiled.

He laughed. "Well why haven't you done that lately, we've had plenty of days like this."

I shrugged. "I haven't thought about it I guess. What about you? What do you like to do?"

"Well I-uh, have something that I've been doing recently to blow off steam." He said, glancing around.

"And what is it?" I prompted.

"Uh, nothing,"

"Why won't you tell me?"

"No reason just don't feel like it."

"Why not?"

He looked at me and laughed. "I-just it might be an uncomfortable subject if I brought it up."

"Why? What is it seriously I want to know."

"You really don't."

"I really do."

He shook his head.

"Fine but we are staying here until you tell me."

His eyebrows rose. "Turning the tables our we? You're stealing my tactics."

"Yep, I'm giving you a taste of your own medicine. Let's see how you like it when you're held hostage."

He sighed. "Well at least we have a limitless supply of drinks."