A/N: Sorry it's taken me a little while to update. I've just had a ton of work to do at school and everything. Sorry. :/

Anyway, here's chapter 17. :) Sorry if you find any of the dialogue awkward… Lol. I hope you like it. :)

Thanks for reading!

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Chapter 17: Rumor

Renesmee Cullen's POV

The next day, Jacob rode to school with us. We hadn't gotten all of our classes together, but four out of seven definitely wasn't awful.

First period history was a class that was bound to be awkward. The class contained me, Jacob, and my father. And always there to make matters worse was Alex, who kept looking at me and winking. It was a cycle: Look, wink, laugh, repeat.

I could tell that Jacob didn't like that particular behavior, and neither did my father, but they tolerated it so as not to cause a scene.

The next period was English, and I had that with my mother. Today added some preppy girls that kept asking me if I knew what Jacob looked like naked. Talk about awkward.

Then came chemistry, a class that I shared with Jacob. We never really did anything during that class. I just sat there and gazed at Jacob's beautiful silhouette as he rested in his seat two up and one over from me.

Then, there was lunch. Rosalie tried her best to maintain a neutral face for the whole thirty minutes we had to eat.

After lunch came my gym class, which was very bad timing for the people who always stuffed themselves at lunch. I shared that class with Jacob and my dad, too, but luckily Alice was there to lighten things up a little.

Fifth period was my art class. I shared this one with Alice and Jasper, as well as Emmett, who occasionally drew very naughty pictures in his sketchbook.

Next was algebra 2. My father and Rosalie were in it with me. Today was different than most days, however.

Usually, when it was time to work on an assignment, I worked by myself. We were allowed to pair up, which most people did, but I usually just stayed alone.

Today, my dad came up my row in the far corner.

"I'm sorry, can I borrow your desk for a moment?" he asked the shy brunette that sat in the desk beside me.

"Oh... Um, yeah..." Her cheeks flushed red and she hastily gathered up all of her items and moved to the empty seat a few up. My father sat in the vacated seat and scooted it closer to me.

"Yeah?" I asked, closing my notebook as I finished up the last problem our teacher had assigned us.

"Look, Ness, I don't want you to freak out, but Jacob might be a little... What's the right word?" he mumbled to himself.

"What's going on?"

"Don't freak out. But Alex—"

"Well, that explains it all, then. What is he saying this time?"

"Well, I'm not one-hundred percent sure. You know teenage minds, they're random as hell. Just know that he spread a really bad rumor about you. And Jacob is a little upset about it," he explained.

I groaned. "Great."

Sure enough, when I walked into my seventh period Spanish class, Jacob wasn't smiling at me like he usually would. He was impatiently tapping his foot as he sat as his newly assigned seat in the back next to me.

"Hey..." I started as I gingerly laid my books down on my desk and slowly sank into my seat.

He kind of grunted in response. We sat in silence until Jasper came in, sitting in the seat behind me.

Help calm Jacob down a little, please, I sent into his mind.

Alright.

I saw Jacob start to settle down a little, then he turned around and snarled quietly, "Quit it, Jasper."

Jasper sighed and shrugged subtly at me as the bell rang.

The teacher droned on in the front of the room, then assigned us a worksheet, like usual.

When we were free to work, I scooted my desk closer to Jacob's.

"What did he say?" I asked, setting my finished worksheet in front of him.

He sighed. "Just tell me it's not true. Even if it is, tell me it's not."

"What, Jacob?" I urged.

"Well... Did you ever... Go out with Alex?" he asked quietly, though growling his name slightly.

"Yes..." I trailed, ashamed.

"Alright... Did you kiss him?"

I swallowed. "Well... Yes, but—"

"He's saying you... That you... Slept with him."

My blood boiled with fury at Alex's audacity to say anything like that. As if mirroring my anger, the fire alarm in our classroom sounded, and we were urged out of the building.

"Silence! If I see any of you talking, I will write you up immediately!"

I wanted to assure Jacob it wasn't true out loud, but I guessed I would have to settle for my mind.

Jacob, no, he's a liar. He's a stupid human liar. I would never do that. You should trust me. Do you believe me?

His tense body relaxed slightly, hearing the truth in my head.

I'm sorry... I should've known it wasn't true. It's just... He made me so damn mad... I...

I placed my hand in his as we walked silently down the sidewalk.

I love you, Jake.

I saw him smile. Can I ask you one more question?

What?

Do you think I'll get expelled if I kill Alex?

I laughed a little, I couldn't help myself.

"Detention, Renesmee!"

Damn it!

"But—" I tried to reason.

"Quiet!" my teacher yelled at me. I sighed.

"Hey, can I have detention, too?" Jacob called to him.

"Well, now..." he mumbled angrily, making another note on his clipboard. "After school, until four thirty. Just stay in my room."

Thanks, I projected to Jacob.

No problem.

After a few more minutes, we were told that we could go back inside. But we still had to be silent.

"Hey, Nessie!" a voice shouted from the sidewalk next to me.

I tensed and kept walking.

"Cullen, I'm talking to you!" Alex yelled.

"Detention for you, too, Alex!" my Spanish teacher deemed. "My room, immediately after school."

"God damn it," I cursed involuntarily. My teacher just looked at me.

When the final bell of the day rang, I fully started to dread what was going to come next.

"Just promise me you won't kill him," I begged Jacob when the room was vacant.

"I'll try my best," he nearly growled with a locked jaw.

"It'll be okay. Just try to ignore him."

"I'll try."

I kissed him softly on the lips as the teacher walked back into the room, dragging Alex behind him.

"No PDA, you two," he barked. "Sit right there," he directed Alex, pointing at the seat right in front of him. Which was also right in front of me.

I sighed and slouched into my seat.

The teacher wrote in big, underlined block letters on the board:

DETENTION.
NO TALKING.

Thank God, I sent to Jacob.

Okay, what if I kill him after we leave the school?

That would be fine, except for that fact that I don't want to run my whole life.

He smiled to himself slightly as I continued.

But I guess that you could make it look like a bear did it...

That's what I'm saying...

After about forty five torturous minutes of silence and pointless book work, there was yelling in the hallway. Then, fighting.

"I'll be back. No talking." The teacher walked out of the room and into the hallway.

Alex turned around to face me.

"Hey, baby, long time, no... see..." he said suggestively, winking at me.

I rolled my eyes. "What do you want?"

"I want you to do what you did to me a few weeks ago... It was nice..." he drawled, tilting his head and grinning.

Am I allowed to kill him now?

No... Not yet...

"Go do it to yourself," I snapped back.

"Whoa, harsh," he said, still smiling.

"Just don't talk to me, Alex," I ordered, vexed by his relentlessness.

"Wow, you can't help but say my name, can you?" he chuckled.

"She said not to talk to her," Jacob almost snarled.

"Okay, that means I can talk to you then? I can tell you all about how nice Nessie's body is? Have you ever seen it?"

Jacob was trembling in his seat.

Jacob, it's alright. Calm down, it's not true. You can't phase here. Just ignore him.

Alex continued. "And all of our clothes were all over my room... She didn't want me to stop..."

The next thing I knew, Alex was flying into the row of desks across the room. Jacob was trembling uncontrollably and Alex was shouting in pain.

"Jacob, calm down!" I pleaded, resting my hands on his chest. "Nothing happened!"

He swallowed. Every muscle in his body was tense. The tremors slowed steadily for a few seconds. When I thought he was safe from phasing, I walked over to Alex out of sheer manners, not because I actually cared what became of him.

"Are you alright?" I asked in a monotone, crossing my arms across my chest.

"What the... No! Tell your stupid boyfriend that I'm gonna kill him!"

"You're lucky I didn't kill you," Jacob snarled.

"Whatever." He struggled painfully to his feet, although he tried to make it seem like he wasn't hurt. "I could definitely take you, stupid Mexican..." he mumbled.

"Okay, first of all, I'm not Mexican. Second of all, no, you could not take me," Jacob clarified.

"Fine. But I'm still stronger than you," Alex bet. I rolled my eyes at his stupidity.

Sure, Alex was muscular for most teenage boys his age, but there was no possibly way that he was stronger than Jacob. And Alex's muscles definitely couldn't compare to Jacob's. Because Jacob's were... Well, amazing.

"You're so stupid," Jacob muttered, genuinely amazed. "Wasn't it you who just got pushed across the room? Yeah, you're definitely stronger than I am."

"Fine. Let me prove it," Alex said adamantly.

Jacob laughed, but was still angry. "Fine. Go ahead."

Alex sat down in a desk and set his elbow on the surface.

"Seriously? Arm wrestling? Are we in second grade?" Jacob chided.

"Just shut up and sit down. What, are you scared?"

Jacob sighed and sat backwards on the desk in front of Alex's. I set my knees on the desk chair behind Jacob and draped my arms over his shoulders.

"Okay," I said as they clasped their hands together. Jacob looked disgusted. "I assume we all know the rules of arm wrestling, of all things." I rolled my eyes. "On the count of three, start." I saw a hint of pain in Alex's eyes as Jacob squeezed the life out of his hand. "One... Two... Three."

It didn't even last a second. Jacob nearly threw Alex's hand through the surface.

"I wasn't ready," he said, pushing up his sleeve.

"How could you not be ready? She said on the count of three," Jacob said.

"That is what I said."

"Whatever. Redo."

"Fine," Jacob said. "I'll even give you a head start."

"Alright. One, two, three."

I saw the blood vessels in Alex's wrist strain against his skin as he tried with every ounce of his strength to budge Jacob's arm. It didn't move. It didn't even look like he was trying.

"Done yet?" Jacob asked.

In an elementary move, Alex used both of his hands to try and win. I just started laughing.

"Wow, you're pathetic," I said. "I could beat you at this."

His face got red, both from embarrassment and anger. Jacob finally pushed Alex's arm against the desk.

"Fine. Your turn," he challenged me.

Jacob and I switched spots.

"May the best girl win," I taunted with an almost innocent looking smile.

"Shut up."

"One, two, three," Jacob said, amusement hinting in his tone.

I just kept my arm still for a few moments, just to make sure he wasn't going to try the "I wasn't ready" again. Jacob was laughing behind me, and I was trying my hardest not to. I relaxed my hand a little, just to make it somewhat believable.

"Done yet?"

He tried his hardest again, but it only felt like a tiny nudge by a shy child to me.

I couldn't help it, I laughed.

I finally put him out of his misery and slammed his hand on the table.

"Okay, we've settled the debate about who the strongest people in this room are. Now can you leave me the hell alone?"

He scoffed, annoyed. "Whatever."

I kissed Jacob, just to tick Alex off.

It worked.

It was then that the teacher came back into the room. It took him a little bit to notice the huge cluster of tipped over desks in the corner.

"What happened in here?!" he exploded.

"Alex tripped. He's kind of clumsy," I said, returning to my seat.

The teacher sighed as Alex sent imaginary daggers at me.

"Alex, you're going to stay until you pick up all of those desks and put them in the right places. Jacob and Renesmee, you're free to go. Just don't talk during a fire drill again," he warned.

"Alright," I said as I jumped from my desk and followed Jacob out the door. "See ya, Alex," I called in a mocking tone. Jacob chuckled.

Jacob and I walked slowly through the woods since we didn't have a car at school. I didn't mind the extra time with him.

Edward met us about a mile out from the house, stern-faced and peeved. "Where have you been, Renesmee?"

"Relax, it was only detention," I said, realizing how stupid it sounded after the fact.

"Detention? Why the hell were you in detention?!"

"Because... I laughed a little bit during the fire drill..." I was staring at the ground.

"And were you in detention, too?" he asked Jacob.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I asked to be," he answered truthfully.

"How convenient."

I rolled my eyes. It's true, by the way. And can you please just give us a break for the next few weeks? You know, since you're making us take a mandatory break after that?

He sighed. "Fine. But if you get detention again, you're grounded, Nessie. I don't really care about you, Jacob."

"The feeling is mutual, Edward."

I exhaled, exasperated, and followed them to the house.

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A/N: Okay, just so we're clear, the "Mexican" comment was not supposed to be offensive. One of my best friends is Mexican and she's amazing. :) It was just something I would imagine Alex saying. Sorry if it bothered anyone. :(

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you leave a signed review, I'll send you a preview of chapter 18, which should be up sometime in the next week or so. :)

Thank you all for reading! :)