Should I Stay Or Should I Go?

I've been with my boyfriend for six months now and it's been a mixture of good and bad (as are most relationships I guess). The thing is sometimes I feel like there is more bad than good. So in the early months of our relationship he would get in a bad mood often and take it out on me in mean texts that made me cry. I was crying all the time and my friends told me he has got to go. But there were so many good things also that I didn't want to give up on him so fast! So I told him the way he spoke to me was rude and disrespectful and that I deserve much better treatment. I said I was sick of crying because of him and that he is the one who should be comforting me in those situations not the reason I'm like that. Anyway, after listening to him be defensive for an hour, he owned up to it and said he would change. It went on through bouts here and there throughout our relationship and I found myself making excuses for him all the time. I would be on the phone with him and my mom would overhear him speaking in a mean tone saying rude things and I would just continue talking to him and she would come to my door with that look of, "you're really gonna let him talk to you like that?" And I would always be like, "no mom you don't understand! He's just in a bad mood right now that's why he's cursing at me and yelling." He always curses at me. And I never do anything to deserve it. I just take it and then it's a cycle of me crying, him apologizing, promising he will change, and then a week later it happens again. Recently we got in an argument and I was very upset so I talked to my mom about it. And when I was talking about the way he speaks to me she got so furious. And I talked to my best friend and she got the same way. They sat and told me I need to stand up for myself because I'm smart enough to know that I deserve WAY better. It got to me and I realized I had to end the abusive cycle. It was so hard and I cried all day but I was trying to keep my mind off of him as much as possible. The thing is we started talking the next day again and he kept apologizing and promising he is going to change because he WANTS to change for me. And that if I give him time and my patience he promises he will be the guy I deserve. It has been about a week and we talk so much it barely fees like we are broken up and I'm just struggling so much with my emotions right now because I'm so torn! I have never gone through this before... I'm 17 and this is my first relationship. I swear I love him and I don't know if I'm just fooling myself or not. I lost my virginity to him (I definitely don't regret it he was very sweet, respectful, and totally understanding) because I was ready and I KNEW I was but I think that's also why this is all so hard. We have been through so much together. It has been a rough year for me and he is always there to comfort me and help me through everything. I don't know whether to just move on with this break up or really consider taking him back. Somebody PLEASE give me some advice :(