Playground Protector

Her exhilarated laugh tumbled through the small playground of Forks, Washington's tiny elementary school. It echoed through the slides and scattered through the tunnels. The teacher's glanced up, worried about the sudden, loud burst, but only shook their heads and laughed to themselves.

They should have known it was those two again.

Swish.

Swoosh.

Swish.

Swoosh.

The swing rocketed back and forth, keeping a steady rhythm as it shot higher, flying up so high it seemed her sneaker-clad feet touched the clouds.

On and on he pushed her, and on and on she laughed.

"I'm gonna jump, Edward! 'ma gonna!" She screeched, pointing her elbows out in front of her and changing up her grip on the thick, rusty chain that attached the swing to the poles. Her brunette hair, bound in a ponytail, spiraled out behind her.

He rolled his peculiarly large, emerald-green eyes in a gesture fit more for an adult than an 8 year-old boy. He reached away from pushing her and flicked his untidy, floppy hair back out of his eyes. "No, you're not, silly Bella." He said, his giggle breaking out on the "uh."

8 year-old Bella did not like to be told she couldn't do something, especially when it came from Edward, she half-turned to glare at him. "You're my very bestest friend, Edward, but you still can't tell me what to do. Yes, I am going to jump! Yes, I am!" She cried, inching further out of the safety of her swing-seat. She closed her eyes, sucked in a deep breath…

But, 8 and a half year-old Edward Cullen did not like Bella telling him he couldn't tell her what to do. "Oh, yes I can tell you what to do, Bella! You're my very bestest friend, even more than Emmett and Jasper, but if you jump out of that swing I will never, ever speak to you again!"

"You can tell me all you want, Edward, but that doesn't mean I'll listen!" She screamed, her voice jumping up a couple of octaves. "I'm jumping on the count of three, and if that makes you not want to talk to me, I'll just tell Alice to tell Jasper that you called her ugly, and he'll push you down and make you eat dirt!"

"I'd rather eat dirt than be your friend anymore, anyways! You're just a stupid girl, and you'd probably give me cooties!"

"I hope you already have cooties, and I hope that it turns your hair pink!" She yelled back, sniffling and sputtering.

"You just jump off that stupid swing, Bella, see if I care! I hope it hurts you!" He cried back, turning away and sprinting off towards some of the other boys in his class.

"I WILL!" She called after him.

She took another deep breath, sliding off the seat until she was almost off of it.

"ONE!" She called out.

Edward's run slowed to a jog.

"TWO!" She yelled!

She closed her eyes, taking her time before calling out her last number, and was concentrating so hard on not being a baby and chickening out, that she didn't hear Edward rush back to her side until he whispered to her.

"Please, Bella, don't jump. You'll hurt yourself real bad, and then who will be my partner in the Slip'n'Slide races on Saturday? You don't want Emmett and Rosalie to beat us again, do you?"

Bella's eyes flew open. "I don't care if I get hurt! And you said you didn't either!"

Edward shuffled nervously. "I do care, Bella, 'member when you fell off of your bike that one time I told you you were too slow to ride with me? And you had the nasty scrape on your knee and you screamed and cried?"

Bella nodded her head, her swing slowing gradually.

"I was ascared, Bella, I was ascared that your leg wouldn't work anymore and that you wouldn't be able to ride bikes with me at all. I like to ride bikes with you, even if you are slower than me."

"You shouldn't want to ride bikes with me, you shouldn't want to be my friend at all, you might get cooties, like you said." She said quietly, twisting towards him slightly.

By this time her swing had almost stopped.

"Well, I did some thinking when I ran over their by the other boys. Emmett and Jasper weren't over there, and if they weren't over there, they musta been with Alice and Rosalie, and they spend lots of time together too, and they haven't got cooties yet, so then I figured that I was aprobably safe from it too… And then…"

Bella cocked her head towards him. "What?"

"And then I decided that it didn't matter. I didn't care if I got the biggest, nastiest, most pink case of cooties in the whole world, it would be alright, because I knew you'd take care of me just like I took care of you when you fell."

Bella kicked her legs out, sending dirt flying. "Of course I'd take care of you, Edward! But, I'd probably give you a Spider-man band-aid instead of a princess one, since you're a boy and not a girl."

He grinned at her, then reached out to push her softly.

And this time, when her laughs tumbled across the playground, his followed right behind.

The End!

Author's Note: So, there's that. I like it, it's cute and innocent.

I'm thinking of doing a human high-school story of the Twilight gang, and this is just sort of giving me a point to work from.

Practice, I guess you could call it.

Hope you enjoyed!