A/N: Thank you guys for the feedback on the prologue! Posting a new story is always nerve-wracking so I'm happy to hear that you're excited about this story. The story is ALL HUMAN. All of the characters will be different from the Twilight Saga; I'm only using their names and their looks.
It occured to me that I never did put up the disclaimer thing. So here it goes: This story was written strictly for entertainment purposes. No copyright infringement intended.
"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time."
~Jim Rohn (American entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker)
Chapter One: The Accident
I hate high school. I really do. Every day, I'm surrounded by superficial airheads who pay more attention to designer clothes and clubbing than their academic performance. I'm besieged by comments that make fun of my last name. High school is hell.
I've been looking forward to college since seventh grade. I'm a senior in high school, which means I only have to endure the insufferable high school social hierarchy system for one more year.
I've lived in the Bronx district all my life with my best friends, Rosalie Hale and Emmett McCarty. The three of us have known each other since we were in diapers. Since my dad works on ships, he's rarely home. So I spend the majority of time hanging out with my friends. They weren't close to their family either- the three of us were family to each other.
Today was the fourth day of the new semester. St. George is private school on Upper East Side; Rosalie and Emmett didn't understand why my dad, who didn't care where I lived, would insist on enrolling me in that school instead of just letting me attend a public school in Bronx, like them. Truth to be told, I didn't get it either. St. George is an okay school but not the most well-known in the area.
Rose had texted and told me to meet her at Big D's, her uncle's ice cream parlor, before last period ended. We usually hang out there after school, until Emmett got out of the tutoring center. My best friend, Emmett McCarty- was the best Chemistry tutor at their school. Most people found it hard to believe but Rosalie and I knew better; Emmett was freaking intelligent. Just because he was brawny and on the football team, it doesn't mean he was dense. Stereotypes. Agh.
A high-pitched voice shrieked when I felt that something had caught my foot. Tearing my eyes off my cell phone screen, I stared wide-eyed at the girl that I had just stepped on. A Cornwell girl.
Cornell Prep, "school for the elite", is the best school on Upper East Side. It's only two blocks away from St. George so I see students from that school a lot. However, I've never actually talked to one of them before.
"I'm so sorry!" My hand flew to my mouth in surprise.
The boy beside the girl- the boyfriend, I assumed, since she was touching his arm- hung up his cell and stared at her. "Bree, are you alright?" She nodded and sighed. The boyfriend, turning to me with an expression of aggravation, glared at me.
"Watch where you're going. Don't they teach you anything at St. George?"
The greenness in his eyes was penetrating. Bree, putting an arm on the boyfriend's shoulder blade, smiled. "Edward, it's fine-"
"No, it's not," he snapped. "What the hell are you staring at, St. George? Forgot how to walk?"
I scoffed at him and turned on my heel. It wasn't even him that I had stepped on so what was he getting all worked up for? Trying to play hero in front of his girlfriend? Well, he failed. Big time. The way I saw it, he was more of a jerk than anything else.
When I was little, I used to be afraid of the metro station. I worried that I'd someday lose my balance, fall on top of the tracks, and get runover. When I started at St. George, the fear diminished. It only takes about twenty minutes for me to get home every day. That's the beauty about the metro system- avoiding traffic jams.
I found Rosalie at our usual table when I arrived at the ice cream parlor. Big D, her uncle, waved at me and I grinned at him. She was furious when I told her about my little run-in with that guy from Cornwell. Rose isn't exactly what you would call "sweet-tempered", but she's a very loyal friend. She stuck up for me so many times over the years; she was the go-to girl in my life. Here's something everyone should know about Rosalie Hale. Let's put it this way- if she ever ran for Miss New York, she'd scare off all the other contestants before they even got on that stage with her beauty. She has modeled for Maxim and Teen Vogue but quit because she felt modeling wasn't her. She sees herself as a race-car driver type of girl. Crazy, I know. All the guys at Lenox High, the school that she and Emmett go to, are obsessed with her.
"Was the girl bitchy?" she asked, her nostrils flaring.
"No," I chuckled. "She was nice. Makes me wonder what she was doing with a guy like him."
"Well, you know what they say. Girls always act sweet in front of guys." She shrugged nonchalantly. "She could be a total bitch behind his back but he'd never know."
"Really? People say that?"
"I don't know. But I just did so who cares."
I laughed at her logic. Rosalie excused herself to the restroom and coincidentally my cell phone vibrated, informing me that I had a text. It was from Riley. Grinning like a fool, I told Rose that I'd wait for her outside since the A/C was giving me goosebumps.
Riley and I hadn't been friends long but we'd grown really close to each other. We met through Rosalie- who was convinced that we were perfect for one another- at her parents' Christmas party last year and instantly, we… clicked. He's a student at NYC, two years older than us, and a really generous person. We talk from time to time and I enjoy his company very much. Even though his parents are wealthy, he isn't snobby at all- unlike Cornwell Jerk. He's just… nice. And really, really cute. Blonde hair, gray eyes, easy smile… A lot of girls' definition of perfect.
Two more days of London. Can't wait to see you. –R.
I always feel giggly when I'm texting or talking to Riley, which has Rosalie and Emmett convinced that I like him. I guess I do, I don't know. But either way, it doesn't matter right now. I'm not interested in relationships at the moment. Paul screwed it up for me.
Hang in there. How's Daddy treating ya? - B.
Riley doesn't get on with his dad. At all. Can't say I blame him. I mean, you can't just abandon a child and their mother and expect them to forgive you after three years of absence.
Like crap. He orders me to visit him in London, and now that I'm here, he's never home. Which is a good thing, I suppose. –R.
Aww… I'm sorry, Riley. I hate to say this but your dad is an ass. –B.
Let's not talk about him. How's the weather in NY right now? It's raining over here so I'm stuck inside this bookstore.
Snickering, I closed my eyes and beamed at the sky. New York's surprisingly sunny today. Not a gray cloud in sight and exactly my kind of day. I reopened my eyes to type a reply, but my smile faltered when a white BMW pulled in with its window rolled down, the driver behaving kind of strangely as she frantically looked from one side to another. She was wearing sunglasses and a black mask that covered the lower half of her face, peering at the ice cream parlor and talking into her cell phone. Her gaze then landed on a red-haired lady who was walking directly in front of me.
Oh, I thought. She found the person she was looking for. Maybe she's the lady's daughter?
As it turned out, she wasn't related to the lady at all. The next thing I know, she had a gun aimed at the lady's head when the lady began approaching the antique store next to the ice cream parlor.
"Look out!" Having no time to think it through, I threw myself on the red-haired lady, the two of us plummeting to the floor. The bullet hit the window of the ice cream parlor instead of going through the lady's head; the glass shattered and loud shrieks rippled through the crowded shop. I looked at the red-haired lady and she appeared to be in shock.
"Oh my God, are you alright?"
She parted her lips, as if she were trying to tell me something, and fainted.
-:: :: :: ::-
The police cars' sirens blared as the paramedics rushed down from the ambulance. I felt as if I were guest starring on CSI. Everything was spinning; I could hear people shouting at a distance, the siren ringing, the paramedics hovering over me…
And then it was dark. And I heard Rosalie scream.
-:: :: :: ::-
"Oh my God. Oh my God. What if she doesn't wake up? Was she shot? The doctor said she wasn't… oh my God, what if the bullet is inside of her?"
Why was Rosalie sobbing? And most importantly, why was she clutching onto my hand so tightly? Very deliberately, I opened my eyes and squinted. White. Bright. Uncomfortable sanitizer smell. Which only meant on thing…
Hospitals.
"Bella! You're awake! Thank God!" Rosalie pulled me into a hug and just about choked the air out of me. Her hair was a mess- no, she was a mess. Emmett sat beside her and for the first time that I had known him, he looked spooked.
"How are you feeling? Do we need to call the doctor, Bella?" he asked solemnly, his eyebrows knitting into a frown.
I sat up against Rosalie's protest. Stretching my arms and wiggling my fingers, I shook my head at him. Why were they looking at me as if I were fragile? My legs felt a little stiff but otherwise I was perfectly fine. In fact, I felt rather stupid, lying there on the cot when there was absolutely nothing wrong with me. "I'm great. What happened?"
Rosalie and Emmett exchanged a look, dumbfounded. "You don't remember what happened?"
I remembered texting Riley. A red-haired woman. Gunshot. And then after that, I must have had a blackout.
I leaped out of bed, hitting the corner table in the process, and fumbled toward the door. "The old lady, is she okay? She hit the floor pretty hard and fainted…"
"Bella-"
Emmett and Rosalie's voices were cut off when I kicked the door shut. They got to their feet and fell into step behind me, shouting my name. It was easy to lose them because the hospital was huge; the nurses that they walked past irritably gave them a lecture about keeping their voices down. Rose and Em wanted the brush them off but the four of them blocked the entire hallway. I didn't have time to wait for my friends.
I went to the nurse's station and a few of them gasped when they saw me approach in my hospital gown. And then it dawned on me that I didn't even know the lady's name.
"Oh my, why aren't you in your bed, hon?" An elderly nurse asked, hurrying to my side.
"I'm fine. I wasn't hurt. My name is Isabella Swan and I need to know which room the lady is staying out. You know, the one that was brought in with me after the accident." Oh God, is she okay? Did I kill her by jumping on her? That would make me a murderer. I'm too young to go to jail. For Christ's sake, I'm only seventeen.
The nurse pursed her lips at me. "Are you family?"
I nodded my head, my heart pounding erratically. "No. But I was at the scene of the accident." The memory of the gunshot put a lump to my throat. "Please, I just want to see if she's okay."
The elderly nurse smiled gravely at me and gestured me to follow her. We went up the elevator and stopped when we reached the eighth floor. Pausing when we reached room 807, she sighed and pushed the door open quietly.
"She still hasn't regained consciousness and she didn't have any ID in her wallet. We can't contact her family, so the only thing we can do is wait until she wakes up."
I sat down on the plastic chair beside her bed and studied the lady. She was probably in her late fifties or early sixties. In spite of her hair being red, I caught a few hidden strands of gray. She had a kind face. Please let her be okay.
And then she coughed. Gasping and getting to my feet, I froze and gaped at her with my lips parted. Her eyes twitched and after what seemed to me like an eternity of waiting, she opened them.
She frowned when she saw me.
"Oh, dear. Am I in a hospital? I've always hated the smell."
It was probably very inappropriate for me to laugh at a time like this, but I couldn't help it. "Mrs…"
She cracked a smile at me. "Cullen, honey."
I smiled back at her. "Mrs. Cullen. I'm Bella. Do I need to call the doctor? Are you hurting or-"
She held a hand out to stop me. I noticed that her elbows were wrapped up. "Don't. I'm fine."
"Mrs. Cullen, I'm really sorry I pushed you to the ground. I panicked and I didn't think it through-" I was ranting like a moron, breaking out in a cold sweat, but I couldn't help it.
She chuckled at me. "Young lady, you have nothing to apologize for. If it weren't for you, I'd be dead. Oh, hello, doctor."
A middle-aged doctor stepped into the room and bobbed his head in greeting. He smiled and said he was glad to see both of us awake and asked Mrs. Cullen if she could give them a number to call her family, as no one knew who she was. Rosalie and Emmett burst through the doors, sighing in relief when they spotted me. They stayed for approximately three seconds before the police came in, kicked them out and demanded to do some questioning.
Hasn't anyone heard of the word "rest"?
Mrs. Cullen did most of the answering. My head spun as the officers bombarded me with questions, making me feel as if I were the suspect. I told them as nicely and politely as I could that I was just a student who happened to witness the scene and acted on my impulse; they took notes and resumed to questioning Mrs. Cullen.
"Mother!" A blonde man cried out as the door swung open. He trudged in, his eyes bloodshot and his tie crooked, and hurried to Mrs. Cullen's side, taking her hand. "I came as soon as I got the call. What on earth happened?"
"Carlisle," Mrs. Cullen's tone was disapproving. "Quiet down. It's a hospital. You of all people should know."
The police filled Carlisle in on what had happened and his eyes flashed to me for the first time since he entered the room when he was informed that I had saved his mother's life. As uncomfortable as I was with the attention, I let out a nervous laugh and told him no thanks were necessary, as I had no idea what I was doing when I leaped on his mother. To be frank, I was feeling quite nauseated and I was sure it wasn't just because of the sanitizer smell. I was… overwhelmed. This couldn't have happened to me. I couldn't have saved someone's life. When Carlisle shook my hand and told me his family was indebted to me, the nausea intensified. This was all too much to take. I wasn't a hero. I was... just Bella Swan.
The officer told me that I could go as soon as I filled out some papers. Rosalie and Emmett were waiting outside the room, scolding me as soon as I stepped out. I felt bad for not waiting on them earlier because I knew they were worried sick.
"What did they ask you in there? I almost punched the officer with the mustache when he told us to step out," Emmett scoffed.
"They-" I broke off when I noticed two Cornwell uniforms coming down the corridor with long strides. A Cornwell boy and a Cornwell girl. And not just any Cornwell boy, but Cornwell Jerk from earlier. It's a small world.
The Cornwell girl was pretty; short, with spiky raven hair, petite frame, and a delicate face. Was she his girlfriend? If so, who the hell was that girl from earlier?
I shook that thought from my head. It didn't matter. Who cares who his girlfriend was? I didn't know know who he was.
Since he had his face turned to the side as he talked to the girl, he didn't notice me, even though we were so close that our shoulders almost brushed when the two of them walked by. But I knew it was him. And I could recognize that voice from anywhere. It was probably a good thing that he didn't see me; there was no doubt in my mind that he would pick up our banter from earlier and toss me a bunch of insults. And then Emmett and Rose would step in… Oh yeah, things would get really, really ugly.
I sighed and threw my arms around my friends. "Let's talk about this later, alright? I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat."
Rosalie groaned and Emmett shook his head, resigned. They muttered something along the lines of "How can she be thinking about food at a time like this?" but didn't put off my suggestion.
I stayed over at Rosalie's that night since she wasn't comfortable with me being alone at my place. Rosalie was the kind of girl that could fall asleep right away, as soon as her body came in contact with her bed. I wish I were that way too.
What had really happened today? And why was that woman trying to shoot Mrs. Cullen?
I didn't stop by Fran's for breakfast the next morning since I didn't have much of an appetite. Rose and Emmett walked me to the subway station, jokingly promising me that they'd be my bodyguard for the rest of my life in case the psycho woman showed up and tried to kill me for interfering with her plans the other day. Growing up, I watched a lot of crime scene shows on T.V. Rose, Emmett and I used to act out the roles in CSI: Miami for entertainment purposes. But you know what? Experiencing an actual attempt murder isn't fun at all.
Being back at school, I felt almost normal. I wasn't the girl that had saved Mrs. Cullen, I was just Bella Swan- the girl that most students at St. George ignored; the nerd. I had a couple of friends, like Leah Clearwater and her brother Seth, but we weren't close. We never hung out after school since I never lingered in Manhattan. Bronx was home.
"Yo, Swan," Seth's friend, Jacob Black, put his arm around me after the last bell rang. I never did like that kid. He went after all the girls in school, and was rejected by all the girls in school. He wasn't ugly or anything; it was his know-it-all behavior that pissed everyone off.
I shook his arm off with a look of disgust. "What do you want?"
He grinned at me. "I need help-"
I cut him off with a laugh. "Yes, you do. I hear there are a lot of outstanding psychiatrists here."
"With my chemistry homework," he finished, glaring at me. "So?"
"So what?" I countered.
"You gonna help me?"
"No," I almost shouted the word at his face. "Do you remember the last time you asked me to help you out? I ended up having to do your entire project."
"Oh, come on!" he groaned. "That was in ninth grade. I was a stupid freshman."
"You haven't matured much over the past three years so the answer is still no," I shoved him backwards when he tried putting his arm around me again. Asshole. "I have to go."
Putting on the earbuds, I turned up my Ipod to block all the noise in the hallway. A lot of guys here were like animals; I honestly didn't see the attraction when they wrestled, even though a lot of girls would cheer them on from the sidelines.
A fancy black limo was waiting at the entrance of the school when I came through the gate. I saw limos on daily basis but what was it doing outside St. George? Most students here come from financially endowed families- after all, St. George was on Upper East Side- but they weren't super-loaded like those snobs from Cornwell Prep.
The man waiting by the limo, smartly dressed in a tux, took a step toward me just as I was about to turn for the corner building. I believe he said something to me but since I had my earbuds tucked in, I couldn't hear a thing.
"I'm sorry," I tried to smile at him, pressing pause on the song that was currently playing. "What did you say?"
"Are you Miss Bella Swan?"
Oh my God. What had I done now? I tried to sneak a peek at the limo but its windows were tinted dark.
"May I help you?" I asked cautiously.
"My name is Jared, Miss. It's a pleasure to meet the girl that saved my boss's life," he smiled at me, shaking my hand.
"Your boss?" I giggled. "I think you got the wrong person. The person that I saved yesterday was-"
"Me?" The limo door swung open. I gasped when I spotted Mrs. Cullen smiling at me, dressed modishly in formal pant suits. What happened to the woman that I saw yesterday? The one dressed in a worn out polo-shirt and jeans?
"Mrs. Cullen?" The incredulousness was evident in my tone.
"Do you have plans tonight, dear? I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me. I never got the chance to thank you properly yesterday. It was a quite chaotic evening, wasn't it?" she winked at me.
"Umm…" I gulped. "I don't have any plans but you don't have to take me out to dinner to thank me."
"If you don't have any plans then get in the car, dear," she raised her eyebrow when the cars behind her honked. "You wouldn't want to keep all those people behind us waiting, would you?"
Jared prompted me to go in the car and Mrs. Cullen's smile broadened when I stepped into the limo. I didn't have much of a choice, did I? I mean, she was here. At my school.
"Jared, to the restaurant."
"Yes, ma'am."
A/N: I've been to New York once... but I don't know much about it geographically. If I make any funny mistakes throughout the story, I apologize in advance.
So... is anyone interested in betaing this story? If you are, please PM me and let me know (if I haven't scared you away with my poor grammar already that is:)))
I'll be posting teasers for this story on my blog: www(dot)melloveswriting(dot)blogspot(dot)com. The link is also on my profile. Pics, extra information, as well as WTDA updates will also be posted there.
Please review:D Suggestions and comments are always welcomed.