Well... this chapter didn't come out as I wanted it to.. but hopefully it'll suffice. lol. Enjoy.

"Excellent job... most of you." Coach Clapp announced as the final boy dragged himself off of the mats after barely passing the Health Level. "Now let's see how the ladies manage. Ladies, in order to meet the Health Level, you must achieve nine pushups."

Edward's hand squeezed my shoulder reassuringly as my heart rate increased. Nine pushups was about two minutes of everyone staring at me, unblinkingly. That was assuming that I could even complete those nine. A few of the guys complained or chuckled quietly at the low number, but some of the girls seemed surprised that it was so high.

"Now, now." Coach Clapp shouted. "Quiet. The challenge is twenty. Let me fix the mats and then we'll choose our first batch of girls."

Some of the athletic girls were stretching their arms and legs, something that I found ridiculously pointless. If your arms are stretched, wouldn't they be harder to go down slowly with? I was sure that that wasn't how it actually worked, but the question was still there. Why couldn't I have just gotten a note excusing me from this stupid test?

"Don't worry." Edward reassured. "You'll do fine. And although I can't read your thoughts, I'm sure that they can't be as chaotic as half of the girls are in here."

Although that was meant to help, all it did was make me realize that I had a reason to be worried. If it had just been me, then I could have summed it up to me overreacting, but if the rest of the girls were nervous, then there was reason to be.

"Edward! So much for a five minute break!" Emmett yelled across the gym. Emmett was still doing his pull ups by the wall, and although I had voiced my concern at the risk of people realizing his strength wasn't human, Edward assured me that people weren't watching him the whole time. Because of this, people would just assume that he had taken a break.

"Hold on." He said quietly, but at a volume that Emmett's keen hearing would be able to pick up on. "I'll stay here with you."

My face grew red as a realized the scene that he would probably bear witness to if he stayed. Me falling down after one pushup, being laughed at by the entire upperclassmen student body, failing miserably.

"Uhm... No. It's alright. Go hang out with Emmett. I want to talk to Alice alone anyway." I said in a breathy, nervous tone.

He gave me a look, but then swiftly kissed my forehead and walked slowly towards the pull up bar. He obviously knew that I was lying, but he was too gentlemanly to call me on it. What had I done to deserve such a perfect person?

"Alice." I whispered urgently. She was currently one of the girls that were stretching out, in addition to Rosalie. It was common knowledge that the Cullens were "athletic". People needed some kind of reason for why all of the Cullens had amazing bodies, so this was as good as any. Although the Cullen boys' list of sports were extremely lengthy, the girls' were as well. Rosalie and Alice were both avid dancers, as well as gymnists. Alice was also a cross country runner, and Rosalie swam. Of course, Forks believed it. Why wouldn't they? Each Cullen was perfect, and they were never seen outside of school. A packed schedule of sports seemed like a likely explanation.

When doubt began to arise about the legitimacy of the Cullen boys' sports (football, cross country, wrestling, basketball), Carlisle stuck a cast on Jasper's arm and sent the school a note explaining the tragic football injury. Jasper gained sympathy, and there was no more doubt.

"What, Bella?" Alice asked, a tranquil smile on her face. There was no way that some simple smile was going to calm me down.

"You can see the future, right?" I asked. She nodded her head, as if I were crazy. "Then how many push ups am I going to do?"

She shook her head disbelievingly and then closed her eyes. A few seemingly endless seconds passed and then a voice rose out.

"Alright. Will the following girls please make their way to the mats?" Couch Clapp announced. "Alice, Rosalie, Jessica, Samantha, and... Isabella."

The other four girls walked casually, almost confidently, towards the mat while I was frozen in place. Panic flooded my body and I for the first time I felt the "fight or flight" impulse that our health teacher had told us about.

"Come on." Alice mumbled cheerfully as she pulled me along. I followed obediently, but had no idea how I was supposed to hold my body up with my wobbly, shaky arms, especially now that my heart rate was equivalent to that of a bird's. I could hear my own breathing, and it felt as if half of my throat was clogged, causing only a portion of the oxygen to reach my lungs.

"Come on, Bella! Yeah, alright!" A voice echoed through the gym. The voice was none other than Emmett's and the people that had been conversing stopped to laugh good natured at his support. Of course, now there were more eyes than ever glued on me.

Thanks, Emmett.

"Are you ladies aware of how many push ups you need to pass?" Coach Clapp asked.

We all nodded our heads, some more enthusiastically than others.

"Then get in ready position." he said, walking towards the recording. My heart rate increased even more as the machine began to count down from five, to prepare us for the next few minutes of hell.

"Be-lla! Be-lla! Be-lla!" Emmett began chanting. To my horror, it began to catch on, and soon people that I didn't even know were chanting my name.

"Two... One... Down."

All five of us dropped down, Alice smiling wickedly at, what I would assume, was the chanting of my name. I was surprised that the first pushup wasn't that bad. Maybe reaching the Health Level was entirely possible.

"Up."

We all pushed ourselves up, some faster than others, and I could see now the challenge of the test. Going down did use some energy, but getting back up was the real problem. My body felt like it was a thousand pounds, and I vaguely wondered how the heavier guys were able to do this as many times as they did. It was a miracle.

"Be-lla! Be-lla! Be-lla!" The chants continued.

"Down."

We all brought ourselves slowly down, but this time, to my horror, my arms began to shake. I tried to assure myself that it was fear at the idea of so many people looking at me, but that only reminded me there were, in fact, a whole lot of people looking at me.

"Calm down, Bella." Alice whispered, still looking straight ahead. "I'm going to--"

"Up."

"--stop at ten push ups. Just make it to ten and we'll both drop out together."

I wanted to tell her not to, that that would ruin the whole idea of her and Rosalie taking sports. That she had to do an ungodly amount of push ups because that was what was expected of her. But there were too many people looking at me, and this was a conversation that could not be overheard.

"Down."

I could feel red begin to cover my face from the strain of the push ups. There was no way that I was going to be able to reach the Health Level of nine. But my gym grade couldn't take a failure on this test. I had to pass.

"Up."

"You show that ground, Bella!" Emmett yelled above the quieting cheers. "You push on that ground until you can't push anymore!"

"Down."

Now my face was turning red in embarrassment. Maybe his intentions were to distract me from the strain of my arms. Or he was trying to get back at Edward for beating him.

"Up."

My arms were shaking and my breathing was heavy from the over use of my arms.

"You can do it." Alice said, her face perfectly composed and her body straight.

"Down." Once the recorder said the word, two almost instantaneous falls were heard.

"Samantha, Jessica, out. You both only did four push ups. You needed five more to pass." Coach Clapp said, writing down the results.

"Up."

The idea of failing was easier to accept now that I knew that I wouldn't come in last. There was no way that I would be able to beat Alice and Rosalie, anyway. My arms were just about to give out when a loud, pained yell came from the other side of the gym. For a brief moment, I thought that it was Emmett's enthusiastic calls of encouragement. But then I realized that it wasn't his voice that I had heard.

"Edward? Edward!" Coach Clapp called, throwing down his clipboard and running to the other side of the gym. I looked next to me to see that Rosalie and Alice were still doing their push ups, Alice smiling widely.

"Down."

Unable to complete another push up, I stood up and tried to see past the huge group of kids that were surrounding Coach Clapp and Edward. Of what I could see, Edward was sitting on the ground, a look of immense pain on his face. He was holding his right arm deperately, and I couldn't make myself run towards him. How could Edward get hurt? Stupidly, I stood where I was.

"Up."

"Get down, Bella." Alice hissed.

"What?" I questioned. Wasn't Alice concerned about her brother?

"Down."

"I'm going to press a few points on your arm." Coach Clapp said. "And you let me know if it hurts."

There were a few seconds of silence and then another yell came, and I was still confused as ever. Part of me wanted to cry out and run to him, but the other part was still unsure of what was happening. Even with Jane Edward had never cried out.

"Up."

"Relax, Bella." Alice said calmly. "Edward's fine."

"Down."

"I don't understand." I admitted to her, She merely rolled her eyes.

"Just. Get. Down." she hissed again. "In ready position."

"Up."

"Alice! I think that whatever's going on is more important than..." And then I put the pieces together. The Volturi were here. Jane must have wanted her presence to be known and chose to use her horrid "gift" on Edward. He hadn't been expecting it, so when he cried out, he had to keep up the human facade by faking an injury.

"Down."

They were coming for me. They were already here. But Alice had told me to get into ready position. Was that how she planned on protecting me? Or would I be less noticeable and more likely to be mistaken for a normal human girl if I were taking the test. Obediently, and still in shock, I got into the read position.

"Up."

"Now fall." Alice demanded. I looked at her in shock. "Just fall. Preferably loudly."

Too frightened to debate, I let my arms drop and fell straight onto the mat, causing a loud noise to echo throughout the room. The group of people that had surrounded Edward now looked over to me, and Coach Clapp ran over to this clipboard.

"Isabella Swan. You reached the Health Level with nine pushups. Congratulations."

I didn't know what I was supposed to do now, but I didn't care anymore. I ran to where Edward had been holding his arm to see that he was now casually standing there. No trace of pain on his face. Coach Clapp seemed as surprised as I was.

"You're... better, Edward?" he asked, shock in his voice.

"Much. Thank you." he answered politely and, after grabbing my hand, walked away from the group. When we were sufficiently far enough away and people's attentions were back on Alice and Rosalie, I turned to Edward.

"What was that?" I demanded.

"That was a distraction." Edward answered bluntly. "And it worked. You passed. Congratulations." He was smiling now and seemed genuinely proud of me for something that I hadn't even done.

"But... But..." I grasped, unable to even come up with words to express what I was feeling.

"If you're worried about if he'll get suspicious, he won't. He was much more worried about insurance and sueing than any injury that I might have had."

"You... distracted the class?" I asked. He nodded his head.

"So Emmett was cheering in order to..." I asked, wondering how he had contributed towards me passing.

"Be a jerk. He just wanted to embarrass you."