Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, blah blah.
Chapter 3 - Strange Things
My alarm clock was not the one to wake me up on my second Tuesday in Forks, instead it was the bright light behind my eyelids. For a few seconds my heart started pounding with the fear that I had overslept and would now be late for school - the light seemed far brighter than it had been the past week. My eyelids flew wide open and I rolled over trying to focus on my alarm clock. I still had fifteen more minutes before my alarm went off; heading over to the window with much confusion I looked outside to see why there was so much light. The ever-present cloud cover was floating above me, but that depressing sight was not what drew my attention. I had never seen a sight this amazing before, the snow from yesterday had melted only to be frozen again during the night. Two conflicting thoughts floated through my head, the first one was regret over the fact that I was not an artist and could not capture the picture of the tree outside of my window; each and every branch was coated in what looked to be crystal, even some of the leaves were coated in the ice, almost like they would be preserved in that state for eternity. For the first time I was glad that I had come here from Phoenix, there was nothing in the dessert that could compare to this sight. It was amazing how much difference some frozen water could alter the landscape. The opposing thought was the fear of having to navigate through this weather, how in the world would Bella Swan, the ultimate klutz, find her way through this place? The hope that this would all melt was fleeting, when I came back from finishing up in the bathroom the ice outside my window looked just as thick and cold. I dressed extra warm for the day, adding a sweater on top of my long sleeve shirt before heading down for breakfast. Charlie was already gone, but there was a scent of eggs and bacon permeating the small kitchen; the greasy smell made me a little queasy as I fixed my breakfast of milk and cereal. Putting on my jacket, I opened the front door and groaned at the sight before me.
The walk down the driveway to my truck was as treacherous as expected, despite the fact that someone had thrown salt on it. I used the handrail on the porch to navigate down the stairs and then slid and skidded my way down the steep driveway until I reached my truck. Hopefully there was no one around to watch me practically crawl on my truck to try to get to the door, it was a good thing the side mirror was held on with several large bolts or I would have removed it when I grabbed it to steady myself as I slid once again.
I drove even more slowly than usual to school, but I made it on time because I had woken up before the alarm. The little traffic that existed in Forks was moving a little more slowly today, not that anyone was moving at a crawl like I was. I let out a sigh of relief as I parked my truck in a free spot in the school parking lot. Maybe the ice would melt by the end of the day, and I would not have to drive in the ice yet again - though surprisingly I had not skidded once, maybe I was a natural at driving in winter weather.
My slow progress to school had allowed the cab of my truck to heat up to almost an uncomfortable temperature, I even unzipped my jacket a little bit as I grabbed my backpack. There was ice underneath my feet as I stepped out of the truck, of course I slipped and nearly fell. A blush flooded my face at the thought of falling on my rear in the middle of the school parking lot, it was such a Bella thing to do.
Looking around to see if anyone had noticed my graceful exit from the truck I saw a gleam out of the corner of my eye. There was something on twinkling the back tire of my truck, I moved very slowly along the slippery ground in order to examine it more closely. If it was a nail I would have to find a place to get the tire fixed right away; the thought of having to get a ride from Charlie was making me shudder with fear. It took me a moment to realize what was on my back tires, snow chains. Someone had spent an inordinate amount of time to put them on my truck; I was going with the assumption it was Charlie. The difference between my parents was staggering, as much as I loved my mother it was a given that she would never have done something this practical. Standing there staring at the snow chains I was getting a little teary eyed - with my mother I was the one who had to be the responsible adult but I had been here barely a week and Charlie was looking out for me.
My brain was trying to remind me of something, there was a sudden sense of deja vu: icy roads, snow chains... I concentrated, trying to figure out why this combination sounded familiar to me. I looked up across the parking lot to see Edward looking straight at me with a curious look in his eyes. Edward...book... a van that was going to smash into me. For the first time I did not have to force myself to look away from his mesmerizing face, instead I surveyed the parking lot quickly and found the blue van turning at full speed into the parking lot - it might already be too late, I might have wasted too much time trying to remember. With a desperate cry I dove towards the sidewalk, landing on my hands in an awkward angle as I tried to escape death. I heard screeching tires behind me, there was a crunch as something slammed into my truck - I could see my truck shuddering at the impact but I tried not to pay too much attention to that as I tried to get to my feet on the slick ground. The sidewalk that was my current destination, I was prepared to crawl there at this point if necessary, but there was nowhere to go. In fact I was in danger again, the front of my truck was being pushed towards and the front tires were swiftly moving towards where I was lying on the ground. All these observations took only a couple of seconds, the adrenaline was making my brain work at lightning speed. I closed my eyes, there was nothing else I could do but accept my fate.
I felt myself flying through the air, and slamming into a hard wall of some sort. I opened my eyes with a feeling of confusion and joy - I was not dead, which was a good thing, but at the same time how had I moved away from my position on the ground? I started to fall forward when I felt two hands place themselves on my shoulder. I was afraid to look at who had helped me get to safety, I had my suspicions.
"Bella are you all right?" The musical voice was not unexpected but it still managed to stop all thought in my head. I don't know how long we stood there, it seemed my brain had decided to compensate for its previous quick work by shutting down all thoughts. I concentrated on one thing at a time, my right hand hurt a great deal and when I examined it my wrist was at the wrong angle. I heaved a sigh, and deliberately moved it inside my jacked, trying to hide the problem - there was not need to worry everyone around me.
"Bella?" the voice spoke again, this time it sounded even more desperate. I felt the hands on my shoulders slowly turn me around. It took me a while to move my eyes all the way to his face, when we were both sitting at the lab table in Biology he had not seemed this tall to me. The golden eyes were more exquisite than I remember, I stopped breathing as I looked up into his divine face - the pain in my right hand forgotten for the moment.
The most gorgeous face looked down at me, dread and fear clearly written on it - all of a sudden my slow brain decided to start moving again, I had an epiphany. Some people claim that in certain moments in their lives time seems to slow down but that was not the case for me - it was more along the lines that my brain sped up. Memories began to come out of the depths of my brain and burst into focus on the surface. My heart started beating at double speed.
In the book it had been Tyler that had nearly killed me; my mind was starting up again screaming ideas and observations almost at a speed to quick for me to process. There were certain things that the book could be right about, my moving to Forks was not exactly a state secret or anything - in fact I was pretty sure Charlie had told anyone willing to listen. With a little research someone could have elucidated my relationship with each of my parents, as well as my reasons for moving here - but there was nothing to explain how it could possible that someone would have known about the accident. There was no way that the writer could have known, unless they had some sort of magical power and were able to read the future.
The near death experience had reminded me of some of the more significant scenes in the book. Like nearly getting squashed by a Tyler's van, then there was the men in port angeles, followed lastly by the sadistic vampire. Holy cow, vampires! If the book was correct then right now I was being held by a vampire who desperately wanted to drink my blood. It was a miracle that the long sleeved of my jacket had protected the palms of my hand, I had not scraped the skin off of the palms of my hand so there was not blood - Edward did not have to suffer because of that.
All of a sudden I wished that I had payed more attention to the books, as soon as I got home today I would make sure to read them thoroughly starting from the beginning. I had no idea what was going on but there was something uncanny about the book's ability to predict the future - in fact the knowledge from that book possibly helped save my life today.
"How is Tyler?" I reluctantly looked away from the most stunning face I had ever seen to check on the driver of the van. I could see several small gashes on his forehead that were starting to bleed, immediately I looked away. Blood really was not my thing so unless I wanted to add fainting to the drama of the morning it would be best not to look at Tyler.
"Bella, Bella, are you all right?" this time Edward shook me a little trying to get me to answer his question. I looked back up into the golden eyes and moved my right wrist a little further into the unzipped jacket - there was no need for him to know that my wrist was probably broken, it would only cause him distress.
"I am...fine." I lied my heartbeat going faster than I wished, I could feel the blush on my cheeks that would betray me.
My right wrist had started throbbing in time with my heartbeat, trying to distract both myself and Edward I looked around us. The truck had been hit on its side and now we were stuck in a triangle between my truck, the van, and the beige car that had been parked next to me.
All of a sudden there were shouts of concern and desperate questions surrounding us. I could see the students that had witnessed the accident surround the three vehicles and try to peer over them to see the scene. Soon I could hear several voices that sounded a little too mature to be students enter the fray - the questions and orders from these voices rang with maturity. It seemed the faculty members of the school had just arrived. I tried to move back and away from Edward, I was not sure how much being this close to me hurt him. His hands slowly move away from my shoulders, I took a deep breath preparing to stand on my own volition. He took one step back and then another until he had moved away from me. There was not that much space to move around in the enclosure created by the three cars but Edward managed to move as far away from me as possible. If circumstances had not been so dire I might have laughed.
I did not spend too much time thinking about this, instead I was trying my best not to reveal how much my hand was starting to hurt, despite my best efforts I could feel the tears starting to pool. So I stood there shivering because of the pain and cold, trying not to make eye contact. I wished I could just lie down, but the ground was probably really cold and I was fairly certain that if I did sit down I would never have the strength to stand back up - my shaking legs were not going to be of much use to me, leaning against the hood of my truck was the only reason I was still standing.
"Are you sure you are all right?" Edward asked from the other side of the enclosed space.
"I am just cold." I could hear the whine in my voice. Come on Bella don't be so pathetic. I tried to give myself a little pep talk but it was not helping, in fact my shivers were starting to increase in intensity. Only a few minutes ago I had been too hot in the cab of my truck, I wanted that feeling back.
I watched several expressions flicker through Edwards face, most of them passed too quickly for me to identify them - was that regret and fear I saw. His expression finally settled into a determined look, I watched as he pulled off his jacket and moved over to where I was standing before he placed the cream colored leather jacket around my shoulders. I was about to open my mouth to thank him but I was distracted by the glorious sight of his chest. It was at eye level and I had never seen a more perfect sight in my entire life.
He was wearing a grey long sleeved T-shirt underneath his jacket, it was not overly tight on him but when he lifted his arms to place the jacket on my shoulders I was given the view the long lean muscles underneath the thin shirt. His muscles were not the size or definition of a body builder, instead of the tiger or lion this man was the cheetah of the cat family. I don't know why I kept thinking of him like a predator maybe it was the memories of the book or it might have been the lethal grace that he seemed to move with. I would have given a great deal to have even a tenth of the agility that this man seemed to possess. I inhaled sharply as he backed away from me once again. "Thanks," I mumbled quickly remembering my manners.
The muscles in his neck moved as he swallowed, his adams apple bobbed - and I wanted to trace it with my lips. I don't know where that strange thought came from, normally I did not want to kiss strange men I did not know.
A little voice in the back of my mind reminded me of the fact that Edward was not a stranger, he was the boy I loved. But I quickly tried to suppress that voice, since I had other things to deal with like his smell.
With my deep breath came a strange smell, as I had inhaled I recognized the scent on his jacket - I had been smelling it all weekend on the shirt that I had found hiding behind the washing machine. In my surprise I moved my right arm a little bit, jostling my hurt hand - my next sharp breath was not one of longing but due to pain.
Edward was almost instantly by my side, he was starting to behave like a yo-yo. He kept moving back and forth in the small space, a small giggle escaped my lips at the thought. He gave me a curious look but then he started patting my arms and my back, I don't know how he though to examine me through all those layers of clothes. For a moment I wondered what his reaction would be if I suggested he move his hands underneath my shirt instead. Oh my god Bella, you need to stop thinking like that.
"Bella, what is wrong? Tell me now." He seemed almost frantic in his search for my ailment. My body decided to interpret his actions in a completely different manner, as his arms circled around my waist it felt like an embrace. I guess he missed the huge blush that covered my face all the way to the tips of my ears. I was starting to get dizzy when I finally reminded myself to breathe again - I enjoyed being in Edwards arms more than I would like to admit.
The sound of the approaching sirens brought me back to reality, Edward dropped his arms to his side but he was still hovering. Maybe he realized how precarious my standing position was.
I don't know how but someone managed to move the car next to us far enough for the EMT's to come in. Edward instantly put the spotlight on me, telling them I had fallen down. The feelings of fondness towards my savior suddenly evaporated - the traitor. My face blushed a deep red as not only did the EMT put on a brace around my neck but he made me lie down on the stretcher. I was surprised my entire face did not burst into flames as they loaded me into the back of the ambulance - the entire school was watching. Edward on the other hand got to ride in the front. There was no way that things could have possibly been worse, but then my father showed up frantically calling my name. "I am fine Charlie...dad."
There was something that I noticed that would have been a little strange but it fit with the insane idea that was floating around in my head - the other Cullens were standing around watching the mayhem, they did not look overly concerned regarding the safety of their brother. That is because they know he could not be hurt by a van. This little voice kept popping up with explanations that I was trying to ignore for now.
It was not until the doors were closed and we were already moving that I decided to bow to the inevitable. "I think my right wrist is broken." The EMT had been trying to unwrap me from my layers of jackets and had forced me to move my wrist a few times.
He gave me a questioning look but he was kind enough to switch to trying to unwrap my left arm. I was surprised to see Edward by my side as they unloaded me from the ambulance, his eyes were fixed on my right wrist. How had he known about that? I thought I had hid it pretty well...oh yeah vampire hearing. No, no I could not think about that right now.
He did not remain by my side for long, he went down a hall as they rolled me into the ER bay and moved me to one of the beds. When the EMTs turned their backs to go give their report to the nurse I decided that the neck brace was not necessary anymore so I pulled it off and threw it under the bed.
Now that Edward was not around to distract me I had no choice but to think about what I had learned today. I distinctly remember looking at Edward a few cars down from me, he had not been anywhere close to me. I would have to question him soon as to how he got to me so quickly - his presence and the memories of the book had been so distracting that I had not taken the opportunity to do so while we had been stuck together. Maybe it was for the better, I have not decided what to do with my knowledge yet; I might have to wait to confront him once I had finished all the books. I should reassure him first that I would do nothing to betray him or his family - now that I thought about it, I had spent a large portion of the book trying to protect their secrets.
The nurse interrupted my thoughts as she came to check my vitals, she helped me shed a few layers of clothing. It took a great deal for me not to grab Edwards jacket and wrap myself up in it again, I needed the smell to remind me that what I knew was real and not just a figment of my imagination helped along by that book. Taking off my sweater hurt a great deal but I had politely declined the nurse's offer to cut if off - I did not have enough warm clothes to make that sort of sacrifice.
Tyler was brought in while the nurse was helping me take off the the bulky sweater, his face was covered in oozing scratches - there were a lot more of them than I had seen through his broken windshield. I looked away as quickly as possible, already feeling a little faint.
As soon as Tyler noticed my presence he started apologizing for nearly killing me. I tried to ignore him as best I could, my nurse went over to examine him. My relief when the adults finally stopped hovering around us was short lived, Tyler began apologizing once again. There was an awkward moment when he questioned me, "hey how did you get out of the way so fast, I could have sworn I was going to hit you."
I was not going to mention the whole I knew you were coming at me and there was a handy vampire there to help me get away. I made eye contact with him for a moment, ignoring the blood on his face, "Ummm Edwards pulled me out of the way." At least this part was the truth.
"Who?" He seemed confused, of course he was since Edward had been nowhere near me at the time.
This was when I was going to have to lie, I did not look away from his eyes, knowing that would only enforce the glaring fact that I was lying. "Edward Cullen...he was standing right next to me."
I watched a confused expression remain on his face a few seconds longer before he accepted my lie - maybe I was not as bad as I thought. "Wow, I guess you were really lucky."
"Yeah, something like that." I mumbled under my breath. I turned away before he could question me any further. The nurse came back with someone else this time, I was getting kind of annoyed that no one deemed it appropriate to close the curtain between Tyler and I - there was a two-fold reason I wanted a little privacy from him. First of all I did not want to look at the blood on his face, the smell of it alone was starting to get to me. Second, I did not want him to question me further about why he had not seen Edward standing next to me. I had gotten away with one lie, and I did not want to push my luck.
The PA came to examine me and decided it would be best if I went for an X-ray of my wrist before the doctor saw me; Tyler's cuts were deemed superficial and I was given higher priority. It took about fifteen minutes for radiology to come get me, in the mean time I was treated to the constant reminder of how sorry Tyler was. I had attempted to tell him not to worry about it, but he did not listen to me. The x-ray was pretty routine, I had done this before on numerous occasions. My mother had at one point only half joked that I should start running the x-ray machine for them, since I had so much experience.
I was taken back to the ER and the boredom was starting to set in, I wished that I had brought a book with me or something. Speaking of books, I wonder what happened to my backpack, I really hope someone picked it up or all my books would be ruined from the rain. Plus my Trig homework was in there, I did not want to have to re-do that assignment.
I had finally decided that faking sleep would shut up Tyler, and so I lay facing away from him, staring at the nurses station - so much fun. It was lying there trying to count how many panels were missing from the ceiling that I saw him. The platinum blonde hair shone even under the fluorescent lights - it was when he turned to speak to the nurse that I finally saw his face, if only in profile. He looked too young to be the doctor his long white coat proclaimed him to be, as well as too pretty for that. He should have been gracing the big screen or the runway - in a moment of insight I realized who I was actually looking at. "Carlisle," I whispered too low for anyone else to hear. What I had not counted on was vampire hearing, suddenly he turned and looked me straight in the eye. His movement was too quick for me to close my eyes and pretend I was asleep; the suspicious look that he threw me quickly was replaced with a smile.
He signaled the nurse and they started to walk towards me. "Good morning Miss Swan, I am Dr. Cullen. How are feeling right now?" The nurse put the x-ray up on the wall next to me, turning on the light for Carlisle.
"Fine." Was my grumbling answer, his perfectly shaped eyebrows rose in surprise. If I had not been so reluctant to get this over with it might have been funny, I had managed to surprise a vampire twice today.
"Hmmmm, well from the looks of your x-ray you have a distal radius fracture that means..." I was not really listening to what he was saying, instead I was trying to compare the author's description to the actual man. Had you told me a month ago that vampires existed I would have faked a smile and backed away slowly, but now the evidence had piled up to the point where I could no longer ignore the facts. First there were the eyes, Carlisle had the same golden eyes as Edward - this was not a normal eye color for humans. There was their cold skin, when Edward had touched me yesterday in Biology class his fingers had been ice cold. Then there was the speed, I know Edward had been standing several cars away mere seconds before he pulled me out of harms way. Carlisle had been able to hear me call his name across the bay of the ER and come to think of it Edward must have heard me telling the EMT that my wrist was broken when he was sitting in the front of the ambulance. All of these observations were inconclusive alone but when you put them all together and added the book the puzzle was starting to become more clear - unfortunately for me the puzzle meant that the Cullens were vampires. This was not the best place to realize that some of the creatures you thought existed only in books were actually standing right next to you. All morning I had been jumping back and forth between the reality I had known to be true and the facts that were starting to pile up into the vampires are real category. My sharp intake of breath was noticed by Carlisle.
"Miss Swan? Are you all right?" He asked me, immediately at my side. Reminding me of his son, I heaved a sigh.
"Fine, let us just get this over with. Am I going to need a cast?"
It turned out that while my broken bone was not bad enough that I would require surgery to get it back into the right position I would still be required to wear a cast. First I would get a splint for a few days, until the swelling went down, and then I would get the cast. My father showed up in the middle of the explanation, he was looking seriously worried regardless of the fact that I reassured him several times that I was all right.
Carlisle was very quick about "reducing my fracture" it was almost over before he began. The splint did not take long either, and after giving me some medication for pain I was finally discharged from the hospital. As my father went off to take care of the rest of the paperwork I wandered the halls trying to locate one elusive vampire. "Come on Edward I know you are around here somewhere." I whispered as walked down the hall, maybe I could check Carlisle's office, that would be a good place for Edward to be hiding out.
I was absolutely terrified to speak to him, I was not normally this aggressive in my pursuit of boys. Oh heck, I never was this aggressive, there was only one reason I had for finding him, or so I told myself - I had to reassure him I would not say anything to anybody. Plus I wanted to hear his explanation, what lie would he tell me?
He was sitting in one of the two chairs that face Carlisle's desk, he did not turn around when I entered and closed the door behind me. I took a deep breath and prepared my questions, "How did you get to me so fast?" I did not bother with a greeting.
He turned around slowly a pleasant smile on his face, the slight tightening around his eyes belying his casual stance. "Oh hello Bella, what a surprise. What do you mean?"
Had I not been so certain of my case I would have backed down when faced with such an innocently confused look, but I knew better. Edward was perfect in all things, including at acting - he was playing stupid right now. I stayed by the door, not wanting to get too close to him or I might get lost in those golden eyes.
"Don't insult my intelligence. I saw you across the parking lot and a few seconds later you were pulling me out of the way." I was getting angry, I did not appreciate him lying to me and somehow I found the courage to tell him so.
"Bella I was standing right next to you." His smile slipped a little but he did not move those golden eyes away from me.
"Fine keep your secrets, it is not like I don't know about them anyway." My anger made me blurt out foolish things. I watched as shock and surprise wiped the smile off his beautiful face. "Don't worry I won't say anything to anyone. It is not like they would believe me even if I did." I needed to leave before I said something else that was stupid. I quickly stepped out of the office, leaving a still speechless Edward and headed to the front lobby. The sight that greeted me scared me more than a ravenous vampire - it looked like every student from the school had decided to skip, they were all converged in the small lobby. I watched in horror as Angela, Jessica and Mike detached themselves from one of the groups and headed my way.
I had never been so glad when my father came to interrupt our little "conversation" - though in Jessica's case it was more along the lines of an interrogation - the police cruiser had never looked so inviting before.
It was not until Charlie pulled up at the house that he gave me the good news - he had called my mother to tell her about the accident.
"Oh my god, I can't believe you did that?" I fumed at my father, my temper seemed to be getting the better of me this morning. "She is probably on her way here already."
"Sorry Bells," my dad mumbled as he helped me get up the stairs. I felt guilty for yelling at him, but really he was going to have to learn some rules if we were going to be able to live together. One of the main rules was not to tell my mother more than the bare minimum.
It took me nearly an hour to calm my mother down enough, she had been ready to get on the next available plane, I needed to pull out the big guns and remind her that Phil would be upset if she just up and left him.
My father puttered around me nearly till noon, trying his best to take care of me. I could tell his attempts at mothering were just as awkward for him as they were for me. I finally told him to go back to work, "I will just take some of the pain meds and then I will go try to sleep this off."
He did not leave until he had brought me a glass of water and the phone. "Call if you need anything, I can be home from work in less than ten minutes."
"I will be fine dad." I mumbled. I watched him leave through my window - finally, I was alone. I went to the bathroom and found some acetaminophen for my hurting hand, this weaker drug would have to cut it because the prescription pain medications tended to make me groggy. I would need my brain as much as possible at this point if I was going to figure out this vampire thing.
It was when I reached under my bed grab my book that I saw the cream colored jacket on my rocking chair. I guess when Charlie had gathered up all my things Edward's jacket must have been put into the pile. I would have to find a way to return it to him without Charlie realizing who it belonged to. I got back out of bed and picked it out of the pile, I could not help myself as I pulled it around myself. The sleeves were wide enough that I could get my splint through, it smelled like I was back in Edward's arms.
I read through the first book again before Charlie came home. I pulled out the second book but I did not start reading it. I may not know everything but there were three things I had to admit to myself.
First, I was in love with Edward Cullen. The combination of my few interactions with him in real life and the insights that I had gained from the book made it hard for me to deny this fact. The only question I had to answer was how I would deal with this knowledge.
Second, I knew that my smell was pure torture for Edward to be around. The thought that I was the reason he was hurting caused me physical pain. But how was I supposed to deal with that? The thought of never seeing him again also caused me pain.
Third, according to the second book he would leave me. Should I cut off all contact now? or would it be better to take what little time he would give me? But this went back to the second part, how could I be around him without causing him pain?
I started reading the second book but I was interrupted when Charlie came home, he brought pizza for dinner. "I thought you might not be up to cooking anything tonight," he told me as he brought me a slice along with some more water.
"Thanks dad, you are the best." He looked a little uncomfortable with the praise but I continued anyway. "Oh and thanks for putting the snow chains on my tires, it really helped with driving this morning."
"Not a problem, Bells," he mumbled as he slowly started backing out of the room. "I wish Tyler had thought about putting chains on his tires as well." A blush was on his face, I knew who to blame for my easy blushes.
After swiftly finishing my pizza I started on book two. I could not help myself, I cried desperately when Edward told me he no longer loved me - sometime this morning I had come to accept that book-Bella and I were the same person. So when Edward rejected Bella in the book, he was rejecting me. I needed to calm down for a bit, before Charlie came up to check on me and noticed the tears. I went to brush my teeth, and my face- it was extremely awkward to do all this one handed especially since I was not used to relying on my left hand.
After telling Charlie I was going to try to read some before going to sleep I went back to my room. I was so absorbed in my book that I did not hear when Charlie came up to bed, I did not even notice the time until I had finished the last page of book. I was so happy I was ready to dance through the house - Edward really loved me, he had just left to protect me. But I was brought back to reality as I thought of the Volturi, I would have to make sure that Edward and Alice went nowhere near them. It was nearly three in the morning when I finished, but I was too excited and nervous to sleep. I would have to try, there was no way I could start on the third book. I promised to do that tomorrow, so I turned out the lights and went to sleep. I pulled Edwards jacket in bed with me, hiding it under the covers, the amazing scent had started to fade but if I took a really deep breath I could still smell Edward. It might have been a little bit psycho but I needed it to remind myself that this was not all a fantasy.
Charlie checked in on me before heading to work, he wanted to know if I needed him to drop me off at school or if I wished to stay at home for the day.
"Dr. Cullen had suggested that you stay home at least today. Do you need me to stay with you?"
I was very groggy but I managed to clearly communicate that I would be fine alone. "I have had broken bones before dad, I know the drill." I went back to sleep after he left. The next time I woke it was past eleven in the morning, I rolled out of the bed before I could fall asleep again.
I put a bag over my splint and somehow managed to half wash my hair. I stayed in the shower until the hot water ran out. Since I was not going to school I just put on an old pair of sweats and a t-shirt; there was no way I could get my splint into a long sleeved shirt. I had a quick breakfast of cereal and milk, I noticed that my truck was parked outside next to the curb. Someone had brought my backpack inside, fortunately for me my Trig homework was not ruined. Those observations could not hold my attention as I hurried upstairs to start on the third book.
That night I went to bed late, the third book took me a while to get through - there were some points where I had to stop reading because the tears in my eyes made it impossible to continue reading. I could not believe I was capable of doing that to Edward and Jacob - I would have to make sure not to make the same mistakes with Jacob.
When Charlie woke me up on Thursday morning to see if I waned a ride to school I did something I had not done before - I exaggerated my pain so that I could skip school. I felt so guilty about it - it was a surprise that Charlie did not call me out on my lie. Instead he told me to feel better before heading off to work yet again. I did not try to see if I could do some extra homework, I did not try to catch up on the laundry or pick up the house a little bit... no I headed straight for book four. I only interrupted my reading to go grab something to eat. If reading had been a competitive sport I would have been able to set world records today - I was normally a quick reader but today I flew past the pages. There were some descriptions I chose to ignore promising myself that I would go back and re-read those portions later. The pregnancy thing was a shock, but Nessie, as Jake called her, sounded amazing - I suddenly missed the child I did not have. Nearly dying scared me but I had gotten used to near death experiences by now, however I was crushed at what Jake was going through. I vowed yet again not to let my relationship with Jake, if I managed to have one, head down that path. It would be interesting to see if Jake was actually a wolf or not.
The coming of the Volturi had my heart pounding for several chapters until the Cullens and wolves managed to successfully stand up to them.
With my super speed marathon reading I managed to get through the book before two. My stomach rumbled at me reminding me that it had not been fed well for the past couple of days. I headed downstairs to make myself a substantial meal before going to take a shower. I would have to learn to take care of myself with only one hand, especially since Carlisle had told me the cast would have to stay on for up to six weeks.
I tried my best to comb out my long hair, the tangles had really built up in the past couple of days since I had not taken the time to comb it out yesterday. It was while wrestling with my hair, trying to put it into a ponytail with one hand, that I heard a knock on the front door.
I looked down at myself, sweatpants with holes all in them ... check... old t-shirt that had belonged to Renee but I had rescued it when she had tried to throw it away ...check... hair half put up in ponytail...yeah I looked good. But at this point I did not care.
"Coming," I cried as I tried to go both safely and swiftly down the stairs. Since I did not want another visit to the ER today it took me a while to get downstairs. I hoped whoever it was at the door was the patient type.
I did look through the small window to check who was outside, I was in a hurry so I just threw the door open. I don't know who I had been expecting but this person was not it.
"Hello Bella. How are you feeling? I noticed you were not in school today so I gathered up all your homework from your teachers."
A/N: All right gals and guys. Who do you think was at the door?
Do you think that Bella's reactions fit her character? or is she taking this far to well? By the way I apologize for any typos in advance, I did proof read it a couple of times but since I have no beta I have to do all the work and sometimes I miss things.
Thanks again for those of you who encouraged me to continue, I really like hearing form you. (All right I am done with the review begging bit :D).
I am not promising on a time frame for the next update, real life is about to start up again so I will not always have time to write.
Happy New Year, hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.