Chapter 6: Rule number 6 - Never accept a ride from a stranger

~It's in his DNA,

And he just takes my breath away, breath away.

I feel it every day.

And that's what makes a man,

Not hard to understand, perfect in every way,

I see it in his face.

Nothing more to say, It's in his DNA.

Made from the best, he passes all the test,

Got my heart beating fast, it's cardiac arrest.

He's from a different strain, that Science can't explain.

I guess it's how he's made,

It's in his DNA ― Little Mix, DNA~

It was as if someone had pressed the fast forward button.

A week flew by and nothing even remotely interesting happened. The buzz created by the arrival of the new students faded and everything went back to normal, and when I mean normal, I mean completely normal.

I thought after everything that had happened between Edward and me on that magical evening, he would start talking to me and treat me in a special way. Instead, the exact opposite happened.

Edward stopped talking to me, about a week ago, exactly after the day we had reconciled. I guessed that we didn't know how to act around each other anymore since we had an almost heart-to-heart open chat one snowy evening, which seemed like a lifetime ago.

Anyway, it hurt a lot because I thought we had finally reached an understanding, but only to have him completely stop having any sort of conversation with me. Even a rude one was welcome.

But Edward didn't mock or tease me anymore. He just stopped...paying attention to me.

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

I straightened in my seat, shifted the gear and glanced at my best friend, who currently occupied the passenger seat of my Porsche.

Kate and I were returning to Forks from Seattle. In Seattle, a public school was conducting a survey and had asked all the schools in the state of Washington to submit their students' files to them. Mr Stanley had sent me to deliver those files as I was the President of the Junior Student Body.

I had taken Kate along with me since the trip to Seattle would be long and boring and also because I wanted to make it up to her for ditching her to go shopping with Alice.

"Nothing," I frowned a little. "Really, nothing."

"Right, and you expect me to believe that." Kate unwrapped the cover of a lollipop and licked it. "Let me take a random guess. You're thinking about someone...whose name starts with the letter E, followed by D, W, A, R and ends with a D. Am I close?"

"Kate, no, I'm serious," I laughed in spite of myself. "I was thinking about everything, in general."

"Oooh, so now you're thinking about Alice too, right?" She sucked the lollipop and gave me an evil look.

I had started to tutor Senna from last week as promised, and that put an end to whatever little friendship, Alice and I shared. Like I said, my life was back to being normal and a little dreadful too.

"Kate, tell me something," I said, focusing on the road. "What is going on with Peter? He's been acting very weird these days."

Kate rolled her eyes at how tactfully I had diverted the subject but she let out a sad sigh, about to reveal something very secretive.

"I found out something huge this weekend," Kate glanced at me, her blue eyes running over my face. "I always knew Peter liked someone but I didn't expect it to be..."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Who is the lucky girl?"

"Charlotte," she revealed miserably. "Can you believe it? I always thought you two would end up together, and you would get married to him. In that way, we can live under the same roof and all. That stupid, rotten brother of mine shattered all my dreams!"

It was surprising news but a pleasant one at that. At least now, Kate knew that Peter and I would never get together the way she wanted us to.

"Cheer up, Katy baby," I placed a kiss on her cheek. "We'll take an apartment and live together, okay?"

"Chicks over dicks," she agreed happily, opening the automatic window to throw out the half-chewed lollipop.

We were laughing and talking about our college plans when my car lurched forward suddenly. It made a horrible noise and jerked again.

"What's happening?" she cried, latching onto the dashboard.

"I don't know!" I steered the car to a halt at the side of the road. "I think my beautiful, lovely, precious―"

"―stupid car just broke down in the middle of nowhere!" Kate finished for me, looking around.

I got out of the car and Kate followed me, popping the hood up. I expected steam to pour out from the engine but everything looked calm and orderly. I had absolutely no experience in the mechanics department.

"I don't know what's wrong," I closed the hood, miserably. "My dad equipped the car with the necessary tools and he taught me how to use them too, but I don't remember anything."

"We better pray there's cell reception here." Kate fished out her iPhone and held it up, in hopes of getting signal. "Nope, there's not a single bar."

"I hope someone comes our way and give us a ride." I ran a hand through my hair, feeling the fear creep inside me.

I had chosen a short route to Forks, so we were now stuck in an empty mud-road. At least if we had been in a highway, someone would have seen us but we were in a side road, which no one usually took. There were huge trees on either side of the small road and there wasn't a hint of light anywhere.

A rustling sound reached our ears and one of the trees to our right swayed, even though there was no wind blowing.

"Omigod!" Kate screamed, grabbing me by my shoulders. "There's something in there. I saw it, Bella. It...it looked like a huge bird."

"Bird?" I asked, pulling her with me. "A bird won't harm us."

"No! It's wings were very huge and...and shiny, almost green." She looked freaked out with her wide blue eyes and open mouth.

"It's dark, Kate." I tried to pacify her. "You probably saw a tree and mistook it for a bird. Come on, let's see if we can do something with the tool box."

I was shaking with fear but I tried to stay strong for her. It was very dark; we were two teenage girls on an empty road, surrounded by trees. Yeah, it sounded like something out of a horror novel.

I was digging through the red toolbox when suddenly, headlights beamed on us. I turned around and saw a Chevy truck pull up next to us.

"Got a problem, girls?" A kind old man peeked out at us through the window.

Kate almost cried when she saw him, she was that relieved. "Yes, sir. We don't know what's wrong with our car. It just broke down."

"Let me take a look," he got out and checked the engine. "A shaft has come loose, nothing that can't be fixed. We'll tie the car to my truck and you girls can ride with me."

"Tie my Porsche to your truck and allow it to be dragged across the road? No way." I said in shock, glancing at my baby Porsche.

"Thank you so much, sir." Kate stepped in, pinching my elbow. "Do you have a rope?"

Minutes later, we were sitting on the seat next to him on his Chevy, with my car tied to the truck. He drove slowly but I was so worried that I didn't listen to his chatter and instead stared at the Porsche through the rear-view mirror.

Finally, I concentrated on him. He had introduced himself as Henry and was saying, "Beautiful place, don't you agree? I'm glad I decided to visit this part of the state."

"Wait," I interrupted him. "Visit? You've never been to Forks before?"

"No," he agreed jovially, oblivious to my shock. "Actually, I've never been to Washington before. This is my first time here."

Kate's eyes widened in fear and she froze next to me. Only I knew what she was thinking. The side road we had taken was almost like a secret, which only the inhabitants of Forks and those living in the towns nearby knew. Strangers who took that road got lost, mostly because of the trees and the emptiness.

When Henry had come our way, we had assumed that he had used the side road before and knew it well enough to travel through it.

"How did you know about this road?" Kate asked, suspiciously. My palm closed over the spray bottle in my handbag. No, I didn't carry pepper spray with me but I did carry hair spray with me.

"Oh, um," Henry cleared his throat, uneasily. "Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't know about this road. I was on my way through the highway when a young man stopped me and told me that two girls were stranded on the side road. He pointed me the precise direction before we parted ways."

"Oh," I said, staring at the trees as we zoomed past them.

"The young man? How did he look like?" Kate pressed eagerly.

"Uh, it was dark and I didn't see his face clearly but he was good looking, I guess and tall too."

Good looking and tall? Who was the mystery savior?

I was in my fifth period, which was Gym, and I was listening to the Gym teacher calling the students of Draken Academy the laziest and slowest ones she had ever seen, when something interesting happened. Draken Academy had two coaches and one of them was Sister Claire, who was my favorite.

"Moving your body once in a while won't hurt," Sister Claire glared at us. "Maybe you, lazy students, can recall that Jesus climbed a mountain, carrying the cross."

She went from one person to another, giving them instructions on what they were supposed to do. A few were ordered to run laps while others were paired to play volleyball. I was doing a scene of stretching my legs a bit when Charlotte found me.

"Bella," Charlotte panted, bending on her knees. "There's something you have to see."

She was in her white lab coat and the glasses that were worn in Chemistry lab were perched on top of her blonde head.

"What is it?" I asked, side peeking at Sister Claire, who was busy trying to make a girl stand straight.

"You know Kate and I share Chemistry class, right? We were partnered up to do an experiment and Kate was paired up with Alice. Everything was going well till...Alice poured her test tube filled with some yucky solution on Kate's brand new Jimmy Choos boots." She looked horrified.

"Intentionally?" I was already moving towards the door.

She opened the door for me before Sister Claire could see us. "I...we don't know, that's what they both are fighting about."

"They're fighting?" We started to run towards the Chemistry lab.

"Duh," she raised her eyebrows at me. "That's why I came to get you. Wasn't Alice your best friend for, like, one evening?"

My cheeks turned very warm but I ignored her comment. We reached the lab but I grabbed Charlotte before she could go inside. I wanted to see what they really fighting about before I stepped in.

Alice stood near the second table and Kate was crouched in front of her, checking her feet for any damage. I looked around for the teacher but I couldn't see anyone keeping a watch over them. I realized that it was the reason why Alice and Kate were still fighting and no one had separated them yet.

"Why can't you just apologize and get it over with?" Kate was asking her. Her black heels were covered in a blue gooey liquid.

"I already did, remember?" Alice's delicate face was scrunched up in irritation.

"Yes but you're not admitting that you did it on purpose!"

Alice groaned. "Why would I do it on purpose?"

Suddenly, a boy stepped next to Alice and tried to pull her back. It was Edward. Next to me, Charlotte was gone.

"Why would I do it on purpose?" Kate looked at Alice as if she was being ridiculous. "I don't know, maybe because Bella is my best friend and she ditched you for Senna and has your brother running after with his tail wagging? I can sense some serious abandonment issues here."

I gasped in shock. If a teacher heard what she said, she would be expelled from the academy in an instant. Charlotte reappeared next to me with Peter behind her. Peter looked flustered when he saw the drama unfold in front of him.

"You take that back!" Alice screamed at her. Edward looked torn, not sure how to react to two girls fighting about petty things.

"No, I won't. Everything I said is the truth. I hope it sinks in the pretty head of yours." Kate tossed her hair back haughtily.

"My brother doesn't like Bella!" Alice fumed. "He had made it clear from the first day he met her. Let me tell you something, Kate and I hope it sinks in the pretty head of yours: Bella is not good enough for Edward and he knows it perfectly. None of you are, you arrogant filthy humans!"

Kate jumped on Alice. "Why, you vindictive little bi―"

"Kate!" I screamed in shock and ran inside. Peter helped me pull Kate away from Alice.

"Let me go! I want to strangle that bi―" Kate struggled wildly. Alice's mouth was hanging open, she had not expected to see me there.

"Kate, stop trying to say that word." Peter hushed her, taking her into his arms.

She was still struggling. "You guys stop trying to keep me from killing that bi―"

"Alice is right," Renata interrupted her. She was standing among the crowd and I noticed that most of them were the new students. "None of you are good enough for us. And Edward doesn't waste his thoughts on someone like Bella."

She raised her eyebrow at Edward, as if she was daring him to deny her. Edward glanced at me for the first time in a week and I took in his green eyes, his long eyelashes, his sensuous mouth and the reddish tint in his brown hair. I missed him. Terribly.

Everything shattered and the harsh reality was thrust upon me when Edward, instead of reprimanding of her, smirked and said, "You've got it right for the first time, Renata."

The pictures of that Edward holding my hand while flower petals rained on me vanished and were replaced by the picture of this cruel Edward laughing at me.

"Oh, yes, we're so not good enough for you," I snapped sarcastically, taking a step forward. "Maybe you guys forgot that this is our school and you are going to stay here only for a while. Maybe you guys forgot that you are all just leaders of some lame groups while I'm the President of the entire Junior Student Body. Maybe you people forgot that Forks is our town, where we were born and grew up, while you guys are just a bunch of weird strangers. You are all nothing but parasites, using us as your hosts. Oh, yeah, we are so not good enough for you."

The Draken Academy students started to clap loudly and a few even whistled. The new students looked shocked and humiliated. Edward stared at me with eyes that looked like somehow hurt and pained. Renata kept her chin up and glared at me.

"You know this means war, right?" Renata snarled angrily.

I batted my eyelashes at her. "Bring it on, B-girl."

Kate laughed and the Draken Academy students joined her. I turned to my right and saw Sister Claire standing near the door with her mouth hanging open.

"Detention for all six of you!"

"But why did I get detention?" Peter mumbled to himself for the hundredth time.

"Because you were holding Kate back and you got yourself involved in the fight," I repeated mechanically. "That's what Sister Claire told you a few minutes ago, Peter."

"Right," he said drily. "I tried to prevent a fight from happening and I got detention. Sweet."

"Stop complaining and get to work," Kate told him, shoving the snow out of the way.

As a part of detention, Sister Claire took all six of us―Kate, me, Peter, Edward, Alice and Renata―to the garden at the back of the school, which was filled with snow and dried plants. She told the girls to pluck the dead plants and the boys to shovel the snow out of the Chapel and the Convent path.

I didn't know how Charlotte didn't get detention. Sister Claire had apparently seen me leave the Gym without her permission, had followed me, and had witnessed the latter half of the fight.

Peter and Edward took a shovel and began to clear the path. Renata and Alice were plucking the flowers far away from us, which allowed Kate and me to talk freely.

"Renata has got a gun for a tongue," Kate huffed. "What did you call her? Oh, right, B-girl. Awesome, Bells, really creative there and the way you stood up to her on behalf of the Draken Academy students was so...I'm speechless. And I don't get speechless very often."

A few minutes later, I was plucking the plants next to where Edward was shoving the snow aside. He didn't look at me but his jaw was set tightly, as if he was forcing himself not to speak to me. Heat radiated from him and my hands yearned for his warm touch.

After all the apologies, he had still hurt me and I knew he would continue to hurt me in every way. It was in his DNA or something to behave rudely to me.

By the time we finished, the sun had set and we were shivering like crazy. No, let me rephrase the sentence. Peter, Kate and I were shivering. The others looked calm and relaxed, like snowflakes weren't falling on their cheeks and necks.

They went ahead of me and I was walking behind them slowly when Edward caught up with me. The anger inside me turned up a few notch and I clenched my fists tightly.

"Bella, I need to tell you something." He said coolly, his eyes set straight ahead.

"If you are going to apologize..." I trailed off, fuming inside.

"No, what I said back there was true. We shouldn't be friends." Edward said flatly. "Personally, I think I have nothing to be sorry about when you were the one who―"

Slap. My palm made contact with his cheek before I knew it. The horrible slapping sound was loud in the empty and open space.

"Bella..." He murmured quietly, his green eyes filled with hurt and shock. His cheek was red where I had slapped him.

"If you ever come near me again," I threatened, taking a painful step back. "I will tell my dad you're stalking me and get a restraining order on you."

Someone gasped. Alice had witnessed everything. "How could you do that to him?"

"Stop asking stupid questions!" I screamed at her. Edward stalked away from us and he disappeared inside the boarding house.

She looked like she was on the verge of crying. "Remember yesterday when your car broke down? Edward and I were travelling along the same path and we saw your car. We knew if we offered any help, you would get suspicious and ask us all sorts of questions, like, if we were following you or something. Edward wanted to help you in some way, so he stopped a man and paid him to give you two a ride. Edward made sure you were safe before he took me home. And you just slapped him."

I turned abruptly and started to walk towards Kate. "I-I have to go."

I got inside Peter's car and buried my head in my hands. Good looking and tall? Yes, Edward was the mystery savior.

Hey guys,

Hope you liked it! Review and tell me!

-BEJL