Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight
A dim light signaled morning and still no one came. At around half past six, I heard Charlie's alarm go off before it was quickly stifled. I listened carefully as his door open and shut quietly. I heard his muffled steps go down the stairs and then the house was totally quiet again.
I stumbled out of bed and went to take a shower, unable to sit any longer. By the time I came out and got dressed, I could smell the coffee from downstairs.
I went down and found Charlie at the kitchen table reading the newspaper. I poured myself some coffee and we sat together in silence until it was time to leave for school and work.
I asked him to drop me by the truck and he obliged, gruffly telling me to have a good day before he drove off. I watched him go—he was such a good man and I hated lying to him.
It was still a little early—mine was the only car at the school— so I got into the truck and turned on the heater. I was so exhausted it was almost painful to stay awake. I shut my eyes for a moment and someone tapped on my window.
My hand automatically jumped to door lock before I looked up and saw it was only Jessica by my window. I looked past her and saw an almost full parking lot. I must've fallen asleep. I grabbed my keys and my backpack and got out of the car, rubbing my eyes and yawning.
"You look terrible," Jessica said as I locked the truck.
"Thanks."
Already on edge, my jumpy mood was made worse as soon as I set foot on campus. My classmates started bombarding me with questions almost immediately. Reluctantly, I answered question after question about the accident.
No, I'm not hurt…Yes, Tyler's okay….No ,I just slipped…Edward….Cullen…He was right there and he pulled me back…No, we're not…just…no.
I answered the same questions the same way over and over until people eventually stopped asking me.
Jessica was the worst of all, and her probing questions were more difficult to avoid.
"So are you and Edward together now?"
We were walking together into the cafeteria after Spanish. I rolled my eyes as she turned to wave at someone, having just answered a similar question for her a few minutes before.
"No, Jessica," I said exasperatedly. "I hardly even know him."
I grabbed a salad out of the food line, handing my money over to the woman at the register. "Thanks."
Jessica huffed impatiently and grabbed my arm to drag me away, almost making me drop my food. "Geez, Jess."
We sat down at the table and she leaned forward in her chair across from me, her eyes flicking over to the Cullens.
"There has to be something," she said, excitedly. "You sit next to him every day!"
"I've only had class with him twice." I muttered back, looking anywhere but the table in the corner. My whole face felt like it was on fire. I knew Edward could hear this whole conversation. "It hardly counts."
She opened her mouth, but I cut her off, seeing her other friends coming to the table, including Angela and Mike.
"Can we please drop it?" I whispered urgently.
She nodded, but narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously.
Lunch was thankfully devoid of any and all conversation about the accident. I managed to pass the hour not staring over at the Cullens, even though I really wanted to.
Mike walked with me to Biology, unusually quiet.
I followed him into the room, and still he didn't say anything. It wasn't until he got to his desk that he stopped and turned to face me. He didn't sit down like I expected, effectively preventing me from getting to my own seat.
"Is something wrong?" I asked hesitantly.
"It's about yesterday," he started, not meeting my eyes.
"What about it?" I answered cautiously.
"I just wanted to apologize," he blurted out. "I didn't mean to make you fall like that."
"What? Oh, don't worry about it." I said, trying step around him. "It wasn't your fault."
He blocked my path again, moving with me. "I'm glad you said so, but there's something else."
His eyes flickered to Edward, who stiffened, and Mike stepped forward, grabbing my arm and leaning forward to whisper in my ear.
"It's about Cullen."
My heart skipped a beat, and I shrugged out of his hold, taking a step back.
"What about him, Mike," I asked slowly.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I swear I didn't see him there until after Tyler crashed."
Over Mike's shoulder, Edward's eyes briefly met mine, his expression hard and unreadable.
"What are you saying?" I said carefully, looking away from Edward.
"I don't…I…I don't know, but something doesn't seem right." he ground out haltingly through his teeth.
I spoke carefully; slowly and deliberately. "I don't know about that, Mike. But I can promise that Edward was right there when I fell. You just must not have seen him."
"You're sure," he asked, still whispering pointlessly.
"Yeah, I'm sure," I said, whispering dramatically back. I smiled, trying to put him at ease. "It's nothing," I said in a normal voice, sidestepping around him. "Your eyes must have been playing a trick on you."
"You're right," he said, shaking his head and smiling. "I do sound crazy, don't I? Don't tell anyone what I said, will you?"
"Of course not," I said as I walked away. Once my back was turned, my strained smile slid into a frown. Not good. But I was pretty sure the crisis had been averted. I didn't think he would try to tell anyone else for fear of being made fun of.
I sat down silently and took out a fresh piece of paper and a pen.
I was hyper aware of Edward the whole class, but I never turned to look at him. He was ignoring me just as much as I ignored him. Even though neither of us looked at each other, I felt the tension rolling of his body. When I allowed myself a little glimpse at the end of class, I was startled to see he was already looking at me.
I smiled tentatively back but he just nodded and looked away. The second the bell rang, he was on his feet and out the door. By the time I got outside, I saw him walking away quickly, halfway to the parking lot.
Mike was there when I got outside too, waiting to walk with me to Gym, his normal happy and chatty self.
I had a particularly good time playing volleyball during class. I took out all of my anger and frustrations out on the ball, using all of my strength to spike and serve.
When the final bell rang, I quickly changed and started walking in the direction of the house. I was digging around in my backpack trying to find my car keys when I ran smack into someone.
Surprised, I looked up and saw it was Angela.
"Isabella, right?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," I answered apologetically. "Sorry about that."
She smiled hitching her backpack more securely on her shoulder.
"Don't worry about it," she answered, shrugging it off. "So how are you? After yesterday I mean."
"Good," I said. "I'm totally fine."
"You're probably sick of talking about it," she said. And I was, but with her it wasn't so bad
"Well," she said gently. "It good that no one was hurt too badly."
"Yeah, it is" I said. Over her shoulder, I saw the Cullens walking towards the Volvo. I made myself look back at Angela. "Thanks for asking."
"You're welcome," she said, smiling. "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure," I said, "What's up?"
"I was just wondering if you go by Bella instead of Isabella. It's just I noticed that that's what your dad called you yesterday."
"Oh," I said, unsure of how to respond. "Yeah, Bella's fine."
"Okay, then" she said with a smile. "See you tomorrow, Bella."
"Bye, Angela," I said, returning her smile. "See you tomorrow."
She walked away and I looked over at the Cullens again. Rosalie was staring daggers at me. Her glower was so poisonous that I stumbled back a few steps. I turned heel and tried not to run to my car.
I couldn't sleep for days after that. Each time I closed my eyes I saw Rosalie snarling murderously at me. My nights were become hell, and the days were just as bad as a result.
Mrs. Newton took one look at me when I showed up after school that day, and tried to send me home. It took serious convincing to persuade her that I was fully recovered, but she let me stay. I finally got the training I needed and it didn't me long to pick it up. I went home that night, feeling even more tired, but the pride I felt made it worth it.
Every day I said hello to Edward. He never answered back with more than a nod. I tried every day to get him to talk to me, but I never could.
I also had another problem. The following Friday, at lunch, I was listening to Mike tell the longest, most boring story about a camping trip he had taken weeks before, trying to smile and make polite comments in the right spots, when I thought absently about how much I wanted my four weeks to be up so that I could leave Forks and not have to hear the end of his story.
I looked over at the Cullen table, an automatic behavior I found myself doing more and more frequently, just as the thought crossed my brain. Right then, Alice suddenly met my gaze, tilting her head slightly and looking perplexed.
I looked away, shocked. Had she seem me leave? I didn't want that! I figured people might notice if I left town, but no one could know why, and a large part of that relied on people not knowing where I was going.
I stopped thinking about home at all. Every once in a while though, I would catch myself thinking about what I might find. But, I caught myself each time and made myself focus on going to work and school. I near drove myself crazy trying to monitor myself every moment of every day, but every day the Cullens came back to school and I got more and more comfortable with my routine.
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