AN:

Oooookkkkk!!! So I finally figured out that I could see how many people have actually read my story and there were 409 hits and 174 visitors!!! And guess how many reviews I have??? 18!!!!!! All I have to say is, please please please review it if u read it!!! I want constructive criticism!!! Reviews are food. Do you want me to starve?! :D

8. A Series of Events

Monday. Today I had to go back to school. Today, I would have to face Grace Miller – the girl who was about to make my life extremely difficult. I had taken all of the necessary precautions, now the rest was up to me. Forty-five minutes. It didn't seem that long a time; but who knows, especially when you're trying not to kill someone. I sat in bed, staring out of the window blankly. We would be on regular schedule today so I wouldn't have to face her until sixth period. This was a good thing. This way, I would have time to "mentally prepare" myself. Not that any amount of it would make it that much easier, but maybe being around other humans for a few hours might help.

I slowly got up out of bed and strode over to my vanity. My eyes were a bright gold. My hair was tangled and messy. I quickly grabbed the brush and raked through it. After most of the bad knots were detangled, I went to my closet. On any other day, I would have just grabbed anything and threw it on without thinking twice. But today, I actually wanted to look nice. Nothing too showy and nothing too fancy. I wanted to look nice and plain today. In the end, I threw on a **long sleeved white shirt and put an olive green bubble vest over it. This as good as it's gonna get, I thought to myself. I hadn't even noticed Edward eyeing me until then.

"What?" I asked self-consciously.

"I'm just so proud of you."

"Umm…..why?!"

"For facing this. For being so brave." He replied. One second he was standing in the closet doorway and the next he was glued to my body. He kissed me and then glanced at the clock. 7:15. We would have to be there at 7:40. Even with Jasper speeding through town, it took us about twenty minutes to get to school. "We need to get going I guess." He said and pulled me out of the room. He almost walked right past Renesmee's room. I pried his fingers off of my waist and slipped into her room. She was still snoring. I picked her up gently and cradled her in my arms. I nestled my head into her hair and inhaled her sweet scent deeply. I had never told anyone this, but whenever I was tempted by the scent of a human's blood, I just thought about Renesmee. I thought about being a role model and a good example to her. She and Edward were my motivation in life. My only reason to live. And that's why I was "being brave and facing this" today. I couldn't let them down.

As we ran through the woods to the main house, Edward suddenly drew in a sharp breath and stopped in his tracks.

"What is it…?" I asked cautiously.

"Listen." He replied quietly, his face furrowed in concentration.

I did as he said and after about a second I heard them. Screaming. At the house? Why? I gently gave Renesmee to Edward and raced ahead into the forest. I tried to remain calm as I sprinted from the edge of the forest to the scene in the driveway. I couldn't believe my eyes. An enormous gray wolf was tearing away at a vampire I had never seen before. Jacob was standing there convulsing. His entire frame was shaking with anger. Then, his shape blurred and he became the huge russet wolf. He jumped into the fight to defend the gray wolf (who I assumed was Leah).

"What's going on? What happened?" I screamed at Carlisle as Kate jumped into the blur of colors.

Kate slammed Jacob's massive body into the ground. I heard a cracking sound and then Jacob howled in pain. I let out an ear-piercing scream. What was he doing?! Was he trying to get himself killed?! The unknown vampire ripped a huge chunk out of Jacob's shoulder while Kate danced around menacingly with Leah. Jacob yelped in pain but continued to struggle.

"JAKE STOP!!!! Please!!!" I yelled at him desperately as Garrett appeared in the threshold of the house. Seeing Kate fighting, of course Garrett jumped in too. Garrett's hand smacked into Jacob with a powerful blow and his body went limp. I screamed while everyone else just stood there, not wanting to attempt to break up the fight for two reasons. 1. They wouldn't have enough self-control to keep from hurting Jake and Leah. 2. Nobody wanted to let his or her partners get hurt. I stood on the sidelines of the fight helplessly, desperately screaming at the top if my lungs for them to stop. My screams made no impact. There was blood splattered everywhere. Jacob's blood. Leah's blood.

Finally, Leah managed to pull away from the scene and limp off into the forest. Kate was just about to follow her when Jacob ambushed her from behind. As soon as Jacob touched Kate, he was down. She had used her "gift" and I could tell she hadn't held back one bit. Even though Jacob looked halfway dead, he still found the strength to give one last lunge at Garrett. Garrett jumped up in the air quickly - landing on Jacob's back in the process – and ripped one last chunk out of him. I sobbed hysterically. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the still unknown vampire racing off into the forest. Garrett, seeing that Kate had ran away after the vampire, straightened up and ran off to find her.

I knelt down at Jake's side. He looked damaged beyond repair. Mutilated. I whispered frantically in his ear. "Jake!!! Jake?! Jake are you all right??? Please answer me Jake…" His eyelids twitched. I knelt down and pressed my ear to his chest. His heart was just barely beating. It was giving off soft, slow little galumphs every now and then. I was still in hysterics. "Will he be okay?" I whispered in a small voice to Carlisle, who had just come over to examine Jacob.

"I…..I…..Bella you do know that I will try my best. That's all I can do." He replied, avoiding my question in a way.

I nodded solemnly as he poked and prodded Jake's lifeless body.

"And you do know what vampire venom does…..to a werewolf.….?"

I sobbed again. I did know. Vampire venom shuts down everything in your body. Everything. For humans, the venom enables you to live without the things that that it shuts down. But for werewolves, it just shuts everything down. You slowly die. Jacob couldn't heal himself if there was any venom in his system whatsoever. He wouldn't even be able to heal any broken bones that he had. Jacob had several small chunks of his flesh missing where he had been bitten. What did that mean for him? I looked into his eyes…those big black eyes that belonged both to the enormous russet wolf and to the sixteen year old I fell in love with years ago.

Suddenly, I heard small footsteps approaching. I turned away from his face and saw Renesmee walking towards the scene warily, Edward trailing behind her. She screamed aloud at the sight of Jacob. I automatically got up and ran to comfort her.

"Shhh sweetie. He'll be fine. It's gonna be okay." I tried my best to sound convincing, even though I knew the truth.

"What happened to him?!" she cried with a sniff.

"He just got in a little fight. That's all." I lied again. I wished that was all that happened.

"Will he be okay?"

"Of course he will, sweetheart. Now this doesn't change anything. We all still have to go to school today, alright?" she sniffed and nodded her head as I handed her off to Esme. I looked back one last time at Jacob's torn up, unmoving body and slid into the back seat of the car with Edward………………………………………..

As Jasper hurried through town, I stared out the window blankly. Just the image of Jake…..lying there in the woods…..I could barely stand to think about it. We were already late for school, so Jasper was going double fast. We had to wait to see Jake after school. Carlisle was going to pull all of his resources together and try to save Jake as best as he could. His plan was to try and make an anti-venom, Edward had told me. But even if it worked, we had no clue how long it would take him to recover or what the long-term side effects would be. I shuddered and Edward put his arm around me. I let my head slump against his shoulder and he buried his face in my hair. And we sat like that for the rest of the ride…………………………………………………………………………………..

Edward and I walked through the empty halls. Everyone else was already in class. I subconsciously opened my locker. Everyone was in second period now. I shut my locker and turned towards the stairwell to go to English, but Edward grabbed my elbow and tugged me toward the office instead.

"What are we doing?" I asked dully.

"Getting tardy slips." He replied.

"Oh."

We entered the office, told the receptionist that we had a "personal problem", and then we signed the tardy roll and headed to English. English passed slowly, as did the other classes. I numbly toyed with my spaghetti at lunch, anxious about biology. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a boy approaching me. I reluctantly straightened up out of my slouched position. He looked really nervous about whatever he was about to do. He addressed me at first.

"You're Bella…..right?" He chewed his bottom lip nervously.

I nodded in response.

"Do you umm…..know where…Jake is…..?"

"He had an…..accident." I replied, my voice cracking on the last word. Everyone at the table eyed me nervously, like I might have a breakdown any minute.

"Oh." Was all he replied. He turned on his heel and walked away swiftly.

I got up to throw my plate away. As I turned to head back to the table, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me into a deserted corridor. It was Edward. He began to pull me towards the exit door. When I realized what he was thinking, I tugged my arm away.

"I'm not leaving." I stated stubbornly in a dull voice.

"You don't want to be here Bella, I know it," he said sadly.

"You got that right…" I muttered, wanting to give in, "but I have to be. I need to do this Edward." I walked back into the cafeteria just as the bell rang.

Edward walked me to biology, constantly reminding me over and over again that no one was making me do this and that he would be right next door. I subconsciously kissed him goodbye and entered the classroom. Grace wasn't there yet. As I was about to sit down at my table, Mr. Keenly called my name. I turned to look at him, surprised by his gesture.

"Bella!" he called, "how are you?"

"Err fine…..?" I replied awkwardly.

"I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother." He said.

"Huh? Ohhh her! Yeah me too….." I replied, my brain processing slowly.

He stared at me then, surprised by my nonchalant comment on the death of my grandmother.

Grace entered the classroom then. I took one last huge gulp of untainted air and the scooted my chair all the way over to the far side of the table. The terror in her eyes was plain to see. Should I talk to her? I tried to think back to how I felt when Edward showed up again. Terrified, sick, nervous……ok this wasn't helping. Maybe I should just save the talk for later in the week. Mr. Keenly babbled on and on about some course I had already covered twice before. That meant I didn't have anything to keep me distracted from Grace and her sweet, sweet smell…………..! Ok. This was definitely not a good thing. I turned my attention back to Mr. Keenly, taking careful notes on his lecture. I risked a few peeks in Grace's direction once or twice. She still looked like she was about to vomit. The rest of the class period passed surprisingly quickly. When the bell rang, I gathered my things, happy that something had gone well today.

Edward and I walked to math. He was practically glowing with admiration. I felt the need to blush. Math passed quickly and by the time I knew it, I was seated in the back of the Volvo, heading home to see Jake. I chewed my lip nervously and drummed my fingers on the seat. Noticing my edginess, Edward scooped my hand up in his and kissed it. "Relax. Breathe. It's okay," he told me. I sighed in defeat and leaned against his shoulder, still anxious to see Jacob……………………………

When we arrived at the house, I halfway ran out of the car. It took all of my strength not to run headlong into the house. I began walking toward the Denali's house, thinking surely that was where Jacob would be. Suddenly, Kate was standing in the doorway with a glare fixed upon her face. She threw a pointed look – or more like a glare – toward the woods. I turned on my heal and raced away, leaving my book bag lying in the gravel driveway. When I turned the knob to my cottage door, it was unlocked. Carlisle was sitting in the recliner by the fire with a book in his hands.

"Where is he?" I asked worriedly.

"In his bedroom." Carlisle replied.

I nodded and ducked away into the hallway.

When I entered Jacob's room, I didn't even recognize it at first. There was an elaborate hospital setup in there. So many tubes and wires were connected to Jake that I barely recognized him. Not to mention the fact that he was still mutilated. I ran to the side of the bed with the least amount of hospital equipment on it and knelt by Jake's side. I stroked his sleeping face. I hoped that he wasn't in pain. He didn't look like he was in pain, but………? He looked ten times worse he had in his wolf form. Earlier I had at least been able see a few places where he wasn't banged up. But now that their was less mass to him, almost every inch of him was covered with bandages or a plaster cast. A quite sob escaped my lips as I laid my head on the side of his bed. I barely even noticed when Carlisle entered the room.

"So what's the prognosis, doc?" I asked dryly, smiling without humor.

"Well I'm not really sure where to start." He replied. "I spent all day attempting to create an anti-venom and have finally figured out a formula. I'm planning to begin giving it to him soon. I just don't want to regret giving it to him. It could have horrible side effects. I've been trying to give him morphine or an anesthetic, but his system simply refuses to take it. Every time I tried, he vomited it back up ten minutes later."

"He's not on morphine?!" I exclaimed in horror. "You mean he can feel everything?!"

Carlisle hung his head and nodded.

"I…he…that's…that's just…inhumane!" I stuttered.

"Bella, there's nothing else I can do right now. Plus, he's asleep so he doesn't feel anything at the moment."

"I know. I'm sorry. When will he be waking up?" I tried to remain calm.

"In the next few hours most likely."

"Good. I think I'm gonna stay with him for now if you don't mind."

"Ok, Bella. I'll be in the living room if you need me."

I nodded in response. And there I stayed, kneeling down at Jake's side, for the remainder of the night…………………………………………………………………