Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns her characters of her twilight series, I'm just playing with them.

Chapter 10: FELLOW DELINQUENTS

I passed Charlie on the road.

Amazingly enough, he didn't even stop me for driving on a main road with a dirt bike. He just flashed his lights and kept on going. If he had of known it was me behind the bars of the bike, he probably would have acted differently.

But he didn't recognize me, thankfully, not that he would. I could be any person and any gender under the boyish clothes and tinted helmet. I felt different too. Knowing that I had a hidden identity from the world relaxed me. I could do anything right now.

With adrenaline pumping through my chest and down my throat, I watched his SUV disappear down the road, and once it was out of sight I geared up into top speed, taking the curves of the road at a much too dangerous speed.

I always drive fast. It's the only way to drive and the only way the fear can tickle your throat.

I could die, and that fact alone made my heart quicken. It was thrilling. Life was on one side, death on the other, and I was literally driving along the line, a little piece of metal the determining factor on which way I would go.

But as I stared out into the road that was lit up by the morning sun coming through the branches of the trees, my eye happened to see something out of the ordinary on the side of the road. I slowed down and did a sharp u-turn, my right foot hitting the pavement when I stopped in front of the ditch where I had seen the hidden gem.

It was a little dirt path half covered by branches, and the ditch in front of it was covered in tire tracks. Something meant to look inconspicuous began to stick out like a man in a women's bathroom.

I shoved my bike down into the ditch and it shuttered violently against the pull of the little hill. But with a little will power, the engine got the bike up into the forest path. It was a sign of how weak this bike really was, which only made me feel sad that I couldn't really go all out on it quite yet.

There was still reason to smile though because this path was definitely something great. At first, it was only about as wide as a foot, but then it became more pronounced and grew wide enough to possibly fit a coupe sized vehicle. The bed of the forest was so loose that every time I would exaggerate on a turn, the dirt would spray behind me like a snow boarder after landing a wild trick.

I had never been in such a fresh and natural feeling forest before. I don't know what it was, but even behind the tint of my helmet, I felt that it had this glow about it that made everything look pure amongst the mouldy moss, rough bark, and wet mulch. The smell alone of sap and dew could wake up any sad soul, but it would be the surprisingly loud noises coming from the high points of the trees and low in the forest floor that shook me—apparently the animals liked it here as well. Birds coughing their song to their neighbours and squirrels hissing back competed with the sound of my engine, and twice two rabbits with eyes like marbles jumped out from the edges of the path, acting as pylons to make my ride a little more interesting.

And then, after five minutes of riding the same path, and then going left on a fork, the dirt path led to something I didn't think I would ever see in the tall forest, let alone Forks.

A clearing, lit from behind with the rising sun, covered in old tracks, tires and dried up mud, slowly revealed itself. And as my eyes took in the feast, I registered the recognizable shapes of man made hills that could only be for one thing.

Dirt Bike jumps.

Huge mounds of dirt in all different shapes clustered the fifty-meter square area, with running starts leading up to them, and a small circular pit for joy riders to spin their tires in. It was a decent size bike park, and from the looks of the muddy slopes and branches scattered across the grounds, it wasn't being loved.

I would love it though I decided as I pulled up near a mound of dirt and surveyed the area. It was a small lot for a bike park, but it was in a prime area if one wasn't supposed to be on a dirt bike…like me. It was too perfect. The place was a god sent. Nothing could compare to the feeling I had right then in knowing I had a place to reside and love. I decided that this would be my home, and once I had my bike fully checked up and tuned, it would be ready for the slopes.

The decision was made, and with new hope in my heart, I gave one last rev of the bike that put a smile on my face. But instead of putting the bike in gear and giving the pit a few spins, a head rush like I had never before experienced in my life came over me. My first thought was to open my eyes as wide as I could to avoid the tunnel vision that was coming fast, but when that didn't work I quickly pulled my left leg over the bike to join my right, just before both the bike and I collapsed onto the ground.

The purr of the engine and the sound of rain on leaves were the last things that came to me before the blackness of my eyes came through to all my senses.

-x-

11pm

I felt hands touching me when I came back to life. They were rolling me over and then shaking me so hard my teeth were rattling. I was cold and my clothes felt thick and wet against my skin from the rain that was pelting me in the face and causing my hair to stick to my face. I was scared to open my eyes, already wondering where my helmet had gone and what had happened.

But I did open my eyes, only to fear what I saw in front of me.

It was night and the moon showed me the figure of a man standing over me. I couldn't see any details from the darkness, and I couldn't think clearly from knowing something terrible had happened to me. I recoiled enough to slug away in my wet clothes the first time, but the second time, he came two inches from my face.

"Eh lit'le beaut!" a snaggle toothed old man with long, thin, grey hair on the sides of his head slurred in front of my face. His wide, dark eyes stared into my own, and in the process of my stomach turning over, I did what any lost girl would do.

I screamed.

Just as abruptly, the man was pushed out of the way and replaced with a different figure, a face I couldn't see in the darkness of the woods. "Don't be like that," he instructed me. His voice was young, but it didn't make me feel any comfort. "If anything," he stated, "you're the one in the wrong."

I was in the wrong—the wrong place at the wrong time, that is. I started thinking of the worst case scenarios, because that's what you do. I would die at age seventeen, never getting to be somebody, left with a last name that didn't mean anything to me. Charlie would eventually find my body, raped and bloody, and he would be blamed for ill-parenting, even though I had promised him that he would never have to be my parent…

"Look at 'err!" the old man behind the figure yelled. "She's 'bout as scurred as they come," he announced to anyone who wanted to listen. And listeners he had. I didn't realize I was in front of an audience, but once the old man laughed, other voices mocked his harsh cackle. My eyes moved away from the dark figure, where I heard and eventually saw my audience circled around me on the outskirts of the park. The metal of their bikes and the plastic of their helmets bounced the light of the moon towards me, making me remember my own bike and helmet, which were off to my left, lying just as miserable as me in the rain. Hopefully both our fates wouldn't be grim.

I looked away from my helmet, nervous then in thinking of all the other possible garments these boys could remove from me as well. I swallowed hard before I finally spoke next. "What's goin' on." I didn't have enough guts to make it a threatening question, so I threw it out into the world as a blank statement with endless possibilities so that maybe it would have a chance at being answered.

And it was. "Saving your life, possibly," someone said from the audience. Laughter followed, as did a few whistles. I cursed myself for not only being a girl, but also being a scared one.

The figure in front of me shushed them, and surprisingly after a moment, they did quiet down. It was just the pelting of the rain and my heavy breathing that followed until the figure stepped closer to me.

He spoke in a dark manner next. "Not only was your lifeless little body trespassing on property that isn't yours, but you stole from the wrong person tonight, honey."

My eyes caught the evidence lying next to my helmet. "The bike? No. I just found it."

The laughter following my voice made me jump to my feet to defend myself, but I was then shoved backwards, my back hitting another boy's chest. Rough arms wrapped around me to hold me in place. "Don't touch me! Get away from me!" I screamed, but the more I fought, the more laughter came. I watched the old man in front of me making strange movements with his arms and legs, his excitement apparent. I could no longer see his face, nor could I see any of theirs, but not seeing what I was up against scared me more.

The ring leader finally slithered into the moonlight to reveal what he was made of. He looked like a tough kid on the streets, his three days growth telling me he didn't care about his appearance, but his strategically placed bandana thrown through his dark, messy hair contradicting his non-chalant look. He had an edge to him, something he probably wasn't born with. He looked evil and innocent at once—someone you really couldn't trust. "And why wouldn't I touch you? You touched my bike. It didn't want to be touched either. So I think you owe me." He reminded me of James, my old foster brother, or at least if he glared a bit harder and punched me in the face, then he would be him.

I tugged my arms out from the boy's grip behind me, a spur of the moment tactic, but then another figure shot out and grabbed me before I could make a run for it. Now, not only one, but two boys held me in front of the bandana boy again. I tried defending myself with words instead, which would only make me look more stupid. "What?" I said defensively, a glare on my eyes. "It was abandoned!" But the bandana boy was already shaking his head, determined to ignore my side. I tried again anyway. "It was in a shed. No one owns it!" I spoke too much apparently, because just as I finished, the boy made sure to shut me up.

A quick spin of his body flung the bandana boy's arm at my face, the back part of his fist laying directly onto my cheekbone. The pain shot up to my left eye, and I knew it would leave it black. After the sharp pain, I was still holding my ground. I had to admit, I had been hit harder before. And while I focused on his gaze, I determined that he wasn't so much a boy at all, but a deranged young man who wanted power and something to stand on top of. He could get a box and stand on that, for all I cared, because I wasn't someone who kneeled.

He leaned forward with his arms crossed to be dramatic. "A locked shed," he informed me, winning that case.

My arms were still pinned tight beneath the two boys grip, and even though I saw the end, I was foolish enough to think I was still walking out of this one fine. "Well fine," I admitted. "Take it back. It's a piece of shit anyway."

The old man snickered and leaned over to hurl out a laugh, only to produce a coughing fit that stopped with a hit to the back from the leader of the group. The bandana boy then gazed at me with a funny look. "So you're going to give me back my own bike—how thoughtful." The boys around him laughed, throwing out commands for payback. He seemed to take all of their hollering into consideration while his eyes traced over my face. "Like I said," he reminded me, "you owe me." He reached out and picked up a strand of my wet hair and dropped it back onto my face. I stared with a solid face, acting like I wasn't bothered by anything. And although I was tough on the outside, when it came down to it, I knew I was soft on the inside. I couldn't take shit from a group this large. I was outnumbered. I was a coward. I knew I would have quite the reason to hate my life if this night brought me back to a morning.

I prepared for battle and inhaled a deep breath, watching the intrigued look on his face. He was circling me, and every time he came back to my face he peered his eyes into mine, until he finally stopped in front. I struggled against the grip on my arms one last time, even though it was useless. I looked away from him and back over at the old man. He had stopped his tribal dancing and was standing off to the side, perfectly still. Too still. He filled us in though. He pointed behind me with a shaky hand, his mouth unable to get the words out of his head. His arm just shook, until he turned and disappeared down the path.

It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen, and apparently the others thought so too. They laughed at him harder than they laughed at me, but it only lasted briefly until all eyes were in my direction again. There was a lump in my throat, but my head told me to give it at least one more try. "I know a police officer. I'll tell him everything," I threatened. More laughter only followed. The leader looked over his shoulder at his buds and enjoyed the joke with them, and it was at that moment that something incredible happened.

Without warning, the two boys that had been holding me tightly were ripped away and tossed onto their backs beside me. Their cries of pain shocked me awake. I turned abruptly to see who was ambushing the group, but only the dark forest revealed itself. Even though this scared me, I didn't question it because I just wanted to get away. I jumped over the two boys and headed for my bike before my dreams were crushed again. The leader wasn't done with me apparently. He cut me off with a swift kick to my legs, tripping me onto my stomach. I rolled onto my back and stared up at him like a kid caught stealing candy. Again. He was shocked at my flee, completely unaware that I hadn't been apart of it at all. His angry glare held me in place.

But then, like a director of the scene had called cut, the leader of the group just seemed to freeze on the spot. I watched his blank, threatening look disappear into shock and then fear, to the point where he wasn't even aware of me anymore. I shrunk back, moving slowly so that he wouldn't notice.

Someone from the back of the group set us straight. "Maks—it's the creature!"

I hadn't even registered the words completely before bikes were starting up. That's when I decided I was free, and I didn't think twice before I made a mad dash towards my own bike for a clean getaway. I almost made it before one of the guys sped by with his arm out and close-lined me in the throat, the impact tossing me to the ground for the hundredth time and choking the air out of me. Bikes fled past me in a hurry, and all I could do was fidget awkwardly to try and get out of the way while the rain pelted me in the face. I tried to take huge mouthfuls of air, but every time I took something in, it quickly left, leaving me like a fish on dry land. Eventually though, thirty seconds of pain and engines roaring in the distance left me with enough oxygen to get on my hands and knees and cough out my frustrations. That's when I began to think.

I used to think I had seen it all, but tonight proved me wrong. Schoolyard fist fights and pulling girl's hair couldn't compare to a biker-gang attack, something so wild it could only play on a screen. Not to mention the fact my whole day had been wiped clear. I had literally waken up to trouble, and I couldn't remember why. I had no recollection of my day, and then my night was full of things only story tellers made up. Maybe that's why I was shaking—no, it was just the cold rain pelting down my neck. I needed to calm down, but my ass was soaked and my jeans only made my limbs shake, making me feel even more nervous.

Somehow though, I had made it out alive and mostly without any damage. I could tell Charlie I had lost track of time, and everything could possibly be okay. I decided everything really was fine, and not even that traumatic. I could lie to myself until the morning, and then I could re-think my stance on involving Charlie. I was fine...or at least, I knew I could be fine.

That all changed when I tilted my head up.

I wiped the dripping water off my face because I honestly thought a concussion was just doing things to me. But the two sets of red eyes on the edge of the woods gleamed through the moonlight for a second longer before they disappeared into the woods. That was enough for me. I could take on a group of boys apparently, but super natural bullshit was too much to be rational.

I screamed so loud I didn't even sound like myself. The panic cursing through my body shot me forward onto my face, where I slipped, fell, got back up, and then decided to disregard my bike and run for it—until I fell again. I tripped over the damn bike and flew onto my back, banging my head against the ground in the process

The lights turned out.

-x-

Edward Cullen

(Earlier that day)

Even though Charlie had warned me not to, I couldn't help but want to go and see his girl again.

The moment he had taken her away from me, I knew I was going to have some trouble living without knowing her. I kept thinking about her during the rest of the night. I'd see random things in passing and be reminded of her. But no one could measure up to the guts she had inside of her. Not only was she gorgeous and funny, but she was charming and brave. She literally had nothing to lose, and I could relate well to that. Bella was a gem in a stupid small town, and if she got in the wrong hands, she could be shaped into something she didn't want to be. She had secrets she didn't even know she had, which was dangerous.

I wanted to be with her and to be there for her. I understood the life of a teenager, the heartache of not knowing what you were doing, and especially the feelings of something strange going on inside your body that you couldn't control. These were the things I thought about while I stayed cooped up inside my house to prevent myself from going out and finding her. Hell, she made me feel less alone, and nobody had ever been able to do that for me.

I couldn't leave the house though. Charlie had informed Carlisle to make sure I understood how I was supposedly ruining her chances, and after a long argument I had agreed to stay away for awhile.

But after five o'clock rolled around, I was chomping at the bit to get outside, yet I knew I shouldn't in case my path led to someone I wasn't supposed to see. I had to prove I was capable of keeping myself under control, that this girl didn't have an effect on my behaviour and I none on hers. We all knew the truth though, and that's probably why the phone rang at nine, no doubt Charlie wondering if I had gone near his cage today. I would be both happy and sad to tell him no.

That wasn't exactly what the call was about though. Carlisle entered my room without knocking, catching the tennis ball that I had been bouncing for four hours straight. He had his phone in his hand. "Where is she, Edward?"

I sat up on my couch and looked at him weirdly. "What?"

He put the phone back up to his ear. "He doesn't know what you're talking about."

Then it hit me. I jumped up and grabbed the phone from Carlisle. "I haven't seen her at all today!" I yelled through the phone in my defence. But then I realized what he was saying. He had lost track of the kid again. That blew my mind.

Charlie told me to shut up first, and then he explained the case. "I can't find Bella. I came home to an empty house, the school said she hadn't been there again, and I searched all over town—no one's seen her, so I assumed you had done something stupid again."

I punched the side of the couch lamely to release whatever was building up inside me. "No, she's capable of stupid all on her own."

"Apparently," he said, his voice strained. He probably felt like an idiot for trusting her on her own again. He should know better. "I...we need to find her."

"No shit Sherlock. I'll search the town again, circle around, and meet you on your street."

He hung up. I threw the phone out the window and followed after it.

Carlisle yelled after me, but I was long gone before I could hear him

-x-

I checked the bench at school where I had first seen her, and then I checked the local hangout around town where rotten teenagers melted into the pavement, but she wasn't anywhere. And after meeting Charlie at the end of his street he told me about the Larson's lot and it having the majority of her scent. It finally became clear why we had been coming across her scent in random areas but unable to find her at the end of it.

She was on that damn bike. By now, she could be anywhere. I had never felt so defeated—a teenage girl was giving us the biggest headache.

We ran down Charlie's road without any clue to where we were headed. The rain pelting us in the face only made us more agitated and pissed off. But just when Charlie was about to give up and call it in to professionals who had the grounds and tactics for search parties several states wide, something caught my eye.

I stopped abruptly and cleared the ditch, revealing the path that Charlie apparently hadn't ever noticed either. "There are tread marks all over this place," I said before entering the path. Charlie was on my tail as I sped through the woods, and I knew we had found her when I heard minds, voices and laughter.

I just wasn't expecting it to be at the expense of her.

-x-

When I saw her through the darkness, her clothes were completely soaked and her arms were pinned behind her back by two boys. I didn't know whether to laugh or break things up. I wasn't expecting the situation I was staring at, and I knew the police officer behind me didn't either.

Charlie held me back from doing anything though, his hand hard on my shoulder to keep us hidden on the outskirts of the forest. "What the hell is going on?" he hissed at me, acting like I had something to do with this.

I ripped my arm away from him and gave him a stupid look. "How would I know?" I growled back. "I'm forbidden to see her." The voices out in the clearing cut our bickering off.

"Like I said, you owe me," a tall figure in front of the girl said. I stepped closer and ignored Charlie's grip on my shoulder again. I recognized the boy's face from newspaper articles on his petty teenage crimes. Maksim Smirnov. His name had red flags all over it. As he circled his prey I couldn't help but think how incredible it was that Charlie's delinquent kid had already crossed paths with the town's delinquent.

Charlie and I watched the scene with eyes so wide that the homeless man they always carried around with them noticed us and fleeted the scene quickly. His leaving only made the scene burst out into laughter. The girl decided to hold her ground though, confused by his departure. "I know a police officer. I'll tell him everything," she warned them lamely. I looked at Charlie's face when they laughed at her next, his eyes so dark that I wondered if he was even alright.

Apparently, he wasn't. He jumped out and removed the figures from the girl, and by the time she looked behind her, he had already pulled back into the forest where she couldn't see us. The look on her face, both shock and relief, calmed me down, but then things just went wrong from there. She hadn't thought quickly enough, and before she could get even close to getting away, her feet were taken out from under her and she was on the ground in front of Maksim. This time, Charlie took a step closer to watch, and that's when he completely gave us away.

"Maks—it's the creature!" someone yelled from one of the dirt mounds.

That's when all hell broke loose.

Everyone fleeted. They jumped on their bikes and pulled out of the park like they had seen a ghost—Charlie's red eyes did have that effect. Charlie's kid even joined in the fleet, trying her hand at an escape, but before she could even come close to her bike, some hot head decided to get in the last laugh, close-lining her like a junior high kid.

Charlie looked back at me and held up his hand, warning me to stay in my place. I chuckled. "Take your own advice. You just caused a riot."

"Yes," he said. "Because they seemed so unfamiliar with this experience, Cullen." His sarcasm bit me in the neck, but I didn't care. It was true—I had tormented the group a few times, giving birth to the creature. I loved it, and thought it was hilarious, but Charlie didn't.

"She's up and okay," Charlie whispered, moving a branch out of the way to watch Bella closely. Sure enough, she was coughing up some air and looking okay, considering what she was up against. She hadn't even showed fear—

Her head snapped up in our direction, taking in the darkness and what the moon could reveal with it. It happened so fast that Charlie and I couldn't move quick enough to duck down behind the branches again. Judging from the sound coming from her lungs, we had done some damage. Her scream was pure fear and it sent a shock straight up my spine, filling my head with regret for the human being that had too much innocence to be taken away.

"Damn it," Charlie cursed, punching a tree. But all we could do was watch from the sidelines as the panicked deer reacted like she had lost her head. She was all over the place, slipping in the mud and back on her feet again, but it was the final stumble that sent her airborne and smashed her head into the ground.

I jumped out of the woods when I saw that, and when I reached her side, I wasn't surprised to see her knocked out cold. I looked over at Charlie, who was covering his chin with his hand, contemplating.

"What now?" I asked him, wiping the rain out of my hair.

After a blank stare and a few seconds, he half answered me. "I have no idea," he admitted.

I let out a long gust of air and shook my head at the situation because that really was the case with this girl—

No one knew what to do with her.

Maybe I could change that.

-x-