Edward

"Edward! How can you say that? Don't be so ridiculous!" Bella shouted at me. I turned away quickly and stormed up the stairs. I didn't look back but I could feel the look of the faces behind me. My friends and my sister were excessively bored of the endless arguments and Bella was trying to hide her grin. I didn't bother to cover mine as I was walking to the safety of my room. We had been "taking it slow" for three weeks, which meant we'd been totally ignoring each others advances while trying not to make any of our own. Things to say the least were getting difficult; I could barely look at her anymore. We were getting along, probably better than ever, we could sit and talk to each other for hours, without irritating each other to the point of an argument. At first our friends had loved the new found neutrality towards each other, but as old habits seeped into everyday activity, it grew tiresome for them. But for Bella and me it became an intriguing situation where we would enjoy fighting.

At the moment, she had been over with the rest of our merry gang for a movie night, it was going well, we were all enjoying ourselves until Bella declared that this certain film was the best film ever made, during our second film, of course, it wasn't. We argued for a solid ten minutes before I got up to leave. We constantly argued about petty things like that, what song we preferred on what album, who was faster etc. We hadn't run together since our try-outs for the team, I missed the electricity I felt running side by side with her, but she never turned up for practise and Coach never said a word to her about it.

But I wasn't worried about the amount of time I spent with Bella, I saw her every week day whether I wanted to or not, I always did but that was beside the point. At school I saw her at lunch, because she was now a fully fledged part of our group, and in biology, much to our teachers displeasure we rarely made any more grand dramatic entrances. Bella and Alice's relationship was deepening at an incredible rate, for this reason Bella often came round. That is plenty for me.

Bella

"You know what, I think I'm offended" I heard Edward say from behind me, I spun around and saw him leaning smugly against a tree. I raised my eyebrows, waiting for him to continue. I straightened up from tightening my shoe laces. He pushed himself from the tree and walked towards me;

"I can't believe you wouldn't ask me to go for a run with you, especially after those kind words you parted with on Friday" He smiled, genuinely happy with himself. I rolled my eyes and turned around to start running again, he was hot on my heels.

"You were the one that parted actually, you stormed off in a big girly huff, remember?" I retorted with a smile playing on my lips as we picked up the pace. He looked at me from the corner of his eyes.

"The only thing that was girly, was the way you gazed longingly at me" He looked at me cautiously, I immediately found myself rolling my eyes again, confidence and victory fuelled his smile.

"Oh please, I'm not the one that's obsessed, quick question; how did you find me today? Stalking isn't a healthy habit Edward" I snapped at him, it was mine turn to smile victoriously while he shot daggers at me. We unintentionally slowed our pace.

"Don't get big headed, pure coincidence, disappointment more than anything to find you" Edward seethed; the joke was starting to fade a little bit now. We had been avoiding each others feelings for weeks now, we normally came to blows about this because it was awkward, we both knew how we felt about each other, doesn't mean we enjoyed feeling the way we do or even like feeling like this. I hated feeling so vulnerable to him, that's why I acted as if I didn't care, because I didn't want to care.

"Right, this is it" I said skidding to a stop; he stopped a little after me, turned towards me, crossing his arms, eyebrows raised with impatience and curiosity. "We'll race for it" I stated, his curiosity changed to confusion, his eyebrows furrowed he walked towards me.

"Race for what Bella?" He asked stopping a couple of feet in front of me, looking deep into my eyes.

"If I win, you stop being such an arse" I proposed

"What? Where has this come from?" He questioned quickly, his confusion deepening.

"I've had enough of all the harshness around you! If I win you'll stop" I put my hands on my hips to emphasis my point.

"I'm not doing this, its ridiculous" Edward said coldly, my smile grew wickedly.

"That's fair enough, if I were you I wouldn't want to lose to me again anyway" I said with humour coursing through my veins.

"Okay, whatever, if I win, you admit your feelings about me" He said, finally unfolding his arms, mimicking my stance.

"Fine. You won't win anyway." I said closing the distance between us, pointing in the direction over his shoulder. "From here to the second lamp post, that alright with you?" He followed my finger with his eyes and nodded. Turned around and positioned himself and raised his eyebrows questioningly at me. I copied his movements and steadied myself.

"Bella hold on, your shoe laces are undone" He smiled at me,

"Oh yeah, like I'm going to believe that" I said rolling my eyes and flexing my toes. "Come on, ready, set-"

"Bella, I'm being serious, do up your shoe- "

"GO!" I shouted, and started to sprint away, I had a fair head start and was yards in front of him but I heard his feet pounding on the pavement, I carefully turned my head a little to the side to check on my lead before I fell.

I crashed onto the floor hard, my legs were tangled and my head hit the grass bank at the side of the pavement as I skidded along the cement, I started to feel gravel beneath me as I continued to roll. My momentum was unreal but I eventually stopped. I lay on the cold floor as I tried to hide the pain from my eyes. I heard Edward shouting my name as he came closer and closer. I winced as I found my arms and tried to push myself up, my head was spinning and my arms gave way.

"Bella! Jesus, are you okay?" He asked with panic running through his voice when he reached me, I tried pushing up again, successfully this time, but not without pain, I attempted to prop myself up by sitting on my knees but they were burning so I flipped myself over openly wincing.

"Bella are you alright?" He repeated, arms spread, about to touch me, comfort me, but unable to move, stuck in the awkwardness that we had created.

"Yes, I'm fine" I said sternly, trying incredibly hard, with all my energy to stand up, but my limbs were useless and weak. I hated being weak.

"You are not fine, you've got grass stains on your face from where you hit the ground so hard. Let me take you to my Dad" He offered as I collapsed back down to the floor, sending sharp stinging pains into my hands.

"No, my house is just round the corner. I'll be fine." I said while trying to stop my lip from wobbling, my head was starting to ache and all the pain was slowly coming to rise. He lent in closer to me, reached a hand to graze my face, he smiled as I didn't flinch away.

"Put your arm around me" He said softly as he moved cautiously around me.

"I didn't ask for your help Edward" I said stubbornly, his eyes were piercing mine, begging me to let him help me.

"Stop being so stubborn Bella, let me in" Edward whispered to me, I nodded solemnly, acknowledging the hidden meaning. He wrapped an arm under my legs and I cautiously slid my arm over his shoulders and curled around his neck as his second arm encompassed my back. I breathed in as he hitched us up and with my other hand clung to the fabric of his t-shirt. I could see the victory in his eyes as I rested my head against his shoulder.

As Edward took a cautious pace towards my house I thought about everything. How he wasn't lying when he said that my shoelaces were untied, how scared his voice sounded from far away as I was sent flying towards the ground, how it felt to be this close to him, how much I wanted to win. When he said what he wanted me to do if he won, my mind temporarily froze, fear consumed me as the scene created itself in my mind if I didn't win. But now as I was rocking gently in his arms, looking up at his face, I don't know why I was so scared.

"Bella, which one is yours?" He asked gently, he looked down at me with caring eyes, his gaze frightened me again, as I felt my heart flinch and I quickly turned my gaze upon the road. Limply, I pointed to my house, without looking at him I felt him nod. He walked with more purpose now, his pace quickened and he stopped looking down at me as often.

"Edward, am I bleeding?" I asked as I finally took the time to evaluate my situation. My head hurt beyond believe, the pain was pounding against my skull. My hands stung, my elbows were sore as were my legs, they ached and throbbed, everywhere hurt. I saw confliction in his face as he quickly gazed at my body in his arms.

"I'd rather not answer" We had reached my house, I clung tightly to him as we slowly made our way up the porch steps, when we were still I opened my eyes.

"Do you have a key?" He asked softly, I nodded and made a movement to be put down, he let me down very carefully as my feet touched the ground I looked down at my body to see my arms, legs and what was showing of my stomach covered in grazes, most of them bleeding. I felt my head sway even harder as I tried to push down the nauseous feeling. Edward reached two hands out on my waist as to steady me. I raised my head and tiptoed to get the key from the solitary hanging flower pot, I started to wobble and Edward closed the distance between us, wrapping one arm around my waist and the other crawled along my outstretched arm and found the key near the end of my finger tips. All I could think was how incredibly fast his reactions were, and how grateful I was he was here, but also how I wouldn't have gotten into this state if he didn't show up in the first place.

He led my outstretched arm back to my side as he freed his grip around my waist as I fell gently into his side as he moved towards the door. I felt so weak and drained as he led me inside. "Where is your bathroom Bella? We'll clean you up yeah?" He spoke so kindly I would barely recognise it, his strong hands were still holding me just inside the threshold, if I wasn't in such pain I would have relished the thought of being this close to him.

"Upstairs, first left, Edward you don't have to" I explained, my voice was soft and feeble. I hated myself for being this vulnerable to pain, I had promised myself to be strong and hard, but when it came down to the facts, I was still as susceptible, defenceless to pain and hurting. This realisation made the ground fall from beneath me, if it wasn't for Edward, now guiding me up the stairs, my legs would have gave way under the weight of my sudden understanding.

"Come on Bella, lets sit you down" He instructed as we entered my familiar bathroom. He sat me down gently on the toilet seat, I let my head fall backwards against the cold wall as I tried to stretch out my sore legs and body, it ached so much I had to recoil instinctively. My vision was starting to blur and un-focus as Edward pulled at the toilet roll paper to my side.

"Hey, hey Bella, you've got to stay awake for me yeah?" I blinked furiously, trying to shake the wooziness away, I heard him breathe a laugh; "there we go, beautiful. Now, this is going to sting, but not for long" Edward said slowly, brushing some hair from my face and dabbing something cold on my knees, the slightest of pressure made me flinch. Edward turned his gaze towards me, looked deeply into my eyes, I felt them reach my heart.

"You can do this, it wont hurt for long Bella, trust me" Edward whispered,

"I trust you" I said faintly, he smiled brightly, even though I was surprised he heard me, Edward found my hand and carefully squeezed it. I nodded as he started to clean my wounds again. It still hurt, it still stung, my whole body still ached but as my blood was washed away and as Edward delicately dabbed at my sore skin I found myself thinking that maybe I wasn't so scared anymore. He told me to close my eyes as he threw away the evidence, he started to wash my face very carefully where the grass bank had left its mark, I winced but he held my face lightly and under his soft fingers I closed my eyes again.

"Bella, is there any plasters?" He said as he let go of my face and I opened my eyes and nodded, lifted my head slowly. "In the cabinet above the sink" I said sleepily, my dizziness was wavering but my headache was not. I watch him move around the small bathroom and come back to me, he leant down on his knees and looked up at me, I stirred to sit myself up and finally I could. He blew softly on my knees while unwrapping the plaster, the sensation made me shiver, his eyes shot to mine in a state of panic, but I gently shook my head to deter his worries.

After he was finished he slowly stood up, taking careful considerations to look into my eyes. I rolled my head forward as I thought fiercely, trying to comprehend, to come to a decision, as Edward stood in front of me I was finally able to make this decision.