Chapter 25 - The Deafening Silence

BELLA

So, you've all heard of a comfortable silence? Well, this wasn't it. I didn't know why Edward insisted on driving me to school for the rest of the week, especially when he was acting so weird. Alice and Emmett sat with me at lunch, but he was always "busy" every day, doing what, I didn't know.

We didn't have any more real work in biology, just review for the final and then the final itself. That was all done on our own, and he seemed to be really focused, so I didn't bother him. After the second day of his crazy silence, I just spent the rest of the class time in the library. I mean really, no need to torture each other.

I tried a couple of times to walk home, but it was like Alice could sense this and would catch me just as I stepped onto the parking lot asphalt and would hook my arm, dragging me to her brother's car. Why she insisted on dragging out this torture, I didn't know. I was definitely looking forward to the whole summer, not associating with anyone for anything.

The second to last day of school, my dad told me that my mother was coming home. I cleaned from top to bottom, nervous I had missed something. I didn't want her to have to go back, because I had missed something and she got sick again. Dad had the guys come clean the vents in the house again, which only spurred more cleaning, because they had pulled all sorts of crap out of them.

The last day of school, Alice and Edward picked me up, but today, Alice was bouncing in her seat. "Bella, I got this new mani-pedi set. I totally have to come over and give you one to kick off the summer."

"You can't!" I panicked. "No one can come over, my mom is coming home, and it's bad enough I go to school, you can't come over."

They looked at me like I was nuts, and I realized they had no idea what I was talking about. "My mom is in the hospital, because her body doesn't fight germs like it should. She's coming home today. I have to hurry home and clean the house again and then clean myself up before she gets there. No one can come over, it'll introduce more germs."

"But..." Alice whined.

"NO!" Edward snapped. "Alice, this is her mother. You won't risk her losing hers over a damn manly patty."

"You're right," she pouted, but then snickered. "Manly patty? What the hell do you think we're doing to each other, Edward? A manly paddy? Yes, I'd like a man burger with a side of 'oh-he's-so-hot sauce.'"

Edward scowled, and I did my best not to snicker, much. When we pulled up to the school, he grabbed my door like usual. "Thank you," I said but didn't move. I grabbed his arm before he could turn away, "Really, for everything."

He smiled and nodded, and then he hurried off like his tail was on fire.

I noticed Alice was standing there with her door open and smirking. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Just watch," she smirked.

Edward stopped at the top of the school steps and turned to lock the door with the button on his keys, but he couldn't, because Alice was holding the door open. We heard the clicking a couple of times, and Alice just burst out laughing.

"Alice, what are you doing?" I hissed. There was no need to piss him off.

She leaned on the roof of the car and waved at him. He finally stormed back over to the car, obviously disgruntled. "What, Alice?" he growled.

"You forgot your backpack," she said dancing away, leaving her door open.

He let out a huff and reached into the backseat where he usually kept it and slung it over his shoulder. He slammed the door and locked it. "You could've just brought it to me," he complained.

"What, and miss out on a chance to annoy my dear brother? What kind of sister do you take me for?" she asked. "Oh, I know; the kind who eats manly patties. Would you like me to get you one at lunch, Bella?" she sassed.

I couldn't resist. "Yes, with extra 'oh-he's-so-hot sauce' please."

"Coming right up!" she said, and then she shoved her brother into me. She giggled maniacally, as she quickly skipped away.

I had lost my balance when Edward slammed into me, so he had to grab me to steady me. He looked down at me and blushed. "Sorry," he mumbled.

I rolled my eyes. "Really, Edward, whatever it is, just get it over with already; you're driving me nuts!"

He stepped back, let out a sigh and shook his head. "Sorry, I just…" he cringed, "I'll see you later," he said and ran off. Freaking crazy boy!

EDWARD

I was going to strangle my sister. Okay, maybe not, but that little pixie demon was evil. She knew there was something awkward between Bella and me, and she was doing everything in her power to make it worse. I was surprised she just didn't come out and asked why I wasn't fucking Bella.

I was kind of relieved when Bella said people couldn't come visit her house. That would make it impossible for me to be able to come help her with her problem. No way could I tutor her now.

I sat down next to her in biology. It was free time, because we had taken the final yesterday. There were a few losers retaking it today, but you know, whatever, I wasn't one of them.

Bella was just sitting there, doodling on her notebook, when I noticed she was humming something that sounded familiar.

"What song is that?" I asked.

Her eyes popped open wide for a second, but then she quickly calmed herself. "What?" she asked.

"That song you're humming, it sounds familiar, what is it?"

"How should I know, you were the one humming it first," she accused.

I looked at her like she was nuts. I wasn't humming, was I? I didn't think I was. One would know if one was humming. Right? "I wasn't humming," I stated flatly.

She closed her eyes for a moment. "Yes, you were, um, in the car…or something. Maybe it was Alice who hummed it. What is it?" she asked turning it around on me.

"Why are you asking me, I asked you? Hum it again," I told her.

She shook her head no. "I don't remember it now. You got me all mixed up."

The thing was, I knew I recognized what she had hummed, so I would just have to run it over in my head until I remembered.

It wasn't until much later that day that I remembered it. I went to my room and was looking over at my guitar sitting on its stand, when it all clicked. Super Shake! She had been humming the melody to Super Shake! How the hell did she know that song? Had I really hummed it? How else would she know it? I looked at my window, and I started to wonder if Bella Swan was the sneaky person in the shadows. I knew I wasn't imagining shit, because they had sneezed last time.

I shook my head. That was crazy. Bella lived on the other side of town and didn't have a car. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.

BELLA

Holy fucking hell, he had caught me humming Super Shake, and I hadn't even realized I was humming it at the time. Thank god I hadn't broken out into verse, because there was no way I would have been able to explain how I knew the words. I was glad this was the last day of school, and he knew he couldn't come to see me because of my mother, so I was safe from interrogation.

Of course, all that flew out the window, when I went to work on Saturday and saw Edward walking toward me. He had a smile on his face. "Hey, Berry, looking good today," he said, and I waved at him.

I wasn't going to bring up the song if he didn't.

"How's your mom?" he asked, and I was a little relieved.

"Good, she's doing good and happy to be home. We're happy to have her home."

"That's good."

"Yeah," I said nodding, but he couldn't see it.

"Well, I have to go. I have a class you know."

"Yeah, see you around," I said.

He nodded. "See you later."

Why was everything so painfully awkward? I leaned against the wall and was watching him walk away, when I saw Tyler step around the corner. I didn't think anything of it, because Edward had handed Tyler his ass more than once.

Edward didn't even bother to glare at the ass. Just then, I saw something Edward hadn't, because his back was turned. Tyler pulled out a knife. I went running after them and knocked Tyler over. His knife poked into the side of the costume. Tyler was screaming obscenities and stabbing at the costume, and then I heard Edward freaking out and screaming.

I kneed Tyler in the balls and rolled the costume onto the arm holding the knife. He stabbed it into the costume, just missing me, and I pulled a turtle on him and pulled my body into the costume and yanked the knife all the way in by the blade so he couldn't stab at me again, then I rolled on top of him, holding him down.

"Call my dad, Edward, call the police already!" I snapped at him.

Edward was shaking as he dialed. "Are you okay, Bella? Did he…god, Bella, are you okay?" he asked. "Chief, I don't know, we're on First near Main, Tyler had a knife, and she jumped him so he couldn't stab me. Fuck, Chief, he kept stabbing at her, just get here!"

I heard the siren long before I saw it. My dad had barely stopped the car, before he jumped out of it.

"Bella, honey, are you alright?" my dad asked.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm fine. I told Edward I was. Tyler was stabbing at the costume, but he didn't get me."

"Dad?" Tyler asked confused, looking back between me and my dad. "Oh, shit," he mumbled.

Dad yanked Tyler up off the ground and slammed him against his car. He started reading him his rights as he cuffed him. I saw Tyler wince, as my dad tightened them around his wrists, and he shoved him hard into the backseat, so he kind of belly flopped in there. He slammed the door, and I called to him.

"Daddy, you're going to need this," I said popping my arm out, holding the knife by the blade. I knew not to touch the handle; they would want to get prints off of it.

My dad pulled out an evidence bag, and when I dropped the knife into the bag, we all noticed the blood on it and my hand.

"Bella, baby, are you okay?" he asked again. "Edward, help me get this damn thing off of her!"

The men lifted the costume off of me. Both of them were frantically looking me over. "I just cut my hand when I grabbed the knife," I insisted. "It's no big deal."

My dad looked me over for puncture wounds, and when they were both sure I wasn't hurt anywhere else, they both settled on attacking my injured hand.

"It doesn't really hurt," I said.

"That isn't good. That means it's deep. You need stitches," Edward said. "I'm taking you to the hospital. Carlisle can stitch you up with no waiting."

I looked at my dad. "He's right, Bella. I'd take you, but I've got to get this scum locked up before I can get you in my car. I don't want you anywhere near him again." He turned to Edward. "Are you sure you're okay with taking her?"

"I insist; she saved me, Chief. It's the least I could do. Can you just call ahead and let them know I'm coming?"

"Will do, you take care of my baby girl, Edward."

"I will, Sir, I promise."

Dad eyed Edward one last time before he pulled away.

"I have to take the costume back to the restaurant," I muttered.

"Bella," he started to protest, but I ignored him and grabbed it up in my good hand and started dragging it toward the restaurant. I realized my injured hand was starting to bleed heavily.

"Damn it, Bella," Edward snapped and yanked the costume from me. He ran it down to the diner, and I sat down and put my head between my legs, feeling a little lightheaded.

He pulled his car up next to me, and when I raised my head up and looked up at him, everything went black.