A/N: I edited the first chapter for spelling errors, and grammatical mistakes and anything else I didn't like (but nothing that will change the story significantly) and I will be doing that throughout the story.

Published: 2/23/20

Chapter 2. Ice + Van = Trouble

I stared at my sister, confused. The question had caught me off guard.

"Huh?"

I stared waiting for her to say something but she never did. She sighs to herself, shaking her head. She quickly reverses out of the parking spot and drives past Edward – who was still standing next to his car – without a look in his direction.

Later that night after dinner, I was upstairs in the bathroom applying a face mask. Charlie had walked past the bathroom earlier. He looked very confused and sort of curious before he shook his head and walked away. I heard footsteps that were a lot lighter then Charlies, but much more clumsy. They were getting closer to the bathroom. I look up and see through the mirror, my sister enter with her toothbrush and toothpaste. I moved down the single sink to make some room for her. We didn't say anything at first. It was quiet for the first few minutes before I decided to disrupt the silence.

"So what was with the interrogation earlier?" I had now applied the green mud mask to the whole of my face and now was trying to wash it off my hands. " 'How do you know Edward Cullen?' "

I moved back so she could spit the toothpaste from her mouth into the sink. She rinses off her toothbrush, then wipes her mouth.

"It was nothing."

I didn't believe that. No way would she ask me that question without it meaning something.

"Did something happen between the two of you? Something I should know?"

Bella is now looking at me. "It was just me overreacting. It's been a little rough for me since we moved here, honestly."

"He didn't do anything, did he? Because if he has, he's going to have to deal with me."

"No, no, no. Honestly Nat, nothing like that happened. We just bumped heads during class and you know how stubborn I am. And that's all, nothing else."

I wasn't too convinced, but I didn't question it any further knowing if it was serious she would've told me. We tell each other everything.

The next morning I woke up earlier then usual. My sister came running down the stairs, tripping on the last couple of steps, to tell me that we are going to need to leave early due to the ice on the roads. I wasn't too happy.

"Honestly, it's not even that early."

Bella and I were in her truck on the way to school. She was going about a mile an hour and I was acting a bit crabby. If I didn't get my full sleep I get grumpy. I didn't respond to my sister, instead biting into the plain ego waffle that I couldn't enjoy at home because Bella insisted on leaving early.

"Maybe if you didn't go to sleep so – Hey! – did you just throw a waffle at me?"

I sure did.

She picked it up and instead throwing it at me, she rolls down the window and chucks it outside.

"Hey! That was perfectly good ego."

We pulled safely into the school parking lot with no problems. When Bella parked, she was the first of us to get out of the truck. I unbuckled my seat but I stayed put. I closed my eyes hoping I could get a quick nap in before the bell ringed or before my sister forced me out of the truck. My eyes were closed for a good minute before I heard a high-pitched screech that wasn't getting any quieter. I opened my eyes wondering what that awful noise was and where it was coming from. I didn't have to look far, unfortunately.

The thing that was making that sound was a van that was barreling right toward the direction of my sister's truck and aimed directly at my sister. It happened so fast that my mind reacted faster then my body. The only thing I could do at the moment, was scream. The impact sounded worse then it felt. My eyes closed at the worse moment, but when I only felt the truck rock back and forth and then suddenly stop, I knew that I was okay. But then I remembered that my sister was standing outside the truck. This time I reacted a lot faster.

I opened the door and ran out the truck to get around where my sister is. Possibly the whole student body were running toward us. There were screams and shouts of shock at what just transpired. I rounded the bed of the truck to see that my sister was intact and still breathing. Not only was my sister still well and alive, but so was . . . Edward Cullen?

I would of questioned it more if I wasn't so worried about my sister's well-being. She may look okay, but there could be something wrong with her that I couldn't see. There was now a crowd of people surrounding the truck attempting to move the much more damaged van away from Bella and Edward. I see my sister attempting to move, but I yelled, hoping she could hear me from the loud shouts of every one else, that she needed to stop moving.

She didn't, but Edward looked to be trying to stop her from moving her head too much, which I appreciated. While people were trying to get Bella and Edward from in between the van and truck, other's where trying to help the person in the van who caused the accident, who I learned to be someone named Tyler.

There was an ambulance that came. EMT's and some of the teachers were finally able to shift the van far enough away to get a stretcher for Bella. I was relieved that none of the EMT's forced me on one of those things. They strapped my sister into the stretcher who was very adamant that she didn't need one, and that she was perfectly fine. They completely ignored her.

They loaded her into the back of the ambulance. Before I followed behind, I made sure to grab her bag along with mine. Most of the ride to the hospital consisted of my sister complaining and trying to persuade one of the EMT's if they could take the neck brace off, but they obviously refused. I made sure to sit as close as I possibly could to my sister, not that keen on health care providers.

When we arrived at the hospital, Bella was unloaded first before I could get out. She was pushed through the hospital doors. I didn't realize it until I exited the ambulance that Edward was riding up front. Was that even legal? Why did he come if he wasn't injured? And why didn't I think about riding shotgun?

When Edward sees me he waves, grimacing. I didn't get a chance to say anything because that's when Charlie came up to me.

"What happened?"

"It was an accident at school," I explained. "The van came so fast, but Bella got very lucky."

He sighed rubbing the back of his neck, rubbing away the stress that he must of had when he heard the news. He looks me up and down probably wondering why I wasn't on a stretcher just like my sister.

"I wasn't near the truck when it happened." I lied. I couldn't tell him that I was in the truck. He'd probably want me strapped down and tested and I was not going to let that happen.

We walked into the hospital. I followed Charlie and made sure to keep my eyes down or at Charlie's back. We were told to wait in the waiting room before we could see Bella. The sounds that made up the hospital had me a bit angsty. I took out my headphones and plugged it into my phone. A song randomly started to play. I put the headphones over my ears and sighed when all I could hear was the music from my phone rebound against my ears.

We were there for awhile along with the rest of the school who were waiting to hear the news on the condition of the Chief of Police's daughter. I was bored after a few hours. My legs were getting a bit stiff and I was hungry. I decided to get up to look for a vending machine. The one in the waiting room was sparse due to everyone from school getting their meaty paws on everything that I liked.

It didn't take me long to find the next closest machine. I was in the middle of putting quarters into the machine when I happened to glance up and spotted Edward Cullen. Either he has eyes in the back of his head or maybe it was a coincidence, but he turns his head, his eyes directly catching mine. He waves and smiles. I wave back and that must of meant an invitation for him to walk toward me to start a conversation.

"Your sister is really trying her hardest to get out of here."

"I don't blame her."

"You don't like hospitals?"

"I hate them."

"Why?"

I paused, slightly uncomfortable in the direction this conversation was going. Edward seems to notice my discomfort and backs off.

"Sorry I didn't mean to pry. It's just my father's doctor and I cant wrap my head around it."

"It's fine," I say. I turn back to the vending machine to press the letter and number combination for a bag of Doritos. The bag of chips were in the middle of unraveling from the coil until mid way it got stuck. "God dammit!"

I hit the machine with my fist, upset that for one, I just got scammed and two I really wanted those Doritos. I turn to Edward who had a sneaky grin on his face and looked like he was on the verge of laughing.

"You mind if I try?" he says.

I didn't object. "Be my guest."

I moved over for him to do whatever he was going to attempt to do to get these chips for me. He puts his ear up against the glass which I thought was highly weird but I didn't say anything. He puts his fist up to the machine but it hovers moving around until he stops just in front of his nose. He puts his fist on the glass and knocks twice and the Doritos drop.

What was this guy, a magician?

I was perplexed, impressed and now thrilled.

"How did you . . ." I bent down to pick up the Doritos. " . . . do that?"

He smiles. "It's an old trick I learned a long time ago."

"Do you know how much money I lost from these machines! You are definitely going to have to teach me that."