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The conversation with Glitter Guy made me and Bella 10 minutes late to English. Mr. Mason looked up at us when we entered and sighed. "Nice of you to join us," he said disparagingly.

We made our way to our seats and it wasn't until the end of the class that Eric sought me out.

"Hey, T," he called and Bella gave me a sympathetic smile before hurrying away. Traitorous Traitor…

"Yeah," I said. "I missed you yesterday. I heard you're off to Seattle the Spring Dance day?" he asked. I breathed a mental sigh of relief.

"Yes, it's important." I said, winding a strand of my hair around my finger.

"Too bad, but you're still on for prom?" he asked.

"Oh, I um…" I trailed off but Eric didn't seem to want an answer any way. "Cool, I'll see you later," he said and walked off.

I squinted after him suspiciously.

At lunch, I knew Edward was going to ask Bella to sit with him so I didn't pay much attention when Bella stood up from her seat, looking flustered and nearly sprinted to sit with him. I sighed, shaking my head. How predictable…

"How are you about that?"

I turned to look at Angela to see her glancing covertly at Bella and Edward.

"Why would I think anything of it?" I asked. "Well, because Jess very clearly pronounced that Edward is 'into' you." She raised her fingers to mark quotations in the air.

I didn't know what I expected. Maybe that he was the local weirdo and shouldn't I be more concerned for my klutz of a best friend, but this? I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing.

Everyone at the table and a few tables around turned to look at my loud and slightly obnoxious laughter. I had tears in my eyes as I slapped the table.

"Ah, Weber, here I thought you couldn't joke!" I cried.

"I wasn't joking." Angela muttered which only made me laugh harder.

I mean come on, in which sane universe would Gill Glitter fall for me? I would probably annoy him to the point of no return and he would freak me out to the point that I would take a flame thrower to his pretty face. The image only made me put my head against the table, choking on my breath.

It wasn't until Lauren and Angela dragged me off with Mike trailing after us that I calmed down. I was very aware of burning gazes at my back but I didn't turn back around.

"What was all that about? Did you spray her with laughing gas?" Mike asked as we climbed up the stairs.

I rolled my eyes, very much sober now. "Christ Newton, relax, I just laughed at a joke that's all." I said. "Yes, well, it looked like you were drunk or something…" he mumbled. I couldn't help but roll my eyes again.

All of a sudden there was a loud screech from upstairs and we all looked up to see Coach Clapp looking at us horrified while a huge trolley headed straight down the stairs, right at me.

I surged out of the way and felt a searing pain in my foot as the trolley smashed into my leg.

I screamed; a loud and piercing noise as I fell on my side, holding my ankle.

"Oh my god; Tulika, are you ok?" I heard Mike yell. "Of course, she's not ok, moron, she needs a doctor!" that was Lauren. I felt a hand on my shoulder and Angela's soothing voice in my ear.

"It's ok, it is ok, come on," she pulled me up gingerly and I winced, my eyes streaming to see an angry red gash in my jeans leg.

"Here, I'll take her to the nurse, you tell Banner." Mike said and wrapped an arm around my waist; letting me lean on him as he walked or rather hopped me down the stairs.

You idiot, I thought, furiously, you're making me jump on my injured leg. He moved me downstairs as the students started to exit the cafeteria. "Tulika, what happened to her?" I heard the panicked voice of Bella, Jess and Eric. "She just had a run in with a sports trolley," Mike said, sounding way too enthused about my 'run in'.

Hang on; wasn't Bella supposed to faint at the sight of blood? I looked up quickly to see Bella swallow; her eyes on my foot where I could feel my jeans dampen with my blood.

"Oh no, Bella get away from here…please, Mike move!" I ordered and he swiftly shuffled me away from the group.

I bit my lip though as he maneuvered me onto the cold sidewalk, connecting the school to the office.

"Hey, you ok? Your leg's looking really bad." Mike said. I ignored him.

"Tulika, wow, that's a lot of blood…"

"Hey, don't faint on me…"

"Tulika…you're turning pale…"

I snapped and gave him a baleful look. "Mike, do me a favor and let me sit for a while?" I gritted out. He nodded and let me down on the cold bricks, lining the pathway. Ah…I pressed my burning leg to the cool stones and closed my eyes. It probably wasn't the most hygienic things to do but I really had no energy to hobble to the office and ask for an ice pack. This would have to do…

"Tulika…"

Just as I was about to tell him to shut up another voice called. "Tulika…?"

God, please, please, let me be imagining that voice. Let my mind be so dazed with blood loss that I was imagining him. It made absolute no sense that I would be hallucinating about him. I mean, why Edward when I could make up Paul Wesley?

"What's wrong…?" I heard him trail off when I remembered the blood. Oh damn…

I waited for the lunging blow, Mike's terrified screams, anything…but nothing happened. I looked up to see Edward looking rather sick himself as he faced Mike. "How did she get hurt?" he asked. What was he doing? Shouldn't he be getting antsy and dreadful about the blood?

"Trolley ran her over." Mike said in a tight voice. Guess he wasn't so enthused about my injury now that Cullen showed up. He nodded and moved to me. I flinched. "Can you hear me, Tulika?" he asked.

Of course, I can hear you, fool, I hurt my leg, not my ears, I thought.

He chuckled. Good, he heard that then, maybe it'll teach him not to behave so superior all the time.

"I should really take her to the nurse." Mike urged, inching closer to me. "You can go back to class. I'll take her." He said smoothly.

"No," I said, looking up at him. Why was he doing this? My first thought was that maybe he was going to take me somewhere secluded and feed from me and I shrunk back from him.

"Tulika, don't be stubborn," he said. "Go away, Edward," I said. Come on, Mike, try to stake some chauvinistically juvenile claim here.

Without warning, the cold bricks vanished from under me. My eyes and mouth both flew open as Edward swung me up effortlessly into his arms. My leg jostled and I bit my lip to hold a whimper. He began walking off easily with Mike lagging behind. "Hey, you can't do that!" he called.

He already did, I thought grimly, gripping the back of his jacket, as the move of his body hitched me around. He was holding me lightly, and while I doubted he was going to drop me I didn't loosen my hold on him.

"You didn't need to do that." I said through my teeth. Talking would distract me from the pain.

"If I didn't; Newton was certain to let you bleed out on the sideway." He said cheerfully. He was enjoying this.

I looked at him. "About that, aren't you supposed to get all messed up around blood?" I asked. He slowed as he looked at me cautiously. "Why would you say that?" he asked quietly. I met his gaze steadily but didn't answer and he didn't press.

He paused a moment and kicked the office door open, gently swinging me in first before letting the door shut.

I looked at the reception to see Mrs. Cope stand up. "Oh dear," she glanced at my jeans then hurried to open the back door as Edward without breaking stride carried me through and set me down gently on the vinyl mattress.

The nurse hurried towards me. "Oh my, what happened sweetheart?" she asked as she examined my ruined outfit.

"Coach Clapp decided to let his sports trolley chase her down the staircase." Edward said. I nodded, not even bothering to ask how he knew. He probably picked it right out of Mike's unguarded mind.

"Mr. Cullen, could you hand me that scissors?" she asked.

She cut into my jean leg carefully and ripped it the rest of the way. "Hmm, you're lucky, it won't need stitches." She said. "Are you sure? I mean, I have a high threshold for pain and this really hurts," I said.

"That's because you have also sprained your ankle. I'll clean the cut and wrap it up, put it in a brace. Give it some rest and you should be back to normal by Monday. Don't jostle or walk on it too much." She advised and left the room.

I groaned and dropped back on the cot.

"Why are you still here?" I asked. "I really have nowhere else to be," He answered.

I looked at him. He was leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed, eyes on me. "You scared me for a minute there," he began and I remembered the line. "You thought Mike was dragging my body off to the woods to bury it." I finished. He raised an eyebrow.

"Mike absolutely loathes you, doesn't he?" I asked.

"He does, now, here you always say how Bella is the clumsy one but I have yet to find her in a cumbersome situation." He said. I laughed bitterly. "Ah, Cullen, if only you knew," I mumbled, my vision tunneling as the nurse returned.

She placed a bowl of some pleasant smelling ointment on the side table and a wad of cotton balls. She dabbed the liquid on my leg and I bit my lip to keep from hissing at the sting. She cleaned the cut and I saw that it was a relatively shallow cut even though it was pretty long, probably the length of a 15 cm ruler, running from the upper part of my calf to the top of my toes.

Placing some thick cotton pads on it, she wrapped yards of bandaging cloth on it, and then strapped a blue colored brace on it, fixing the Velcro to fit my foot.

"Here," she handed me a cold compress, "Keep that on your leg, it should help with the pain." She said.

"Thank you so much," I said. She nodded and exited again.

"How did you see me?" I asked as the door swung shut. He shrugged. "I didn't feel like going to class today, I was in my car." He said. "Oh right, the blood typing," I guessed. He frowned. "You seem to know a lot," he said.

I smiled mischievously, "So do you," I pointed out.

He grinned at that when I groaned again. "You said you wanted to see Bella in a cumbersome situation? Well, she faints at the sight of blood. Just about count to ten," I said.

He rolled his eyes then his eyes fixed on the leg. "Why did you say that I would freak out at the sight of blood?" he asked. "Well, you just seem like the kind of guy who's all talk but really a wimp," I said. "Tulika," His tone made it clear I wasn't going to escape it with my sass.

I felt like banging my head. Why, oh why did I have to have such a big mouth?

I was saved by the door opening and Mike leading in Lee Stephens, didn't Bella faint in class? I scooted back as Mike led him to the cot then looked gloomily at me.

"Where's Bella, Mike?" I asked.

"Gym, she already knows her blood type," he said then glanced at Edward. "Mr. Newton, please clear the room," the nurse bustled in and Mike grimaced.

"Mrs. Wainscot, I think I should take Tulika home now. Her leg really needs some rest," Edward said.

I quickly glanced at him then Mike to see him glaring at Edward. Ok, so maybe the boy did loathe the vampire…

"You know the beach trip's still on right? For…Tyler, he'd want us to do it. We're having a tribute to him and all." Mike said, his voice breaking at the end of the sentence. My smile faded as unbidden the image of the horrifying wreckage hit my brain like bricks. "Yes, I know, Lauren told me but I can't, not with this leg." I said, quietly, my earlier mood mellowed.

Too bad I won't be able to meet Jacob. I really liked him till the stunt he pulled in Eclipse. Mike looked ready to protest but a movement caught my eye.

I hadn't noticed Edward come up towards me till he was hovering over us. "Can you walk, or do you want me to carry you again?" he asked.

I glared at him. "Can you not be a little original please?" I asked, remembering a beat later that this was original for him. I just knew what he was going to be saying.

Mike helped me down from the cot and almost nearly led me out of the office before with an exasperated sigh; Edward had scooped me back up.

Without another word he carried me out the office.

"Really, I hope Newton is not intending to become a doctor. Half the patients on his tab would die." He grumbled. I crossed my arms, now certain that he was not about to drop me just for the fun of it.

"Thanks," I said my hair running as I hadn't had time to pull my hood up.

"Anytime," he said, squinting forward. "You still have not answered my question," he pointed out. "Is there a point to it? Perhaps I should've let Mike make me walk," I grinned up at him, the rain going into my eyes, making me blink.

He smirked at me. "Let's not push Mike further this week. We don't want him to snap, do we?" he asked almost playfully.

We reached the beloved Volvo which made the hearts of so many teenage girls run and he gently put me down. "It's open," he said and got into the driver's seat. I slowly lowered myself in the seat.

"I'm going to get the seats wet," I said apologetically.

Despite the vampires' entire set of not so nice qualities, their sense of style and choice of wheels was very impressive. If anything, I would be friends with them just to get to drive one of these.

"Don't worry about it," he muttered.

"It really is a beautiful car," I sighed, looking around appreciatively. "What model is it exactly?" Meyer never made that clear.

He glanced at me as he turned on the car, his lips quirking up. "It's an S60R," he said. Turning on the heater, he lowered the music volume. "You like cars?" he asked, pulling out of the school property, one hand on the gear shift and one on the wheel.

"Mm hmm," I said, resting my head back as the soothing piano music filled the cars.

"Do you have one – in India?" he asked.

"India is more of a two-wheeler haven. I know how to drive obviously but I just took my parent's cars. I had a Pleasure model," I told him.

He nodded.

I turned my head to look out the window as gray and green blurred past us, giving away the speed with which he drove. I didn't have a problem with it. I liked speed with responsibility and my best bet at that combination was a vampire driver.

I turned my attention back to the music and smiled.

He really is a good musician…I thought and Edward glanced at me again. Darn, looks like I forgot to block my mind.

"You like it?" he asked. I nodded. "I have listened to Clair de Lune before, a…sort of hype hit back home but I don't like to follow mindless trends," I said.

His lips twitched. "No, I don't think you do," he said. The tempo was already making me sleepy so I closed my eyes.

"Why did you come here, Tulika?" he asked. I opened my eyes. His face was frustrated as if some deeper mystery was bugging him. Well, truth be told, the mystery of my arrival here was bugging me too.

"I can't really answer that." I said truthfully while carefully erasing my mind making him look at me with the same frustration. "How old are you?" he asked.

"Seventeen," I said.

"You seem a lot younger than that – barely fourteen," he said. I cringed inwardly. "If that is a dig at my height," I began but he shook his head smiling. "It's not, you seem very rash for a seventeen year old teenager but then you almost seem wise beyond your years," he murmured.

"Thanks, The Wise Old Owl," I drawled and he grinned.

"Tell me about your parents," he said. I paused. This was really starting to sound like one of his interrogations from the book. Not to mention, I didn't know if I was all too comfortable spilling my life to an absolute stranger. Ok, maybe he wasn't a complete stranger; I probably knew more about him than he did himself but it was the principle of the thing.

"Sorry, Edward, but you're just going to have to wait to peruse my life story," I teased.

He didn't look satisfied. "Tell me about your family, I'm sure it's much more interesting than mine," I said, trying to keep my laughter in check.

"Why would I tell you anything about my family when you won't tell me about yours?" he countered.

Touché…

"You're right, but I've already met Carlisle and I think he's really nice." I said. He nodded thoughtfully.

"We're here," he said.

I looked up to see Charlie's House in front of us. "Do you need me to take you inside?" he asked. I rolled my eyes. "It's a stupid sprain, Cullen. I think I can handle it," I said.

"I'll see you later then," he said.

"Hmm, I'll have to wait for the damn plaster to come off," I said gloomily. Sighing, I opened the door when I remembered something. Ah, me and my extensive memory powers…

"Have fun camping with Emmett," I said. I didn't turn back to look at his expression but he called me back. I looked at him. He looked at me curiously then his lips quirked up as if he was trying to fight off a smile.

"Will you do me a favor?"

"Depends on what it is," I said.

"I don't know what you're planning for the weekend but try not to fall, trip or let something run you over, please?" he asked.

I chewed my bottom lip assessing him. "Hmm, that sounds like a simple enough favor," I said. I got out of the car and slammed the door shut.

The wheels whirred on the wet concrete and I watched him drive off.

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