I do not claim any ownership of the Twilight Saga. That stroke of brilliance belongs to Stephanie Meyer. Ellie and Luke, however, are of my invention. The 'muffin joke' actually came from my ninth grade science teacher, so kudos to him.

I felt extremely childish, watching Lucas respond to my outburst. The boy clearly cared for me, if not adored me. Why am I such a bitch?

Someone laughed at me. It was brief and not really the funny sort. It sounded like the person, I think it was a guy, was mildly amused. As if I had told Carlos' stupid muffin joke: "two muffins meet in an oven. The first said, 'man, it's hot in here.' The second replied, 'awwwwwwww, it's a talking muffin!'"

He laughed again. It turned out to be Edward, the youngest Cullen.

I opened my notebook.

What's so funny, Edward?

"

"Would you be upset if I said you remind me of Bella?"

I shook my head. Emmett had already told me that when I fell, trying to get out of bed and then flushed a brilliant ruby. From the stories they've told me, I'm a bit too much like Bella. It's like I'm another Bella. I'm not sure why Bella isn't like that anymore, but hey, to each their own.

At least Luke doesn't treat me that way. To him, this is all new. Sadly, he acts like he's conflicted. Does he stay here because he cares? Or does he leave for the same reason? I wish I knew why I got that feeling from him, and why he feels that way.

Edward chuckled again. What was so funny about me sitting on the couch? I sighed. Stupid boys.

Ed, really, what do you find so amusing?

Emmett entered then, huge and burly. He looked at Edward's amused expression and my frustrated one and laughed too. "Yo, Elle!"

I rolled my eyes. Don't remind me.

Edward chuckled for a third time.

Emmett, is there any chance you can tell me what's so freakin' funny?

"I don't know; I'm not a mind-reader," Emmett said, a wide smirk crossing his face.

I noticed, as Edward walked away, that the youngest Cullen was overly furious with his older brother's statement.

That got me thinking, was Edward Cullen a mind-reader? I noticed that sometimes he answered a question that no one asked, or nodded when no one spoke.

Once I got the chance to think it out, there was something was really strange about the entire Cullen family.

Alice, the little one with spiky hair, seemed to think I was pregnant. That was maddening. It hasn't even been long enough for me to miss a period. Not to mention, I got my first one last year. True, teenage pregnancies have seemed to flourished, but still, I'm fifteen! I can't predict these things!

Jasper, the younger blonde, seemed way too calm. Almost like he has complete control of his emotions. If I didn't know better, I'd say he worked for the CIA. No one can be that cool without training.

Rosalie, Jasper's twin sister, looked at me like, dare I say, she was jealous. Who would be jealous of me? I'm an abused little girl with a personality to match.

Bella and Nessie, Edward's family, were an even bigger mystery. Nessie is seven, I think. She calls Bella 'Mom', and Bella is maybe nineteen. I don't want to draw the wrong conclusions, but come on!

"Ellie, could you come down here please?"

I started down the stairs; and turned right around. "Ah, shit."

"Yo'el Winters?" The cop raised an eyebrow. "You found Yo'el Winters."

"Yes, Charlie, we did."

"Is her arm broken?"

I looked down at my wrist. Suddenly, I remembered that Luke had taken my pulse and then my wrist had started hurting. Oh god, Luke broke my wrist. It wasn't Tom that broke my wrist; it was Luke. I grabbed onto the railing. Oh no; oh no; OH NO!

"It looks like someone beat her up before dumping her in the woods. I don't know how she ended up all the way down here. She doesn't remember. I put her wrist in cast as soon as we got her inside. I also took a rape kit."

Oh no. Oh no. This can't be happening.

"When did you find her?"

"Last night," Carlisle lied, effortlessly. "I would have taken her to the hospital but she was pretty bad. I didn't want move her too much."

That last part's true, at least.

"Do think she'll talk about it?"

What am I going to do? I panicked. "Oh. My. God."

"Ellie, now, come on, I said you were going to have to do this."

My knuckles turned white on the banister. No.

"Ellie, can you hear me?"

I blinked and sat up. "What happened?"

"You fell down the stairs," Dr. Cullen said, gently feeling my pulse. "I think we really end to get you to the hospital now. Edward, bring one of the cars around. Charlie, we'll see you there."

"Where's Luke?"

"He's going to stay clear for a few days," Carlisle replied softly. "We don't want anyone to think he did this."

That's understandable, I thought. But what they knew that he broke my wrist? Would they still want him to be innocent?

We were in the hospital in a matter of minutes. The cop showed up three hours later. Cole was with him.

"Yo'el! I got here as soon as I could."

I looked up from my IV. Crap. "Dad."

"What happened to you Yo'el Elizabeth Winters?" Cole looked angry. "Do you know how far you are from home? You've been gone for a week!"

"Dad, please—"

"That's it, young lady! You are so grounded!"

"Daddy, I—"

"As soon as the doctor clears you, we're going home."

"Mr. Winters—" Mr. Cullen tried to say something.

"I'm beginning to think that Lucy's idea of boarding school was more possible than I thought."

"Mr. Winters—" the cop tried.

"Yes, that's an excellent idea."

"MR. WINTERS, SOMEONE KIDDNAPPED AND RAPPED YOUR DAUGHTER!" the cop screamed.

"What?" Cole was bewildered. "Yo'el is this true?"

"Daddy, it was Tom," I whispered.

"Ellie, you know I can't believe you. You've been having problems adjusting since your mom died, but you can't go blaming Thomas."

The cop shook his head. "Mr. Winters, do you know where we might find Tom?"

Cole snapped his head in his direction. "Do you have a warrant, Chief Swan?" He looked back at me. "Yo'el, this is absurd."

"No, Cole, you're the one being absurd. If you want Tom to be Scotch free, then who's guilty?"

"Look, Yo'el, I know you made a mistake. I forgive you, really. We'll talk to Tom about this as soon as we can. I'm sure he'll forgive you too," he was completely ignoring what I had to say. "He's not as bad as you think, really."

I snorted. "You sound pretty desperate. I hope you'll be as good of a defense lawyer as a prosecuting one. Of course, if I were working at the D.A. at this, I'd move for Tom to get a different lawyer. Conflict-of-interest."

"Since when did you know what to do in a court room?" Cole hissed. "You're a child."

"Yes, but I'm your child. DNA stinks, doesn't it?"