Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nadda, zilch, absolutely nothing. Stephanie Meyers owns everything Twilight.

14. What exactly is normal?

Bpov:

I was watching Spongebob grill the perfect Crabby-patty when Edward walked, or rather sneaked, into my room. My heart could have easily burst with happiness, I wanted some alone time with him ever since I woke up but with his family around me the whole time, that almost seemed impossible. Which was understandable of course; I, after all, was hurt and almost died. They did the most normal thing a family would do, they simply cared. Yet I couldn't help but feel that pang of angst when I woke and everyone was around my bed accept Edward.

I just figured he was mad at me and was somewhere blowing of steam. Not only had I landed him in hot water but probably gave him a record and messed up his chances of getting that scholarship. I didn't mind the pain from the injuries, if that was my punishment for behaving like a total jerk then I would gladly take it. Still when he burst into my room earlier this afternoon I expected him to shout at me. Instead he cracked some joke about ET and was all concerned about me. I wanted to tell him then that I was an irresponsible ass and that I was sorry. I barely could get a word out as everyone kept talking to me and I couldn't tell Edward how much I really cared about him.

"Hey stranger." He said and sat down on the chair next to my bed; I smiled at him and switched of the TV. Spongebob can finish grilling his burger some other time. "Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but how did you get in here?" I asked sitting up more comfortably, inwardly I cringed as my ribs complained about the sudden change in position. There was no need to make Edward know exactly how much punishment his body has actually endured. "I have my ways, how are you feeling." He asked glancing at the various monitors, he was clearly checking for any sign that something might be wrong to his precious body.

"I'm fine; I have so many pain pills in my system that I won't feel anything for the next few months." I said and when he couldn't find anything odd on the monitors he finally looked at me. "Bella we have to talk." I held up my hand, I really wasn't in the mood for a lecture nor did I want him to chastise me about his car. "I know, I'm so sorry about your Volvo Edward. I'll pay you back every dime, I swear I will." He gave me a look that clearly said that he thought I have lost my marbles. "I wasn't talking about the car but now that you mentioned it…. I think a lifetime of servitude, should be suffice. Yeah I think that settles it, now I want to talk to you about what happened before the crash."

What he wasn't worried about his car? Then surely it must be about his image. "I swear I'm never going to drink again in my life, I'm so sorry Edward, I don't know why I drank that much in the first place." He shook his head, "Woman you are driving me insane, I don't care if you drink a whole swimming pool of beer. Ok maybe I would but that is beside the point…why did you kiss me Bella?" He asked and I finally looked into his eyes in fright. Why oh why did I kiss him? I wasn't thinking clearly and to be honest I wasn't thinking at all. I was so not drinking ever again in my life my mother always said, "If you wish to keep your affairs secret, drink no wine". Still I didn't just kiss Edward I kissed myself and that really was not the most wonderful feeling in the world.

"Just forget that, that ever happened, Edward. I was drunk and have already forgotten about it, believe me that is just one of the things, I regret doing yesterday night." I looked away waiting for him to confirm my craziness or to shout at me for kissing him in the first place but he didn't say anything. I looked up and saw his expressionless face, it was as white as snow and he seemed caught up in an emotionless state. "Edward is something wrong?" I asked grabbing his hand, it shook him from whatever condition he was in and I relaxed a little when some color returned to his face. "No nothing is wrong, if you want to forget about it then its fine. It's not important at all; you really scared me you know." I sighed, yeah who wouldn't be scared if you were kissed by yourself?

This only confirms what I have thought all along, Edward doesn't care about me the same way I care about him. "I know and I'm sorry like I said, just forget the kiss ever happened." He frowned and then smiled lightly; he must have spotted something amusing in what I just said. "I was talking about you almost dieing Bella, I wasn't talking about the kiss." I chuckled softly, "Oh right…well sorry about that too. Why were you so worried in anyway?" He shrugged, "If you died I would be stuck in this body for ever you know." I made a shocked face, "Ouch that hurt, so where did you go while I was fighting for my life?" I asked wondering yet again just exactly where he was. Clearly he had to do something that was more important to him than his dying body.

"I went to the museum." I frowned, that was one answer I really didn't expect. "Why did you go there?" I asked really curious as to why he would go there. "It's not important Bella. I didn't plan on going there in the first place." No that answer was just not good enough, what possible reason could there be to go to that dump? "Ok but you went there, so what did you do?" He sighed and once again I was shocked by his answer. "I begged the statue to swap us back." I looked at him surprised trying to form the million questions in my head into one understandable one. "Why, I mean that would have placed you in this dying body and would…would…"

He quirked both his eyebrows, as if to implicate something that was supposed to be crystal clear. Still I could not fathom what my mind was trying to tell me. "That would have placed me in a healthy one. You could not have known that I would wake up; you could have died if we did swap back. I don't understand Edward, why would you do something like that for me?" I asked just as Esme entered the room followed in by Carlisle, both of them immediately demanded my attention and Edward was spared an answer to me. Alice and Jasper walked in after them and when I had time to look for Edward again, he was gone.

Did he really just basically tell me that he cared enough about me that he was willing to give his life for me? But if he was, then why did he agree that the kiss was a big mistake one that he was all to ready to forget about? No he didn't care more about me than he did the other friends in our group. He already has someone he is in love with and now I messed his life up even more by failing to get him into Yale. All these things ran through my head while Edward's family fussed around me. I was really bad company, answering them half heartedly whenever I had to reply on something they said.

I was relieved when the nurse came to give me a fresh dose of pain medicine. It meant that I would be asleep in the next few minutes and could escape my messed up life momentarily. Everyone whished me a restful night, both Esme and Alice gave my cheek a kiss before leaving. Edward I whish that I could go back and fix everything that I somehow managed to mess up so badly and that I could just have the chance to tell you that I'm truly in love with you. I barely managed to think this before I fell into a dreamless sleep.

"Bella honey, wake up. Come on Bells." I woke when someone continuously shook my shoulder. "Go away, just a few more minutes." I moaned into my pillow not willing to give up my peaceful sleep. "May I just remind you that it was your idea that we start jogging and we already missed yesterday jogging session since we were at the hospital with Edward? So you better get up before I make you." Through the foggy state that my brain was in at the moment, some minor details began to shift through. That voice belonged to my father, why was he in my room in the hospital insisting we go jogging?

Wait…what the hell is tickling my nose. I opened one of my eyes and glared at my nose at the source of irritation. A strand of mahogany colored hair was moving as I breathed in and out. "Bella get up!" I flew up and bashed heads with my father who was leaning over me. "Ouch watch the personal space Charlie…" I held my hands in my head when something sank in. I was really holding my own head with long hair and all. "Since when do you call me Charlie?" My father asked and I looked up at him, he was nursing a spot on his head. "Daddy!" I flew up and threw my arms around his neck hugging him tightly. "Bells what is going on? Just how hard did you hit your head?"

I let go of him blushing lightly, of course I never hugged him like that before. "Oh sorry dad, I'm just happy to see you, it felt like ages…. Why did you wake me at six am?" I asked when I spotted the time on my digital clock. "Jogging remember, now hurry up and get dressed I want to visit Edward before work. I stopped my happy dance in my mind when I realized that Edward was now trapped in a broken body and in allot of pain. "Can I go with you?" I asked walking over to my closet. "No you can't you have to go for that interview with the scholarship committee at your school today. Your headmaster had to pull allot of strings to get them to come to interview you and Edward. It's just too bad that Edward won't make that appointment. Now come on, be done in ten minutes."

He walked out of the room and didn't see me stand motionless in front of my dresser. I pondered over what my father said before making a decision. I said I would do everything in my power to fix what I've managed to mess up and I will keep my promise. I grabbed some sweats from the dresser and pulled them on quickly; I tied my running shoes and walked down the stairs. I spotted Charlie stretching in front of the door. "Tell me again why we are jogging?" I asked as I reached him. "Really Bella do you have memory loss, you said that it was time that I get my lazy ass of the couch and in shape. It was your idea that we jog together every morning."

I frowned somewhere I was missing something. "Did I really tell you that?" I asked following him outside. "Along with some other things, watch out Bells." He said catching me as I tripped over my own feet. Yeah I really was myself again. Not that I missed that little characteristic much. My father steadied me and began jogging down the street. Edward, what did you do to my father? I asked myself before setting of after my father, it didn't take long for me to catch up to him. He was already breathing heavily, lucky for me gym was mandatory at school. As we finally arrived back home a half hour later, sweating and gasping for air, I had to admit that I enjoyed too exercise with my father. Why did I never think of doing something like this?

"That was nice wasn't it?" I asked following my father into the kitchen pouring myself a glass off water and gulped it down thirstily. "That depends on your definition of nice." I smiled, "The only exercise some people get is jumping to conclusions, running down their friends, side-stepping responsibility, and pushing their luck! So I think I'll define our exercise as nice." My father smiled, "Ok Mrs. Smarty pants go take a shower while I get breakfast ready." I rinsed out my empty glass and turned to my father. "Since when do you make breakfast?" He shrugged and pointed to the stairs. "My cooking is actually reaching the edible section now, so go." I chuckled and walked out of the kitchen. "Well it's not rocket science to just ad milk to porridge, now is it dad?" I called behind me and just heard incoherent mumble from the kitchen.

I walked to the bathroom and looked around in surprise, there was no clothing or wet towels on the floor. The sink was clean even the toilette seat was down. What happened to my family? Did aliens abduct them and reprogrammed their brains or something. I just shook my head and closed the door behind me to take a nice warm relaxing shower. When I was done I folded my favorite towel, which was the size of a small country, around me and walked to my room. The smell of bacon was coming from the kitchen and my stomach growled loudly. I suddenly realized that I was starving, Jeez Edward didn't you feed me at all? I dressed quickly and headed down the stairs.

"She eats butter on her toast right?" I heard Charlie ask loudly. "I think so, does she drink orange juice?" I heard Emmet ask in return. I stifled a laugh. "Yes I drink orange juice Emmet and I do eat butter on my toast dad but only a little. What are you doing?" I asked announcing my presence to them. Emmett's hands were covered in flower and my father had flower on his cheek. "Well we wanted to make you a good-luck-with-the-scholarship-breakfast but we realized that we are shamed by not knowing what you like for breakfast or how you liked it." I smiled when I spotted the somewhat burned bacon, the cold scrambled eggs, broken pancakes and what looked like the only survivors, golden buttered toast. "Yes and if you don't like it, it was Emmett's idea so you can blame him." My father said pointing his butter knife to where Emmett was cleaning his hands.

"Emmy-bear this is great, thank you. You truly are the greatest brother in the whole world." Emmett grabbed me up in one of his big bear hugs. "You haven't called me that since you were four, Bells." He said loudly into my ear, "But if you ever call me that in front of anyone, allot of pain will most definitely be the result." I made a baby face at him when he finally let me go. "Oh it's ok Emmy-bear, I won't tell anyone abou your wittle secret." I said in a three year old voice, miss pronouncing the words on purpose. "Ok cut it out and eat, you cannot be late to school today." Charlie said and handed me and Emmett a plate. I took a little of everything so that I wont hurt their feelings and began eating carefully. Hopefully my stomach will survive the onslaught that was heading its way.

"So did you read through Jacob's statement yet dad?" Emmett asked and Charlie grunted. "Yes and I'm afraid that things don't look so good for Edward. Jacob didn't drink anything at the party and was pushed of the road by a drunken Edward. Edward is going to have to pay for his hospital bills, the repairs of his car and his license is suspended for five months. He only got of so lucky because it was his first offence and because I put in a very good word for him with the Judge." Charlie said and my happy mood vanished once again. Of course there were repercussions for my actions and Edward was going to have to take every one of them. "Luckily Edward's family is loaded." Emmett said before stuffing bacon in his mouth.

"Yes that is lucky, what is unlucky though is the fact that Carlisle feels that Edward should pay it out of his own pocket." Yeah that is typical for Carlisle, spare the rod and spoil the child. "Edward can be very glad that his insurance covers the cost of Jacob's repairs. Still that leaves the three thousand dollar hospital bill." I had to force the rest of my breakfast down my throat, I wasn't hungry anymore. "Anyway Bells are you feeling nervous about your interview?" My dad asked, obviously mistaken my lack of hunger to nerves. "Not really dad, I'm going to go brush my teeth." I placed my empty plate in the sink and headed upstairs to finish up for school.

There must be something I could do to pay for Jacob's hospital bill. I picked up my schoolbag from my room and headed back downstairs. All kinds of plans were still running through my head when I walked straight into my father. "One should not walk while day dreaming. Good luck with your interview and may you be the first Swan to ever get into the Yale." I smiled at him halfheartedly and walked out to where Emmett was waiting at his Jeep. "You ready to go meet the rest of your life?" He asked once I settled into the passenger seat. "It can't be worse than this one right?" I asked and he chuckled driving of to school. He kept talking excitedly about his plans for next year and didn't notice that I didn't share his enthusiasm.

I spotted Alice where she stood talking to Jasper and Rose next to Rose's BMW. I headed over to them as soon as Emmett stopped the Jeep. "Alice, how is Edward doing?" I asked out of breath when I finally reached them. "He seemed disorientated this morning but they think that it's just the pain medicine. I'm going to see him after school." I nodded, if I had to wakeup in pain I'll be a little disorientated to. The bell rang and I headed towards English class. After about ten minutes the Headmaster came to fetch me and escorted me to his office. There I met the three members of the committee and the headmaster left. The eldest of the three, he had grey hair and a matching Santa Clause beard, stood up and asked me what my favorite Shakespeare quotation was.

"My favorite quote comes from Romeo and Juliet." The only woman in the group rolled her eyes. "Every girl we interviewed picked Romeo and Juliet. Why is yours going to be any different?" She asked and I shrugged. "Because for the first time in my life, I truly understand what he was trying to say." I stated simply and the grey haired man indicated I should continue. "Give me my Romeo and, when he shall die take him and cut him out in little stars and he will make the face of heaven so fine, that all the world will be in love with night." I said the words with so much feeling that I was breathing heavily when I was done. "And what do you think that means?" The woman asked.

"I know that it means that after Romeo dies she wants him to be made into stars and he would make heaven so great and wonderful that everyone would see how great he is and fall in love with him." The woman snorted, something that I didn't picture a well groomed, Armani wearing woman could be capable of. She leaned over to the third thin black haired guy in the group and whispered something to him. I spotted a big mole on her cheek. "Is that what you understand about it for the first time in your life?" She asked and I could see satisfaction on her face from a mile away.

"No Mam, what I understand for the first time is that you can know someone your whole life and not see them for the real, beautiful, extraordinary, most amazing person they truly are. Only after a big unimaginable experience did you come to realize that he was a person that you could love. You could love him so much that there is no doubt in your mind, that if the world had a chance to see it too, they would have no choice but to agree with you. That the world would now that someone like that is beyond any reasonable doubt, worth loving." The grey haired man smiled at me, "I can see why Yale is interested in you, Bella." He said and leaned to the other man who whispered something to him before continuing the interview.

Subsequent to what seemed like hours of endless questions, the woman stood up, "I have just one last question. What is your opinion about Sonnet 18?" I thought about it for a second, "I think that it's a good thing that people don't talk like that anymore." She frowned, "Why do you say that?" She asked clearly taken aback by my answer. "Well take the first few lines. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Personally I think that Shakespeare would have saved allot of time if he just walked up to the man and told him that he thought he was hot." The grey haired man laughed, "You think Shakespeare is guy?"

I shrugged, "He wrote Sonnet 18 to a man, didn't he?" I asked and the man nodded. "Yes he did but we still don't know exactly that he was indeed gay." I nodded in agreement. "I agree but still you write a poem to a guy telling him how hot he is and you don't know exactly. Gees, what do you have to do before you know exactly?" The man chuckled again. "Well Bella it's been a pleasure talking to you. You will receive a notice in the male to inform you, if you received the scholarship or not. Would you ask Mr. Cullen to join us in here please?" I halted on my way to the door. "Didn't the headmaster tell you that Edward was in a car accident and would be out of school for awhile?" I asked and all of them shook their heads.

"Well that is really too bad, I was really looking forward to hearing one of his compositions." My mind began working over time. "Edward only had to play a piece that he wrote himself right?" I asked. "Yes that is correct, but since he isn't present to do so, he forfeits his chance for a scholarship." I nodded, "If someone else plays one of his compositions does that still count as an audition?" I asked trying to keep my excitement at by. "Since Mr. Cullen can't play it himself dew to his injury's that is acceptable, do you know of someone that knows one of his compositions?" I smiled, "Of course, I know one of his pieces by heart." The man smiled again. "Well then would you play it on that piano?" He asked and pointed to the piano at the far side of the room that I never noticed before. It must have been brought in special for this interview.

"Sure, it would only be a pleasure." I walked over to the piano and lifted the lid. Edward, please guide my fingers. I pleaded in my head as I sat down on the bench. "I'm going to play Lullaby by Edward Cullen." I said, even though I composed it, I was in Edward's body and he wrote it down and fixed it up so that it would sound like something decent. I began to play; pouring every ounce of emotion into it. It never sounded as good as it did in that room. The committee sat astounded, the old hag's eyes was still closed in wonder. "That was truly something else, thank you Bella. Give our best to Mr. Cullen." I nodded and closed the lid; I thanked them for their time and left the room.

I headed to the cafeteria and flopped down on my seat between my friends. I answered all of their questions on the interview, spending about ten minutes describing the mole on the woman's cheek. "It's not a mole Bella it's a beauty spot." Alice said and I smirked. "Yeah well I could spot that beauty all the way from Wisconsin!" After lunch I sat through a boring class of Biology and slouched through Gym. School just wasn't the same without Edward. I made a bee line for Emmett's Jeep but had to wait for another ten minutes before Emmett finally showed up. "Hey, Em would you stop by the bank before we go visit Edward?" I asked as soon as we got into the Jeep. "Sure but why?" I sighed, I got Edward into this mess and I'm going to get him out of it. Even if that meant the money I've been saving up for my own car was going to be used for something healthier instead.

"I just need some money." He mumbled something but did as I asked. When we finally arrived at the hospital I told him I had to go to the ladies room and that I would meet him at Edward's room. When he was out of my sight I went to the secretary and after telling her who I was, I said that I would like to make an anonymous donation for the payment of Jacob Black's medical bills. Sometimes being the daughter of the Chief of police had its benefits. With a lighter heart I walked to Edward's room. I wondered briefly if he even wanted to see me. I stopped in the doorway and looked at the scene in front of me. Edward was talking to Jasper while Alice and Emmett were having their own little conversation. Rosalie was flipping through the channels on the TV.

"Hey stranger." I said echoing his words from the previous night. "Hello Bella, the others tell me that the interview went well. I'm happy for you; you finally get to live your dream." He said sounding very sincere about it. "Thank you but it went well for the both of us." The others didn't say a word; they must have felt something was going on between us. "What do you mean?" He asked looking at me as if he could see into my soul. "I explained why you couldn't be there and volunteered to play a composition you wrote. They liked it and whished you a full recovery." He didn't say anything for awhile when Emmett suddenly chipped in. "Where did you learn to play the piano?" I smiled, "Mozart taught me."

I indicated with my head in Edward's direction. "Which one did you play?" he asked. "Lullaby, you should receive a letter in the mail to inform you if you received the scholarship or not." I said still standing in the doorframe. "Technically I didn't write that." He said quirking one of his eyebrows. "Technically you did, let's just leave it at that." The others were watching the TV screen as if it was the most important thing in that room. "Well thank you, you didn't have to do that." I sighed, "It was nothing compared…..anyway I tried my best." He nodded understanding what the rest of the sentence was supposed to be. "I'm sure you did Bells." He turned to Jasper and began talking to him again.

I sat down next to Rosalie and spotted Alice looking at me. She had a mischievous look in her face. I didn't bother to even think about what was going on in that girls head. About two hours later we left promising that we would come back again tomorrow. Emmett and I have just reached his truck when I told him some bogus line about forgetting to tell Edward something about Biology. He agreed to wait for me and I left to go tell Edward that I cared for him and would like a chance to get to really now him better. I jogged back to the hospital having to slow to a walk once inside the building; I just made it to the elevator in time before the door slid closed.

It was rather cold in the sterile hallways but nothing could have a more chilling effect on me than the sight that greeted me when I walked through the door into Edward's room. Edward and Angela were captured in a passionate lip lock. My mouth became as dry as the Sahara desert and my stomach literally fell to my feet. I stopped breathing and as the first tear rolled down my cheek I turned on my heel and walked away from Edward and his dream girl.

A/n I took three days to write this chapter, to make sure everything is perfect. The beginning of the chapter is just so that you could see what went through Bella's mind before they changed back.

Thanks for all the reviews. Reviews are my personal brand of heroine. I try to thank everyone that reviews personally so for all the anonymous reviewers also a very big thank you. Thanks for the people who added the story to their favorites and alerts list.

Feel free to leave a review and tell me what you think. Come on just click on the big green button and write a little something.

Thanks for reading.