Three more chapters until a new one! And another song to check out; Babel by Mumford & Sons :)

Thanks to my beta dumbrat!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight

By the time I went downstairs for breakfast the next morning, Charlie had already left for work. I poured myself some cereal and sat down at the table. I ate my breakfast quickly, keeping an eye on the clock.

Today was the day of Tyler's car accident, and I wasn't planning on letting it happen. I couldn't, with a clear conscience, just let Tyler crash his car when I could do something to stop it.

I left the house ten minutes early, locking the door behind me. The snow from the day before had melted away and there were patches of ice scattered around.

When I got into the car I turned the heat up full blast. I pulled out carefully onto the street; slightly nervous about driving with the road so icy seeing as I had never done it before. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, and I wondered if I should credit it towards me being really careful or if Charlie had put on chains for me.

When I got to the school, the parking lot was relatively empty. I parked four spots away from the entrance to the lot; far enough away to feel safe but close enough to give myself enough time to get to Tyler.

I stayed in the car for a minute, enjoying the last bit of warmth. I took a deep breath and steeled my nerves. There was no reason for anything to go wrong as long as I was ready and my timing was right.

As more students came into the school, I got out of the car and moved to stand by the back of the truck. I saw the chains on the tires and smiled.

I leaned up against the bed off the truck and waited. As I stood there, I spotted a huge patch of ice right between where I had parked and the driveway into the lot. All I had to do was get Tyler to slow down or stop before he got to it.

I tried not to stare when the Cullens pulled in and found a spot on the other side of the parking lot. Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper all went immediately into the school, but Alice stayed, standing right next to Edward.

I snuck a glance over and saw Edward staring at me, his face totally expressionless. I couldn't help but smile when I saw him, raising my hand in greeting. He nodded back, and, when I turned around, I could practically feel his eyes boring a hole in the back of my head.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw a blue van coming down the street, and I recognized Tyler at the wheel. I could already tell he was going way too fast.

I straightened up from where I had been leaning up against the car and started walking forward.

"Hey, Isabella!"

Mike's sudden shout made me jump. Startled, I tried to turn around and lost my footing, slipping on the same patch of ice I had been trying to tell Tyler to avoid.

As I fell backward towards the ground, the painfully loud squealing of Tyler's van skidding into the parking lot filled my ears.

A scream caught in my throat, and I tried to throw out my hands to catch my fall. I landed hard on my back and my head cracked against the ground. All the air whooshed out of my lungs.

I didn't even have a chance to catch my breath before I heard loud screeching as Tyler slammed on his brakes. I couldn't even tell if he had seen me lying in the middle of the road.

Taking gasping breaths, I sat up, slipping and sliding on the ice.

I glanced up and saw Tyler's van was starting to fishtail, but I was still in its path. I wasn't going to get out of the way in time.

I tried to stand up and scuttle out of the way at the same time, bracing myself for impact. All of a sudden, I felt a sharp tug on the back of my jacket. I skidded backwards just as Tyler smashed into the back fender of a white compact.

In the time it took me to realize I hadn't been smushed, I noticed that I a pair of strong, cold arms was holding me up. When I looked around, I was instantly struck by Edward's frantic, golden eyes.

"Are you alright?"

I stared at him wordlessly, my heart beating erratically in my chest.

"Bella, answer me," he pleaded.

"Thank you, Edwards," I whispered gratefully.

Sound erupted around us as people ran over, shouting and yelling. Mike shoved his way through first.

"Isabella! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

Edward glared so fiercely at Mike that he physically took a few steps back. "Back off, Newton. You've done enough."

I tried to extricate myself from Edward's arms but he shifted me instead so that I was half facing him.

"Don't move." I shuddered, and not from the cold. He moved his arm to create a gentle support against the small of my back.

"I think you hit your head pretty hard." His gentle voice held none of the venom he used when talking to Mike.

Mike seemed to have gathered his nerves. "Where did you come from, Cullen?" he said rudely.

Edward ignored him and gently lifted my chin so that I was looking at him.

"Bella. Are you hurt?" His liquid gold eyes peered worriedly into mine, looking for I don't know what.

I opted to shake my head again, wincing when the back of my head gave another painful throb.

"What's wrong with her?" Mike asked worriedly. "Why won't she say anything?"

I cleared my throat. "It's okay Mike, I'm fine." My voice cracked at the end so I cleared my throat again.

At this point, we were totally surrounded by teachers and students. Most of them were marveling at how fast I got out of the way.

I saw several teachers checking on Tyler in his van, and somebody was yelling at someone else to call 911.

I noticed that I was practically sitting on Edward's lap and I turned beet red. I tried to wiggle free but he wouldn't budge.

"You shouldn't move," he said. "You hit your head pretty hard."

"I know. Let me up please," I grumbled.

For a few seconds he didn't move, but then he sighed and let me go.

I got to my feet too quickly, making my head spin. Edward caught my arm and steadied me.

"Thank you," I said gratefully, looking at him.

He was laughing at me! "I told you not to move."

"What happened?" Coach Clapp was weaving his way through the students. "Who's hurt?"

"Neither of us. But I think Tyler needs help," I said quickly.

"Bella hit her head," Edward interjected.

"I'm okay," I said, ignoring him.

"One of you, explain." Coach Clapp looked at each of us in turn. "Miss Swan, why don't you sit down? You look a little pale."

"I'm fine. I was trying to—"

"She fell. Right in front of Tyler's car," Mike said, cutting me off. "He was going too fast. He hit the ice all wrong." His eyes flicked back to the black patch in front of the car.

"You fell?" Coach Clapp asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It was an accident," My face turned bright red and I avoided looking at Mike. "I slipped on the ice."

"Then what?"

"Cullen pulled her back," Mike said sullenly.

"Mr. Cullen?"

He nodded in agreement, glaring at Mike steadily. "Luckily I was close enough to reach her in time."

I couldn't stop my heart from jumping into my throat at Edward's words. Then I remembered exactly where he was when I fell—across the lot.

My eyes flickered back and forth between my truck and Edward's car, judging the distance. Had no one really seen him run over to me?

Alice was still standing frozen by the Volvo. She was looking off at nothing, but I knew she had to be seeing a lot more.

I looked back to Edward. His face hardened and I knew he saw where I had been looking. I kept my mouth shut though. I didn't need an explanation and I didn't want to upset him. It was better for everyone if he thought I really believed he had been next to me.

The ambulance pulled up then, sirens wailing.

In two seconds flat the teachers had cleared the students back to allow a paramedic get through and Mike was shoved away. Jessica grabbed him and started peppering him with questions.

Behind them, I saw two other paramedics unload a stretcher from the back of the ambulance and head over to Tyler. Coach Clapp left to go meet them.

"Which one of you is injured?" A dark haired paramedic in his mid-thirties was looking between Edward and me.

Nope, no way. I knew exactly where this was headed. I had to go to the Newtons' after school; there's no way I was going to spend the day in a hospital and have this made into a bigger deal than it was. Charlie would never let me go anywhere if he thought I had been hurt enough to need x-rays.

"Neither of us. It's Tyler in the van that needs help," I said, pointing.

"Bella!"

This voice was louder, more frantic than the others, and it wasn't long before I saw Charlie making his way through the crowd of students to get to me. He was intercepted by Coach Clapp, but I could tell Charlie was about ready to brush right by him. He kept looking worriedly over at me.

"Neither of you is hurt?" The paramedic said, pulling my attention away.

I gave a vehement no at the same time that Edward said yes. The paramedic looked bewilderingly between us.

"Well? Which is it?" he asked.

I could see all the students still in the parking lot staring at me and talking to one another.

"I'm fine—"

"She hit her head. Pretty hard I think." Edward cut me off and addressed the paramedic. "She should see a doctor."

The paramedic looked at me intently. "Head injuries need to be taken seriously. You should have told me when I asked."

"I'm fine, really," I said, ignoring the faint throbbing in the back of my head. I could've killed for some Advil. "I barely bumped it. I don't need to go to the hospital."

The paramedic reached his hand out. "May I?"

I sighed in resignation and nodded carefully. He gently poked and felt around the back of my head until his fingers landed on the large lump that was beginning to form. I couldn't help but wince when he found it.

"You were saying?" Edward was smirking smugly, and I wanted to hit him.

"I'm going to go get the stretcher," the paramedic said. "Please don't move. You could have a concussion."

I blanched. I was pretty sure I didn't. While my head did hurt, I hadn't hit it that hard and I had no nausea and no dizziness. I thought about just brushing past everyone and walking onto campus. I looked over to where my backpack sat in the truck but the car was totally swarmed by students.

"You really should just wait for him to come back." Edward said, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up to see him smiling at me, and realized that, with the paramedic gone, we were relatively alone.

His clothes were all disheveled and he had a massive wet patch on his clothes from where he had held me up.

The irritation I felt softened and my voice caught in my throat. "Thank you. I would have been road kill if it wasn't for you."

"It was nothing. It was only lucky that I was standing nearby."

I studied the long distance between his car and mine again. "Right. Luck."

When I looked back at him again, he was studying my face carefully.

I couldn't help but flush bright red. "I...uh…I'm going to go talk to Charlie."

Still blushing wildly, I turned and walked away, leaving him behind. Charlie finally managed to extricate himself from Coach Clapp and met me halfway.

"Bella!" Charlie pulled me into a gruff hug, and then checked himself

"Are you okay?" he asked, patting my shoulder carefully.

"I'm fine," I said. I looked over my shoulder, noticing that Edward hadn't followed me. He was in deep discussion with the paramedic who had returned with a stretcher and wasn't looking too happy.

"What happened, Bella?" Charlie asked.

"There was an accident, but I'm fine."

"You're sure?" Charlie said worriedly. "Why were you talking to Brett?"

"Who?"

"The paramedic. Why were you talking to a paramedic if you're not hurt?" I knew he had seen me but I had hoped he hadn't noticed.

"I was near the car that crashed, but I'm fine. Edward Cullen pulled me out of the way."

"Thank goodness." Some of the worry lines melted off of his face and I let out a sigh of relief. "Do you want me to take you home?"

I looked around and noticed that almost all the teachers and half the students in the school were still milling around and I hesitated. I thought about walking back to campus from the house in a couple hours when things settled down. Then I could still get to the Newtons'. "Yes, please."

"I'll go get the car. Don't move, okay?" I nodded and he hugged me again before heading off.

As I waited, I watched Tyler get carefully put onto a stretcher of his own.

I felt a huge wave of guilt as I saw him get loaded into the ambulance by the paramedics. I could've stopped him from getting hurt and I screwed it up.

I looked over and saw Edward deep in conversation with Alice. He kept gesturing from my car, to me, and to the street.

Alice looked past him and studied me curiously. I looked away quickly and saw Tyler lying all alone in the ambulance as the paramedics finished loading up their gear. My heart gave a painful wrench. My fault.

"Wait!" I called, jogging over to the paramedics. "I'm coming too."

"Good." I looked over my shoulder and saw the same dark haired paramedic, Brett apparently, reaching out to help me in.

"I need to tell Charlie first," I said, looking around for him.

"I'll tell him for you," he said. "He'll meet you there." He was holding my elbow now, and I allowed myself to be guided inside.

I sat down on the bench across to Tyler and heard the doors slam behind me.

Tyler didn't look at me when I sat down. He had cuts all over his arms and face and a brilliant purple bruise on his forehead.

I reached out and touched his hand. "I'm so sorry, Tyler. How do you feel?"

He seemed to notice me for the first time. "Isabella Swan? Did I hit you?"

"No, no I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"Just a little out of it I think," he said, sitting up slowly. "What about you?"

"I'm fine. I'm so sorry, Tyler," I said again.

"It wasn't your fault," he groaned and shifted gingerly in his seat, "I almost hit you."

As we pulled away from the school, I could see Edward staring at me through the back window of the ambulance. I stared back and didn't look away until he was gone from sight.

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