Graduation

Sirens! I heard sirens. Had Jacob gone for help instead of chasing Victoria? Maybe a local resident had seen the light from the fire and alerted the authorities. Whatever the reason, I was grateful for the sound.

I leaned my back against the trunk of the tree keeping my arms draped across Charlie. Emily was already on the road, she could direct them to us. Now that I took the time to notice, I was amazed at how far the heat of the massive fire projected. I estimated that we were a good fifty yards away from where the car had settled. I could feel waves of heat much like feeling wisps of a cool breeze on a warm Arizona day, only the opposite sensation.

I missed Renee, a realization that I found very odd. I was positively sure that she would not have been any help what-so-ever in my current set of circumstances, but I missed her just the same. I guess I had a substantial portion of respect for her right now. I had always ridiculed many of the decisions that she had made over the course of my life, but recent events had forced me to realize, decisions weren't always easy to make. They were easy to second guess after the fact. This flying by the seat of my pants wasn't exactly graceful.

I squeezed Charlie's shoulder. "Help is on the way dad," I assured him, not knowing if he could hear me or not.

"Thanks, Bells," he muttered, "I'm a lot warmer now."

Although his statement didn't make total sense, the sound of his voice made the tears flow again. "Are you hurting anywhere, dad?"

But, he was silent again.

I rubbed Charlie's arm and listened as the sirens grew painfully loud and then stopped. I heard voices moving toward us.

The face that came into view first was not one that I expected to see. But it was the russet face that I wanted to see the most. "Jacob!" I gasped. "How did you get back here?" I would have rushed into his arms, but he was kneeling beside me, warming me, before I had even shifted my arm away from Charlie.

"The rest of the guys had her chased into Canada. Sam and I decided to go for help and stay close in case she circled b…"

"Who is injured?" an energetic paramedic asked. "Are you hurt miss?"

"No, I'm fine," I croaked out past my sob-marred throat. "My dad needs help."

"Chief Swan, can you hear me?" asked the second responder on the scene. He was an older Indian man who looked like he could have been Billy's twin brother. "Bella, has he been talking to you?" he asked as he knelt down on the opposite side of Charlie, taking in the not-so-healthy look of him.

I started to cry again. I knew that it was not a productive thing to be doing but emotions were not always practical.

Jacob leaned away from me. He placed his large hands on my shoulders. "Pull it together Bells," he commanded, "Charlie needs us."

I was beginning to wonder if a person could actually get whiplash from mood swings. As quickly as they had started, the tears stopped. Jacob was right. My meltdown would have to wait a little longer.

"He was knocked out when we got to him. When he did come around, he almost acted like he was drunk." I was trying to remember anything that would be helpful for them to diagnose his condition. "Oh," I added, he would hardly put any weight on his right leg when Emily and I helped him out of the car

"What exactly happened, Miss Swan?" asked a third voice from behind me. A police officer had joined the rescue crowd.

Oh boy! I thought. I had no idea how I was going to answer that one. Sam and Emily were just coming into view. I watched the older paramedic slowly slide a neck brace onto Charlie being careful not to move him in the process. I found that rather ironic considering how Emily and I had yanked him from the car. I took a deep breath and rapidly put my thoughts in order.

"We weren't far behind him on the road." I said a silent prayer that no one would ask who "we" were, because I wasn't quite sure how I was going to explain Sam's sudden appearance. "We knew that we had to help him."

The paramedics had slid a flat back board alongside Charlie. "We're gonna get him to the hospital," the younger man said in the direction of the police officer, "you can sort out the rest of the details there. Can you help us get him moved?"

The officer looked put out, but he quickly accepted that the paramedic had a valid point. They rolled Charlie to the side in order to maneuver the board under him. They enlisted the help of Jacob and Sam to brace the awkward looking leg during the move.

"Ow," Charlie moaned. The movement must have jarred him awake again. He opened his eyes and took in the scene around him. "Did you guys see the deer?"

Jacob and I looked at each other, neither of us sure if speaking or silence would be most helpful.

"Did you hit a deer Chief?" the officer asked.

"It just darted right out there," he said and then closed his eyes again. "I bet the wolves got it," he muttered. "Weren't the wolves loud, Bells? It was like they were right next to us."

"Ya, dad," I agreed, "they were pretty impressive."

This time when I chanced a glance at Jacob, it was not me he was looking at. He and Sam were locked in a mental conversation that I did not have to be a part of the wolf pack to understand. The paramedics positioned themselves at the head and the foot of the board that Charlie was lying on. The police officer and Jacob fell into place on the sides to help disperse the load. Emily and I walked arm in arm as the group returned to the road where the ambulance was parked, safely away from the blaze, of course. Sam drifted off into the trees and I knew that somewhere in the woods, a deer would soon be sacrificed to create the scene. By daylight, it would be appropriately disemboweled and found at a believable location to corroborate the deer and wolf remarks. Charlie couldn't have created a better alibi if he had tried. I sure as shootin' knew I couldn't have.

We put our story together on the way to the hospital. The Rabbit was drivable, but Jacob was going to have to put some serious hours into it if he wanted it to look decent again. Sam joined us as we were walking into the lobby so slyly that I barely even noticed. My reputation of klutziness assured that no one would raise an inquiry when I reported that I lit the signal flare to be able to see in the trunk, but then dropped it as I stepped away. We had stopped at the reservation to pick up Sam and Emily to join us at home for a late night movie and pizza. It sounded like such a nice arrangement; I had to keep reminding myself that we hadn't really planned it. I sincerely wished that we had. It would have been much more fun than the way we spent the remainder of the night.

Charlie had to have a craniotomy to relieve pressure from bleeding in his head. I paced, I fretted, I accidentally drew blood from Jacob's hand two different times with my fingernails. He kept reminding me that he healed quickly when I apologized. Fortunately, there were not many people in the surgery waiting area of the hospital at that hour on a Saturday night, but the few that happened to pass through confirmed my suspicions of what we must look like.

Charlie was kept in a drug induced coma. It was like watching a shadow of him breathing only when the whir of the machine prompted. I fully understood what my parents, and Edward for that matter, must have gone through last year while I recovered from James' attempt on my life. I didn't remember anything between when I passed out at the ballet studio and awoke days later in the hospital, but they did. Edward had told me a few times that it was the most agonizing time he had spent on this earth, waiting to see if I would come back to him. Renee had gushed about how I had added at least six wrinkles to her forehead during that time. Charlie. Charlie had not said a word; I had read it in his eyes and in the way he hugged me every time since then.

Two days later, Jacob and I were in the surgery waiting room again while an orthopedic surgeon plated the broken bones in Charlie's leg. At least we were more appropriately dressed. The head injury must have deadened the pain in his leg. I had repeated the story to the doctor about the walk from the police cruiser to the shelter of the tree the night of the accident. "Winced," the doctor had choked out, "he shouldn't have even been able to walk."

The weeks that followed were a blur of school and hospital visits and doctor updates and people from all over Forks stopping by to wish the Chief well. Jacob was with me through so much of it that I probably should have worried that he was shirking other duties. I was just so grateful to have him there that I willfully ignored my guilt over monopolizing his time.

At least the scenario had provided me with a believable excuse as to why I left the prom when I did. I think Angela suspected something was amiss; she must have read the full report in the newspaper and deduced that the times didn't quite match up, a fact that went completely over Mike's spiky blond head. She never voiced her doubts. The Forks Daily Standard printed nearly as many retractions as articles, so times not matching didn't really raise a huge amount of suspicion. I suspected that was her reasoning; I never asked. I didn't want to bring it up.

I relied on my experience from my post-Edward zombie days to carry me through my studies. And, when Lauren lashed out at me, I found that I just didn't care. I had more important things to worry about than what that insignificant little witch thought of me. I do believe I shocked our entire lunch table on the last day of school when I actually told her that out loud.

"Here, here!" Ben said emphatically, raising his cardboard container of chocolate milk in the air in a toast.

As if the surprise of mild-mannered Ben being the one to second my motion of an attack on Lauren, what followed gave me a much needed moment of comic relief. Our entire table raised milk cartons, Gatorade bottles, soda cans, even a Styrofoam cup of coffee, whatever was in front of them at the time. Although it did not produce a dignified "clink", it gave an effect that pleased me. Lauren stood up and dramatically stomped out of the cafeteria.

"I can't believe you just said that," Jessica gasped.

I wasn't sure if she was talking to me or Ben, so I shrugged my shoulders and returned my gaze to my to-do list for the evening. The vindictive side of me wished I would have thought to do that months ago.

"So Bella," Mike asked after the chatter over Lauren's departure had died down, "you seriously aren't doing anything for graduation."

"I'm showing up," I clarified, "that's all I really think is necessary."

"You and Jacob are welcome to come by my party, its right after graduation," Jessica said.

"I appreciate that Jes, but we're going to go up to the hospital and have supper with Charlie. He feels terrible that he can't be there, especially since Renee can't make it."

"Woa," Mike snorted, "when did this happen? Bella, you're Mom isn't coming either."

"My step-father broke his leg. She is staying with him," I said matter-of-factly. I missed Renee horribly, but given Charlie's current circumstances, I could understand her need to stay behind with Phil.

I didn't want to hurt the feelings of any of my friends, because I truly did appreciate each of them, but the only person I really cared about being at my graduation would be there. Jacob would be by my side, just like always, tomorrow.