Ahh, this chapter is where all the drama is at! This took ages to write and then type up so i better be getting some juicy reviews for all my hard work!

Enjoy people

Destiny

Chapter 11

I hum to myself as I do my rounds. It's very peaceful in this part of the hospital, in the private wards of those recovering. I make my way along the corridor overseeing the resting patients, making sure they're alright before visiting time, Last on my rounds is a girl, well, a teenage girl with hair the colour and ferocity of fire.

I walk into her room; she hasn't woken yet since she was brought in, and I check all the monitors wired to her body. She had lost so much blood. It was so saddening-watching her come in, her face drained and white, her heart barely beating- to think how close she had come to death.

She now lay in the bed, her hair fanned across the pillow, glowing in the rectangle of sunshine that shone directly across her face. Her expression was relatively peaceful, but there was a showdown of a grimace in the set of her mouth. I couldn't see her eyes. They'd been closed for the past few days.

Sometimes, on slow days like today, I like to guess what colour of eyes people have before they wake up. I think this girl; I checked her chart, Bella, has blue eyes. She has red hair and skin the off-white colour of marble so, generally, people with that appearance have crystal clear blue eyes.

"Excuse me", a voice said quietly. I turned around to see a tall boy in the door with hair the colour of bronze and eyes that weren't looking at me. In his hand he held a single small daisy and a carefully wrapped package.

"Yes?" I smiled warmly. I had seen him here before, visiting, but it had been the end of my shift and I had not spoken to him directly. The other nurses on this ward said they could barely get him to leave after visiting hours.

"How is she?" he asked, his voice strangled. His eyes flickered to my face and back to her sleeping form. He must be the boyfriend.

"She's doing fine", I said reassuringly.

He looked at me properly for the first time and the intensity of the pain in his eyes was well beyond his years. I blushed, "I'll leave you alone." He nodded once and allowed me to pass before hurrying to settle himself by her sleeping form.

When in the corridor I let out a sigh. Young love¸ I thought.

*

I can't believe I nearly lost her!

She is so beautiful, lying there without a care or a worry-yet something about her expression can't totally convince me of that.

I had arrived back in English from my errand, preparing to evade all questions till lunch when I could confess how I felt in private, to find that Bella had gone to the office because she felt ill. The rest of English was torture. I know she could make herself ill through anger alone so I was so worried at what state I'd eventually find her in.

After English I sprinted out of the class and searched the playground for her. I spotted her out of the schools boundaries, mounting the country path that was hundred yards from the side gate. She would have been nearly inconspicuous if it weren't for her red hair, flashing in the sun like a warning light: danger.

I made my way after her, a speck in the distance, climbing higher like signal fire when I realised Tanya was already in pursuit, dashing out the side gate.

I paused. Did I really want to tell her in front of Tanya? It would hurt her, but waiting was hurting me. I decided now was the only time, when Jacob wasn't attached to her like a limpet.

I ran. Faster than I'd ever run before. Usually I'm really slow, something Bella never fails to remind me- though she meant it flippantly it had a double meaning for me: Jacob had beaten me to her- but not this time. I would not stop till I was by her side.

Desire spurred me on though my lungs burned with exertion and my legs ached: it was nothing in comparison to the feeling of a broken heart, though.

As I approached a corner I heard a frantic voice, hysteria colouring it, panic took over. I rounded the corner and I forgot all about my airless lungs and dead legs.

Bella was slumped on the floor, her hair dirty and matted, the same colour as the surrounding earth. Tanya was a distance away. I felt a wave of hatred for her as I realised she wasn't directly helping Bella because of her aversion to blood. Cowardice, selfish bitch!

I quickly rushed to Bella's side and took in the deep wound on her arm that was oozing fresh blood. Her breathing was shallow and her eyes were shut. I quickly yanked off my bag and jumper and ripped open my shirt, ignoring the chilling wind. I tore a strip of my shirt- not nearly as easy as they make it look in the movies- and wrapped it tightly above the wound, my fingers fumbling in haste and struggling to get my grip as my hands shook, now covered in her blood.

What was the other thing they'd told us to do at that first aid training thing? Elevate the wound. I did so.

"Tanya, come here!" I commanded.

She shook her head, her back to the cliff face, her eyes wide with fear and horror.

"Tanya!" I said, my voice softer, attempting patience.

She just stood, dumb and motionless, frozen with irrational fear of a thing that couldn't possibly hurt her.

But could kill Bella.

"Tanya, get the fuck over here!" I screamed. She snapped out of her frozen state and warily, painfully slowly, approached.

"I need you to hold the arm up for me", I said. She just gazed at the red stained skin.

"Tanya!" I said firmly, commanding her attention. "Don't even think about it, just do it... I need to roll her into the recovery position as best as I can."

She looked at me and nodded and then, squeezing her eyes shut, knelt down beside me and raised Bella's hand vertically above her body.

I carefully rolled her into the recovery position as was possible and stood at her side, a shield from the wind which was starting to pick up, raising the dust on the path and sending it into a frenzy. I realised it was from the helicopter air ambulance that Tanya had called.

I breathed a sigh of relief and hoped I hadn't been too late.

*

I sat in the chair beside her bed. She looked so fragile when fury didn't dominate her; when anger wasn't an invisible switch away.

I set down the present- a small hamper of her favourite sweets and fruit- and the daisy to represent the simpler times when we made daisy chains for hours, some four times the length of our height. I missed those simpler times when I still thought girls were gross and I'd want to be single forever. Now it felt like I would be and I struggled to fight back the tears that threatened to consume me.

I can't believe I nearly lost her!

I remember a couple of years ago when we were doing a unit on death in P.S.E. I remember we had to choose five people we'd want at our funeral and why. I can still remember what Bella had written:

Jesus, because he might feel like resurrecting me.

Ash, Misty and Brock so they could bring all their pokemon. (counts as one person)

MC Hammer just for the banter

Christopher Columbus because he has a cool name

Edward because he missed the miracle of my birth.

I chuckled darkly as I thought about how close she'd really come to her funeral.

The paramedics said if they'd been any later or if I hadn't bandaged her arm when I did she wouldn't be here.

So many "ifs" it didn't bear thinking about.

But she is here now and I'm here: the one who saved her life and was about to hurt her. I was going to have to tell her the truth of how I felt after so many years of careful concealment, and impatient waiting. Waiting for her to love me too.

And then I heard the sharp intake of her breath and saw her eyelids flutter. Her expression changed so quickly I wouldn't have noticed if my eyes were not fixed on her face. She looked startled, confused- probably at the overly bright and unfamiliar hospital ward- then a concentrated amount of joy when she saw me and then her features finally settled on a pained frown. I waited for her to speak.

"You and Tanya", she said sharply and bluntly and with deadened eyes.

It caught me by surprise. "What?"

"You and Tanya", she repeated, slower as if I was deaf, "You're going out." She said it like it was fact.

I dropped her hand and started coughing. This was not how I had expected this conversation to begin. Her eyes just stared at me blankly, but I could see a fierce undercurrent to the carefully controlled expression. This wasn't like Bella who was usually a slave to her violent and, usually, irrational emotions.

Once my fit of disbelief was over and I had controlled my surprise I gave her a simple answer. "We're not going out, Bella, we never have been and we never will." I said it calmly enough though my mind was struggling to find any fragment of evidence behind such a claim. Had Tanya said something?

Bella's face crimpled in confusion, her steady control already vanished. "But I saw you, in the playground... hugging, and she kissed you."

The realisation hit me and I laughed bitterly. It sounded wrong in the neutral room. She just stared at me, even more confused.

"We weren't going out. I just asked Tanya something... something that hurt her so we hugged to make up and she kissed me on the cheek. End of."

She wasn't convinced, "Asked her what?"

I scrunched up my eyes. I couldn't look Bella in the face. "I asked her out"

I could almost hear her mind ticking away, trying to decipher what I'd said.

"I... I don't understand." She said finally.

I opened my eyes and met her frustrated gaze.

"Edward!" She whined. "Just tell me!"

I took a deep breath. "I asked her out to make someone jealous."

I saw her eyes flash, brightening in anticipation.

"Who?"

I looked at her in length, memorising everything I could. Who knew when she's see me again? My eyes traced the bush of hair, her soft cheeks, her perfect lips, her beautiful eyes. Everything that helped me fall in love with her.

I knew adults would say that it's just a crush, a phase of adolescence but it's not. It's a love that runs deep into my core and makes my heart speed up every time she looks at me. It's a feeling that brightens my perspective of life. It made me feel I could wait out Bella and Jacobs crush, but it was too intense to truly survive it intact. Waiting and watching was unbearable. Every touch, every kiss made me hate him more and love her more- simply because she wasn't mine to have. So now here I am, injured, wounded and helplessly, hopelessly in love with her. When I finally gave her my heart, it would be in pieces.

"Edward?" she snapped, pulling me out of my internal confession. "Who?"

"I love you!" I said firmly and warily. It felt so good to say it out loud.

But nothing prepared me for her reaction.

Electricity crackled in her hair, her lips pulled back in a snarl and her eyes burned in fury.

This was the Bella I loved. The passionate, irrational and enigmatic girl, who was continually breaking my heart.

Aww, poor Edward. I'll love you! sadly though, he's not real :(

tough potatoes ladies.

But to cheer us all up, how about some reviews ;)

See you at the next chapter