A/N: HOMEWORK/TESTS!!! ARG!

A Twist in My Story

EPOV

My hand slowly closed around the crumpled paper, my anger growing with every second and every shake of Bella's sobbing body against mine. I still didn't know who this guy was, but I knew Bella was scared of him. I gently turned her around and hugged her to my chest, laying my head on top of hers as she sobbed into my shirt. Her fists closed around pieces of my shirt as her tears soaked in. I held her as she sobbed, barely noticing Alice and Rose walk in behind us.

"What's going on? Bella, what's wrong?" Alice asked, walking up behind me. Bella just buried her face farther into my shirt.

Alice turned to me. I could see her looking at me, could tell she was saying something, but nothing registered. I just stared blankly at the wall behind her. She must have noticed the paper in my hand because I felt her tugging at it, her lips forming words again, but I heard nothing of what she said. I felt her hand squeeze my arm and she continued to try to get my attention. I figured she wanted the paper, since she kept trying to pull it out of my hand, and told myself to let go. My grip lessened after a few seconds, my mind slow with the news the note brought. The paper slipped out with Alice's last gentle tug and I used my newly empty hand to hold Bella tighter.

I heard Alice gasp, and Rose's voice muttered something, but I didn't pay any attention. I slowly closed my eyes and kissed the top of Bella's head, slowly leading her to the edge of her bed. I sat down carefully, making sure she sat as well, and continued to hold her. She had stopped sobbing by now, but her body was flinching at the slightest of sounds. She also still had tears freely falling down her face. She moved around until she was sitting in my lap and let her hands fall from their grip on my shirt. She put her face in the crook of my neck, her tears continuing to flow. The direct contact seemed to jolt my mind out of its stupor, and Alice's words finally started registering and making sense.

"Edward! Edward, tell me what's going on! Edward!" she kept repeating, sitting next to me and leaning forward so that she was looking right in my eyes. I didn't have a response, and just looked down at Bella. Alice must have noticed my return to full consciousness, because she got down on the floor right in front of me and put her hands on my knees. She spoke softly, like someone would to a small frightened child.

"Edward, tell me what's going on. Who's this note from?" I tried to say something, but my voice wasn't cooperating, so I just glanced from her back to Bella.

"Is it someone she knows?" I nodded once. "Edward, you have to tell us what's going on. We can't help unless we know." I felt Bella tense against me and shook my head once. It wasn't my story, and I wasn't going to tell it if she didn't want me to.

"Edward, you can't help her all by yourself. Do you even know who it is? What they are?" she tried to reason. The truth was that I didn't when I didn't respond, she knew that, too.

"You need our help, Edward, and you know it. Doesn't it make more sense to have six vampires on your side? What are you going to do if this person's a vampire?" My whole body tensed and my eyes grew cold. I slowly raised my gaze to meet hers, my words sharp.

"If you had changed me before, we wouldn't be having this problem." Alice practically growled.

"You know why we didn't, so don't even go there!" She looked like she was about ready to strangle me. "We knew you wanted to be changed, but we also knew you didn't want to live the rest of your life in a chair! There was no way for us to know if you would have been healed with how long it had been since the accident! You know that! Carlisle made sure you knew!"

"No one's said anything now that I can walk, have they?" I asked, sarcasm rolling off my tongue. Alice was about to say something when Bella's hand touched my neck and I felt her shake her head against me.

"No what, Bella?" I asked gently, trying to keep my anger in check. She pulled back just enough so that I could turn my head and look at her. Seeing her tearstained face made my heart contract with guilt. This whole thing started because of a note to her, and yet, here I was, arguing with Alice over something that wasn't all that important at the time. Bella's hand was shaking as she signed to me.

Tell them, Edward. It doesn't matter anymore, so they might as well know. She wouldn't look at me as she said it, and I could see another tear make its way down her face. I put my hand on the side of her face and wiped it away with my thumb.

"Are you sure?" I asked. She nodded once before leaning against me again, closing her eyes and sighing in what sounded like defeat. I nodded once, sighing myself, before turning my gaze to Alice and Rose.

"I can only tell you what she's told me so far. I don't know how much more there is to it, though." They just nodded.

So, I recapped everything Bella told me yesterday, my voice growing hard every time I mentioned the other guy. I still had no idea who he was, but I felt like I hated him just as much as I would if I knew him. Alice and Rosalie let me tell the whole story without interrupting, except for a gasp or mumbled curse every now and then. When I finished, Rose turned away and Alice stared at Bella, her eyes full of unshed tears. None of us said anything, and Bella didn't move. I had felt her flinch when I mentioned her family, but she kept her eyes closed.

Esme was the first to break the silence, her shaking form coming around the corner into the room. Her mouth was slightly open in what looked to be shock and tears welled up in her eyes. She kneeled down next to Alice, folding her legs under her as she sat.

"Bella…why did you let him do that? Why didn't you leave him sooner?" Bella flinched at the questions, and guessed she had asked herself the same ones. Bella had already told me, so I answered.

"She didn't think it would happen again. She kept the image of how he was when they first met at the front of her mind instead of seeing what was in front of her," I said softly.

It might not have been exactly what she told me, but it's what I figured out by the self-contempt she showed as she told me. I saw Bella look up at me and looked back. She seemed shocked that I'd figured that part out, but just let her head fall against my chest again, her eyes closed. I thought I also heard a sigh, like she was relieved that she didn't have to admit to it.

"So…you tried to leave when he…did that?" Rose asked, trying to keep her voice calm. I looked at her face and could tell she was anything but. I felt Bella nod and watched as Rose's face hardened before my eyes.

"You were right to," she said. "No matter what happened because of it, you were right to try to leave. Believe me." And with that, she half-ran out of the room. I watched her leave, knowing what was going on in her mind. The four of us sat there in silence for a few minutes, not knowing what to do. I closed my eyes and rested my chin on top of Bella's head.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered, keeping my eyes closed.

"I called Carlisle, but he's the only doctor in today. He can't leave until another doctor comes in."

I opened my eyes to see Jasper leaning against the door frame, his hands in his pockets. He looked a little uncomfortable for eavesdropping, but I could see his frustration and anger. He walked over and stood next to Alice, who looked up and smiled sadly at him.

"The way I see it, there's really nothing we can do right now. We don't know where he is, and only have a vague idea of what he's planning. We know he's coming for Bella, but we don't know when, where, or how he'll try to get her." Jasper smiled cynically. "Why not just go to school? We're already late, but who cares?" I sighed.

"We might as well. Maybe get Lucas to spill about the note," I said.

"You think he had something to do with it?" Alice asked softly. I shrugged.

"He took Bella's bag yesterday. That's where she found the note. How else could it have gotten in there? One of you would have noticed if he came in here while you were home." I felt Bella stiffen slightly and looked down at her. She glanced at me and looked away quickly.

"Bella? Is there something we should know about him?" I asked gently. She just looked at her lap. I took her chin in my hand and turned her face to mine. She kept averting her eyes, only glancing at me for a second.

"Bella, if there's something we need to know, you've got to tell us," I pleaded. She kept glancing at me hesitantly, but nodded after a few seconds.

He…has a lot of powers. I…I'm not sure, but he might be able to…hide himself, she signed shakily. I turned my head to one side, slightly confused.

"What do you mean, Bella?" I asked after translating. Everyone else seemed to have the same question. "What do you mean, hide himself?" She seemed hesitant to answer. She started to just as Emmett and Rose came in. They stood against the wall, Emmett's hand on Rose's hip and her arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes were slightly red-rimmed, but neither of them said anything.

"Go ahead, Bella," I said softly. She nodded.

He…When he'd follow me, I wouldn't know he was there until I saw him. I think…I think he can hide his presence, and I know he can change how he looks. It doesn't matter if he changes his appearance now, because I wouldn't even be able to recognize him. I just know what he…feels like, I guess. I don't know how else to describe it. His presence? She shook her head and shrugged. I let the others know what she said and rubbed her back as she leaned against my chest.

"So he could be anyone right now…" Alice whispered, voicing what all of us were thinking. Bella nodded.

Everyone except another vampire. He can get extremely close, but he can't perfectly match them. I don't know why, Bella signed, seeming agitated. I squeezed her shoulder once and she put her hand over mine.

I sighed and rested my forehead against the top of Bella's. "Anyone."

*~*~*

Emmett punched him square in the face. I could hear his nose break from where I was sitting, about five feet away. He caught his balance before he smacked back against the lockers, but nothing was going to stop the blood rushing down his face. Bella grabbed my shoulder from her position behind my chair, probably from the crunch of his nose.

"Have anything else to say, asshole?" Emmett boomed. Lucas just laughed, his voice muffled by all the blood.

He had just finished another rant, Bella and I the victims once again. He made a mistake this time, Jasper, Emmett, Alice, and Rose with us instead of somewhere else in the school. Emmett had already been seething from the events of the day before, and the latest string of profanities as we made our way to the parking lot was enough to set him off. He had been so focused on us that Emmett's attack seemed to catch him off guard, but he recovered quickly. Lucas shook his head, hysterical laughter escaping his blood-covered mouth. He backed towards the exit doors, a mad glint showing in his eyes.

"Your little boyfriend won't be able to save you, Isabella. You're not safe. You'll never be safe." And with that, he turned and ran out of the building.

Rose walked over to Emmett, talking to him quietly to get him to calm down. Jasper looked like he was doing the same, but staying at a distance in case it had the opposite effect. Bella's hand trembled on my shoulder and I moved mine under it, lacing her fingers with mine. She squeezed my hand and I squeezed back, letting her know I was there. She surprised me by wrapping her arms around my shoulders, without separating our hands, and laying her head on my shoulder. Her face was facing my neck and I could feel her labored breaths as she exhaled. One tear slipped down her face and landed on me.

"Come on, Bella," I whispered. "Let's get out of here." She nodded against me, sniffing as she raised her head. I pressed the back of her hand to my lips before letting her fingers slip out of mine. She looked as shocked as I did at my actions, but a soft smile slowly spread across her face.

All of us made our way outside, Emmett and Jasper looking to see if Lucas had stuck around. As I expected, he didn't. Bella stood behind me as I got into the truck, but I didn't really need help anymore. There were times when my knees would give out, but they were getting fewer and farther in between.

She folded the chair and stuck it behind my seat before getting in on her side and starting the truck. She wiped at her eyes one last time before backing out of the spot and heading towards the road. I was thinking about what Lucas had said that day, mostly about Bella but not forgetting to take a crack at me every now and then, when I decided to say something I hadn't expected to until we got to the meadow. It shocked me even as I said it.

"It was an accident," I said, swearing at myself for being so vague. I glanced at her and she slowed down, trying to give us more time to talk before we got home.

What was? She asked, using one hand before quickly replacing it on the steering wheel.

"Why I was in that wheelchair all that time. It was a car accident." I sighed and leaned my head against the window.

"I was the most popular guy at my private school. Just your average jock that all the girls wanted to be with, even if they didn't really like them. They'd get as close as they could to breaking the dress code just to try to get our attention, no matter how shallow it made them look." I tsk-ed at myself, thinking about how close I came to dating one of them.

"I was approached all the time, mostly because I always said no. I think it just became a game after a while. Who'll be the first to get him to say yes?" I asked sarcastically. I shook my head.

"Anyway, I had gotten in trouble for something stupid, and it wasn't the first time. My parents were getting tired of always being called into the school, and decided to try somewhere else. They took me to Forks High, ironically enough, and we took a tour. I don't think I was really a bad kid, and my parents didn't seem to either. They never told me I shouldn't do this anymore, or anything like that. They just told me I had to learn how to make better choices. They wouldn't explain, but I think it had to do with my choice of friends. I wasn't ecstatic with moving to a different school, but I didn't argue with them. I wasn't stupid. I could see that my friends were only my friends because of my position on the different sports teams I played." I smiled, thinking about how good I had it now.

"In celebration of what they liked to refer to as a new beginning for me," I said, emphasizing those two words, "they decided to take me to Port Angeles for the day. I had already gone through the first five weeks at the private school, but they said a new start meant I had to get new everything. Clothes, shoes, books, anything you could possibly imagine was what they said they were going to buy me." Bella pulled into the driveway and put the truck in park. She turned her body so that she was facing me and nodded for me to continue.

"It was a Saturday. Mom and dad were in the front, and I was sitting behind the passenger seat. We had gone maybe a quarter of the way. Dad had started singing along to the radio and mom and I were laughing. I don't know what it was, but something shot out in front of the car and dad swerved to the right. There was a car coming in the other lane, and he had enough time to think about them while he was trying to avoid us getting hurt. He shouldn't have," I said bitterly. Bella reached over and gently took my hand. She squeezed it once, and I squeezed back.

"He swerved around whatever it was, but he lost control. There was a drop right next to the road, and the car caught on something along the guardrail. We flipped over it." My voice was starting to catch and I could feel the burn of tears building up behind my eyes. Bella stifled a gasp and I turned my head towards the window.

"We rolled a few more times. I don't remember how many, but we stopped on the roof. I blacked out after that. When I started waking up, the paramedics were there. I opened my eyes, but everything was all blurry. I could see shapes moving around, and I guessed they were people. I could hear them coming down to us, but I couldn't move." I felt the first traitorous tear slide down my face, but I didn't wipe it away. I heard a buzzing coming from my bag, but I left my phone in there. I had to get through this first.

"They went to my parents first, but they were…already…gone. The paramedic came to me next, but I don't remember anything after he called for help and told me everything was going to be okay. I remember my legs being pinned, but I don't know whether or not I actually felt the pain I remember or if I made it up." I almost broke into hysterics, but Bella's hand squeezed mine, bringing me back to what I was saying.

"I kept gaining and losing consciousness once they got me into the ambulance. I heard something about the car being bent slightly right in front of me. It's what pinned my legs. I also heard the beeping of the heart monitor every now and then. I actually heard my heart miss a bunch of beats and they would start freaking before it would start beating again. It was always erratic. One beat wouldn't even finish before another started, or there would be a big gap between them. I didn't even know that was possible." I shook my head, smiling strangely.

"They kept telling me 'Everything's going to be fine. You're going to be fine. We're almost there.' They just repeated themselves, tapping my chest every now and then to try to keep me awake. They told me I hit my head on the window, but I didn't remember that happen. The headache that hit as soon as they mentioned it in the ambulance told me they were right. I didn't care what had happened to me at that point, but I didn't have much of a choice. They told me my back was injured, and I was bleeding, but they couldn't do anything about it until they knew there wasn't any permanent damage."

I had unconsciously moved my free hand to the scar along my back. A piece of the window had somehow managed to stay in one relatively large piece and had gotten wedged between me and my seat while we were rolling down the hill. It had been a little more than a superficial wound, but it made them examine my back more than anywhere else. It was when they found the break.

"I don't remember anything after that, except a little in the recovery room after surgery. They woke me up from the anesthesia just to have me almost immediately fall back asleep. The only words I heard were 'poor boy' and 'paralyzed'. I wasn't awake enough to ask what they were talking about, but I overheard a conversation between two of the doctors when I woke up in my room. It was the first day I met Carlisle, ironically enough." I gave a half-hearted laugh and my phone buzzed again. I looked down at my bag and noticed the wet marks all over my shirt from my tears. I swiped at them fiercely and wrenched my bag open with my free hand. I refused to let go of Bella's.

The front screen read 2 NewMessages and I flipped it open. Both of them were from Alice, and I knew she would have called unless it was important. Like, I-can't-let-a-certain-person-know-I'm-telling-you-this kind of important. I sighed deeply and opened the first one. My brow furrowed in confusion and building anxiety. I opened the other one and my eyes grew wide. I turned to Bella, who was looking at me curiously.

"We've got to get to the house. Apparently someone is there to see you."

A/N: I know, another long wait. Well, the end of second quarter tends to cut in on free/writing time, so it was a little difficult to get this done. BUT, here it is. Hopefully it was worth the wait, even though you kind of knew most of Edward's story already.

The song is A Twist in My Story by Second-Hand Serenade. Yes, I know some of you don't like that I do this, but it's more of a way to help me remember what happened in each chapter. Like with this one, Edward is telling his story and the song title pretty much says that. No part of the song is in the chapter. Plus, it just so happens to be the one that won't evacuate my skull at the moment…

Please review! Any guesses as to who the visitor is? I know a bunch of you will get it, even though I didn't put any kind of clue in here…AND I'll try to update on time next week. I have a max of 5 hours that I have to be at school for the entire week, so I should have a lot of free time! XD