Disclaimer: I still don't own Twilight, any of the characters or any dialogue that sounds familiar.


Chapter 6

The next day was Friday. Thank God. I was utterly exhausted. This morning, when I walked into the kitchen, Carlisle had been drinking his coffee, of course. He took one look at my face and frowned. I had groaned and turned away, muttering my apologies. How was I supposed to control the nightmares? I couldn't make them go away. I tried to give him some comfort though, as I made my way to the counter with my bowl full of Apple Jacks. I concentrated very hard and managed to finish nearly the whole bowl. As I chewed my last bite, my gaze flicked to Carlisle. A slight smile touched his lips as he blatantly watched me. When my eyes met his, he smiled even wider. I felt my own lips turn up and I looked down immediately. Warmth spread through me at the look that his eyes held. It was ridiculous. It was just a bowl of cereal. But it showed I was trying. Which I guess was good enough for him.

"Edward," he had said. "Esme and I would like very much to take you out tonight. We thought we could show you around Port Angeles."

I had been shocked as I looked at him.

"Just you. Alice and Emmett made plans with Rosalie and Jasper."

That was this morning. I was still surprised Esme and Carlisle wanted an evening with just me. Seems like they could have taken advantage of Alice and Emmett's plans to have an evening to themselves. It should be an interesting evening, to say the least.

Right now though, it was lunch time and I stood outside the cafeteria. After the near catastrophe of yesterday, the school was a buzz with gossip. Everyone was talking about "my heroic flight" through the parking lot. People looked at me with awe in their eyes. Even now, as I stood still, I felt my classmates walking by, their eyes focused on me, even when they had passed me by. My fists clenched. I didn't want their admiration, or their awe. So I had done one good thing. It in no way atoned for all my failures. I just wanted an hour of peace. So it was with a roll of my eyes at my own cowardice that I made my way to the library. I could only take some solace in the fact that I wasn't avoiding her this time. I was simply avoiding the whole student body. I knew I would see her in biology. My heart kicked up at the thought of seeing her again and my arms remembered what it was like to hold her. Idiot.

When the bell rang signally the end of lunch, I gathered my books and walked very slowly to the biology building. As I entered the room, I saw Bella was already sitting at her table. She appeared to be doodling on her binder. As I got closer, I could see the eyes she was sketching. That idiotic part of my brain wondered if they would be green if she had a colored pencil.

I felt an intense need to make up for my rudeness on my first day of school. "Hello," I said quietly as I sat down and arranged my books on my desk.

She seemed startled that I had spoken to her. That made me feel like even more of a loser. But then, I had been going pretty out of my way to avoid her. She turned the full force of her brown eyes on me and again the electricity ran through me. "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to introduce myself. My name is Edward Masen." I wanted to curl up and hide. I sounded like a moron. "You're Bella," I continued like an idiot. I needed to look away from her eyes so that I could maintain some semblance of control.

Bella smiled slightly at me. "It's nice to meet you."

Honestly, she sounded as flustered as I was. Thankfully, before I could say anything else and make an even bigger fool out of myself, Mr. Banner arrived at our table, placing a microscope and slides on our table. I picked up one of the slides and placed it under the microscope. I glanced at the worksheet Mr. Banner had given us. Today we were supposed to put these slides of onion root in to the phases of mitosis.

"Ladies first?" I asked as I pushed the microscope closer to her.

She began to curl her hand around the eyepiece of the microscope, but she stopped and looked at me again. "How did you do it?" she asked quietly.

"Do what?" I really didn't think she was referring to my placing the slide in the microscope.

"Yesterday. You saved my life. You were halfway across the parking lot and Tyler's van was coming so quickly. How did you get to me so fast?"

"I don't know," I said quietly. "I didn't think about it. I just ran." I shrugged and remembered the adrenaline pumping my legs in that moment. "I guess you could say I had an adrenaline rush."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Mike Newton did say you were fast." Then she bit her lip. "I'm glad."

I nearly snorted. "Me too."

Now she did look into the microscope. As she studied the slide, I studied her profile. She had beautiful, long thick hair. It was pulled off her face with a head band and then fell straight down her back. I wondered if it was as soft as it looked. She was pale, with a rosy undertone. I thought about how red her face had turned when the EMTs forced her onto the stretcher. The memory made me smile.

"Prophase," she stated as she turned to me.

"May I?" I asked, biting back another smile as she looked insulted. A glance through the lens told me she was correct and I carefully wrote the term in the correct space of the worksheet.

"Told you," she said.

Still smiling, I took out the first slide and slid the second into place. I think I had smiled more in the last ten minutes than I had in the last ten years. I looked into the microscope. "Anaphase," I said confidently.

"May I?" she asked, repeating my own words. Again a smile tickled my lips as I pushed the microscope towards her. She looked for a few seconds, allowing me a little more time to gaze at her perfection. Her lips were pink. Like her hair I wondered if they were as soft they looked. "Anaphase," she agreed, sounding slightly disgruntled that she hadn't been able to prove me wrong. Again I wrote the term on the sheet.

We both reached for slide three at the same time. Our hands touched and I gasped as the electric shock raced through my skin. I turned to her and saw her staring at her hand. She must have felt my eyes because she turned to me and again we stared. "Sorry," I managed. I looked away and tried to take a deep breath. I pulled the microscope to me and slipped the third slide in with shaking hands. I glanced at the slide. "Interphase," I whispered. I reached for the paper and wrote the word in. I glanced at Bella, but she didn't ask to see the slide this time. She was staring at me still.

"Bella," I needed to stop this. This was wrong. She was so good. She deserved someone who wasn't a monster. "Bella," I repeated her name. "This is a really bad idea."

She snapped out of her momentary daze. "Why?" she asked, confused.

"I just…I…If you were smart, you'd stay away from me." I confessed. She needed to understand that.

"What if I don't want to stay away from you?" she inquired stubbornly.

"I'm not what you think I am," I said, trying to get it through her brain. "I don't mean to be rude. But it's really best if we aren't friends."

Confusion swept over her face. I knew I wasn't making any sense, but I was doing this for her. If she really knew me, she wouldn't want to be friends.

She continued to stare at me as I turned to clean up our slides. I felt her eyes on me as Mr. Banner picked up our worksheet. He scanned the answers, then nodded with approval.

"Edward…" she whispered softly.

But I was saved by the bell. As it rang out, I once again grabbed my books and raced out before anyone else had left their seat. Unspeakably rude, but I couldn't face her any longer.

After school, I dumped my school bag in my room and headed for the piano. It was seated at the beautiful instrument that I could finally let out my frustrations.

***

"So Edward, this what Esme and I would like to do."

I looked at Carlisle, who was carefully guiding his Mercedes S55 AMG through the streets of Port Angeles. He met my eyes in the rearview mirror. "We've noticed that you seem to enjoy music. So we thought we could go check out Hi-Tech Electronics and get a stereo system for your room."

My jaw dropped. I couldn't help it. Those were the last words that I expected to come out of Carlisle's mouth. When he had mentioned my love of music, I had assumed he meant we could go look at CDs, or possibly sheet music. Maybe go to some park and hear a local band play. But buying a stereo system? I had a feeling he wasn't talking about a CD player either. Carlisle glanced at me and Esme turned. She smiled lovingly at me. "Honey, we want you to make your room your own. We thought with music, you'd be able to do that."

I nodded, feeling numb. I hadn't received a present since, well since before my mom remarried. Anything I owned, I had bought with my own money. Which hadn't been much, so I didn't own much. The Cullen's blew me away with all their fancy cars and gigantic house. And now they wanted to use some of that money on me. It made me feel a bit awkward, but also another emotion that I couldn't name. When Carlisle pulled into the store parking lot, I exited the car, still unable to find any words to properly say all that was going through my head.

We walked in and a sales person was talking to Carlisle almost instantly. Carlisle's words became a buzz in my ears as he explained what he was looking for in a system. "Edward." Esme's gentle voice broke through the ringing in my ears. "Would you like to go look the selection of CDs? Pick out your favorites."

"I…um, okay." I knew they were just trying to make me happy. I truly did like music. Actually, I loved music. Playing the piano comforted me as nothing else could and I know Esme saw me sitting at the piano often. But this was beyond overwhelming. I didn't deserve their kindness and it made me feel horrible for taking advantage of them. I scanned the CDs, not sure what to do. A name jumped out at me and with a shaky hand I reached out for it. Debussy. I turned the CD over and ran my eyes over the play list. Claire de Lune.

"What's that Daddy?"

"This is a beautiful type of music, son." My father looked down from the CD player he was fiddling with. "You like it?"

I nodded and closed my eyes. The music seemed to lift around me. The melody was soothing and I smiled. Then I felt my mother's hands on my shoulders. I opened my eyes and she lifted me into her arms. She shifted until she held my little hand out, putting us into a waltzing position. "Would you like to dance with me, sweetheart?"

"Yes!" I giggled as we began slowly spinning around the room in time with the music. I looked towards my father and saw happiness shining on his face.

"Edward, are you alright?"

Startled, I looked down at Esme, concern clouding her face. I nodded, but could feel the tears sliding down my cheeks. "I, um." I looked around frantically, spotting Carlisle at the counter, paying for the extensive system he had just bought me. "I..I" I didn't know what to say or what to do. Esme reached for my arm and I cringed away. I saw the hurt on her face and it broke me. "I'm sorry," I cried, ashamed that I couldn't even let her touch me, after all she had done. "I don't deserve this. I'm so sorry." Then I turned and ran.

It was a bad decision, given the fact that I was in a strange city, but my brain wasn't thinking. I felt like I was choking as I ran, desperate for oxygen, but afraid to stop. They didn't understand what a monster I was. I needed to tell them, so they would stop worrying. I needed to tell them so they would stop caring. Because I knew they were. I could see it in their eyes and their faces. They were starting to care about me. And worse, a hundred times worse, I was starting to care about them. They didn't need someone like me caring for them. Everything I cared about was destroyed. I raced down the unfamiliar streets, trying to out run my own feelings. I couldn't care. I wouldn't care that I had probably hurt them by running out like that. I wouldn't. I lost track of time and how far I had gone. Building flew by me as my feet pounded the cement.

Eventually I couldn't run anymore. I leaned against a brick building, my chest jerking. Sobs ripped through me as I sank down to the ground. I put my forehead on my knees, my whole body shaking as I tried to catch my breath. After a while, I could breathe again. I lifted my head, resting against the wall behind my back. I closed my eyes and took another deep breath, filling my lungs.

"Stay away from me."

My eyes shot open at the words. I looked around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary. I was in an alley between two brick buildings. I stood up and stepped out of the alley. Disoriented, I looked at the large warehouses that lined the street. This did not resemble the touristy town I had driven through in the safety of Carlisle's Mercedes.

"Don't touch me."

My heart stopped as I heard the voice again. This time it was clearer, louder. And I recognized it. Where? My mind screamed at me. I looked to the right and left and still couldn't see anything. Then I heard footsteps to my right. I took off, once again racing down the sidewalk. When I reached the end of the block, I skidded to a stop. There, just around the corner, three guys surrounded one girl. They were in a half circle around her, her back pressed to the wall of the building behind her. She gripped her purse tightly in her hands, and she sucked in air as if she was about to scream. Her frantic chocolate brown eyes narrowed with focus. Bella.

A growl tore from my throat as I watched the vile filth approach her. "Come on sugar," one of the men crooned as he reach out a hand to touch her. "You know you want this. You wouldn't be way out here if you didn't."

"Get away from her," I snarled. I crouched down, ready for the fight.

All three men whipped around to look at me.

"Edward," I heard her gasped. And then my attention was only on the three men. They were older than me by a several years. One of them wore a Huskies Football sweatshirt and internally, I groaned at the thought that these particular pieces of filth played division one football from the University of Washington.

"Hey tough guy," one of them said a smirk on his face. I could smell the alcohol coming off them in waves.

My fists clenched and though my heart pounded, I refused to feel fear. I would protect Bella, no matter what happened to me. "Bella," I said between my teeth. "Get out of here. Now."

I didn't get the chance to see if she obeyed my command, because the three men descended at that moment. They were strong, but I had years of fighting off my drunken step father on my side. I shoved one of the men back, knocking him off balance. It wasn't difficult to do. Then I lifted my fist and smashed it into the nose of the one with the football sweatshirt. His friend didn't like that and he barreled after me, preparing to tackle me like the defensive end he probably was. But in his drunken state, he weaved and I tucked out of his way easily. He ran into his friends instead and brought them both down. It would have been comical if the situation hadn't been so dire. I looked up then and saw Bella still standing at the wall, her eyes wide. Taking advantage of the men's clumsy drunkenness I ran to her. "Come on," I said, grabbing her hand. "Bella, we have to get out of here."

She began moving, then seemed to trip over her own feet. "Sorry," she muttered. We walked faster, and she tripped again. By now the men had regained their feet and begun to saunter over to us. I needed to get us out of here, now. Without thinking of what I was doing, I grabbed Bella's arm and threw her on to my back. "Hold on," I whispered. Her arms came around my neck in nearly a choke hold and her legs wrapped around my waist. All around me I could feel her electricity and I could smell her beautiful bouquet of strawberries and freesia. But now wasn't the time. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the men still advancing. Then I took off. I heard her gasp and bury her face in my neck, but I didn't slow down. I couldn't run as fast as I normally would with her slight weight on my back, but adrenaline and the intense need for her to be safe pushed my legs to go as fast as they possibly could. Behind me, I could hear the men's footsteps as they pursued me. For the first block, they kept up and I started to worry that maybe we wouldn't escape. But then, during the second block, their footsteps became quieter and the sound of the yells reached my ears. By the third block, I risked glancing over my shoulder and saw them still giving chase, but all the alcohol in their systems caused them to teeter and stumble. By the sixth block, I couldn't hear their footsteps at all. And when I glanced back, I saw them two blocks back, with their hands on their knees. I didn't slow as I raced up another block. I turned and continued on for another block. Satisfied that they wouldn't catch us, I slowed. Bella still gripped my neck. I put my hand on her arm. "Are you okay?" I asked softly.

She let go and slide down my back. "Yeah, now. Thanks to you."

I turned to face her. Other than a bit paler than usual, she looked unharmed. "Are you hurt?" I reached up and tucked a stray brown lock behind her ear.

She shook her head. "You came before they could do anything." Her eyes raced over my body. "Are you?"

"No." I smiled then, realizing that we were safe. That she was safe.

Then she tilted her head and smiled.

"What?"

"That's twice, you know."

"What do you mean?"

"Twice that you've saved my life. Let me guess," her smile grew wider. "Another adrenaline rush?"

A laugh burst out from my lips. "Yeah, you could say that." I looked at her, not sure how to explain the intensity of my feelings. "I feel," I stopped and bit my lip. "I feel very protective of you," I said quietly. I put my hand on her cheek and she reached up, cradling my hand in her own.

"Thank you," she whispered.

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