Next chapter, because I love you all so much. Longer than any of the other ones. Anyone who has not read chapter 21 yet, please do. If not, you will probably be confused by this chapter. More than 200 reviews, and I have almost 24,000 hits! Let's get to 300 reviews before the story ends, ey? Which should be easy, since I'm only halfway done torturing you with this fanfic. MWAHAHAHAHAHA. Just kidding. But seriously, I'm only halfway done torturing you people.
I might do an Edward POV on this chapter. Review to tell me what you think.
Disclaimer: Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, I still don't own Twilight, Happy Birthday to me! (P.S.~My birthday is in July, not March. I just have the song stuck in my head.)
I had skipped school on Friday, the main reason being stress. The weekend had been uneventful, gratefully. I was going to school today, and we had the blood typing lab in Biology. I wished Edward could be there, but the smell would be too strong for him. Hell, the smell would most likely be too strong for me.
I just hoped my classmates hadn't seen the report about Damien. I didn't think most of them watched the news as soon as they got home, but some of them might. I didn't know what their reactions would be-would they attempt to comfort me, or stay as far away from me as possible? I couldn't blame them if they went out of their way to stay away-I didn't want to be mixed up in this either.
I was walking to first hour with Alice and Edward. Edward had insisted on joining us, most likely overreacting after thinking about Damien snatching me in the hallways. I didn't need him with me since I had Alice, but I greatly appreciated his company.
I couldn't keep myself from looking over my shoulder every few seconds, and if Edward had pulled me any closer to himself he would be carrying me. Everyone in my family had agreed that Alice should be searching the future-except for me. I had tried to explain to them that it wouldn't be necessary, but I didn't tell them the reason for this was because it didn't matter.
Edward walked me to the door, and I think I saw him look in at Mr. Mason and give him a warning glare.
It was like that all day. When I was walking to Government, Jasper found me faster than was normal, and on the way to Spanish from Trig, Alice walked with me, instead of going straight to the Spanish classroom like she usually did.
On the way to lunch-other than the fact that some of the boys, like Mike and Tyler, were throwing snowballs-I held a binder in my hands just in case, even with Alice right next to me. Walking to Biology was the same, except Edward had taken Alice's place. I said goodbye to him at the door, and he slowly turned and walked towards the parking lot, where he would sit in his car and wait for the hour to end. He seemed like he almost wanted to stay with me, even if there would be human blood exposed during the class.
Something had to happen soon, something had to stop this. My family didn't deserve to be put under all of this stress, and all because of me. How long could we keep this up? Days? Weeks?
I took my seat, and only a few moments later, Mr. Banner started the class. He began explaining the lab, pulling out a lancet and a small white card. Walking over to Mike Newton, he stabbed Mike's finger with the lancet, and immediately I began to feel lightheaded.
I had known this might happen. Being around blood, for me, was like dancing. It never ended well. Mr. Banner started walking around the classroom, handing out more lancets and cards. I laid my head on the lab table, the cool surface doing almost nothing to help my nausea .
Mr. Banner reached my table, and I could tell he was concerned. "Are you okay, Bella?" he asked, putting the box of lab supplies on the table. "Are you feeling faint?"
"Yes, sir," I whispered.
"Can someone take Bella to the nurse?" he called into the room.
I knew Mike would be the one to volunteer. He helped me out of my seat, and I limped out of the building. I waited until we were out of sight of Mr. Banner's building before I let myself sink to the ground, and I laid my head on the sidewalk, hoping the coldness would soothe the dizziness. "Keep your hand in your pocket," I told Mike weakly.
I laid there for a moment, before I heard a voice I would recognize anywhere.
"Bella?!" Edward yelled frantically. I didn't know what I looked like, but I knew it wasn't good. I didn't move, in fear it would make me feel even worse, and I could hear him coming towards Mike and I.
"Is she hurt?" he asked, closer than before. "What's wrong?"
"I think she's fainted-I don't know why, she didn't even stick her finger." Mike explained.
"Bella," Edward said, relieved. He was right next to me. "Can you hear me?"
"No," I mumbled. "Go away." He laughed at me.
"I'm taking her to the nurse." Mike said, defensive.
"Doesn't look like it. I'll take her. You can go back to class." Edward retorted.
Suddenly, the sidewalk was gone from underneath me, and my eyes flew open to see Edward, who was now carrying me.
"Hey! I'm supposed to do it!" Mike protested from behind us. Edward just continued walking.
The motion of his walking wasn't helping me not throw up all over him, which I was painfully imagining at the moment. That also didn't help, and I closed my eyes so I didn't have to both feel it and see it.
"Put me back on the sidewalk," I commanded, the weakness of my voice doing nothing to help me.
He just ignored me, and suddenly we were inside. I don't know how he got the door open while holding me, but he had done it before, so it wasn't that much of a wonder.
"Oh!" I heard the secretary, Ms. Cope, yell.
"They're blood typing in Biology." Edward told her, as if that was all the explanation she needed.
I could hear a door opening, and I opened my eyes again. The nurse, startled, watched Edward as he carried me across the room and placed me on the crackly white paper covering the cot. She didn't seem surprised that it was Edward, just that I looked like I was almost dead. I hadn't had much color to begin with, so I probably looked like a corpse.
"Blood typing," he told the nurse, who was holding a book that she had probably been reading when we had come in.
Apparently that was the only explanation needed, because she nodded. "I always get one." Turning to me, she said, "It'll pass after a minute, honey, just stay there."
I sighed. "I know." The dizziness was almost gone-as soon as Mike and his bloody finger were gone, it had begun to fade.
"How often does this happen?" the nurse asked, sounding surprised.
"Whenever there's blood, really." I replied sheepishly.
The nurse looked at Edward, and looked like she was about to say something, but thought better of it. "I'll get some ice, dear." she said to me, before going into another room to the right of her desk.
Edward said, "I thought Newton was dragging you off to bury you in the woods."
"Dead or alive?" I replied. He didn't find it funny.
The nurse came back in with an ice pack and handed it to me, although I didn't need it anymore. There was just a little stirring in the pit of my stomach now, and I didn't feel like I was going to throw up.
I sat up, and the walls drifted a little to the right, but other than that and a little ringing in my ears, I seemed to be fine. She was about to say something when Ms. Cope poked her head into the room. "Incoming," she warned.
I gave the ice compress back to the nurse, and was about to jump down from the cot when Edward took me from the cot and put my feet on the floor. Probably a good idea, since I most likely wouldn't have been able to keep my balance had he not helped me.
His eyes widened. "Bella, go."
I turned just as Mike staggered in with Lee Stephens, another boy from Biology. Catching the door before it closed, I ran into the office with Edward just behind me. I blinked a few times to clear my head, which had been about to fog up again, and wrinkled my nose at the smell. "Ew." I said.
"What?" Edward asked, confused.
"I could smell the blood. That's what makes me nauseous."
"You can smell blood?"
"Yes. It smells like salt, and rust. Doesn't smell all that good to me." I added the 'to me' on at the end.
Mike came out of the nurse's office and walked up to me. "Are you sure you can't go to the beach with us this weekend?"
"Sorry Mike, but I can't. Like I said before, I already have plans." That, and the fact that it wouldn't be safe. Even if I would have gone before, my family wouldn't let me now.
"Alright, are you coming back to class?" he asked.
"I would have to come right back here." I replied.
"Well...I'll see you in gym, then?
"Sure," I said tiredly.
He turned and walked out of the office, his shoulders slumping in defeat. He was still trying, even after the whole school knew Edward and I were an item-even the nurse knew. And I would have to face him again, in gym.
"Gym," I muttered. Not something I was looking forward to.
"Go sit and look sick," Edward whispered in my ear, obviously trying to help me get out of going to my seventh hour class.
I did as I was told, and I heard Edward talking to Ms. Cope. They had a short conversation that I tuned out, and soon Edward was asking me if I would walk or if he should carry me, with a sarcastic expression but a sincere tone, since Ms. Cope couldn't see his face..
"I think I'll walk," I said, relieved to be free of gym, and of Mike Newton for the rest of the day.
It was raining now, although only a light drizzle. We reached the Volvo and climbed in, and he turned the heat on for me.
"What do we do now?" I asked. "Just sit here until classes end?"
"I'm not sure. I think Esme would understand, but it might be safer here..."
There he went again, going off about my safety. How many times did I have to explain to them, for them to understand that it didn't matter where I was, or how many people were around me? Damien wasn't stupid enough to try something when I had my family around me-he probably knew who my family was already, and had seen Emmett. Another advantage for me was that they were overly defensive, so there was almost always someone with me. Even when they were hunting, they always left someone, who would hunt after they had all come back.
"Bella, I know this might be a personal question, but...what exactly happened to your parents?" Edward asked curiously.
"My parents..." I whispered. He deserved to know, after all the trouble and turmoil I had caused. I started to tell him, exactly as I remembered it.
"Ooh! Bella, honey, do you want to go on that one with us?" my mom asked, pointing to a bright red roller coaster. There was a giant sign at the entrance that said Cobra.
I didn't like to go on roller coasters. I wasn't scared of them, I was more scared at the prospect of getting sick, something I didn't enjoy. "Um...no thanks, mom. But you and dad can go on," I replied through a mouth full of cotton candy, eyeing my mom's hand, which was holding onto my dad's.
She thought about it for a moment before conceding. "Alright, but you need to stay close."
"I'll sit over here," I said, walking over to a bench near the entrance and sitting down.
They walked over to the gate, and were the last two to get on before the ride started. Sitting in their seats, they both waved at me.
It was one of those rides that goes forwards the first time, then goes the same route, but backwards. They were at the end of line, the peak, and were about to go backwards when the section of coaster the cars were on shifted. I heard a scream, and my eyes met my mothers'. She mouthed the words, "I love you," before I looked away, terrified of seeing the rest.
Edward stared at me, dumbfounded. "Bella, I-" he started, before something hit the passenger side window of the car. I screamed, jumping and hitting my head on the ceiling. I looked at the window, and there was slush-probably from a slushball produced by the snow, and the rain from earlier. Edward was glaring at Mike, who I suspected was the culprit.
Normally, something like that wouldn't have scared me that much, but I was on edge. I had been on edge since last Thursday.
I had thought back on my parents' deaths, years later, and the incident reminded me of Final Destination 4. And it seemed like the way I was going to die-years later, just like the girl in the movie-was going to be Damien.
Review! Should I make an Edward's POV of this chapter?