I sat by the window in the front room sketching the snow that filled the scenery outside, the conditions this perfect made the perfect sketch, the grey-green light of a cloudy day in the forest, the fine layer of snow covered the yard, dusted the top of our truck, and whitened the road, but my favourite part was that all the rain from yesterday had frozen solid, coating the needles on the trees in fantastic, gorgeous patterns, I knew Bella would freak out when she finally emerged from her room as the frozen water had now made the driveway and roads into a deadly ice rink and she had enough trouble not falling down when the ground was dry never mind now it was a sheet of ice, it might have been safer for her just to go back to bed now.
I heard movement from upstairs so I quickly put my sketch book in my bag and headed into the kitchen, I threw down a quick bowl of cereal and some orange juice from the carton.

I knew we had biology again today and almost wanted to crawl back into bed myself just to avoid Edward, I shouldn't be avoiding him, I had done nothing wrong, but I was so suspicious of him, why did he lie about his eyes? I was still quite frightened of the hostility I sometimes felt emanating from him towards me, Bella's presence pulled me out of my thoughts, she was quite this morning and I could see that it took every ounce of her concentration to make it down the icy brick driveway alive. She almost lost her balance twice when we finally got to the truck, but she managed to cling to the side mirror and save myself, I found myself laughing each time that always gained me a snide comment from Bella to which I muttered an apology.
The truck seemed to have no problem with the black ice that covered the roads. I had offered to drive, but Bella declined saying she valued her life too much so Bella drove very slowly, not wanting to carve a path of destruction through Main Street, we sat in silence all the way Bella concentrating and me admiring the journey in.
When we got out of the truck at school, Bella realised why she had so little trouble driving this morning,

"look at these" Bella commented standing by the back tyre, I walked to the back of the truck and looked down to examine the tires.
There were thin chains crisscrossed in diamond shapes around them. Dad just had gotten up who knows how early to put snow chains on the truck.

"dad must have done it, probably so you didn't kill us on the way" I said and smiled at her, joking with her, she scowled at me,
I was just about the walk towards the entrance of school when I heard an odd sound, it was a high-pitched screech, and it was fast becoming painfully loud. I looked up to see several things simultaneously, nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it does in the movies.
Instead, the adrenaline rush seemed to make my brain work much faster, and I was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once.
Edward Emmett Cullen were standing four cars down from me, staring at us in horror, Emmett face stood out from a sea of faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock. But of more immediate importance was the dark blue van that was skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of the truck, and me and Bella were standing between them. I didn't even have think twice before shoving Bella behind me to try and protect her and quickly turned round to see the van closing in towards us, I closed my eyes and waiting for the impact.
Just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit me, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting. My head cracked against the icy floor,

The pain from the side of my head was soon becoming apparent but I couldn't focus on that I had to find Bella, but I didn't have a chance to notice anything else, because the van was still coming. It
had curled gratingly around the end of the truck and, still spinning and sliding, was about to collide with me again.
I braced myself once again when two long white hands shot out protectively and pulled me to the right so suddenly I was at the side of the truck,
All I could hear was the absolutely silence for a second before the screaming began, I could hear more than one person shouting my name. But more clearly than all the yelling, I could hear Emmett Cullen's low, frantic voice suddenly beside me,

"Liliana? Are you okay?" Emmett's velvet voice cut over all the screams, I sort of glanced around in a daze before reality suddenly hit me like a brick wall,

"Bella?" I asked panicked, Emmett frowned,

"she's fine Edward is with her" Emmett almost growled, but I didn't have time to figure out what could have possibility made him angry, I looked round trying to ignore the pain in my head and saw Bella was being held against Edward Cullen who had her against the side of his body in an iron grasp, I tried to get up, but Emmett placed a cold hand on my shoulder,
"Liliana, wait, Be careful, I think you hit your head pretty hard" Emmett said in almost concern, but that didn't matter, I had to get to Bella, I got up trying to ignore the spinning,

"Bella? Are you okay?" I almost screamed as I stumbled over to them,
"How in the…How did you get over here so fast?" Bella whispered almost like she couldn't focus on anyone else but Edward,
"I was standing right next to you, Bella," Edward said his tone deadly serious again, I was confused I knew he wasn't, in fact how did Emmett get here? And how did I manage to end up on the floor and at the side of the truck, I glanced at Emmett to see him just staring intently at me, I turned and watched as Bella sat up and watched as Edward released his hold around her waist.

A crowd of people with tears streaming down their faces, shouting at each other, shouting at us.
"Don't move," someone instructed.
"Get Tyler out of the van!" someone else shouted.
There was a flurry of activity around us, everyone becoming a little blurring within my vision, I tried to get to Bella but Edward's cold hand suddenly was in front and almost pushing me back, I swear I almost heard a sort of growl come from behind me I turned and saw Emmett glaring at Edward,
"You were over there, You were by your car" I suddenly remembered stating to Emmett,
His expression turned hard,

"No, I wasn't" was the simply answer he gave
"I saw you, you and Edward stood by your car" I whispered, all around us was chaos. I could hear the gruffer voices of adults arriving on the scene, the pain in my head was becoming more obvious,
"I was standing with Bella, and I pulled her out of the way when you dived to save yourself" Edward said, I turned to see he had unleashed the full, devastating power of his eyes on me, as if trying to send me six feet underground,
"No" I set my jaw, I knew that wasn't the truth, even if he had been I would never save myself before Bella, a cold hand pulled my vision back round and my eyes met the stunning gold eyes of Emmett Cullen,

"Please Liliana, trust me" he said in a gentle tone, almost pleading with me, I didn't know why but I would trust anything this boy said, I slowly nodded before I noticed Emmett glance towards the rest of his siblings stood where him and Emmett once stood by their own cars,

"Lil…" I heard Emmett say as his arms shot out, but suddenly I was plunged into darkness.
Beep

Beep

Beep

The annoying sound was all I could heard in the darkness, I tried to open my eyes and suddenly became aware I wasn't at school anymore, I glanced around and realised I must have been at the hospital, the white walls were almost blinding, the long room was lined with beds separated by pastel-patterned curtains, the curtain opened and my dads face suddenly came into my view,

"Liliana, oh thank god" he said taking his hat off and sitting by the bed, he looked so relieved,

"I was so worried, you were out cold when I arrived at the school" Dad said grabbing my hand, I was a little confused before everything came rushing back to me, I tried to sit the pain still there in my head,

"Bella!?" I panicked, dad tried to calm me,

"she's fine, she's right here, calm down" dad said grabbing and pulling the curtain, so I could see Bella in the next bed sat with a nurse who was putting a pressure cuff on her arm and a thermometer under her tongue. I glanced all over and she looked unhurt, the relief flooding into my body, suddenly before we could say anything else there was another flurry of hospital personnel, another stretcher brought to the bed next to Bella. I recognized Tyler Crowley from my Government class beneath the bloodstained bandages wrapped tightly around his head. Tyler looked a hundred times worse than I felt, but he was staring anxiously at me and Bella.
"Bella, Liliana I'm so sorry!" he said as turned to us,
"I'm fine, Tyler, you look awful, are you all right?" Bella answered, I stayed silent watching a nurses begin unwinding his soiled bandages, exposing a myriad of shallow slices all over his forehead and left cheek, how did we get so lucky? He ignored Bella, and she babbled on,

"I thought I was going to kill you both! I was going too fast, and I hit the ice wrong…and then Liliana just passed out" He winced as one nurse started dabbing at his face.

"Don't worry about it, it was an accident" I finally said my voice still a little dry
"How did you get out of the way so fast? You were there, and then you were gone…" he asked confused as I was about the situation,
"Umm… Edward pulled me out of the way" Bella said, we both looked at her confused, no he didn't. why was she lying?
"Who?" Tyler confused.
"Edward Cullen, he was standing next to me when Liliana jumped out of the way" she had always been a terrible liar and didn't sound convincing at all, dad glanced at me,
"Cullen? I didn't see him… wow, it was all so fast, I guess, Is he okay?" Tyler asked
"I think so. He's here somewhere, but they didn't make him use a stretcher" Bella answered.

Bella was quickly discharged but I wasn't lucky, I asked if I could leave, but the nurse said I had to talk to a doctor first. So I was trapped in the ER, waiting, harassed by Tyler's constant apologies and promises to make it up to me, while Dad was outside on the phone and Bella was sat just looking into space.
No matter how many times I tried to convince him I was fine, Tyler continued to torment himself. Finally, I closed my eyes and ignored him. He kept up a remorseful mumbling, he was almost making my headache return,
"Is she sleeping?" an angel like voice asked, Emmett.

My eyes flew open as quick as they could, Emmett and Edward were standing at the foot of my bed, Emmett staring at me in concern and Edward mainly sharing glances with Bella
"Hey, Edward, I'm really sorry," Tyler began, I almost wanted to slap him to shut him up, Edward lifted a hand to stop him.
"No blood, no foul" Edward said, flashing his brilliant white teeth. He moved to shut the curtain I almost thanked him,
"So, what's the verdict?" Emmett asked me, I couldn't believe he was actually here, why was he here? And why was I so glad?
"There's nothing wrong with me at all, but they won't let me go," I complained, almost pouting,

"How come you wasn't strapped to a gurney like the rest of us?" Bella asked Edward knowing he was definitely involved in the crash with her, I turned to watch his answer,
"It's all about who you know," he answered Bella,

"But don't worry, I came to spring you out" Emmett grinned at me, I went to ask how, when a doctor walked around the corner, and my mouth fell open. He was young, he was blond and he was handsomer than any movie star I'd ever seen. He was pale, though, and tired-looking, with circles under his eyes. From dad's description, this had to be Emmett's father.
"So, Miss Swan," Dr Cullen said in a remarkably appealing voice, "how are you feeling?" he asked grabbing my chart from end of the bed and glancing at me,
"I'm fine, absolutely nothing wrong with me" I said, for the last time, I hoped.
"Does your head hurt? Emmett said you hit it pretty hard, and then passed out" I turned to Emmett and sent him a quick scowl,
"It's fine," I repeated with a sigh, Dr Cullens cool fingers probed lightly along my skull. He noticed when I winced.
"Tender?" he asked.
"Not really" I tried to Lie,
I heard an almost musical chuckle, and looked over to see Emmett's patronizing smile. My eyes narrowed at him,
"Well, your father is in the waiting room, you can go home with him now. But come back if you feel dizzy or have trouble with your eyesight at all" Dr Cullen said while jotting something down in the chart,
So eager to get out of here I was throwing my legs over the side of the bed and hopping down quickly. Too quickly, I staggered but again Emmett was there to catch me, Emmett, Bella and Dr Cullen looked concerned.
"I'm fine, just moved too quickly" I assured them all again, giving them a small smile,
"Take some Tylenol for the pain," he suggested as he eyed Emmett,
"It doesn't hurt that bad, I swear" I insisted scared they wouldn't discharge me,
"okay well It sounds like you were extremely lucky," Dr Cullen said, smiling as he signed my chart and walked away towards Tylers bed,
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Bella hissed under her breath towards Edward, I looked at them confused, He took a step back from her, his jaw
suddenly clenched.
"Your father is waiting for you both" he said through his teeth.
I glanced at Emmett to see he was avoiding eye contact with me,
"I'd like to speak with you alone, if you don't mind," Bella pressed, he glared, and then turned his back and strode down the long room. Bella nearly had to run to keep up.

"I'm confused" I said to Emmett, he smiled a little,

"don't worry about it" he simply said,

"Emmett, Bella is not stupid, she knows as well as I do you both were not stood with us, and I didn't jump out of the way" I stated staring straight at him, he seemed to go rigid,

"what are you saying?" he said almost strained, I sighed,

"I'm not going to push it, Bella is fine which is the main thing, but Bella she won't let it go" I simply said, he frowned,

"I'm not worried about her" he said to me with what felt like a hidden meaning behind his words, his hand briefly touched mine sending a wave of shivers up mine before he quickly walked off,
I was so confused, it took me a few minutes until I could think again, I slowly stood and I made my way slowly to the exit at the end of the hallway where Bella was stood almost with a livid expression, I followed her to the waiting room, Charlie walked towards us,
"There's nothing wrong with me," I assured him smiling, he sighed in relief,
"What did the doctor say?" he enquired fiddling with his hat which he held,
"Dr Cullen saw me, and he said I was fine and I could go home, just to take some pain relief" I explained to dad, he nodded and then dad put one arm behind my back, not quite touching me, and led me and Bella towards the glass doors of the exit.
We drove in silence home, I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I barely knew where we was going.

I was positive that Edward's defensive towards Bella was the confirmation of the bizarre things I still could hardly believe I'd witnessed today, and why suddenly was Emmett talking to me?
When we got to the house, dad finally spoke to us both,
"Um… you'll need to call Renée." He hung his head, guilty, I groaned,
"You told Mom!" Bella panicked, I knew how dramatic she could be
"Sorry. I thought she should know" dad explained.

Bella and myself had to spend an hour calming mom down, she was in hysterics, of course. I had to tell her at least thirty times I was fine and Bella too before she would calm down.

I decided I might as well go to bed early that night. Dad and Bella continued to watch me anxiously as if I would pass out at any second, I bid them both goodnight and quickly stopped to grab three Tylenol from the cupboard between heading up to my room, They did help and quite quickly I was drifting into a deep sleep.
That was the first night I dreamed of Emmett Cullen.