I woke up to a fogless morning. It was still the grayish green light of a cloudy day in the forest, but it was clearer somehow. When I looked out the window I groaned in horror. A fine layer of snow covered everything. The worst part was the rain from yesterday; it had frozen, coating the trees in beautiful needles with fantastic patterns and made the driveway a deadly ice slick. I’m clumsy enough on dry land, add ice and it’s a trip to the hospital for broken bones. I was probably better off staying in bed. Charlie left for work before I got downstairs. In a lot of ways, living with Charlie is like having my own place. I found myself reveling in my solitude instead of feeling lonely. I was excited to go to school, and that scared me. I ate a quick breakfast, a bowl of cereal and some orange juice from the carton. My reasons for excitement to get to school were very very stupid. It sure wasn’t the stimulating learning environment or seeing my new friends. Deep down I knew I was eager to see Edward Cullen again. I should be avoiding him at all costs after my mindless idiotic babbling yesterday. He’s so bizarre. Why should he lie about his eyes? Why do I sense hostility emanating from him causing me little frights? Why does my tongue get tied whenever I picture his perfect face? So many questions and I can’t get a straight answer. I was well aware that his world and mine are separated by an invisible line that can’t be crossed. So I shouldn’t have been anxious to see him at all. It took every ounce of my concentration to make it down the icy driveway. I almost lost my balance when I got to my truck. I’m amazed I made it unscathed. As I drove to school, I distracted myself from the fear of falling and any thoughts surrounding Edward Cullen. My truck seemed to have no problem with the ice covered roads. I drove at an acceptable speed just in case. When I got out of the truck at school I saw why it was so easy to drive in the ice. Charlie must’ve gotten up in the middle of the night to put snow chains on my tires. I’m not used to being taken care of. Charlie’s unspoken concern caught me by surprise. When I was standing by the back corner of the truck, struggling to fight back the sudden wave of emotion Charlie’s gesture had caused, I heard an odd sound. Several things happened simultaneously. I saw and absorbed everything around me.
Edward Cullen stood four cars down from me, staring at me in horror. In a sea of frozen faces all masked with shock, his face stood out among them. A dark blue van was skidding, its tires were locked and squealed against the brakes. It spinned wildly across the icy parking lot heading towards my truck and I was standing in its way. Right before I could hear the shattering crunch of the van fold around the truck bed, something hard hit me, but not from the direction I was expecting. I felt my head crack against the icy blacktop and something cold and solid pinning me to the ground. I was lying on the pavement behind the tan car I’d parked next to. The van had curled gratingly around the end of the truck, but it continued to spin and slide, targetting me again. I heard a voice impossible not to recognize and it made me aware that I was not alone. Two long white hands shot out protectively in front of me and the van came to a stop a foot from my face. One hand was gripping under the body of the van and then I felt something dragging me, swinging my legs around like a doll until they hit the tire of the tan car. A loud metallic thud hurt my ears and the van settled, glass popping onto the asphalt, exactly where my legs had been a second ago. For one long second there was silence, then the screaming began. I heard my name being shouted from several people, but more clearly than all the yelling, I heard Edward Cullen’s low and frantic voice in my ear. “Bella? Are you alright?” “I’m fine.” I said. My voice sounded so strange to me. When I tried to sit up I noticed he was holding me against the side of his body in an iron grasp. He warned me to be careful, informing that I had hit my head pretty hard. Then I was aware of the throbbing pain above my left ear. “Ow.” I said. “That’s what I thought.” he said, seemingly supressing laughter. I started to say something but trailed off. I tried to clear my mind and put my thoughts together. I asked him how he got to me so fast. “I was standing right next to you, Bella.” he said, his tone all serious. As I turned to sit up he let go of his hold and slided away from me as far as he could manage in the limited space between the car and the van. I looked at his concerned and innocent expression and got lost in his golden eyes. What was I asking him? And then they found us. There was a crowd of people with tears streaming their faces. There was a flurry of activity all around us. I tried to get up but Edward’s cold hand pushed my shoulder down and told me to stay put. I complained, using the cold weather as an excuse to try to move. He chuckled under his breath but there was a strange edge to the sound that surprised me. And then I remembered that he was over by his car. “You were over there.” I told him, his expression turning hard. “You were by your car.” I accused. “No I wasn’t.” he said. Around us everything was chaotic with shouts and worries, but I held on to our argument. I was right and he had to admit it. “Bella, I was standing with you and I pulled you out of the way.” He tried to convince me by unleashing his devastatingly powerful eyes. “No.” I clenched my jaw. I wouldn’t be persuaded. I know what I saw, why was he trying to make me believe otherwise? The gold in his eyes blazed and pleaded with me. “Why?” I demanded. “Trust me.” his voice soft and overwhelming. When I heard the sirens I made him promise me to explain everything later. “Fine.” he snapped. “Fine.” I repeated angrily. It took six EMTs and two teachers to shift the van away from us to bring in the stretchers. Edward refused his stretcher but when I tried to do the same, the traitor told them I’d hit my head and probably had a concussion. I almost died of humiliation when they put on the neck brace. The whole school saw me being loaded in the back of the ambulance. Edward got to ride in the front. The worst part was Chief Swan was there before I could be taken away. He yelled my name in panic when he recognized me on the stretcher. I reassured him that I was fine. “There’s nothing wrong with me.” He turned to the closest EMT for a second opinion and I tuned him out to consider each image of the accident carefully.
When I was lifted away from the car, I saw the deep dent in the tan car’s bumper, a very distinct dent that fit the contours of Edward’s shoulder, as if he had braced himself against the car so hard he managed to damage the metal frame. Then there was his family looking on from a distance. They didn’t look concerned for their brother’s safety, it was more like fury and disapproval. His hand fit the dent in Tyler’s van as if he could push it away single-handedly. I tried to think of a logical explanation for all of it but came up short unless the solution involved me being insane. In the emergency room, a nurse put a cuff on my arm and a thermometer under my tongue. As soon as the nurse walked away I took off the neck brace and threw it under the bed. Tyler Crowley was brought in shortly to the bed next to me. I recognized him from my Government class. His head was wrapped in bloodstained bandages, looking a hundred times worse than I felt. He got anxious when he saw me and started apologizing. I told him I was fine and asked if he was alright. As we spoke the nurses began to remove his soiled bandages, exposing shallow slices all over his forehead and left cheek. He started to explain what had happened; went too fast, hit the ice wrong, etc. “Don’t worry about it, you missed me.” I said. “How did you get out of the way so fast? You were there and then you were gone.” He wondered. I paused to think. “Umm, Edward pulled me out of the way.” He looked confused. I told the lie Edward wanted me to believe, Tyler said he didn’t see “Cullen” there but he seemed to believe the story. I’ve always been a terrible liar, I didn’t sound too convincing. When Tyler asked if Edward was ok I told him he had to be around, he didn’t come in a stretcher like we did. I was then wheeled away to X-ray my head. Of course there was nothing wrong with me, not even a slight concussion. I wanted to leave but the nurse said I had to see the doctor first. There I was, trapped in the ER waiting while Tyler harassed me with his constant apologies and promises to make it up to me. It didn’t matter how many times I tried to convince him that I was fine, he continued to torture himself. When I got tired of him I closed my eyes and simply ignored him. Even then he kept up a remorseful mumbling. Suddenly I heard a musical voice and my eyes flew open. Edward stood at the foot of my bed, smirking. I tried to glare at him but it seemed more natural to ogle. Tyler started to apologize to Edward but he lifted his hand to cut him short. “No blood, no foul.” he said. He moved to sit on the edge of Tyler’s bed to face me with his smirk again. We exchanged words. I was a little angry that he wasn’t strapped to a gurney like Tyler and me. When the doctor walked around the corner, my mouth fell open. He was young, blond, and more handsome than any celebrity I’d ever seen. “So, Miss Swan, how are you feeling?” Dr. Cullen said in a remarkably appealing voice. “I’m fine.” I said. He looked at my X-rays and asked if my head hurt. “Edward said you hit it pretty hard.” “It’s fine.” I repeated for like a hundredth time today and threw a quick scowl toward Edward, the traitor. The doctor’s cool fingers probed my skull lightly and noticed when I winced slightly. “Tender?” he asked. “Not really.” If only they knew that I’ve had worse. Edward chuckled and I looked over to him and saw his patronizing smile. My eyes narrowed. “Well, your father is in the waiting room. You can go with him now but come back if you feel dizzy or have trouble with your eyesight at all.” Dr. Cullen said. I wanted to go back to school but Dr. Cullen said I should take it easy. I glanced at Edward and asked if he’d get to go to school. “Someone has to spread the good news that we survived.” he said smugly. I felt like smacking him. It turned out that most of the school was in the waiting room. I moaned and covered my face with my hands. Dr. Cullen looked at me and raised his eyebrows. “Do you want to stay?” he asked. “No. No!” I insisted. In my haste to get the heck out of there, I hopped off the bed too quickly causing me to stagger. Dr. Cullen caught me and looked at me concerned. “I’m fine.” I assured him. No need to explain my balance problems to him. He suggested Tylenol for the pain as he steadied me but I insisted it didn’t hurt that bad. “It sounds like you were extremely lucky.” he said smiling as he signed my chart. “Lucky Edward happened to be standing next to me.” I added with a hard glance. “Oh, well, yes.” Dr. Cullen agreed, suddenly occupied with his papers. Then he looked away to check on Tyler. My intuition flickered, the doctor was in on it. As soon as the doctor’s back was turned I moved to Edward’s side and asked if I could talk to him for a minute. He clenched his jaw and took a step back from me. “Your father is waiting for you.” he said through his teeth. “I’d like to speak with you alone, if you don’t mind.” I pressed. He glared and then turned his back on me to stride down the long room. I almost had to run to keep with him. As soon as we turned around the corner into a short hallway, he spun around to face me.
His eyes were cold as ice. “What do you want?” he asked, sounding annoyed. I felt intimidated by his unfriendliness, so much that my words came out with less severity than I’d intended. I reminded him that he still owed me an explanation. “I saved your life. I don’t owe you anything.” he said, his tone almost resentful. I flinched and said “You promised.” He started to say that I had hit my head and that I didn’t know what I was talking about. That just made me furious. I glared at him defiantly and told him there was nothing wrong with my head. He glared back and asked “What do you want from me Bella?” I said I wanted to know the truth and why was I lying for him. I thought that was a simple enough request but he snapped at me “What do you think happened?”. So I explained my observations and even told him that Tyler didn’t see him next to me either, proof that I didn’t hit my head too hard. As I told him the more unbelievable details like the dents and the one hand van lifting, it sounded crazy and I couldn’t continue speaking. I was so mad I felt my eyes welling up ready to burst in tears. I tried to force them back by grinding my teeth together. He stared at me incredulously but his face was tense and defensive. “You think I lifted a van off you?” His tone questioned my sanity, but it only made me more suspicious. It was like a perfectly delivered line by a skilled actor, only I wasn’t buying it. I’ve seen stories about great feats of strength caused by an adrenaline rush in extrenuating circumstances but I know he’s hiding something. He said that nobody would believe what I knew. I spoke slowly, trying to suppress my anger “I’m not going to tell anybody.” He seemed surprised by my answer, asking me why it mattered then. I insisted that it mattered to me. “Can’t you just thank me and get over it?” “Thank you.” I said, fuming and expectant. “You’re not going to let it go, are you?” he said. “No.” I replied. “In that case… I hope you enjoy disappointment.” We scowled at each other in silence. I was the first to speak. “Why did you even bother?” I asked him. For a brief moment his face turned vulnerable. “I don’t know.” he whispered. He turned his back on me and walked away. I was so angry, it took me a few minutes to move.
The waiting room was more unpleasant than I’d feared. It was like the whole town was there staring at me. Charlie rushed to my side. I assured him I was fine. I was still aggravated and not in the mood for chitchat. “What did the doctor say?” “Dr. Cullen saw me and he said I was fine and I could go home.” I sighed. I urged Charlie to go and he put an arm behind my back, not quite touching me, and led me to the exit. Mike, Jessica, and Eric were not far behind. I waved sheepishly at them, hoping to convey that they needn’t worry. For the first time I was relieved to get in the cruiser. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts I barely noticed the silence as we drove home. When we got to the house Charlie finally spoke. “Umm, you’ll need to call Renée.” He hung his head, guilty. I was appalled of course. I slammed the door a little harder than necessary on my way out. I called my mom and told her at least thirty times that I was fine. She begged me to come home, forgetting that home was empty at the moment. Her pleas were easier to resist than I thought. When I hung up I decided I might as well go to bed early. The mystery of Edward Cullen consumes me, almost to the point of obsessing over him. So stupid I know. I was positive that Edward’s behavior in the hall was a confirmation of the unbelievable things I witnessed. Suddenly I’m not as eager to escape Forks as I should be, like any sane and normal person would be.