Crescent Night

Chapter 6

"Stop!" It was Alice this time, she placed her delicate cold hands on either side of my face "You did not embarrass us! Is that what you think?"

I didn't answer, I tried to look away but her hold was deceptively strong.

"I don't know who told you that, but we will never be ashamed of helping you!" The anger was clearly written on her delicate features and I remembered how she screamed at someone in the parking lot. "You're our- you're our friend you know!"

Jasper intervened and softly removed her hands from my face, if only to dry the tears I hadn't noticed shedding. "You don't have to tell us everything now, or ever, but please don't hide anything because you think we'll judge you" Jasper sounded so heartbroken that it honestly made me cry harder.

I didn't tell them the rest after that, I wasn't ready to. But they still consoled me. After crying for what felt like hours on Alice's shoulder while Jasper Rubbed soothing circles on my back, we went back to watching the movies they'd brought. They didn't ask any questions, nor did they act any different, but I did feel lighter.

And the knowledge that they really were my friends, even if I couldn't tell them that yet, did help me pass my examination the next day. Which meant that I'd be going back to school on Monday.

On Sunday I went with Miss Jennifer to buy groceries and once again studied for Geography with Jasper in the afternoon. Since i had the make up test right on Monday, which i was definitely not ready for, even with Jaspers help.

Monday came, and despite a few odd looks from people, things went normally. However, after my best attempt during geography class, Jessica stopped me in the hall.

"Elle, Elle!" Her loud voice was not the thing I needed to hear after failing a test. Alice and Jasper told me they'd see me at lunch and left me alone with Jessica. Some friends they are. "Elle oh my god!"

"Hello Jessica" I tried to sound polite, but the test took part of my soul with it.

"I've been looking for you everywhere!" She pouted "where have you been?"

"My usual classes?"

"You're not gonna believe what Bella just told me!"

"Please don't make me guess"

"You are no fun, but anyway. Bella likes Edward Cullen!"

That tracked I guess, after their weird first encounter they seemed to get along well the second time they talked. And a lot can happen in a high school in a week, so maybe they bonded while I was gone. But I didn't see Bella as the type to tell Jessica any sort of sensitive information, because I was sure whatever conversation they had happened less than 20 minutes ago. And here she was, spilling all the secrets. But hey, maybe I was wrong about Bella, maybe she likes gossip. I decided to test my hypothesis, even under the risk of prolonging this conversation.

"She told you that?"

"Okay not in so many words" There it was. So it was gossip then.

"Then how do you know she likes him?"

"She talks about him all the time!" She seemed excited, though maybe it was because that meant Bella didn't like Mike which was a win for Jessica. I guess. "And she said she wanted to talk to you because you were friends with Alice and Jasper!"

"Ah" That wasn't a surprise, all of the Cullen children were single, and only hung out with each other. And me, apparently. So people hoping to shoot their shot with them sometimes tried to get information out of me. Something that was more annoying than anything else, mainly because it was obvious that the Cullens really had no interest in dating, so I had to suffer whenever people didn't take a hint.

"Yeah! She said she wanted to talk to you after the third period!"

"So, right now?" It would mean I have to skip English, but we were reading The Crucible, which I'd already read back home so I wouldn't be missing anything.

"She said she'd wait for you at the parking lot"

And with that, I guess I was off to the parking lot. And like Jessica had said, there was Bella Swan, next to her rusty truck. I had to take a moment when I saw her leaning against the old thing. The image from last Tuesday became vivid for a moment.

"Eleonor, hi" she pushed off her truck and walked over to me.

"Jessica said you wanted to talk to me about Edward?" It might have sounded rude, but it was the first thing that came to mind. I really was curious now, her interest in him must've been serious if she was skipping a class.

"Oh, yeah!" she seemed surprised at my bluntness, but it didn't detour her. "I wanted to ask you about the accident"

I panicked for a moment, was she angry that I made a scene? Was she trying to confront me about it? "W-what do you wanna know?" I kept trying to figure out what I'd tell her if she asked about my reaction, i didn't really have an excuse planned. But her next words calmed me down.

"Did you see Edward before the accident?" she seemed skittish, like this was some sort of big secret.

I thought back for a second, because despite my discomfort, the way she was asking it was as if this was the most important thing in the world. I don't know how reliable my memories from the event are, but it seemed important to her.

"Yeah, he was next to his car, I think"

"I knew it!" her demeanor changed completely, like she'd just solved the greatest puzzle in the world.

"Why do you wanna know?"

She stayed silent for a moment, looking around as if someone would care enough to spy, but ultimately answered carefully "Because he stopped- I mean, he pushed me out of the vans way"

"What? How? He was on the other side of the parking lot"

"I know! But he did!" She seemed happy that I shared the sentiment. "I know I saw him next to his car, but no one else did! And he says he was right next to me the whole time, but I know what I saw! So I remembered that you were walking towards them, you were facing right at them so you must've seen him too!"

I was stunned. Maybe my memories of the event were not that reliable, and maybe Bella's weren't either due to the stress, but there's no way both of us would hallucinate the same thing. We'd both seen him right next to his car, on the other side of the parking lot right before the accident. So that part must've been true, he couldn't have been next to her.

So maybe, she was mistaking him for someone else. Maybe he wasn't the one who saved her, maybe it was someone else. But then why would he lie and tell her he was right next to her. And then there was what Alice told me at the hospital.

"Did you bring me here?"

"Yeah, everyone was focused on Bella and Edward, and you looked like you needed to come here so"

If everyone was focused on Bella and Edward, then he was next to her. Close enough to warrant going to the hospital.

"I know it doesn't make sense, and i understand if you don't believe me but-"

"I believe you"

"What? You do?"

I nodded "I saw him too, and there's no way we both made up the same thing separately"

"Thank you so much!" she was genuinely happy, maybe this whole thing was taking a toll on her. I guess I can understand what it's like to not know what is or isn't true.

The bell rang after that, announcing the start of fifth period. We made our way back, because cutting two classes in a row would be a bit much. But even then, I figured that neither of us would pay much attention in class with our new found knowledge.