The next day of school was somewhat better. My first few classes seemed to go by fast. Pretty soon it was lunchtime. I followed Jessica to the lunch line and grabbed a tray. As I got my food, I couldn't help but glance at the Cullens' table. But the person I expected to see wasn't there. Edward's usual spot sat empty. The others sat around the table, staring at nothing like the day before. Jessica nudged my arm with her elbow, "Y/N, we need to move up in line. Are you gonna get something to eat or are you just gonna stand there?"
I nodded, grabbed some food along with a can of soda, and made my way over to our usual spot. While the others chatted and ate, I picked at my food. My appetite had almost completely vanished. I sipped my soda and listened to my friends as they went on about the latest gossip. After lunch, I went to my biology class, half expecting him to be there. Maybe he just skipped lunch. None of them seemed to eat anyway.
But when I arrived, I found that my suspicions were correct. Edward had skipped school. The following day was the same. Another no-show. I decided that it had to be personal. That Edward had some kind of problem with me. It vexed me to the point that I had written about it in my diary.
After school, my dad and I went out to eat at the Carver Cafe. My dad ordered a steak with a salad and toast while I ordered a burger with crinkle-cut fries. "So, how is school going? Did you make any new friends?" My dad asked as he added some A1 sauce to his steak. "Yeah. Jessica and Angela have classes with me. Eric introduced himself to me almost immediately after I had arrived, and I met Mike at lunch. They're a pretty good friend group."
"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid--- Nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store outside of town. He makes a good living off of all the backpackers come here." I thought of a question mid-bite of my burger, chewed and swallowed quickly before asking it. "Do you by any chance know the Cullen family?" He stopped slicing his steak, "Dr. Cullens' family? Sure. Dr. Cullens' is a great man and an amazing doctor."
"The kids are... a little different. They don't fit in very well at school." My dad rolled his eyes. "The people in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could work at any hospital in the world and make three times the amount he makes here. We're lucky to have him—lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite... And they stick together the way a family should—camping trips every other weekend... But just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."
I sat silent taking in his speech. "Well, they seem nice." I somewhat lied. I had not talked to any of them, so I really wouldn't know, but for my dad's sake I wanted to leave out the incident with Edward. I wouldn't want him making a scene over something I couldn't even make sense of myself, "They're very eye-catching."
"You should see the doctor. It's good that he's already married. A lot of the nurses have a hard time concentrating on work when he's around." With that, the conversation died. We finished our dinner, which was pretty good, and left.
When we got home, I went straight up to my room to do homework. It wasn't much, just English but I wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. I was halfway through writing my essay when my mom called. I answered the phone, "Hey, mom."
"Y/N! How have you been? How's Forks?" She sounded excited about something. I chewed on my pencil, "It's pretty great so far." I heard my mom sigh, "Well that's great. Hey baby, listen if spring training goes well, we could be moving to Florida." My mom's voice cut out slightly as a voice said to insert a dollar-twenty-five to continue the call for 3 extra minutes. "Mom, what happened to your cell?" I heard the clinking of coins before my mom spoke, "OK, don't laugh. I didn't lose my power cord, it ran away. Screaming." I laughed as my mom continued, "I repel technology now."
"I miss you, mom." I continued to chew on my pencil. "Aww, I miss you too honey. So, how is your first week of school so far?" Of course she would ask this question. "Well, I made some friends. Some of them a little too welcoming compared to others." My voice faltered slightly on the last few words. I swallowed, trying to calm the lump of annoyance that resided in my throat. Mom must've heard the change in my voice, "What happened? Did someone say something? Was it a boy?"
"Yes, it was a boy. No, he didn't say anything, but he may as well have. He just came off as really rude. And kind of weird." I heard my mom gasp, "Ooh, do you think maybe he has a crush on you Y/N?" Edward? A crush? On me? No one who has a crush on someone acts that way. He looked at me like he wanted to tear my throat out. "I don't know, mom." "Well," She started, her voice calm, "Have you tried asking him what his problem was?" "It doesn't really matter---" I started but then I took a deep breath to calm myself, "He made me feel somewhat uncomfortable." That was an understatement. "Well, I got to go sweetie. Keep your head held high. This week will get better for you, OK?"
"OK, mom. I love you. I'll talk to you later." I waited until after she responded before I hung up, letting my phone drop from my ear. It landed on the bed and bounced a little before planting itself near my pillows. I finished my homework and tried to go to sleep. After tossing and turning for a bit, I decided that sleep was not going to come so easy. I put in my earbuds and turned on some music. As the song "In The End" by Linkin Park played, I stared out my window. It had started to rain, the droplets hit my window with soft pangs. Thunder roared, softly at first but then it grew louder. I listened to the music mixed with the rain and thunder and slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning was a cold one. It had snowed overnight and the puddles outside had frozen over, leaving patches of ice everywhere. My dad took my truck earlier in the morning, so I got dressed and waited for him to come back. I wore a pair of jeans, a grey turtleneck and my favorite jacket. I had also found a pair of gloves in my dresser, so I put those on as well. As I laced up my boots, I heard my truck pulling up in the driveway. I slung my backpack over my shoulder and headed downstairs and outside, avoiding the patch of ice that lie at the bottom of the steps.
My dad stepped out of the truck and walked over to me, grabbing my arm and helping me over the last few patches of ice. "There's so much ice." I commented, trying to watch my footing as we walked over towards my truck. "Yeah, that's why I had some new tires put on the truck. Old ones were getting pretty bald." "Oh, thank you. I was wondering why you kidnapped my truck." I laughed a little. He smiled before shifting awkwardly, "Well, I'll probably be late for dinner. I gotta head down to Mason County. Security Guard at the Grisham Mill got mauled to death by some kind of animal." He started to walk over to his car, but I stopped in place, leaning against the truck's driver side door "Some kind of animal?" I repeated, not bothering to hide the worry in my voice.
"You're not in Phoenix anymore, Y/N/N. Anyway, I figured I would lend a hand." I bit my inner cheek, worried for my dad's safety. "Be careful." He smirked, "Always am." With that we both got in our vehicles and drove off in opposite directions.
The school day went by pretty quick once again. Before I knew it, I was headed to Biology with Eric escorting me. He rambled on about random stuff until we got to the door. Once there he said he would see me later and left so that he could make it to his class on time. I turned to walk in to my biology class and looked at what I expected to be an empty seat. But instead, I found a familiar pale figure seated, his eyes focused on me as I walked through the door. His expression was kind, unlike before. I hadn't seen him at lunch, so I figured today was going to just be another no-show. I quickly decided that this did not make me any less upset with his current actions, so I took my seat beside him quietly, ignoring his presence.
It was only when he spoke that I chose to look at him. "Hello," he started, "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to introduce myself the other day. I'm Edward Cullen. You're Y/N?" I was floored by how polite he spoke. His voice rang through my ears like a bell, one that I found fascinating. His eyes were golden today. The image of his black eyes flashed through my mind again, making chills run up my arms. "Yes." I nodded. Just then the teacher, Mr. Banner, spoke, "Onion root tip cells. That's what's on your slides right now. OK? So, separate and label them into the phases of mitosis. And the first partners who get it right are going to win the golden onion." He picked up a gold onion trophy off his desk and cradled it to his chest. Most of the class began to complain and groan.
"Ladies first." Edward gently pushed the microscope towards me. I snapped the first slide into place and looked. "Prophase." I stated confidently. "Do you mind if I look?" He asked as i started to remove the slide. His hand caught mine and I gasped. His hands were ice cold. Almost as if he had no blood circulation to them. "I'm sorry." He quickly jerked his hand away. He continued to grab the microscope though, looking at the slide I had previously examined. His answer was quick, "Prophase."
I had already written my answer down, knowing that I was correct, so I watched as he wrote it down on his paper in his very elegant handwriting. "So, where were you these past few days, if you don't mind me asking?" I left out the bigger question I had; Why were you staring at me like you wanted to kill me? "I was out of town for personal reasons." Edward answered quickly. I nodded like I understood, but to me it sounded like total bullshit. I watched his hands as he switched over the slides. After a quick glance through the microscope he spoke, "Anaphase."
There's no way he identified it that fast. "May I?" I asked, reaching towards the microscope. He nodded and I took it from him. I looked through the eye piece hoping he would be wrong. But he was right. "Anaphase..." I wrote it down. "Slide three?" I held out my hand. He handed it to me; it seemed like he was being careful not to touch my skin again. I took a quick look. "Interphase." I passed him the microscope before he could ask for it. He took a swift peek, and then wrote it down. We finished the assignment within no time. I looked at my paper awkwardly, trying to avoid looking at him.
I had more questions than answers, but I kept them for myself for the time being. Instead, I decided to ask one that kept popping up in my head. "Did you get contacts?" Edward's face morphed into a puzzled one, "No." Well that answered my question perfectly. The Cullens were not human. Mr. Banner came over to our table and checked out answers. We ended up being the only partners in the whole class that got all the answers right. He handed Edward the golden onion, making sure to brag about our work to the other students. I hid my flushed face as Edward handed me the golden onion.
When class ended Edward offered to walk me to my next one. I took the offer, hoping that maybe he would let something slip by accident. As we walked, he asked me about myself. "So, how do you feel about the weather here?" I didn't have to think about it for long, "I love the rain and the snow. Phoenix is just so dry and hot all the time. My mom loved it, but I didn't." I continued to walk slowly. "Why did you move here, if you don't mind me asking?" He pried. "My parents got divorced when I was a baby. My mom re-married and wants to travel with her new husband, so I chose to move in with my dad."
"Hmm." He took in the information and went silent. We made it to my class, and I turned to say bye to him. But when I turned around, I saw that he was already walking away in the opposite direction, gracefully. The rest of the day went on as usual. In PE we were playing volleyball, which I had never played before. Apparently, I was good at it. After school I stood out by my truck, listening to music on my phone. I had earbuds in, so I couldn't hear much. I looked across the parking lot to see Edward, standing by the silver Volvo I had seen the first day of school. He was staring at me, which made a chill go up my spine. I turned my attention to my backpack, slinging it on top of the hood of my truck.
That's when I heard the odd sound. It was a high-pitched screech, and it was fast becoming painfully loud. I looked up, startled. I saw several things simultaneously. Edward Cullen was standing four cars down from me, staring at me in horror. A 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 my truck, and I was standing between them. I didn't even have time to close my eyes before it hurled itself at me. But the van never touched me.
I felt something ice cold wrap around my arm and pull me down with extreme force causing me to almost hit my head on the bed of the truck. I looked up to see Edward crouched beside me, one hand wrapped firmly around my arm and the other straight forward. I watched as the van collided into his hand, a dent forming around it. The tail end of the van hit the bed of my truck a few inches or so away from me before it stopped dead in its tracks. That's when I looked up at him. His eyes stared intensely into mine for a brief moment and I could see a little bit of regret in them. Before I could even process what just happened, he got up and jumped over the end of the two vehicles and walked away.
Then the screams started, "Y/N! Are you OK!" "Oh my god! Someone call 911!" I slumped down to the ground in shock as the whole student body surrounded me, some with their phones already out, others coming and sitting beside me. It was very clear that I was the only one who saw what Edward had done. Everyone else thought that the van had hit me and that I was severely injured in some way.
"Someone get Tyler out of the van!" I heard someone yell. Tyler, another one of the students that would sometimes sit with us at lunch, stuck his head out the passenger side window and looked down at me, blood trickling down his head slowly and over his left eyebrow, "I'm so sorry Y/N. I tried to stop." Pretty soon an ambulance arrived and so did my dad. "Y/N!" My dad yelled in a panic as he got out of his car and rushed over to me. "I'm fine dad." I spoke but no one was listening. The ambulance took Tyler on a stretcher and loaded him up in it.
They loaded me up on a stretcher as well, and even tried to put a neck brace on me but I told them I didn't need it. I stared out across the parking lot, taking in the chaos that sat in front of me. My truck sitting there with a medium sized dent in it where I originally stood. Tyler's van pressed up against it. The huge dent in the side of the van where Edward had placed his hand. My eyes wandered over to The Cullens, who stood by their cars-- their expressions ranging from disapproval and fury but not a single expression of worry for Edward. That was the last thing I saw before the ambulance driver closed the doors.