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"what are you?"
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Hayley sat on hood of Bella's truck, reading a book while listening to music. Bella was standing in front of her with a book in hand as well, but she seemed too distracted to read it.
"What's going through your mind, Bells?" Hayley asked as she pulled one of the Swan girl's earbuds out.
Bella sighed. "I'm planning to confront Edward today," she said confidently.
Hayley smiled at her friend. "Good," she said. "Just don't back down. Show him who's in charge."
Bella smiled at the advice and was about to thank her for it when the Cullen's pulled into the school's parking lot. Hayley closed her book and slid off the truck as she watched Emmett jump out of the Jeep and Jasper exit the driver's side. Jasper quickly caught the girl's stare and offered a her a wave, which she returned.
Bella looked between the two with a confused look on her face before turning back to see if Edward was going to make an appearance; he didn't. A disappointed look found it's way onto Bella's face as she turned to Hayley.
"Sorry, Bella," Hayley apologized. "Looks like your confrontation is going to have to wait. I'm sure he'll be back tomorrow."
Bella nodded hopefully at Hayley's statement. "Yeah, I'm sure he will," she said, trying to convince herself.
Hayley was wrong when she said that Edward Cullen would be back the next day. In fact, the pale boy didn't come back for a while, making Bella grow more anxious as the days passed. Hayley tried her best to comfort her, but Bella stayed true to her word when she said she was a suffer-in-silence type.
When Hayley wasn't caught up in the drama that was Edward and Bella, she was caught up on Jasper Hale. The two had been getting closer as the week went on. The smiles and waves they shared in the hallways eventually progressed to conversations in between classes and the two exchanging phone numbers.
It wasn't until a rainy Friday that Edward Cullen finally returned to school. Bella seemed a little freaked out at first, as if she were hoping he'd never come back.
"What do I say to him?" Bella questioned Hayley as the two walked into the school.
"Confront him like you were going to," Hayley urged. "You can only make it worst at this point."
"Hayley!" Bella exclaimed with a groan.
Hayley quickly put her hands up in a mock surrender. "I'm just speaking the truth!" She said.
Bella sighed. "I'll see you after school," she muttered and walked into her biology class.
Hayley peaked into the biology room to see Edward staring at Bella as she sat down next to him. She smiled slightly when she saw Edward slowly turn towards Bella and begin a conversation. The Kenner girl secretly hoped that Edward wasn't really as much of dick as he made himself out to be since she knew Bella liked him.
Hayley quickly turned on her heel and walked to her final class of the day, which also happened to be her favorite. When she entered the classroom, Alice sat at their desk with a smile on her face.
"Hi, Hayley," she greeted.
"Hey, Alice," Hayley replied with a smile.
"How are you liking the rain?" The place girl asked, looking outside at the cloudy sky.
"I can handle the rain," Hayley told her with a smirk.
"That's good," Alice told her, knowing it's never sunny.
The conversation between the two girls stopped as Mrs. Glenn began her lesson. Everyone did individual work as the English teacher went over a power point on the board. Time seemed to fly by for the Kenner girl because before she knew it, the bell rang to dismiss everyone.
"I'll see you on Monday," Hayley told Alice as she grabbed her things.
"Bye, Hayley," The Cullen girl said with a smile as she left the classroom.
After Hayley grabbed her things, she walked out into the hallway to see Bella and Edward walking together. A smile found it's way onto her lips as she watched her best friend talk to the Cullen boy while holding a golden onion. Hayley was slightly confused about the painted vegetable, and decided to question Bella about it later.
Looking away from the two, Hayley quickly opened her locker and grabbed her jacket and bag. She neatly piled all of her unneeded books in the corner of her locker before shutting it and turning back around.
When she turned around, Hayley noticed that Edward was no longer by Bella's side. Instead, the Swan girl stood at her locker by herself, clutching a gold onion with a confused look on her face. Hayley quickly crossed the hallway to Bella's side, offering her a kind smile as she did so.
"What's up with the painted vegetable?" Hayley asked, pointing at it.
Bella looked down at the onion. "Uh, it was a prize in biology," She explained.
"A prize you won with Edward?" Hayley asked and Bella nodded. "I saw you two talking, what happened?"
Bella shut her locker and the two girls began walking towards the exit. "I don't know," she said with a shrug. "He was just asking me questions about my life. I noticed his eyes were different, so I asked him about them and he freaked out and walked away."
"Dude is such a weirdo," Hayley told her as she walked towards Bella's truck.
"He's staring," Bella told her as she leaned against her truck.
Hayley looked over to see Edward staring at Bella as she climbed onto the hood of the truck were she normally sat. "That's creepy," she stated.
The sound of a horn and screeching tires caused the two stop their conversation. Hayley looked up to see Tyler desperately trying control his van as he slid straight towards Bella's orange truck.
"Bella!" Hayley screamed as a warning.
The Swan girl quickly turned around to see the van getting closer. Fear flooded her entire body as she watched the van get closer and closer, and she froze.
Watching the van get slide towards Bella, a sudden protective urge took over Hayley's body. Without realizing what she was doing, the Kenner girl flung herself off of the the truck and went to protect Bella. Before Hayley could even get to the Swan girl, Edward came out of nowhere and tackled his mate out of the way.
As the van got closer, Hayley knelt down and extended her arms in front of her to protect herself. When the van it's mark, the large, metal vehicle bounced off of Hayley's hands as a supernatural strength overtook her body.
Hayley released the breath she was holding as she took her hand away from the van, a large dent in the metal now. She looked down at her hands in horror before looking over to Edward and Bella.
The pale boy had Bella wrapped tightly in his arms as he looked at the Kenner girl in shock. Hayley was knelt down on her knees, breathing heavily as her eyes glowed an unnatural yellow.
"What are you?" Edward asked as stared at her.
Hayley swallowed thickly before blinking and her brown eyes returned. "I-" she stuttered as she shook her head.
"Hayley!" A deep, southern voice screamed.
Hayley looked over to see Jasper appear with a worried look on his face. He looked over at Edward, who was slowly standing up, before looking at the Kenner girl. Relief washed over his face as he quickly moved to where he could get to the girl.
"Are you okay?" He asked, looking her over for any injuries.
"I'm okay, Jaz," Hayley assured. "Just a little freaked out."
Jasper nodded his head slowly as he looked over the damage the small girl caused to the van. His eyes widened as he ran his hand over the dented metal. "You did this?" He asked.
"I don't know how," Hayley whispered with fear in her eyes. "I-I saw that Bella was in danger, so- so I went to push her out of the way. But then Edward-- he came out of nowhere and tackled her out of the way. I-I saw the van getting closer to me and panicked."
"Come on," Jasper said as he slowly helped her up. "Go see if Bella's okay."
Hayley slowly nodded and walked over to where Bella was. The Swan girl was currently surrounded by students who were wondering if she was okay. She seemed overwhelmed and freaked out about the whole situation, something Hayley could relate to.
"Bella," Hayley called out, pushing through the crowd.
As soon as Bella said the Kenner girl, she tightly wrapped her arms around her. "I'm so glad you're okay," she said.
Hayley hugged Bella back. "I'm glad you're okay, too," she said.
*
They put Hayley and Bella in the emergency room to check over for any injuries. Tyler was there with them, the only person to actually be hurt during this whole thing. The nurses quickly checked Hayley's heart rate, blood pressure, and shined a light in her eyes to check for a concussion.
"Hayley?" The panicked voice of Ellen called out as she rushed into the room. "Oh, baby, are you okay?" She asked, looking over her daughter's body to check for injuries.
"I'm fine, mom," Hayley assured with a small smile.
"Bella, are you okay?" Charlie asked his daughter when he entered the room, glaring at Tyler. "You and I are gonna talk," he told the boy.
"I'm fine, dad. Calm down," Bella told Charlie as the nurse checked her blood pressure.
"I'm sorry, Bella and Hayley. I tried to stop," Tyler explained.
"We know," Bella said with a nod. "It's okay."
"No one got hurt," Hayley told him with a small smile to make him feel better.
"No. It is sure as hell not okay," Charlie said angrily.
"Dad, it wasn't his fault," Bella told him.
"You girls could have been killed," Ellen said sternly. "You understand that?"
"Yes, mom, but we weren't," Hayley said. "We're both fine."
Charlie shook his head as he turned back to Tyler. "You can kiss you license goodbye," he told the boy.
The door opened suddenly and a blonde doctor with pale skin walked in. "I heard the chief's daughter was here," he said with a smile as he walked over to the girls.
"Dr. Cullen," Charlie greeted.
"Charlie," Dr. Cullen said. "I've got this one, Jackie," he told the nurse.
Hayley frowned when she noticed her mom tensed up beside her. She looked over to the older woman to see her staring at the doctor with her jaw clenched.
"Isabella," Carlisle read from the chart.
"Bella," The Swan girl corrected.
"Well, Bella, it looks like you took quite a spill," he stated as he pulled out his small flashlight. "How do you feel?"
"Good," Bella answered. "We're both fine."
"Look here," The doctor directed as he ran a test on Bella. "You might experience some post-traumatic stress or disorientation, but your vitals look good. No signs of head trauma. I think you'll be just fine."
"I'm so sorry, Bella and Hayley," Tyler said again. "I'm really-"
Charlie grabbed a hold of the pastel-patterned curtain and harshly pulled it closed, separating Tyler from the girls.
Carlisle chuckled at Charlie's actions before turning to Hayley. He offered a friendly smile before grabbing her chart.
"Hayley Kenner," He read from the paper. "You must be new in town."
Hayley nodded her head. "Moved here about a month ago," she told him.
Carlisle smiled at the girl. "Like I told Bella, you might experience some post-traumatic stress or disorientation, but other than that, I think you'll be fine," he informed her.
"Great," Hayley said with a small smile.
"You know, it would have been a whole lot worse if Edward wasn't there," Bella said, catching the doctors attention. "He knocked me out of the way."
"Edward? Your boy?" Charlie questioned.
"Yeah, it was amazing," Hayley said. "I mean, he got to her so fast. He was nowhere near us."
"Sounds like you were very lucky," Carlisle told Bella he said before leaving.
*
After being released by the nurses, Hayley, Bella, Charlie, and Ellen all walked out fo the emergency room and into the hallway.
"I gotta go sign some paperwork," Charlie told Bella. "You should, uh, you should probably call your mom."
"I'm going to go with him," Ellen told Hayley. "Please stay with Bella."
"I will, mom," Hayley said.
The two teenage girls turned and walked away from their parents. Bella pulled her phone out to call her mom while Hayley simply walked beside her is silence. The two rounded a corner to see Edward, Jasper, and Rosalie talking to their adoptive father. The four turned to look at the two girls as soon as they noticed them, stopping the conversation they were previously having.
"Can we talk to you for a minute?" Bella asked Edward.
Carlisle pulled Rosalie away as other Edward and Jasper walked over to the two. "What?" Edward questioned.
"H-How did you get over to me so fast?" Bella asked.
"I was standing right next to you, Bella," Edward lied.
Bella looked over at Hayley before shaking her head and turning back to Edward. "No. You were next to your car, across the lot," she said.
Edward chuckled, "No I wasn't," He lied, again.
"Yes you were," Bella argued.
"Bella, you're.." Edward trailed off, struggling to come up with a good lie. "You hit your head. I think you're confused."
"I know what I saw," Bella insisted.
"And what exactly was that?" Edward asked.
"You.. You were across the lot and then you were pushing me out of the way," Bella said.
"Well, nobody's going to believe you, so.." Edward trailed off and glanced at Hayley.
"I wasn't gonna tell anybody," Bella assured. "I just need to know the truth."
"Can't you just thank me and get over it?" Edward asked sternly.
"Thank you," Bella quickly said.
"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Edward asked.
"No," Bella said, shaking her head.
"Well, then I hope you enjoy disappointment," Edward told her before pushing off the wall and walking away, Jasper following behind.
"Wait!" Hayley called out and followed after them, leaving Bella behind.
Edward clenched his jaw and gave Jasper an annoyed look before turning towards the Kenner girl. "What?" He demanded harshly.
"Why are you lying to her?" Hayley questioned. "We all know that you were across the parking lot when that van slid towards us. You saved her life, so why are you lying to her?"
"Why are you lying to her? Huh?" Edward questioned.
"What are you talking about?" Hayley asked with a confused look on her face.
"How did you stop the van, Hayley?" Edward asked, his voice sharp.
Hayley's confident stance faltered at the question. "I-I don't know," she told the two boys.
Edward quickly used his gift to read her mind to see if she was telling the truth; she was. The Kenner girl was beginning to become more of a mystery to the Cullen's family.
"I lied to protect her. I suggest you do the same," Edward said bluntly before turning around and walking away.
Jasper stepped in front of the girl with a small smile on his face. "Are you okay, darling?" He asked.
Hayley started to fidget with her fingers. "Yeah, I'm okay," she assured him. "It's just been a long day."
Jasper grabbed a hold of the girl's fidgeting hands, squeezing them in his own hands. "Go home and rest. You need it," he told her.
Hayley slowly leaned in and rested her head against Jasper's chest. "Thank you for being there for me today," she mumbled quietly.
Jasper smiled as he released his hold on her hands and wrapped his arms around her small body. "Of course," he said. "I'm just glad you're okay."
Hayley sighed into the embrace before pulling away. "I should probably go," she told the blonde boy. "I'll talk to you later."
"Bye, Hayley," Jasper said with a wave as he watched the girl walk away.