Disclaimer

Twilight and all affiliated characters are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I do not own any of the aforementioned characters except Beth and the plot of this story (that is, should it stray from the original Twilight). This story is for entertainment only and is not part of the official storyline. I am not in any way, shape, or form benefiting financially from the publishing of this story on this site and am very grateful for Mrs. Meyer's creation. Besides, if I did own Twilight, I'd be paying for my own college tuition.

"I don't care, Charlie!" The man winced as his ex-wife continued to yell at him through the phone. Pulling the offending device away, he could still hear her voice as loud and as clear as day. "She needs to talk to someone. She can't just get up and walk away and pretend like it didn't happen! And if I can't be there and you won't talk to her-this is the next best thing!" Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed and leaned back on the counter, the coiled wire of the phone dangling freely.

He knew he shouldn't do it. Beth would be furious with them both, he just knew it. She was always more independent, always willing to do things on her terms and her terms only. Always making mature decisions and having the capability to understand that all of her actions had consequences -not that she'd ever done anything to warrant such a thing- but she was smart. Sometimes too smart. And it wasn't a secret that Elizabeth hated counselors. From a young age, she'd shown cold disinterest and major dislike for those in the profession when they'd tried to get through to her for whatever reason.

But Charlie shared the same sentiments as Renee (not that she'd give him a chance to tell her that), he too thought that Beth should speak to someone. And if Beth wouldn't talk to him or Bella and Renee wouldn't come down to do it herself, the school counselor would have to do it.

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs alerted the forty-year old man and he cleared his throat, shoulders tensing as he began to whisper yell into the phone, "Okay! Okay! I'll deal with it today,"

And just before he hung up the phone Renee spoke again, "You'd better!"

The click of the phone resting on the hook never sounded so satisfying to him. Taking a swig of his coffee, he looked toward the ceiling as though to pray for himself before Bella entered the kitchen, backpack swinging from her arm.

"Hey, dad," she went to give him a quick kiss on his stubbly cheek, "Who was that?"

He sighed, "You're mother," before downing his entire mug, content to ignore his daughter's side eye as he picked up his jacket from the hook and made a quick getaway to work. He'd be damned if he had to explain what the past hour of pain on the phone had entailed.

"Weird," Bella commented aloud once he left. "You ready?" she called out.

"Yeah!" and the girl of the hour finally came down the stairs, catching an apple that her twin threw her way before grabbing her bag and opening the front door. Sighing, Beth wondered if she could go to the hospital and get another doctor's certificate from Dr. Cullen so that she wouldn't have to face the dreaded high school confrontation thing. Worse? It was a Monday, which gave all the more reason for her not to go.

Rumors would fly a plenty if the entire school hadn't caught wind of what had occurred already. And with what Jessica and Isabel told her last week Wednesday about Edward, she had an inkling that they'd likely be tying and weaving the poor boy into the fabricated tales that 'the loom' (read Lauren Mallory and Jessica Stanley)spun.

"Can I-,"

"No," Bella shot down once more, a stern look on her face as she double pumped the clutch and turned the key in the ignition, the old Chevy roaring to life like a lion. The girl pouted, her cheek pulling slightly despite the still swollen muscle.

The bruises had been a shock, once she'd gotten up on Friday morning to be confronted with a large, mottled bunch of colors ranging from the left side of her jaw straight up to her temple and dotting across the front of her face. Dr. Cullen had assured her upon her visit that afternoon that it was normal and that the swelling wouldn't go down for another five days while the bruises would fade within the next two weeks or so.. The knife wound, however small, would take a while longer. It still ached like hell every time she stretched or moved a certain way.

"Two weeks?" She'd asked in disbelief. But the doctor could only nod.

It was unfortunate that she hadn't taken to exploring make-up in this life yet, so she didn't even have any foundation to cover it up. Nope, they'd be on full display for the entire population of Forks High to see, both students and staff.

And right she was, as soon as the girls had pulled into the lot, eyes were on them like they were animals in a zoo. It almost felt as bad as the first day they arrived. Almost. And it continued on, students either whispering like they were trying to break the fourth wall (seriously, could they be any louder?) and teachers staring in shock before asking her if she was feeling alright or if she needed to go to the nurse. She'd be ashamed to admit that the thought hadn't crossed her mind to take full advantage of that last offer. Even Mr. Banner, in all his unmoveable glory, was rocked quiet as soon as she stepped foot into the class, stuttering slightly upon seeing the mess on her face.

She had sighed, walking right past and to her seat, head down to avoid any more questioning and stares. It would be over soon, at least, she reasoned. The last class was gym, and she had a get out of jail free card for that class anyway.

Beside her, as soon as the bell rang for class to begin, the stool on her left shifted and the once empty seat was occupied by the one and only, Edward Cullen.

"Hi," he began, elbows bracing on the desk where his book rested, his attention solely on her. She glanced up at him through her lashes, the cheek that swelled on the left exposed to his roaming gaze. But to her surprise, his eyes only lingered on the bruise for a moment, a look of anger clouding his face for a small moment before he cleared it away and truly looked at her since he'd last seen her on Wednesday night.

"Hi," she mumbled quietly, hair falling on her right side to shield the rest of the class from her vision.

"Are you-,"

"Please don't ask me if I'm okay-" she interrupted, sitting straighter, "I'm sorry, it's just that I don't think I can take any more questions like that.." she trailed off quietly, "I might just combust if someone else asks."

His lips tilted as though he'd heard something funny, but he nodded, golden eyes flitting from a spot just behind her before going back to rest on her own eyes.

"Okay," he agreed before turning to face the front of the room. Beth breathed a stream of air from her nostrils to comfort herself, surprised but nonetheless pleased that he'd refrained. Truly, she did feel as though she might combust. It was okay for the first five hundred times, but any more questions beyond that? She wanted the day to end and the stares to stop. She wanted to go home and wrap up in her quilt like a human burrito and fade away into deep sleep. Enough was enough.

Half-way through the lesson, a student had poked their head inside, locking eyes with her before walking over to Mr. Banner and handing him a note before leaving again. Beside her, Edward shifted, long fingers clenching around nothing.

A bad feeling began to build in her gut and a sour taste permeated her tongue as her favorite teacher read the note and called out, "Elizabeth, Mrs. Gent would like to see you as soon as possible."

Mrs. Gent, aka, the school counselor. The whispers started back up with a vengeance. Her cheek throbbed as her anger peaked and at his insistence, began to pack her bag and made her way out of the class, conscious of every single pair of eyes on the back of her neck as she did so.

Her shoes squeaked on the tile, echoing throughout the empty hallway as her hand clenched around the bright pink note that gave directions to her office. But Beth had half the mind to leave school right now. To make a Beeline for the front door and walk all the way home in the rain, detention be damned. But she had to know for sure, who had put her up to this. Was it Renee? Likely. But she couldn't have acted from so far away in Jacksonville. So that left Charlie, but the thought was hard to comprehend in and of itself. Her dad would have known she'd be pissed. He had to have known.

The half-wooden door groaned as she pushed it open, the frosted glass window with the name 'Anisa Gent, School Counselor' in black print lettering.

The office wasn't that large, Beth noted right away. It was more of an over glorified supply closet lined wall to wall with depressing gray cabinets almost as tall as her. The floor was lined with ugly magenta carpet and the walls clashed harshly with its yellow paint.

"Good afternoon, you must be Elizabeth." The woman was sitting behind the desk in the center of the room, peering at her over her burgundy cat eye frame glasses with a golden eyewear retainer looping around her black hair, graying at the roots.

Elizabeth returned the greeting, and upon taking one of the proffered seats that Mrs. Gent gestured to, she began to speak, "What is this about?"

The lady across from her sighed, straightening some files laid out on her desk before reaching into her drawer to pull out another with a label clearly marked 'Elizabeth Swan'. Clearing her throat, she began.

"Some of your family and peers have expressed great concern for your well-being," the woman peaked over the rim of her glasses. "As I understand, there was an incident in Port Angeles that shocked you and caused some level of great distress."

Clenching her jaw, Beth watched as the elder flipped open the manilla file and began to flip pages. How would she know? Who told this woman this information?

"I just want you to know Beth, whatever we talk about in our sessions will remain confidential," she assured her.

But Elizabeth was not having it.

"-I'm sorry to interrupt, but who told you all of this?" the girl gestured vaguely toward the file.

The lady across from her paused in her reading, pen at the ready as her hand hovered over a blank page in a notebook. "Now Beth, that isn't important-"

"The hell it is," the teenager interrupted again, and upon seeing the look upon the counselor's face, grew agitated. "I appreciate your concern, I really do."

Sarcasm thick in the air, Beth continued, "But I'm fine. I'm not experiencing any adverse effects. I'm not in 'shock' and I'm certainly not in distress over what happened."

"Ms. Swan, I understand what you might be feeling. It's perfectly natural to be experiencing this type of resistance if you're not used to accepting help. But you can talk to me,I'm here to assist you in any way-"

Beth scoffed, "I'm sorry, have you heard anything that I've said in the past two minutes?"

"Beth-"

Getting up, the girl grabbed her bag and made for the door, "You know what? This is ridiculous. I'm not staying here any longer."

The sound of a chair scooting back echoed in the small office, the counselor getting up to lean over the table.

"Excuse me, Ms. Swan-! I expected more maturity from you, given who your father is but I can see that this is an incorrect assumption. It's clear exactly whom you've taken after in that regard but-"

"What the hell did you just say?" Beth chuckled bitterly, turning around to look the woman in her face. There was just no way this old bat had said that. The woman floundered, hands gesticulating in a frantic attempt at getting the girl to sit down once more, realizing that maybe- just maybe, she'd gone a step too far.

"Elizabeth-!"

"I'm going to pretend that you did not just say that. And then I'm going to choose to be mature about this and leave- before I do something that will surely get me expelled and you, fired."

"Is that a threat?!" The woman called after her, the muffled sound of her heels clicking on the carpet following the teenager out the door. The green door closed soundly, blocking off any more of that god awful screeching that woman was doing.

Instead of turning back, Beth walked on, ignoring the calls of the woman after she stepped from her office. Fingers clenching around the pink slip of paper, she turned a few corners and power walked her way straight out of the school doors and into the light drizzle.

She breathed a huge sigh, head tilting and eyes closing as she took in the smell of the rain and the paper-light drops of rain that landed on her face. The door shut behind her and she was alone once more.

Or so she hoped.

"Are you alright?" A melodic voice spoke on her right, startling her out of her daze.

"What-?" she flinched before placing a hand on her heart, "Jesus Christ! Warn a girl next time, will you?"

Edward Cullen chuckled shortly, bright pearly whites on display before carefully hiding them behind a closed smirk. "Apologies, I'll get a bell next time."

Rolling her eyes, she peaked up at the clouds again and then down the mostly barren road, deciding on whether walking home would be a better idea rather than waiting an hour and a half for Bella's next class to finish.

"You didn't answer my question," he spoke once more, drawing her attention back toward the pale boy.

"Uh, yeah- Actually no, I think I might skip the rest of the day."

"Lucky," Edward chortled, tossing a set of car keys above his head, "I was thinking just the same thing,"

And that was exactly how Beth ended up in the passenger's seat of Edward's infamous Silver Volvo five minutes later, driving around town with no true destination in mind. It was spent in companionable silence, Edward's right hand resting lazily on the steering wheel and turning with practiced ease every now and again. The townsfolk walked on, blissfully unaware as usual, greeting their neighbors and friends before melding in with the rest of the blurred surroundings as Edward sped past.

The drive had helped Beth more than she realized. So much so that she must have fallen asleep at one point, head resting comfortably on the window. Beside her, ever so often, the 109 year old boy would look over to gaze at the girl who'd completely turned his life around in the span of a month. It would be a lie if he said he'd not grown to care for her a little more than he should have. If his heart could beat, Edward knew without fail that it would pound every time he got to see her.

It had only been half an hour into her nap when Edward had gently nudged her awake after tuning into her driveway.

"Crap," she rubbed her eyes, "Sorry, I didn't even think I was that tired."

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, "It's okay." Any time he got to spend with her was a boon in his eyes. It didn't matter that they hadn't gotten a chance to talk like he'd intended when he'd offered her the ride. All that Edward truly cared about was that she was safe. The other night had shaken him more than he'd thought, his worry ever present in his mind. Despite it being so soon, he couldn't even fathom how close he'd been to losing her- the one thing he could safely say was fast becoming his sole reason to live, if that's what he was doing. There had been too many incidents thus far. He could only hope to be near enough to save her if (god forbid) any more accidents occurred.

Opening her door, Beth carefully grabbed her bag, "Thank you, by the way."

"You're welcome, Elizabeth."