CHAPTER SEVEN:

When I opened my eyes on Monday morning, something was different. It was the light. It was still the gray-green light of a cloudy day in the forest, but it was clearer somehow and I realized there was no fog veiling my window.

Sliding out of bed to take a look outside, I almost shrieked in delight at the sight of the fine layer of snow that covered the yard, dusting the top of my truck and whitening the road. All the rain from yesterday had frozen solid too, coating the needles on the trees in fantastic, gorgeous patters.

I used to hate the snow. Absolutely despised it, in fact. But Luna had loved it and I learned to enjoy spending time making snow men and snow angels and even enchanting snow balls to fly around hitting people (mostly Slytherins).

Charlie had left for work before I got downstairs and I threw down a quick bowl of cereal and some orange juice from the carton. I felt almost excited to go to school and that was undeniably concerning because I was very aware that it wasn't the stimulating learning environment I was anticipating, or even seeing Angela my sort-of friend. If I was being completely honest with myself, and a friendship with Luna had taught me that I always should try to be, I knew I was eager to get to school because I would see my Biology partner, the very intriguing and not-very human Edward Cullen. And that was very, very stupid.

I should be avoiding him entirely and not only because he was a vampire, but because I'd already let too much slip yesterday– my survival depended on my ability to stay beneath any sort of notice. I wasn't even exactly sure what the attraction was; maybe it was because he was a part of the world I missed so desperately... or maybe it was because he was just so frustratingly nice.

While driving to school, my truck thankfully seemed to have no problem with the black ice that covered the roads. It was only after I arrived at the parking lot that I saw why I'd had so little trouble. After stepping out of my car something silver had caught my eye and I'd carefully made my way to the back of the truck to examine my tires only to realise that Charlie had gotten up who knew how early to put snow chains on my truck. My throat went tight at the sight– I wasn't used to being taken care of and Charlie's unspoken concern caught me by surprise, sucker-punching me right in the heart.

I was standing by the back corner of the truck, struggling to fight back the sudden wave of emotion the snow chains had brought on, when I heard an odd sound. It was a high-pitched screech, and it was fast becoming painfully loud. I looked up, startled, and saw several things simultaneously. Nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it did in the movies. Instead, the adrenaline rush seemed to make my brain work much faster and I was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once.

Edward Cullen was standing four cars down from me, staring at me in horror. His face stood out from the sea of faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock– because skidding towards me, tires locked and squealing against the breaks, was a dark blue van 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 have time to pull out my wand. I didn't even have time to close my eyes.

I was on the run from the corrupt Ministry of Magic, but a muggle car crash was how I was going out, a distant part of me noted. Fan-bloody-tastic.

But just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed something hit me, hard and not from the direction I was expecting. My head cracked against the ice covered concrete and I felt something solid and cold pinning me to the ground.

It took me a dazed second or two to realise I was lying on the pavement behind the tan car I'd parked beside, but I didn't have time to notice anything else because the Merlin-damnned van was still coming. It had curled gratingly around the end of the truck and, still spinning and sliding, was about to collide with me again.

Fuck.

A low oath made me aware that someone was with me and the voice was impossible not to recognize. Two pale, slender hands shot out protectively in front of me and the van shuddered to a stop a foot in front of my face, the hands fitting providentially into a deep dent in the side of the van's body.

Then the hands moved so fast they blurred. One was suddenly gripping under the body of the van and something was dragging me, swinging my legs around like a rag doll's, till they hit the tire of the tan car. A groaning metallic thud hurt my ears and the van settled, glass popping, onto the asphalt– exactly where only a second ago my legs had been.

It was absolutely silent for one long second before the screaming began. In the abrupt bedlam, I could hear more then one person shouting my name. But more clearly than all the yelling, I could hear Edward Cullen's low, frantic voice in my ear.

"Bella? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." My voice sounded strange. I tried to sit up and realized he was holding me against the side of his body in an iron grasp.

"Be careful." He warned as I automatically struggled against the constraint. "I think you hit your head pretty hard." I became aware of a throbbing ache centered above my left ear and stilled my movements.

"Ow," I said, surprised.

"That's what I thought." His voice, amazingly, sounded like he was suppressing laughter.

Stupid vampire, I grumbled in my head as I twisted slightly to take in his concerned expression and accidently found myself disorientated by the force of his gold-colored eyes.

Maybe a concussion wasn't quite off the table.

And then there was a sudden crowd of people surrounding us, tears streaming down their faces, all of them shouting at each other and shouting at us.

"Don't move!" Someone instructed.

"Get him out of the van!" someone else yelled.

There was a flurry of activity around us and I tried to get up against but Edward's cold hand pushed my shoulder down.

"Just stay put for now." He suggested and I couldn't help pulling a face.

"But it's cold!" I complained and it surprised me slightly when he chuckled under his breath. I started scowling. "I'm not dizzy, my sight's not blurred, I don't feel sick or like I'm going to vomit, I'm not having seizures and I'm not drowsy." I informed him. "The chances I have a concussion are minimal."

Edward blinked down at me, looking a touch surprised. "So not the first time you've hit your head?" I huffed out a sound that wasn't quite a laugh. My mouth tasted bitter as I spoke.

"Not even close."

Edward's eyes were just a tad too insightful then, and I had to shift my gaze to look away. And then, he was talking again.

"What about before the crash?" he asked and I could hear the careful casualness in his voice; could recognise it easily from my own experience with it. "Do you remember anything?"

I was confused for a moment when it hit me– maybe I really was concussee, I thought, as I ran over the sequence of events in my head. It was practically a blur, one that should be impossible by human standards; Edward four cars away from me, Edward next to me, Edward lifting the speeding van away from me... he'd used his vampire abilities to save my life. He'd risked exposing not only himself but his entire family just to stop me from been killed.

A slight blush warmed my cheeks as I wondered, breathless almost, why the hell he'd thought I was worth that.

"Bella?" Edward asked and I realized I'd been staring at him in silence.

"Um, no, I don't remember anything," I lied and his expression smoothed to a combination of worry and relief that wasn't hidden as well as he must have thought.

"Memory loss is a sign of concussion." He reminded me and I groaned, lifting an arm to cover my eyes as I realised I wasn't going to be able to get away with not getting checked by a doctor now.

"Merlin's balls." I muttered sourly and Edward let out a surprised laugh that he hadn't expected going by the slightly stunned look on his face.

"'Merlin's balls'? Can't say I've heard that before." He said and I lifted the hand not covering my eyes to give him the bird. My head was really starting to throb now, the pulse of it sharp and painful.

"You could have pushed me a little more gently," I groaned, "my head's killing me."

I knew I'd made a mistake saying that when I could feel him go still next to me and his voice was suddenly guarded again.

"You remember me pushing you?" He asked.

"Well, clearly." I replied.

"I thought you said you didn't remember anything."

I couldn't help my sigh at the suspicion in his voice. "I don't. I do remember the van, however, and I remember someone pushing me out of the way. Seeing as when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was your pretty face, I decided it was a pretty safe assumption that you were the one who pushed me."

"Indeed." His voice was thoughtful and then– "you think my face is pretty?" He teased and the blood rushed to my face. He laughed and I sort of wanted to hit him but I could hear the sound of sirens in the distance.

"Thank you." I said, suddenly. "You saved my life." My eyes were still covered so I couldn't see his expression. His voice, however, when he answered was warm. And sincere.

"Anytime, Bella."

-

-

It took six EMTs and two teachers- Mr. Varner and Coach Clapp- to shift the van far enough away from us to bring the stretchers in. Edward vehemently refused his, and I tried to do the same, but the traitor told them I'd hit my head and was experiencing memory loss. I glared at him while almost dying of humiliation while they put on the neck brace.

It looked like the entire school was there watching soberly as they loaded me in the back of the ambulance. Edward got to ride in the front. Even though I knew that he was in no way, shape or form injured, due to the fact he was basically made of stone, the least he could have done was play injured.

To make matters worse, Charlie arrived before they could get me safely away. "Bella!" he yelled in panic when he recognized me on the stretcher.

"I'm completely fine, dad. Just a mild concussion." I assured him. He turned to the nearest EMT for a second opinion, and as my gaze swept over the parking lot, it landed, for a second, on his family. The other vampires. Their expressions ranged from disapproval to fury, and I winced in sympathy for him.

The ambulance got a police escort to the county hospital and I felt ridiculous the whole time they were unloaded me. They put me in the emergency room, a long room with a line of beds separated by pastel-patterned curtains. A nurse put a pressure cuff on my arm and a thermometer under my tongue.

The second I was unsupervised, I decided I wasn't going to wear the stupid-looking neck brace anymore, and hastily unfastened it and threw it under the bed. Ha.

There was a flurry of hospital personnel as another stretcher was brought to the bed next to me. I recognized the boy from my Trig class- Tim or something. He looked a hundred times worse beneath the bloodstained bandages, but he was staring anxiously at me.

"Bella, I'm so sorry!"

"I'm fine-" I hesitated for a second, wondering whether to risk using his name, but deciding I didn't want to embarrass myself if I got it wrong, "um... you look awful. Are you alright?" As we spoke, nurses began unwinding his soiled bandages, exposing a myriad of shallow slices all over his face.

"I thought I was going to kill you!" his voice was rising in volume in his upset, "I was going to fast and I hit the ice wrong..." he winced as one of the nurses started dabbing at his face.

"Don't worry about it, you missed me." I assured him.

"How did you get out of the way so fast? You were there, and then you were gone..."

"Umm... someone pulled me out of the way." He looked confused.

"Who?"

"Uh, Edward."

"Cullen? I didn't see him... wow, it was all so fast, I guess. Is he okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." I nod.

They wheeled me away then to X-ray my head, after which they refused to let me leave, saying I had to talk to a doctor first, and left me back in the ER, where I was harassed by Tim's constant apologies and promises to make it up to me. No matter how many times I tried to convince him I was fine, he continued to torment himself. Finally, I just closed my eyes and ignored him.

It only half worked- he kept up a remorseful mumbling. After about half an hour my magic started thrumming, and I wasn't at all surprised when a musical voice asked.

"Is she asleep?" I opened my eyes to glare at Edward, who was standing at the foot of my bed, smirking.

"Edward, I'm really sorry-" Tim began, but Edward lifted a hand to stop him.

"Don't worry, Tyler. No blood, no foul." He said, flashing those brilliant teeth. Huh. So Tim wasn't Tim, he was Tyler. Whoops.

Edward moved to sit at the foot of my bed, and I tried not to give in to my automatic instinct to twitch away from him. "So what's the verdict?" he asked.

"There's nothing wrong with me at all, but they won't let me go," I whined, "the nurses are as bad as bloody Pomphrey. How come you aren't strapped to a gurney like the rest of us?"

Edward appeared a touch confused by my reference to Madam Pomphrey, but didn't ask, instead flashed me a smile. "It's all about who you know," he answered me, "but don't worry, I came to spring you."

My magic started thrumming with more intensity, and I steeled myself, ready for the appearance of another vampire. I wasn't disappointed- a young blonde doctor walked around the corner, looking hotter then any movie star.

"I'm Carlisle," the doctor, who has to be Dr. Cullen, introduced himself. "So, Miss Swan, how are you feeling?" he asked in his remarkably appealing voice.

"I'm fine," I told him. He walked to the lightboard on the wall over my head, and turned it on.

"Your X-rays look good. Does your head hurt? Edward said you hit it pretty hard, and that you seem to be suffering a touch of memory loss." I let out a frustrated sigh.

"It's fine. I've had much worse. And it's not so much memory loss, as confusion." Deciding to stir the pot a bit, annoyed at how amused Edward was looking, I kept talking, even though I knew I should probably keep my mouth shut. "I mean, I thought that Edward was on the other side of the parking lot, but then he was right next to me, which is impossible." I shrug, pretending not to notice the way both Edward and Carlisle immediately froze. "Hence, the confusion."

Carlisle speaks first. "Well, everything seems fine." He says, his voice slightly stiff, "you can go home with your father now. But come back if you feel dizzy or have trouble with your eyesight at all."

"Okay." I agree, eager to get out of here. I throw my legs over the side of the bed, hopping down quickly. Too quickly- I staggered, and Edward moved swiftly off the bed, reaching out and catching my left hand to steady me. After I balance, I wait for him to let go of my hand. He doesn't, instead he stares at the top of my hand. I feel my face pale, as I realize what he's looking at.

I snatch my hand back, and turn away, my body stiffening. I must not break rules. Scars faded enough that most humans wouldn't be able to pick them up, but as easy to see as a flashing neon sign to a vampire.

Before either of them could say anything, I hurried out of the ER, to the waiting room, only to get a thoroughly unpleasant shock when it seemed like every face I knew in Forks was there, staring at me. Charlie rushed to my side. "There's nothing wrong with me." I told him, before he could even open his mouth, "the doctor saw me, said I was fine, and that I could go home."

Charlie's face was anxious. "This had... had nothing to do with... England, right?" he asked.

"Not here!" I hiss, my eyes widening, my head quickly flicking around to see if there were any vampires within earshot. My stomach sunk as I saw Edward leaning against the doorway, his golden eyes fixed on me.

"Okay. Let's go home." Charlie said, looking a touch puzzled.

"Home. Yes." I agree, nodding hastily, then wincing slightly at the movement.

Ouch. Bugger.