CHAPTER TWO
EDWARD PISSES OFF EVERYONE AND ALSO HIMSELF

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EDWARD SPENT A WEEK IN DENALI. During that week, the rest of the family had the opportunity to discuss the whole...Bella Situation. Since her last one, Alice's visions were coming at her tenfold, different scenarios, contradicting and intertwining. She called it a Knot - and it didn't help them in figuring out how this whole Bella thing would end. It could go many ways. Edward could murder her brutally, or fall in love with her until she dies of old age. Or she would be turned. They would never know until Edward makes a decision - Sabine was more than aware that Edward based many decisions off of Alice's visions, so she knew they were pretty much fucked.

School was normal. They often caught Bella glancing at their table every now and then, and Sabine thought she might have come over to ask of his whereabouts. She never did, thankfully. She just stared. A lot.

One day after school, Sabine was walking out of the main doors after a lengthy meeting with her english teacher about her writing skills - (Mr Trothel thought she was a prodigy in the making. The next big thing. He didn't know that she had like sixty-five published books already). Her black boots hit the wet concrete of the stairs as she beelined for Rosalie's red convertible, her siblings tucked inside waiting patiently for her. She sent them an apologetic look, sorry for taking so long, that was wiped off her face by Eric Yorkie's sudden appearance before her.

She stopped in her tracks, surprised. He grinned (as per usual), and waved his headphones at her, "Fixing up a playlist for the dance. Send me yours?"

"You don't have my number." She replied, and just as he went to ask for it, interrupted, "But i'll write some songs down if I get the time."

"Cool, thanks." She went to walk past him, but he stopped her once more, "So, you're...going? To the dance? Because if you are, I could-"

"I'm not going." She smiled politely, straining only slightly, "Not my vibe. Sorry."

Then she was walking faster - not too fast - to the car that was now filled with the evil smirks of her evil siblings. She said nothing as she slid into the backseat beside Jasper, only glaring at Rose and Emmett in the rearview mirror.

"Not a word."

They laughed and sped out the lot, heading back to their house in the woods. When they got there, they could see Edward's car on the drive, and were actually slightly excited that he was back. Especially Sabine, who sped upstairs to her twin's room, grinning eye to eye at him. Emmett wasn't far behind, making a similar face.

He looked at them blankly, "Emmett, I think you owe Sabine some money."

"Yes!"

"Awe, come on!"

Sabine gladly took the bill from her brother's hand and skipped happily back into the living room, where Jasper was looking for something to watch on TV. Sitting down beside him, she shoved the money down her bra and propped her feet up on the table, "What we watching?"

Jasper shrugged, "I don't really like TV."

"Then why are you watching it?" She asked with a smile.

He glanced at her for a moment, before putting the remote down and looking at her fully, "Do you...have feelings for the boy with the camera?"

"What, Eric?" Sabine grinned, chuckling, "No, why?"

"You talk to him an awful lot." Was Jasper's response. He narrowed his eyes, "He's human. That's dangerous."

Pursing her lips, Sabine stood, "Good thing I don't like him like that, then. We're not even friends, I just don't ignore him when he talks."

Jasper looked away, and her heart would've stuttered in her chest if she had one. She needed to leave, before he picked up on it. Or god forbid anything else she was feeling.

The thing is, she could brush it off as simple worry about her getting too close to a human. But she knew it was more than that - it was jealousy. Jealousy that she knew he was feeling, but he didn't. She was making a literal Empath confused about his feelings. She was evil. All because she was scared to tell him they were soulmates.

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So, despite having spent a week in Denali, Edward had not solved his Bella problem. He was still obsessed. But he'd hunted like crazy in the days before he returned so he could at least sit beside her in biology without picturing how he was going to drink her clean (of blood, you freaks), and claimed to Sabine on the way to school the following Monday that he would attempt being nice to her. He thought he'd scared her a little with all the intense glaring and wanted to make it up to her.

He had an intense desire to impress her apparently. Which, she couldn't blame him for. She was the same when they first took in Jasper, so she related in a way she couldn't even comfort him about. But Edward never appreciated comfort anyways - he was more the suffer in silence type.

She wished him a hearty good luck instead, and headed to her other classes. They were the same as they'd always been, boring and uneventful. Sabine ended up skipping her final period and chose to sit in the car and write instead.

Those plans, however, were quickly foiled when she noticed her twin brother had the exact same idea - except he wasn't writing, he was sat in the drivers seat of his Volvo, eyes closed, blasting heavy rock music through the speakers. Sabine slowed, watching in awe and shock, before tapping hard on the glass and shaking him out of his stupor.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked, getting into the passenger seat and looking at him, eyes wide.

"Listening to music."

She rolled her eyes, "Some more detail, please."

Edward sighed, closing his eyes again, "Blocking out my thoughts of killing Bella."

"Oh..." She muttered slowly, narrowing her eyebrows, "That's-normal..."

"She asked me about my eyes today." He said then, looking at her, "Why they were a different colour."

"Oh damn." she muttered, leaning in, "What did you say?"

"She asked me if I was wearing contacts. I said it was the fluorescents."

There was a moment of silence as Sabine just blinked at him. Then, she burst into laughter so loud it caught Edward off guard. She slapped him hard on the arm, giggling in his face. He looked appalled.

"You-you-" She couldn't stop laughing, even when it died down to mild chuckles, "The fluorescents? Are you being serious?"

"Yes. What else was I supposed to say?" He defended, screwing his face up.

"Yes!" She exclaimed with a grin, "You could've just said Yes, Bella, I am wearing contacts. Thanks for noticing. Are you stupid?"

"I wasn't thinking straight." He attempted, a weak defence. "She's just so..."

Sabine raised a brow, "So you're super into her, huh? It's not just the blood?"

"No, I don't think it is." Was his answer. He looked a little scared at the admittance, but his sister was smiling, genuinely. "What?"

"Nothing." She shook her head. "So, what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know." He looked at his hands, thinking about the damage they could do, "Keep a safe distance. But..."

"You know you can't." She finished for him. She knew the feeling all too well. She frowned at his solemn nod, twisting her mouth. In the corner of her eye, she saw that school had ended, students filing out of the front doors. So she patted Edward on the shoulder and sent him a tight grin, "Come on, let's wait outside for the others. Can't miss the debrief, right?"

Ah, the Debrief. It had become somewhat of a tradition for the Cullen children to meet up by their cars at the end of every school day and give small rundowns on how their days went. Usually it was harmless stuff - ironic things the humans had said, gossip they'd overheard. But as of recently, it was more along the lines of, did you kill Bella Swan today? Good news was, he didn't!

"Hey, guys?" Sabine asked when she saw Emmett and Rosalie approaching. "Say a human notices your eyes change colour. What's your excuse?"

"Contacts." The pair said simultaneously. Sabine chuckled and sent Edward a look, and the boy rolled his eyes, leaning against his car.

"Oh god, what did you do?" Emmett asked his brother, a deep smirk planting itself on his face already. Edward pursed his lips. "Come on, spill the beans!"

As Edward recounted his embarrassing encounter with Bella, alongside their somewhat successful conversation in Biology, Sabine found her eyes drawn to Alice and Jasper, who were on their way over.

The whole Bella situation was an issue for a multitude of reasons that she could spend hours listing, but her main qualm with it was the feelings and thoughts it seemed to bring up for her. Just over fifty years she'd been keeping her thoughts dormant, perfectly locked away until she felt the time was right, and now her brother falls for a human girl and she can't seem to hold her thoughts back. She was lucky Edward's mind had been occupied lately, because if he could hear her now, he'd have more than a few things to say.

Alice on the other hand, was more than happy to send her constant looks. Over the years she'd practically perfected it - no thoughts, just eyes. It creeped Sabine out a little, but she wasn't going to say anything in case Alice decided to spill the beans in an act of revenge. Instead she put up with it, usually ignoring it, and hoped to whatever God was out there that this whole thing would blow over and they could all go back to normal.

But then Alice let out a gasp, her eyes wide and unblinking, and the distinct sound of a car skidding across asphalt shrieked in their ears only a second later. They turned, just in time to see a black van curve right towards Bella's orange truck - that she was standing in front of. Edward was gone before anyone could stop him, and the van skidded to a halt before bouncing back an inch. The entire parking lot was quick to surround the scene, wondering if Bella was okay. They gaped at Edward as he pulled himself over the space between the vehicles and walked back towards them, but went quickly back to doting over the still-in-shock Bella.

"What in the ever living hell was that?" Rosalie sneered at him, but he ignored her. He walked right past them all, into the woods where nobody could see him speed off. The blonde turned to her siblings, "Is he crazy?"

"Crazy in love." Emmett tried to joke, but it fell flat. He cleared his throat, "Uh..."

"We should go to the hospital." Alice murmured, "Warn Carlisle."

"Right, of course." Emmett nodded, turning to his car and hopping in. Rose and Alice followed, while Sabine out herself in Edward's car, knowing he'd kill her if she left it at school.

She assumed she would be alone on the drive, but was pleasantly surprised when Jasper sung open the passenger side door and made himself comfortable next to her. She side-eyed him as she reversed out of the lot slowly, avoiding the many peering eyes of the students that were still surrounding Bella, "Not riding with Emmett?"

He too was avoiding looking at the crash site, but for a whole different reason, "There was blood."

"Oh." She knew that, she could smell it wafting off Tyler's head the second his skin broke. They all knew, but they were all too shocked by Edward's actions to acknowledge it. Plus, they knew they could control themselves, what was the point in saying anything? "And riding with me, makes it...easier to withstand? I would've thought the stink that lives in Emmett's car would distract you enough."

He cracked a smile, and she could see his body relax the further from the school they drove, "No. Being around you is just...calming. Your energy, it-for some reason, it regulates my emotions."

She swallowed, "It's-it's probably because of the masking thing. I'm pretty much a shadow. A breath of fresh air, if you will."

"Of course." He nodded, "That is a possibility."

Or it's the fact that we're bonded together for life, romantic-styles.

She wasn't gonna say that.

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Edward was already at the hospital by the time they arrived, talking calmly with Carlisle about the ordeal at the school. Carlisle was reassuring him that he did the right thing, but Rosalie was quick to jump in and disagree.

"You're kidding, right?" She sneered, "You're aware of the danger he's just put us all in?"

They were talking quietly in the corner of the hall, as they knew Bella had come in an ambulance only moments before. Emmett and Alice had taken themselves straight to the gift shop, leaving the two Hale's and Sabine with Carlisle and Edward.

"What was I supposed to do, just let her die?" Edward snarled back, glaring.

"This isn't just about you, it's about all of us." Was Rose's reply, pointing dangerously in Edward's face, "You pretty much just exposed-"

"I think we should take this in my office." Carlisle interrupted, nodding at the end of the hall. They turned to see Bella peeking around the corner, and Rosalie scoffed, storming off. Carlisle followed, and after sharing a look with her twin, Sabine went off too.

They entered the large space - Carlisle was a really good doctor - and immediately Rosalie was pacing angrily, "I mean, he is seriously stupid. I know he likes the girl, for whatever reason, but if the Volturi catch light of this, we're all dead. Including his precious human."

"The damage has been done, Rosalie." Carlisle said calmly.

"And the consequences?" She snapped, staring at them all, "You really think he can lie his way out of that? He was on the other side of the lot! He put a dent in that kid's van!"

It was quiet for a moment. Rose was right, Edward definitely shouldn't have done that - but they didn't exactly have much time to think about it. Alice saw it, sure, but only seconds before it happened. In his eyes, he had no choice.

Sabine shook her head, "What do we do?"

"We wait for Alice to have another vision." Carlisle said, nodding, "See where we go from there."

Rose scoffed and swiftly left, with Carlisle following to check on his patients. Sabine was left there with Jasper, who hadn't said a single word that whole exchange. She let out a sigh, "He is so stupid."

"Agreed." Said the blonde in his southern drawl, "The girl has caused to many problems for this family already. He should've let her die."

She raised a brow, "It's not that simple, Jas." He looked at her sceptically, and she shrugged, "He loves her. You'd do anything for the person you love."

"I'd do anything for my family. For y-" He stopped, pursing his lips, "You're sad."

Sabine rolled her eyes and walked away, "Get out of my head, weirdo."

But he just followed her out the door and down the hall, tilting his head and examining her with his beady eyes, "Why are you sad?"

"I'm not."

"You are."

"Am not."

"Not anymore. You're just irritated now."

She stopped and turned to him, narrowing her eyes at his smirk, "Enough."

He raised his hands in surrender, "My apologies, ma'am."

Sabine shook her head and turned away from him, making sure to stay irritated rather than make it obvious she was swooning over that last sentence. He didn't say another word until they got outside, "You know, it's odd."

"What's odd?" She asked, looking at him sideways, "Do I want to know?"

He smiled, "I don't particularly see you as my sister."

She raised a brow, but he continued, "I didn't realise it until today, when a boy in my History class asked me if my sister was seeing anyone. I assumed he was referring to Alice, since Rosalie is clearly with Emmett, but he said he meant you, and I had the audacity to feel confused. I don't think you're my sister."

"Well, I mean, technically, none of us are actually siblings." She argued, attempting to mask her sudden panicky feeling as she got in the car, "Except me and Edward. So it makes sense."

"Yes but-"

"Whatever." She interrupted. Jasper was smart. Too smart. She needed him to stop, "I don't think you're my brother the same way I think Emmett is. It guess it's just the vibe between us. It's nothing to worry about. And it's not odd."

"Right." He said, narrowing his eyes at her.

The rest of the drive was silent, and when they got home, they were greeted with a flurry of angry voices. Alice turned to them when they entered the living room, "The Knot is back."

"Oh." Sabine raised her brows, "Same visions?"

"They're more clear this time." She said, eyes darting to the still-arguing Rosalie and Edward, "Two clear possibilities. Two clear futures."

"Three guesses as to what they might be." Jasper quipped, walking in and sitting on the arm of the couch.

Sabine grimaced, "I'm guessing the response isn't exactly...unanimous."

"Not at all." Alice said awkwardly, the two women looking back at their siblings.

"You have got to be kidding me." Rosalie scoffed, "Like she'd ever fit in with us. Even if she was turned, which she won't be. Per the treaty."

"You think I want to kill her? I don't." Edward said sharply.

"Well, according to Alice's visions, she's gonna end up dead either way, why get so worked up about it?"

"Alice's visions can change."

Rose rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "And how exactly are you gonna make that happen? You can't stay away from the stupid girl."

"Hey." Edward defended, "That's out of my control."

The blonde groaned, turning to face Carlisle and Esme behind the island, "Can we please just kill her? Screw the treaty, we can move before they even find her body."

"Oh, now you want to screw the treaty?" Edward snapped, "But when it concerns Bella becoming one of us, it's all we have to follow the treaty, Edward!"

"You don't even want her to be one of us, why are you fighting this?"

"That doesn't mean I want her dead." He said firmly, "I can stay with her and keep her heart beating."

Rosalie snorted, "Sure." Then she was storming off with Emmett in tow to make sure she didn't destroy anything in her anger.

Edward watched her with malice before turning to the rest of them, "I can control this." Then he was gone too.

"I hope Bella does join the family." Alice smiled, "I can already see us being best friends."

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- mills speaks!!

soooo i've been switching between the movie and snippets of midnight sun to write these chaps, hence the chaotic nature of it all. my apologies.

also sabine does have a reason for lying to jasper which we will get to in due time (wink wink) but you guys will have to wait.