Remember Me (A Twilight fan fiction)

5. Resolve

It felt like the first day of school again - almost. After Chief Swan had helped her out of the patrol car, Eric and Tyler were there to offer their assistance.

"I'm Tyy...llerrr," he said loudly, over enunciating to Bella as she settled herself onto her crutches.

"Dude," Eric said as he smacked his knuckles against Tyler's head. "She's not deaf."

Bella shot Eric a thankful look and turned back to Tyler. "I remember you, Tyler."

That stopped the boy dead in his tracks. Had she remembered the accident where he'd almost taken her life as well? He wondered. True, it had been over a month ago, but a fresh wave of guilt still washed over him.

"Thanks, Eric," Bella told him, a little uncomfortably as he took her red backpack from the seat and flung it over his shoulders.

"You remember me," he said.

"Of course I remember you," she told him. It was true; she had recalled how friendly he was to her since the very first day. The sun's rays beat down on her head, and she looked up to face the unusually blue sky. She was grateful that there appeared to be no threat of rain today, as uneasy on her crutches as she already was.

"Bye, Chief Swan," Tyler told Charlie, shutting the door. "Don't worry about a thing. We're going to take very good care of Bella."

Charlie's brows knit together suspiciously as he watched the two hormone-raged boys hover over his daughter. "Right." He would have liked to introduce them to his pistol.

"Bells, you okay?" he asked, still standing beside the hood of the car as the pair flanked Bella on the way to the school grounds.

She stopped for a moment and peeked over her shoulder. "I'm fine, Dad."

"Fine," Charlie muttered to himself and then entered his vehicle. He still worried for his daughter, but at least there was a measure of comfort that she would have a pair of ready helpers. "See you after school," he called out from the passenger window.

Tyler stopped just then. "I can take you home, Bella," he offered like an over anxious puppy and then turned to the chief. "I can take her home."

The chief said not a word, but shook his head, his brown eyes shooting daggers at the careless boy. He would have revoked Tyler's license if not for Bella...

Eric inwardly laughed, but seized the opportunity. "I can take you home, Bella, if you want."

Still visibly uneasy with the situation, she turned her eyes to her father.

"I'll be here to pick you up after school," the chief repeated.

Nodding her head, she thanked him and waved goodbye. Bella wished that she could drive her own truck. She hated feeling so dependent on everyone.

Charlie started up the engine. As it hummed to life, he thought, not for the first time, that it was too soon for her to be returning to school anyway. Dr. Cullen had examined her the previous Friday, and since the headaches had decreased, he had left it up to Bella. What Charlie really hoped was that she would keep away from that Cullen boy.

That Cullen boy had, in fact, been all she could think of. For all of her investigations, she had not been able to find as much as a phone number. There were no pictures of them together, no doodles, no notes...She had wondered on more than one occasion if they really had been dating. He had been there at the hospital in Phoenix, though. Edward had been different from the way she remembered him that first day - he appeared sad, mournful...lost. After having been back in Forks for over a week, she had not heard from him at all, and now she eagerly anticipated seeing him again. He had to have the answers; she was counting on it.