Moving Forward - J. Black

ii.

EDITED

Eliza walked out of the school doing her best to avoid any of Edward's awkward attempts at becoming friends with Bella. As soon as the winter breeze hit her body, it was as if chaos ensured. Tyler Crowley's black Chevrolet SUV spun out of control as it hit a patch of black ice at a high speed. The vehicle swayed on its wheels as Tyler fought for some type of control. He had no luck as the van was barreling right towards Bella Swan and her red truck. Eliza's eyes widened as she watched a blurred figure, who was no doubt Edward, jump in between the two colliding vehicles. People immediately crowded around the scene and Eliza blinked as Edward jumped out from between the cars and into the concerned crowd.

"Did he really just-" Eliza was speechless at the recklessness that may have just gotten the family booted from Forks, Washington. Eliza hurried down the stairs to a steaming Rosalie. "You idiot!" Rosalie stormed down toward the bronze-haired vampire. "Rose, not now." Edward brushed off the angered blonde, which only fueled the woman's wrath. Rosalie looked over at Eliza flabbergasted by Edward's dismissal. "Come on." Eliza sighed as she grabbed Rosalie's arm, walking the two girls over to Edward's car. 

Edward looked at Eliza confused when they caught up to him and she held her hand out for his keys. "I think you've damaged enough vehicles for the day." Eliza gave a sarcastic smile and Edward was annoyed as he gave her the keys. "Where are we going?" Rosalie was confused now more than angry. "To tell Father Dearest about Edward's newfound idiocy and figure out if we just got outed to the town of Forks." Eliza grinned at the blonde as she hopped in the driver's seat of Edward's Volvo.

The ride to the hospital was quiet, but Rose took no time in attacking Edward once they had filled Carlisle in on the situation. "What was I supposed to do then? Let her die?" Edward scoffed at Rosalie as they stood in the hallway. "This isn't just about you, it's about all of us." Rosalie was annoyed that Edward saw no wrong in what he did. "I think we should talk about this in my office." Carlisle suggested as he looked past the two fighting vampires. Eliza followed Carlisle's line of sight and soon other two vampires went silent. 

All eyes were on Bella Swan, who was listening to their fight as she hid behind the wall. Eliza looked at the human amused when Bella realized she was caught snooping. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Bella approached Edward now that the situation was already more awkward. As if he had no choice, Edward made a move toward the human as Rosalie glared at him. "Rose." Eliza sighed as she and Carlisle steered the girl away. "This is ridiculous." Rosalie scoffed, but she didn't push Eliza's arm away.

Edward avoided Bella like the plague after the accident, however, everyone in the house noticed his late-night disappearances. As much as Eliza's heart hurt seeing Edward suddenly infatuated with another, she couldn't help but find amusement in his suffering. The house was split when it came to the discussion of Bella Swan. Edward was right, he couldn't just let his mate die in front of him, but Rosalie saw it differently. Bella Swan was human, she would eventually wither away and Edward would probably crawl back to Eliza. Eliza tried her best to not think about that, perhaps there was a version of the future where Edward would break the treaty with the shifters and run away with his newborn wife. Eliza didn't want to be the second choice, whether Bella turned or died, Eliza was going to move on.

"Come on, let's go." Mr. Molina directed as he tried to round up all the teenagers that signed up for the biology field trip. Eliza walked to Jasper's left, opposite of Edward, as Bella stared the Cullens down. Eliza rolled her eyes at the human, making her way toward the bus with Alice and Jasper. Edward remained a couple of yards from the bus as he stared back at Bella. "They're pathetic." Eliza deadpanned as she watched the interaction from the bus. Jasper and Alice shared a look that didn't go unnoticed by Eliza.

The students made it to the greenhouse and Eliza genuinely enjoyed the light and airy atmosphere that the many plants gave off. Eliza took notice of Angela and her group of friends joking around and pestered Mr. Molina, Angela met Eliza's eyes and smiled at the blonde. Eliza liked Angela, the two had multiple classes together and were commonly lab partners in biology. Angela seemed to fall behind her friends as she too took in the plants around her. Angela's slowed pace soon left her standing next to Eliza, both looking around in comfortable silence. 

"Can I ask you a question?" Angela broke the silence with an eager question on the tip of her tongue. "Sure." Eliza shrugged as she looked over at the quiet girl. "Are you and Edward like a thing? I know it's none of my business, but-" Angela seemed hesitant about how to approach the blonde, not wanting to overstep. "No, uh we're not." Eliza gave the girl a small smile, finding her babbling somewhat comforting. "Oh good." Angela sighed in relief that Bella wasn't going after Eliza's boyfriend. "I'm sorry I asked, it's just you guys spend so much time together and-" Angela continued to feel guilty for prying. "And you didn't want to support Bella's pursuit of Edward if he and I were already a thing. I get it." Eliza smiled at Angela, glancing over at Edward and Bella talking.

"What are you doing next weekend? I was thinking about going dress shopping in Port Angeles, maybe you could come with?" Angela took a leap as she invited the vampire to finally talk outside of the school atmosphere. "That sounds fun, can I think about it?" Eliza looked at the girl hopefully. "Yeah, totally." Angela smiled at the blonde before joining her friends again. "Look at you, making friends with humans." Alice beamed as she stepped up to Eliza's side.