She Will Be Loved

Chapter 3

Feeling rather lonely and irritated at the idea that my sister not only didn't like living with me—I'd forgotten I hadn't been totally welcoming myself—and furious that she would think anything nice about the Cullens, I fell asleep on the couch watching Die Hard long after my small family had gone to bed.

Dad woke me up in the morning and told me to catch a ride with Bella: he wasn't trusting my car in the new snow after the little chat he'd had with Jacob and only had one set of snow chains. In a completely foul mood, I made my way up to the attack and found my favorite outfit, favorite jewelry, and favorite snow boots before making my way down to curl my long, dark brown hair.

When Isabella appeared in the bathroom door, she looked rather overeager and also seemed in a hurry to get rid of me. Not in a mood to linger, I went to fetch an apple and we met at the front door. Bella made her way over to the truck and I slammed and locked the front door behind us. Bella was already in the driver's seat, idiot that she is, but I was in no mood to argue about my experience with the weather. I climbed into the passenger seat and stared at a smudge on the windshield all the way to school where I hopped out as soon as she parked and began to walk quickly toward my first class. Maybe I could catch one of my friends and vent a bit, I thought. Maybe that would get rid of all this annoying pressure swirling around in my chest. I stepped over a spot of ice and began to walk more carefully, starting to look back to give Bella a rude warning to be careful. Maybe...

Screeeeech.

Oh, come on. What idiot drove full speed into the freaking parking lot?

I turned and found a rush of adrenaline bursting into my veins as I took in the scene, took in the dark blue van skidding toward us, took in my sister standing at the back of her truck waiting to be smashed like a bug against the wall.

I managed one step toward her but I knew it was too late and all my hurried step did was place me right back on the spot of ice I'd just avoided. I found myself falling backward, still watching the horror on my sister's face as... as something brushed against my back and restored my balance? I turned my head but no one was there and when I looked back all I had to see was the van, come to a stop where my sister had been standing.

You might expect me to yell her name.

I yelled the 'sh' word.

I walked quickly over, expecting the worse and starting to pull off my coat, meaning to use my sweater to stop any bleeding. Stupid Bella, stupid Bella, stupid... oh, hey, Tyler. Stupid Tyler. Stupid Bella. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

"—so fast?" I heard a voice saying.

"I was standing right next to you, Bella." A melodic voice replied. He looked up at me as I rounded the front of the van and stared over the lack of a gap between vehicles. "You can put your coat back on, Swan." He told me, looking at me standing there awkwardly with my coat around my elbows.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Get Tyler out of the van!" Someone shouted behind me.

What? Idiots! Wait for paramedics.

"I think you'd better go help out." Edward said, looking both amused and distracted as he read the look on my face.

"Right." I said, shaking my head and stalking back the way I came. "Oi! Crowley! Don't you move a muscle!"

Surprisingly, everyone listened to me until the teachers and EMTs swarmed in, catching a bit of the calm in my voice as I ordered them around like I ordered my team around at practice. Dad showed up as they put Bella in the ambulance, but thanks to my call he didn't seem too worried, though he insisted on talking to the EMTs for a second opinion and refused to let me go into school until I was checked for shock. As he was arguing this point, the ambulance drove away and he decided that I needed to come with him to the hospital, which was about as pleasant an outcome as I could have hoped for.