Edward hadn't shown his face at Forks High School in almost two weeks, ever since his black eyes avoided Melinda's green ones, and he rushed out of their shared class. Melinda was forced to sit alone in English, trying to decipher the old language of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Edward had always been there to help the redhead when she didn't understand what a passage meant.

When Melinda walked into her third period class, she was expecting the seat beside her to be vacant. However, her eyes focused on the pale boy who wore a grey t-shirt, his hands resting on the desk right beside Melinda's. The redhead inhaled deeply as she walked over to her seat, feeling Edward's eyes glued to her as she did. Melinda sat down, gently placing her backpack on the ground under her desk.

"Hello," Edward spoke. "You look nice today." He tried to ease the obvious tension between the two, knowing full well that Melinda wondered where he had been.

Melinda looked down at her outfit with a nervous smile, pulling her navy blue sleeveless and buttoned up blouse away from her body to see it better. Her red hair was tangled into a french braid, a few strands falling down her cheeks. She had on jeans that were a charcoal coloured grey.

"Thanks." Melinda looked up at the boy, her smile faltering for a brief moment as she noticed the golden eyes that looked back at her. "So do you." She stated, knitting her eyebrows together slightly as Edward looked away.

"Sorry I've been away recently, I had a personal problem that needed to be taken care of." Edward explained, facing the front of the classroom where Mr. Mason sat at his desk.

Melinda hesitated to respond, her olive coloured eyes scanning the side of Edward's defined face. She noticed the sharpness of his jaw, long black eyelashes that sheilded his eyes that seemed to always change colours, and the flat bridge of his nose. "It's alright. Uh, Mr. Mason gave us a small assignment to do a few days ago. It's due tomorrow and he said we could have an extension, but I already finished it." Melinda attempted to changed the subject away from why Edward had been gone for so long as she didn't want any awkward energy between the two.

Edward smirked, looking at Melinda through the corner of his eye. "Thank you." He replied as the English teacher started his class.

Later that day, Melinda was walking out of Forks High School and heading towards Cindy's silver Acura. The keys rattled in her hands as her mind raced with thoughts about Edward, all the school work she had to do when she got home, and more Edward. Ever since Melinda had met him, she felt like time had resumed for her. She was warmer, happier, and didn't have an underlying gut feeling that she was missing something in her life. Melinda knew not to get her hopes up about Edward being the one to resume the clocks again for her because she had been let down so many times in the past, but something about the pale boy that sat beside her in English made her feel whole again.

As if on cue, Melinda heard a low, smooth voice calling her name. The girl turned around to see the one and only Edward Cullen standing beside a silver Volvo, a small smile etched onto his lips.

Melinda lifted up her empty hand to wave at the boy, looking down at the rain speckled pavement as she made her way over. All of a sudden, the squealing of car tires filled her ears and she quickly raised her head to see what was going on. A brown van was sitting on an angle right beside the orange truck that Melinda learned belonged to Bella, with the said brunette and Edward in between the two vehicles.

With her eyebrows furrowed into an expression of concern, Melinda watched as Edward walked back to his Volvo as if nothing happened. He glanced back at Melinda, but didn't bother to say anything or even flash her a smile. He simply got in the car and sped out of the parking lot.

Melinda ran over to the collision, immediately noticing the large dent in the metal of the van. She looked back at the exit of the lot, the silver Volvo long gone.

Snapping out of her confused daze and back into reality, Melinda fell to her knees in front of Bella.

"Bella! Are you alright?" The girl exclaimed, helping Bella to her feet. She appeared to be fine, but the distant sound of a siren signified that emergency services had been called. The brunette female seemed to be in a daze of her own as she looked around the parking lot, mouth slightly agape and trying to figure out what had just happened to her.

"I think so. I'm okay." Bella mumbled, more preoccupied with the whereabouts of Edward Cullen.

Melinda found herself in the waiting room of a hospital, her leg bouncing rapidly up and down as she anticipated the arrival of someone who would have news on Bella. Jessica, Mike, Eric, and Angela all sat nearby, each doing their own thing. Jessica picked at her nails, Mike leaned forwards with his elbows on his knees, while Angela and Eric talked quietly to each other about what had happened. All five pairs of eyes darted to the waiting room door as it opened and out came Bella. She looked perfectly fine, with her father at her side. The only noticable difference about the brunette was the white medical band around her wrist. Other than that, she didn't have a scratch or a bruise.

"Bella, we were so worried. Are you okay?" Mike asked as he rushed over to the girl, his three friends behind him. Melinda stayed in her seat, watching as Bella nodded her head.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just tired." She replied, smiling gratefully at her new friends.

"How's Tyler? He probably feels so bad." Eric asked, referring to the boy that had driving the van. He was a mutual friend of Eric, Mike, Jessica, and Angela. Bella had only talked to him a few times.

"He's doing okay. There's a cut on his head, and he does feel really bad." Bella explained, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I told him he can kiss his license goodbye." Bella's father, Charlie, stated. He was the chief of Forks' police force, and was not impressed with what happened in the school parking lot today. "Come on, say goodbye to your friends, Dr. Cullen wants you to rest." Charlie put a hand on Bella's back in an attempt to steer her away from the four worried teenagers in front of her. Bella waved goodbye as she walked away, noticing Melinda sitting down. The two girls smiled at each other, both knowing Bella couldn't stop to chat. However, Melinda really wanted to talk to the girl, and followed her and Charlie out of the waiting room.

"I just have to sign some paperwork. You better call your mom." Charlie said not noticing the redhead behind him.

"You told her? She's probably freaking." Bella ran a hand through her brunette hair as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket.

Charlie shrugged before turning to leave. He smiled at Melinda as he walked by, leaving the girls alone in the hallway.

"You saw what Edward did, right?" Melinda asked, causing Bella to turn around.

"Yes, did you?" Bella was just as confused as Melinda at how Edward managed to get between the truck and the van before Bella was squished in between. Melinda nodded in response, her green eyes shifting away from Bella for a moment. "How did he—," the girl began to say but was cut off by Melinda putting a thin finger to her lips.

"This isn't just about you, it's about all of us." Melinda heard a female voice say, the sound smooth yet stern at the same time. The redhead rounded the corner with Bella doing the same, only to see Dr. Cullen, Edward, and Rosalie standing close to one another in the hallway. Rosalie had an expression of frustration written across her flawless features, her golden eyes shifting to where Bella and Melinda stood.

"Let's take this to my office." Dr. Cullen suggests, urging Rosalie to follow him. The blonde female glared at Edward before following her adoptive father.

"Can we talk to you for a moment?" Bella asks, causing Edward to come walking over. "How did you get over to me so quickly?"

Edward had a small smile on his face. "I was standing right next to you." He replied, eyes darting between Melinda and Bella.

"No, you weren't. You called my name, and you were at your car." Melinda added on, narrowing her eyes at the boy. He seemed to be growing uncomfortable under the lie he was telling.

"You were at your car, across the lot." Bella repeated. She also had an underlying feeling that Edward wasn't telling the truth.

"No, I wasn't." Edward took a step forward, his jaw tightening. Bella rebuttled him by saying that he was, the distance between them slowly getting smaller. "You're confused, you hit your head."

"I know what I saw." Bella replied, glancing over at Melinda.

"I didn't hit my head. I remember walking over to your Volvo, but you had disappeared when the van's tires squealed." Melinda pointed out, trying to back Bella's accusations up.

Edward hesitated to speak, his lips parting slightly. "And what, exactly, did you see?" He asked, his eyes now narrowing on Melinda. A thousand thoughts were running around in her head, about how Edward had gotten to Bella so fast and why he was now lying about it. Melinda also wondered if he had been the one to cause the dent in the side of Tyler's van, but figured that was humanly impossible.

"One second you were at your car, the next second you weren't."

"You stopped the van. You pushed it away." Bella and Melinda spoke at the same time, trying to convince the pale boy in front of them what they had witnessed in the school parking lot.

"No one will believe you." Edward replied, looking back at forth between the two girls.

"I wasn't going to tell anyone. We just want to know the truth." Bella said as Melinda glanced over at her, thinking the same thing. Edward squeezed his eyes shut, his mind buzzing with thoughts. He couldn't focus on what he wanted to say in order for the girls to drop the subject.

"Can't you just thank me and get over it?" He asked, and Melinda could tell he was growing annoyed by the way his shoulder slumped and his lips turned into a subtle frown.

"Thank you." Bella blurted out. Edward took a small step back at the girl's sudden voice.

"You're not going to let it go, are you?" Edward asked, already knowing the answer before either girl had a chance to speak.

"No." Bella told him, causing him to shake his head.

"Then I hope you enjoy disappointment." Edward stated before turning away from the girls and walking down the long hallway that Rosalie and Dr. Cullen were long gone from.

"We know what we saw. I think he's hiding something." Melinda pointed out as she and Bella watched Edward leave.