

A/N: This is my 2011 Twilight Big Bang entry. It consists of seven parts (plus an epilogue), and I will post a new chapter each day this week. Also, for clarification, the Cullens are human in this story.

Thank you to OnTheTurningAway for betaing this even though I pushed her right up against the deadline.

Phase 1

The day the Rez school caught fire changed my life irrevocably.

I guess I was already headed down the path of the completely bizarre, but that fire seemed to be the thing that really set everything in motion. I was already a wolf, how much stranger could my life get?

When Sam had started acting distant, I didn't immediately take notice. We were a small community, so we all knew each other, but Sam was older than me and we didn't really ever interact much. But when Paul, who usually treated me like a little brother, gave me the cold shoulder, I began to get both worried and pissed off, mostly pissed off. Paul was suddenly always around Sam, and he didn't seem happy about it. The whole thing was just strange, and I really started to wonder about Sam Uley.

Jared was the next one to join their little group. I saw the three of them standing at the cliffs one day while I was taking my shitty Volkswagen Rabbit out for a test drive. Sam was talking to both of them, and it looked almost like he was giving them a lecture. Paul was standing with his arms folded across his chest, but Jared was nodding, like he was eating up whatever Sam was feeding him.

I couldn't figure out what he had over the both of them. I had all kinds of weird theories about Sam being some kind of brain-washing cult leader or having some kind of dirt on them that was bad enough to force them to do his bidding, but the seeming opposite reactions of Paul and Jared completely threw me off. Plus, I couldn't imagine that either one was capable of doing anything terrible.

Then one day Embry didn't come to school. He was one of my best friends. He and Quil were the two people who were really there for me after my mom died. We were all still pretty young at the time, but they were the ones who sat around with me in silence. They forced me outside to play and ride bikes and just be a kid when it was obvious I needed it. They didn't try to force me to talk about how I was feeling like my sisters kept trying to do. They just let me be, even if they didn't realize it.

So when Embry quit taking my calls, I had to find out what was going on.

When I went over to his house, his mom told me he was really sick and practically slammed the front door in my face. He didn't come back to school for a whole week. All my texts and calls went completely unanswered. I rode past his house on my bike a few times, but the shades were drawn. I figured his mom would just turn me away again, if she even answered the door at all, so I gave up.

I complained about it to my dad over dinner, explaining that no one else at school was sick with this mysterious super illness, and that I knew it had something to do with Sam Uley and the way he brainwashed Paul and Jared.

My dad just stared at me the whole time, giving me "the look." The condescending look that said, "You're still a child and you shouldn't ask questions about things you don't understand."

"Well?" I pushed him. "You don't think there's something strange about all of this?"

"Charlie and I are going fishing this weekend."

"So you're just going to change the subject? Just like that?"

"I shouldn't have to remind you to respect your elders, son," was all he said, harshly I might add.

We finished dinner in silence.

That weekend Quil and I hung out at the beach. He was the only other person who seemed even remotely disturbed by the weird cult of Sam Uley, but together we still couldn't make heads or tails of it.

We were just goofing around, trying to throw rocks at the fish in the tide pools, when Quil straightened abruptly.

"The plot thickens," he said, pointing up at the cliffs.

Standing up there, not looking even remotely sick, was Embry. Of course, he was standing with Sam, Paul and Jared, and it was obvious they were trying to get him to jump. Cliff-diving was something we all did, but most of us had never jumped from the highest cliffs, Embry especially. He was terrified of heights.

"They got him too?" I all but shouted at Quil. I was furious.

"I can't believe they're trying to get him to jump! He won't do it."

"They're probably going to push him off! Those bastards."

I started running toward the cliffs. I didn't think I could stop them or anything, but I was pissed. Who did they think they were? Embry was with me the first time I jumped off the low cliffs. He stood at the edge and shook in fear. I gave him a hard time about it for awhile, until I realized that he was turning green. I thought he was going to barf off the edge, and I could see him holding back tears. I just told him to meet me at the shore and we never talked about it again.

I stopped dead in my tracks just as Embry went over the edge.

"What the fuck?"

I started running toward the shore where he would surface. The other three were cheering loudly as Embry's head came up out of the water. He pumped a fist into the air and then started swimming. He saw me as soon as he climbed out of the water.

"Jake," he said as his voice cracked.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" I asked coldly. We had been best friends for years; I didn't deserve this.

He tensed, almost like he was going to hit me. Instead he just stared at me, eventually relaxing enough to give a small shake of his head.

"I can't tell you, man. I would if I could, I just can't."

"You were just as pissed off at Sam as me. Why the hell are you suddenly in his cult!"

"It's not like that."

"Well then tell me what it's like!" I was shouting at this point. I heard Quil approaching behind me, but he held back.

"I can't!" he shouted back.

"Why the fuck not?"

"It has to do with the tribal legends. That's all I can tell you, I swear. I want to tell you. I just, I really, really can't."

There was so much desperation in his voice that the fight left me. He wasn't going to tell me, and I really wanted to believe that there was a good reason for it.

"Fine. Whatever. Be a dick."

I turned back toward the tide pools, and Quil and I walked back to my house in silence.

When Embry came back to school on Monday, we gave him the silent treatment. He looked kind of hurt by it, and in hindsight it was pretty immature, but I couldn't bring myself to feel bad. He was the one keeping secrets. He was the one who was palling around with Sam, jumping off cliffs like it was nothing.

But then a few weeks later, I started feeling sick during fifth period. By the time I got home from school I was completely out of it. My dad wasn't home, so I dug around the bathroom for our thermometer. I only had it under my tongue for a minute before it beeped. It read 108. I didn't know a lot about diseases, but I knew that 108 was really, really bad. I don't remember much about what happened next, but my dad told me later that he found me trying to get into my car. I was so delirious, I couldn't even get the key in the lock.

Of course, he knew exactly what was going on with me. A doctor would have had no clue, unless there was one out there with a strong belief in the supernatural, so I guess it was better that I couldn't get my sick ass to the hospital.

The next couple of days were blurry. I remember being in a lot of pain. I was having an accelerated growth spurt; it was like going through puberty again, but all at once. My first clear memory after leaving school that day was waking up to see Sam, Paul, Jared and Embry all staring down at me. It took me a little while to grasp Sam's explanation that I was suddenly able to morph into a giant wolf, but after I saw Embry do it right in front of my eyes, it started to sink in.

The first time I phased was indescribable.

I felt powerful, like there was nothing in the world that could stop me. I immediately took off running into the woods. I was always good at navigating the thick trees and underbrush, but this was something else entirely. Instinct took over, and I knew when to jump before I even saw the huge tree that had fallen in my path. My body seemed to know where the ground was soft and muddy from the recent rain, and my feet, well, my paws, would avoid those spots. The sounds and smells of life buzzed among the trees. I knew where there was a den of rabbits and a bald eagle's nest. I could sense a pack of deer somewhere in the area and had an overwhelming urge to stalk them.

I had no idea how long I tracked them before I heard something in my head that wasn't natural.

Whoa, Jake. Take it easy.

Of course, there was always a catch.

Huh? Sam?

Even after they told me about the whole phasing into a wolf thing, I didn't quite understand what they meant when they said that I would hear the rest of the pack's thoughts in my head.

Suddenly, images that weren't my own flooded my mind. Paul was complaining about trying to catch up to me. Jared was thinking about the dinner his mom was cooking for us all that night. Embry was being his usual self-deprecating self.

Great, I'm still the slowest.

You're the slowest out of all of us on foot, too. What did you expect? I quipped back.

Okay, okay. You've had your fun. Come back, now.

Sam's voice felt the loudest in my head, and even though I wanted to keep running, I felt compelled to turn around and meet up with the others. They explained to me later that because he was the alpha, I would feel obliged to follow Sam's orders.

Meet back my place. We'll leave your clothes for you on the back porch.

Yeah, it had been a little weird stripping down in front of them, but my wolf body wasn't going to fit into my favorite Levi's.

Sure enough, when I got to the Uley's house, my clothes were waiting. I phased back and got dressed and then went straight into the kitchen. Sam's girlfriend Leah was the only one there. I always thought she was kind of a bitch, and she did nothing to shatter that image.

"They're all in the living room. Waiting for you."

It wasn't any of her business, and I was about to tell her so before Sam burst into the kitchen.

"Good, you're back. Wait in the living room, I just want to say goodbye to Leah."

"Saying goodbye" was code for shoving his tongue down her throat, so I grabbed a few cookies out of the jar on the counter and hoofed it into the living room.

The guys all seemed really happy for me that I had joined the pack, and they were impressed by the way I adjusted to my wolf form. I told them about the pack of deer I sensed, so I asked them about whether or not they ever hunted in their wolf form.

Paul and Jared started telling me about when they tried and failed to hunt down an elk when Sam came back into the room. Suddenly, a heaviness blanketed my thoughts, and we all immediately quieted down. It felt natural to do so, but I wondered if this following-the-alpha's-orders business wasn't going to be a pain in the ass.

"We should probably do this at a Council meeting," Sam started. "But we're not sure how many more of us are going to phase, so it's best you know the basics now."

I swallowed hard. The tension in the room was so thick that it finally started to sink in a little that turning into a giant wolf wasn't just some cool Quileute trick.

Sam briefed me on the history of our tribe. Though I knew some of our tribal history, it all sounded a little ridiculous to me. We were supposedly descendents of the wolf, but it wasn't until a particular enemy made itself present in our land that we started to phase back into our "original" form. He explained about "the cold ones" and how they killed and fed on the blood of our people. The ability to transform was passed down for generations, but it would only make itself manifest when our enemy began to infiltrate our territory. Sam went on to describe these creatures, and I felt more and more like I was hearing a fairy tale, or a bad horror story.

"Vampires," I said, interrupting him and making no attempt to hide my skepticism. "You expect me to believe that there are vampires out there."

"You phase into a wolf, dude," Paul snorted. I was glad his sense of humor was back, but in that moment it wasn't appreciated.

I threw a pillow at him.

"Believe it. We've seen them," Jared said solemnly.

"Wait, what?" Embry cut in.

"Last night." Sam remained calm. "That's the other reason for this meeting. Jared and I were doing patrol last night and we caught the scent of one of the bloodsuckers. We followed its trail for almost 50 miles past Forks. There's a little town along Route 101. That's where we finally caught sight of it."

"Shit." Paul whistled.

"It was male, brown hair, fairly nondescript. He didn't see us, but we're pretty sure he knew that something was following him."

"What are we supposed to do about it?" I asked, still not quite understanding.

"They're the enemy, Jake. We have to destroy them."

"So why didn't you just- just kill it?"

"It's not that easy."

I opened my mouth to interrupt, but then I realized I didn't know how to object to that.

"So far, five of us have phased. That's a lot of us just for one vampire. There's something else going on. There have to be more of them. We can't just attack until we know more."

"That's why we've been running patrols," Embry burst in.

"Their scent is getting closer to us," Jared added.

"Do they know about us?"

"We think so," Sam said. "So far, they haven't actually set foot on our lands, like they instinctively sense the danger, but we think they're curious."

"I still don't understand why we don't just destroy them. If we're their natural enemy then why not just pick them off one by one?"

"We're enemies, yes, but they are not to be taken lightly. According to the legends, they can be strong. Very strong, especially after they feed. And if more of us keep phasing, I'm afraid we may have a war on our hands."

My blood ran cold at the thought.

That's why when the school caught fire about a month later, we all immediately suspected foul play. It would have been almost impossible, though, for one of the blood-suckers to set foot on the Rez without one of us noticing. We had a constant patrol after dark, and we sent out tracking missions into Forks and beyond. Plus, it didn't make sense for them to seek us out. At the time of the fire, as far as we knew, there were only three of them. Paul and I had spotted a red-haired female south of Forks when we were tracking one night, and Embry had seen another male closer to Seattle. But Quil had phased at that point, as had Collin, Brady, Seth and Leah, which was just weird, so we were up to a pack of ten.

Things seemed to calm down for awhile after the fire - vampire-wise anyway. The school was completely destroyed and rebuilding was a slow process. So, Dad insisted on enrolling me at Forks High, and made me cut back on patrolling. We argued about it for awhile, but he insisted that I couldn't be a wolf for a living and that I needed to get a real education. I just wanted to take the high school equivalency test, but it was hopeless. He even conned my sister Rachel into talking to me about how much she loved college.

I was going to finish high school, and that was that.

Of course, it helped when I remembered that Bella Swan also attended Forks High. She was the daughter of Charlie Swan, police chief of Forks and my dad's best friend. Bella just moved to Forks after having lived with her mom in Phoenix, but I remembered playing with her back when we were little kids. Her mom and Charlie got divorced when she was really young, but she used to come back and stay with him every summer. My dad and Charlie would go fishing together all the time, and they used to drag us kids along. Usually Rachel and Rebecca were put in charge of watching us, and they made us play along with whatever stupid thing they were doing. The thing I liked about Bella, even way back then, was that she was usually way more interested in playing with me than them.

I had seen her a few times since she moved her permanently, when my dad and I would go over to the Swan's house to watch Seahawks games on their big screen. But ever since I phased and found out that I was some, strange mythical creature destined to fight vampires, I had pulled away from Bella a little. I hated holding this huge secret from her.

I kind of had a crush on Bella. She just wasn't like most of the girls on the Reservation. She was really smart and not overly girlie, and she liked talking about stuff like movies and video games. I think she knew I had a crush on her. I also didn't think she was interested in me as more than a friend, but sometimes I swear she would send mixed signals, enough that it didn't deter me from trying.

We went over to the Swan's house for dinner the night before I was supposed to start at Forks High. Some of the other Rez kids were supposed to start at Forks this week, but I was the lucky one who already had all the right immunization records and shit to start. After my mom died, my dad started keeping better track of all that stuff for us, which I guess was good, but when all my friends basically had a vacation from school and I didn't, it completely sucked. On the other hand, Dad thought it would be a good idea to reestablish my friendship with Bella before I started school, and I wasn't opposed at all. Phasing had caused a huge growth spurt, so I was kind of happy I could show off my new body for Bella. The last time I saw her I had been a lot scrawnier.

"Whoa! You tower over me now!" was the first thing she said when she saw me.

"Maybe you're just shrinking," I teased.

She stuck out her tongue at me before adding, "What's with the haircut?"

"It was just easier like this than it was when it was long."

"Aw, and here I was hoping we could braid each other's hair."

This time, I stuck my tongue out at her.

We fell into an easy rhythm like we always had before. When Billy and Charlie went into the living room after dinner to watch the Sunday night football game, I stayed in the kitchen with Bella and started asking questions about Forks High.

She told me about all the different buildings and which teachers were the hardest.

"This is boring stuff, Bells. I want the dirt. Where should I sit at lunch? Who are the popular kids? Do you like any of the boys?"

I was just giving her a hard time with the last question, but her whole face turned bright red and I knew I had caught her.

"You do! You have a crush on someone!" I tried not to feel jealous. "Who is he? I bet he's the captain of the football team."

"We don't have a football team."

"Basketball team then? Baseball? Wrestling? I bet you like wrestlers."

"No, Edward doesn't play any sports," she said. Then she clamped her hand over her mouth.

"So his name is Edward, is it?"

I didn't think it was possible, but her face got even redder.

"You're blushing! What? Is he a huge chess team nerd or something? Why are you so embarrassed?"

"Stop it! And he's not on the chess team. He's kind of a loner." She was getting defensive.

"Oh, you like the rebellious, James Dean type do you? Does he ride a motorcycle?"

"I'm not talking about him anymore with you," she finally said, crossing her arms over her chest.

She actually looked kind of pissed off, so I eased up and started asking her about which classes to take. I made a mental note, though, to find this Edward character the next day.

Of course, I tossed and turned all night. Dad wouldn't let me patrol, insisting that I needed a good night sleep. It would have been better if he had, though. As it was, I barely slept at all. I swear I had just drifted off when my alarm pierced through my room.

I hit the snooze a couple times and ended up frantically running around, taking the world's fastest shower and grabbing a bagel to eat on my ride in.

"Later, Dad!" I called as I ran out the door.

My commute to school was almost a half hour, and I was pushing it. I had completely rebuilt the engine, but even so the car was kind of a piece of shit. I could admit it, to myself. When anyone else mocked my car, I told them it was a classic. It had transmission problems and the air conditioner didn't work, but it was a labor of love and it was all mine.

When I got to the parking lot there were still quite a few empty spots, so I figured I wasn't really late. I looked around the lot; there were some cars that were newer than mine, but a lot of them were old and beat up, too. At least I wouldn't stand out for that.

I parked next to Bella's old, red pickup. I had rebuilt the engine for it this summer, so I knew it well. Bella wasn't hanging around her truck, though, so I just made my way to the building marked "Office."

The secretary gave me my schedule and then directed me toward the area where everyone hung out before classes started.

I found Bella immediately, sitting on a picnic table with her nose in a book. I crept over to her. I was going to try to startle her, but her head shot up as soon as I was close.

"Hey, Bella," I said casually, trying to pretend that I wasn't sneaking up on her.

"Hi, Jake," she smirked, though she genuinely looked happy to see me.

I bent down to give her a hug. I probably held on a little too long, but I didn't care. My senses were heightened even in my human form, and I loved the way she smelled. I don't know if it was her shampoo or perfume, but she smelled like a meadow. I didn't realize until then how nervous I was, but her scent was comforting.

She seemed to get that I was nervous and didn't make any cracks at me about it. I sat down next to her on the table, and in a few minutes, a whole group of people had joined us.

I forgot everyone's name almost immediately. There was a Mike, a Jessica and either a Laura or Lauren. She seemed like a complete phony, though, so I didn't care that I didn't remember hers.

I figured I would get teased for being from the Rez, but everyone was actually really friendly.

They asked me about where I went to school before. Some of them liked to come out to La Push beach, and I pretended like this made us have something in common, but in reality, we made fun of all the tourist types who came out to our beach.

Luckily the bell ringing saved me any more awkwardness, so I headed for my first class. They didn't quite know where to place me, because the school on the Rez was so small and we didn't have the same type of grade divisions. Even though I was 16, they based my schedule on my transcript and put me in mostly sophomore classes on a trial basis, so I didn't see Bella again until lunch.

A lot of people introduced themselves to me, and I kind of felt like a minor celebrity, but I was still happy to see Bella's familiar face call me over to her table after I got my tray of shit-tastic school lunch food.

I sat down next to Bella just as the Mike kid got to the table. He glared at me like I took his seat, but Bella didn't seem to mind at all. A girl named Angela was sitting on Bella's other side. Eventually the Jessica girl from earlier in the morning joined us and a kid named Tyler who was in my Biology class. The blond girl I didn't like waved at Tyler, but luckily she didn't sit down with us.

With my heightened senses, I heard Bella's breath hitch a little. I looked over at her and tried to follow where her eyes kept glancing.

"Who are they?" I asked, when I realized she kept trying not to look at a table against the wall where four kids were sitting.

"The Cullens. They're-" Bella started.

"Weirdos," the blond kid, Mike, interrupted.

Then Mike winced, and I realized that Jessica and Bella had simultaneously kicked him under the table.

I snickered.

"The Cullens are maybe a little weird," Jessica started to explain.

"I thought they were a little awkward and snobby at first, but they're actually really, really nice," Bella insisted. "They just keep to themselves a lot."

"Wait, they're all related?" I asked.

I looked over at the table again, and it looked a lot like I was looking at two couples, not four brothers and sisters. Gross.

"No!" Jessica said loudly. "They're not related related. They're all foster kids. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen can't have kids on their own or something, so they started taking in foster kids."

"But it looks like the big one has his hand on his sister's ass."

Mike laughed at my joke.

"That's Emmett and Rosalie. They're dating, but they aren't related. They were already teenagers when the Cullens took them in so it's not like they grew up together."

"Emmett's parents actually died in a really horrible bear attack," Angela added. She was a quiet girl but she seemed sweet. There was genuine sympathy in her voice.

"The hot blond guy, that's Jasper," Jessica said. Her eyes did that glazed over thing that Bella's did when she mentioned Edward. Suddenly it made sense why she was so quick to defend these Cullen kids. "He grew up in Texas and he has the hottest accent."

"The tiny girl, with the spiky hair, that's Alice. She and Jasper are dating, much to Jess's chagrin," Bella said with a smirk.

Jessica glared at Bella across the table. "At least I had the nerve to ask him out. All you ever do is stare at Edward."

I rolled my eyes as soon as I heard the name. I could see Mike doing the same, before Tyler said something to him, distracting him from the current topic. I looked around trying to figure out which one of these clowns was Edward. Apparently Bella's crush wasn't exactly secret.

"I talk to him!"

"They're biology partners," Angela added.

"So you talk about frog's legs and cytoplasm. I don't see you going up and sitting at their lunch table. You're friends with Alice, it's not like they'd turn you away." Jess egged Bella on, making a face when she said Alice's name.

"Wait, Edward's one of them?" I broke in.

Jess and Bella both looked at me like I was an idiot for not knowing who the great Edward was, so Angela helpfully supplied, "He's been with the Cullens the longest. I think they might have actually adopted him."

"So it's Edward Cullen, huh?" I asked.

"And Bella's in love with him," Jess said in a sing-songy voice.

Bella's face flushed again, like it had last night when I was teasing her about having a crush. "I'm not in love with Edward!" she insisted. "I just like him a lot. He's smart."

"And gorgeous," Jess finished.

"You talk about him all the time," I said, trying not to sound as hostile as I felt. "Why don't you just ask him out already and get it over with so I can have my friend back?"

She didn't really talk about him all the time, but every time she said his name she would break eye contact or blush. And every time, it felt like she was punching me in the gut.

Bella was about to respond, when I realized I still didn't know who this guy was.

"And which one is he, if he's not sitting with his brothers and sisters?"

"He's not here," Angela said.

"He was in Biology today," Bella replied. She looked kind of pissed, but at least she was still talking to me. "But he had something to do during lunch today."

I was about to make some snide comment, but the bell rang, effectively shutting me up. I had eaten everything on my tray, but I was still starving. I was going to have to start packing protein shakes or something. After phasing, my metabolism sped up a lot and it seemed like I was always hungry.

I made it through my next couple classes without anything eventful happening. The big Cullen guy, Emmett, was in my Spanish class. I figured out that he was kind of the class clown. When no one knew what the teacher was asking, he would raise his hand and say something in really terrible Spanglish. The rest of the class would laugh and even the teacher would break into a smile. I was set on not liking the Cullens, but I couldn't help laughing along with everybody else.

Gym was my last class of the day. Since Bella was taking mostly Junior classes, it was the only class I had with her all day. They had us all playing volleyball, so I joined her on her side of one of the nets. She was wearing baggy gym shorts and a big Mariners t-shirt. She looked kind of cute and helpless.

"Sorry about giving you a hard time earlier, Bells. I was only teasing." I figured even though I hadn't done anything wrong, I should probably apologize.

"It's okay. I know it's sort of stupid that I'm too afraid to ask Edward out."

"Nah, it's never easy to put yourself out there like that," I said, as if I really had any experience asking girls out.

Bella smiled at me, and I knew we were cool again.

"You might not want to be on my team," she said suddenly, changing the subject.

"Why's that?"

"Remember when you convinced me to play Frisbee this summer?"

"Yeah." I tried not to laugh, but she was easily the worst Frisbee player in the world. I had never seen anyone who couldn't catch a Frisbee from 10 feet away.

She punched me in the arm, but she laughed too.

"I'm even worse at volleyball."

"I don't believe you."

She looked surprised. "I assure you my lack of coordination extends to volleyball."

"No, I don't believe that you could possibly be worse at volleyball than you are at Frisbee. Did you even catch the Frisbee once?"

"Hey! I think I-"

I cut her off by jumping in front of her, hitting the ball that was heading straight toward her back over the net.

Bella's eyes grew really wide. She had been seconds away from taking a volleyball to the face.

I tried to get into the game, covering my position and Bella's. I was naturally pretty athletic, but with my new body, it was actually hard not to hit the ball harder or start spiking it when I was at the net. I didn't want to show off and it wouldn't have been fun for anyone else anyway.

"Oh!" Bella hissed to me when we were mid-game. We rotated positions, so we were in the back row. I tried to keep my eyes on the volleyball while she whispered, "There he is!"

I turned my head to look at who Bella was talking about.

As soon as I turned my head toward the boy she was trying not to gesture at, everything seemed to slow down. I started to feel really warm and light-headed and my stomach went into knots. I completely lost focus on what was going on around me, like I had tunnel vision or something. I was just getting my first glimpse of this Edward Cullen character, and then the world went black.

When I woke up, I was lying on my back and there were at least ten sets of eyes staring down at me. The first ones I noticed were a pair of shocking green ones, looking down at me with intense concern. I was about to reach out for the person connected to them when Bella's face appeared right in front of mine.

"I'm so sorry, Jake! The ball was coming toward me and I just swung at it! I didn't mean-"

"You managed to hit the ball?" I said weakly before groaning.

There were a few snickers in the group when I spoke, I tried finding the green eyes again, but Bella was in my way. Then the gym teacher pushed through everybody and leaned over me along with Bella, effectively stopping my search. I didn't know why I wanted to find the owner of the green eyes so much, but it felt really important.

"He should probably go to the hospital. Will one of you run into my office and call 911?"

Wait, 911? Ambulance? Hospital? They'd take my temperature and quarantine me immediately.

"I don't need to go to the hospital," I sat up quickly and tried not to groan. "I probably don't even have a concussion."

"But the school nurse isn't equipped for head injuries, you need-"

"I'm not going to the hospital," I insisted, my voice was in a low growl as I cut off my teacher.

"I could drive you there, if you didn't want to take the ambulance," Bella's voice was in my ear.

"I don't need a doctor. We have one on the Rez, he can take a look at me when I get home," I tried pushing everyone away, but I was actually feeling a little too dizzy to stand up.

"I don't think you should drive," Bella said.

"No, you shouldn't drive," the gym teacher echoed. At least he was off his ambulance kick.

"My dad can look at him," a smooth voice I didn't recognize cut through all the commotion.

My eyes shot up to follow the voice, staring down at me were the bright green eyes. Once I pulled my gaze away from them, I realized that they were attached to a boy. He was tall with reddish hair, and he was looking down at me with a crooked smile. My stomach flipped, almost like I was nervous. I looked back at him and the rest of the room seemed to disappear around me. Maybe I did have a concussion.

"Bella can drive him to the hospital if she wants. My dad can just examine you in his office, you won't even have to check in."

Something about his voice made it hard for me to focus on what he was saying, but I nodded my head in agreement. Bella and the gym teacher started conferring about something that I couldn't focus on. All my attention was on the boy standing in front of me.

"Who-" I started to ask.

"We haven't been properly introduced. My name is Edward Cullen."

He reached out his hand to me and I took it. So this boy with the freakishly green eyes was the famous Edward Cullen. The guy Bella was so enamored with and that I was already set on hating.

Only, I didn't find myself wanting to hate him. At all.