In The Midnight Hour Chapter 5 Vivian

So I finally got this chapter finished, it’s long though so I’m sure it will have been worth the wait. I really hope you enjoy it. The next chapter won’t be up for a while because I’m working long hours over the summer. Please comment and let me know what you think and any changes you think I should make. Another thing I want to know for later parts of the story is how graphic I can/should be both on the romantic side and the violence side. Please comment and share your opinion on the matter. Oh and one more thing before you start reading. I have created a playlist of music that goes along with my story and I thought I’d share it with you for your enjoyment. This playlist is like a soundtrack for my story. I’ve included where each song goes in the story, except for the parts that haven’t taken place yet, so as not to ruin anything. 1. Sway- Vanessa Carlton (moving to Salem, Cullens in Salem) 2. Heart of Worship (slow concert song) 3. Everyday (fast Concert Song) 4. Rhythm of Rain- Melee (First day Montage) 5. Unfold- Marie Digby (Lunch time first Day) 6. There was Another Time in My Life- Relient K (at the Cullens) 7. Pity and Fear- Death Cab for Cutie (week 1 montage) 8. Sometime Around Midnight-Airbourne Toxic Event (Monday Montage) 9. Corner of Your Heart- Ingrid Michaelson (Vivian learns about her dad) 10. Touchdown Turnaround- HelloGoodBye (The Cullens in Gym Class) 11. Bring Em OutHawk Nelson (Frisbee in the park) 12. Twilight- Vanessa Carlton 13. Calling you (acoustic)- Blue October 14. Waterworks- Ballas Hough Band / Almost Amy 15. Nothing Without you- Vienna Teng 16. Breath Me- Sia 17. Move- Thousand Foot Krutch 18. Everything- Lifehouse 19. Hope For Every Fallen Man- Relient K (ending Credits) 20. Trouble is a Friend- Lenka (ending Credits) http://www.imeem.com/people/xZ4a7qE/playlist/j5ELqjgf/in-the-midnight-hour-musicplaylist/ Anyways here’s the chapter. Chapter 5 Vivian I could smell coffee brewing when I made it down the stairs Wednesday morning which meant Tanya hadn’t left for work yet. Iris never drank coffee. “Good morning mom.” I said as I walked into the kitchen. “Good morning sweetheart.” She replied, not looking up from the newspaper she had in her hand. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the kitchen table. Tanya sipped her coffee then folded the newspaper. “I feel like we haven’t talked since we got here. How’s school?” “School’s fine, mom. We’re going hiking at Highland park today.” “Well, that sounds fun. Did you make any friends yet?” “Yes, I did, actually. Aimee is super nice, I’ve been hanging out with her and her friends.” “Really? That’s great; you’ll have to invite her over so I can meet her.” Tanya grinned at me over the top of her coffee mug. “What about boys? Have you met any cute guys yet?” “Mom please,” I blushed, Isaac’s face floated through my mind. I shook my head. Where did that come from?

“Come on Vivian, we used to talk boys all the time.” She prodded. “There are a few cute guys at school.” I humoured her. “Are any of them interested in you?” She asked eagerly. I immediately thought of Brian and Andrew. Both were popular, good-looking, and obviously interested. “Ooh, wait! Are you interested in any of them?” I once again had to push Isaac’s face from my mind. “Slow down mom! We’ve been here for less then two weeks!” I laughed. “Besides I have to go. If I’m late they’ll leave without me. It’s a good thing they cancelled practice today.” “Alright sweetheart, we’ll talk later.” I got up from the table. “Oh and Vivian, I’m glad you’re adjusting, I know this move was hard for you.” “Ya mom, I’ll see you later.” I said and headed for the door. It was cold outside. I shivered and pulled my jacket tighter around me. At least it wasn’t raining. I turned the heater in my car up to full and headed down the driveway. When I got to the road I could see Cassandra running up her driveway next door. I rolled down the passenger window. Cassandra jogged over to the car. “Oh thank God I caught you before you left.” She said, breathlessly. “Ya, had you walked up the driveway you would have missed me.” I laughed. “What’s up?” “Could I get I ride to school with you? My mom usually drives me but she had to go into work early today and I really don’t want to walk.” “Sure, jump in.” I smiled. Cassandra could be a little annoying at times but she was nice, and she was my neighbour and she was growing on me. I just hoped that that feeling wouldn’t spread to the entire damn town. Cassandra climbed into the car and grinned at me. “Thanks so much Vivian.” “It’s not a problem, though next time you may want to call first so I don’t accidently leave without you.” “You know if you don’t mind I could give you a bit of money for gas and we could carpool. It would save my mom a bunch of trouble.” Hmm, did I really want to deal with Cassandra every morning? I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. “Sure Cassandra, I guess that would be ok, if you don’t mind leaving early when I have cheerleading practice.” The ride to school didn’t take very long, and Cassandra was quieter then usual. I pulled into the parking lot and saw a group of seniors gathering in front of the school. A few of them gave me weird looks when Cassandra, a sophomore, got out of my car. Then I noticed the Cullens pulling in behind me. They grabbed two parking spots on the other side of the lot. Bella got out of the driver’s seat of a shiny black, new Ferrari. Edward, Nessie, and Jacob all climbed out of her car as well. Alice was driving a midnight blue Porsche with Jasper and Isaac. I also noticed that they all wore what looked like designer clothing.

Wow two shiny new cars, and designer clothes, natural beauty that could rival most models. Must be nice, I thought, though it didn’t look like money bought friendship in this town. I waved good-bye to Cassandra and headed over to where the rest of my class was standing. Aimee waved to me from she was standing with Brian, Andrew and Tori. Tori had both Brian and Andrew engaged in conversation, she had a strand of her silken blonde hair twirled around one finger and a flirtatious smile on her face. She wore a soft, aquamarine coloured, cashmere sweater with a deep-v neckline. The boys were deeply engrossed. Aimee, however, stood with them, quietly and she did not look impressed. “Hey guys.” I said as I approached. Everyone turned to look at me. Tori had an ‘oh great, her again’ look on her face. “Hey Vivian.” Aimee said with a smile. “Are you ready for an exciting day of hiking?” Brian asked. “Are you kidding? I don’t have to play basketball and I don’t have to sit through another history of Salem speech. This is great.” Everyone laughed. My clumsiness in sports was often the target of my friends ridicule. I laughed along with them. I glanced around the parking lot. I noticed the five eldest Cullens standing around their fancy cars. Aside from the way their extreme beauty made them stand out, they almost looked like normal teenagers. Edward, Bella, Alice and Jasper were laughing and joking around just like my friends. Isaac wasn’t joking around with his siblings. He was watching the rest of the students. He leaned against the Porsche with his hands in his jacket pockets looking very detached. The breeze blew past me making me shiver. It ruffled Isaac’s dark hair. He looked in my direction, his bright eyes locking with mine for a moment. I blushed and turned away, but I could still feel his gaze on my back. I turned back to my friends. I decided that it was safer to watch them then Isaac. Andrew and Brian had gone back to paying attention to Tori and her flirting. It was sort of sickening the way she captivated them. Then I thought that maybe it was for the best, at least they weren’t paying attention to me anymore. Coach Barnes called for everyone’s attention then and we were instructed to file onto the school buses in an orderly fashion. In the midst of the shuffle I lost track of Aimee and found myself in the line to get on the second bus, which wasn’t really a line, it was more of a clump of anxious students. I looked around for my now missing friends. Standing up on my tiptoes I could see Tori latch protectively onto Andrew’s arm in group getting on the other bus. Someone bumped into me from behind and I stumbled forward. Out of nowhere a strong hand caught my arm and kept me from falling over into the person in front of me. “Careful now.” Came a low, now familiar voice. I looked up to see Isaac standing by me, his hand arm on my arm. “Thanks.” I said as another person bumped into me and Isaac had to steady me again. I climbed onto the bus and found my way to a seat in the middle. Isaac followed and took a seat next to me. He perched practically at the edge of the seat with his hands folded in his lap. He looked like he might fall off the edge if the bus it a large bump or

took a corner too fast. I slide closer to the window to give him more space, but he didn’t move any closer to me. I glanced out the window and watched the trees pass by. I heard a bell like giggled and looked around to see where it came from. The sound was so pretty. I was unable to locate the origin of the sound and I let my glaze rest on Isaac for a moment. He was now rubbing his temple with one hand and he had an exasperated look on his face. “Is everything alright?” I asked, concerned that he would be sick. “Yes,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’m fine.” The bus hit a large bump, jostling everyone on board. Whilst trying to steady himself Isaac’s hand grazed mine. It was cold. Not just it’s still winter and I forgot my gloves cold, but hi I’m an ice sculpture nice to meet you cold. I almost wasn’t able to hide the look of shock that fluttered across my face. How could anyone’s hands be so extremely cold? There was another angelic giggle. I glanced up in time to see a pixie like face peering over the back of the seat at me. Alice Cullen and her foster sister Bella occupied the seat in front of mine and Isaac’s. She blinked her golden eyes at me and then grinned, flashing a set of perfect white teeth. Isaac groaned. I hardly noticed. I was blown away by her beauty. She had jet black hair that was short and spiky. It completely contrasted her extremely pale complexion. She had small face and angular features. She looked nothing and everything like Isaac. “Hi, I’m Alice.” She said. Her voice was high and girly, and as pretty as her laugh. “I’m Isaac’s sister, well adopted sister.” “Alice,” Isaac started. “I’m Vivian.” I interrupted. “I know.” She smiled. “And you’re on the cheer team, and you’re in Isaac’s art class, right?” “Alice,” Isaac began again. This time Alice cut him off. “Isaac, don’t be like Edward. He almost screwed this up last time, and we aren’t going to let that happen again, right Bella?” A second face appeared over the back of the seat this one belonging to Bella Swan. She tossed hair long auburn hair over her shoulder and sighed. “As much as I hate to get into that situation, Alice is right. We really shouldn’t let you screw this up.” “And I suppose you don’t care what I think.” Isaac grumbled. “Nope!” Alice said brightly. “Could someone please explain what is going on here? I’m not sure I understand what just happened.” I ventured, hoping I could figure out some of the mysteriousness of this family. But Alice simply shook her head with a grin and said “In time dear, in time.” With that she turned and disappeared behind the cover of her seat Bella following her example. Isaac sat next to me looking grumpy with his arms folded across his chest. Well that was weird I thought with a sigh. The rest of the trip was awkwardly quiet. I mulled over the odd argument between Isaac and his siblings. What did they mean by ‘we won’t let you screw this up’? And what happened ‘last time’?

Three school buses parked in a clearing at the edge of Highland Park. The entire senior class had gathered around them waiting for Coach Barnes to give some instructions. I found my way back to Aimee, Brian, Andrew and Tori once I had gotten off the bus. Isaac, Alice and Bella had joined Edward and Jasper a ways off. I noticed that Isaac was watching me, but he was trying to be subtle about it. I tried to ignore him simply so I could have a normal conversation. I still wasn’t sure why Isaac made me unable to think straight. “Vivian, what happened? I was going to save you a seat on the bus.” Brian said when I rejoined the group. “I got shuffled onto the other bus.” I replied plainly, now glad that I had gotten separated from my friends. “I ended up sitting with Isaac.” “Isaac?” Aimee questioned. “Wait, like Isaac Cullen?” Andrew demanded. “The one and only. Why? Is that a bad thing?” I asked. I honestly wondered why everyone seemed to avoid the Cullens, they seemed nice enough to me. “It’s not a bad thing, it’s just weird, the Cullens usually don’t hangout out with anybody who isn’t in their family.” Aimee explained. “And they’re all freaks.” Andrew added, with what seemed like an air of disgust. I still didn’t see anything wrong with them, but it was obvious that my friends did not like the Cullens. Coach Barnes tried to get everyone’s attention again. He explained which route we were supposed to take and said to meet back in the clearing for lunch. As soon as we started out towards the trail Tori started complaining about how far we’d have to walk and how wet and cold it was. I tried to ignore her. I drifted up to where Aimee was walking for two reasons, one being that she was better company than Tori, and the other being the fact that I could see the Cullens walking up a head of me. The entire family both fascinated and frustrated me. Here was a group of beautiful, talented and rich people who everyone seemed to avoid. And I couldn’t figure out why. From the contact I had had with them they seemed very nice, and polite, but very mysterious. Then there was Isaac, who was more confusing than anyone I had ever met. He was so cold and distant at first, almost to the point where I thought he might actually hate me. And then he acts as though he wants to be my friend, but every now and then he shies away like I’ve done something offensive. The fact that he is more charming then anyone I’ve ever met, and has the ability to make my brain stop working with just a glance in my direction just added to my curiosity. All the weird quirks that he seemed to have, like his eyes changing colours and his skin being like ice didn’t help either. I was bound and determined to unravel the mystery surrounding this family. “Aimee,” I started cautiously, “Could I ask you something?” “Sure.” She said brightly, smiling at me. “Why don’t you guys like the Cullens?” She frowned. “I don’t know, it’s not that I don’t like them, they just really keep to themselves a lot. Like the guys have been trying to get Jacob to join the basketball team since they moved here but he won’t have anything to do with it.”

“Andrew and Tori don’t like them.” I pressed. “Well I don’t know about Andrew, but Tori is jealous because everyone thinks the girls are prettier then her, and she’s mad because none of the guys will look twice at her.” “I see.” I nodded with understanding. “So it’s not like anything’s wrong with them.” Aimee laughed. “They’re weird, but I don’t think anything is wrong with them.” We walked in silence for a while. I watched the Cullens, they were ahead of Aimee and I, just out of hearing range. Edward had his arm firmly around Bella’s shoulders, she leaned into him. He was talking to Jasper, using his free hand to gesture extravagantly. Alice held onto Jasper’s hand affectionately, but it didn’t stop her from dancing around while she walked. She’d glance back every now and then at Isaac, who trudged smoothly along behind his siblings, with concern in her golden eyes. “You know,” Aimee said, breaking the silence. “It just occurred to me, Andrew probably doesn’t like Isaac because he pays so much attention to you.” “Are you saying that Andrew is jealous?” “Vivian both Andrew and Brian would be falling over themselves for a chance to go out with you. Of course he’s jealous,” She paused for a moment and then sighed. “They both are.” Both Andrew and Brian had been forward to say the least, and I felt flattered of course, but I could honestly say I didn’t return their interests. My interests definitely lied elsewhere, in a place so mysterious that even I wasn’t sure about it. The hike through Highland Park wasn’t long, but it was wet. It was a good thing Iris hid a dry pair of socks in my lunch bag. The forest trails were very beautiful, especially when you aren’t thinking about how wet your feet actually are. The trees were tall enough that most, if not all the light from the cloudy sky was blocked out giving the trail an eerie green atmosphere. Moss grew on most surfaces and vines twined themselves around the branches of the trees. Its beauty was completely opposite of the sepia and tans of the desert landscape. Its vastness stretched out further then the eye could see, where as the forest closed in around you pulling you into the depths of its mystifying splendour. After the walk we gathered in a large clearing for lunch. I found a reasonably dry picnic table and sat on it. A bunch of the guys were chasing each other precariously around an icy mud puddle. Tori, Aimee, Abby and some of the other girls, mostly the cheerleaders, were gathered around watching to se who would get pushed in first. My money was on Luke Fischer, Andrew and Brian were ganging up on him. I noticed the Cullens grouped together under a large grey umbrella. Alice was dancing away from Edward as he kicked water at her from one of the many puddles, nearly soaking her. Bella was laughing and both Jasper and Isaac were grinning and shaking their heads. Isaac looked in my direction, his smile disappearing for a moment. I looked away quickly, glancing subtly from under my eyelashes. Isaac ducked out from under the umbrella. He strode towards me. His siblings stopped laughing; they were all watching him too.

He paused a few feet away from me and looked at me cautiously. Taking a deep breath he closed the gap between us. He didn’t say anything at first. He just stood there with his hands shoved in his jacket pockets. When he did speak it was in a low, worried tone. “Listen, about earlier, on the bus.” “What about it?” I asked, hoping for an explanation. “You should just ignore my sisters,” he started. So much for an explanation. “Why?” I pressed further. “Didn’t you think they were being weird, or annoying?” He asked looking surprised. “I think a lot of things are weird, but it’s not the adjective I’d use to describe anyone in your family.” “Really?” He asked, sounding surprised. Then his expression changed, the surprise vanished and was replaced with a dark charm. “What adjective would you use to describe us?” he said with an air of seduction. His gaze locked with mine, and in that instant my brain melted. All capacity to think had vanished. Only when my body realized that I had stopped breathing when I stopped thinking did my brain start working again. “Uh,” I stuttered, and then blushed. I stared at the ground. “Mysterious.” “Mysterious?” He questioned. “Ya and intriguing.” I blurted, and then I blushed. I was beginning to find that I blushed a lot around him. I wondered if he noticed. He looked at me inquisitively for a moment. He stiffened and then turned away from me. I looked past him to see Brian, Andrew and Aimee approaching us. “Hey Vivian!” Brian called from a few feet away. “We are going to start the Frisbee game now. You said you’d play with us.” “Coming!” I called back as I slid off the picnic table. “Do you want to play too?” I asked turning to Isaac again. He looked down at me and for a second it looked like he wanted to. Then he glanced back at the guys and shrugged “I think I’ll sit this round out.” “Ok.” I said, confused again. Isaac walked slowly back to where his family was still standing, watching him. I lingered for a moment, sort of sad to see him go, but also wondering why I felt that way. I turned back to where my friends were waiting. Brian and Andrew had already gone back to where the game was starting; only Aimee still stood waiting for me. “Vivian, could I talk to you for a second?” She asked me timidly. “Sure, what’s up?” We walked slowly to where the game was. “I know that Brian likes you, but I was just wondering if you liked him.” “Not really, no.” I started slowly. “I mean I’m flattered by the attention, but I’m just not that into him. Actually I wish he would act more like a friend rather then a potential date.” “Oh, ok.” She gave a small smile. “Wait a minute, you like him don’t you?” “Well kind of,” she said slowly. Then it all came out in a rush. “Ok I like him a lot, for like two years now. But he never notices me like that. And last year he had a bit of

a thing with Tori but then she moved on to Andrew, but he doesn’t see that, and then you moved here.” She let out a long sigh. I understood now. “Let me assure you, I’m not interested in him. And further more he is crazy not to notice you. He should be with you, you guys are like best friends.” “Ya, I guess we are best friends. That’s probably why I like him so much.” She smiled. “You’re going to have a lot of work to do if you are going to compete with Tori though.” She added as an after thought. Compete with Tori? I was about to ask what she had meant but she disappeared to the other side of the circle. A large circle had formed in the clearing. About twenty students stood tossing the Frisbee aimlessly around. Aimee and I seemed to be the last to arrive. But the real game was about to begin. Brian caught the Frisbee and called for everyone’s attention. Captains were chosen and we were divided in to teams of roughly ten. I was on a team with Andrew, Tori, Luke, Steph from the cheer team, and a few others that I didn’t know very well. Brian, Aimee, Abby, Samantha and Julian were all on the other team. The purpose of the game was to score as many goals against the other team as possible. To do this you had to throw the Frisbee to a teammate who was in the other team’s “end zone”, if he or she caught the Frisbee your team got the point, kind of like a touchdown in football. The rules were that if you threw the Frisbee and your teammates failed to catch it the other team get the Frisbee. If you throw it and the other team catches it, then they continue throwing to their team, and you have to throw the Frisbee from within three steps of where you caught it. Now I was actually fairly good at playing Frisbee, my uncle’s had been playing it with me since I was little. However, my classmates didn’t know this, all they knew was that I was terrible at basketball and assumed that I wouldn’t be much of a threat. Of course that meant my teammates had little faith in me either, but I figured it didn’t matter too much. They’d all see the mistake after I caught a few passes. There was a slow start to the game. No one was putting much effort in, but once the first few goals were scored things started to pick up with the edge of competition. Andrew had just caught the third goal for our team, making the score three to two for us, and no one knew about my secret Frisbee skills yet. Brian’s team was in control of the Frisbee. They managed to get the Frisbee half way across the clearing before I decided to intervene. Samantha had the Frisbee and Aimee was open a few feet away from me with Tori on her way over to block her. My timing was flawless. I side stepped around Tori just as the Frisbee left Samantha’s hands. I scooted in front of Aimee and snatched the plastic disk just before she could. Clutching the Frisbee I looked around me. Aimee, Samantha and Tori were all staring at me in shock. Actually jaws were dropping all over the field. I grinned. Andrew was open so in order to keep the game going I threw it effortlessly into his hands. This seemed to make most of the players melt out of their shocked state and the game picked up again, with me as an active player.

The game was pretty much even in score through out the game. In fact we were tied at five points each when everything changed. Brian had the Frisbee and was about to pass it to Julian who was in our team’s end zone, if Julian caught it they would gain the lead. Andrew and I were both trying to block him. Brian threw, and we all jumped to try and catch it, Andrew effectively nudging Julian out of the way. But the disk flew over all our heads and straight into the forest. There were groans of disappointment from all who were present. And technically the Frisbee was in our team’s control Andrew and I trudged into the brush to find it. I glanced over my shoulder into the field as I stepped into the woods. I could see the Cullens on the opposite side of the field, at the forest’s edge furthest for where Andrew and I were now heading. But I could see that they were all watching the game. We had wandered pretty far and still hadn’t found the stupid thing. We were far enough into the forest that we couldn’t see the clearing anymore and my socks were soaked, again. “I think I might have to murder Brian for throwing the Frisbee this far.” I commented grumpily. Andrew just laughed. “Gah! Where is it?” I complained. “It’s got to be around here somewhere.” Andrew reassured me with a laugh, but there was a note of unease in his voice. Just then I heard what sounded like a low growl. I stopped and looked around, but I didn’t see anything. “Did you hear that?” I called to Andrew, who was now quite far away from me. “Hear what?” He yelled back, I guess he didn’t hear it. But it came again, a low growl that grew slowly into a snarl. I whirled around unable to locate where it was coming from. I was beginning to panic. My heart began to race, my breath accelerating close to hyperventilation. The growls and snarls were increasing in frequency. “Andrew!” I called in a low shaky voice. There was no response. I caught sight of movement in the trees and spun to face it. Suddenly the largest cat I’d ever seen came stalking out of the bushes, its teeth bared. I could tell by the shape of its face and its large paws that it was a bobcat. I sucked in a huge breath preparing to scream. I never got the chance. Everything started happening at once. The cat lunged forward. There was a dark blur from the left. Andrew stumbled towards me from the right. Something hit my chest, knocking the wind out of me, and I fell backwards. There was another fierce snarl. I looked up and saw Isaac crouched in front of me facing the bobcat. The cat skittered back away from him spitting and hissing and in a split second changed direction and lunged at Andrew. It hit him square in the chest knock him backwards. With one paw it swatted him once across the face leaving a raw gash. Then it leaped away from him and ran back in the forest. Isaac straightened up in one fluid movement. He turned to me. “I don’t think you’ll need that scream you were working up to after all.” He said plainly offering me his hand. I took it and he helped me to my feet. I think I was in shock or something because my brain wasn’t working quite right just yet.

“What… How….” I stumbled trying to form the questions that wouldn’t come. I looked around me trying to grasp some sort of reality. I saw Andrew lying on the ground a ways away. “Andrew!” I called pushing past Isaac and running over to him. He was out cold, and bleeding. The gash on his face didn’t look too deep, which was good, and there didn’t appear to be any other open wounds. “Andrew! Vivian!” some one called in the distance. Oh good someone is looking for us. “We’re over here!” I yelled as loud as I could. “Vivian?” They called again. I could here them coming through the trees. Brian, Aimee, Tori, Abby and Luke came through the trees. “Vivian! What happened? Where have you guys been?” Brian asked as he approached. “Someone go get help! Quick!” I said panic creeping into my voice again. “Andrew’s hurt.” Tori Abby and Luke turned and ran back towards the clearing. Aimee and Brian rushed over to where I knelt beside Andrew. I took a couple of deep breaths, feeling as though I might fall to pieces at any moment. “Vivian, what happened?” Aimee asked trying to stay calm. She put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “We were looking for the Frisbee and I started hearing noises. Then this bobcat comes out of the bush and leaped at him.” “Are you hurt?” Brian asked. “No, I don’t think so, the cat didn’t touch me, but I tripped.” I explained, my voice shaking. Considering I wasn’t exactly sure of what happened, that explanation seemed to make the most sense. What I had seen was closer to Isaac pushed me out of the way, then growled at the bobcat and it got scared and then it attacked Andrew. But Isaac was nowhere to be found and they would never believe that he could have scared an attacking bobcat anyways. Andrew groaned and we all focused our attention on him. His eyes fluttered open, well one did, the other was swollen shut. “Andrew! Are you ok?” I said leaning over him so that he could see me without moving. He groaned again. “Hey buddy, say something!” Brian said, kneeling down on Andrew’s other side. “Can you talk?” “Ow.” Andrew coughed. “My chest hurts.” “He’s alive!” Brian called out in light sarcasm. I chuckled uneasily. Tori and Luke came running back followed by Coach Barnes and Mr. Green the history teacher. After relaying the situation, or at least the parts that didn’t make me sound crazy, and reassuring them all a few more times that I wasn’t hurt, just shaken Coach Barnes instructed Aimee and Tori to take me back to the clearing while to show the paramedics the way through the bush when they got here. When we got out of the forest the entire senior class was gathered around waiting to find out what happened. I spotted the Cullens waiting there too, though they were

gathered by the picnic tables, away from the crowd. Isaac stood away from his family, not paying attention to the commotion. The paramedics arrived and Aimee and Tori took two of them and a stretcher into the woods to get Andrew. The third one insisted on staying back and making sure that I wasn’t injured even though I tried to explain to him that I had only tripped and I hadn’t even hit my head. He told me that if I wasn’t hurt they wouldn’t have to take me to the hospital. After that I cooperated with him. It turned out I was right and there wasn’t anything wrong with me, but he said to take it easy just the same. There was just one thing left to do, talk to Isaac and find out what really went on out in the woods. It was very unlikely that what I saw was anything close to reality. People didn’t growl like that and bobcats weren’t scared of humans, not when they’ve already decided to attack. The memory of the attack in the woods flashed back in my mind. The blur of Isaac’s movements as he ran towards me, the force of his hands knocking me backwards, and the animal intensity of the growl that had scared the attacking cat only added to the mysteriousness that I had already witnessed. The way his eyes changed colors, his icy, extremely pale skin, none of it made any sense but I was determined to find out. Isaac was still standing off by the picnic tables. He had a cold look on his face. He turned towards me and glared. I took a deep breath and walked towards him.