I was the closest to the curb. I heard the distinct sounds of the three girls’ screams as the car headed crazily for me.

Even in my disoriented, shocked state, somewhere in my hazy mind I was aware that I should jump out of the way of the crazed driver but really, I didn’t think there was time. There shouldn’t have been time.

But I was knocked to the ground, nonetheless. My head hit the cement. Instantly, I wondered if it had been the car that’d hit me and how badly I was wounded. My breath got caught in my throat in a way that burned my chest. A low murmur came from somewhere very close, though it was too low for me to understand. It meant that there was someone with me on the ground.

My head fell back against the cement, my eyes popped open. The first thing they saw were the wide, fearful circles of his ocher eyes. He glanced down to my stomach and so did I, realizing that he had one arm around my waist. His other hand was smashed against the head of the car, just in between the headlights. The man in the driver’s seat had his head thrown back, unconscious.

"Bella, are you all right?" The voice was unmistakable. It was stupid, maybe but even after encountering those strange, golden eyes it was his velvet voice that aroused my realization that who was crouched next to me was Edward Cullen.

"I’m fine." I breathed. Heaving a sigh, I pulled my eyes away from his gaze and struggled against the firmness of his arm to sit up. He only clutched at my waist tighter.

"Be careful."

I ignored his words, pulling my head up and countering his stare. "How in the world-" I tried to distinguish the chaos in his intense look, it was cutting but almost desperate. "How did you get here so fast?"

"I was here the whole time." He whispered, his muffled voice smoothed out.

"No. You were far." I said in an evenly low tone.

The screaming continued. I struggled again to sit up and turn towards the sound and this time he released his grip around my waist and inched away. I found my back against the fence. The girls weren’t there anymore, though I was certain that it was their screams that I was hearing. Shaking my head slowly because I was very much aware of the bump there, I tried to make sense of the whole situation.