112. more chats and lack of awareness of your surroundings

Mr. Banner called the class to order then, and I turned with relief to listen. I'd just explained my dreary life to this bizarre, beautiful girl who may or may not eat me. she'd seemed engrossed in our conversation, but now I could see, from the corner of my eye, that she was leaning away from me again, her hands gripping the edge of the table with unmistakable tension. I'd have to find that fruit that helps vampires at some point soon and plant one in my kingdom.

I tried to appear attentive as Mr. Banner illustrated, with transparencies on the overhead projector, what I had seen without difficulty through the microscope. But it was boring. When the bell finally rang, Amanda rushed as swiftly and as gracefully from the room as she had last Monday. And, like last Monday, I stared after her in amazement I wish I could move that fast.

The rain was just a mist as I walked to the parking lot, but I was happier when I was in the dry cab. I got the heater running, for once not caring about the mind-numbing roar of the engine. I unzipped my jacket, put the hood down, and fluffed my damp hair out so the heater could dry it on the way home.

I looked around me to make sure it was clear. That's when I noticed the still, white figure. Amanda Cullen was leaning against the front door of the Volvo, three cars down from me, and staring intently in my direction. I gave her a slight wink which made her cheeks tinge a little pink and then drove off laughing as she pouted. I didn't know vampires could blush.

When I opened my eyes in the morning, something was different.

It was the light. It was still the gray-green light of a cloudy day in the forest, but it was clearer somehow. I realized there was no fog veiling my window.

I jumped up to look outside, and then groaned snow. I only like snow 1 time a year for a beautiful Christmas then in can fuck off for the rest of the year.

A fine layer of snow covered the yard, dusted the top of my truck, and whitened the road. But that wasn't the worst part. All the rain from yesterday had frozen solid - coating the needles on the trees in fantastic, gorgeous patterns, and making the driveway a deadly ice slick. I could just apparate to school but people might get suspicious. Charlie had left for work before I got downstairs. In a lot of ways, living with Charlie was like having my own place.

I threw down a quick bowl of cereal and some orange juice from the carton. I knew it wasn't the stimulating learning environment I was anticipating, or seeing my new set of friends. If I was being honest with myself, I knew I was eager to get to school because I would see Amanda Cullen. It was like playing Russian roulette at this point you don't know if your going to have a nice chat or a fight for your life but I'd figured once I wormed my way into her heart and she let out some of her secrets of share some of my magical ones I mean I don't really need to go too far along with the story when I can just catch a trip on a plane to Rome and look around for the volturi once I'm a vampire or what not. until then I could just get my ass beat by teacher. Today she is going to be teaching me proper dislocation techniques by using them on me oh joy.

It took every ounce of my concentration to make it down the icy brick driveway alive. I almost lost my balance when I finally got to the truck, but I managed to cling to the side mirror and save myself. Clearly, today was going to be nightmarish. Fucking ice man.

My truck seemed to have no problem with the black ice that covered the roads. I drove very slowly, though, not wanting to carve a path of destruction through Main Street.

When I got out of my truck at school, I saw why I'd had so little trouble. Something silver caught my eye, and I walked to the back of the truck - carefully holding the side for support - to examine my tires. There were thin chains crisscrossed in diamond shapes around them. Charlie had gotten up who knows how early to put snow chains on my truck. My throat suddenly felt tight. I wasn't used to being taken care of, and Charlie's unspoken concern caught me by surprise.

I was standing by the back corner of the truck, struggling to fight back the sudden wave of emotion the snow chains had brought on, when I heard an odd sound.

It was a high-pitched screech, and it was fast becoming painfully loud. I looked up, startled.

I saw several things simultaneously. Nothing was moving in slow motion, the way it does in the movies. Instead, the adrenaline rush seemed to make my brain work much faster, and I was able to absorb in clear detail several things at once.

Amanda Cullen was standing four cars down from me, staring at me in horror. Her face stood out from a sea of faces, all frozen in the same mask of shock. But of more immediate importance was the dark blue van that was skidding, tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the back corner of my truck, and I was standing between them. I didn't even have time to close my eyes. Man crushed to death for the first death, unlucky. I atleast expected to die to a random arrow in the game of thrones world people never expect it. Teacher is going to beat me double for this later not watching my surroundings.

Just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed, something hit me, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting. My head cracked against the icy blacktop, and I felt something solid and cold pinning me to the ground. I was lying on the pavement behind the tan car I'd parked next to. But I didn't have a chance to notice anything else, because the van was still coming. It had curled gratingly around the end of the truck and, still spinning and sliding, was about to collide with me again.

A low oath made me aware that someone was with me, and the voice was impossible not to recognize. Two small, white hands shot out protectively in front of me, and the van shuddered to a stop a foot from my face, the tiny hands fitting providentially into a deep dent in the side of the van's body.

Then her hands moved so fast they blurred. One was suddenly gripping under the body of the van, and something was dragging me, swinging my legs around like a rag doll's, till they hit the tire of the tan car. A groaning metallic thud hurt my ears, and the van settled, glass popping, onto the asphalt - exactly where, a second ago, my legs had been.

It was absolutely silent for one long second before the screaming began. In the abrupt bedlam, I could hear more than one person shouting my name. But more clearly than all the yelling, I could hear Amanda Cullen's low, frantic voice in my ear.

"Ryan? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." My voice sounded strange. I tried to sit up, and realized she was holding me against the side of her body in an iron grasp.

"Be careful," she warned as I struggled. "I think you hit your head pretty hard."

I became aware of a throbbing ache centered above my left ear. But this is nothing compared to what's coming for training later I can imagine the broke bones and taste of dirt now, delicious.

"Ow," I said, surprised.

"That's what I thought." Her voice, amazingly, sounded like she was suppressing a giggle.

"So are we going to ignore the obvious super speed thing you just pulled or...." I trailed off, trying to clear my head, get my bearings. "How did you get over here so fast?"

"I was standing right next to you, Ryan," she said, Her tone serious again.

I turned to sit up, and this time she let me, releasing her hold around my body and sliding as far from me as she could in the limited space. I looked at her concerned, innocent expression. "liar" I muttered under my breath which she obviously heard. by her raised eyebrow