Descent

Chapter 14

I pursed my lips as I looked out the window.

I could hear Seth sigh heavily behind me in the back seat.

I didn't utter a word. My dad had insisted in driving Seth and I to school and to pick us up.

After all that happened, he still wasn't eager to have me out of his sight, much less at this school.

We hadn't attracted any stares yet but that was only a matter of time.

I tried to wait patiently for my dad to work through his angst in the drivers seat as he twirled his mustache contemplating.

He still hadn't unlocked the door.

Seth sighed again. This time louder.

"Dad." I breathed. "We have to go now, okay." I replied quietly. I tenderly reached over and patted his shoulder.

He glanced over at me, his lips had thinned considerably with indecision. "It will be okay." I whispered. "I WILL see you after school let's out." I promised.

I unlocked the doors on my side and the sound of the clicking of the latch sounded like a bomb going off with how quiet it was in the car. 

I carefully eased my way up out of the door still aware of my aching ribs. Seth wasted no time getting out. "Don't be late." He muttered humorlessly as we made our way into the sea of other students crowding the parking lot.

"How much do you want to bet that he will be here by lunch to take us home?" Seth asked, laughing half way through his question.

My eyes squinted at him in annoyance. It wasn't funny and even worse he was probably right. 

"Hey, seriously though, are you okay? I was going to ask you on the way to school but then dad said he was driving us. It's not like I could ask with him right there in the front seat, or like you could answer truthfully with him there. If you hesitated or even flinched he would have turned that car around and taken us both home." My lips twitched amused.

"I'm better actually. I feel stronger everyday. I'll get there, don't worry. Remember, it's my job to lookout for you as your older sister, not the other way around."

He looked at me like I had started braiding nose hairs or something crazy like that. He just shook his head at me and held open the doors so I could step inside.

The hilarity and weirdness of our conversation wasn't enough to distract me from the fact that my dad still hadn't started his engine and drove away.

It was both refreshing and weird to pretend like I hadn't been thrown through a forest like a rag doll.

I was immeasurably happy to not have to talk about it anymore. I loved that Angela, the other students, even Mike welcomed me back from 'a sick day' and said they were glad to have me back.

It was nice not to have family staring at me as if I was going to fall to my death any minute.

But it was bizarre too pretending like it didn't happen when the memory coated my body like a dark stain. 

However I threw myself into talking to everyone to distract myself and for just a little while, to pretend that everything was okay.

I could feel the Cullen's moving through the halls around me between classes. I hadn't see any of them yet but I could sense their presence and I knew today that they were all here.

The thought made my chest feel tight. I was still rubbed raw over seeing them in the woods. Of not knowing what was going on. And of realizing I was imprinting on Edward.