Twilight Fan Fiction ❯ In The Shadow Of The Sun ❯ Huddled In Arms Of Stone ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Leina sulked over to the gym. It was cloudy and looked like it was about to rain. She still wasn’t in a good mood; she was more confused than actually angry.

She literally kicked open the door and handed the teacher, Coach Clapp, her paper for him to sign.

“Well, we’re doing testing today, so you’re supposed to have a uniform-”

“Can’t I make it up next class?”

“No, it has to be done today and we don’t have any extra uniforms, so you’ll have to wear those clothes, now go sit-”

“What?” Leina’s eyes brightened even more with anger. “Why can’t I-”

“Go sit, now!”

Leina heard a soft chuckle. She turned to see Edward Cullen hiding a smirk, trying to keep his focus on the wall and away from Leina. Leina frowned as she threw her bag onto the bleachers with the rest of the book bags, and took a seat behind a kid with dusty-looking brown hair.

“All right, guys!” Coach Clapp yelled to his students. “We’re doing running today. We’ll do sprints first, then the mile. So go out and start stretching!”

All of the students got up. Leina walked over to Edward, ready to confront him.

“Cullen!”

He ignored her and kept walking. Leina caught up, though she could tell he was quickening his pace. She ended up jogging next to him.

“Cullen, what’s your problem? I’m sorry if I said anything, but you can still explain why you’re acting all weird.”

He didn’t even look down at her as he sped forward.

“Edward, look at me, dammit!”

He walked away, not saying a word. Leina was, yet again, left behind. A female teacher called for the girls to come over and stretch. Leina sadly slumped over to the area and sat down, starting to stretch her legs.

A girl with straight black hair and brown eyes came and sat down next to her. “Hi, you’re the new girl, right?”

Leina smiled sadly. “Yes, but I prefer Leina.”

The girl smiled. “I’m Marissa... so how do you like it here?”

Leina sighed. “Well, it’s all right... but definitely different from where I used to live...”

“Oh...” The girl looked like she really wanted to ask Leina a certain question. “So... I saw that you were talking to Cullen earlier.”

Leina nodded. “Yup...”

“Are you friends with him?!” she asked, amazed.

“Not really,” Leina explained, slightly depressed. “I was just asking about something in a class we both have.”

“Oh...” she replied, looking slightly disappointed.

“Leina decided to humor her, and get some information. “So, Cullen has siblings, right?”

Marissa looked excited to start gossiping. “Uh huh! See, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice and Edward all live with Dr. Cullen and Mrs. Cullen.”

Leina was confused. “Wait... I thought that Jasper and Rosalie’s last names are Hale...”

Marissa nodded. “Yep! All five are adopted kids... but they’re all really close. They’re always together... and only Edward’s single.”

Leina nodded. “Yeah, I thought so.”

All of a sudden, Marissa’s head whipped around. She looked around, definitely confused.

“What’s wrong?” Leina asked, starting to stretch her arms.

Marissa stopped spinning around and faced Leina. “Sorry... I thought I heard someone calling my n-... never mind.”

“No, wait! Go ahead... you thought someone was talking to you?” Leina was curious about this.
“Well, yes...” Marissa started. “I thought I heard someone calling my name or something... they were saying something about stopping...”

Leina thought of the possibilities. “It sounds like something Cullen would say, but-”

PHWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Leina jumped as Coach Clapp blew his whistle. “All right, we’re going to have a competition, all right? The girls will verse each other in the sprints, and the boys will verse each other. The top winner for the boys and the top winner for the girls will verse off, all right? Both tops get extra credit, all right?”

The female coach, Coach Thompson, called for all the girls to come over near the right side of the track. The boys were called to the opposite side. Leina made a point not to look at Edward. “If he’s going to ignore me, what ever... he has problems... two can play this game!”

Marissa turned to Leina. “Hey, ya wanna be partners?”

Leina grinned. “Sure!”

The teacher made the pairs line up, then started testing, making everyone sprint from one line to the next, pivot, go back to the first line, pivot, then run past the last line. Finally, it was Leina and Marissa’s turn.

“Please line up at the line.”

Marissa and Leina got into a “ready-to-run” position. The teacher held the timer, ready to press the button.

"Ready... set... GO!"

Marissa and Leina shot forward, racing towards the line. Leina blocked everything out, only seeing the line. She got low, tapped the line with her foot, then pushed off, sprinting towards the line that she had started from. She did the same process, getting low and using the line to push off of. Then, she sprinted straight through the last line.

"Done!"

Leina turned around, trying to catch her breath, seeing Marissa hurrying to the finishing line. She girl was huffing and puffing, then looked up to Leina.

"Geez, girl! Were you on the track team at your last school?" Leina and her laughed.

"Saxen! You verse Flemings."

The girls continued to verse each other. Leina won all of her matches. Finally, she had beaten the last girl!

"Saxen, you win! You're the girls' top!" Coach Thompson grabbed Leina's hand, then led her over to the boy's side. The rest of the girls followed behind, seemingly confident in the new girl's abilities.

"Excuse me, Coach Clapp? Are you and your top ready?"

Leina stared back and forth from one coach to the other. "This is more like a competition between coaches more than the girls versus boys..." she thought to herself.

Coach Clapp turned around. "Why of course, Miss T."

She stared hard at him. "It's Coach Thompson."

"Whatever... Cullen!"

Leina's eyes opened wide as Edward Cullen reluctantly stood up from stretching again and walked over near the two coaches and Leina.

"You two're going to race, got it?"

Both nodded, making sure not to make eye contact.

Coach Thompson smirked. "But I have a change, all right?"

Coach Clapp looked over. "What's the change...?"

"I say, instead of a sprint, they run the whole track twice, all right? That way, they can get their mile over and we can finish the race."

Coach Clapp looked slightly worried.

"What's wrong, Clapp? Afraid Cullen won't make it?"

Coach Clapp frowned. "He'll over-take your girl, no problem, all right, Thompson?!"

Each coach dragged their racer over to the starting line on the track.

“How about I time your racer, and you time my racer? That way, it’ll be fair, ok?”

Coach Clapp nodded. “Ready, set... GO!”

Leina and Edward took off. Edward had started to pull ahead, pumping his perfectly muscled legs.

“Oh, no way...” Leina mumbled, willing her legs to go faster. For the whole first lap, the pattern repeated: Edward pulling ahead and Leina making herself go faster. She was way too stubborn to let him have any distance at all.

Finally, they were almost done with the last lap.

“Saxen, are you all right?”

Leina looked up at Edward, who was staying as far away as he could still be and still be on the track. He stared forward, not looking down at her. Leina re-focused.

“Fine...” she muttered as she tried to pull ahead. He, too, was being stubborn and wouldn’t let her have anything.

They both started sprinting.

“I’m going to win!” she told herself under her slightly ragged breath.

“No, you’re not... but you can try,” said a musical-sounding voice in her head.

She didn’t even look at Edward, but she could have sworn that it was him. She stared at the line in front of her, making her legs go faster. Edward finally looked over at her, an expression of clear surprise on his face.

“Three... two... one... DONE!”

Both passed over the finish line. Edward stopped a meter or two away, but Leina kept going, not able to stop. All of a sudden, she felt light headed and lost her balance.

THUD!

Leina’s face, for the second time in twenty-four hours, met the ground. Except, this time, she didn’t get up. She rolled over, feeling as if she was in an oven. She heard a bunch of yelling and felt a very cold hand on her forehead.

“Leina! Leina, are you all right?” the voice asked, urgently.

“MOVE! Coaches coming through!”

Leina only heard muffled voices. She couldn’t open her eyes; her body wouldn’t allow her to.

“Is she all right?”

“You made her run in long pants, what do you think?!”

The coaches started arguing over who’s fault it was.

“Excuse me,” said a hard, yet still angelic, voice. “Miss Saxen is extremely over-heated. I think it would be best if I took her to the nurse now.”

Leina felt herself being swept up into someone’s arms, then felt them walking forward. She murmuring of the students died down as the person walked away from the crowd and into the gym.

“Leina, please, answer me,” said the voice.

“Who is that?” Leina wondered. By now, she thought she was dreaming.

“Leina, answer me!” the voice commanded. “Fine, if you’re not going to talk to me, at least acknowledge me?”

Leina slowly opened her eyes. She looked into the amazingly perfect face of a seemingly worried Edward Cullen.

Leina stared dumbly at him. “...Edward?” Then she looked away, avoiding his captivating gold eyes. “I thought you were ignoring me... this seems to be quite the opposite.”

He chuckled. “Yes, well, I couldn’t just leave you there, now could I?”

“Of course not... it was your fault.”

Edward stopped in the middle of the gym. “My fault?”

“Yes! If you hadn’t gone so fast, then-”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have tried to keep up!”

“But that’s the point of a race!”

“Well then, maybe you should put aside your stubbornness and realize your own limitations!”

Leina looked up angrily. “Well, sorry for wanting to win...” Leina knew that he was right. She was stubborn when angry... too much for her own good, and the fact that he realized this made her embarrassed. She started to squirm. “Now, I can walk myself to the nurse, thank you very much!”

He smiled wryly. “I’m sorry, but I promised to take you... plus, in the condition you’re in now, you might faint half way there.”

“No, I won’t, now let me down!”

He finally agreed. “All right... I’ll let you walk on your own, but I’m still coming to the nurse. Fair enough?”

Leina nodded. “All right...” She turned and grabbed her bag. Then she walked back to where Edward was standing.

“Ready?”

“Yep...” Leina looked at his clothes. “Um... don’t you want to change first? Class is almost over, anyway...”

He shrugged. “I can come back later and get my stuff.”

Leina shook her head. “Nuh uh...” She started walking toward the boys’ locker room. In a second, Edward was blocking her way.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

Leina blushed. “If you won’t go get your own clothes, then I will.” She moved around him and walked into the room. He immediately pulled her out.

“I’ll go get my own clothes, all right? But we’re going to the nurse’s.” He disappeared for a moment, then emerged with his own black bag. Leina was leaning up against the wall. He looked worriedly over at her. “Are you positive you’re all right?”

Leina nodded. “Of course, now let’s get this over with...”

They silently walked across campus to the nurse’s office, Leina wobbling the whole way. Edward held open the door as they both went inside. The nurse looked at Leina.

“What happened?”

“I-”

Edward stepped forward. “She was running in gym and got a bit over-heated. I believe she fainted because of it.”

The nurse made Leina sit down on a cot. She handed Leina an ice pack. “I think the best thing you can do right now is rest... and the cold pack should help...”

“Right...”

“Um, Ma’am?”

The nurse turned to Edward, flustered. “Y-yes, Mr. Cullen?”

“I was wondering if I should take Leina home now? We don’t have much left of last block and she wouldn’t be able to do anything either way. She doesn’t have a car to get home in... and I’m sure you would agree with me that she isn’t in the best shape to drive anyway.”

The nurse nodded. “I’ll tell them at the front desk-”

“Thank you very much.”

Edward helped Leina off the cot and out of the office.

“Thanks, Edward. That really helped me out.” Leina turned, ready to go find Leonna and Luna. “See you later!”

Edward grabbed her hand. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Leina looked confused. “Um... going to find my friends?”

He shook his head. “No way... I told you that I’m taking you home.”

Leina frowned. “Then how is Luna and Leonna going to get home? They need a ride home, too! Plus, we have an errand to run!”

“No problem. I can give all three of you a ride over to do your errand, and then home. Now come on.” He dragged Leina over to the shiny Volvo that she had noticed earlier. He unlocked the car. “Get in.” They heard the faint bell ring, signaling the end of school.

Leina stared at him, open mouthed. “The Volvo’s yours’?!?!”

He looked puzzled. “Yes... is that a problem?”

“N-no... not really...” She embarrassedly slid into the passenger seat, leaning her head on the cool leather of the head rest. “I just saw it earlier...”

Edward nodded, then started the car and pulled it out of the parking space and up to the curb of the school. They waited until they could see Leonna and Luna. Then Edward rolled down the passenger side window.

“Hey, Leonna! Luna!” Leina called out the window. She pulled up her legs until her knees were near her chin as her friends walked towards the Volvo.

Leonna leaned through the passenger window, smirking at Edward. "Well, this is different."

Leina frowned, staring straight ahead. "Just... get in the car."

Luna laughed as she and Leonna slid into the back seats. "Sweet car, man!"

Edward chuckled as he pulled out of the school's parking lot. "Now, since you guys are new students, everyone is bound to be a bit curious, am I correct?"

Luna and Leonna nodded, unsure of the direction this conversation was heading.

He looked straight at Leina, who, though she was facing away, could see him do so. “Would I possibly be able to ask a few questions?”

Leonna smirked. “Only if we are able to, as well.”

Losing his good mood for a moment, Edward replied reluctantly, “Fine...”