CHAPTER XII ―

PORT ANGELES!

"𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐌𝐄 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐖𝐇𝐘 we had to make this run to Port Angeles tonight?" Nora questioned Bella as she sat, once again, in the passenger seat of Bella's orange Chevy. It had been a week since searching for answers about Edward and his family, but Nora kept her mouth shut, refusing to believe the obvious answers in front of her.

Bella sighed. "I already told you, there's this book store that sells history on Forks and the folktales. It's my English Lit assignment... and my dad wouldn't let me go without someone else." When the light turned green, Bella turned left and flipped the page of MapQuest that she'd printed out to find the store. "Alright, I make a right turn about a mile down this road and we're there!"

Taking the directions from Bella, Nora looked them over. "I love how I got wrangled into this," she teased but also yearned to be home so she could watch a rerun of Friends. Glancing up, Nora's eyes widened as Bella was about to pass the book store. "Turn here!"

Bella's foot slammed down on the breaks, the Chevy truck came to a screeching halt, and she looked over to her friend with an apologetic smile. "I'm so driving back," Nora muttered, loosening her seatbelt that kept her from practically slamming into the dash and windshield. There'd definitely be a small bruise tomorrow...

The book store was oddly quiet, only two other people besides themselves and the owner were there. The windows were full of dream-catchers and books about spiritual healing, Nora and Bella both looked at each other and chuckled. Bella quickly went off to look for what she was searching for, leaving Nora behind to window shop. Carelessly looking through the store, Nora pursed her lips as she let her fingertips grace the books, looking for nothing in particular. In fact, the brunette was hungry and really hoped that Bella wouldn't take forever... they'd passed a nice little Diner only a few blocks down the road.

"Bells, how long are you gonna be?" The Swan girl looked up from the three books she had in her arms and smiled sheepishly.

"Awhile, I keep finding ones with more and more information!" Nora sighed. They'd already been there the last half hour and her stomach was beginning to growl.

"Do you mind if I head to the Diner up the road?" Bella's eyes widened.

"A-Are you sure? I mean, how safe is it here?" Nora chuckled.

"I'll be fine, Bells. Trust me." Sighing worriedly, Bella set her books on a shelf and dug into her bag, finding the trusty pepper spray her father had given her. "Really, Bella?" The Swan girl nodded, shoving the pepper spray into Nora's hands.

"Just in case! You never know, Nora. Call me if you're in danger, alright?" Taking the pepper spray and hugging her friend, Nora made her way out of the bookstore and to the Diner she'd seen down the road.

...

Nora meandered through the streets, watching as end-of-the-workday traffic began to fill the streets. As she walked, Nora began to realized that she'd been going in the wrong direction. The little foot traffic she'd seen was going north, and it looked like the buildings were mainly warehouses. Looking around, she'd decided to turn east at the next corner, and then loop around after a few blocks and try her luck on a different street on her way back to the boardwalk.

Turning down another street, Nora found the same warehouses again. Sighing, she walked down the street and found a little stairway leading down to another street. There was a sudden rush of wind that went down Nora's back, causing her to shiver. A sudden loud screech echoed throughout the street and forced Nora to turn around with a squeak, seeing only a garbage can knocked over and a rat running away. The rat must've knocked it over. Taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart, Nora walked down the stairs, cursing when she felt a drop of rain hit her head.

Looking up, the clouds were dark and it was beginning to get darker, the streetlights turning on. Nora sighed. Just great, now she was going to have to walk through the rain at night. As she walked on through alleys and streets, she sighed in relief when she began hearing more people and chatter. She was getting close! It was beginning to rain harder and harder as she walked and she found herself soaked to the bone.

Turning around another corner, leading towards the voices she'd heard, she began walking up a covered staircase, covering her from the rain temporarily. She shivered as a cold breeze blew through and decided that she'd call Bella if she couldn't find her way after the next few minutes.

"Look what we have here, boys!" there was a man's voice that startled Nora, she froze in fear as she looked up to find that source of all the chatter she heard was a group of men, clearly drunk as they lugged around a case of beer. Did they have nothing else better to do? She swallowed harshly as she stepped down a stair from the covered landing, clearly at one point this was an area for workers to sit. "Well aren't you pretty?"

The man's smell became horribly clear as he stepped closer towards her, his friends laughing and egging him on as he gave her a drunken smile, his teeth crooked. He smelled horrible and it forced Nora to wrinkle her nose a little and clutch the can of pepper spray in her hand a little tighter. She took another step back when he tried to reach her hair. He laughed at her obvious discomfort. "Aw, are you nervous?" He was obviously mocking her as his friends started to clammer towards them.

"C'mon pretty girl, join our party!"

"We promise to show you a good time!"

Shaking her head and pushing away the man's prying hands, Nora took off back down the stairs, trying her hardest to see in the dark and walk as fast as she could away from the drunken men. She could hear them laughing and calling after her, but she ignored them, taking the other stairs down to the parking lot. Suddenly, a car came around the corner and the lights blinded her for a moment as she stumbled back and almost tripped before she caught herself.

She heard the car door open, but she wasn't able to see anything until said person walked in front of the headlights and Nora couldn't help but gasp in surprise. She hadn't seen him or his family this entire week at school and from what Jessica said, apparently warm, sunny days meant that the Cullen family was never at school for hiking and camping... or well, that's at least what she said. 

"Edward?"

He clenched his jaw, narrowing his eyes at her. She could feel the anger radiating off his body, and Nora swallowed. "Get in the car, Nora." There was clear anger in his voice. She frowned. How had he even found her? She was practically in the middle of nowhere. "I'm not going to repeat myself again."

With that, Edward walked forward and picked Nora up. A gasp tore from her throat. "W-What are you doing?!" She tried fighting him as he walked over to the passenger side of his car.

"I told you to get in the car."

Opening the passenger side door, Edward had easily set her in the clearly expensive Volvo she had seen him drive at school. As he buckled her in, since apparently she couldn't do it herself as she tried to fight him over the seatbelt, his black eyes had froze her when he made eye contact with her. He'd won buckling her in.

It was only seconds before he was in the drivers seat, throwing the car into reverse and driving back the way he came.

...

It was a good thing Edward had buckled her in because his driving was enough to make her clutch the seatbelt in one hand and fist her other hand on the edge of the leather seat. She couldn't stop the pounding in her chest, her heart feeling like it was about to burst. He swerved in and out of traffic in the middle of Port Angeles, driving way past speed limits. "S-Slow down, Edward." Her teeth were still chattering from the cold and Edward had been nice enough to turn the heat all the way up.

It was only a few moments before she watched the speedometer come down to speed limit and him take a deep breath, before tensing up again. It was quiet until Nora had remembered Bella. "Bella!" The exclamation was enough to made Edward's head whip towards her. "I forgot about Bella! We were supposed to meet at the diner!" Edward frowned, but turned his head back to the road.

"I'm taking you home, Nora." His voice was melodious, calming. "Just text her, tell her that you met up with me. She'll understand." Nora shook her head.

"No, I need to meet her. I promised her." With a slight growl, Edward's jaw clenched before he turned the wheel and they were suddenly turning around. Nora swallowed. "Thank you."

...

"Nora!" Bella was obviously worried for her friend as she came running down the steps of the small Diner that they'd promised to meet at. "Oh my God, are you okay?! I knew I shouldn't have let you go on your own!" Her arms wrapped around the small, curly haired brunette, clutching her tightly. "What happened?!"

Nora gently hugged her friend back, letting Bella's comfort soothe her. She was still cold and wet but Bella's obvious concern made Nora smile slightly. "Nothing, Bells. I just got lost."

Bella still hung on tightly to her friend, the dread beginning to fade away. She had really thought Nora had gotten kidnapped or something. Hearing a voice clear their throat, Bella looked up, eyes widening to see Edward Cullen in all his glory, standing just a foot away with his hands in his jean pockets. "Nora, is it just my imagination... or is that Edward Cullen?"

Pulling from the hug, Nora whipped around and narrowed her eyes at the sight of Edward. "I told you that you could go home, Edward." Bella frowned, looking between the two. Edward chuckled.

"And I told you that I was taking you home," there was a cockiness in his tone that made Bella's brows raise. "After all, I saved you tonight."

Bella's head turned so fast to Nora that it almost seemed like she snapped her neck. "What does he mean saved?!" she darn near screeched, making Nora flinch at the sound. She grumbled under her breath before she turned to Bella with a sheepish smile.

"I just got lost and he found me, Bells. That it." Pushing her curls back, Nora nodded her head. "I promise, nothing happened." She didn't need to know about the drunken bastards. No one did.

Edward watch the two friends bicker for a moment before he stepped in. "Bella," the young Swan girl's head turned towards him with shock. Her thoughts were obvious. Bella couldn't believe he was talking to her. That made him chuckle. "if it's alright with you, I'd like to take your friend home tonight." 

Bella's mouth opened and closed like a fish for a moment, ignoring Nora's obvious discomfort and mumbling of her to say no. Shaking her head, Bella smiled. "Uh, yeah, you can take her home. I'm sure she'd appreciate it, that's really nice of you." The slight pinch to her side made Bella jump out of discomfort, before she turned to Nora with a knowing smile. "Have fun," Bella whispered to her friend before smiling at Edward as she walked past him.

"Thanks, Bella!" Edward called after her, chuckling when he felt a slight punch to his shoulder.

"I hate you," Nora mumbled, rubbing her knuckles after punching Edward in the shoulder. He turned back towards her once Bella was out of sight. "You're buying me something to eat and explaining to me exactly how you knew where I was."

Edward couldn't help but smile.

...

AUTHORS NOTE!

Guess who's back, back again? This bitch! I know, this hiatus was unplanned and like, completely out of the blue. I'm sorry, y'all... but I'm back! I know this chapter seems a little confusing, especially because like, Nora hasn't confronted what Edward and his family exactly is... but I promise you, it will make sense in the next chapter or so.

Thank you to all who've stayed with me for the long haul and a thank you to the newbies!