FOUR; LIFESAVING OCCASIONS

"I have a plan." Bella said to Cassadee as they leaned against the hood of the red truck before class started.

"For?" Cassadee questioned, looking up from the book that she had to catch up on for English, the same as Bella was doing.

"Edward," Bella clarified. "I'm going to ask what his problem is."

Cassadee raised a brow at her twin. "I hate to break it to you, sis, but asking doesn't always work."

"I'm going to demand it then."

"That's what I'm talking about." Cassadee smiled as Tyler threw a piece of licorice at the twins, gaining their attention. He motioned for them to join the group but both held up their books simultaneously, showing that they were busy. Cassadee looked to the side when she saw the Cullen's and Hale's, minus Edward, pull into the school parking lot, all of them watching the Swan's.

The two watched Emmett jump out of the back of the jeep while Jasper got out of the driver's side, Rosalie and Alice getting out of a red convertible. All of them watched each other as the family made their way up the stairs, Jasper and Cassadee never taking their eyes off each other. Cassadee raised her brow again, this time at Jasper, as if challenging him to do something. Jasper gave her a smirk before looking away, Alice looked between the two with a knowing smile before looking at Jasper and saying something. From the response he gave, it looked like she was teasing him about something.

"What was that about?" Bella asked, turning to face her sister.

"Who knows?" Cassadee shrugged, "That whole family is weird." The bell rang, signaling that school was about to start. Both girls put their books in their backpacks and making their way into the building. "Hey, remember when Mom and Dad used to call us Thing 1 and Thing 2?"

Bella didn't look up from the ground, watching the steps so she wouldn't trip. "You mean when we were babies and actually looked identical?" She saw Cassadee nod from the corner of her eye before continuing. "How did you even know about that? We probably weren't more than a year old."

"Dad told me." Cassadee waved her hand at Bella before continuing. "I'm getting us those shirts. I'm Thing 1 of course."

"Please don't." Bella pleaded as they reached the top of the stairs and made their way into the school. "We don't need more attention than we already have."

"Too late." Cassadee smiled, "I think I'll get it for our birthday." Her smile disappeared as she gave her sister a serious look. "And you will wear it even if I have to staple it on."

"Oh my God, Cassadee."

"Okay, obviously I wasn't serious, Isabella."

"I don't know how we're related." Bella shook her head as they reached the gym.

"Me either, I'm still waiting for the DNA test."

The school day went by slowly, and fairly boring if you asked Cassadee. By lunchtime the highlight of her day had been seeing Bella hit two people in the head with a volleyball while she avoided it at all costs. Nothing eventful happened at lunch either, just Cassadee constantly telling Bella to stop looking at the Cullen/Hale lunch table because Edward would not just magically show up. And although Cassadee did not find it interesting, the rest of the table did as they continuously bickered about whether or not Bella glanced back at the table.

By the time biology came around, Cassadee wanted nothing more than to slam her head against the wall because of how many people were asking questions about her, and how boring her day was.

"Oh, look," Cassadee said as she and Bella walked into the classroom, looking at Bella's empty lab table. "He's still not here." She turned to look at Bella who only rolled her eyes. "Shocker."

"Why are you in such a mood?"

"If one more person asks me what Arizona is like I will put my head through a wall."

[x][x][x]

As the days went by, things were getting weirder. There were more animal attacks which, according to Charlie, wasn't completely out of the ordinary but were occurring more than usual. And much to Cassadee's annoyance, Edward had yet to show up to school for another week. Cassadee couldn't care less about the guy, but she did care about Bella and she almost seemed obsessed with seeing if he would show up at all throughout the school day.

After a week, Cassadee was getting used to almost getting some sort of injury in gym, most of them because of her own twin sister. Whenever she and Jasper would pass each other in the hallway they would share a few glances, and although Cassadee was a fairly confident person, she couldn't help but feel nervous around him most of the time but it wasn't a bad type of nervous, it was like a crush type of nervous. In biology, as soon as she would see him she would begin to feel butterflies in her stomach but that would quickly be replaced with calmness by the time she reached her seat. Their conversations usually consisted of random topics; Cassadee's life before Forks, sports (even though she only knew whatever she would overhear from the television when Charlie was watching them), TV shows, books, and movies. But they never talked about his family no matter what she asked, and Cassadee would be lying if she said she wasn't intrigued by them.

"Prom Committee is a chick thing, but I gotta cover it for the paper anyway, and they need a guy to help choose the music, so I need your playlists." Eric told the twins as they walked into biology, Bella took off her jacket and put it on the coat hanger by the door while Cassadee kept hers on. "Hey, listen, I was wondering, did you have a date to-"

"Sup, Arizona? Huh?" Mike came in, interrupting Eric's question to Bella and shaking his we that over the girls' heads, making sprinkles fall on them. "How you liking the rain? Better get used to it."

The Swan girls walked forward, ignoring the conversation that was now going on between Mike and Eric. "He was totally about to ask you to prom." Cassadee said to her sister in case she didn't know. She looked at Bella's lab table to see Edward there for the first time since they started school. "Oh, look, now you can demand to know what his problem is." She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to walk to the back of the room where her seat was. "Don't be an asshole." She said as she passed Edward, just loud enough so he could hear her.

As usual, Cassadee felt a sudden wave of calmness throughout her body as soon as she sat down. She didn't know what was going on with her; she never started to like someone after just one week, especially when they were only together for an hour of class. But instead of over analyzing it like she did with all her past crushes and relationships, she decided to go with the flow.

"Hello, Cass." Jasper greeted the girl, giving her a smile. "Enjoying the rain?"

"Jasper," Cassadee looked at the blonde and let out a snort, something she cursed herself for because that surely was not cute, before shaking her head. "Are you really asking me about the weather?"

Jasper shrugged, a smirk growing on his lips when he felt how embarrassed Cassadee was from the snort. "Well, this definitely isn't Arizona weather."

Cassadee nodded in agreement. "Valid point." She stated before shrugging. "I like the rain, it gives me an excuse to sleep and stay in bed and have a movie marathon."

"Onion root tip cells," Mr. Molina said once everyone was seated, cutting off what Jasper was about to say. "That's what's on your slides right now. Okay? So, separate and label them into the phases of mitosis, and the first partners that get it right are gonna win the Golden Onion." Mr. Molina held up the onion as the class started the assignment.

"Well, I know my life won't be complete without that Golden Onion." Cassadee stated sarcastically as she grabbed the microscope.

The rest of the class was fairly uneventful, after Jasper and Cassadee finished the assignment there wasn't anything else to do besides talk about pointless things. And when they didn't have much to talk about, Cassadee would doodle in her notebook and every now and again she looked at her sister, seeing that she and Edward seemed to be getting along.

When the bell rang Cassadee put her things in her backpack and stood up before looking up to see her sister and Edward leaving. "Well then." She said to herself, she didn't have a problem with walking to the truck alone, but she didn't expect to see the two getting along so well after their first encounter.

"I can walk you to your car, if you want." Jasper said after seeing Cassadee watch her sister. "I know that you and Bella always go together and if you don't want to go alone I would be happy to walk you." He clarified when he saw the confused look she gave him.

"Oh," Cassadee let out a laugh before waving her hand at him. "You don't have to, it really isn't a big deal. It's not like anything bad is going to happen between here and the parking lot."

Jasper stood up and smiled at Cassadee. "I'm going to walk you anyways, we're going to the same place after all."

"Just out of curiosity, are you ever going to tell me anything about your family?" Cassadee asked, looking up at Jasper as they walked out of the school and down the stairs.

"Why are you so curious?"

Cassadee shrugged, "Well you seem to know so much about me. I think it's only fair that I know something about you."

"My family is a little bit... different." Jasper told Cassadee after a moment's pause, reaching the truck. "I don't want to scare you away."

Cassadee furrowed her brows and looked up at Jasper, looking into his golden eyes. "I doubt there's anything that could scare me away." She assured, "Unless you're a family full of serial killers."

Jasper didn't get a chance to reply before they both turned when they heard a honk and tires screeching. Cassadee saw the dark blue van coming towards her but it didn't register in her head fast enough for her to move out of the way. She could see Tyler trying to get control of the vehicle but it was no use. The van hit the back of the truck, leaving a small dent before continuing towards Cassadee. Jasper grabbed Cassadee's waist, using his other hand to stop the van, putting a large dent in the door.

Cassadee stared at the dent with wide eyes, too shocked to comprehend what just happened. She looked up at Jasper, who was looking down at her before slowly letting go of her waist. The brunette could still feel where his freezing cold arm had held her as he backed away without saying another word, jumping over the trunk of the red truck.

"I'm so sorry, Cassie. I-I panicked." Tyler said as he leaned out the window to apologize to Cassadee, a cut on his left eyebrow.

"I've got 911 on the phone now." A random girl informed her, but Cassadee wasn't comforted at that, she didn't want her father to find out about this, even though he would eventually since Forks is such a small town and he is the chief of police, she knew that he would more than likely overreact about the situation but nowhere near as bad if her mother found out.

Out of all the random people that Cassadee heard calling her name, her sister's was the only one that stood out. "Oh my God, Cass!" Bella ran up, pushing people out of the way so she could get to her twin. She wrapped her arms around Cassadee as soon as she reached her, taking the older twin by surprise but Cassadee hugged back nonetheless.

"I'm totally fine, Bella." Cassadee assured her sister, almost needing to comfort her more. "I don't even have a scratch."

Once the ambulance arrived, things only seemed to get more hectic. The group got bigger at that point, everyone wanting to see what was going on as they left school. Tyler apologized profusely, almost so much that Cassadee wished that she would've at least hit her head hard enough to get knocked out. She also told the paramedics that she was fine, she didn't even fall, and that going to the hospital was completely useless, but no one listened to her as they ushered her into the back of the ambulance.

The hospital wasn't any better; it wasn't half as crazy since Forks is a fairly small town and the building was fairly empty, but Cassadee hated hospitals. She always felt like something worse was going to happen to her, which always caused her anxiety to go through the roof. Bella never left her sisters side, no matter how many times the nurses told her that she couldn't be in the room. Cassadee kept replying with 'if she leaves, I leave' because she sure as hell was not about to be left alone.

"Cassie, are you okay?" Charlie asked as soon as he entered the room, rushing to his daughter and examining her while Bella sat next to her. Charlie looked at Tyler on the bed next to them. "You and I are gonna talk." He told the teen before turning back to his daughter. "You alright?"

"I'm fine, Dad." Cassadee assured with a smile. "Calm down."

"I'm sorry, Cassie. I tried to stop." Tyler told her for the millionth time in the last hour.

"I know, it's okay."

"No, it sure as hell is not okay." Charlie said instantly, giving his daughter a stern look.

"Dad, it wasn't his fault."

"You could've been killed, you understand that?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't, so...."

Charlie turned to Tyler, pointing at him. "You can kiss your license goodbye."

A rather pale, and attractive, blonde male doctor entered the room, bringing the attention to him. "I heard the Chief's daughter was here."

"Dr. Cullen." Charlie greeted.

"Charlie." Carlisle greeted back before taking the clipboard from the nurse that was watching after Cassadee. "I got this one, Jackie." The nurse walked away without another word while Carlisle looked over the chart. "Cassadee-"

"Cassie." She corrected.

"Right, Cassie. How do you feel?"

"Completely fine, really. I feel the same as I did this morning."

"Look here," Carlisle held up the small flashlight and turned it on, checking Cassadee's eyes. "You might experience some post-traumatic stress, disorientation, but your vitals look good. I think you'll be just fine." He gave her a reassuring smile.

"I'm so sorry, Cassie, I'm really-" Charlie pulled on the curtain, cutting Tyler off and separating them.

"So I'm fine?" Cassadee asked Carlisle, him responding with a nod. "Which is exactly what I've been telling everyone since the whole thing happened."

"It's always best to take every precaution." Carlisle told the teenager before leaving.

The Swan twins got off the hospital bed, Bella putting her backpack on her back and carrying Cassadee's as the three walked out of the room. "I have to sign some paperwork. You should probably call your mom." Charlie told Cassadee.

"You told her?" The twins asked in unison, looking at their dad in disbelief, resulting in Charlie giving them a shrug. "Why would you tell her?"

"You were almost hit by a van, Cass."

"That's a very minor detail."

*****

not edited as always

i've had this chapter almost done for the longest time but i've just been hella busy getting ready for school or just extremely lazy. but i didn't expect this chapter to be this long (well for my chapters) so i'm sorry to anyone who can't focus long enough to read chapters more than four pages ((aka me))

i feel like this sucks but whatever bc it starts to pick up soon