try to slip past his defense without granting innocence

[autophoenix]

A couple weeks had passed quietly for Claire since her less-than-venomous conversation with Edward. Between studying, juggling Jessica and Mike and the drama between them, and dealing with the secret that continued to grow increasingly complicated to keep, it was mostly a blur. A really unpleasant, cold and rainy blur

Comments

[likealocalgod]

It had been common for Edward to consider his hours spent in a high school classroom, relearning the same concepts he had mastered decades ago, mouthing answers that required no thinking whatsoever, to be akin to Purgatory. A long string of days with no conceivable end in sight, where nothing changed, there was no growth, there was no anything, but the sameness that he had come to find so endlessly grating. He had almost wished, on occasions, that he might be able to actually ever aspire to reaching a day of judgment, even if it meant being cast into Hell fires

[likealocalgod]

♪ No one spoke on the way there, no one dared - Jasper was able to pick up exactly how one edge Edward was, whereas Rosalie and Emmett simply noticed none of it, and entertained themselves exchanging lovesick glances that merely made Edward's stomach turned. They were so central to each other's lives - Rose and Emmett, Alice and Jasper, Esme and Carlisle, and so many of their thoughts were wrapped up in each other

[autophoenix]

Hunching her shoulders, Claire hugged herself tightly to try and keep some of the warmth from slipping away. She stood for a moment adjusting while Lyle crossed the parking lot and headed in the direction of his classes or his lame friends or whatever it was that he did to give himself something to do around here. For a brief minute, she watched after him with a guilty look -- it was her fault it was like this, after all. Not that he'd been a social butterfly beforehand, but … that just made it that much harder for him to pick up the pieces. At least Claire had an easy time meeting people

[autophoenix]

The van connected at an angle, the corner of the hood crushing her rib cage and slamming her hard into the car she'd parked beside, denting both of them through the buffer of her body, and then continued to slide a little forward. The way she'd tried to flinch too late had only resulted in worsening the injuries in her ribs, snapping a few of them like twigs and pushing the breaks out through the side of her chest cavity, bone protruding through her shirt as she hit her knees. Ow. It slid far enough forward that the side mirror and the indentations along the side panel kept her pinned to the other car, bent and twisted metal stabbing into her abdomen and back

[likealocalgod]

♪ There was one thought that flashed through Edward's mind, as well, as he realized what was about to occur - one startlingly clear thought that cut through his brain with an intensity that surprised even him, though he had no time to analyze what that meant at the time:

Not her.He felt his unbeating heart relocate itself to somewhere in the vicinity of his throat, and he acted before he could possibly think through the implications of taking action at all, here in such a public view, surrounded by students. He leaped through the air, simply a blur, impossible to be seen by any eyes that registered only a human's wavelength of movement, and as he sailed through the air, he heard her thought sail through the air, clear as a bell. He also saw the succeeding torrent of images that played through her mind, like her own personal horrorshow, that was not, in any way, what he had expected to see, and was honestly closer to his own personal fears about his identity being leaked