Make My Heart Feel Safe

As she sleeps at night, she grips the blue plush teddy bear close to her chest; she nuzzles her cheek into the soft fabric as her sleep is uneasy. She is brought into a world so familiar to her; a white hallway, lights bright enough to blind her. She walks along the hallway, she passes by people in scrubs, talking, having conversation. Then a couple or nurses run past her, the look of worry on their faces. Eleanor is confused at the sight; what was so serious? Why was she here?

The answer soon comes clear to her, as she sees her parents at the end of the hallway. She feels a sharp pain where her heart is when she sees her mother clutch onto her husband like her life depended on it, she can tell her mother was bawling in her father’s chest. Eleanor's jaw drops as she can clearly see her father's face, he was tearing as well.

As she walks closer to them, she can't help but notice as they stand close to one of the hospital beds rolled out to the hallway. Eleanor can't tell who lays in the bed, for the body is covered with the white spread. Though fearful to see what is under the sheet, she walks over to it, laying her hand on it.

Slowly, she pulls back the sheet, and as she reveals the body, her mouth drops. A squeak threatens to come out as she backs away from the body, she covers her mouth over her hand as she tries to contain a scream. He back hits the wall, and she can't help but grip her head with her hands, disbelieving the sight. She finally screams, letting out her emotions as much as she can and as she does, she falls to the floor, crying. She gasps for air as it is caught in her throat.

She wakes up in a sweat, sitting up in her bed. She still holds the teddy bear close to her as she tried to calm down her breathing. She wonders when the reoccurring dream will cease, though at this rate, she sees no relief. She has had this dream since the day she learned of her brother's death, and every night she would wake up in a cold sweat, sometimes even screaming.

She notices that the sun is shining brightly in the sky, much to high for it to still be morning. She rolls her eyes as she glances at the alarm clock. 2:30 PM. And she gets in the shower getting ready for the day.

As she walks downstairs, she can hear voices from the front door. She is confused, but it comes clear to here as she is now at the bottom of the stairs. Her mom is at the open door, and standing in the doorway is a timid Bella. But she is not alone; she stands with someone whom Eleanor has never seen before, though as she sniffs the air around her she can clearly tell what the man is.

"Bella." Eleanor says, walking over next to her mother in front of Bella. Eleanor glances over to the man she is with, he stands close to Bella, and she can tell he's very protective of her. His skin was pale, no pigmentation whatsoever, though his eyes were bright, a gold kind of tone to it. He reminded her of Carlisle.

"Edward,” Bella started. “This is Eleanor.”

Edward just smiles faintly at Eleanor, and she returns it. Nevertheless that the smile fades, his look seemed happy to see her, though she can’t tell why.

“Edward met you when you were just a baby Ella.” Shana said, putting an arm around her daughter’s shoulder. Eleanor’s mouth drops a little as Edward’s faint smile returns to him; his eyes are smoldering but kind to Eleanor.

“When Carlisle told my family and me that the Princeton family had come back, I had to see it for myself.” Edward said with his voice like velvet. He looked at Eleanor like he had seen a ghost. “How much you have grown.”

The visit was short. Bella only came to check up on Eleanor and make sure if she needed anything. Bella had invited Eleanor and her family to have dinner with her and the Cullen family and her father one day. Her father would sure be happy to see Eleanor’s father once again.

Before they left, a honk came from behind them. Eleanor smiled a smile that Bella has never seen before. She walked forward, past Bella and Edward looking at the two people in the car. It was a man that Bella has never seen before. As he got out of the car, Bella’s eyes grew wide. He was HUGE! Much bigger than from Bella has seen; bigger than Jacob and Sam put together you would say.

As soon as Eleanor and the man’s eyes connected, they had matching smiles on their faces.

“Daddy!” Eleanor shouted. Bella’s eyes grew wider as Eleanor jumped into the arms of her father. She couldn’t help but stare at him as he put his daughter down smiling at her. She heard him ask if she was alright and heard their laughter mix with each others. Bella was astounded; she had never seen Eleanor so happy before.

“Dad, this is Bella; Charlie Swan’s daughter?”

Bella shook the enormous hand of Eleanor’s father nervously. She looked so small compared to him. Bella smiled as he asked how her father was, his voice wasn’t rough and deep like she expected but she could tell he was a kind soul, as he turned to Edward and embraced him in a hug, despite the smell between wolves and vampires.

The day went by quickly, now that her father was here to help with the rest of the unpacking, and now Monday came along, Eleanor’s first day at the La Push high school. She drove to the school regretfully, not wanting to come back to this dreaded place. She pulled into the parking lot, smiling with her smug lips; La Push high hadn’t changed.

She received her schedule, and tried looking for the first class she was assigned to. She quickly found the class “Psychology 101 with Mr. Peterson.” She was a bit late arriving to the school so when she arrived in the class, a lecture was in form. When she stepped in, the first person she saw was the one she never expected to see in her class. After she handed Mr. Peterson the schedule and looked into the eyes of Seth. She felt her heart race the short amount of time they looked at each other; he smiled at her, but she looked away shyly.

“Alright Ms. Princeton,” He said in a rough tone. “You can go ahead and take a seat next to Seth Clearwater. Seth please raise your hand so she knows where you are!”

She watched as Seth raise his hand with a smirk on his face. Hesitantly, she walked over to the empty desk next to him and sat down, not taking a look at him. As she tries to listen to the teacher she can’t help but feel Seth’s eyes on her. A few times she would glance over to him, but she would look away quickly once he made eye contact with her, she even heard him laugh just a little when she looked away.

“Alright class,” Mr. Peterson announced clapping his hands together. “You guys are going to be paired up, and you are going to discuss a few things together. Let’s see here, Matthew and Elizabeth, Johnny and Sarah, Seth and Eleanor….”

Eleanor’s eyes grew wide as she heard her name pair up with Seth’s, but she couldn’t help feel ecstatic with the thought of pairing up with him. After Mr. Peterson was done with the pairs, the whole class started to get loud, getting with their partners. She turned to Seth slowly.

“So I guess we’re partners.” Seth said smiling at her, he was making her melt.
“I guess so.” She said warily.
“So Ms. Princeton, what does family mean to you?”
“Family is the world to me. I always put my family before anyone else, without them, I’d probably be lost. How about you, Mr. Clearwater?”
“Well, I think of family as the number on thing. There may be others like my friends, but I don’t think they ever pass my family.”

Eleanor smiled, she finally had someone who had something in common with her. The questions went from music, to food, to social activities like sports. She found out that sports played a big role in Seth’s life, he loved to play football and basketball but never looked to join the team. He was always busy with the pack and his family. She felt the same, she was good at volleyball but she never tried out. The pack was more important to her. Then, the questions started to get a little serious.

“What does friendship mean to you?” Eleanor asked. Seth’s face became somber and stern as he looked at her.
“Sometimes I wonder what that word means.” Seth said, a fake chuckle escaping his lips.
“Why do you say that?”

Seth scooted his desk more closely to her, and bent down whispering to her so the others wouldn’t hear.

“You know how packs are, don’t you? I mean, we’re always around each other and it’s always so serious. I mean, it’s different when we’re, you know, laughing and goofing off but other than that I wonder if I really should consider them as friends or not.”

Eleanor furrows her eyebrows a little, looking at him in disbelief. He didn’t look the type to say things like that, it didn’t seem to be in his nature. Seth asked her what it meant to her as well; her expression hardened and her jaw clenched as she thought this over. She thought of Leah and Jacob, her so called friends.

“A friend is someone who cares about you; someone who is true to you, and someone who doesn’t go behind your back for anything.”
“Do you believe that a friendship can turn into something more?”
“Heh, first I have to be able to trust them before I let them get anywhere else.”
“I can’t argue with that. What’s a relationship without trust, but, you can’t distrust everyone, right?”
“Tell that to Jacob and your sister.”

Eleanor got up from her seat as the bell rang signaling the end of the class. She walked out of the door in search of her next class. She heard Seth call out her name, but she didn’t stop to look back. Suddenly she stopped as Seth ran in front of her, looking at her with sad eyes.

“Eleanor, please, whatever I said I-I’m sorry.”
“Save yourself Seth, one of us is going to get hurt, and im gonna make sure it’s not me.”

She walked past him once again, but Seth wasn’t letting her go anywhere. Seth grabbed her hand, softly however, the touch of his hand was able to make her jump. Seth held her hand in place with his, they warmth connecting to each other.

“Ella, look at me.”

She looked up at him, unable to look away. She was mesmerized; everyone disappeared once again and in their eyes, only they existed.

“Whatever Jake did; whatever my sister did, I’m not like them. Why can’t you see that in me?”
“I-I just, I can’t trust that many people right now.”
“Then I’ll build on it. The least you can do is let me walk you to your next class.”

Eleanor thought about it for a moment. It wouldn’t be too bad to let this poor guy walk her to her next class. Most likely she won’t see him after that, what are the chances of him having the same class?

“Music production? Guess we’re still classmates.” Seth winked at her. Turns out those chances were quite slim. He walked closely to her, wanted to pull that arm over her shoulder and hold her even closer, and she wanted nothing more than the same.

Seth opened the door to the little theater where their class was being held, he held it open for her so she can step in first. As they both stepped into the small theater, everyone was already seated though class had not started yet.

“Would it be bad if I took a seat next to you?” Seth whispered.
“I guess I can let you go this far.” She said playfully. They took their seats as the class started beginning. It started with a simple introduction to the history of music, then the teacher seperated the kids into groups. Bores out of her mind, Eleanor started looking around, till she found someone worth talking about.

"Hey Seth," She said as she nudged him in the arm. "Isn't that....Jared?"

She pointed out beside her, in the same row a few seats down she saw him. Seth looked to where she was pointing and his eyes went wide.

"Holy shit," He laughed. "What's he doing here?"

He pulled out his cell phone and started punching buttons Eleanor watched Jared and saw him looking at his phone as well. Jared looked panicked, he looked around until he saw the two people watching him. Eleanor chuckled a little as Seth waved. They laughed as Jared smiled weakly and turned around quickly.

As the class ended and was dismissed, Seth and Eleanor waited outisde for Jared. Wanting to question his actions. Jared finally came out and he walked over to him shyly.

"Care to explain?" Seth asked, playfully smiling.
"I can't like music?" Jared said.
"I just never thought of you as the musical type." Eleanor said, laughing a little.
"Okay, don't laugh! It's just, this class gives me the chance away from the pack. You know, it gives me the chance to express myself without the pack making a fool out of me."
""Well, we're sure not gonna make fun of you."
"Why do you think we're in the class?" Seth asked.
"So you guys won't tell?" Jared asked, a little worried.
"Of couse not. It'll be on you whether or not you want the guys to know."

Jared smiled , relieved that the most trusted person o the pack won't say a word. They walked together to the next class, which they happened to have together. By the end of the day, they knew something beautiful had started.