Maria and Bella are not speaking to each other. Maria cannot take her sister's suggestion that the Cullen family are Vampires seriously, and Bella is dissatisfied with her sister's refusal to take heed of her warnings. So, when they do speak, it usually ends up with arguing where Maria accuses Bella of being crazy and tells her she will tell their father about her insane assumptions about the Cullen family and Bella calls Maria stupid if she is unable to see through the appeal of their vampiric powers to which Maria laughs and stops responding to her sister. Charlie seems to have noticed that something is going on between the two of them, but he doesn't press them for answers when they refuse to tell him what is wrong because Bella is embarrassed, and Maria knows Charlie would take Bella's criticisms of the Cullens to heart. Maria is angry at Bella for her outlandish accusations but not angry enough to drive a wedge between her and their father because that would be unnecessarily cruel. The rest of the weekend is unbearably long for the twins, who cannot bear to be in the same room as each other for more than half an hour. The only time they spend together is when they eat dinner with their dad and when they go to sleep as they are still sharing a room.

Truthfully, Maria does miss speaking to her sister, but she cannot fathom the sense behind her words. How could such a smart girl instantly assume that a seemingly innocent family are vampires? The only evidence Maria has witnessed that could possibly contribute to them being vampires is Edwards's icy touch, but that doesn't mean anything to Maria. Some people just feel colder than others. Bella and her father are always much colder than Maria, so the same could be true for Edward. Maria just cannot bring herself to believe what Bella is telling her and comes to the only logical conclusion she can come to; Bella hit her head a little harder than she let on.

Bella is upstairs working on a paper for Macbeth, which Maria has no intention of completing until the night before it's due. While she knows it's best to be organised when it comes to school work, she finds Macbeth painfully boring - Lady Macbeth is the only interesting character, and Maria doesn't relate to her much at all. Maria stays downstairs with her dad, watching a rerun of a show she has no interest in that Charlie has put on.

She doesn't make a move to go up to bed until late that night when Charlie claps his hands together and announces that it is late and they should go to sleep through a yawn. She reluctantly makes her way upstairs and creeps into her and Bella's room to grab a pair of pyjamas. She changes in the bathroom and decides to do a very long, drawn-out skin routine before she faces Bella and tries to talk some more sense into her. She isn't interested in arguing with her twin anymore; she would like to understand Bella's thought process and try to rationalise what she thinks.

Bella is reading when Maria renters their room and she doesn't look up from her book. Maria sighs, picks up a blanket to cover her legs to protect them from the cold as she is still adamant about wearing pyjama shorts and sits at the end of Bella's bed.

"Where did you go today?" Maria asks lightly as Bella had been out for most of the morning, and her clothes were soaked through with rain when she returned at noon. Bella looks up, her eyebrows raised in surprise at Maria's kind tone and puts her book down.

"I went on a walk," Bella answers shortly, still clearly upset about their disagreements. "I was clearing my head."

"That's nice," Maria says and sighs because they both fall silent and, with the tension between them, it's very awkward. "I... I want to apologise."

"What?" Bella blurts out, shocked, and Maria shrugs her shoulders.

"I shouldn't have laughed at you or made fun of you about the Cullen thing..." Maria says sincerely. "I know you've just been confused after your accident. Maybe you have brain fog or something from hitting your head. I know what it's like to deal with the confusion of a concussion. I should've been more understanding, and I'm sorry."

Bella doesn't react nicely to Maria's apology. Her eyebrows knit together in fury, and a frown pulls at her lips. "I'm not confused, Maria."

"Bella, it's okay," Maria says softly. "I think you just hit your head, and all these made-up stories about the Cullens have confused you."

"I'm not crazy, Maria! I know what it sounds like, okay? But Edward pushed that truck out of the way with his bare hands!" Bella argues adamantly, raising her voice, and Maria shakes her head.

"There's no way he could've done that, Bella. You hit your head, and it's okay to be confused. I'm not judging you or trying to make you feel silly. I just want to help you."

"Maria, you're not listening to me! It's not just that. The whole school avoids their family, and Jacob's ancestors have a whole history with the Cullens - he told me himself. Their family won't even go to the hospital now that Carlisle works there," Bella informs Maria, who rolls her eyes.

"We met Dr Cullen, and he was nice and normal," Maria reminds her. "And Edward and Alice are both very friendly, too."

"Maybe to you, but not to anyone else," Bella mumbles, crossing her arms over her chest. "When I talked to him after the accident at the hospital, he was so rude to me. He was ridiculing me because I confronted him about moving the van, and then I asked him why he even bothered saving me, and he said, 'I don't know.'"

"Bella, listen to me. There is no way that any of the Cullen's are vampires, or anybody else in the world for that matter because vampires do not exist. There are perfectly logical explanations for every single piece of evidence you can come up with. And Edward shouldn't have been rude to you, but you were accusing him of impossible things after he risked his life to save yours. Do you still genuinely believe that they are vampires?" Maria tries to reason with Bella. Her twin sister is still clearly unconvinced, but she shrugs her shoulders and sighs, giving up.

"I'm going to sleep now," Bella says, reaching over and turning off her lamp before Maria even stands up. Maria hobbles blindly over to her bed and clambers in, pulling the covers up to her chin and staring up at the dark ceiling.

Sleep doesn't come easy to Maria that night. Worrying that her sister is becoming a complete lunatic consumes her, and she wonders if she should talk to their father about it. It's not right for a seventeen-year-old girl to be that convinced a family of innocent people are vampires. It's bizarre, too. Maybe Bella needs to go back to the hospital to get her head looked at again. Maria wonders if there are any days Carlisle does not work so that Bella would not accuse him of being a vampire in a room full of people. Maria tosses and turns all night, weighing up her options until sunlight pours into the room through the gap in the curtains that don't close all the way.

Maria is excited for the sunny weather and, as she dresses for a warm day in some jean shorts and a white baby doll top with fluttery sleeves. She ties her hair away from her face in two Dutch braids and applies a coat of light makeup when Bella bangs her fist on the bathroom door.

"Are you nearly done?" Bella asks loudly through the door, and Maria rolls her eyes.

"Yes, just wait a minute," Maria calls back, making absolutely no effort to hurry up and finish in the bathroom. Bella sends her an evil glare when she finally opens the door, and Maria brushes past her, not bothering to say anything.

"You'll probably be too cold in shorts, Maria," their father says, looking up from his newspaper on the dining table. He has a plate of toast on the table in front of him, and there is a glass of orange juice in Maria's spot, which she gladly drinks. "Bella poured that for you."

"I'll thank her later," Maria tells him with a smile. "And I am going to grab a jacket before I leave so I won't be cold."

"Take some trousers too, just in case," Charlie orders. "We don't want you getting sick."

"Fine, Dad, but I won't need them," Maria promises him, and she finishes the last mouthful of her orange juice. "Do you think you could give me a lift to school, please?"

"Really, you'll be very early? Why aren't you riding with Bella?"

"I have some homework to catch up on, and Bella is going in late," Maria says, lying. Truthfully, she hasn't asked Bella as they haven't spoken a nice word to each other all morning, so Maria does not know what time her sister is going to school. She just cannot bear the awkward journey.

"Well, okay then," Charlie shrugs, but he seems unconvinced with Maria's reasonings. "Go and get your stuff ready because I have to leave now."

Maria quickly grabs her backpack from upstairs, throws a zip-up hoodie on over top and throws a pair of leggings, which she definitely won't change into in her bag for Charlie's sake.

"Don't you need a lift?" Bella asks, and Maria shakes her head.

"Dad is taking me," Maria replies and then disappears out of the room. She pulls her Converse on her feet and quickly does up the laces as Charlie shouts goodbye to Bella and heads out to his cruiser with Maria following after him.

Charlie was right; it is a little chillier outside than Maria expected, but she is stubborn and will likely not change into her leggings during the day. She traces her fingers absentmindedly over her exposed scar. It's a jagged line that spans from the middle of her thigh to just above her knee with a straight, precise line trailing down the side of it. The messy scar is from where her bone ripped through her skin during the accident, and the neat line is from the subsequent surgeries when she got a bone infection, and they had to operate to heal it, as well as put her on all sorts of antibiotics. She can barely feel her fingers on her thighs thanks to the nerve damage from her bone ripping through the skin and the subsequent surgeries. Normally she wouldn't have a care in the world about her scar. She barely notices it most of the time, happily walking around in shorts and skirts that expose it because it just shows how far she has come since the accident. She isn't going to waste her life worrying about her scars; it would be pointless as without most of them, she probably would've died from her bone infection. But today, she's worried about Bella.

She's still convinced that Bella is experiencing some kind of brain fog or confusion, which has only been fuelled by Jacobs's storytelling, and she doesn't know what to tell Charlie. All she knows is that if she doesn't say anything, and there is something actually wrong with Bella, she will regret it for the rest of her life.

Charlie watches his daughter closely as he drives her to school, noticing her tracing her scar and the lost look in her eyes as if she is pondering something very deeply, and he sighs. "What's up with you, Maria?"

"What do you mean?" Maria raises her eyebrows, pretending to be clueless as she quickly moves her hand away from her thigh.

"I may not have been around you much when you were growing up, but you're still my daughter, and I know when something is bothering you," Charlie says matter of factly. His tone suggests to Maria that it's pointless to lie to him and he isn't going to be satisfied with no answer.

She sighs and shrugs her shoulders. "I'm just worried about Bella. I think she has brain fog or something from when she hit her head."

"Really? She seems fine to me, Maria. Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, Dad! I just think we need to keep an eye on her, is all. She doesn't like people making a fuss, so she won't tell you if something is wrong."

"Okay, well, I'll watch out for it," Charlie promises her. "If it gets bad, I'll get Dr Cullen to check her out."

"Good," Maria feels as though a weight has been lifted from her shoulders because she isn't the only one concerned for Bella now. If their dad knows something is still not quite right with Bella, it means she has an extra person looking out for her, and that means she's safer.

Charlie pulls into the school parking lot and stops to let Maria out, but he places his hand on her shoulder and squeezes it before she can open the door. "Bells will be fine, Marie. Don't worry about her too much."

"Thanks, Dad," Maria smiles sincerely, and she opens the door and climbs out of the car. Before she closes the door, she sticks her head back in and smiles at her dad again. "I love you, Dad. Be careful at work."

"Love you too, Maria," a smile pulls on Charlie's lips. "And I always am."

Maria makes her way to the picnic benches on the south side of the cafeteria. They're still a little damp from the rain over the weekend, so Maria lays her jumper out on the tabletop and jumps up onto it, leaning her head back to expose her neck and chest to the sun. Bella appears at the picnic benches shortly after and sits at the one furthest from Maria where she is joined by Mike. Maria stays where she is as the two of them seem to be flirting with each other, and she would rather sit in silence than interrupt them. Besides, she's still annoyed at Bella, and the presence of Mike alone will probably not be enough to diffuse the tension between them.

Her silence doesn't last for long though as Jessica comes bouncing over and sits on the bench beside her, beaming. Maria looks over at her, smiling. "Hi, Jess. What's got you In such a good mood?"

"We're all going dress shopping in Port Angeles tonight for the Spring Dance!" Jessica announces, grinning. Maria assumes that all means Jessica, Angela and Lauren. "Can you join us? You always dress so nice, and I need help picking the perfect dress... I was hoping to go with Mike, but he's just obsessed with Bella at the moment. Maybe if I choose the right dress, he'll think I'm pretty."

"You are pretty, Jess. Mike would be stupid if he didn't think you were," Maria tells her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "But I would love to go. I still need to buy a dress as well... I bet Edward will dress very smart."

"So you're really going with him then? Lauren thinks you were making it up at La Push," Jessica lowers her voice as she says the last part, and Maria sighs.

"I wouldn't lie about a date. That's pointless," Maria promises Jessica. "I really am going with him. I like him."

"Is that why you've dressed up so pretty today?" Jessica asks, and Maria's cheeks flush red. Truthfully, she did pick out a nice top and spend extra time on her hair and makeup this morning, but that was not just for Edwards's benefit. Maria loved wearing summery outfits in Phoenix. It was one of the only things she truly enjoyed about living with her mother, so when she saw the sun shining this morning, she couldn't help but dress a little nicer than usual. "I hate to break it to you, Maria, but the Cullens are never in when it's sunny. As soon as the weather is nice, Dr Cullen takes them out of school, and they go backpacking or whatever."

"Oh, really?" Maria raises her eyebrows curiously, trying to mask her disappointment. "Well, that's nice."

"It's a shame Edward won't get to see you, though. You look good," Jessica's eyes scan down Maria's outfit as she stands up off of the table and pulls her slightly damp jacket back on. Her eyes widen a little and hover over the scarring on her leg, which she has only just seemed to spot, and she chews on her lip. She deliberates for a moment before curiosity gets the better of her. "What happened to your leg?"

Maria doesn't mind the question. She understands why people are curious, and she doesn't go out of her way to hide the scars, so she tends to expect questions. So she smiles and shrugs her shoulders a little. "I got hit by a car when I was younger, and I fractured my leg. The scar is from my bone breaking the skin, and then I had to get surgery, too." She explains, purposely leaving out any further details. Despite her newfound lease on life and her typically light attitude towards her accident, Maria does not love to talk about how close she has been to death. It's not something she likes to relive very often. The odd joke here and there with Bella is fine, but going into detail about it puts her on edge, and she hates it. When that happens, it feels like she's her old self again. Anxious, insecure, and frightened. As if she's just pretending to have all the qualities that she prides herself on now.

Luckily, Jessica does not ask any more questions, and they walk to class together, discussing what style of dresses they like. Alice isn't in class, just as Jessica had said she wouldn't be, but a small part of Maria hopes that Edward might still be there for Biology. Maybe Alice is just poorly, or Edward didn't want to go with his family this time, but her hopes are soon crushed because his seat in Biology II is empty.