Twilight: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

The next morning, Bella wakes up to snow and ice. Charlie is already gone when she gets downstairs, so she eats and wonders why she’s excited to go to school and see Edward. She should be embarrassed and suspicious; she embarrassed herself with her babbling yesterday, and he’s still hostile. But Bella tells herself to focus, and she tiptoes across the ice to her truck. As she drives to school, she wonders why the boys here, like Mike and Eric, are so interested in her when boys never paid her any attention in Phoenix. Once she gets to school, Bella realizes why driving was easy: Charlie put chains on her tires. Bella isn’t used to kindness like this, and her throat feels tight.

As Bella stares at her tires, she hears a screeching sound. She looks up to see Edward staring at her from four cars down and a van skidding toward her. Suddenly, something hits Bella hard, and her head hits the ice. But the van is still coming—and this time, two hands reach out to stop it from crushing Bella’s legs. People start to scream as Edward asks Bella if she’s okay. Bella asks how he got to her so fast, but Edward says he was right next to her the entire time. They argue, and Edward begs Bella to play along. A minute later, the EMTs arrive and put Bella onto a stretcher with an embarrassing neck brace. It’s even more humiliating when Charlie pulls into the parking lot and begins asking an EMT questions.

Bella tunes out Charlie and thinks of what happened—there’s a dent in the van the shape of Edward’s shoulders, and his siblings are watching disapprovingly. When Bella finally gets to the hospital, she rips off the neck brace. A moment later, nurses wheel the van’s driver, a boy named Tyler, in next to Bella. He looks awful and keeps apologizing, and he notes that he didn’t see Edward either. Bella is wheeled away for X-rays, and when she returns, Tyler keeps apologizing. Bella pretends to sleep until Edward appears. She glares at him, but he says he brought the doctor so she can go home. 

Dr. Cullen comes around the corner, and Bella’s jaw drops—he’s young, blond, and extremely handsome. He looks at Bella’s X-rays, checks her head, and tells her to go meet Charlie in the waiting room. He also notes that most of the school is in the waiting room. Bella is distraught; she stumbles as she gets out of bed. Dr. Cullen says that Bella was lucky, but Bella says that she was lucky Edward was next to her. Dr. Cullen’s demeanor suddenly changes; he clearly knows something.

As soon as Dr. Cullen leaves, Bella asks Edward to speak privately. They move into the hallway, and suddenly, Edward looks intimidating and unfriendly. He insists he doesn’t have to explain himself since he saved her life, and he reminds Bella that she hit her head—she doesn’t remember what happened. Bella says she wants the truth, and she shares what she saw: Edward’s hands left dents in the van, and he held it up to save her legs. Bella feels ready to cry as Edward notes that no one will believe her. Bella says she doesn’t want to tell people—she just wants the truth. She asks why Edward bothered to save her, and he says he doesn’t know and hurries away.

Bella composes herself and then enters the waiting room. She assures Charlie she’s fine and urges him to leave; she doesn’t want to talk to anyone else. Bella thinks that given Edward’s odd behavior, her story must be right. Charlie pulls her out of her reverie when they get home: he told Mom what happened. Bella dutifully calls Mom and assures her she’s fine. She refuses to head back to Phoenix, in part because she’s so intrigued by how mysterious Edward is. As soon as it’s early enough to justify going to bed, Bella does—and she dreams of Edward.