Waxing Gibbous

Strange Interactions (A)

I sat at the table with the others talking about various topics. Projects, field trips, games, dumb things that teenagers talk about. When lunch was over, I realized the Bella had Biology with me, so I decided to walk with her.

"so, how are you liking the rain?" I asked. Bella seemed to grimace a little "that bad huh?"

"it's not horrible, I just prefer the sun"

I nodded "yeah, trust me though, when it stops raining and you can actually explore, you'll fall in love. The forests are beautiful"

"I'll have to take your word"

Once we got to the door, I turned to look at Bella "well, here we are..."

When we entered the classroom, I went to sit at a black-topped lab table, with Angela, my lab partner. There was only one free table, only one person who didn't have a lab partner.

Edward.

I felt a little bad for Bella. I could already see the tension brimming between the two. Edward looked so uncomfortable it was distracting. The lecture was on cellular anatomy, I tried to take notes carefully, but I found myself drawn to Edward. Throughout the entire lecture he didn't relax, only shifted to move as far away from Bella as possible. I don't understand what his problem was, maybe he just really likes his own table.

In a moment's notice the bell rang loudly, and Edward Cullen was out of his seat. Fluidly he rose and he was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat.

I packed up all my stuff and prepared to finish the day in my favorite class, it was also the worst because Rosalie was also taking art this semester.

As I passed by Bella's table, I heard Mike say, "Aren't you Isabella Swan?"

"Bella," she corrected him, with a smile.

"You're not scaring her away now are you Mikey?" I chuckled as I approached, earning a smile from Bella. It was better than her previously stressed demeanor.

"what? No" Mike insisted.

"kidding" I replied before looking at Bella "well Bella, have a good day, I'm sure we will be seeing each other around more often"

I entered the art room happy to see the person of my desire was currently not in attendance, but I know she would soon take up the desk on the other side of the room, with her sisters Alice and Lucia.

I sat at my table near the back of the class. The tables in art were bigger than the other classrooms-mostly because we needed space to work. I was also one of the only people to not have a table mate. Which was fine by me.

I started my project immediately, there was no need to wait seeing as we would need all the time we could get. The first medium we worked with was papier mache. Childish but cheap and easy to handle. Ms. Davis went through the first project with us, she gave us the foundation of the mask but out second one we had to design.

After papier mache we moved to clay, then wire and finally wood. Each medium required a few 'projects' or assignments each, the first was usually specifically chosen by Ms. Davis and even often had stencils to follow. After that we had about two tries to make the best project we could. Then we would have the last month or so of class to make our final project-one of our choosing.

The final bell rang at last. And I was grateful that I was able to focus on my project long enough to make some sort of progress. At least for the class, unfortunately just as I was turning from Ms. Davis' desk, I ran into something or rather someone.

Rosalie.

"I'm sorry" I replied as I picked up all my supplies, I looked up at her for a fraction of a second, she was glaring down at me, her black eyes full of revulsion.

I flinched away from her, going back to my table like a dog with its tail between its legs. She and her sisters left the room quickly afterwards, almost like they ran. Alice glanced back slightly meeting my eyes for a brief moment before following after her sister.

Panic soon filed me, twice one of the Cullen's looked at me, not catching my eye while looking around kind of look but the I sought out you look.

Then there was Rosalie's glare... did she know, did they know about my not so small crush. She had to, it's the only explanation for her reaction, she was disgusted by it.

I nearly started hyperventilating but Ms. Davis' words pulled me out of it. "Everything okay Alex?"

I blinked a few times "yeah... yeah I'm okay. I guess I'm just a little tired"

"well get some rest, I'll see you tomorrow. And good work on your mask it was one of the best in the class" Ms. Davis gave me a wink as if to say just between the two of us. I smiled as convincingly as I could. But I couldn't help the feeling of panic about Rosalie's reaction. I tried calming myself, I was only psyching myself up, there was no way anyone knew about my crush or sexuality. I never gave anything away, there had to be another reason... maybe she was having an off day and I must have hit her hard since I could still feel the soreness in my shoulder.

Everything was fine.

I just had to keep hiding it for a few months. Then Rosalie will graduate, and I can forget all about her. Everything's fine, I kept repeating in my head as I walked outside.

The rain had drifted away, but the wind was stronger and colder. I zipped my coat up and pulled the scarf tighter around my face, wanting to get inside the warmth of my car as soon as possible.

On the way home I stopped by the store to grab some extra ingredients for dinner. We almost always cooked at home; my mom would say it was better than eating out all the time. She's right, home cooked meals are better than fast food or something like it, but the main reason was me.

I had a plethora of medical issues, this included strict diets. No milk or dairy – so we went vegan in that department; I didn't do well with certain additives. Nothing terribly bad, it just a rash or stomachache. Then I had to get the right amount of iron. It was complicated but by now I knew what I could eat and what I couldn't.

I was getting better – my milk allergy wasn't nearly as bad as it used to be. At least I didn't need an epi-pen for it anymore. That was probably the best because I could widen my diet some more and even eat out a few times. We still kept it limited – once a week we would get dinner at the diner. It really wasn't much different than what we cooked at home, but it seemed like it because we weren't at home.

This week we'd probably spend our night out with the Swans. I knew my mom wanted to, but she didn't want to push and scare Bella off. it wasn't fair for her to put her relationship on hold for that, but she was willing to do so. She understood the importance of children, I mean look at me.

I thought back on my meeting with Bella. She was so much like Charlie it was uncanny, and would probably be awkward for the two of us. Bella was clearly an introvert, shy, I'm not sure how our personalities will mix.

Then again, my mother was like me, and she and Charlie got along perfectly, so, maybe Bella and I could get along well. Either way I would do everything I could to make sure we did; I didn't want to jeopardize my mom's relationship because I couldn't get along with Bella.

She deserved to be happy, and Charlie made her happy.