Waxing Gibbous

Family is more than DNA (A)

Once inside the classroom, I saw Mr. Banner was walking
around the room, distributing one microscope and box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes, and the room buzzed with conversation. I sat at my table with Angela and listened to Mr. Banner give his instructions.

The slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly and we weren't supposed to use our books. In twenty minutes, he would be coming around to see who had it right.

"Get started," he commanded.

I glanced around the classroom it seemed that Edward was having a better day than last week, one of the kids in front of me was sneakily looking at his book, Mike looked way out of his league.

Angela and I looked between the slides; we didn't have much issue seeing as both of us paid attention in class. I watched as Mike and his partner compared slides again and again.

"Alex, Angela. Good Job" Mr. Banner replied as he graded our paper. We finished before most of the class, with the exception of Bella and Edward. But that wasn't really surprising, since Edward knew practically everything. He was always at the top of the class and knew all the answers.

After a moment of silence, we got to talking about how the yearbook was coming along. Since the school was so small there were only a few people on the yearbook. Angela took the pictures; Eric wrote the captions and stories and I designed it.

Of course, we had other photographers and writers, but Eric and Angela were the head of the areas. They had the final say in what went into the yearbook, I took what they gave me and made sure it was nice. That included the cover and each of the pages.

With fall over we could easily put those pages together and prepare for spring. The good news about small schools, everything is set in stone, we know what field trips are, events, games etc. And I could always design everything ahead of time, I had a few template designs so that even if I got sick they could figure it out. Plus, I was showing one of the underclassmen how to do it since I would be graduating next year. She could do next year's book, I would help and examine everything, but it was in her hands.

Mr. Banner called the class to order then, and I put the designs away. Mr. Banner illustrated, with transparencies on the overhead projector, what I had seen without difficulty through the microscope. I could see many of my classmates quickly writing down their answers and comparing them.

When the bell rang, I packed slowly, dreading, yet, excited about going to art. I shouldn't be, but my emotions were all over the place, normal for teenagers. Part of me wanted to be near Rosalie all the time, part of me wanted to run away.

I walked up to Bella's table, where Edward was sitting before he ran away. Not literally but he walked so fast that he might as well have ran.

"that was awful" Mike groaned "They all looked exactly the same. You're lucky you had Cullen for a partner"

"I didn't have any trouble with it," Bella said sounding slightly offended, before she recounted "I've done the lab before, though,"

"Metaphase and Prophase can sometimes be confused for each other" I added turning towards Bella. "good job though. I'm sure it'll be on the test, so the easier it is now the better. I'll see you guys later" I waved at the two before leaving. I focused on my project, that's all I needed to do when I entered the room. I did anything to pretend that last week didn't happen.

As I entered the art room, I was pleased to see it practically empty. With a sigh I walked to my table, the less interaction the better. Of course, that only helps at school, at home I would have a harder time not focusing on her, but at least now I had a distraction.

My projects kept getting more and more complex and I'm hoping this one will be the same. I already had a decent design it just needed a little bit of tweaking.

I was so busy focusing on my project, successfully might I add, that I didn't acknowledge the room fill up or the scraping of a chair across from me. I didn't even register anything out of the ordinary until I heard the melodic voice across from me.

"it looks great!"

I jumped slightly, looking up to see Alice in front of me. I glanced behind her to see her sisters; Lucia had a look of confusion slash amusement while Rosalie's was more piercing. I couldn't decipher what it meant, nor could I tell who it was for. I hoped she was staring at Alice.

"Um, thanks. I hope it turns out right this time" I admitted. I didn't have an issue with Alice, and she was being nice so I couldn't ignore her.

"so, you like wolves?" Alice asked as she began her project.

I debated on how to respond, yeah, they were a staple in the tribe, but do I tell a Cullen that? Billy and Harry were clear on their feelings about the Cullen's. And that was to have no contact... Period.

I obviously couldn't do that. But even outside the tribe I liked wolves, there was something about them that just draws me in.

"Yeah, I mean they are family orientated and mate for life... I figure if an animal can find the one person to spend their life with so could we"

"that is interesting" Alice piped up "so you're from Alaska too?"

I smiled a little "yeah... well kinda, I was actually born her or La Push, but my mom and dad were young, still in school, so when my mom got accepted to the Med School she took it. Can't say I miss the snow." I chuckled.

"And then nearly 10 long years, my mom and I moved back"

"and your father?" I looked at Alice, she seemed genuinely interested. I never talked about him, or rather I rarely told anyone what happened. All they knew was he wasn't around; I think most think he ran off with another woman. But that was far from the truth.

"he passed."

Alice froze for a moment before looking at me with genuine sympathy "I'm sorry"

I smiled slightly "it's okay. I accepted that he's gone, I mean I don't talk about it much, but I was pretty young. So I don't really remember much. I still have family though. My mom and aunt and quite a few cousins." I chuckled, I was related to many families on the reservation – the Uley's and the Blacks are the most recent generational ties. I share a great-grandfather with both Jacob and Sam; and I think Leah and Seth and I share a grandparent somewhere along the line.

"Family is important"

I looked into Alice's eyes, she seemed so genuine, like she believed every word. I glanced down at the wolf beginning to form. "Yeah, it is. But you can find family anywhere, not just DNA."

Alice smiled at me as she continued her work. I felt eyes on me, so I looked up and caught Rosalie's eye. She didn't look as severe as she had previously. I couldn't explain what she was feeling but it looked almost calm. So, I took that as a win, but didn't wait for her to turn an angry gaze on me.

The rain was just a mist as I walked to the parking lot, but it was soon taken away as I stepped into my car. On the way home I thought about the interaction with Alice. It was different, weird but not in a bad way almost like I could sense we would be friends. That we would be friends.