𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗒𝗈𝗇 𝗆𝗈𝗈𝗇 𝖾𝖽𝗐𝖺𝗋𝖽 𝖼𝗎𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗇

five.

    The rest of the week went by uneventfully, the days seemed to drag along, the paranoid feeling of being watched has decreased now the Edward didn't seem to be around, Nic watched as the Cullen siblings entered the cafeteria without him, and Nic was able to relax and enjoy the debate Lydia and Veronica were having,

The conversation switched over to the La Push Ocean Park in two weeks that Mike was putting together. The twins,Veronica, and Bella were invited, and Nic had agreed to go, more out of politeness than desire and he had a feeling Bella did the same.

By Friday, Nic didn't even glance at Edwards empty seat, he and Bella simply sat down and began their lab, Nic had began wondering if Edward had dropped out or randomly decided to stop showing up to classes, but Nic didn't mind, he liked having Bella as his lab partner.

After school, Nic went off to Bella's for the night, he was laying on his stomach and picking at her purple comforter as Bella was laying upside down, her legs resting on Nic's  back as she scrolled through her laptop trying to find a movie, the rain pattered down on the roof leaving both teens feeling at ease

Bella sat back up with her cheeks flushed and shakes her head at her laptop screen, seemingly frustrated

"What about Heather?" Nic suggest, he's seen it a few times with Lydia and he enjoyed it, the cast was hot.

Bella agreed and propped the laptop up against her headboard, the two teens were clutching pillows and making small comments throughout the movie and all of Nic's previous worries had vanished.

When Nic looked over at Bella, she was sound asleep, her head resting on his shoulder. Nic chuckled and closed the laptop quietly, he pulled the blanket around the two of them and fell asleep peacefully.

The rain continued over the weekend, Bella and Nic found a cute coffee shop and sipped lattes, The barista there was pretty cute, her name was Madeleine, Nic thought she seemed like Lydias type.

A few minutes later, a soaked Lydia sat down at their table with Veronica, perfectly dry and smirking at Lydia smugly

"Lydia decided she wanted to be dramatic and ran 6 blocks in the pouring rain." Veronica said

Lydia was staring at the barista, her pale face was flushed, either from running or maybe she was blushing over to the hot barista, the three teens watched Lydia gawk over her for a few more minutes,

The four of them got more coffee and pastries, and then walked through a door that led them to a cozy small bookstore, it smelled like old books and candle wax, Nic and Lydia grinned at each other and they wandered around the isles together while Bella and Veronica wondered off.

Nic ended up purchasing an old book of poetry and an art book, Lydia bought a candle and some vintage secret garden book, Veronica and Bella had purchased a few journals and lavender.

Nic smiled, it was a pretty good day, the teens wandered around downtown, stopping in clothing shops and bakeries, it was nice, until Nic bumped into a figure dressed in black,

"I'm sorry." Nic apologizes quickly, but the guy was already walking off, Nic wouldn't brushed it off but then on his second glance he saw the bronze hair.

What the-

"Guys, look at this!" Veronica's voice seemed so far away but it managed to snap him out his his trance, Lydia wrapped her arm around his shoulders and led him to where Veronica was

Is he following me?

nah, it's probably just a coincidence.
...

The next week, the twins gave Bella a ride to school on Monday, it was colder than they expected so they clutched their warm coffees close to their chests, Class mates greeted the trio in the parking lot, the three of them smiled and waved back, not quite remembering names yet.

Bella and Nic felt more comfortable All in all, I was feeling a lot more comfortable than they had thought they would feel by this point. More
comfortable than they both had ever expected to feel here.

When they walked out of class, the air was full of swirling bits of white. Nic could hear people shouting excitedly to each other. The wind bit at Nic's cheeks, his nose. the chilling wind against his ears and through his hair.

"Wow," Mike said. "It's snowing."

The three of them looked at the little cotton fluffs that were building up along the sidewalk and swirling erratically past their faces.

"Ew.Snow." Lydia and Nic say in Unison, the twins crinkled their noses in disgust, Nic glared at the sky, looking betrayed.

Bella nods in agreement "It's the absolute worst." Bella says and grimaces as some snow flakes went down her shoes

Mike looked surprised. "Don't you like snow?"

"No. That means it's too cold for rain." Nic states .Obviously. "

"Besides, I thought it was supposed to come down in flakes — you know, each one unique and all that. These just look like the ends of Q-tips." Bella adds

"Haven't you ever seen snow fall before?" Mike asked incredulously, giving Bella a strange look.

"Sure I have, On TV." Bella says defensively

Mike laughed. And then a big, squishy ball of dripping snow smacked into the back of his head. They all turned to see where it came from. Nic and Bella had their suspicions about Eric, who was walking away, his back towards them— in the wrong direction for his next class. Mike appatently had the same notion. He bent over and began scraping together a pile of the white mush.

"I'll see you at lunch, okay?" Bella kept walking as She spoke. "Once people start throwing wet stuff, I go inside."

Lydia and Nic agreed, linking arms and headed inside

He just nodded, his eyes on Eric's retreating figure.

Throughout the morning, everyone chattered excitedly about the snow; apparently it was the first snowfall of the new year. Nic kept his mouth shut. Sure, it was drier than rain — until it melted in your socks.

Nic walked alertly to the cafeteria with Veronica after Spanish. Mush balls were flying everywhere. Nic kept a binder in my hands, ready to use it as a shield if necessary.

Lydia caught up to them as they walked in the doors, laughing, with ice melting in her hair. Lydia and Veronica were talking animatedly about the snow fight as they all got in line to buy food. Nic glanced toward that table in the corner out of habit. And then Nic froze where he stood. There were five people at the Cullen table. Fuck.

"Nic? Nicolas? vous allez bien ? tu as l'air un frère assez pâle" Lydia asked, as she watched as Nic paled drastically

"Nico, it's your turn, what do you want for lunch?" Veronica asked as she furrowed her eyebrows in concern, Nic wasn't even blinking.

"Nic, you're freaking us out." Veronica says and shoved a soda and pizza into Nic's hands, and the girls pushed him out of the lunch line.

"What's wrong? qu'est-ce qui ne va pas" Lydia asked, repeating the question in French

"il est de retour." He's back.