Dawn - Twilight Rewrite

Chapter 7

Edward was back at school on Monday. There'd been some drama in the car park when he'd been spotted and it was all anyone could talk about the whole morning. The day was cold and wet, but the rain had abated for the moment. We had a surprise quiz in English which was about boring enough to make me fall asleep on my desk (not that I was far away or did until I had finished it) and I was generally feeling cold and grumpy. Today wasn't going to be a good day, so may as well keep trooping through. We'd run out of coffee and I'd finished the last of the toilet paper this morning so I'd have to stop for groceries on my way out to Jacob's. The truck was now down to a healthy, dull roar and chugged along like a champ. The only thing I was worried about was it standing up to the cold and getting the radio working so I could listen to the news on the way to school.

The cold and wind hit me like a slap in the face when I walked out of the classroom, little flurries of snow swirling around and clumping on the path. I mumbled a complaint and rambled with Mike about never having seen it before. I was remarking on how fluffy it looked when Mike got hit in the back of the head with a ball of snow and mud. He then got into a sludge- ball fight while I hightailed it to History. I spent the break warming my freezing hands under the hand drier, Trig being stared at by Edwards male, not huge sibling and Spanish being pestered by Jessica about the mysterious reappearance of Edward. 

I was forced to weather lunch it inside the cafeteria due to the general damp and flying balls of sludge, with Jessica and Mike's conglomerate as they refused to leave me alone. They'd get over my newness in a couple of weeks and I could eat in blessed silence in stink free air. Edward was back with his siblings, who had another chair at their table now, and was conferring quietly with the Trig sibling. Wonder if they're debating ways to be creepy. 

I ate my rice and broccoli and sat quietly discussing the English quiz with Angela, feeling the remnants of my grumpiness dissolve in favour of an upset stomach. I just breathed it out, drank some water and used the bathroom. Must be the smells in here. The BO and various scented sprays were combining into an overwhelming stink that was focused around the group. And people wonder why I don't eat with them. At least the classrooms have proper ventilation, even if its colder than the arctic, and don't stink us out. 

Walking back from the bathroom I saw the male half of the Cullen's coming back inside, play fighting and covered in muck. The small, shorthaired one waved at me, I waved back while the long haired glamazon just stared icily. Barrel of laughs, that one. Edward glanced at me while I was still waving and I arched an eyebrow at him, daring him to say something. He didn't, just looked at me curiously. Must have been happy today, cause he wasn't looking as tired today either. Jessica made some remarks as I sat down and I just shrugged. Wasn't my business what they did. 

The bell went off and we all scurried to classes, me heading to Biology with Mike tagging along and rambling. the rain was once again watering the forest, so we all huddled under our hoods and stayed to the middle of the walkways, trying not to get wet. 

We were doing a prac with microscopes, identifying the mitosis stages of onion cells. It honestly sounded as riveting as when I did it a month ago but that meant I could make a shopping list when I finished with the work sheet. I was wondering if Edward was going to show up and make that harder when he pulled out the chair next to me. "Hello." I finished putting our names and the date on the worksheet and slit it to the middle of the desk before looking at him. 

"Hi."

"I'm Edward Cullen. We met at the hospital."

"We did. you got some coffee into you and are ready to talk?"

He looked sheepish. "I hope you'll forgive me. I had a bad morning, bad week really."

Mr Brunner then explained the prac and we all set about setting up microscopes and looking at slides. We had to order the slides based on their mitosis stage, write it down and put them in the box in the correct order. Simple enough. I set up and looked at the first slide. 

"Do you prefer Bella, or Isabella?" I looked up at him with a raised brow.

"Got all the gossip have you?" I looked back down at the microscope and adjusted the magnification. "I go by Bella but Charlie must have introduced me round as Isabella when I was younger cause that seems to be the default. This ones Prophase, you want to check it?" I pushed the eye piece so it was facing him. He had a look and agreed, writing it in neat, loopy cursive on the sheet. I passed him the next slide, briefly feeling the cold of his hands. 

"Anaphase" he announced and slide the microscope over to me having barely looking at it. 

"Got mutant eyes have you? They're even right. They have hand driers in the bathroom you know. Doesn't take long to warm up your hands. Chuck the next slide." he slid the slide into my open hand, taking the one from the table and writing down Anaphase in his loopy cursive. 

I adjusted the microscope and announced "interphase" before pushing it at him. I scrawled it in my squat, scratchy script as he checked and replaced it with the next slide. "Are you smart enough to get the rest?" I asked when he announced the next one and he merely raised a brow and asked "what do you think?"

I then turned into a scribe as I recorded his announcements, only having a look when he was unsure on the last slide. He didn't radiate heat and only smell faintly of honey and flowers. Nice.

We agreed and packed it up, displaying out worksheet to Dr Banner when he came around. He was doubtful of my contribution until I told him about the advanced science course I'd been taking. We chatted about how we'd done it with fish cells, then he moved onto Mike and his partner, who had been hotly debating two slides for at least five minutes. They even had a book open under the desk for reference, sneaking peaks when Mr Bummer was occupied. 

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There is more conversation next chapter. Night.