Pinned but Fluttering

Chapter 12

Hey, I made it!!! I managed to complete NaNoWriMo last night with fourteen minutes to spare!!! My total page count was 113 pages, including 35,000+ edited pages out of the 51,034 word total.

The good news? I have rough drafts completed for Chapters 12-16, and the beginning of Chapter 17. So I'll be definitely uploading twice a week...until I run out of chapters, LOL! No, I'm hoping to stay a chapter or two ahead so that if I have a bad week, you won't have to wait around for me to get my act together. So my posting days for now will be Wednesdays and Saturdays, probably really late on both days...late as in, check your e-mail boxes Thursday and Sunday mornings kind of late. Yep. Whoooo, whooooo. I'm a night owl. ;)

 

Here's my longest chapter yet!!! Enjoy!!!! We get to see a couple more Cullens in this chapter which is always a good thing, I think. ;) 

Chapter 12

Somehow I muddled through chemistry with a sulking Mike beside me and the cold (but somehow hot) stare of Edward Cullen drilling into my back.

Never had an hour seemed to last so long before. My eyes twitched to the large clock at the front of the room above the whiteboard very often, but each time only a minute or two had passed.

My headache, which had dulled after the lunchtime panic attack was over, was now making itself felt again, pounded into my forehead and along the base of my neck. Ugh.

Finally the bell rang. As I turned to gather my things, I saw Edward's bronze hair disappear out the door while the other students were still gathering their belongings and chatting.

Gosh, these Cullens are strange...always disappearing immediately before the bell rings....

After getting everything stuffed into my backpack which was bulging with all my textbooks given to me over the course of the school day, I prepared to go to my last class. As I looked up, blowing a strand of hair out of my perspiry face, I was surprised to see Mike Newton watching me.

He seemed a little embarrassed, flushing slightly when I noticed him. He sighed dramatically, then, looking down at his own backpack, he began to talk.

“Um, I'm sorry for blowing you off here,” he mumbled. “That whole handshake thing was kind of embarrassing. Jessica and Lauren teased me about it all during lunch. So, um, I'm sorry for getting pissed at you, and I hope we're cool.” He looked down at his shoes, scuffing his feet against the base of our lab table.

I smiled slightly, a little amused by his bumbling apology.

“That's okay,” I smiled shyly. “I probably would have been pissed at me, too, if I had to endure all that ribbing.”

A huge smile spread across his face, and his tone expressed sheer disbelief. “Really? We're cool?”

I nodded. “Yeah, we're cool.” I paused, then continued, “I'm sorry about the handshake thing too. It's hard to explain, but just know it's me, not you, okay?” I smiled a little weakly.

He nodded back, still grinning. “Okay.”

I pulled out my schedule to see which class I had for last period. “Ugh, P.E.,” I groaned.

“Hey, I have P.E. too,” crowed Mike. “I'll walk you to the gym, okay?”

I shrugged. “Sure.” I wasn't going to ruin our tenuous truce; after all, we were lab partners for the semester, and I was going to be worse than useless in chem. I was definitely going to need his help. Frequently.