Senses

Ch. 3

My weekend was uneventful. I did a little tweaking to my truck, but mostly stayed inside. To be honest, I felt disappointed when I didn't see Edward on Monday morning. I wanted so badly to believe I was not the issue; he didn't even know me! He had no reason to have quarrel with me. I wanted to curl in a ball and not come out. Nevertheless, I forced my way through the unwanted attention. I walked into the lunch room and into biology, hoping to see him and know that I had not been the cause of his strange behavior. However, he did not appear, nor was he there the next day. He was out the entire week. Mike pestered our group of acquaintances constantly about planning a trip to the beach. I still did not consider them close enough to be called friends. A trip to the beach, in this weather? I mentally scoffed. I ignored them and did what I did best at lunch time: people watched. I saw the rest of the Cullens at lunch, all conversing with one another while being eerily still. I admired them from afar, but still couldn't grasp why they sat with only each other. People did not shy away from that kind of beauty and grace, they flocked to it. Maybe they preferred to be alone, I don't know. Whatever their issue was, people made it obvious to avoid them.

The days passed slowly. Between school and sitting at home while it was raining or cold everyday, I found myself at a loss for what to do with my free time. Forks didn't have a dance studio. Hell, there wasn't even a rec center. I mostly stayed at home and practiced in my room; however, on the few sunny days so far, I would go for a run through the woods. It was nice here, but there were times when the greenery felt suffocating. It was raining-- surprise!-- when I went to school the next day. Nearly two weeks and I still hadn't gotten used to this place. I eagerly made my way through the morning until lunch. Deflated, I sulked to Jessica's lunch table for once. Edward Cullen was nowhere in sight. Neither were his siblings. Mike was excited about something, I couldn't recall what it was. Then, I actually caught a snippet of the conversation. It had started to snow, and he was planning a big snowball fight after school. Oh God no. Please don't ask me to join. Please don't ask me to--

Mike interrupted my thoughts and leaned in close to me. "You in, Tammy?" he asked. I caught sight of Jessica's annoyed glance and leaned away from him. "No thank you. I'd much rather watch than participate," I responded. I left lunch early with most of my new friends, watching them throw snowballs at one another. Edward was there, laughing and playing with his brothers and sisters. They were weaving through cars in the parking lot, pegging one another with snowballs. I stared in awe at the snow. It was something I had seen only once in my life living in Florida. After a short amount of time, I made my way to class.

I sat in my assigned seat and watched as students poured in one by one. Edward was among the last students to come in, hair dripping with melting snow as the rest of him appeared dry, and he smiled at me as he took his seat. "Hello, I didn't get a chance before, but I am Edward. Edward Cullen. You are Tamara, I'm guessing?" I shook my head yes and blew a rush of air out of my nose. After all that hatefulness, and then a week of absence, now he wanted to be nice to me? I mumbled, "Nice to meet you." I wanted to give him the same treatment I had received, but it was so hard to resist the allure of those golden eyes. They were gold now, but I was positive that the last time I saw him, his eyes were black. He flashed me a lopsided grin and whispered, "How are you liking the weather?" Of all the things he could ask me, he asked my opinion on the weather. Unbelievable! I shrugged and replied, "I'm used to rain. I've survived through many hurricanes. Never seen snow, and I'm fascinated by that. I'm not used to it being so dark all the time, though." I made a slight grimace and he coughed to hide his laugh. The teacher handed each pair of students a sheet of paper. It was a dichotomous key. "Get out your notebooks. On the left there are pictures of different types of fish and on the right is the dichotomous key you will use to determine the name of the specimen," he said. Edward went to grab the paper first, but I placed my hand on it and pulled it toward me. I skimmed over the key for only a moment before jotting answers down. "Atlantic salmon, small-mouth bass, carp," I murmured to myself. "Are you sure about that?" he asked. I passed it to him, and soon he repeated my answer. "Told you so," I huffed as he looked at me in surprise. The way his eyebrows quirked and his mouth formed a small 'O' was pretty hilarious. "Large-mouth bass, bluegill, northern pike," he listed the next three answers. "Are you sure about that?" I echoed his question with a smirk. I couldn't resist the playful smile plastered on his face, and my cold demeanor soon disappeared. He handed the paper to me and silently watched. I nodded and whispered in defeat, "Yupp." He chuckled softly and let me do the rest quietly on my own. "So why move to Forks?" he asked suddenly. "This assignment is too easy. And why? Well, the StepMonster and Daddy recently got married." I wanted to hit myself in the face. Why did I just tell him that?! I didn't even know this guy. He smirked and held out his hand for the paper. I gave it to him and began to doodle in my notebook "...evil stepmother?" he whispered. I shrugged nonchalantly and continued to draw vines and spirals in the margin of my page, leaving the dichotomous key in the middle of the table.

"Dad loves her, and she loves him, too. She's really good to him...it's just me she's not too fond of," I mumbled. "And why would that be?" he asked, his breath fanning my cheek. I inhaled sharply, looking away from him and fiddling with my glasses as my heart started to race. "She despises children. Don't ask me why, I have no clue," I laughed lightly, causing the teacher to glare at us. "Finished already?" he asked as he approached us. I nodded, looking down to hide the blush of embarrassment I felt spreading to my cheeks. "You could have at least let her try to do it on her own, Edward," Mr. Banner joked. I could almost see Edward's smirk. "She did," he defended. I looked up sheepishly and chimed in, "This is actually very easy." The teacher grinned proudly and nodded; he loved when students excelled in his class. "Glad to hear it. I suppose the next lesson won't be difficult for you to keep up with," he said before walking off to check on another pair of students. 

"So, she doesn't like children, and she's not very kind to you. Was she ever?" I looked at him, my mouth agape. Who was this stranger to interrogate me about my personal life? "She was...decent. We were always cordial to one another, but never more. She didn't like me, I didn't like her, but we both loved my father, so we got along for his sake. I'd much rather live with my mother that I haven't seen in six years than stay in a home where I'm not wanted. So, that's what I did," I murmured, picking at the scraps of paper still caught in the spiral of my notebook. Who was I to answer this stranger's questions so freely? "I'm sorry, but do you have a reason for bombarding me with all of these questions?" I asked, staring down at my notebook as I absentmindedly doodled on the corner of my page. He chuckled, and in my peripheral I watched him run his hand through his hair. I wondered what it would feel like to run my hands through his hair, if it would be as soft as it looked. I mentally scolded myself as I waited for his response. "It is rather rude of me to be asking such personal questions. I apologize, but usually when a person wants to know someone, they ask questions, am I correct?" he whispered. I rolled my eyes, biting my lip to hold back a giggle. "Yes, but they usually start off with 'What's your name?', 'What's your favorite color?', 'Where are you from?', 'Who's your favorite band?', things like that," I sighed. He grinned at me again, oh how I could get lost in that smile. "Duly noted," he murmured sarcastically. I gave him one of my famous eye rolls.

All too soon the bell rang, and I was out of my seat, gathering all of my things and heading for the door. He followed behind leisurely. "So, you don't mind? If I get to know you, that is," he asked as we made our way out of the building and toward the gym. "Not at all," I answered with a shrug. "It would be nice to have an actual friend here." I watched Mike and the group of kids from lunch hurling snowballs at each other and shrieking like children. "Are those not your friends?" Edward asked, nodding his head in their direction. I gave another shrug. "I barely know them, and we have nothing in common," I replied. He walked beside me, smirking like he had pulled me into some game of his. "You hardly know me, and you have no idea if we have anything in common," he pointed out. "I think we do. Why else would you want to get to know me?" I smiled. He was veering toward the left, and I would soon have to go right as we were nearing my class. "I don't know what contact prescriptions you get, but I like your eyes a whole lot better when they're gold instead of black," I blurted before we parted ways. I could feel his eyes on me the entire way to the door. When I stepped over the threshold, I finally spared him another glance. He was glaring at me from where he stood, rooted to the spot. Oh great. What pissed him off now? I thought as the door slammed heavily, shielding him from my sight. Still perplexed by this boy, I quietly went to the locker room to change.