Tick Tock ➙ Edward Cullen

Chapter Seven

Melinda thanked Edward as he held the door for her before the pair walked into the busy cafeteria together. Every student at Forks High School had lunch at the same time, so the room was filled with chatter and laughter.

"Do you have a lunch?" Edward asked as he glanced at the redheaded girl who stood a few inches shorter than him. She was looking around the room, trying to spot Bella or any of their mutual friends. 

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. It's in my bag." It took Melinda a second to process that Edward was talking to her before looking up at his pale face, meeting his golden eyes with her green ones. Melinda gestured to the backpack that hung on her shoulders as she spoke as Edward nodded in response.

"Okay. I'm going to go buy lunch. Do you, uh, wanna come?" Edward asked as he shifted his gaze to look around the cafeteria. Melinda noticed his siblings sitting at their usual table close to the windows and all of her friends except Bella at a table nearby.

"Sure, yeah. I'll come." The girl replied before Edward started leading the way to the lunch stations set up in the cafeteria. Edward didn't pick out much to eat, just a slice of pizza and a chocolate chip cookie. The pair went their separate ways as Edward went to sit with his siblings and Melinda joined her friends.

"Looks like Mel here has made some friends." Mike teased as Melinda sat down in an empty chair. Mike and Tyler were both sitting on a table with their feet resting on chairs, while Jessica, Eric, and Angela sat down on chairs with their lunches in front of them.

"What are you talking about?" Melinda asked, partially ignoring the boy as she pulled her backpack off and set it down on the floor before taking her lunch bag out.

"Cullen. We saw you in line with him." Tyler added on with the same amused tone as his friend.

Melinda shrugged as she focused more on her lunch than the boys. "We have a class together. He's nice." The girl replied.

"You hear that? Cullen is nice." Mike nudged Tyler in the ribs as he turned to face the boy, both of them snickering.

"What do you say to La Push today, Mel? And Bella! La Push, baby. You in?" Eric was full of excitement as he spoke, greeting the brunette girl as she walked over to the table.

"Should I know what that means?" Bella asked with a confused expression. She glanced at Melinda for any sort of clarification but the redhead just shrugged.

"I think I've heard of it, but what is it?" Melinda and Bella were both at a loss as they waited for someone to speak.

"La Push beach down on the Quileute res. We're all going after school." Mike informed and Jessica added that there was a big swell coming in.

"And I don't just surf the internet." Eric said as he jumped up from his seat to defend himself. Melinda smirked at Mike as he stood up on his chair, pretending to surf and mocking Eric.

"Eric, you stood up once and it was a foam board." Jessica argued with the boy as Tyler dragged Mike down while the two boys laughed.

"And there's whale watching too. Come with us." Angela ignored her friends as she turned to Bella and Melinda who casted hesistant glances at each other.

"It sounds like fun." Melinda suggested with another shrug. The only places she went were school and home so it'd be worthwhile to explore Forks with her new friends.

"La Push, baby. It's...La Push." Eric repeated himself as Bella grabbed one of Melinda's cucumbers from her lunch.

"Okay, I'll come if you stop saying that." Bella agreed before walking off with Melinda's food. The redhead stopped herself from calling after her as she noticed Bella was headed towards the salad bar, where Edward was already standing. Melinda nervously tucked a strand of fire coloured hair behind her ear as she watched the pair speak with each other. Based on the expressions on both of their pale faces she knew they were talking about a lot more than just school work.