Dusk

#16

Bella

"You know something," Rosalie started when we sat down at the table, "I think I finally have to agree with Jessica on something."

"And what would that be?" I asked.

"You thinking I don't like you as much. You're wrong," she whispered. "I like you a lot more than you can imagine. You have nothing to worry about."

I blushed softly, playing with the lemonade bottle in with my hands. I looked up at her, only to see her already looking at me.

"Do you really need to go to Seattle this Saturday? Or was that just an excuse to let Jessica down easily?" She asked.

"Well, I would like to go there, but I'm open to other plans," I told her.

"Good," she smiled. "I would like to take you somewhere, if that's fine."

I nodded at her, taking a small bite of the pizza. "Where are we going anyways?"

"The weather will be nice, so I have to stay out the public eye," she explained.

"So, you'll show me what you meant, about the sun?" I asked, excited about the idea of unraveling another of the unknown.

Rosalie chuckled softly at my excitement, but nodded. "Yeah, I will."

I cast my eyes around the room, catching the eyes of her sister, Alice, staring at me. The others were looking at Rosalie. I looked away swiftly, back to her, and asked the first thing that came to mind.

"Did you go to Goat Rocks to hunt? Charlie said it wasn't a good place because of the bears."

She stared at me blankly, only lifting an eyebrow at me.

"Right, bears," I whispered while she smirked. "But they're not in season."

Rosalie shrugged. "The laws only cover hunting with weapons. And Alice loves to go up against grizzlies."

I hummed, taking another bite of the pizza. "I'm trying to picture it. How do you hunt without weapons?"

She tore her eyes away from me to look around us for a second. When Rosalie looked back at me, she lifted the corned of her lip to reveal a long, sharp tooth. I inhaled sharply when I saw it.

"How come I never saw them?" I asked when I got my breath back.

"We're able to retract them," she answered. The bell rang shortly after our conversation. I grabbed my things, watching Rosalie stand with me.

"Are you going to class, today?"

She smiled, taking my hand and walking us to class.

Everyone watched us as we walked together to our lab table. I noticed that she no longer angled the chair to sit as far from me as the desk would allow. Instead, she sat quite close to me, our arms brushing against each other.

Mr. Banner backed into the room then-- what superb timing the man had-- pulling on a tall metal frame on wheels that held a heavy-looking, outdated TV and VCR. A movie day-- the lift in the class atmosphere was almost tangible.

Mr. Banner shoved the tape into the reluctant VCR and walked to the wall to turn off the lights.

And then, as the room went black, I was suddenly hyperaware that Rosalie was sitting less than a inch from me. I saw her hand laying limply on the table, so I reached carefully across the table to intertwine our fingers together. She gripped my hand tightly and sighed softly at our contact.

The hour seemed very long. I didn't pay attention to it much, only to Rosalie's cold hand in mine. Her thumb was brushing against my knuckles, drawing random patterns on my hand. Occasionally, I would permit myself a glance in her direction, only to see her relaxed, looking blankly at the TV.

I sighed softly when Mr. Banner flicked the lights back on at the end of class, letting go of Rosalie's hand to stretch out my arms.

"Shall we?" Rosalie asked, rising fluidly.

I glared at the table. Time for gym.

She walked me to my next class, hand now in mine. When I turned to say goodbye, I felt her lips on mine. The kiss was quick, brief almost. As she pulled away, Rosalie pressed another on my forehead, turned without a word and walked away.

I walked into the gym, my face flushed. I drifted to the locker room, quickly changing and not paying attention to the people around me. A racket was placed in my hand, making people eye at me furtively. Coach ordered us to pair up into teams.

"Wanna be a team?" Mike asked when the order was given.

"Are you sure?"

Mike clapped me on my shoulder. "Of course. I got you."

It didn't go smoothly. I somehow managed to hit myself in the head with my racket and clip Mike's shoulder on the same swing. I spent the rest of the hour in the back of the court, the racket held safely behind my back. Despite being injured by me, Mike was pretty good; he won three games out of four singlehandedly. He gave me an unearned high five when the coach finally blew the whistle ending class.

"So," he started as we walked off the court, "you and blondie, huh?"

"Yeah. We...yeah."

"Well, you look cute together," he commented.

I smiled at the compliment. "Thanks Mike."

____________________

Somebody give me some motivation to finally finish this chapter for my other account.

And to start writing for my other stories on THIS account.

Bye!