Preface.
I needed to stop with the penance trips.
He was sitting there in his chair next to me at the lab table, his face blank but his body stiff. It was the same as usual. He would never relax. His hands remained clenched into hard fists, his jaw would be tight in a death grip, and he wouldn't move a muscle the entire lesson. It was the same, every day.
I was determined to wipe the blank expression on his face.
He treated me like I was a new girl: Didn't talk to me, ignored me, treated me like a stranger. I technically was a new girl, though I'd been here before. He didn't even look at me. And if he did, he would shoot daggers at me. It would leave me breathless and livid. It almost felt like I was thin-skinned; he crawled underneath my skin, eating at me and making me insane. I wanted this ignorance to end.
We had time at the end of the class period that day to talk quietly. It was my chance. My opportunity to know what the hell his problem was. Was I going to take it? Would he actually respond this time? The seconds slipped by as I tried to hurry and make my decision.
"You all right there, Bella?"
I recognized the voice, but it wasn't the voice I wanted to hear.
"I'm fine, Mike," I replied bluntly, only glancing at him once.
"You sure?" He continued, leaning toward me. "Seems like you pissed off poor Cullen there."
"Eh," I said, shrugging. I didn't feel like talking, especially to Mike.
"What?" He said, smiling and laughing once. "Did you promise an eternity of misery or something?"
I heard a small snort. "She isn't really good at keeping those," a voice next to me suddenly said. I spun my head around to face him. His deep emerald eyes looked at me like they were about to shoot lasers, like he was willing them to do something to me so he wouldn't have to look at me anymore. His face was hard, chiseled and angular, his jaw still stiff. Though it was overcast outside, what little light it provided came through the windows and shone on his bronze hair, the golden highlights standing out. His voice was like velvet.
Velvet, but like an icy knife.
The bell rang, and before it even finished ringing, he was out the door, leaving me in the dust. I saw a flash of red in my vision, and I felt myself stand up, my chair falling behind me.
Mike had to hold me back from stalking after him.