Haven't been able to get to my stories lately, too much has been going on. I've tried to study (emphasis on tried), I've had writer's block and now my cousins are over and we spent the last three days going for walks. And to top it all off I've got to start school tomorrow and when I get back I'll be babysitting my neighbour's four kids. It will not be a good week...

--

I arrived at school the next day in a seething, dangerous mood, looking forward to my Biology lesson and the conversation I was planning to have with my lab partner. You see, I had spent the previous evening thinking over what the way he'd acted and how I'd heard other people talk about him and I'd come to the conclusion that his behaviour was out of the ordinary. I didn't know if it was my problem or his, but either way I had a few choice words for him. I'd even spent a few minutes that morning glaring at my reflection in the mirror to get my expression just perfect.

There was just one small problem. He wasn't there.

Yup, I'd gone through all my mental preparation only to find that my target was absent. The rest of his family were at school, but not him. I was incredibly annoyed at this hiccup, but used the opportunity to examine Rosalie without his big head getting in the way. Besides, I told myself, he'd be there the next day. Only, he wasn't. And he wasn't there on the day after that either. For the rest of the week, Edward Cullen was off school. How annoying.

I had to wait for Monday.

My English lesson passed quickly as I was talking to Mike about something (I can't remember what it was, just that it wasn't English related). Then when we came out of the classroom I found that there was a whole heap of white stuff falling from the sky. I looked up at it curiously, letting some of it fall on my face.

"Cool, it's snowing,"Mike said, making me blink in surprise. This stuff was snow? Wow. I'd never seen snow before. Hey, I'm from Arizona.

"Snow? Really?" I looked round at the white stuff covering the ground and scooped up a handful. "Cool."

I'm sure my blonde companion would have replied, but he was prevented from doing so by a snowball hitting him in the back of the head. I burst out laughing at the expression on his face, then threw the snow I was holding at the culprit. Before I knew it, everyone was hurling the wet stuff at each other, class completely forgotten, and I was right in the thick of it. It was my first snowball fight. It was the greatest thing I'd ever experienced. All right, it was a bit gross when we were pushed into class again and the snow started melting and sliding down your neck, but still. Awesome.

And so, that lunchtime I was to be found running into the canteen a few minutes later than normal with snow covering my hair and sticking to my face. My absolutely ecstatic face. Mike tumbled in after me, snow covering his whole body and the two of us stood laughing for a few moments before heading off to get food. I tell you, snowball fights made me hungry. So, after piling my plate high I sat down at my normal table, water droplets rolling off me onto the floor. It was when I took a bite out of my pizza that I saw him.

On the other side of the canteen, laughing at his adopted brother shaking water droplets off his hair onto his adopted sisters, Edward Cullen was sitting. He wasn't looking round at me and he wasn't eating anything, and as soon as I saw him my blood began to boil. If he was back at school then he'd be in Biology. And if he was in Biology then I would be able to talk to him. This was going to be sweet.

With an evil grin I kept eating, taking my time and every so often glancing up at the Cullens. Mike was talking about organising I massive snowball fight after school, something I was determined to be part of. It would be the perfect accompaniment to my slaughtering of the Cullen boy.

I left the canteen a few minutes early, eager to get to Biology and prepare for Edward's arrival, but was met with a disappointing sight outside. The snow had been replaced with rain that was turning the pristine white to horrible slush and washing it away. Pouting at the knowledge that the snowball fight would have to be cancelled I hurried to class. Then perched in my seat facing the door.

I knew what was going to happen. He would slouch in, hunch over in his chair, act like I don't exist. I'd ask him something to which he wouldn't respond and that's when I'd start. It would be slow at first. A short, quiet question about why he wasn't talking. Then it would escalate. Before he knew what was happening, I would be glaring at him and talking in a raised voice. I'd slam a fist down on the desk, making it shudder. I'd be terrifying!

"Hello,"a voice said, interrupting my thought. I turned round to see who greeted me and was very surprised to find myself face-to-face with Edward. It seemed he had decided not to do what I had expected and instead was acting like a normal human being. Damn. I couldn't perform my piece if he was acting normally.

"Uh... Hey."

"You're Izzy Swan, aren't you?"he smiled, getting his books out and putting them on the desk.

"Yeah." Okay, I sounded like an idiot, but I was really confused. One day he was sulking like it was an Olympic sport, now he was all smiles and greetings? What was this guy on? He kept smiling and nodding, saying a few things I didn't quite catch.

"Are you high?"I asked, displaying my occasional and annoying habit of speaking without thinking. He was quite surprised at this, his eyes widening and his mouth opening and closing without saying anything.

After a few moments he choked out,"What? N- no, of course not." He looked at me like I was crazy for a few more minutes before asking,"Why?"

I shrugged. "Well it's just that you're fairly upbeat today and last week you... weren't." My attitude had disappeared completely during that short conversation (something that doesn't normally happen) and had been replaced with confusion. If he was on something then I would be able to forgive him for his behaviour. He had probably just been in need of a hit. I myself am not so pleasant when I'm not smoking. Or drinking. Which is very rare.

"Oh, well it's just that last week I was in a bad mood." He was smiling again, but it seemed forced this time and I had a sneaking suspicion that he was lying. Still, didn't really want to push it so I shut up.

Anyway, I couldn't talk much because class had started and the teacher was handing out microscopes and slides. I recognised the sheet that came along with it, having done the same exercise back in Phoenix. With a sigh and without waiting for the teacher's instructions I glanced down at all the slides in quick succession, scribbling out what they were on the sheet of paper. Then I shoved them all back in the box and sat back in my stool. Edward looked at me with a small smile.

"Um, may I see?"he asked tentatively, reaching for the slides.

"Don't you trust me?" I blinked at him with wide, innocent eyes, making him retract his hand slightly. Then I shoved the box into his hand with a grin. He had really cold hands actually. Anyway, he glanced through the microscope at the slides and nodded, saying I was correct. I knew I was. Then I noticed something odd about him.

I remembered that last week he had had really dark eyes, almost black. Well, that day his eyes were quite a light gold colour. I blinked at these for a few moments.

"Do you have coloured contacts?"I asked him.

"What? No."

"Oh." I shrugged and looked away. "It's just that last week your eyes were black so I thought maybe they were contacts. I have contacts. And a couple of my friends do. One guy has the kind that cover your whole eye." These friends were Amy and Lewis, Lewis being the one with the sclera lenses.

"Well... I don't have contacts." He seemed quite wary of me at this point, probably wondering why he'd started talking to me. I grinned at him to let him know that I was (generally speaking) harmless.

"Finished already?"the teacher asked, coming up to stand in front of our desk. He looked down at our sheet, searching for any mistake, then frowned when he found nothing. "Well . Perhaps next time you can let Miss Swan identify a few of them and not just have her write it down."

"Actually sir,"I said pointedly, narrowing my eyes at him. "I identified all five of them before Edward even got a chance."

He was taken aback at that, looking down at me in surprise. He probably thought that: girl + black and purple hair + very bored expression = bad student. There's his whole belief system thrown out the window.

He struggled for a few seconds, looking down at the two of us in confusion. Finally, he said,"Well it's a good job you two are partners." Then he turned and marched down the classroom.

I sniggered. I may have been unable to give him a mental disembowelling, but at least I'd managed to get one up on the teacher and that was just as good. Sort of.