Chapter 4. The Kiss of Death

My heart skipped about five beats and then finally steadied to a fast hum of beats. Mike shook my arm lightly and tried to break through to me while I stared at the boy in the front seat.

"Bella? Bella! BELLA!?" Mike almost screamed, making everyone in the class, including the beautiful killer before me, stare at us. The mobster's name I didn't even know, looked over at me as if it were a totally dull moment for a second but when our eyes met he seemed almost stunned. I gasped in shock when our eyes met and looked up at Mike speechlessly as my cheeks flamed bright red.

"Uh…sorry. I was kind of shocked to see him here." I whispered so low only Mike could possibly hear. Mike looked over my shoulder to the guy he knew I was talking about and then set a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay Bella. Just try and stay away from him." Mike whispered low, but certainly not low enough so only I heard. Mike led me to the front of the room, where I could feel every set of eyes in the room boring into my back, so I could meet the teacher.

"Mr. Banner, this is Isabella Swan." He said to the almost bald teacher with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Ah, yes! Isabella. Very nice to finally meet you." Mr. Banner said shaking my hand. I gave him a wry smile and spoke softly.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Banner." I said pulling my hand away softly. Mike smiled down at me then spoke as if he were a business man to Mr. Banner.

"Well Mr. Banner, who are our lab partners this year?" Mike said winking down at me. Of course I fully expected Mr. Banner to say me and Mike were partners but what he said, I would have never thought up in a million years.

"Ah! Well Mr. Newton, your lab partner is…." Mr. Banner said pulling up a clip board with names on it and running his finger down the list of names. "Tyler." he said smiling up at Mike happily. Mike's jaw almost unhinged in shock and I giggled lightly at how silly his face looked.

"And Miss Swan, your partners for the rest of the year is…" he said doing as he did before and then finally tapping my name on the sheet before smiling up at me and finished, "Mr. Cullen." he said with a totally naive smile on his lips. He didn't know.

I didn't know who he was talking about but I could swear I heard Mike's jaw hit the floor now. Mr. Banner sensed I didn't know who he was talking about so he pointed to the one person I prayed he wouldn't point to…the mobster who caught my eye earlier.

The guy looked up stunned to hear that we were partners and slowly began to fix the sprawled out books on top of the lab table so they were only on his side now. I gulped lightly and turned back to stare at Mr. Banner. Mike looked like he was about to object to it but Mr. Banner cut him off.

"Go on Mr. Newton, Miss Swan. Take your seats. All decisions are final." he said as if reading my mind and Mike's.

I almost chocked on shock but I knew if I didn't do as he said I would get in trouble on the first day of school…big no-no. Mike glanced at me from the corner of his eye and then gave a big sigh of defeat.

"Come on Bella, I'll take you to the desk." Mike said almost in an ashamed voice and we both turned so he could drop me off at my desk as if he were a father dropping off his daughter at a boy's house for a date. Mike tried to muster up the courage to glare at the Cullen guy but in the long end I elbowed him to stop and just give in.

We finally reached the desk and the guy smirked up smugly at Mike as if he had gotten the prize that Mike had wanted so badly but let slip through his nasty fingers. I took that as a sort of complement but at the moment I was quite preoccupied with trying to remind myself not to look at him or else I would get my legs broken.

The teacher and Mike both calmed down and soon I heard the teacher begin to lecture but since I had known most of this stuff already I just tried to tune it out and not look at Edward Cullen. When I would look down and see his suede shoes next to my mud caked sneakers I felt sort of ashamed. He wore these jeans that looked like he had to peel off at night due to the tightness.

"He gives quizzes you know. So you should really be listening instead of staring at my shoes Miss Swan." I heard an almost angelic voice say from beside me in a low whisper. I looked up to see Edward Cullen's lips only inches from my ear.

I saw that his beautiful green eyes where exceedingly gorgeous and then a glint of something came over them and I quietly gasped and stared back up at the teacher.

"Sorry." I whispered as I watched the teacher intently now. I could tell my face held fear because I could feel it in my face and eyes but apparently he didn't get the message and kept speaking to me in a gentle and kind voice. Not at all like I imagined a mobster's voice to be.

"I'm not that bad you know. You don't have to be scared of me." he said just sitting in his stool quietly. I didn't respond so it was just quiet between us until I finally mustered up the courage to look over my shoulder to see him staring out the window sadly.

I opened my mouth for a moment and then shut it, not trying to be obvious to the teacher that I was talking in the middle of his oh-so-interesting lecture. So I quietly-almost silently-scooted my chair over a few inches and leaned over to whisper to him still staring up at the teacher.

"Sorry. Just…first day jitters I guess." I said trying to lie convincingly-no such luck. He looked up at me shocked and then chuckled in a smug tone as he saw the distance I had closed between us.

"You are the worst liar I have ever seen." he chuckled softly as he focused back on me. I didn't turn to look at him but soon I felt my eyes instinctively staring at him leaning back on his elbows on the top of the empty lab table behind us.

"Thanks." I said sarcastically. He wasn't really that scary but there are always those guys, you know, who are incredibly hot but turn out to be killers. Not!

I focused back on the teacher and saw he wasn't even paying any attention to us talking in plain sight. I felt Edward's gaze on me again and sighed before turning back to face him.

"Will you stop starring!" I snapped in a hiss. A evil grin played upon his lips as I heard a few low gasps of surprise and horror come from behind me. He didn't scare me.

"You know," he began to pop his knuckles convincingly as the teacher tried to keep the lecture going and refrain from starring our way.

"That popping your knuckles causes arthritis early? I know." I said glaring at him from the corner of my eye. I had tried to remain quiet and invisible but I was beginning to get irritated since I was so tired form last night's shift. He chuckled and kept popping his knuckles with a horrid "crack" ing sound.

"No…I was going to say, you are the first girl to ever test my patience." he said with a mischievous smile playing on his lips. I shook my head and looked up at his beautiful face for a moment with a sharp glare in my eyes. So sharp, apparently, it made him flinch away.

"I'm not scared of you." I whispered through gritted teeth. He smiled and leaned back in, so close that our faces were only centimeters apart.

"You should be." he whispered as the bell rang loudly in my ears. He shifted so he was now standing and slinging a black backpack over his shoulder. He winked cheerfully past me as he walked to his next class and out the door.

I was fuming; gripping the edge of the lab table when a flood of people I didn't know came rushing up to ask me questions. "Doesn't he scare you!" and "You are soooo brave!"'s all flooded into my mind as people, including the teacher, tried to pry information out of me.

"Hey! HEY! get out of the way!" I heard Mike's protective voice call through the crowd. He finally shoved through and pulled me up gently out of the stool I was sitting at.

"Come on Bella, let's get out of here. We're gunna be late for our next class!" he said looking at his sports watch.

I obediently listened and let mike drag me to our next class but all the while as we passed people in the hall, all I could think about was Edward Cullen. The mobster, incredibly hot guy I sat next to, and potentially my killer….

I hope you guys liked it! PLEAAASE REVIEW!!!!

~WOLFIE