Edward pulled into the parking lot at Forks High with ten minutes to spare. His mom had fussed on him that morning, trying to convince him to take another couple days off to fully recover. But he'd felt fine and had been more than ready to get back to school. He'd been bored since Friday when his body had finally decided he hadn't needed to sleep all the time. He wouldn't admit to it, but he did still feel a little rough around the edges, but he needed to get back into his routine.
"Edward, welcome back," Mr. Hall greeted as he entered the band room. "Feeling better?"
He nodded. "Yup." Edward unwound the wool scarf his mother had insisted he wear and let it hang around his neck after stripping off his jacket and leaving it and his messenger bag at the piano bench. "Thanks. What'd I miss?"
"Not much. We've been missing half the group for most of the week, so we've been working on some combo charts instead of the big band stuff we looked at last week. We'll see who we've got back today."
Edward nodded, glancing around. Newton was there, of course, fiddling with a music stand trying to get it perfect, his case sitting next to him on the floor. He looked washed out and pale as well, and Edward felt slightly guilty for having a stab of satisfaction at knowing Newton had been as miserable as Edward had been. His mother had raised him better than that.
"Hey, Masen, you look like shit." Newton said with a smirk, and Edward suddenly didn't feel bad for his thoughts. He just rolled his eyes and crossed the room to where his folder was stored in the slats and back to the piano.
The next ten minutes were filled with sound as most of the rest of the band arrived and started warming up. Edward played a little, loosening up. He hadn't played much for the last week, just a bit over the weekend.
"Alright, settle down!" Mr. Hall called out and everyone stopped playing and shifted in their seats. "Now that it looks like we've got everyone back and healthy, we've got some work to do. We'll be headed down to Salem for the Jazz Festival the second Saturday in February and we've still got a lot of work to do. I want to start pinning down solo space this week, and we'll be doing some sectional work and individual time on solos. We'll rehearse today, Wednesday, and Friday," Mr. Hall said, reading off his notes. "Tuesday I want rhythm section and brass with me, and the saxes can do sectional in the choir room. Thursday rhythm and saxes with me, brass can split up and do sectionals on stage or in the choir room." He looked up. "Any questions?"
"If we're not soloing, do we need to be here?" Sue spoke up from her place at the end of the trumpet section. She anchored the section on the lowest parts and was content to let the guys have the glory of the upper and solo parts, but she was still a fantastic player, and more pleasant to be around than the rest of her section.
"Yes. Next?" Mr. Hall said, looking over the group. "Alright. Take another couple minutes to warm up, Edward, tune 'em up, and we'll get started."
Edward gave everyone a couple minutes to put warm air through their horns and played a couple chords for the band to tune themselves to the piano. Mr. Hall returned and they pulled up the first chart, getting to work.
Mr. Hall dismissed them a few minutes before the bell so they'd have time to pack up before getting to first period. Edward slipped his folder into his bag to take home at the end of the day, and closed the lid over the piano so Mr. Hall could more easily move it out of the way for his other classes (and to keep people from pounding on it and driving it even further out of tune). He escaped the band room before he got stuck walking with Newton to trig.
Trig turned into study hall since Mr. Gibson was still out and the sub wasn't prepared to teach. Edward quietly worked in a book of staff paper, sketching out a melody that'd been in his head for a couple of days. It wasn't easy without a piano, but he could hear enough of the notes in his head that he'd just refine it later.
"Yo, Edward!" Emmett's voice carried through the hall.
Edward paused, waiting for the bigger boy to catch up. "Hey, Emmett."
"How you feeling, man?" Emmett clapped him on the shoulder and Edward hid a wince.
"Pretty good," Edward answered with a grin. "Hey, thanks for all the assignments and stuff this weekend. 'Preciate it."
Emmett shrugged and grinned. "Don't worry about it. You'll just have to return the favor someday."
"No problem." Edward entered his English class to find another sub behind the desk. "You weren't kidding when you said the school'd been taken out."
Emmett laughed. "Place was like a ghost town by Friday. Haven't y'all heard about flu shots?" he teased.
Edward laughed and slid into his seat. "I have a feeling that there will be a much larger demand for them here next year," he said as the bell rang.
"Good morning!" The substitute spoke up. "I have here that you've been studying Romeo and Juliet for the last week. We're going to watch the first forty-five minutes of a film version, and then you'll have the rest of the period to work with your group on your project."
One of the students jumped up to get the lights, and the sub queued up Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet. Edward settled back in his seat, fishing out his composition notebook again and continuing to work on his piece. He'd seen the movie before (his mother owned it) and tuned it out.
At one point he glanced back over his shoulder and smirked. Emmett was sleeping, mouth hung open, arms crossed over his huge chest, rising and falling slowly with each deep breath. Edward quietly balled up a piece of plain notebook paper and lobbed it over his shoulder, hoping to wake him quietly before the movie ended and/or the substitute caught him napping through the film. He grinned as he heard the change of breathing behind him and the rustle of clothes. He nearly laughed out loud when he felt something hit the back of his head, instinctively knowing it was the paper he'd thrown at Emmett coming back at him.
Edward blinked harshly when the lights came back up after the sub stopped the film, flipping his composition book closed and turning to face Emmett. "Nice nap?" He asked with a grin.
"Smart ass," Emmett mumbled, though the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
"Just saving yours from detention," Edward teased. "What would your gorgeous blonde think if you had to stay after school?"
"Who, Rosalie?" Emmett asked with a smile. "She'd figure out some way to join me," he said confidently.
"Wow," Edward said, completely deadpan. "She must really like you."
Emmett laughed. "Man, you have no idea. So what do you have in mind for this project?"He sobered suddenly, and Edward looked back toward the front of the room, catching the sub's glare at them.
Edward shrugged, turning back to face him. "There's the fight scene with Mercutio and Tybalt, but we'd need a third since Romeo's there and kills Tybalt," he thought out loud. "Or we could work out the duel at the end of Hamlet, but we'd need a couple more for that to work, too, unless we wanted to try to play more than one role. Midsummer Night's Dream is too hard cause it's all couples, 'cept for a few scenes of Puck and Oberon," he trailed off.
Emmett looked amused. "You really are a nerd, aren't you?"
Edward threw his pencil at Emmett, who caught it easily, laughing. "Hey, Sam," Edward greeted a tall, tomboyish girl he knew from orchestra and Joe, a dark-haired and skinned boy he didn't know very well. "Joe. What's up?"
"We heard you guys talking," Sam started nervously, glancing at Emmett. "Wondered if maybe we should pool resources. Any scene would be easier to do with four, I think, than two."
Edward glanced at Emmett, who shrugged and nodded. "Sure," Edward said. "Pull up a seat."
Sam and Joe grabbed a couple nearby desks and spun them so they sat in a loose circle. They chatted for a bit, tossing around ideas, finally deciding on something from Hamlet, since Sam didn't think she'd be able to pull off Juliet. They hadn't pinned down the exact scene, but Edward figured there was still time.
The bell rang and they packed up, agreeing to meet up at some point later in the week if they didn't get more class time to discuss the project.
Edward and Emmett continued on to history together. Edward pulled a banana from his bag for his mid-morning snack, and Emmett dug his phone out of his pocket after it beeped.
"Shit," Emmet swore softly. "Hey, man, I gotta bail. I'll email you later for notes and the homework, and we'll call it square?"
"Everything alright?" Edward frowned, swallowing the last of his banana. "Yeah, no problem. I'll catch you later."
"Not sure yet," Emmett answered with a puzzled expression of his own. "Thanks, Edward." Emmett took off down the hall.
Edward wondered what was up but continued down the hall to history, tossing his banana peel in the trash before he entered the room.
He endured another lecture on the civil war, taking notes like a good student, but he was somewhat distracted by the appearance of the sun cutting through the room suddenly. It seemed he wasn't the only one as everyone in the room looked up at the additional brightness that actually lasted most of the class period. The rays of sunshine contrasted greatly with Mr. Bell's stammering lecture, and Edward found himself disappointed when the clouds moved back in over the sky, returning the blanket of grey that had been momentarily cast away.
Gym passed quickly in several rounds of volleyball in which Edward's team managed to win all of their games. He showered quickly after gym to rinse off and cool down a bit before changing back into his jeans, t-shirt, button up shirt and sweater. He carried his heavy coat and scarf over his arm with his bag slung across his body as he made his way to the cafeteria. His appetite had returned, so he stood in line for a turkey sandwich, an orange, and milk, remembering that his mom had slipped a couple of her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies into his bag on his way out in the morning.
After making his purchase, he looked around for a table.
Newton was surrounded by his groupies as usual at a couple of tables at the center of the room, but Edward ignored them and floated toward one of the tables on the periphery, sitting with some of the people he knew from orchestra. He never really sat with the same group, wandering around between the various cliques that he didn't join, but that welcomed him as a social drifter. He might have joined Emmett, but he didn't see him or any of his siblings in the lunch room. Whatever had called Emmett away was apparently serious enough to warrant his whole family's attention.
He fell into easy conversation with three boys, Danny, Ethan, and Kevin while he ate his sandwich and toyed with his milk carton. They were sophomores, and closer to the nerdy end of the social spectrum, but they at least talked about something beyond girls and passing around school gossip. Ethan and Kevin were arguing over how much the situation in Iraq mirrored that of Vietnam with Danny or Edward offering occasional commentary as they ate.
"Dude," Danny breathed, stopping their conversation.
Edward looked at him and followed his eyeline, watching as ithey/i entered the room. The room seemed to fall quiet for a moment, like everyone had paused in their conversation to watch them. Alice danced around Jasper, like she usually did (or at least always seemed to whenever Edward saw her), Emmett had that blonde hanging on his arm, and there ishe/i was.
Edward's somewhat hazy memory of the previous Monday hadn't done her justice. She looked gorgeous in brown and cream, the skirt accentuating her curves, her long hair fall loose around her shoulders, a jacket folded over her arm. Though he told himself she'd be gorgeous in anything or nothing (and then mentally hit himself for thinking it), her heart shaped face accentuated with a touch of makeup, lips perfectly plump and an easy expression on her features. She was as perfect as if he'd sketched her to life himself. It was no wonder half the school was talking about her. He was convinced it just meant that the other half hadn't seen her yet.
He released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding as they all settled at a table across the room and volume in the room appeared to return to normal. Something in him eased when he saw her, and he had to finally admit to himself that he'd been looking forward to returning to school to see her again.
He'd almost forgotten that he'd spent all weekend thinking about her, and how much he wanted to speak with her, to apologize for whatever he'd done to upset her last week, and on the phone. He hadn't realized he'd gone through most of the morning as usual, even chatting with Emmett and hadn't consciously registered his relationship to her; it was easy to forget they were brother and sister, since they looked nothing alike and had different names. But on seeing her enter the room with her family, that all came rushing back.
He ripped his gaze away, realizing he was staring and turning into an idiot at the mere sight of a girl, turning his attention back to his turkey sandwich as he attempted to pick up the thread of their previous conversation. His eyes would drift to their table occasionally, watching her toy with an apple and a diet soda, or adjust something on her iPod. Each time he forced himself to look away. He vaguely remembered her running from him, though he couldn't recall if it was part of his fevered dreams from the previous week or if that had actually happened. Still, he felt rude watching her like a common pervert and forced himself to focus back on his table-mates.
"Dude," Danny said again, nudging Edward. "Bella Swan is staring at you."
"Is it a death glare, or something else?" Edward asked quietly, not looking up. He'd pulled out a text book when Ethan had asked him a question about something from trig.
"Hm."
Edward looked up then. "Danny, don't istare/i," he hissed, smacking Danny's shoulder, watching his friend studying the girl before turning his gaze toward her again.
"What, man? You asked!" Danny grumped, rolling his shoulder.
No, she wasn't wearing the death glare he thought he'd get after her response in class last week, but she looked more curious and pensive. He met her eyes from across the room and he felt almost like she was looking through him. Her eyes were that curious golden color again, drawing him in. Something seemed to crackle up Edward's spine as they looked at each other, the air seemed charged suddenly, like before a thunderstorm, too much energy in the atmosphere.
It dissipated suddenly when Bella dropped her gaze, ducking her head and leaning into the arm that had appeared over her shoulder, and Edward released another breath slowly.
"Whoa," Ethan said lowly. "iThat/i was intense."
Edward nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. He felt strangely disconnected after that. "Hey, I'll catch you guys at rehearsal," he said suddenly, stacking his trash on top of his book and rising. He needed some air. He wound his scarf back around his neck and stuffed his hands in his pockets, feeling the rough texture of his coat against the back of his hands. He needed to get some lotion or his hands were going to bleed from the dry, overheated air the school circulated through the rooms in the winter.
There wasn't much time left in the lunch period, and after taking several deep breaths of the cold moist air outside, Edward made his way to biology.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Masen. Were you able to get caught up after last week?" Mr. Banner was preparing a demonstration at the front of the room.
Edward nodded. "I got the assignments from my lab partner," he explained.
"Good, good." Mr. Banner turned back to his slides and Edward took his seat at the back of the room, careful to keep his things on his side of the bench. He took out the book for the class and reviewed what he'd attempted to study over the weekend, not looking up when the bell rang, or when the room started to fill with voices.
"Hello."
Edward looked up at the voice, a chord struck within him. Her voice was as beautiful as the rest of her, and again, his memory, though near perfect, hadn't done it justice. He'd talked to her over the phone, but it wasn't the same. The crackle that he'd felt in the cafeteria was back, though it burned somewhat less than it had, even being this close to her, but then, she wasn't staring into his eyes. She stood next to the bench, making no move to sit down, like she was undecided. "Hello," he responded.
"Are you feeling better?" She slid her bag onto the table top, but still, did not sit. He noticed her hand clenched around the strap of her bag, like she was afraid to let go.
He felt one corner of his mouth turn up in a half smile. "I am. Thanks."
She nodded and offered him a shy smile, finally shifting to sit on her stool, letting her hair fall around her face like a curtain between them. Edward felt his fingers twitch and he managed to stop himself from reaching out and tucking it back behind her ear.
"How was your weekend?" He asked politely, waiting for Mr. Banner to finish prepping his slide reel. When he'd called to get updates on homework from them, Emmett had said she wasn't at home.
She ducked her head again, finally reaching up and tucking a long strand of hair behind her ear. "It was nice. I keep waiting for the sun to come out, though," she said, smiling softly as if it were her own private joke.
Edward felt warmed at the smile. "I think you may be waiting awhile. Wintertime in Forks isn't known for the sunshine."
Her pretty face twisted into a scowl and mock pout. "So I've heard."
Edward chuckled quietly. "How are you settling in? I'm guessing this a big change for you from -?" He trailed off, not remembering if Emmett had ever told him what city they'd lived in before.
"Minneapolis," she answered softly. "It's a bit of a struggle," she admitted, and Edward could sense the honesty behind her words. "I guess I'm used to being able to blend into the crowd a bit more than I do here."
Edward smiled. "Yeah, that tends to happen. Most everyone knows everyone, so new people stand out just a bit."
"Like sunshine, I'm guessing that new people aren't that common here, either?" It looked as if Bella was fighting a smile.
"Pretty much," Edward agreed with a grin.
Mr. Banner decided at that moment that he was ready to begin the lecture, and Edward shifted his focus reluctantly to the slide show at the front of the room as they were walked through what they'd need to be looking for in the lab tomorrow. In preparation for the lab, they were to copy the slides into their lab books and label the parts of the cells they'd be looking for under the microscope.
Edward glanced at Bella a couple times, noticing that she was half-heartedly going through the exercise. "Bored?" he asked quietly, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning at her. He knew he was bored, not quite to the point of tears, but he'd risk it to get out of the inane activity.
She glanced up sharply, looking for the teacher before biting her lip and nodding. "I've done this before," she said softly. "I was on the AP track in Minneapolis," she explained.
"Me too," he said quietly. "Chicago." He wasn't worried about getting caught talking. Most of the class was speaking with their lab partner in low tones as they worked. Mr. Banner never really minded much so long as the work got done.
"When did you move?" Bella continued to sketch slowly.
"Two and a half years ago. I started freshman year here," Edward said.
"Why Forks?" She sounded genuinely curious.
Edward glanced at her as her topaz eyes slid away from his face. "My dad was a pretty famous attorney in Chicago. When I was thirteen he had a heart attack that forced him to slow down." Edward smiled a bit. "Retirement didn't agree with him, so we relocated here when I started high school. Dad decided he wanted to be closer to his family in Portland and Seattle, but didn't want to get drawn into big city law and politics again. He has his own practice that just keeps him busy enough."
Bella nodded. "Sounds like Carlisle. Wanted to get out of the city for awhile, away from big city crime and all that."
They worked quietly for a few more minutes. "Do you miss it? Chicago?" Bella asked him softly.
Edward shrugged. "Sometimes. I was a bit of a loner, so I didn't have very many friends. Still don't, really."
Bella laughed quietly, a light sound that warmed Edward's heart. "I find that hard to believe."
"Really?" Edward drawled. "Well, it's true. I've been dedicated to making my parents proud and getting good grades so I can go to Dartmouth like my father, and my music that I never really had time for friends. So moving here wasn't all that hard. I do sometimes miss the city, though."
Bella looked up, another shy smile on her face. "You play?" She looked almost hopeful. "What instrument?" She asked at his nod.
"Piano," Edward answered with a smile of his own. "I prefer classical, but Mr. Hall roped me into the Jazz Ensemble when I started here. I play with the orchestra also, and I give lessons to some kids in the neighborhood and study with Mrs. Hall."
Bella's smile bloomed, and Edward ducked his head slightly, returning her smile.
"Did you get contacts?" He asked after a moment.
She looked at him curiously. "No. Why?"
"Your eyes are different," was all he said with a shrug. "Lighter."
"Oh." Bella seemed puzzled at the statement, and Edward turned back to his work.
The bell rang then and Mr. Banner reminded everyone of the homework and the lab the next day.
"It was nice chatting with you, Edward," Bella said softly, gathering her things. "See you tomorrow."
"Bye, Bella," Edward said, still basking slightly in the light of her smile, watching her go. He shook himself loose after a moment, realize her was mooning after her like a love-sick puppy, gathered his books and took off towards Spanish.
He didn't get far before he ran back into Emmett. "Everything alright?" He asked his mountain of a friend, who was staring off down the hall with a small smile on his face.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, man, great." He clapped Edward on the shoulder again. "Remind me to get the history stuff from you before we leave today. I hadn't expected to be back, but apparently it was a false alarm." Emmett rolled his eyes. "Women," he muttered.
Edward smothered a smile. "Know what you mean," he agreed with a nod, the image of a beautiful brunette's smile burned into his memory.