First Light
by Unfailingtwilight
Chapter 9: Blood-Typing

9. Blood-Typing

"Where were you this morning?" Cat asked, sitting on the edge of my table before Bio. Edward had yet to show, so she felt compelled to spend some quality time with me that she'd missed out on. More and more I was thinking of her less as Angela, but more as an Angela/Jessica hybrid. I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad one. I settled for good as I answered her.

"I wasn't sleeping well, so I got ready early and went to the park. Ran into Alice there."

"Good god. It was that early?" Cat tried to mask the look of horror on her face, but failed.

"Yeah. I had some disturbing nightmares and wanted to shake them off." Cat just shook her head, getting up to leave. I didn't need to look to find out why: Edward was there. She winked and waggled her fingers at me, wishing me fun. I just glared at her.

The bell rang, but the teacher, Ms. Colbert, was still missing. So everyone around our table thought it best to talk. I felt a little awkward, sitting next to Edward, his hate stopping us from talking to each other. Stupid boy, I thought, Why can't you just play nice?

"Bella?"

I jumped, startled out of my insults. I looked over to Edward, who was sitting facing me, his green eyes boring into mine. It had been so long since he'd directly spoken to me, I'd forgotten how velvet soft his voice could be.

"Edward."

"Listen, I'm sorry if I'm being rude. I-I just think, given everything going on, that it's not smart for us to be friends."

"'Not smart'. What's that supposed to mean?" I narrowed my eyes, folding my arms across my chest.

"There's a lot going on...with my family. It's not prudent for me to drag you in it all." He smiled apologetically.

"Alice doesn't seem to have any qualms with being my friend," I said acidly. I watched as his smiled melted and was replaced with something bitter.

"Alice doesn't like following the rules," he answered. His eyes hardened a bit.

I thought a moment. Then, a little less harshly, said, "Maybe, you could be a little less rude." He raised a brow. "You can still follow your rules, whatever. But it would be nice to drop the hostility. Like at the office," I reminded him of how genial he'd been after the initial shock of seeing me at his father's practice.

Edward thought for a moment, running one of his hands through his already disorderly bronze hair. I had this surprising urge to do the same with my hand. How soft would his hair feel? Shocked at where my thoughts were heading, I mentally slapped myself and listened to his answer.

"I think that would be okay." I perked up a bit, but Edward was quick to burst my bubble. "But we still can't be friends."

"What about Alice?" I countered.

Edward didn't get the chance to answer, since Colbert came into the room, carrying an oversized box. A boy named Zak helped her find a place to set it and she used him to demonstrate what the class would be doing. Dread bubbled up in my stomach as I watched her poke his finger. They were ten or twelve feet away...how long until it reached me?

"Blood-typing. Lovely..." Edward muttered, giving me a friendly grin, which he quickly lost when he saw how green I was. "Bella? Are you okay?" I didn't trust myself to open my mouth, so I shook my head slightly. He furrowed his brow, looking between me and the teacher, who was handing out cards and pokers to the class. "Are you going to be sick?" I nodded.

As I nodded, Colbert came to see why Edward and I weren't getting our materials. "What's wrong, Bella?"

"I think she can't handle needles," Edward answered for me, for which I was thankful. More kids began poking their fingers, which made the room spin. He asked her permission to take me to the nurse and she agreed enthusiastically.

Helping me stand, Edward got my arm around his shoulders and put one of his around my waist. I tried not to be a dead weight, but until we got out of the room, that was all I was going to be. Fortunately, this didn't seem to be a problem for him. When we were down the hall, I was able to stand upright. Being away from the source helped, but my head was still swirling around. When I took my arm away from his shoulder, Edward didn't complain, but he didn't see the need to remove his hand on my waist, either. I didn't bother to remind him.

"So no needles or blood, but you can handle a scary book cart tumble?" He glanced down at me, his smile reaching his eyes. For a moment, I was stunned. I hadn't ever really seen him smile, not like this. Just quick grins or ruthless grimaces. I gathered my wits just quick enough to answer.

"I don't care about needles. I just can't handle the smell of blood," I sniffed, pretending to be offended. "And that cart had it coming."

He laughed aloud, steering me into the office. Serena Masen looked up from her computer and smiled as we came in. I must have still looked ill, because her smile quickly transformed into a worried frown. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Bella got sick in Bio. We're blood-typing," he added, seeing her confused look. Serena nodded knowingly.

"Gotcha. Back here, Bella." She got up from her seat and guided us to a back room with a small cot and a medicine cabinet. "You can go back now, Edward."

Edward was shaking his head before she could finish. "I need to stay. Bella gets sicker if someone isn't with her, holding her hand."

My eye twitched. Where had he gotten that from? They both looked to me for confirmation. I was a bit slow on the uptake, which make him squeeze my waist slightly. I nodded quickly. "Yeah. I need company. Or I'll get sicker." I pretended to swoon a bit. Edward rolled his eyes, but Serena laughed.

"Okie dokie. Just thought I'd mention it. Behave, I'll be back in a few minutes." She handed me a cold compress.

"Did you have to swoon?" Edward looked at me as I stepped back from him and sat on the cot. As clear as the air was, I was still a little woozy. And was it my imagination or did he look disappointed when I stepped back?

"Eh. I knew she'd let you stay. We're like this." I twined two fingers together and winked. "Why do you want to stay?" I asked.

He sat next to me and took the compress from my hands. Putting it to my forehead gently, he said, "We need to talk."

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unfailingtwilight