There were five people at the table. I walked straight into a table because of my lack of attention, and it caught me right on the section of my thigh that tended to ache the most. I was almost positive I dropped an enthusiastic curse in both sign and speech. I didn't make enough noise to attract any attention I was glad to see. Only Angela saw what I had done and literally signed an 'O' and a 'K' with a questioning expression from her seat at the usual table. I nodded and walked directly over there, making a double effort t not to limp, and not to look over to the Cullen table. I sat beside Angela, resting my head on the table.

"Not hungry?" She asked and I saw the small movement of her hand against her stomach. She was picking it up so quickly.

"No I'm fine. I just knocked the hunger out of me." I joked. The rest of our friends came to join us with their bought lunches. Angela tried to roll me an apple, but I shook my head. My stomach was doing cartwheels. My ears were hot, my blush seemed to be permanently stuck on my face. Angela nudged me and as I looked at her she looked firmly at Jessica.

"- you eating anything?" Jessica finished.

"Um… I'm not hungry. Actually I feel a little sick." Over the lunch hour – which seemed like the longest one of my life – Mike asked twice how I was feeling. I noticed Jessica's scowl and wished that he'd be a little less obviously concerned about me, so that I wouldn't have to dodge any mean comments from her later. I was seriously considering skipping the afternoon, seeing if I could go home with a nurse's note or something. This was ridiculous. I would go to biology and face the ire that awaited me. If there even was any. God I was self-absorbed sometimes. I spared myself one glance at the Cullen table. If he was glaring at me, I would skip the afternoon.

None of them were looking this way. In fact, they were all laughing, covered in snow. The girls backing away from the guys as they shook off their snow towards them.

"Bella," I heard a watery sounding whisper of my name. I snapped my head quickly towards the table to catch the rest. "What are you staring at?" Jessica was finishing. I kept my eyes on Jessica, determined not to look back at the table. Jessica leaned in to whisper in my ear and I closed my eyes to focus.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you." She said.

"He doesn't look angry does he?" I asked. My voice was quiet enough that I couldn't pick it out very well, and I wondered at first if she had heard me. She was backing away from my ear looking shocked.

"No. Why would he?" she asked.

"I think I jabbed him with a pencil in biology." I offered trying to dissuade her stern look. I heard a bout of laughter and looked quickly towards the source – Mike. I fixed my gaze back on Jessica's mouth for her response.

"Well the Cullen's don't like anybody. Or at least they never pay attention enough to like anybody. But he's still staring at you." She said.

"Stop looking at him." I hissed. I looked towards Angela with a pleading expression, but she was talking to Tyler. I looked back towards Jessica, and she laughed, relaxing a little and talking to Mike. He was planning an epic snowball fight after school. I would have to hide in the gym to avoid that. As the lunch hour ended and the people began filing out of the cafeteria there was suddenly a negative shift in mood. It had begun raining, which I was secretly pleased and sad about. I was pleased because there would be no snowball fight, and I was sad because my peaceful moment was over. It was as though the weather was mimicking my mood.

I jogged to biology with my hood up, avoiding both the conversations and the rain. Once inside the classroom I noticed that my desk was thankfully still empty for the moment. I took off my jacket and headed to my desk, watching the glimpses of conversations around me.

"- think Banner would make us do all of it closed book –"

"- with the rain now we'll have to get back to planning the beach trip-"

"-isn't anything better to do except for a bonfire-"

"-that dance coming up though-"

Oh excellent. Another school dance. Something else to dread besides the beach trip. I wondered when that was, and tried to look in closer on that conversation, when suddenly they stopped and turned towards the front. Mr Banner was handing out microscopes and slides to each desk. I looked at him, trying to understand what we were up to – had I missed the explanation? When suddenly a bright and clear "Hello" sounded from my left. I jumped slightly, dropping the pencil that had been poised in my hand and looked over. Edward Cullen had taken his seat beside me. I hadn't felt the chair or desk move at all. His eyes flicked to my throat, and then with a flash of determination, he slipped out of his chair, and quickly grabbed my pencil. He placed

"Um, thank you, sorry about that." I muttered. Very confused. He looked calm, and almost pleasant. The sort of forced happy you put on after someone has told you a joke you've already heard. He was sitting as far away from me as the desk allowed, and yet he was angled towards me. It was an almost too obvious sign of interest, and he had a slight smile on his lips.

"Not a problem. My name is Edward Cullen. I'm afraid I didn't have the chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan." My mind was spinning with confusion. Had I made up the anger? Surely not. He was waiting for me to speak. It was hard to focus looking at his eyes so I dropped my gaze to his mouth.

"How do you know my name?" I asked. His lips parted barely around a perfect set of teeth as he laughed.

"I think everyone here knows your name. The whole town has been waiting for you to arrive." His voice was very musical from what I could hear, but there was also something more than that. His words were so clearly formed, so easy to read. It was refreshing. There was no blurring together of words, and I knew exactly what he had put forth. Even if I hadn't been hearing him as well as I seemed to be, I wouldn't have missed anything.

"I figured it was something like that. But I meant how did you know to call me Bella?"

"Excuse me?" He asked back in surprise, a small front marring his forehead. I tried to refocus on his lips to make it easier to think.

"I think Charlie – I mean my dad – calls my Isabella behind my back. That's what everyone here seemed to know me as."

"Oh." He replied simply. He looked away, his face contorted into a frown, and my blush fought its way up from my chest. I focused back on Mr. Banner, and I tried to concentrate as he explained the lab. He turned around mid-explanation to explain something with a diagram, and I realised he was writing out – in very simplistic terms – the different phases of cell mitosis. They were out of order on the board, and I was assuming, on our slides as well.

" – so that you can place them in order and tell me which slide is which. Got it? Good," Banner finished, "Get started!"

I read the label on the box. Onion root cells. I technically hadn't done this lab with this material, but I had done it before.

"- first, partner?" Edward asked. I looked at him quickly, hoping I hadn't missed anything else. He was smiling. Had he said he'd wanted to go first, or that I should? Nothing in his body language gave away his preference, so I sat there, frozen in confusion for a second. "Or I could go, if you'd like," he finished.

"Oh, uh, no I'll go first. Sorry, I spaced for a second." I said. Wow. What wonderful diction I had today. My blush felt like it was becoming permanently etched on my face. It didn't help that I could feel his eyes on me. I knew what I was looking for, and within seconds of placing the slide under the microscope had identified it as prophase. I began to remove the slide, and I heard a musical murmuring. When I turned my head again I caught the word "look". His hand had reached out to touch mine and his ice cold skin shocked mine suddenly, before he pulled his hand back quickly. I froze, assuming he wanted to check my work. That seemed the most likely option. I slid the slide back into place and turned the scope towards him, keeping my eyes locked on his mouth in case he said anything, and keeping my hands firmly on the table. His skin was fascinating and I kind of hoped he'd accidentally catch my hand again. His voice – when I wasn't picking up the words properly – sounded like music; a gentle humming, rather than a murmur. I enjoyed it, and I wondered how musical his voice was to someone who could hear it to its fullest capacity.

"I'm sorry," he muttered. He examined the slide for an even shorter time than I had, agreed with me, and then wrote the phase on the worksheet. We went back and forth like this, each doubting the other's abilities, and each having to smile when we realised the other was right. We were finished far earlier than the others. I took a brief look around the room, watching the confused faces.

" – think Banner will answer –"

" – but it's got the weird squiggles like the second phase –"

" – prophase. Or maybe interphase."

I smiled and refocused my gaze, hopefully discreetly to my lab partner. He was watching me as well. I took a fleeting look at his eyes, and then regretted it. His eyes were a beautiful golden colour. It was disconcerting, especially since I remembered them being as black as night when we first met. He was looking frustrated and a flicker of that flashed through me. Was I imagining his eye colour shift?

"Did you get contacts?" I blurted out. He looked puzzled as he shook his head and answered 'no'. "Oh. I could have sworn they were a different colour." He shrugged and looked away. But it didn't look like a natural shrug. It seemed tense. Maybe Forks was making me crazy. I jumped again as a loud booming voice asked why we weren't working. I looked up at Mr. Banner and smiled sheepishly.