The following day seemed to drag on forever. Was it the fact that it was simply Friday and I was dying for the weekend to come? Or was it the fact that I hadn't seen Edward all day and I knew that he was in my last class…
"… Bella?" A voice interrupted me from my thoughts.
I looked up to see Mike peering over at me. "Were you even listening to me?"
"Hmm? Oh, I'm so sorry… I was just thinking about something" I replied, taking my books out of my bag and placing them in front of me on the desk.
"Or someone…" Jessica said from in front of me as she leant back on her chair.
I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Yeah? And who might that be?"
Jessica flicked her eyes from me to Mike, and then back to me. "Well, I couldn't help but overhear a group of girls bitching about you in the corridor a moment ago…"
"What were they saying?" Angela curiously asked as she also leant back in her chair.
"That she was seen hanging around Cullen's car yesterday afternoon… So is this true Bella?"
All sets of eyes were suddenly on me, demanding an answer, and I felt my heart beat quickly increase.
"Well, yes but -"
"You're joking! What on earth were you doing near a freak like him?" Mike interrupted forcefully, glaring at me.
"Edward left something behind… I was simply returning it to him"
"Edward?" Angela, Jessica and Mike all spoke at once.
"You know his name! Oh my god, what happened out there?" Jessica squealed.
"Nothing -" I protested, feeling my cheeks heat up from embarrassment.
All of a sudden Edward entered through the doorway and scanned the room. His eyes roamed until they reached the empty desk behind me and then he lowered his gaze to find Angela, Jessica, Mike and I all staring at him. Instantly, he dropped his gaze and slowly headed down the aisle. I stared down at my maths book in attempt to avoid looking at him, but it failed. I raised my head in time to see him stare at me as he walked passed to get to his desk. I swallowed a dry lump in my throat and suddenly wished that I could simply disappear. Thankfully our maths teacher arrived shortly after that and demanded silence. But unfortunately he then announced that we had a twenty question maths quiz to complete. Everyone groaned as he handed out the papers, and he said we had 30 minutes to complete it.
Once the time was up, we were then instructed to swap our papers with someone else in the room and he would read out the answers for us to mark. Everyone stood up and started to wander around to find someone to swap with, but before I got the chance to get up I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I spun my head around to find Edward staring at me.
"Hi…" I said with a rather stupid smile on my face.
"Hey, wanna swap?" He asked, offering me his quiz paper.
I glanced down at his masculine hand, before averting my eyes to the paper he was holding.
"Sure" I smiled, taking hold of it and giving him my paper in return.
When I looked back up at his face, my stomach flipped as he gave me that lovely small smile and whispered good luck to me. I turned back in my seat just in time as Mike had returned.
"So who did you swap with?" He asked me, before glancing down at the name which was at the top of the paper.
I felt his eyes bore into me, and then he turned around to most likely send Edward a death stare. Thankfully, before any words were exchanged, the teacher began reading out the answers. Surprisingly for every answer that was called out, Edward got correct. Mike noticed this out the corner of his eye and sighed in frustration… Or what I believed to be jealously. In the end, Edward had gotten only one wrong! I wrote 19/20 in red pen up the top of the page and couldn't help but draw a smiley face next to it. When everyone was told to swap their papers back, I waited for Mike to get up before I turned around.
"Congratulations, you only got one wrong!" I said, placing his paper on the table in front of him.
"Well you got every single one of them right!" He replied, shaking his head in disbelief.
I stared at him wide eyed before yanking the paper out of his hand. "You can't be serious!" I shrieked a little too loudly. Sure enough it was true! 20/20! Then I noticed what he wrote after the score… 'Perfect'.
"What did you get, Bella?" Mike interrupted, causing me to turn around in my seat.
"I got them all right!" I smiled happily.
"Oh, wow! Better than me…" He sighed, showing me his 16/20.
I couldn't help but hear a snickering sound coming from behind me, and so did Mike. Before he had the chance to turn around, I placed my hand on his arm and told him not to worry, and wished him better luck next time. There wasn't much time to go before the bell would ring, and being a Friday afternoon, the teacher let us chat for the remainder of the lesson.
"What are you wearing this afternoon for our dance session Bella?" Jessica asked, turning her chair around to face me. "You haven't forgotten have you?"
"No. Um, I just brought something comfortable"
"So, what time does this dance class thing go til anyway?" Mike asked.
"5.30pm. Why? Do you have something in mind for afterwards?" Angela asked as she adjusted her glasses.
Mike shrugged his shoulders. "Well since its Friday and all, how about we all go out for dinner tonight"
Everyone quickly agreed and then turned to look at me for an answer.
"Um, yeah I suppose so…" I said, seeing as thought everyone else was going.
"Great, I'll go tell Eric and Tyler as well" Jessica said enthusiastically.
"What are you going to do while were off dancing?" Angela asked Mike.
"Oh, I've got an assignment to finished, so I'll work on it in the library" He said, just as the end of school bell rang.
The girls and I quickly headed off to the bathrooms to get changed into our 'dance clothes'. I didn't have anything fancy, just a pair of black ¾ tights and a long sleeved light blue top.
"Ok, class settle down!" Ms Waters called out, bringing the hall into complete silence.
I was surprised to see that quite a few people had signed up to do this. There were about twenty people or so, and it seemed to be an equal amount of guys and girls.
"Now first of all, I'd like each of you guys to pair up with a lady. So go on, sort it out amongst yourselves" Ms Waters said.
I watched as everyone rushed to get a decent looking partner. Angela was paired with Eric, and Jessica partnered up with Tyler.
"I didn't know we'd have to have partners" I whispered strongly to Angela.
"Miss Swan! Is there a problem?" Ms Waters called out to me.
I slowly turned around and noticed that everyone had there eyes on me.
"Um… There's no one left -"
All of a sudden the door burst open and in walked a tall male figure. I couldn't see who it was at first, until he spoke and then that familiar voice filled the room.
"Sorry. I hope I'm not too late"
Ms Waters invited him in and smiled. "No, you're just in time! Bella was in need of a partner"
I stood there dumfounded with my mouth open.
"Alright, everyone…" I could hear the sound of Ms Waters speaking, but I drowned it out as Edward approached me with a slight grin.
"So, you're in need a partner eh?" He asked, dumping his bag on the ground.
"What are you doing here?" I asked softly, looking up into his shining green eyes.
He seemed to look at me as if I was stupid or something. "I've come to dance"
I looked up at him sceptically as I pushed some strands of hair away from my face. "You can dance and play the piano? That's impressive…"
Edward shrugged his shoulders and took a step closer to me. He then glanced around the room at the other couples who were listening to the teacher talking something about the foxtrot.
"I'm sorry…" I said quietly as I went to tie my long hair up into a ponytail.
"For what?" He asked, curiously looking down at me.
"That you're paired up with me… I can't dance"
"I'm sure you're just being modest"
"No! Not me, I'm seriously terrible on my feet!" I laughed, watching as he took a few more steps closer so that he was now right by my side.
"Take my hand…" He said casually, outstretching his right hand to me.
I narrowed my eyes at him and glanced down at his hand cautiously. "I don't think we're supposed to me touching -"
"Miss Swan!" I heard the teacher's voice coming from right behind me. "Are you going to get into first position with Mr Cullen or are you just going to stand and chat for the remainder of the lesson?"
"I, um… Sorry? Get into what position?" I stuttered, clearly not hearing her correctly.
I heard Edward stifle his laughter, and I instantly blushed from embarrassment.
"Bella, I hope you're here to take this class seriously. Otherwise you can walk right out that door" Ms Waters said with her hands placed on her hips in annoyance.
"Sorry. I'll pay attention from now on" I said looking around at how all the other couples were positioned.
"Alright. Now stand in front of each other, slightly offset to the left…" She instructed.
I awkwardly stepped up close to Edward, watching as his small smile started to grow wider.
"Bella, with your right hand, take hold of his left and hold it up approximately in line with your eye level" She continued.
Edward reached out and gently took hold of my hand, guiding it up to the appropriate level.
"Ok. Now Edward, place your other hand around her back and rest it on her shoulder blade and Bella, place your arm easily onto his right"
We fumbled a little as our arms entwined to get to the correct position. Once we got it right Ms Waters finally left us alone and directed her next comment to the entire class. "This is the resulting dance "frame" and should be held sturdy, but relaxed and absent of tension or strain.
"You seem a little tense Bella…" Edward whispered, and I looked down and away from his gaze. "You're hand is a little sweaty as well. Try to relax"
I quickly pulled my hand out from his and wiped it against my shirt. "Sorry, this is just a little… Ah, weird isn't it?"
Edward cleared his throat before reaching out for my hand again. "Yeah, um… Maybe you should try moving in a little more… There's too much distance"
"I disagree" I muttered, hoping that I hadn't said it loud enough for him to actually hear.
I glanced over my shoulder to see how everyone else was standing, and sure enough they were closer to each other then we were. Suddenly I felt a little warmer, and then I noticed that Edward had already closed the distance between us.
"Oooh, go Bella!" I heard Eric call out teasingly from behind us.
When I turned to poke my tongue out at him, he simply winked in return. Angela kicked his shin, causing him to re-focus. The sound of soft music suddenly filled the air and Ms Waters stepped to the front of the room to show us how to do some basic steps.
"Oh my god! Hold on - back, left… What?" I breathed, watching in horror.
Edward started to lightly chuckle at my facial expression and I turned to glare at him.
"Don't laugh! It's your feet I'm going to be stepping on!"
"Try not to worry about that, just watch" He said, motioning to the teacher.
Once she had gone over the 'simple' routine a few times, she then started the music from the beginning, letting us give it a go.
"So, you think you can handle that?" Edward asked, raising one or his eyebrows up at me.
I rolled my eyes and scoffed, not wanting to let him think I was incompetent or something after all the times the teacher had repeated the routine. "Piece of cake"
The music started and Ms Waters counted us in. Far out! I couldn't believe that my very first step was a mistake. Instead of stepping backwards, I stepped forwards which resulted in both of our legs bumping together.
"Oops, my bad" I said, tyring to correct my footing.
"It's ok, just relax and follow my lead" He whispered softly.
After what seemed like a lifetime of being that close to Edward Cullen, I sighed heavily as we were told that would be it for today's lesson.
"It might be a good idea to see if you can get together some time before next week and practice what you've learnt today" Ms Waters called out to the class.
Edward and I exchanged glances, before I quickly looked away and picked up my bag.
"I, ah… Hope I wasn't that bad for my first go" I gave an awkward laugh.
"No. I think you'll be fine after a bit more practice" He replied, as he held his bag over one of his shoulders.
I glanced around the room, noticing that everyone was giggling and rambling on to each other about how great or bad they thought they did.
"Bella, are you coming back next week?" Edward asked, seeming to ignore all the chatter around us.
"Um, maybe. But that depends…" I said looking up at his dishevelled brown hair.
"On what exactly?" He asked as he raised both of his eyebrows and searched my face for an answer.
I fiddled with the strap on my bag for a moment before saying. "If you're going to be my partner or not"
Edward looked completely stunned to say the least. He coughed twice before awkwardly running a hand through his thick hair. "Partner? You meant dance partner right?"
"Um, yes…" I said slowly, before realising that he must have initially thought I meant partner as in boyfriend. "Oh geez! Yes, dance partner Edward. Nothing more…"
"Yeah, definitely! I mean, the way Mike sent me that death glare earlier on…"
"What? Oh don't worry about Mike, he's just jealous or something" I said as a matter of fact.
"Jealous?" Edward couldn't seem to contain his curiosity as he smirked down at me.
"Of um… I don't know. You…" I said as I could feel myself blush once again.
Suddenly he took a few steps closer to me and lowered his voice so no one else could overhear.
"So, if we were to hang out sometime and practice the dance routine… That would make him rather mad wouldn't it" He said staring back at me, waiting for my reaction.
"Um, possibly…" I whispered, staring unconsciously at his perfect lips.
Suddenly our conversation was interrupted as Jessica, Angela, Eric and Tyler came up beside me.
"Sorry to intrude, but you're still coming out with us to dinner right?" Jessica asked, looking directly at me.
I moved my eyes from Edward to everyone else, and then back to Edward for some reason. He shrugged his shoulders and turned to leave the room. I mentally shook my head and turned back to the rest of my friends.
"Yeah, sure. Let's go!"
Have a Merry Christmas everyone! Cheers!