petrichor [rosalie hale]

ii. chemistry

If there was one thing Kiara Black was good at, it was school. Despite her ability to constantly be in trouble at La Push High, she was ridiculously good at staying on top of all of her classwork and constantly pulling in top grades for her subjects. It was no surprise to her father and brother that she excelled at classes that were a little more physical such as biology or chemistry, even if it was a surprise that she was rather smart when it came to them too.

If there was one thing Kiara Black was rubbish at however, it was public speaking. While the girl was fine with talking to new people during introductions, there was something about standing in front of a class of Juniors knowing that they would already be confused as to why a Sophomore was in their class, and having to introduce herself.

Mr White however had no issues with forcing the new kid to do just that, so Kiara Black found herself clutching the strap on her bag so tightly that her knuckles turned white as she looked at the faces of the class who really did not care who she was or why she was joining their class mid-semester. What made matters worse for Kiara was that she had noticed where the only spare seat in the class was, and the girl sitting on the other half of the table looked less than pleased to find they had a new addition to their class.

"Hi, I'm Kiara," the brunette murmured as she moved between the balls of her feet, gum in her mouth as she looked anywhere but her new lab partner's scowl. "I'm new here."

She wasn't sure what she expected, but an overwhelming silence wasn't it. She recognised a few of the faces staring at her from Jessica and Angela's previous run down, but since she was in a class with mostly people in the year above her, she wasn't really sure what to make of it all.

There was a heavy silence before she turned to look at her teacher, nervousness settling in her stomach as no one seemed to have any reaction to her introduction. Her teacher stared back blankly at her, waiting for her mouth to open and let any words fall out. The girl was a little angry that he had even forced her to introduce himself, but she repeated the mantra in her head as she clenched her fits around her backpack straps.

One year, Kiara repeated in her head as she tried to stop her self-destructive behaviour before it began. She raised her eyebrows at him, watching as he lifted the trash can from the floor beside them and motioned for her to spit her gum out. She sighed as she spat it into the can, pausing for a moment before he motioned for her to take a seat beside the girl.

"Miss Hale, I trust you'll explain the assignment to Miss Black," Mr White told the blonde girl who looked like she would rather be anywhere else but that classroom. Kiara sat down on the stool as she dropped her bag beside the table, turning so that she could look at the Cullen - or rather, Hale - that was sitting on the same bench.

Rosalie Hale had been looking pretty much anywhere else rather than Kiara during her introduction, almost burning holes into her brothers head from where he sat a few rows in front with the other blonde Hale girl. Kiara recognised them as Edward and Beverly from the descriptions that Jessica and Angela had told her earlier but she paid them little attention as Rosalie finally turned to look at her.

The blonde girl seemed tense yet Kiara couldn't help but notice the golden hue to her eyes and wonder what colour she would call that. She had met people who had light hazel eyes before, but they didn't seem as catching as Rosalie's did. They looked at each other for a moment longer before Kiara broke her gaze, reaching up to untie her hair as a strand fell loose and rested just beside her eye.

Just as she went to re-tie it, the Hale finally spoke up so gently that Kiara thought she had imagined it at first.

"You should leave it down," Rosalie told her, Kiara looking towards her in surprise as the girl finally spoke to her. "It suits you better like that."