Dusk Till Dawn (Discontinued)

Florescence

"You're not getting any food?" Jessica asked when she noticed me only grabbing a lemonade.

"I'm not that hungry. Big breakfast," I lied, hoping that my face wasn't as red as I thought it was.

She's here. I thought to myself as we walked back to our table. Do I go and say hi to her? But in front of her family— that'd be weird, right? Maybe I could walk with her to class...
I decided to permit myself one glance at the other table, giving myself courage to talk to her later. And thankfully, none of them were looking this way.

They were laughing. Edward, Jasper, and Emmett ass had their hair entirely saturated with melting snow. Alice and Rosalie were leaning away as Jasper shook his dripping hair toward them; but unlike Alice, Rosalie seemed a little annoyed by the action. They were enjoying the snowy day, just like everyone else— only they looked more like a scene from a movie than the rest of us.

But aside from the laughter and playfulness, there was something different, and I couldn't quite pinpoint what that difference was. I examined Rosalie more carefully. Her skin was less pale, I decided, flushed from the snow fight maybe. But there was something more.

"Bella," Jessica called, pulling my attention away from the blonde. "Mike's planning a snowball fight happening after school. You in?"

I hesitated, looking back at the table only to be met with a pair of gold eyes. Rosalie's cheek lifted into a slight smile as she gave me a little wave from the other side of the room.

"N-No thank you, Jess," I stuttered, turning my attention over to the brunette. "I'm not that big on snow."

A slight pout appeared on her face but she turned to Mike to continue their conversation. The way she looked at Mike left little doubt that she would be up for anything he suggested and wasn't that hurt over my rejection. I kept silent, knowing I would have to hide in the gym until the parking lot cleared.

For the rest of the lunch hour, I joined in on a conversation to keep my eyes away from her. Not that it was a bad thing, but I didn't want to creep her out with my unnecessary staring. And when the bell rang for us to go to our next class, and when I made the decision to walk with her to class, the blonde was already gone.

Mike kept up a string of complaints on the way to class when he noticed it was raining, putting a damper on his afterschool plans. I, on the other hand, was happy to know I would be able to go straight home after Gym.

Once inside the classroom, I sighed in disappointment when my table was still empty.

Mr. Banner was walking around the room, distributing one microscope and box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes, and the room buzzed with conversation. I kept my eyes away from the door, drawing on a corner of my notebook.
But when I heard the chair next to me slide, I had to look over.

"Hello again, Bella," Rosalie greeted, the soft smile appearing on her face once more.

"Rosalie, hi." Don't make a fool of yourself. "I uh...wasn't sure you'd be back."

The blonde rubbed the back of her neck, looking a little guilty. "Yeah, I had to go help out some cousins in Alaska. I didn't realize it was going to take that long."

Mr. Banner started class at that moment. I tried to concentrate as he explained the lab we would be doing today. The slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. We weren't supposed to use our books. In twenty minutes, he would be coming around to see who had it right.

"Get started," he commanded.

"Would you like to go first, Bella?" Rosalie asked. I looked up to see her smiling softly at me. I could only stare at her, blushing like an idiot.

"Or I could start, if you want?"

I quickly shook myself out of my stupor, muttering out an excuse before starting. I was showing off a little, trying to impress her. I'd already done this lab, and I knew what I was looking for. It should be easy. I snapped the first slide into place under the microscope and adjusted it quickly to the 40X objective. I studied the slide briefly.

My assessment was confident. "Prophase."

"Do you mind if I look?" she asked as I began to remove the slide. Her hand caught mine, to stop me, as she asked. Her fingers were ice cold, like she'd been holding them in a snowdrift before class. But that wasn't why I jerked my hand away so quickly. When she touched me, it stung my hand as if an electric current had passed through us.

"Oh, sorry," she muttered, pulling her hand back immediately. "I have terrible circulation." She still continued to reach for the microscope.

"Prophase," she agreed, writing it neatly in the first space on our worksheet. She swiftly switched out the first slide for the second, and then glanced at it cursorily.

"Anaphase," she muttered. Before she wrote it down, Rosalie glanced at me from the corner of her eyes. "Would you like to check?"

"Sure." I looked through the eyepiece eagerly, only to be surprised. She was right.

We were finished before anyone else was close. I could see Mike and his partner comparing two slides again and again, and another group had their book open under the table.

Which left me with nothing to do but try to figure out if I should bother to make conversation with the beautiful blonde only inches away from me. I glanced up, only to find her erasing something off of her notebook, brows furrowed as she whispered something to herself.

"Did you get contacts?" I blurted out unthinkingly.

Rosalie seemed puzzled by my unexpected question. "No."

"Your eyes seem lighter today," I explained.
She shrugged. "It could be the lighting."

Mr. Banner came to our table then, to see what we weren't working. He looked over our shoulders to glance at the completed lab, and then stared more intently to check the answers.

"So, Rosalie, didn't you think Isabella should get a chance with the microscope?" he asked.

"Actually," Rosalie started, a tightness in her voice. "Bella corrected three of the five."

Mr. Banner looked skeptical. "Have you done this lab before?"

"With whitefish blastula," I corrected. "I was in the advanced placement program in Phoenix."

    "I guess it's a good thing you two are lab partners. Good job, girls," he praised, walking away to the other group.

___________________

Love a black woman from infinity to infinity ❤️

Imma little late be Happy Black History Month

Bye!