Tick Tock ➙ Edward Cullen

Chapter Five

Edward hadn't shown his face at Forks High School in almost two weeks, ever since his black eyes avoided Melinda's green ones, and he rushed out of their shared class. Melinda was forced to sit alone in English, trying to decipher the old language of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Edward had always been there to help the redhead when she didn't understand what a passage meant.

When Melinda walked into her third period class, she was expecting the seat beside her to be vacant. However, her eyes focused on the pale boy who wore a grey t-shirt, his hands resting on the desk right beside Melinda's. The redhead inhaled deeply as she walked over to her seat, feeling Edward's eyes glued to her as she did. Melinda sat down, gently placing her backpack on the ground under her desk.

"Hello," Edward spoke. "You look nice today." He tried to ease the obvious tension between the two, knowing full well that Melinda wondered where he had been.

Melinda looked down at her outfit with a nervous smile, pulling her navy blue sleeveless and buttoned up blouse away from her body to see it better. Her red hair was tangled into a french braid, a few strands falling down her cheeks. She had on jeans that were a charcoal coloured grey.

"Thanks." Melinda looked up at the boy, her smile faltering for a brief moment as she noticed the golden eyes that looked back at her. "So do you." She stated, knitting her eyebrows together slightly as Edward looked away.

"Sorry I've been away recently, I had a personal problem that needed to be taken care of." Edward explained, facing the front of the classroom where Mr. Mason sat at his desk.

Melinda hesitated to respond, her olive coloured eyes scanning the side of Edward's defined face. She noticed the sharpness of his jaw, long black eyelashes that sheilded his eyes that seemed to always change colours, and the flat bridge of his nose. "It's alright. Uh, Mr. Mason gave us a small assignment to do a few days ago. It's due tomorrow and he said we could have an extension, but I already finished it." Melinda attempted to changed the subject away from why Edward had been gone for so long as she didn't want any awkward energy between the two.

Edward smirked, looking at Melinda through the corner of his eye. "Thank you." He replied as the English teacher started his class.

Later that day, Melinda was walking out of Forks High School and heading towards Cindy's silver Acura. The keys rattled in her hands as her mind raced with thoughts about Edward, all the school work she had to do when she got home, and more Edward. Ever since Melinda had met him, she felt like time had resumed for her. She was warmer, happier, and didn't have an underlying gut feeling that she was missing something in her life. Melinda knew not to get her hopes up about Edward being the one to resume the clocks again for her because she had been let down so many times in the past, but something about the pale boy that sat beside her in English made her feel whole again.

As if on cue, Melinda heard a low, smooth voice calling her name. The girl turned around to see the one and only Edward Cullen standing beside a silver Volvo, a small smile etched onto his lips.

Melinda lifted up her empty hand to wave at the boy, looking down at the rain speckled pavement as she made her way over. All of a sudden, the squealing of car tires filled her ears and she quickly raised her head to see what was going on. A brown van was sitting on an angle right beside the orange truck that Melinda learned belonged to Bella, with the said brunette and Edward in between the two vehicles.

With her eyebrows furrowed into an expression of concern, Melinda watched as Edward walked back to his Volvo as if nothing happened. He glanced back at Melinda, but didn't bother to say anything or even flash her a smile. He simply got in the car and sped out of the parking lot.