Equinox

Angela's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

Angela felt like she was in a dream for most of the next day. The English report went well. Edward sat beside her in class and she tried not to think about the previous day and what almost happened on her couch. She swore she smelled that sugary scent throughout the night as if she was unable to get it out of her head.

She glanced to where Ben was sitting and he was whispering something to Katie. She wondered what it was about. She didn't know they were friends. Maybe she could ask Eric if he knew. They were friends as they were both on the school newspaper.

Edward snorted. She turned to him and wondered what he was so amused with. He tended to do that around her like he always knew an inside joke. He gave her a smile and it showed off a flash of his pearly white teeth.

"What?" She whispered. "What is so funny?"

Before he could answer, the bell rang and they joined the shuffle to leave for their next class. Edward walked with her through the hallways. Her ankle was hurting less but she still wasn't her usual speed. She had to stop by her locker to get something and he lingered, almost like he felt awkward.

She searched through her locker for her Geometry textbook.

"Hey, um, do you like the beach?"

She wasn't sure why she asked that. Mike had been talking about going to La Push all week and they'd all agreed to go this weekend.

"My friends like to surf at La Push. It's gonna be freezing but it's kind of fun."

Well, they always looked like they were having fun. Angela usually sat in Tyler's van covered in her grandmother's quilt and tried to pretend she wasn't losing feeling in her toes. The few times she agreed to actually go into the water, she couldn't even stay on the board and found herself beached and frozen to the bone. She would rather stay in the van and drink hot chocolate from her thermos.

"I don't go to the beach," He answered, curtly. "I don't think we should be seen together."

Closing her locker, she clutched her Geometry book to her chest.

"Why not?"

"We shouldn't be friends," He refused to look at her. "You'd be much better off without me in your life."

She opened her mouth to reply but found no words came out. She realized she may have misinterpreted what was happening between them for something else. Edward may have just been friendly for the sake of getting their report done but was uninterested in actually being friends. It shouldn't have shocked her and she tried to stamp down the bloom of hurt in her chest. Rejection never felt nice but she knew it was inevitable in life.

"Oh, I'm...I'm sorry if I was being forward," She swallowed. "I understand how things are now."

He looked pained. "That's not what I meant."

"No. It's fine," She really wanted to crawl under a blanket and stay there until graduation. "I should get to class."

"Angela..."

She never ran through hallways. She'd been a hall monitor in middle school after all but she had to make an exception in that moment.

Tyler was driving her home after school since Jessica and Lauren had volleyball practice. On any other day she might've just waited for her friends and spent the time doing her homework but she just really wanted to go home. Her house was only a few minutes away from the school and walking home on her sprain was unadvisable. Tyler was more than accommodating and she sat in the backseat while Eric continued talking to his camcorder.