Girl In Red (R.HALE)

4

Leigh settled in to Forks High School relatively smoothly. 

She sat with Bella, Jess and Angela at lunch, Mike and Eric sometimes joining their table only to engage in a fight for Bella's affection. Leigh got the impression that Jessica was a little protective of Mike, as every so often she would lash out with a harsh comment when he got too starry-eyed over Bella. Bella herself was obviously uncomfortable with the whole dynamic, so spent most of her time talking to Leigh and Angela whilst Jess battled the boys. 

Edward Cullen seemed to have disappeared off of the face of the earth. 

He didn't come in for a week after Bella and Leigh's first day, the rest of his siblings barely acknowledging his absence. 

Leigh noticed a new embarrassment in the brunette due to this. A crippling, inward mortification that was somehow more intense than the shyness she already felt. But, as time went on, the embarrassment turned to defiance. She would catch Bella staring at the Cullen table, eyes burning with curiosity and slight anger at the empty chair in which Edward used to sit. 

"I'm going to confront him," Bella had said one afternoon, when the two girls were walking to their cars. 

Leigh had raised an eyebrow. "Really?" 

"Yeah. I've given him no reason to be so cruel. I want an explanation." 

Leigh had smiled. "I'm impressed." 

She found herself thinking over it as she lay back in the hospital bed, averting her eyes as a nurse drew copious amounts of blood from her arm. 

Bella was sweet and shy. Leigh couldn't understand how Edward could have taken such an immediate dislike to her, when all the brunette had roused from Leigh initially had been indifference. There was nothing offensive about her - she wasn't obnoxious, she wasn't snarky, she barely even spoke. Leigh couldn't imagine Bella doing anything to warrant such a reaction from him. 

She could vividly remember the venom in his eyes as he'd stormed past them out of the office. There was real hatred there. It made Leigh's skin crawl a little bit. 

Lorrie sat in a chair beside the drawn curtain, leafing through a magazine, and the nurse moved to wash her hands in the small sink attached to the wall. 

"All done," she said, delivering Leigh a reassuring smile. "We're a bit short-staffed today, but we'll have a doctor with you as soon as we can to review your history, just to make sure we're up to date." 

Leigh smiled. "Thanks." 

The nurse disappeared with the vials of blood she'd taken and Leigh looked down at the plaster on her arm. It had a smiley face on it, which almost made her laugh. 

"I need to pee," she announced, hopping down from the bed. 

Lorrie lifted her head, looking her over with a sceptical eye, before nodding. "Okay." 

Leigh left the makeshift cubicle isolated by curtains and headed for the door, slipping out into the corridor. 

She needed sugar. She had to find a vending machine. 

All the corridors looked the same. They were all white, and clean, and teeming with doctors and nurses walking purposefully in all directions, so Leigh managed to slip by relatively unnoticed. 

She spotted a vending machine at the end of the corridor as she rounded a corner, but stopped in her tracks. 

Rosalie was there. And so was Edward. 

She quirked an eyebrow, whispering to herself. "He lives."

She hung back, close to the wall so she couldn't easily be seen, her nosiness getting the better of her.