"Ditching is healthy," she sighed.
Ah, relief again.
She was silent then. She just breathed slowly in and out. Her lips were beginning to turn pink. Her mouth was slightly out of balance, her lower lip just a little too full to match the top. Staring at her mouth made me feel strange. Made me want to move closer to her, which was not a good idea.
"You scared me for a minute there," I said - to restart the conversation so that I could hear her voice again. "I thought Newton was dragging your dead body off to bury it in the woods."
"Ha ha," she said.
"Honestly - I've seen corpses with better color." This was actually true. "I was concerned that I might have to avenge your murder." And I would have.
"Poor Mike," she sighed. "I'll bet he's mad."
Fury pulsed through me, but I contained it quickly. Her concern was surely just pity. She was kind. That was all.
"He absolutely loathes me," I told her, cheered by that idea.
"You can't know that."
"I saw his face - I could tell." It was probably true that reading his face would have given me enough information to make that particular deduction. All this practice with Bella was sharpening my skill at reading human expressions.
"How did you see me? I thought you were ditching." Her face looked better - the green undertone had vanished from her translucent skin.
"I was in my car, listening to a CD."
Her expression twitched, like my very ordinary answer had surprised her somehow.
She opened her eyes again when Mrs. Hammond returned with an ice pack. "Here you go, dear," the nurse said as she laid it across Bella's forehead. "You're looking better."
"I think I'm fine," Bella said, and she sat up while pulling the ice pack away. Of course. She didn't like to be taken care of.
Mrs. Hammond's wrinkled hands fluttered toward the girl, as if she were going to push her back down, but just then Ms. Cope opened the door to the office and leaned in. With her appearance came the smell of fresh blood, just a whiff.
Invisible in the office behind her, Mike Newton was still very angry, wishing the heavy boy he dragged now was the girl who was in here with me.
"We've got another one," Ms. Cope said.
Bella quickly jumped down from the cot, eager to be out of the spotlight. "Here," she said, handing the compress back to Mrs. Hammond. "I don't need this."
Mike grunted as he half-shoved Lee Stevens through the door. Blood was still dripping down the hand Lee held to his face, trickling toward his wrist.
"Oh no." This was my cue to leave - and Bella's, too, it seemed. "Get out to the office, Bella."
She stared up at me with bewildered eyes.
"Trust me - go."
She whirled and caught the door before it had swung shut, rushing through to the office. I followed a few inches behind her. Her swinging hair brushed my hand... She turned to look at me, still wide-eyed.
"You actually listened to me." That was a first.
Her small nose wrinkled. "I smelled the blood."
I stared at her in blank surprise. "People can't smell blood."
"Well, I can - that's what makes me sick. It smells like rust...and salt."
My face froze, still staring.
Was she really even human? She looked human. She felt soft as a human. She smelled human - well, better actually. She acted human...sort of. But she didn't think like a human, or respond like one.
What other option was there, though?
"What?" she demanded.
"It's nothing."
Mike Newton interrupted us then, entering the room with resentful, violent thoughts.
"You look better," he said to her rudely.
My hand twitched, wanting to teach him some manners. I would have to watch myself, or I would end up actually killing this obnoxious boy.
"Just keep your hand in your pocket," she said. For one wild second, I thought she was talking to me.
"It's not bleeding anymore," he answered sullenly. "Are you going back to class?"
"Are you kidding? I'd just have to turn around and come back."
That was very good. I'd thought I was going to have to miss this whole hour with her, and now I got extra time instead. I felt greedy, a miser hording over each minute. "Yeah, I guess..." Mike mumbled. "So are you going this weekend? To the beach?"
Ah, they had plans. Anger froze me in place. It was a group trip, though. I'd seen some of this in other students' heads. It wasn't just the two of them. I was still furious. I leaned motionlessly against the counter, trying to control myself.
"Sure, I said I was in," she promised him.
So she'd said yes to him, too. The jealousy burned, more painful than thirst.
No, it was just a group outing, I tried to convince myself. She was just spending the day with friends. Nothing more.
"We're meeting at my dad's store, at ten." And Cullen's NOT invited.
"I'll be there," she said.
"I'll see you in Gym, then."
"See you," she replied.
He shuffled off to his class, his thoughts full of ire. What does she see in that freak? Sure, he's rich, I guess. Chicks think he's hot, but I don't see that. Too...too perfect. I bet his dad experiments with plastic surgery on all of them. That's why they're all so white and pretty. It's not natural. And he's sort of...scary-looking. Sometimes, when he stares at me, I'd swear he's thinking about killing me... Freak...
Mike wasn't entirely unperceptive.
"Gym," Bella repeated quietly. A groan.
I looked at her, and saw that she was sad about something again. I wasn't sure why, but it was clear that she didn't want to go to her next class with Mike, and I was all for that plan.