My first weekend in Barboursville passed without incident. Klaus was unused to spending time in the usually empty house, he worked most of the weekend.
I kept the house clean, did my homework, and wrote my mom a more optimistic e-mail too.
I did drive to the library on Saturday, but it was so poorly stocked that I did not bother to get a card, I would have to make a date to visit Olympia or Seattle soon and find a good bookstore.
I marveled idly at what kind of gas mileage the truck got, and I twitched at the thought.
The rain remained soft over the weekend and quiet, so I was able to sleep well at night.
People greeted me in the parking lot on a Monday morning, I did not know all their names, but I waved back and giggled at everyone.
It was colder this morning, but cheerfully not raining. In English class, Antonio took his accustomed seat by my side.
We had a pop quiz on ""Wuthering Heights"". The quiz was straightforward and very easy.
All in all, I was feeling a lot more safe and happy than I had thought I would feel by this point. Safer than I had ever expected to feel here.
When we walked out of the English class, the air was full of swirling bits of white. I could hear people shouting excitedly at each other.
The wind bit at my cheeks and my nose.
"Wow," Antonio said.
"It's snowing."
I looked at the little cotton fluffs that were building up along the sidewalk and swirling haphazardly past my face.
"Ew." Snow.
There went my good day.
He looked surprised.
"It's like you do not like the snow?" he asked.
"No. That means it is too cold for rain." Obviously.
"Besides, I felt it was supposed to come down in flakes. You know, each one is unique and all that. These just look like the ends of Q-tips."
"Have you not ever seen snowfall before?" he asked incredulously.
"Sure I have seen it." I paused.
"On the Television." Antonio laughed.
And then a big, squishy ball of dripping snow smacked into the back of his head.
We both turned to see where it came from. I had my suspicions about Ulrich, who was walking away, his back toward us in the wrong direction for his next class.
Antonio apparently had the same notion. He bent over and began scraping together a pile of the white mush.
"I'll see you at lunch, okay?" I kept walking as I spoke.
"Once people start throwing wet stuff, I will go inside."
He just nodded, with his eyes on Ulrich's retreating figure.
Throughout the morning, everyone chattered excitedly about the snow, apparently it was the first snowfall of the new year.
I kept my mouth shut. Sure! it was drier than rain until it melted in your socks.
I walked alertly to the cafeteria with Annar after Spanish.
Mush balls were flying everywhere. I kept a binder in my hands, ready to use it as a shield if necessary.
Annar thought I was hilarious, but something in my mood kept her from lobbing a snowball at me herself.
Antonio caught up to us as we walked in the doors laughing with ice melting the spikes in his hair.
He and Annar were talking animatedly about the snow fight as we got in line to buy food for ourselves.
I stared toward that table in the corner out of habit. And then I froze immediately where I stood.
There were five people at the table. Annar snatched my arm.
"Hello? Aria? What do you want?"
I looked down, my ears were hot. I had no reason to feel self-conscious, I reminisced to myself that I had not done anything wrong.
"What is it with Aria?" Antonio asked Annar.
"Nothing," I abruptly answered.
"I will just get a soda today." I caught up to the end of the line.
"Are you not hungry?" Annar asked.
"Actually, I feel a bit sick," I said, my eyes still on the floor.
I paused for them to get their food, and then followed them to a table with my eyes still on my feet.
I sipped my soda gradually, my stomach swirling. Twice Antonio had asked me with unnecessary concern, how I was feeling.
I told him it was nothing really, but I was wondering if I should play it up and flee to the nurse's office for the next hour.
That will be ridiculous of me because I shouldn't have to run away.
I decided to grant myself one glance at the Cullen family's table again. If he was glaring at me, I would have to skip Biology, like the coward I was.
I kept my head down and glanced up under my lashes. None of them were looking this way, so I lifted my head a little.
They were all laughing, Alessandro, Willie, and Grayson all had their whole hair saturated with melting snow.
Emma and Annalise were leaning away as Grayson shook his dripping hair toward them. They were enjoying the snowy day, just like everyone else is enjoying it too. Only that they looked more like a scene from a movie than the rest of us.
But aside from the laughter and playfulness, there was something distinct, and I could not quite pinpoint what that difference was.
I analyzed Alessandro the most carefully. His skin was less pale I concluded, flushed from the snow fight, maybe the circles under his eyes were much less noticeable.
But there was something more. I contemplated, staring, trying to isolate the change.
"Aria, what are you gazing at?" Annar intruded, her eyes following my gaze.
At that exact moment, his eyes flashed over to meet mine.
I lowered my head, letting my hair fall to hide my face. I was sure, that in the instant our eyes met, he did not look harsh or unfriendly as he had the last time I had seen him. He looked merely curious again, unsatisfied in some way.
"Alessandro Demetrio is gazing at you," Annar chuckled in my ear.
He doesn't look angry, does he? I could not help asking.
"No," she said, sounding confused by my question.
"Should he be?"
"I do not think he likes me," I confessed.
I still felt uneasy as I put my head down on my arm.