Chapter 111 - 111. chit chat (1/2)

When we went to the door, everyone besides me groaned in unison. It was raining, washing all traces of the snow away in clear, icy ribbons down the side of the walkway. I pulled my hood up, secretly pleased. I would be free to go straight home after Gym.

Mike kept up a string of complaints on the way to building four.

Once inside the classroom, I saw that my table was still empty. Mr. Banner was walking around the room, distributing one microscope and box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes, and the room buzzed with conversation. I kept my eyes away from the door, doodling idly on the cover of my notebook.

I heard very clearly when the chair next to me moved, but my eyes stayed carefully focused on the pattern I was drawing.

”Hello,” said a quiet, musical voice.

I looked up, stunned that she was speaking to me. she was sitting as far away from me as the desk allowed, but her chair was angled toward me. her hair was dripping wet, disheveled - even so, she looked like he'd just finished shooting a commercial for shampoo. her beautiful face was friendly, open, a slight smile on her flawless lips. But her eyes were careful.

”My name is Amanda Cullen,” she continued. ”I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Ryan Swan.”

”Yepp” I said popping the p.

Thankfully, Mr. Banner started class at that moment. I tried to concentrate as he explained the lab we would be doing today. The slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. We weren't supposed to use our books. In twenty minutes, he would be coming around to see who had it right.

”Get started,” he commanded.

”Ladies first, partner?” I asked. I smiled my best smile I could and passed her the microscope. she slid it back insisting I go first.

My assessment was confident. ”Prophase.”

”Do you mind if I look?” she asked as I began to remove the slide. Her hand caught mine, to stop me, as she asked. Her fingers were ice-cold, like she'd been holding them in a snowdrift before class. But that wasn't why I jerked my hand away so quickly. When she touched me, it stung my hand as if an electric current had passed through us, that was new.

I'm sorry,” she muttered, pulling her hand back immediately. However, she continued to reach for the microscope. I watched her, still wondering about the shock was it a magic reaction or what, as she examined the slide for an even shorter time than I had.

”Prophase,” she agreed, writing it neatly in the first space on our worksheet. she swiftly switched out the first slide for the second, and then glanced at it cursorily.

”Anaphase,” she murmured, writing it down as he spoke.

I kept my voice indifferent. ”May I?” if we are gunna be petty let's do it all the way.

She smirked and pushed the microscope to me.

I looked through the eyepiece knowing she was right but I'm just petty like that.

”Slide three?” I held out my hand without looking at her.

She handed it to me; it seemed like she was being careful not to touch my skin again.

I took the most fleeting look I could manage.

”Interphase.” I passed her the microscope before she could ask for it. she took a swift peek, and then wrote it down. I would have written it while ahe looked, but her clear, elegant script intimidated me. My handwriting looked like it belonged on a fridge drew by a first grader most of the time.