The First Drop Of Rain

Chapter Twenty

School started back up and I was less than enthusiastic as Edward dragged me out of my bed in the morning, unfortunately he was not an alarm I could throw against the wall to let me sleep longer. He had my clothes in his hands, apparently Alice had told him where to find all my clothes, and he stood with an expectant look in his eyes. "I don't wanna." I grumbled as I grabbed my clothes from his hands and began to change, I cared so little at this point that he had barely had enough time to turn around himself.

"You made me promise I wouldn't let you skip school today." He reminded me.

"Yeah yeah," I pulled my clothes on and shoved my shoes onto my feet. My stomach threw a large and deep gurgle.

"Hungry?" Edward asked as he turned around.

"Opposite!" I yelled as I ran toward the bathroom, feeling the burn in my throat as my stomach betrayed me. He was there, holding my hair back, we had a system down, I'm sure he already had a glass of water in his hand to let me rinse my mouth afterwards.

"They still don't know what's wrong?" He asked, audibly tense.

"Acid reflux is the best we have so far." I grumbled as I sat back, rinsing my mouth with water and spitting it into the toilet before standing and brushing my teeth immediately. Edward flushed the toilet and lowered the lid for me, letting me sit down as my stomach settled. I heard a ding from the kitchen and looked at him curiously.

"Toast, I realized it was what you normally ate after throwing up. Did you want butter?"

"Yes please?" My stomach felt incredibly empty and the idea of buttered toast made me feel so warm and fuzzy. While Edward prepared my breakfast I walked back to my room and grabbed my book bag, thinking about the discussion of my crystals, in the bottom of my bag sat tumbled quartz and tumbled obsidian, and yet somehow he had never put two and two together.

I grabbed my jacket and worked my way down the stairs. By the time I was at the bottom Edward was handing me a paper towel that had two pieces of toast wrapped in it, and a travel coffee cup, taking my bag from me and throwing it over his shoulder. Out the door and into the car we went, the heater was on and I was instantly grateful that he had to leave to get his car after my dad left every morning. "What's the game plan?" I asked Edward as we raced toward the school where we would inevitably be early like every other day. I ate the toast carefully, constantly nervous I was going to leave crumbs in the car and Edward would have to get it detailed, though I was sure they were much more efficient at detailing then any of the shops they could go to.

"For what?" He asked, my thoughts must have been muddled today and not as straightforward as I thought.

I took a swig of coffee before turning to him. "What's the game plan for the visitor? It's only two and a half weeks now." I looked anxiously outside. The snow was thick on the trees, but the rich green that poked out from beneath the blankets of white made it look like a bob ross painting.

"We don't really have one, just that she can't get close to you and we will dispatch her before she can."

"So there is no chance of reasoning?" I asked anxiously, getting another drink of coffee.

"No, she's going to be too new for that. Alice thinks she's in the changing process right now, that she saw the decision as she made it, that she hadn't turned yet but would be turned soon." He clarified as we rounded the corner into the empty school parking lot.

"Where is she going to be?" I asked nervously looking down into my coffee as the car came to a stop in the spot he always parked in.

"If she takes the pathway she has planned right now we should meet her just outside of town."