Ethan took a shower, got dressed, and went downstairs, for coffee.
"What are you doing up at this hour? Today is Saturday." Enid asked confused, as she watched TV and had a cup of hot coffee.
"I have a school outing today...". Ethan said, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl. "I have to get there in a little while!".
"Field trip? You didn't even say anything to me...". Enid said, getting up to make breakfast for Ethan.
"No need to prepare anything, no! I'll just eat an apple and that's fine!". Ethan said, taking a bite of the apple, which tasted sweet.
"Do you want me to drive you? I just need to grab a jacket." Enid said, smoothing Ethan's hair, which hadn't even been brushed that morning.
"If it's not going to bother you, I do!". Ethan said, with his mouth full.
Enid went upstairs to her room to get a blouse while Ethan put his backpack on his back, getting ready to leave.
Then they headed out to the car, on their way to school.
"It's a ride to where?" Enid asked.
"Those places that grow vegetables inside an awning... I forget the name.". Ethan replied, trying to remember.
"... A greenhouse?" Enid asked, looking confused at Ethan, as his explanation had been terrible.
"That's right!". Ethan replied, raising his finger up in approval.
After a few minutes in silence, they arrive at the school. Enid finally parks the car near the entrance, and Ethan doesn't have to walk a few feet until he reaches the school entrance.
When he arrives, he finds Mike standing in the doorway of the school alone.
"Hey, Mike!" Ethan says, extending his hand to greet his friend.
"Hey Ethan, check out Eric over there!". Mike said, pointing his finger toward Eric, who was standing near them, standing in front of Bella.
"What's he doing?". Ethan asked, looking at Eric.
"He's trying to ask Bella out, haha! I told him that she doesn't seem to be interested in short guys, but he told me to go fuck myself. Now I'm waiting for him to come back with his tail between his legs." Mike said, crossing his arms as he continued to stare at Bella and Eric.
"I wanted to ask you, you know... I was wondering...". Eric was saying to Bella, stammering that he wasn't paying attention. "I know it's still a month away from happening, but haha... wouldn't you... like to go... to the dance...?". Eric said, shyly, and looked at Bella.
Bella looked back at him, confused.
"So, what do you think?". Eric asked her.
"About what?". Bella asked, making it clear that she hadn't been paying attention to Eric.
"You want to go, haha... To the dance... With me, are you in?". Eric said, embarrassed
"Oh me... The dance... Dancing...". Bella said, awkwardly. "That's not a good idea for me. I have a thing this weekend. I'm going to Jacksonville this weekend. Bella said, trying to look away from Eric.
"Oh, can't you go to Jacksonville another weekend? Eric tried to insist, a little desperate at Bella's answer.
"It's non-refundable ticket...". Bella said, making excuses for Eric. "You should call Angela. I know she wants to go with you...". Bella completed, looking at Angela.
Eric looked back and saw Angela wiping her glasses on her blouse, not realizing they were talking about her.
"Okay, okay, okay...". Eric replied, clumsily. Then he turned and walked toward Mike and Ethan.
"I told you!" Mike said, laughing.
"You're an idiot, Mike!". Eric said, irritated. "And for your information, she's not going with me because she has an appointment in Jacksonville... She didn't deny my invitation because I'm short!". Eric added.
"Hey guys, what's up? Come on... We have to go! We have to go! Green, what is it? It's good! Then let's go!". Mr. Molina started yelling, asking the students to get on the buses.
"Green is good? What?" Ethan said, wondering what the phrase Mr. Molina was talking about meant.
"Don't worry, he's always saying stuff like that. Just ignore it!". Mike said, patting Ethan on the back, so that they walked toward the bus.
When they got there, Mike, Ethan, and Tyler sat in the last seats.
Alice and Edward got on the same bus as them. Ethan saw Alice get on and gave her a little smile, along with a wave of his hand. Alice looked up into his face, but then looked away and sat down. Edward, who was behind her, stared at Ethan for a few seconds and then sat down.
Ethan was confused by this, but ignored it. He preferred to talk to Alice when they got to the place.
"Hey Mike, I heard you asked Jessica out today! Naughty boy!" Tyler said, lightly patting Mike's arm.
Ethan heard that and felt his heart squeeze. He really wasn't ready to see Jessica go out with another guy.
"Yeah, I didn't even tell you, did I, Ethan? I asked her to the movies tonight. Mike said, looking at Ethan, who didn't look very comfortable with the situation.
"Haha, yeah! And what did she say?". Ethan asked, a little reclusive.
"I won't deny that it took her a while to get back to me, but of course I'm fucked up! She accepted right off the bat!". Mike replied, bragging, as Tyler celebrated with him.
Ethan gave a short little laugh and turned to the window, not wanting to talk about that subject anymore.
After an hour or so, they finally arrived at the place. There it was like a park full of trees. In the middle were several small white greenhouses.
The students got off the buses and headed for the greenhouses.
"I want you all to line up here in front of me. Let's go in carefully. Don't touch the plants! If I see any of you destroying any plant, it will be deducted from your final grade. Mr. Molina said, trying to organize the students in line.
Ethan and Mike got in line with their classmates as they laughed at the random jokes they were making. As the students got off the buses, Ethan saw Jessica getting off. She was accompanied by Bella and Angela, who were getting off right behind her.
Jessica looked at Ethan, turning both of them red. They looked away at the same instant, trying to disguise their embarrassment.
"Look at Jessica over there!" Mike said, pointing at Jessica and nudging Ethan. "Hi, Jessica! Come here with us!". He shouted, calling the girls over to them.
Jessica gave a witless little smile and went with the girls to the end of the line, ignoring Mike.
"Hm? What's gotten into her?" He wondered confused.
The students began to enter the greenhouse. It was surrounded by healthy, bright plants. The smell inside was strong, but pleasant.
"Hey, kids. Help me out here!". Me. Molina said, calling Ethan, Mike, Eric and Tyler close to him.
They followed the teacher as the other students walked through the greenhouse, admiring the surrounding plants.
"Come on, I'll show you how to use this compost bin!". Mister Molina said, excitedly. "Eric, I want you to knead everything I throw in there, please!". Mr. Molina said, pulling Eric close to the compost bin.
"Yes, sir, teacher!" Eric said excitedly, while his friends also seemed super excited about the class.
Mr. Molina was a really cool teacher, which made most of the students interested in his class.
"Eggshells, carrot leaves, compost... Cool! Now put that in here, Eric." Mr. Molina said, throwing the ingredients into the machine.
"Yes, sir!" Eric said excitedly, as he kneaded the materials into the compost bin.
"Very good! Very good!". Mister Molina said, stooping down with a glass mug that looked like a beer-drinking mug.
"Now I'm going to make a hot cup of tea... of compost." Mr. Molina said, showing the boys.
"Oh, let me see this here!". Tyler then held up the cup of compost tea, super excited, and began
"Yeah! That's recycling in its most basic form!". Teacher said, getting excited with the boys.
Tyler, then, started walking backward and trying to drink what was inside the cup.
"TYLER! DON'T DRINK!" Mr. Molina started walking toward the student, trying to stop him from drinking the brown liquid. "IT'S FOR THE PLANTS, TYLER!". He shouted, as everyone laughed.
Ethan started laughing at Tyler, with the other students, and ended up bumping into Alice, who was right behind him.
-----
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"Oh, sorry!" Ethan said, turning around.
"It's okay, Ethan!" Alice replied, seriously.
"Oh, Alice! Hi! You didn't even talk to me on the bus today!". Ethan said, with a gentle smile.
"Yes...". Alice said, ungraciously.
"Is everything okay?". Ethan asked, a little worried about Alice.
"Yes, it is!". She answered. "I need to see what the teacher is talking about. Excuse me, Ethan!" Alice turned her body away from Ethan and walked forward, going to the other side of the study, near her brothers, who were staring at her with bad expressions on their faces.
Ethan stared at her for a few seconds, dismayed and confused by her reaction.
- Why is she doing this now? I didn't do anything! - Ethan thought, confused.
He began to walk through the greenhouse with the other students, a little away from his friends. Ethan didn't feel like he was in the mood for fun anymore. The two girls he liked didn't want to talk to him, and one of them, he didn't even know why.
Ethan started running his fingers through the plants, trying to distract himself a little, ignoring that the teacher had asked them not to do that. He could feel the different textures of each plant. Some were very soft and some were very rough, each a different shade of color.
Until suddenly Ethan felt a small thorn enters his finger.
"There!" Ethan said loudly. He quickly took his hand off the leaf and held his finger with his other hand, trying to make the pain stop, but that only caused a few drops of blood to run down his finger, dripping onto the ground.
At the same moment that the drop came off his finger, Alice, Edward, and Jasper looked in Ethan's direction, staring at the bright red blood dripping from his finger.
The brothers looked at each other in confusion. Ethan looked at Jasper, who looked like he was going to jump on Ethan's neck at any moment. Then Alice pulled Jasper out of the greenhouse, pulling him away from Ethan.
"I told you not to touch the plants!". Mr. Molina approached Ethan with a bandage. "I just won't take a grade from you because you helped me in the compost bin, Ethan!". The teacher said, pulling Ethan's finger close to him and putting alcohol on it to clean it.
Ethan felt the burning on his finger, but it was nothing unbearable. He looked at Edward, who kept staring at him with a cold stare. It was as if Ethan was a monster, which was kind of hypocritical of Edward, since he had such a problem with people thinking that about him.
"Sorry, Mr. Molina! It's just that I thought the plant was cute!". Ethan said, smiling at the teacher, trying to lighten the mood.
"You can go to the bus, Ethan!". Mister Molina said, with a laugh, as he listened to what Ethan spoke.
Ethan came out of the greenhouse and saw Alice standing next to Jasper, talking. They seemed to be arguing about some important matter, but when they saw Ethan leaving the greenhouse, they were quiet immediately, just following him with their gaze until Ethan got on the bus.
As soon as Ethan sat down, he saw Alice and Jasper returning to the greenhouse.
A while later, the students were getting back on the bus, getting ready to leave. Ethan saw Edward approach Bella, who was standing near Ethan's seat window.
"Bella, we can't be friends!". Edward said, approaching Bella.
"I should have said that a little earlier.". Bella said, irritated. "Why didn't you let the van blow me away to save yourself so much regret? Ethan is not that way with me!". Bella completed, irritated.
- Don't get me into this, Bella! - Ethan's eyes widened, hearing that, and he lowered himself into the seat, trying to keep Edward from seeing him and getting even angrier with Ethan.
"Ethan's not sorry? Will you stop talking about this guy?" Edward said, irritated.
"He's not looking at me weird or ignoring me!". Bella said, raising her voice.
"Do you think I regret doing that?". Edward said, moving closer to her, trying to get her to keep her voice down.
"I can see that you do, I just... I don't know why." Bella said, looking deep into his eyes, frustrated.
"You don't know anything!" Edward replied, seriously.
"Get on the buses, we have to leave!". Mister Molina started yelling for the students to go right away.
Edward turned and walked towards the bus opposite Ethan's, leaving Bella standing alone.
- So he's pulling away from Bella too... Maybe the problem isn't me, they just don't want to talk about being vampires! - Ethan thought, making everything clearer in his head.
Bella gets on the bus and Ethan sees her approaching him, kind of sad.
"Can I sit here?" Bella asked, while Ethan still continued with his body lying on the seat, so that Edward doesn't see him.
"Oh yeah, sure! Yes you can!". Ethan settled himself on the seat, letting Bella sit down next to him.
"How's your arm?" She asked, pointing to Ethan's bandaged arm.
"Oh, my finger hurts worse than my arm right now! Ethan said laughing.
"You're too clumsy!" Bella said, pulling her headphones out of her blouse pocket.
"Ethan, can I ask you something?". Bella said, looking at Ethan.
"Hm... You may! What is it?". Ethan asked, also taking his headphones out of his pocket.
"Do you think I'm going crazy?". She asked him, seriously.
"Why would I think that, Bella?". Ethan asked.
"Well, you and Edward are making me confused. I saw you two holding that car. Why don't you tell me what's going on? She said, inquiring.
"I think I had an adrenaline rush! Ethan answered, without much expression.
"See, Edward said the exact same thing!" Bella said, discredited.
"But that could have happened to him too, right? Like, I really hurt myself with that, it's not like we have superpowers or anything.". Ethan laughed.
"But you guys would crumple up just the same. Do you think I'm dumb?". Bella asked, a little annoyed.
"Hey, I didn't say that!". Ethan said, widening his eyes, trying to calm Bella down. "I'm just saying that I don't know what happens either... And that I sure as hell don't have any powers!". He completed, as he watched Jessica get on the bus, noticing that Bella was sitting next to him and ducking her head.
Bella turned forward, reflecting on what Ethan had said, but with a sad expression on her face. She put on her headphones and remained quiet.
"What are you listening to?" Ethan asked, nudging Bella, wanting to cheer her up.
"Oh, it's no big deal. Want to hear?" She said, handing him the headset.
"Are you listening to classical music?" He asked, wondering about that.
"Yeah, why?" Bella said, laughing softly.
"Look, I know you like oldies, but I don't think this music will cheer you up! Ethan said, putting a song on his cell phone.
"No, I'm fine! I'll just be quiet and it'll pass. Bella said, going to put on the other phone.
"Go Bella, trust me! Listen a little bit!". Ethan said, handing one side of his earpiece to her.
Bella put the headset in her ear and then, the song 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' started playing.
Ethan began to sing the words of the song, while looking at Bella. He began to move his arms around, trying to give her a seated performance. Bella turned red with embarrassment and started to laugh.
Ethan began to hold an imaginary microphone as he sang and point the microphone at Bella, causing her to sing along with him as they both laughed.
Ethan was happy to see Bella laughing, a little more excited than usual. He knew she had a good heart, he just didn't have anyone who understood her enough.
Looking out the window as Bella sang the song, Ethan saw Edward staring out the window. He seemed a little annoyed with Ethan, but soon stopped staring. Ethan just shrugged and continued to sing with Bella.
-----
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