All in all, I was feeling a lot more comfortable than I had thought I'd feel by this point. More comfortable than I had ever expected to feel here in Forks, Washington.
When we walked out of class, the air was full of swirling bits of white. I could hear people shouting excitedly to each other. The wind bit at my cheeks, tussled with my nose.
"Wow," Mike said. "It's snowing."
Oh, that's what it was. I bit my tongue, trying not to get nasty with Mike. I watched the little cotton fluffs building up along the sidewalk and swirling erratically past my face.
"Ew." Snow. There went my good day that was absent of snow.
He looked surprised, hurt. "Don't you like snow?" He simpered, gauging my reaction like a lost puppy who had approached a man working a hot dog stand.
"No. That means it's too cold for rain." Obviously. "Besides, I thought it was supposed to come down in flakes—you know, each one unique and all that. These just look like the ends of Q-tips."48.
Mike's face looked like it had been stepped on. "Haven't you ever seen snow fall before?" he asked incredulously.
"Sure I have." I paused. "On TV."
Mike laughed, throwing his big head back and showing me for the first time his horsey teeth. And then a big, squishy ball of dripping snow smacked into the back of his bulbous head. We both turned to see where it came from. I had my suspicions about Eric, who was walking away, his back toward us—in the wrong direction for his next class. Horsetooth Mike 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 go inside."
He just nodded, his eyes on Eric's retreating features.
Throughout the morning, everyone chattered excitedly
48. A trademarked cotton swab product owned by Johnson & Johnson, subsidiary of Unilever Incorporated.