I took the most fleeting look I could manage.57
"Interphase." I passed him the microscope before he could ask for it. He took a swift peek, and then wrote it down. I would have written while he looked, but I didn't want to betray his trust and besides, his clear, elegant script intimidated me. I didn't want to spoil the page with my clumsy scrawl.
We were finished before anyone else was close. I could see Mike and his partner comparing two slides again and again, probably a result of his having a horsebrain58 as well, and another group had their book open under the table.
Which left me with nothing to do but try to not look at him... unsuccessfully. I glanced up, and he was staring at me, that same inexplicable look of frustration in his eyes. Suddenly I identified that subtle difference in his face.
"Did you get contacts?" I blurted out unthinkingly.
He seemed puzzled by my unexpected question. "No?"
"Oh," I mumbled. "I thought there was something different about your eyes."
He shrugged, and looked away.
In fact, I was sure there was something different. I vividly remembered the flat black color of his eyes the last time he'd glared at me—the color was striking against the background of his pale skin and auburn hair. Today, his eyes were a completely different color: a strange ocher, darker than any butterscotch, but with the same golden tone of my favorite butterscotch. I didn't understand how that could be, unless he was lying for some reason about the contacts. Or maybe Forks59 was making me crazy in the literal sense of the word.
I looked down. His hands were clenched into hard fists again.
Mr. Banner60 came to our table then, to see why we
57. The author leaves it up to the reader to decide exactly where Bella took it.
58. Horses are famed for their ability to count, although their ability to identify the phases of mitosis remains untested.
59. Forks, Washington is known for its almost constant cloud-cover, not only making it the ideal place for a family of vampires to settle down, but also leading to a larger than average number of mental health cases involving depression, hallucinations and logical delusion. The reader should note that the Ducks do not own a sun lamp.
60. Hulk-out.