Who knew something so simple could cause such a big disaster? Alice, Jasper and I had all decided to take a couple classes together this semester. Nothing major, just two fun electives: photography and art. Alice wanted to take the photography one, and I wanted to take the art. It is astounding how many electives you need for a college degree. Almost half of our college credits end up being electives, it is a rather large waste of money when you think about it, a student could take useless class after useless class and then take only a few meaningful classes to really get the education they need. It must be how the university makes its money.
Anyway, for our art class, we had a field trip to an art museum. It seemed easy enough. I am sure all three of us could have identified every piece of art in the entire building. It wasn't anything new, it was all reproductions of every classic painting, sculpture and pottery work from most major cultures. All the big names were there, Renoir, Monet, Picasso, Cezanne, Chagall, Gauguin, DaVinci. We were pretending to be awed and inspired the whole way through, of course, and it was harder than you might think.
The best part of the entire trip was lunch hour where we all got to sit on the grass lawn outside for an hour in the middle of the day. That's when the three of us managed to slip away for the entire hour without being noticed. We sat on the rented bus and goofed around, out of sight and out of earshot. It wasn't really necessary, but it was a nice break. When the break was over, we all had to resume our tour of the museum.
Some touchy feel-y kid decided that just looking at a Greek vase wasn't enough of a good art-learning experience for him. So he reached out and grabbed it. The professor tried quickly to stop him, and in her haste, the vase fell to the ground and shattered. As most people stared at the two in shock, the three of us saw the action in slow motion. Or perhaps because of our ability to do things with great speed, it just seemed like slow motion.
As the vase fell to the ground and shattered, the professor reached out to grab it. The student- a tall, lanky kid in his early twenties with an oversized backpack on his back- also bent down to grab it, but saw the professor and instead reached out to grab the professor as the vase shattered. Although the initial reflex to protect the professor was good, the professor had no smart reflexes, because she flinched at the student's touch and went the opposite direction, sending an elbow in the student's face. Blood spurted from the boy's nose, all over the front of his shirt and speckling the first few students nearby.
I saw the thoughts before I saw him flinch. The thought was in my mind at the same time. Jasper wanted to go for the blood and so did I. Alice was the one who pulled us both back. It was a split second of hesitation, of doubt. In that split second, she grabbed the front of our jackets and pushed us backward out of the room. No-one else even noticed our movements. They were all too focused on the commotion of the vase and the bloody nose. As quickly as we wanted to go for the blood, we were alert again. Jasper grabbed Alice's hand and bolted for the front door.
Even as I was out of the room I could smell the blood. I looked around the room and noticed my reflection in a mirror a few feet away from me. My perfect vampire vision reflected only a few small droplets of the boy's blood on the side of my face. No human would probably have even seen it. I could not only see it, but the smell was driving me crazy. I dived for the nearest bathroom, and threw my face under the faucet. I dried my face with some paper towels and took a few deep breaths.
Just as I started to get my bearings, the boy with the bloody nose came rushing into the bathroom, holding his nose. A couple of the other male students were huddled around him, helping him. They were debating whether he should go to the doctor. Everything in my world froze at that moment. I couldn't think. My only concern at that time was how many people had seen them enter the bathroom. Could I take all three of them down before they screamed loud enough for others to come running? Could I get out of the bathroom before I was seen? Carlisle would be so disappointed in me.
This was the thought that killed it. Right there. I was sane again in that moment. Carlisle. I ran some more water over my face, and looked at myself in the mirror. How on earth did Carlisle stand being around so much blood every day? I could barely handle one person getting a bloody nose. Good grief. I dried my face again with more paper towels, threw them in the trash basket and walked out of the bathroom. Alice was standing a few feet away from the bathroom door. Her posture was very tense, and her thoughts were questioning.
"I didn't do it." I answered her thoughts. She smiled.
"You had me worried for a minute there." She said.
It was one hell of a day. I think that I will skip field trips for now on. They really aren't that spectacular anyway. That's about it for now. Emmett and Rosalie are still doing their same old thing at their smaller university on the other side of town, only a week left until the wedding. Jasper got roped into being the best man. Glad I got out of that one, considering the tuxedo. It was his turn anyway. Carlisle and Esme are back from Isle Esme and ready for the wedding of the century- again. At least Paris should be pretty. I guess that's it for now, be back later.
Labels:
Alice Cullen
,
Before Twilight
,
College
,
Edward Cullen
,
Emmett Cullen
,
Jasper Hale
,
Rosalie Hale
,
Wedding
