Edward Cullen doesn't show up to school the next day, and as much as Maria hates to admit it, she is glad when she walks into Biology the next day. She wants to figure out what was wrong with him the day before but is not ready to feel so upset and anxious again if he acts the same way. Normally she wouldn't let other people's opinions her to her, but his reaction to her sitting next to him was completely unprompted.

She goes grocery shopping with Bella after school as they learnt that Charlie can only cook eggs, bacon, and the occasional frozen pizza, so Bella offers to do most of the cooking while they live there. She's always preferred to do the cooking anyway. Renee strays from recipes quite a lot - she calls it experimenting, but half of the time, the food is inedible, and Bella likes to take control.

"I bet you were relieved when Edward wasn't here this morning," Bella says casually as she picks up a few packs of steak from the fridge and drops them into the trolley that Maria is pushing around.

"A bit," Maria nods her head, reading the shopping list in her hand and reminding Bella that they need to grab some cheese. "I hope he's okay, though... maybe he was just acting funny because he's sick?"

"Maybe, but why would he want to switch out of class if it was just because he was sick?"

"I don't know," Maria shrugs her shoulders, defeated. "Well, maybe he just-"

"Maybe he's just an asshole, Maria! You don't always have to make excuses for everybody you know?" Bella interrupts her sister's justifications for Edwards's actions, fed up with her constantly trying to see moral explanations that don't exist. "Not everybody is good like you, Maria."

"Well, we don't know that he's an asshole yet, so let's not make any assumptions," Maria replies, shutting down their conversation, and the rest of the shopping trip is a little awkward. They don't talk as they load the bags into the truck, nor when they get home and haphazardly shove the food wherever it would fit in the cupboards or fridge. Maria finally sighs and breaks their silence when all the shopping is unpacked, and Bella turns on the oven to preheat it. "Would you like any help cooking?"

"No thanks," Bella says, and Maria retreats upstairs to their room. She unpacks the last of her belongings which she didn't get around to unpacking the night before, and then she whizzes through the homework set by their teachers in the past few days.

"The steak is marinating," Bella says as she enters their room and grabs some clothes to change into in the bathroom. Then, when she comes back in her new outfit, she sits at the desk and powers up their computer for the first time. Maria assumes she is checking her email but doesn't ask because she doesn't really have anything to say to their mother, who is the only person Bella will be talking to. "Mum has sent me three emails... she's threatened to call Charlie if I don't reply by half-five today."

Maria glances up at the alarm clock on her bedside table and shakes her head, "Better hurry up then, it's only four-thirty, but you know what Mum is like... and you know Dad will be in a mood if she phones him."

"Yeah, I'm writing back to her now..." Bella trails off, focusing on typing her response to their mother's erratic emails.  Maria just puts her headphones in and stares at the ceiling as she lies back on her bed, recovering after such a long day at school. She doesn't even notice their dad is home until Bella jumps up suddenly from the book she ended up reading and rushes down the stairs in a rush.

"Bella? Maria?" Their father calls out when he hears Bella running down the stairs.

"Hey, Dad, welcome home," Bella greets him, and Maria decides to go downstairs to join them.

"Thanks," Charlie says as he hangs up his gun belt and steps out of his boots.

"Hi, Dad," Maria says, giving him a quick hug before going to help Bella in the kitchen with whatever she decides to make for dinner.

"What's for dinner?" Charlie asks warily, and Maria knows he can remember Renee's awful cooking and is praying Bella and Maria don't cook the same way as her.

"Steak and potatoes," Bella answers, and his relief is evident.

Maria sets the table as Bella prepares a salad, and she calls their dad to come and sit down, fetching the plates from the kitchen.

"Smells good, girls.

"Bella is the only one that cooked, really," Maria tells him, not wanting to take credit for Bella's cooking.

"So, how is school? Have you girls made any friends?"

"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica. I sit with her friends at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice," Bella tells him.

"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid—nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here. What about you, Maria?"

"Well, I hang out with Jessica and Anglea and Bella at lunch, and I've met Mike too. He's all right... I have some of my classes with Alice Cullen... we speak a bit."

"Do you know the Cullen family?" Bella asks their father.

"Dr Cullen's family? Sure. Dr Cullen's a great man."

"They . . . the kids . . . are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school."

"Bella, leave it," Maria rolls her eyes at her sister, annoyed with her bringing up Edward all the time.

"People in this town," their father mutters, looking rather angry, which surprises both of the girls. "Dr Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," he continues, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him—lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well-behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature—I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should—camping trips every other weekend . . . Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."

Both girls look at him with wide eyes, it's the longest speech they've ever heard their father make, and it's obvious that he feels very passionate about it. Bella and Maria exchange an exasperated look before Bella takes back what she said. "They seemed nice enough to me. I just noticed they kept to themselves. They're all very attractive."

"You should see the doctor," Charlie says, laughing. "It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around."

"That's reassuring," Maria hums sarcastically. "If anything happens to me, I'll make sure it's on a day he's not in so the nurses won't be distracted."

The rest of the week goes by with little to no mishaps. Edward doesn't come in again for the rest of the week, and Maria focuses her time on growing stronger relationships with her new friends rather than worrying about her encounter with Edward Cullen on the first day. She finds her time at school far more enjoyable when she isn't obsessing over how other people feel about her. She has even been invited to La Push Ocean Park in two weeks by Mike Newton, and she's very excited to go and try out surfing. She goes to Mike's father's sporting shop at the weekend to buy herself a nice new wetsuit and a board that he recommended for beginners. She had tried surfing before at La Push when she was much younger, and she loved it, but she hasn't done it since and will have absolutely no idea what she's doing.

By Monday morning, people greet Bella and Maria as they walk through the parking lot and into the main building. Maria waves happily at them whilst Bella just awkwardly smiles and heads off to her English class. Maria's first lesson goes by quite quickly. She spends the majority of it chatting with Alice. When it is over they leave the class, and a snowflake lands on Maria's hand, followed by a thick flurry of snow.

"Wow!" Maria exclaims, looking up as the snow flutters swiftly to the floor. "It's snowing!"

"Have you ever seen snow before?" Alice asks Maria with a little giggle, and the blonde girl shakes her head, looking around in awe.

"It's beautiful," she says, smiling. "Phoenix weather is so boring compared to this. I can't believe I had to live there for so long."

"Don't you own a coat?" A new voice snaps Maria out of her infatuation, and her head snaps around to lock eyes with Edward Cullen. He's smiling lightly, although his question seems sincere, and he stands with his hands in his pocket and an eyebrow raised inquisitively. Maria's cheeks, which are already flushed red from the cold air, turn an even deeper shade of red, and Edwards's smile falters a little as he sees the crimson under her skin, but it doesn't fall completely. He looks different. His eyes seem brighter, and his expression is lighter. Maria would've never thought after his reaction to her in the Biology classroom that she would ever get to see this side of him, and she is pleasantly surprised when she realises how much more attractive this side of him is. He seems more lifelike today. More human.

"No," Maria shakes her head sheepishly, laughing a little at how silly it sounds to not own a coat in Forks. "I never needed one in Phoenix."

"Aren't you cold?" Edward asks her, and she shrugs a little. The truth is, she is growing cold. The Snowflakes are melting from her warmth, soaking into her thick, cable-knit sweater and chilling her skin.

"A little," Maria admits, wrapping her arms around her torso, and a shiver runs down her spine. She tries to hide it, but it's clear that Edward has seen it, and he smirks a little before shrugging off his thick, blue winter coat and holding it out to her. "Oh, no, really, I'm fine. You don't have to do that. You'll get cold."

"I have another coat in my car. This jumper is pretty thick, anyway," Edward assures her, shaking the coat in his hand to tempt her. "Please, take it. I insist."

Maria sighs and reluctantly takes the blue coat from his hand and throws it over her shoulder. The coat is heavy, but the fabric isn't warm like she expected it to be considering Edward only took it off a moment ago. It should still be warm from his body temperature. Maria doesn't worry about it too much, though. She assumes that the icy air must've made it cold again.

"Thank you," Maria smiles at him. "That's really kind of you. If you get cold though promise me you'll take it back?"

"I promise," Edward says with a smile before he leaves for his next lesson, and Maria rushes off to get to hers. When she's inside and shielded from the snow, she takes Edward's coat off and her sopping wet sweater and puts the coat back on over her T-shirt, hoping that will keep her warmer now she isn't wearing a wet layer of clothing. The coat is massive on her and looks a bit silly, but it warms her up very quickly, so she keeps it on during Government with Mr Jefferson.

"Who's coat is that?" Bella asks her as they walk to the Cafeteria for lunch. "I've never seen it before."

"Oh... umm..." Maria says, blushing a little. She opens her mouth to carry on, but Jessica Stanley cuts her off as she joins the pair.

"Is that Edward Cullens's coat?" Jessica asks her, gobsmacked.

"Yeah," Maria tells them quietly. "I didn't have a coat when it started snowing, so he let me borrow it."

"Oh wow," Jessica is still in complete and utter shock, but an excited smile graces her lips. "What does it smell like?"

"I don't know," Maria shrugs her shoulders. Truthfully, she has already smelt the jacket, and the scent left behind by Edward is intoxicating. It doesn't smell like any cologne or anything she'd smelt before.

"Have you not smelt it? That would've been the first thing I did," Jessica tells her matter-of-factly. She leans closer to Maria and inhales deeply through her nose. "Oh, wow... that smells really good... I'm not sure what it smells like, though..."

"Oh well, it doesn't really matter what it smells like as long as it smells good," Maria says. "I wouldn't want to wear a smelly coat all day."

"When did you speak to him?" Bella asks, surprised that she would be wearing his coat.

"After first period, I was with Alice in the snow, and my sweater got all wet and cold, so he gave it to me," Maria holds up the still-damp sweater in her hand to show Bella. "It was really nice of him, but I did feel a little bad stealing his coat."

They grab their food, and Mike joins them, and then they make their way over to their usual table and quickly begin eating. Maria is a lot happier than she has been in the past week now that she doesn't have the anxiety of Edward Cullen acting strangely in biology, and her friends must notice her switch in mood because they are joking around with her a lot more now.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," Jessica says in a hushed voice, cutting off Maria, who is laughing after Mike threw a tomato at her head in retaliation to a joke she made about him. Maria looks up, and her confused eyes meet Edward Cullens from across the Cafeteria. She blushes again, but it suddenly dawns on her why his eyes looked so much brighter earlier because, unlike the first time they locked eyes in the Cafeteria last week and his eyes were a deep obsidian black, they are a deep, golden colour today.

"Their eyes are different," Bella says, and Maria is glad she isn't the only one who has noticed.  Jessica doesn't seem bothered by what Bella says, shrugging it off and staring at Edward, who is looking down at the table now.

"I thought that too," Maria agrees with her. "They were black last week, weren't they?"

"Yeah, they were."

"Weird," Maria muses, but she decides not to dwell on it too much. Maybe it was a trick of the lights, something to do with fluorescents. "Oh well."

Bella turns away from them, but her eyebrows are knitted together as she considers all the ways their eyes could appear to be such a different colour today.

"But don't you think that's strange?" Bella asks Maria as they walk to their Biology class.

"Well, maybe they just looked darker because of the lights," Maria suggests. "Maybe we've just imagined it."

"What, we all imagined that all five of them had different coloured eyes?" Bella rolls her eyes at the absurdity of her sister's suggestion, and Maria just sighs.

"Maybe they all wear matching contacts," Maria jokes, laughing. "To look similar... it could be an inside joke."

"I don't see how that would be funny," Bella turns her nose up at Maria's joke and Maria huffs.

"That's the point of an inside joke, it's not usually funny to people who aren't a part of it," Maria says as she slips into her seat next to Edward. "I thought you were smart, Bells."

"Shut up," Bella mumbles from her seat next to Angela, and Maria grins to herself and turns to Edward Cullen. He laughs at the sibling's bickering, and Maria raises an eyebrow at him, pleased that he's not acting repulsed by her during the lesson. His hair is dripping wet and dishevelled, but he still looks good - almost like some sort of model.

"Hi," Maria greets him warmly, and he smiles.

"Hello," his voice is quiet and musical. Not like the raspy response he forced out in their first Biology lesson together. "Are you warmer now?"

"Much warmer," Maria laughs, pushing the long blue sleeves of his coat up over her hands. "Do you want your coat back now?"

"No, it's okay," Edward waves his wand dismissively. "You can keep it."

"What? No! I can't keep it! It's your coat," Maria shakes her head, refusing to accept his offer.

"I have quite a lot of coats, and you don't have any," Edward states, not letting her return the coat. "Besides, blue is not my colour."

"I thought it looked good on you," Maria admits shyly, and his smile grows.

"Thank you," he says quietly.

Mr Banner starts the class after that, and Maria groans as he explains the experiment they are to carry out during the lesson. They have to work as pairs to identify which slide of onion root is in which stage of mitosis. Maria has no clue what the stages of mitosis are, and to make things worse, Mr Banner tells them they're not allowed to use their books, and she sighs.

"What?" Edward asks her, looking rather amused at her grumbling. "Don't you know about the stages of mitosis?"

"I'm hopeless," Maria huffs, resting her head on her hands. "I don't even know what mitosis is."

"It's the process of a cell replicating its chromosome, and then it produces an identical nucleus so that it can split into two separate cells," Edward explains to her, and she furrows her eyebrows and looks at him quizzically.

"What?"

"That's what mitosis is," Edward states plainly. He pushes the microscope on the table towards her and smiles politely. "Ladies first, partner?"

Maria sighs and picks a random slide out of the box. She struggles to snap it into place and adjust the lens. "Is this right?"

"You need to set it to 40," Edward says, showing her how to set the microscope to the 40x objective. She looks through it, staring at the slide with absolutely no idea what she is meant to be looking for.

"It's Prophase," Maria says, taking a wild guess. She obviously doesn't sound very certain, and Edward looks at her with a smirk.

"Are you sure?"

"A hundred per cent," Maria nods confidently, passing the microscope to him. "I would bet my life on it."

He looks through the microscope. He seems unconvinced by her false confidence, and he raises his eyebrows in surprise. "It is Prophase."

"Yeah, I know," Maria scoffs, pretending it was obvious, and he shakes his head, laughing as he writes down the stage of mitosis on their worksheet. His handwriting is neat, much neater than Maria's, and she sighs as she looks at it. "I wish my handwriting was that nice."

"I'm sure your handwriting is very neat," Edward says as he quickly switches out the next slide and looks through the eyepiece of the microscope. "Anaphase."

"I think I should double check... just to make sure that-" Maria cuts off when their fingers touch as she reaches for the microscope. His skin is ice cold to the touch like he buried his hands in snow before class, and where their hands meet, it stings her, and it feels as if an electrical current is rippling through them. She jerks her hand back, gasping in shock from the sudden pain, and Edward frowns deeply and shoves his hand in his pocket.

"Sorry," he mutters, and Maria shakes her head, rubbing her fingers over the numb sensation in her hand from the shock.

"It was probably just a static shock or something," Maria says absentmindedly. "It's not your fault... your hands are so cold. Are you sure you don't want your coat back?"

"No, it's fine," Edward replies. "I always have cold hands... maybe it's poor blood circulation." He adds the last part as a joke to try and make the tension between them more light-hearted.

"Maybe," Maria laughs a little. "You'll have to get your dad to check it out."

"I'll remember to ask him," Edward pushes the microscope across the table to her, and she looks into it, pretending to check the slide to make sure Edward said the right one. "Was I right?"

"Ummm... I think so... what did you say again?"

"Anaphase?"

"Oh, okay... and what does Anaphase look like?"