CHAPTER 9
HARD EGG TO CRACK

MELINDA Cox was nothing more than ecstatic to hear that her best friend was hanging around with a certain Quileute boy. Margo had been seeing Jacob at least two days a week, disregarding her random high school activities to binge-watch the entirety of the Twilight Zone with him. He even showed her La Push's infamous tide pools – finally. Melinda had jumped on the balls of her feet when she found out, disturbing the comfortable silence of Forks high school's crowd as she did so. "I can't believe this!" She screamed. "I'm so happy for you!"

Margo had put her hands on her friend's shoulders. "We're just friends."

"Oh, silly Margo," Melinda cooed. "That's what they all say."

Currently, Margo was trying to forget all that Melinda had said. She was happy being friends with Jacob Black, and hanging around with him as only friends. She was excited for the possible friendship they would have together. They could binge-watch one of his favorite shows on DVD next. Even Bella Swan said that Jacob was talking loads about her the last time he visited Swan's residence. Margo was content in them being just that – friends – nor did she think that would ever change. Well, unless he wanted for it to change. Maybe then she'd consider. Maybe –

No, wait. Just friends. That's it.

As the crowds in the hallways of Forks high dispersed to go to class, Margo walked towards a certain locker in particular. Running a hand through his dark bronze hair, Edward Cullen shoved his backpack in his locker for safe keeping. He sensed the smart girl from a mile away though, and he found his golden eyes meeting hers as she neared him. Her brow perked up when their stares connected, and she greeted, "Expecting me?"

"Wish I wasn't," Edward muttered as she approached him. "What do you want, Margo?"

What a jackass, she thought to herself, which Edward did hear. He felt like chuckling at it.

Margo leaned against the locker to his right, throwing him a bright smile. "So, I was briefed by your sister that you're a very ... private and shy person. Well, clearly not too private, as of lately."

Edward was about to utter Alice's name in an annoyed tone, until he recognized what Margo was insinuating. Privacy, he was told once, is a virtue. And by the way he was seen holding Bella Swan's hand this morning going into school, privacy wasn't his strongest suit. He already knew he'd be hearing the complaints tonight from his family, but what he didn't expect was for Margo Richards to bring up the matter. Well, who was he kidding? He could hear everyone in the school thinking about the spectacle from this morning. Margo was just the first to say it to his face, and for that, he only mildly respected her bluntness.

But in this moment, Edward was going to act like how Margo probably viewed everyone: a dumbass. (Not that he could blame her. There were a lot of them in their school.) "You caught that, huh?" He asked, pulling a trigonometry textbook from his locker.

"I'm pretty sure everyone did, Cullen." Margo smirked before clapping her hands together. "Nevertheless, I have recognized the error in my ways. It was wrong of me to stick my nose in your business every so often –"

Edward added, "I think you mean every day, for the last couple of months –"

"Hey, I wasn't finished." She spat, pointing a finger in his direction. "Like I was saying, I now, henceforth, apologize for my actions, and I will no longer pry in your life or anyone in your family. I just ..." She sighed, and she found herself getting lost in his bright golden eyes. Bella Swan was a lucky gal. "I need some answers, and when that happens, I try to go through every scenario to find them."

Edward nodded. "I have no answers to give you, Margo."

She fiddled with the straps of her backpack. "I realize that ... now. It was dumb of me to go all Nancy Drew on you. Not my business; not my problem." Margo put up her hands in surrender. "At least now I can dedicate myself to my true passion: schoolwork."

Edward released a soft chuckle before closing his locker. "See you in biology."

"See you," Margo said with curt nod. She watched Edward walk away, meeting up with Bella in the middle of the hall, who was smiling at him with her all-too perfect teeth. Margo sighed once more, feeling momentarily relieved.

•••

With the whole school buzzing at the recent news of Bella and Edward being a couple, the Feature was thriving with extra gossip. You bet Eric Yorkie was all over the story, despite Melinda telling him off that it was completely rude to exploit a supposed "friend" like that. Regardless, Eric didn't listen, and still claimed that he and Bella would remain friends no matter what. "You're a shithead, Eric," Melinda had said, ending their argument as of late.

It was a beautiful day in Forks, Washington. The sun was shining, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky for once. The air was crisp and the sky was a bright blue. Jenny was shocked to see her niece come down the stairs that morning wearing only a t-shirt, one that she had gotten her in Salem, Massachusetts all those years ago. Jenny had opened up the shades in their kitchen, marveling at the sight of beautiful spring weather. Neither of them had to wear a jacket today on this sixty-degree day.

Later that day, Margo placed her bag on top of her lab desk in biology and took out her textbook. Upon realizing that today brought nice weather and this would certainly mean the Cullens would not be in school, Margo expected Mr. Molina to ask her to pair up with Bella. And that he did. Margo took her things over to the table to her left as Bella sat down, waving to her as she did so.

"Has everyone been enjoying the nice weather today?" Mr. Molina asked once class started, earning a holler from Mike Newton in the back. Margo rolled her eyes. "In spirit of our temperature hitting sixty freakin' degrees, we will talking about the difference between photosynthesis and respiration."

The class groaned loudly, to which Mr. Molina shushed them with his hands. After giving them a brief description about the contrasting opinions of photosynthesis and respiration, Mr. Molina instructed half of the class to demonstrate a method using respiration, and the other – Margo's side – would do the same with photosynthesis. There wasn't much thinking to do on Margo's part. She was sure this would be easy.

Margo looked to Bella, who was staring at her blank page of notes and tapping her pencil on it. "I think I got this," Margo said, already scribbling down an answer. "The best method to use this in is a leaf. There are so many important roles that are dedicated to conducting photosynthesis in a leaf, like the xylem and phloem. It's pretty interesting."

When Margo looked up, she realized Bella was staring at her with a lifted brow. "Sorry," Margo whispered. "I get a little bit too into this."

Bella put her hands up. "No, by all means," she said, "if you know it, then write it down. I'm struggling through some of this."

"I can explain it to you, if you want."

Bella smiled softly. "That would be much appreciated."

The two girls helped each other through the problem easily. Margo drew out a diagram in Bella's notebook to help her understand the process more, and not long after, Bella began to get it. Margo felt like a proud teacher, and she could now understand why Mr. Molina was so enthusiastic about biology. This was a reason why Margo planned to study teaching in college. It was an amazing feeling to help someone out and for them to finally know what you were saying, and Bella was immensely grateful that Margo could do just that.

"Okay, I think I get it now," Bella nodded, writing down her last bullet point. "Thanks, Margo. How did you become such a genius?"

Margo shrugged, knowing fully well how she had such a big brain, but decided not to say the answer. "It's a long story."

Bella understood her reason of finally not wanting to talk about something, and the two grew quiet for a moment. Margo then hesitantly slid her stool closer to Bella's and leaned her cheek in her head. "Speaking of long stories," she smirked, "when did you and Edward officially become an item?"

Bella was caught off guard by the question, and almost spit the water back into the bottle she was drinking from. After wiping her drink off her chin, she laughed awkwardly. "Um ..." She shook her head weirdly. "I don't know. We just did, I guess."

"Good luck," Margo muttered. "Edward's a hard egg to crack."

"He's really sweet when you get to know him," Bella replied. She folded her hands in front of herself, trying to come up with more good qualities about Edward that did not relate to his special secret. "His ... family is great."

Margo furrowed her brow. "And they're all adopted?"

Bella chuckled. "Yeah, all of them."

After realizing what she was doing, Margo sat back up and straighten her back. "Sorry, I'm prying. I told myself I wouldn't do this anymore."

"It's fine," Bella said, sighing a bit at the end. "Just about everyone wants to know about me and my love life now."

Margo grinned for a moment. "Well, there's not a lot that goes on in this town, Bella Swan," she replied, "and you just made front page."

•••

A/N: Sorry this was kind of a filler chapter!!!! It was needed to show some development between the characters