The line in the title is used a lot, I think originally it was used Alice In Wonderland, but this was actually inspired by Mad Hatter by Melanie Martinez. She's amazing, and you should listen to everything by her!
Disclaimer: I do not own the title, or the characters, only the story and any mistakes.
Everyone said that she was a little bit crazy.
But then again, everyone said that they were weird. Outcasts. Freaks. Carnies.
But Alice Brandon might just be the craziest of them all.
She was amazing.
Jasper Whitlock was in love.
He adored her.
Alice spun around, her leotard catching the light as she spread her arms out. The skirt flung out and circled her tiny waist as her petite but incredibly accurate and strong feet gripped the tight rope. There was a collective gasp from the audience as she suddenly stopped spinning and did a double back flip, landing back on her feet, her knees slightly bent as she tilted her head down so she was facing the audience and sending them her charming smile.
He had grown up with her.
Alice was the daughter of the previous tight rope walker.
Her mother had been a slut, she had been with everyone in their carny.
Even though they were meant to be family, carnies cackled amongst themselves—including the woman.
They could be nasty.
Especially the woman.
Everyone thought that Alice would be the same.
Jasper always knew that she never could.
Alice was beautiful, and had this strange innocence about her, even in the life that they lived. She would chase butterflies and make daisy chains, threading them into her hair which had once been so long she could braid it down to her hips. She had these big eyes framed with thick eyelashes which had always made Jasper's stomach tie in knots even before he knew what that meant. As she got older, she was still smiling and nodding her head, as though listening to a song in her head that no one else could hear.
When she was seven, he had rescued her from a couple of townies.
People who weren't them never understood them.
They had thought she was trying to steal from them.
Alice was simply walking too close.
Jasper wasn't sure she had realized what was happening until one of them had gripped her wrist and pulled her in close.
As a thank you, Alice had sweetly kissed his cheek.
He was two years older, and girls were meant to be yuck, but she wasn't.
Alice could never be someone he didn't like.
Or someone that he ran from.
Alice helped her mother dress, do her make up and do her hair. That was why she was so good at doing her own. And she learnt how to walk along the tight rope and do tricks from her mother as well. She was just as good by the time she was eight, and when she was ten, the ring master was asking her to take over at the half time, so that both of them were displayed to the public. Alice's mother didn't like that. She didn't like that her daughter was prettier than her, more skilled than her. It made her drink more, and it made her mean.
The bruises started when Alice was thirteen.
They wouldn't have stopped unless Jaspers father had stepped in.
Alice's mother was dead four weeks later, drinking too much and falling, knocking her head against a concrete block.
Jasper helped Alice.
All of the carnival folks did.
Despite the shit they spun with their tongues, they were family, after all.
But Alice was strong.
Jasper knew she was, but she was always surprising him.
Only two weeks later, she went on stage.
The solo tight rope walker for their act.
She was a hit, and the crowds loved her. She moved easily, and she taught herself more and more tricks. Jasper would watch her when she practiced, and when she called out to him, he would spot her. She was as light as a feather, and he was strong; he had to be, given he was working with the horses all day, training them, reigning them in, teaching them. It wasn't very often that she fell, but when she was trying new tricks, sometimes she did. He was strong for sixteen, and she was still tiny at fourteen, and they made a good duo.
When Jasper was seventeen, he became more aware of girls.
He had already been aware of Alice.
He was always going to be aware of Alice.
But he noticed other girls.
Maria Mareno to be specific.
Maria was well known throughout their camp.
She was pretty, and she knew it.
She had been with a lot of the boys.
But just before his eighteenth birthday, she started paying a lot more attention to him. She would come by and see him when he was washing down the horses, stripped down only to a pair of sweatpants, standing there shirtless. And after the shows, she would come and sit next to him when they were all having a few drinks and letting off steam. His friends, Edward Masen and Emmett McCarty, had both already been with her. They laughed and said that it was a rite of passage.
So when Maria touched his thigh, he didn't push her away.
And when she kissed his neck, he let her.
And then once they were kissing, it was easy.
It was too easy.
Afterwards, he thought maybe it shouldn't have been easy.
He loved Alice.
Or at least, he knew he would love Alice.
He was only seventeen, he didn't love anyone yet.
He was too young.
Maria could be nasty, and she told Alice that she had slept with Jasper. For a few months, Alice acted differently toward him. She didn't ask him to come and spot her when she was practicing, just using the big net that stretched out below. He tried to talk to her, and she always answered and nodded, but she didn't look as though she was excited to see him. Not like she used to be. So Jasper stayed away from Maria, and he set about determindly becoming Alice's friend again.
It didn't take as long as he feared.
And then he got to see her smile again.
And she let him catch her when she fell.
And she gave him a soft kiss one night after a show when she managed a triple back flip.
And a month later, she gave him more than that.
By the time Alice was seventeen, and Jasper was nineteen, they were barely ever apart.
They were a team.
Which is where they were today.
Jasper stared up at the ceiling of his caravan. Alice had been one of the last acts in the show tonight, and she was still scrubbing down her face and taking the three hundred pins out of her hair. She had moved in with him about six months ago. It had been unofficial at first, just a few of her clothes scattered around on his floor. And then it would be days before she was going back to the caravan that she shared with her best friend, Rosalie Hale. Which was probably a good thing, because ever since Rosalie and Emmett had got together, they were pretty unbareable to be around.
When Alice came back, she was still so full of energy.
She was humming, and swaying her hips.
She smiled at him, and dropped a kiss to her mouth.
She sung out that she loved him.
She made them something to eat, her body humming with life.
Jasper watched her, unable to tear his eyes away.
She caught him watching her and sent him her gorgeous smile.
"I love you," Jasper said earnestly, getting up from where he was sitting and putting his arms around her waist. Alice turned around in his arms, resting her hands on his shoulders and lifting her petite body up on her tip toes and pressing her forehead to his, brushing her nose against Jasper's.
"Of course you do," she giggled.
Hope you pretties liked it!
Let me know what you think :) x