Alice smiled to herself as she slid a stack of book into her locker. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see two girls walking hesitantly towards her. Finally. They had decided to talk to her last week, and she had been frustrated with the way they put it off every time. And that they hadn't figured out what to say yet. This left her unprepared, and being so used to knowing everything, she hated it.

The two girls were young, freshmen probably. Both blond with big eyes, they looked like twins and reminded her of a younger Rosalie. The taller one clutched a book to her chest, her knuckles pale from gripping it so tightly. The other was playing with her hair, twirling it around her finger. She wondered why they were so interested to talk to her. It made sense that they weren't so cautious about her being a Cullen as the other students were, they had only stared a month ago.

Every few steps, one of them whispered something in the others ear. It seemed to take forever for them to get to her, with their slow pace. She prepared by shaking the hair out of her eyes and taking an unnecessary deep breath.

"Hi!" She turned to them with a bright smile on her face. The girls froze, half a meter away from her. Damn it. She had turned too early, she wasn't supposed to have seen them coming. She had to think fast, she couldn't let them back out now.

"I'm sorry, I saw you coming my way. It was a joke." She said quickly, ending her point with a slightly laugh. The girls laughed with her, albeit weakly. She felt them relax a little and wished she had Jasper there to further calm them down.

A flash appeared before her eyes. Jasper. That's what they were going to ask about.

She smiled.

The girl with her finger still tangled in her hair spoke first, "I'm Amy, and this is Stephanie." She pointed to her friend before continuing. She had sprayed on way too much perfume, and smelt more like a bouquet than a human. Even to Alice. "I'm sorry, this is, like, none of our business....But, uh, my sister is in your year, and she was telling us about the, like, groups around school-"

" 'Cause it's pretty different from our old school." Stephanie chimed in, her lips pouted slightly.

"You were wondering about my group?" Alice smiled, chuckled even. She had actually been wondering when someone would actually ask her about her family.

The girls nodded. There was a moment before Amy spoke again.

"Is it true that you're all......dating?" The last word came out as a whisper and Alice wanted to burst out laughing.

"No. Edward's not dating anyone at the moment." She said with a straight face, before grinning at the girls who blushed furiously.

"We meant you and the blond guy." Stephanie blurted out before she could stop herself.

Alice nodded, she knew what they meant. She was just buying time before answering the question.

"Jasper's not my brother." She said, "We don't even share the same last name." Actually they did, they were both Whitlocks, since she insisted on it when they had gotten married. But they had so many identities, that it didn't matter. For social purposes, she was a Cullen and he was a Hale.

Amy let out a breath and Stephanie smile ever so slightly, "That makes it..."

"Less weird?" Alice offered. And she wanted to laugh at that because to her, life with Jasper was never even close to weird.

"Yeah." The girls admitted. Amy's eyes still held questions, and Alice awaited them expectantly.

"But you live together." It was more of a question than a statement.

"It's more of a boarding house." She replied finally, "But it's home."

The girls looked at each other, and she wondered what else interested them. Questions appeared in her mind, a lot of them revolving around night-time activities. She smiled, she wouldn't be answering those questions. Those were her answers, her and Jasper's. Speaking of, he was supposed to meet her in front of her locker soon.

"Do you love him?" The question caught her by surprise; she had stopped focusing on the girls. They looked at her, hopeful for a positive answer. As if she was their role model for love.

"I do. Very much. " She said simply, with a smile on her face.

The girl's faces lit up slightly, before Stephanie's brow furrowed, "How long have you been going out?"

Alice nearly laughed at that: going out! What would they say if she told them they had been married for 40 years? And anyway, they like staying in more.

"A long time. Sometimes, I can't even remember."

The girls looked at her incredulously, and with reason. The longest relationship they had probably experienced was a couple of months.

"But you're so young!" She wasn't even sure which one said it, but it made her want to laugh again. The things she would love to tell them!

"Sometimes...." She paused to form her sentence completely, "Sometimes you just know. It's corny, but when it's right it feels like you are going to be with them forever."

She could swear the girls melted in front of her, they looked so happy with her answer. In the distance she could see him walking down the hallway, concentrating on keeping his speed slow. He looked up, and met her gaze with his. His mouth twitched slightly, moving upwards to form a split-second half-smile.

She counted the milliseconds until he got to her.

"Hello." He said simply, directing it to all three of them and she felt a wave of calm wash over her. She smiled slightly and saw his eyes were a deep gold. Good, he wasn't thirsty. She remembered he had gone hunting last night with Carlisle.

The girls giggled and looked at each other before greeting him in reply. His hand moved slightly towards her, asking for permission. She nodded, and felt his arm snake around her waist.

"Jazz, this is Amy and Stephanie." She pointed to each of the girls before continuing. "They were interested in our....living arrangements."

A deep chuckle escaped his lips and Amy and Stephanie's cheeks turned a dark red. She smiled, blushing had always amused her. And besides, this was a funny situation to say the least.

Jasper looked at his watch, and the girls took his subtle hint.

"We should probably go find our next class." Amy said, stepping away slightly.

Alice nodded, "You guys can come talk to us any time."

"Thanks!" Stephanie smiled widely before following Amy in her footsteps.

And they were alone. Well, apart from everyone else that was cluttering the corridor. But his arm was still wrapped around her tightly, and she really wanted to skip her next class. Her mind ran through her timetable.

"Are they going to come back?" Jasper's question broke her concentration. His other hand, the one not holding on to her waist, took the books out of her hand and placed them back in her locker. Her question was just answered.

"Not for now." She said simply, shutting her locker and locking it. "But they were nice."

He said nothing but kissed her forehead and led her down the corridor. They got a couple of weird looks but it was nothing she wasn't accustomed to.

"What did you think?" She asked when they got to the door. He reached out and opened it for her, always the gentleman.

At first there was silence and she turned to look at him. He gazed at her, before muttering "Thank God for the perfume!"

She laughed and held out her hand. He took it, squeezing it lightly and they strolled off towards the woods.

I hope you enjoyed it... the usual disclaimer etc etc

xx