1. First Sight
I payed close attention to Jasper without making it obvious, barely aware of the mumbling excited students around us or the silence of my family.
Edward. I thought. Though he didn't' turn his head my way, I knew he had heard. Edward, my adopted brother, had the gift to read minds to my benefit. We couldn't have this conversations out loud so we had to pratice talking back and forth in our minds.
Jasper was my one, true and only soul mate. We had found each other a long time ago and honestly I would be lost without him. Jasper wasn't so sure about our way of life. The way we had to pretend to be human and not drink human blood. It's not that he didn't like it, it's that he couldn't help it. He used to drink human blood when he wanted and anytime he wanted while the rest of us Cullens didn't have so much experience. The rest of my family had all been created by Carlisle, my adopted father, who had told them about his way of life and helped them devolped while Jasper was created by another immortal, Maria, the thought of her name narrowed my eyes. I was grateful she created Jasper yet I hated her for making him go through what he went through.
How is he holding up? I went on. Edward grimaced slightly nothing that would catch the others attention.
I panicked right away my brain instantly looking into the future. I rolled the clips that came to my head of the future over and over and over again looking for anything that deserved my panicked.
Is there any danger? I still panicked mentally my head still flickering with the visions of Jasper's future to see if I could find the answer. Edward turned his head to the left slowly and sigh and then turned it back where it was. I relaxed right away taking a deep breathe.
Let me know if it gets too bad. Edward nodded with his eyes and I let a small smile spread across my lips. Thanks for doing this.
I turned my attention back to Jasper watching as his eyes focused on a girl named Whitney, who had chosen to pause at a table near us to respond to a friend. At first he just stared but then the look of a hunter came in his eyes and he his body wasn't as relaxed as before. I looked in the Jasper's future quickly and I panicked again because of what I saw would happen if his thought kept going this way. Whitney was making a big mistake. A mistake that would cause her, her life.
I felt the breeze under my feet as I was pretty sure, Edward kicked Jasper. Again. I was grateful Edward could read minds.
"Sorry." Jasper muttered stealing my attention from the future. A look of shame crossed his face for a moment and I felt the need to comfort. I didn't like to see Jasper suffer.
"You weren't going to do anything," I whispered in a soothing tone. "I could see that."
"it helps a little when you think of them as people." I went on speaking low and fast so that my lips barely moved. "Her name is Whitney. She has a baby sister she adores. Her mother invited Esme to the garden party, do you remember?" I asked encouragingly at Jasper. I was desperate to make him feel better knowing it probably wouldn't work. It didn't matter if she was a god. She our was what we were suppose to eat and that fact would always stay the same.
"I know who she is." Jasper answered in a tone that ended our conversation. It was clear Jasper looked outside towards the window proving, was in no mood to deal with me right now. My smile erased quickly. Jasper just needed his space and eventually he would calm down. I checked his future quickly and glad that nothing unusual would happen while I left.
I squeezed Jasper's hand that was linked to mine under the table and sigh and got up. I put my tray away and got out the door quickly desperate to give Jasper what he wanted.
Class wouldn't start another five minute. I focused on what was happening inside the room trying to tell myself that I wasn't spying on Jasper but more like making sure he was okay. I didn't hear what I expected to hear. Instead of hearing my family trying to comfort Jasper, I heard different words out Edward's mouth.
"Jessica Stanley is giving the new Swan girl all the dirty laundry on the Cullen clan." Edward murmured. Their was a hint of frustration in his tone. Emmett was the only one to response chuckling. I wanted to peek and see what Jasper was doing, but I knew that even the slightest of my movements he was watching my every move.
"Rather unimaginative, actually. Just the barest hint of scandal. Not an ounce of horror. I'm a little disappointed." Edward teased answering some unheard thought.
The new girl at school's name was Isabella Swan and it was very easy to catch if you had been paying attention to the gossip going around school, no around town. Everyone had known that Chief Swans only daughter was coming to visit. He had basically done a happy dance about it. She had seemed to change the whole school. She had lightened the mood and it was easy to see the way that the boys here watched her, they found her appealing. I hadn't really paid much attention to her just like I did to the other humans.
I started to leave the place I stood deciding that the rest of them would see what Jasper had planned if he got to hungry. Edward would stop him. I counted on him. Still it had been less than a minute that all this happened from the moment eavesdropping on their conversation. I knew Jasper would meet me before class so I decided to go wait under a tree by the place Edward usually parked the Volvo. To make time pass before I would get to see his face again I thought about the new fashion magazine and how I needed to go shopping immediately to something new to wear.
I replayed the pictures I had seen from the magazines and rearranged the outfits they had chosen differently to match our personalities.
Rosalie loved to wear anything that reflected her beauty. She loved to be the star of the room and though humans feared us weirdly so, they had found her appealing and every time they tried something Emmett was their.
Emmett, Edward, Jasper and Carlisle wore anything that I had picked out for them not wanting to have a fashion argument with me unless I had picked out something a little too girly for their taste.
Esme wore the most warmest clothes in the world. She had worn clothes that had inflicted the motherhood out of her and had shown that she was a mom. She wore what most mother wore this days yet the vampire beauty had shown through her clothes making her look like the most beautiful mom in the world.
My mind got a new vision quickly. Jasper was about to come and walk me to class in a moment as soon as Rosalie would speak. I waited impatiently and smiled when I heard his footsteps a little too fast walk towards me. Their were barely any humans at the parking lot right now most of them rushing to get to class.
"It's about time you came." I warmly said as Jasper saw me and suddenly the fierce scowl that had been on his face erased and his expression took on a smile.
"My apologies, Alice." Jasper said coming and taking my face in his hands. He kissed me fiercely and while he kissed me I saw a flicker of the future on what would happen if we kept up our kiss. I chuckled under his kiss and took a step back.
"I'm sorry Alice. Before at lunch. I shouldn't have been so rude." Jasper said looking down. I walked towards him and stood on my tip toes wrapping both my hands around his waist and looked up at his eyes.
"I shouldn't have been spying on you." I answered back kissing his throat. I stood a quick step back as I saw one student's head turn this way. I moved just in time before he could see us. I took Jasper's hand and started leading our way back towards my class. Jasper took his time obviously not wanting to be here. I rested my head on his shoulder as we walked not caring about the eyes that watched us. The Cullens were already freaks so it didn't matter. We made our way their quickly and Jasper stopped on the side of the building.
"Have fun." I told him smiling. Jasper had to play the senior roll why I played the junior roll and though it was hard, it was for the best.
"Don't spy on me." he said getting serious. I nodded knowing I was lying. Of course I would look after his future. Right now his eyes still looked thirsty and full of bloodlust. He must have noticed the anxious emotions rolling out of me. Jasper sigh deciding I wouldn't follow through on that request, kissed the top of my head and turned around. I walked into class slowly, taking my seat in the very back.
I went to my seat and tuned out while the other students chattered for the teacher hadn't walked in yet. I had already seen the future that the teacher would be late. That wasn't my focus right now. I had taken the lesson we would be taught today years, and years, and years and I've grown tired of it. School was the one thing my family agreed on hating.
As class started five minutes late I looked ahead to see if I would be asked any questions first. No. Nothing that was unusual would happen in this class. I looked ahead focusing very hard on Jasper's future. Nothing else mattered right now. I could see that Jasper where he was right now was sitting in his seat very tense even with Rosalie having the seat next to him. I paid close attention focusing on what had caused that to happen. The heater was on today and the teacher had rearranged the seats putting one just in the front of the heater. A seat that wasn't usually their. A seat that was in Jasper's way. A girl with dirty blonde hair sat their now paying close attention to whatever the teacher was saying while her hair blew her scent back Jasper's way. I prayed that nothing would happen. That Rosalie would react if something happened. Rosalie was already watching Jasper from the corner of her eye as I could see in my vision.
The rest of the class went by harshly. The entire time I watched Jasper not breathe and suffer making me a little upset. Jasper had stayed tense the whole time and somewhere between class I had seen where his mind was taking him. He had pictured the girls blood playing with his taste buds and as soon as he started picturing it his future changed but thankfully Rosalie had snapped him out of it. I was grateful for that. I hated seeing Jasper suffer. Seeing him make choices that would hurt him in the end.
The bell rang interrupting my focus and I jumped a little at the sound. I looked to my left to find a guy with brown hair and blue eyes stare at with a girl who was sitting next to him and whispering quietly not realizing I could hear.
"I swear their so weird." she commented as I got up. I smiled quietly thankful that we were known as 'weird' instead of killers. No I didn't believe we were killers. Emmett's playful ways, Carlisle's caring ways, Esme's loving ways, Rosalie's beauty and jealous ways, Edward's musical ways and Jasper's…well Jasper's amazing ways.
I tuned the tall human girl out and walked out of class fast wanting to get school over with. The rest of the day at school went by fast. The whole time I focused hard on Jasper not caring about the rest of the world. In his last class he wasn't with Rosalie or Emmett and that was the one I had to watch him most in. Luck was favoring me today. Lucky for me in the last class many of the students were gone today apparently catching a cold. Excuses. Yet I was still grateful. I skipped my way over to the Volvo and jumped in the front seat.
"No." Jasper answered. I turned around curious at what they were talking about.
"Oh come on Jazz! Just one match." Emmett asked hopeful. I didn't need a vision check to know Jasper's answer would be a no.
Edward hopped in the car then and threw his face in his hands. It sounded like he was having a hard time breathing. What had happened to him?
"Edward?" I asked surprised. What had happened? Did I miss something. I didn't check my visions first waiting for his answer but he just shook his head at me not looking up.
"What the hell happened to you?" Emmett asked. Though he was behind me, it sounded like he was in a distance. I tried to make sense of his actions. I wish I could know what had happened to Edward. I shouldn't have been so focused on Jasper like that, forgetting the rest of my family.
Everyone's eyes looked at me as Edward sped the car out the parking lot a little too fast. I shrug a little bothered. If I couldn't see the pass I could at least see what would happen to his future.
I stared ahead in concentration to find something I hadn't expected. Edward was racing through the road with a killer expression on his face. The shock of him leaving was still there. Why was he leaving? He wouldn't leave us unless something had happened.
"You're leaving?" I whispered still in shock.
"Am I?" Edward said cold bloodedly. Another vision came to my head one that I wasn't expecting.
I saw Edward with red eyes, the redness of someone's blood. Bella Swan was dead in Edward's hand. Was this why he was leaving? Other flickers came to my head. Flickers of the following weeks after the vision I had, the search that would follow, the worry of Bella's father and the shock to the town.
"Oh." I said expressionless.
Edward wasn't a killer. He wouldn't do this. It wasn't in his nature. I saw as the vision of how he would do it popped up. Edward would stalk Bella in her kitchen, her back turned to him. How he would let her scent pull him in. The way he would attack her and his lips brushing against her neck. Bella wouldn't have time to scream. She didn't scream in my vision. Edward sucked her life out before she even had time to think. He would squash the trust she would build in him this one day if he wanted to in a minute.
"Oh," I said understating.
"Stop!" Edward groaned next to me.
"Sorry." I whispered back still in shock. I couldn't let go of the vision though. I saw another one now. An empty high way coated with snow and trees, barely any cars their driving at one ninety miles per hour. Edward was leaving. The thought made me sad and worried. This was the first time that he ever left home. What exactly had happened in that classroom?
"I'll miss you. No matter how short you're gone." I said quietly. I hoped he wouldn't be gone long. I would truly miss Edward. I hoped that he would come back soon. Our family wasn't complete without him here.
"Drop us here. You should tell Carlisle yourself." I told him when we had gotten closed to the turn unto the led drive that would lead to our old fashioned house. Edward stopped almost immediately after my request and the others got out in silence. I didn't need a vision to know that I would have to explain.
"You will do the right thing. She's Charlie Swan's only family. It would kill him too." I demanded in a low voice touching his shoulder lightly.
"Yes." Edward agreed. I looked at him for a second hoping that this wouldn't be the last time I would see him. I hopped out the car and followed my siblings nervous. I ran a little too fast than I usually did and as I soon as I opened the door their questions exploded in my face.
"What'd you see?" Jasper asked first standing by the door. I looked around the room wondering how to tell them. Esme was their looking more anxious then I felt. The news would hurt her the most and I knew that. I sigh slowly and started explaining.
"Edward's going to live with Tanya for a while." I explained knowing it would be Tanya he would go to. He was going up north so I knew he would stop their. My family was in the same position with the same curious expression. Emmett looked impatient, Rosalie looked confused and Jasper had raised one eyebrow all while Emse looked pained. She didn't need to know the reason. Just the fact that Edward would be gone for long was enough to pain her. She went to the couch and sat down looking at me for more.
"The girl. Isabella Swan. Her scent was…too much for him. He doesn't want to kill her." I explained feeling a little guilty. It wasn't like Edward to show weakness. I hoped he wouldn't hold it against me that I had told. I couldn't hold it in. Not after he would tell Carlisle.
"Edward was going to kill the new girl?" Rosalie asked with a slight irritation yet a little bit of amusement in her tone. It had been a long time since something like this happened. Life to Rosalie was getting a little boring. I nodded one stiff nod to her request.
"Not Edward!" Esme gasped in disbelief. I nodded again. "When did he smell the girl?" she asked putting on hand to her throat in shock.
"I missed it. I missed it all." I said shameful. I went to sit down next to her and I put my face in my hands.
How could I miss it? What if Edward had killed her in the room? Whatever class they took. What if he had? I wouldn't have stopped him because I hadn't been paying attention. Somehow I felt guilty. I shouldn't have been so careless. I was glad that Edward didn't kill Isabella in that room though. I knew he would regret the decision later and it would be hard living with him that way. It was already hard living with Edward's loneliness. He had pretended like it was nothing, yet we could all see it when I was with Jasper or when Rosalie and Emmett kissed or Carlisle and Esme went hunting together.
"It's okay Alice. Nobody expects you to catch everything." Jasper's honey sweet voice whispered coming to sit next to me. I could feel the air around me get calmer and my panic go away. I knew Jasper was doing it but I didn't want to feel that way right now. I felt stupid. I felt like the reason why Esme was unhappy was my fault. Like if I had seen Edward's future in that one class with the girl I would have stopped him in the beginning. Before even letting her scent catch him.
"I do." I answered. I did expect myself to catch everything. The big things. I heard footsteps walk out the room and climb up the stairs. Emmett and Rosalie left the room silently while I could still smell Esme's scent next to me. Jasper put his hand on my back slightly and refusing the calm air was now harder.
"What's done is done. Edward knows what his doing. Don't sweat yourself over this Alice." Jasper tried to comfort me. He was right though. Everything was already done. The only thing left to do would be check the future and make sure we were safe. That Edward would eventually come back. He had to. He couldn't stay away forever knowing what it would do to Esme. We were a family.
"You're right." I answered and I took my face out of my hands. Esme got up slowly and walked out the room. I watched her as she struggled to keep her pace a human pace. I looked at Jasper's face and saw that he was watching me. I stared into his eyes desperate to feel everything would be okay. Looking into Jasper's eyes usually made me feel that way. He stared into my eyes for a moment and then his lips were touching my lips. It was a soft kiss. Something that wasn't too out of proportion. I kissed him back happily glad to be comforted.