YAY! I finally thought of a better ending for this story! Thank you, SMF!
This story takes place forty years after Eclipse. Only instead of Alice and Jasper being together when they came to the Cullen family, they were just friends. Alice has now moved to a different part of the world for a few years to live with her new husband. Kind of like an extended honey moon. Jasper had always loved Alice, only he never had the guts to tell her, and he could tell she didn't feel the same way (Empath, duh). Anyway, like in my other story, Words We Must Seek, Renesmee never happened but Bella was changed and Edward and Bella did get married. Enjoy!
Great, just great. Once again, Valerie had cornered me after class, and poured her water on my head. I hadn't done anything about it, but it wouldn't go unpunished by me. Even though it never really did anything, I never let them control my life. That was a different horror's job.
Everyone called me the emo-goth girl. I was neither. I was depressed. Big difference. Not like they cared. It's not like I told anyone or anything, it's just that I wear long black shirts and long black pants. I wore them because they covered the many bruises covering my body. When you get hurt and pranked a lot, and you don't have any more clothes, it's good to have something that won't look dirty when you have to wear it again and again.
Walking home in the rain, with my bag slung over my shoulder, I thought about the new kids. They had been told by Valerie and Natalie, (loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear) that Amber was dangerous and a creep, so they should stay away from her. Guess they took her advice, because when one had to sit down next to me in class, the one with the blond hair and who looked like a supermodel, she scooted as far as possible from me.
Not that I could really blame them. I was the odd one out at our school. I was a tomboy, sort of, and it was looked down upon at Juneau-Douglas High School. The fact that I had dark brown hair and icy blue eyes didn't help either. I wore all black, never invited anyone over to my house, and never talked about my schedule outside of school.
The reason for me being a tomboy was because I raised myself by watching my father and learning what not to do through experience, not lessons. I was never told what to do, but if I didn't do it I was punished. Severely. Another reason I wore all black was because it didn't let bruises and things show through, and blood and stains didn't show up on it. I never invited anyone over to my house because my father was a druggy and an alcoholic, and I wasn't allowed to have friends. I never talked about my schedule life outside of school because I didn't have one. I was under permanent house arrest.
I didn't have a car, so walking home in the rain was a regular activity. A speeding silver Volvo passed by, soaking me even more. I sighed, then continued trudging home. When I arrived, I opened the door as slowly and quietly as possible. My father was passed out on the couch, his hand curled around an empty beer bottle like a teddy bear. I crept up the stairs, carefully avoiding the third step from the top. It creaks.
I put my stuff away, then hopped into the shower. Washing away the day's worries and cruelties, I quickly put my clothes in the washing machine. I pulled on my pajamas, and headed down the stairs again.
Turning on the oven, I quickly prepared salmon with potatoes. Father woke up just as I was finishing, and he lumbered into the kitchen to plop himself into the chair grotesquely. I placed the plate in front of him, and a beer bottle. I then stepped back to lean against the wall, waiting until I was allowed to eat.
Once he had cleared his plate, he got up and returned to the living room. I could hear the TV being turned on. I quietly cleaned the dishes and wiped off the table, before grabbing my plate and heading to my room.
I finished my homework at eleven o'clock, and crawled into bed exhausted. I was out right when my head hit the pillow.
********************************************************
I woke in the morning, glanced at my clock, then cursed. Five o'clock. I didn't have enough time to make my father breakfast, and that didn't bode well for me. I scrambled out of bed and quickly put on some bacon and eggs, just as he came in. When he saw that they wouldn't be ready for a while, he grabbed me and threw me against the wall. My breath left me in a huff, and I stared up at him in horror. He came towards me, a grin on his face.
********************************************************
Once he had left for work, I pulled myself up the stairs. I would have to go visit that clinic again. They were not allowed to ask questions, and it was several miles from Juneau. I put on my clothes that I had pulled out of the dryer the night before, and headed to school.
The taunts and snickers followed me down the hall, and I tried to push them out of my head. After I had gotten shoved into the lockers several times, I finally made it to my first class. I sat in the back by myself, and I relaxed into my chair with a resigned sigh. I rubbed my temples, trying to ease the ever present throbbing.
The scrape of the chair next to me startled me out of my reverie, and I turned confused to look into the eyes of one of the new kids. This one was named…Jasper. That was it. He was gorgeous. He had messy blond hair, and he seemed quieter than the others. He seemed to be the only one alone, since the blonde one named Rosalie, his twin I think, was with Emmett while Edward was with Isabella.
He offered his hand to shake, and I took it, surprised. I thought that they had been told to stay away from me?
"I'm Jasper Hale. It's nice to meet you…" He let his sentence trail off, and I swallowed to find the voice to speak.
"Amber, Amber Lewis Parker. It's nice to meet you too, Jasper." I smiled tentatively, and he smiled back.
Jasper's POV (Starting the previous day, their first day of school.)
A new school year. More lies, cliques, and girls plotting to make me love them, and propose on the spot. Ick. Only this time, we saw something sort of out of the ordinary.
We had seen a girl sitting by herself in the cafeteria, and with my power I could tell she was extremely upset. She had given me a huge headache.
Her life couldn't be that bad, could it? I mean, she was human! And yet I had the feeling that if I knew what her problems were, I might not be saying such things.
We had been told by two cheerleader type girls that she was a creep and that we should stay away from her. Rosalie seemed to take it to heart, while Bella had to subtly hold Edward back from growling in outrage. He had read the girl's mind, I could tell, and he had been shocked at whatever he had seen.
We had moved to Juneau, Alaska, a few months after Alice had left. I still loved her, of course, but I could never have told her. After all, she left because she got married. He was who she wanted, so I was happy.
So here I was, trying not to start screaming or dry sobbing from the emotions emanating from the mere mortal beside me. How could someone feel so much self loathing? It was inconceivable.
I turned to look at her, trying to distract her from her self induced misery. After our short introduction before, I hoped this would end better.
"So, Amber. I don't know much about this place, could you give me the low down?" I did not just say low down. Wow, she must think I am a creep.
Instead she shrugged, her nose barely wrinkled in distaste. "Not much, you'd have to ask Valerie." Her voice sounded disgusted. I couldn't blame her.
"What is she, QB of the school?" (A/N If you don't know what that means…sorry can't help you.) She laughed, nodding.
"The biggest. Cheerleader Captain, all around Biotch, and also the greatest slut you will ever meet. No doubt she has already tried to get into your pants, whether you know it or not."
I laughed, and we fell into a comfortable conversation. After Bella had come into our family, I had finally gotten over the affects human blood had on me. I was able to get out more, and since Bella wouldn't allow us to stay in our own secluded corner with her there, and Edward couldn't stand to sit by himself, we mingled more with the mortals than we used to.
The ring of the bell called us out of our conversation, and we waved goodbye to each other as we went our separate ways.
********************************************************
Bella's POV
After Alice left, I could see a definite change in Jasper. I had always known how Jasper felt about Alice, and I had told no one, not even Edward. I had been pleasantly surprised when I saw how the girl Amber had affected him, and I immediately began plotting.
Since I had my last class before lunch without Edward (on my request, which had taken some debating and begging,) and I knew I had it with Amber; I sped out of my previous class to get there first. I stood outside the door, pretending to be looking for something in my bag, until Amber passed by into the classroom. I followed a few seconds later, dazzling the teacher into letting me sit by her.
"Hey, I'm Bella. You're Amber, right?" she looked up, seeming completely shocked, before brushing some hair out of her eyes.
"Yeah. Its Bella, isn't it? Jasper talked about you. It's nice to meet you."
We exchanged some pleasant conversation before the teacher came in, and when we were packing up our books, I made my move.
"Hey, can I sit with you? I don't really feel like getting stared at by Valerie and Natalie in jealousy because of my boyfriend." I rolled my eyes, and she giggled, nodding, with gratitude shining in her eyes.
Walking to the cafeteria together, I noticed the halls were empty. Great. I stood outside the cafeteria doors, waiting until she took a deep breath, rolled back her shoulders, and held her head high, before nodding at me.
We blew through the doors, past all the obvious stares and into the lunch line. I paid for a tray for her, as I knew that she probably wouldn't eat without me. We walked right past my family's table, and headed to her normal table by the window. Sitting down, I gave her a reassuring smile and a wink before we began a conversation to make it look like we didn't care about the stares.
Jasper was the first to join us, followed by Edward. It was a few minutes later when Emmett joined us, followed by a nervous Rosalie. She loosened up after a while, realizing Amber wasn't as creepy as some people had said. We were enjoying ourselves, laughing and talking like old friends when a disgusting scent entered my nostrils. It was a mix of cheap perfume, sweat, make-up, and a disgusting cherry lip gloss.
I turned to look at Valerie and her entourage, who stood right behind me. She had her hands on her hips, and she was glaring at Amber with one eyebrow raised as if she was the most disgusting thing in the world. She then turned to smile at me sweetly, as if I was some ignorant child.
"You know, you don't have to do that. Its sweet that you would pretend to be her friend just to be nice, but don't worry; we understand. Why don't you guys come and sit with me? I'm sure you want to get as far away from her as possible." She sent Amber another glare, before turning to me in expectance.
I knew Jasper was about to explode at her, but I beat him to it. I stood up, turning to face her with my hands on my hips.
"You know, I'd rather not. She's my friend. She's worth about a thousand of you, plus she isn't half plastic. And besides, the only reason you have any friends is because you pay them with your Daddy's money. Oh, and when you're leaving, be careful as not to trip, if you fall, with those things, you could cause an earthquake." I smiled the same sweet smile she had given me, then turned and sat down again.
I heard an irritated huff from behind me, and she turned and stomped towards the door of the cafeteria. Someone started cheering, and soon the entire cafeteria was filled with the sound of jeers and insults.
Amber had tears in her eyes, but she had a huge smile on her face. Jasper, beside her, shot me a grateful look before putting a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. In my head, I started cheering. Stage 1 was complete.
********************************************************
Amber's POV
When I got home after my awesome day, I forgot to be quiet. My hand slipped, and the door banged back against the wall. Jonah, my father, shot up bolt right and turned to glare at me through his drunken stupor. I began to quake with fear.
Once he had finished, I took inventory of my injuries. I had a broken arm, a cut up and bruised stomach, and a shattered toe. I also had a burn on my back, where he had poured the left over hot oil on me from his popcorn. It was a second-degree burn, and it was making my vision go blurry from the pain.
After finishing with me, Jonah had then proceeded to drink himself unconscious, only passing out after heading to his room. I hoped he got alcohol poisoning.
Pulling myself up, biting down on my lip until it bled to keep from screaming, I grabbed the phone with my good arm and pulled out the tiny slip of paper from my back pocket. Slowly and painfully, I began dialing.
********************************************************
Bella's POV (sorry, Jasper's is later.)
Edward and I were sitting on the couch cuddling when my cell phone rang. I groaned, and stood up and walked over to my bag to retrieve it. The Caller ID was Unknown, and I answered it, puzzled.
"Hello?" I asked, and all I heard on the other side for a second was someone letting out a ragged breath.
Then I heard, "Bella?" I froze. It was Amber, and she sounded like she was in pain. I immediately became worried, and Jasper ran down the stairs to figure out what was wrong.
"Bella? What is it?" I didn't answer, instead ignoring him.
"What's wrong?! Are you hurt?!" I asked quickly running upstairs as fast as I could to grab my jacket.
Her breathing was growing more labored, and I began to panic even more.
"Bella…I'm at….my house…my dad…drunk…mad" she then began to cough, and a flash of anger rippled down my back. Her father?!
"Hold on, I'm on my way. Hold on." I said, but she didn't answer. I quickly snapped my phone shut, before speeding out of the house. I had never run so fast in my entire life. I arrived at her house in under a minute, opening the door quickly before following the scent of blood into the kitchen.
Amber lay passed out on the tile floor, bleeding from multiple cuts, the phone with the echoing dial tone hanging limp in her hand.
Scooping her up quickly, I ran back to the house. I sped past Jasper and Edward, who had tried to follow me, but I didn't stop. I heard them turn around quickly to follow me up the drive and into the house. Calling out to Carlisle, I rushed upstairs and into the room where he had his own personal hospital supplies.
He came quickly, followed by Esme and Rosalie. I ran downstairs, meeting the boys at the bottom of the steps. I ushered them and Emmett outside, just in case. We all went hunting, then returned quickly for news.
********************************************************
When we arrived, Jasper was up the stairs in a flash, and we followed behind at a slower pace. When we entered the room, Amber was asleep. She looked so tiny and fragile, drowning in the white sheets. How could her own father have done this to her?
Jasper, who was sitting by her bed, holding her hand, turned to look at me with pain and anger evident in his eyes. "Tell me what happened. Now."
We headed to the living room, all of us, and I slowly and painfully recounted the tale. The silence after I was finished was deafening, interrupted only by the heart monitor in the room above us and her quiet, labored breathing.
Jasper stood up quickly, startling us. He began pacing the length of the room, hands behind his back. He stopped occasionally to run his hands through his hair, or stare towards the room so far above him. He stopped finally, running outside.
A loud bang broke through the renewed silence, and we turned to stare outside. Jasper, in his anguish, had punched a tree. It had been uprooted, and fallen on the ground. He now sat leaned against it, arms clutching his knees as if he was holding himself together.
I joined him outside, and hesitantly sat beside him. When I placed an arm around his shoulders, at first he flinched back. I made him look in my eyes, and then he let me hold him. Silent tears racked his body, and I felt myself began to sob.
"I love her, too," I whispered, and we sat in silence together.
********************************************************Amber woke up six hours later, and she began to panic. Jasper quickly calmed her down, and though no one else seemed to notice, I saw that she had calmed down even before he had used his power. Just his presence made her calm.
Once we had explained where she was, she turned to me. "Thank you," she whispered, and I came forward to hug her.
Soon, once she had stopped crying, she spoke. "I have to go. If I'm not there when he wakes up, it could be really bad. It will be really bad." Her voice broke as she spoke of him, and the fury boiled back into my veins.
"No," I said firmly. "You will not go back to him. We can help you. You don't deserve this, and we will do everything we can to protect you." When she tried to protest, Jasper cut her off again.
"You will not go back there." His tone made it final, and she swallowed before nodding. He gave me a look, and I left the room.
*************************************************************************************
Jasper's POV (yay!)
Once Bella had left the room, I turned to Amber. She had her eyes on her hands, twiddling her hands nervously. I could feel how nervous she was, and I wanted to make sure she was okay. However, I didn't always want to use my power. Sometimes I wanted to calm people down another way.
"Amber," I said, then swallowed. I wasn't used to doing something like this. Crossing over to her bed, I took her hand in my own. She looked up at me, startled. Her clear blue eyes bored into my own, and I was almost lost inside them.
"Amber, you can go back if you want. I'm just not sure that, if you don't survive, I could stand it." I looked down, ashamed, and turned to leave.
An arm gripping my own startled me, and I turned to gaze at her. She was feeling nervous, touched, and …something else. I couldn't say what though; I didn't want to believe it.
"I won't go back. I promise. But you have to promise me too, that you won't go doing something stupid. Okay?" She fake glared at me, and I nodded.
********************************************************
Amber's POV
It was obvious, to me if not to everyone else, that the Cullen family was not average. I mean, they didn't eat, they were extremely beautiful, and I saw one of their eyes change color right before me. I didn't care though. It couldn't be that bad, could it?
********************************************************
Edward's POV
Once Jasper had left the room, I listened to the girl's thoughts. They were strangely observant, and once again she reminded me of the Bella I saw in Jacob's mind. (A/N you know, at the beginning of Eclipse, where Jacob showed Edward what Bella looked like after he left.) I decided to go talk to Jasper, and see if he would do what I couldn't at first.
I found him outside, resting on top of the tree he had knocked down earlier. Sitting next to him, we didn't talk for a while. Finally, he spoke first.
"I'm sorry that I never truly understood about the Bella situation. It just seemed…hard to comprehend. And now…" I turned to look at him, but he was staring off into the distance.
"You know, I always loved Alice. But now, I don't feel quite as strongly about her as I did. I could never tell her, and now I'm almost glad I didn't. Now, with Amber, I feel…" He swallowed, but he didn't have to finish. I heard it in his head. Now, with Amber, I feel…complete.
********************************************************
The next day, Carlisle called the police. Bella, knowing from her dad what would make them move faster, spoke directly to them about her injuries. They had arrested Jonah Parker a few hours after sunrise, and Amber wept with joy at the news. Only I could hear that she wasn't sure it was the greatest thing, because he was her last remaining family member.
After Carlisle's shift at the hospital was over, we all sat around downstairs to hear the full story. Amber, sitting next to Jasper, took several minutes before speaking.
"On the day I turned nine, my mom came home early from work. She told me that she was leaving, and that I had to be a good girl for my dad for a little while. She also said that she would come to get me in a few days. She left a letter on the counter, and I watched her drive away through the dining room window." She took a deep breath, swallowing tears. Jasper rubbed her back encouragingly, and she smiled at him before continuing.
"When dad came home, he read the letter. He then flew into a rage. He picked up the vase they got on their wedding day and threw it against the wall. He proceeded to do destroy all my mother's favorite things. Then he went to his room and cried. The next day, we got a phone call. My mother's train had derailed. No one survived. And that was when the drinking started."
The tears began pouring down her face, and from what I could hear, the worst was yet to come. "At first he would only yell at me, cussing and that such, but soon he began to slap me around. Never on the face, though. My father was too smart, even when drunk, to get caught. This went on until I was fourteen, and then it got worse. He would go out at night and come back with a group of men. They used to have fun beating me up together, and I withstood it. My dad didn't like that I didn't scream though, so he found new ways to torture me. He would light my hair on fire, pour oil down my back, and push me onto glass shards. I began to wear black, and I kept to myself more. I was afraid that if I made friends with anyone, he would find put and he would hurt them."
Jasper's other hand, the one not on her shoulder, was gripped in a fist. Emmett was growling, and Carlisle looked shocked and furious. I'm sure my expression looked just as murderous. Rosalie was sobbing. I realized that she was thinki9ng about her own experience, and how this was much worse. She wasn't bad all the time; you just had to get to know her.
"On my sixteenth birthday, he-he raped me. And I stopped talking much at all. That was when I started cutting myself, and I couldn't stop." After this statement, she pulled up her long sleeves to expose numerous scars. Carlisle looked sad, while Jasper almost started sobbing again. He pulled her close, and she couldn't speak anymore. We understood, though.
********************************************************
Amber's POV
I was sitting on the balcony outside of Jasper's room, looking out over the green forest. Green had been my favorite color when I was little, dark forest green. It would be nice to be able to lift myself above the expectations of only black.
The wind was blowing through my hair, and it felt nice. Most of my life I wasn't allowed freedom, of any kind. So the freedom of being able to go where I wanted in the house was nice, as was being free to ask for something.
Of course, I would always have trouble with asking someone for something for fear of his or her reaction, but, according to Edward, I was getting much better. I even let someone other than Bella and Jasper touch me now. When I first had arrived in this amazing place, I could barely do that.
"Hey." I turned around quickly, a huge grin breaking out across my face. Jasper stood their, his hands in his pockets, looking at me with an expression I couldn't comprehend.
He walked right up to me, stopping barely inches from myself. I felt my heart beat speed up, and I saw him smile. I felt like I could hardly breath, and I felt extremely light headed.
Jasper reached up and brushed away a tear that had fallen from my eyes without my notice, and let his hand linger, slowly, he lifted his hands up to my hair, holding my head in his arms.
After that second, I will never know who moved first; him or me. It really didn't matter. But all I know is that one-minute we wee looking at each other, the next moment his lips were on mine. He moved slowly, gently, and I loved it.
He was so sweet, and so amazing. He had come out of nowhere, my knight in shining blue armor. He had picked me up and saved me, in more ways than one.
He truly was amazing, and I still knew that he would surprise me. This story wasn't over yet. It had just taken a turn for the better.