A/N: Here's chapter 2. Changed it a little… added to it. Hope you like it! Majority of the story was written by GardieniasInHand. ADOPTED!


Chapter Two

It was a lovely dream. It wasn't about anything in particular, just very peaceful. I wanted to stay in this world of sunshine and freedom and happiness forever, but, just my luck, my cell phone rang. I grumbled a string of profanities as I sat up and snatched the stupid, incessant little device off of my night stand.

"Hello?" I barked into my phone, half awake and irritated.

"Hey Bells. It's Jessica. Are we still on for that party?"

"Yeah, sure." I sighed, Ugh, I really didn't want to have this stupid party, but Charlie insisted. I had tried to convince him that I just didn't want to have the party, but unfortunately all my attempts had failed. Jessica's voice pulled me away from my inner ranting.

"Can I bring some people?" Her voice was chipper, which irritated me even more, but I agreed.

"Sure. Just not a lot. Charlie would freak. Do you know if Angela's coming?" I asked.

"Um, yeah, she said she would. Plus, she's chips and dip girl. She has to come." Jess informed. I rolled my eyes, though I knew she couldn't see me.

"Okay, well I'll see you later, Jess."

We hung up and I trudged downstairs to start setting up. Glancing at the clock, I figured I had about an hour to put up decorations. I put streamers hanging from the ceiling and I set up our dining room table with every kind of chips and soda known to teenagers. I put black plastic garbage bags over all the windows in the kitchen and the living room, pushed all the furniture against the back wall, and hung a disco ball from the ceiling. I was just hopping down from the chair when the front door opened and Jess came in, along with about ten people I didn't know.

"Um, Jess," I said, walking up to her. "Who are these people?"

"Don't you remember Stefan, and his brother Damon, their friend Matt and his girlfriend Caroline, Caroline's roommate Bonnie, Bonnie's friend Elana and-" I cut her off and dragged her into the kitchen.

"Jess, I don't know these people. Charlie's gonna flip. He just thought it was going to be me and him and a couple of friends, not the entire fucking student body!"

"Whoa, chill," said one of the boys, I think it was Matt. The way he spoke left no doubt in my mind that the boy was a bit drunk.

I put my hand on my hip and flung my hip out to the side, raising my eyebrows at him. He looked at the floor and mumbled something. Jess chuckled and turned to look at me.

"Listen, Bella, you need to get out and live once in a while. Take the stick out of your butt and come dance with us." She pushed past me and entered into the living room. Plugging in her iPod, she blasted the sound, giving me no further room for argument. I scowled at her back and grumbled under my breath.

While I have a minute, let me explain a couple of things about Jessica. On the first day of my freshman year of high school, a frantic girl came running up to me, asking for a tampon. I had thought it was a good idea to come prepared, so I happened to have many. I gave her one and she proceeded to thank me, God, and every other deity. I sat with her that day at lunch and that's where I met Angela. Angela, Jessica, and a bunch of other students at the table had all known each other since grade school, but they all welcomed me. That weekend, Jessica, Angela, and I all went shopping in Port Angeles. Jessica insisted on going to many clothing stores, but finally, Angela took a stand and said we should check out the book store. From then on, she and I were pretty much inseparable. I sat with them every day at lunch, but I had a very different relationship with Angela than I did with Jessica. Jessica is not someone I would tell my secrets to, deep or not. She is energetic and flits between hanging out with us and hanging out with other groups of people. She is sort of flaky and unreliable, but she's funny and she introduced me to the wonders of a push-up bra.

Angela, on the other hand, is quiet. She would much rather spend all day in a bookstore, just like me. I feel comfortable around her, like I can talk to her about anything, and I do. She is my confidant. I have cried on her shoulder many times and in return, I taught her everything she knows about computers; I consider myself something of an expert.

However, with Jessica's music blasting through my whole house, it became increasingly difficult to form a coherent thought, much less carry on a conversation. At the first opportunity, I dashed up the stairs and into my room. I had been sitting on my bed, re-reading Wuthering Heights for the thousandth time when my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Bells, its Angela. I don't think I'm gonna be able to make it." Uh oh.

"Oh, how come?" I asked. She didn't sound so good.

"Well, considering I just spent the last two hours turning my stomach inside out, I didn't think you'd want me there."

That made sense. I didn't want to risk getting sick myself, and I knew she'd be miserable if she came. Hell, I don't want to do anything but curl up and go to sleep when I get sick. Perhaps it was for the best for everyone if she stayed home.

"Oh, well Jess is gonna flip, but I totally understand. Feel better Ang." I assured and after a quick goodbye, we hung up.

After a while, I figured I'd head downstairs. It was supposed to be my party after all, despite the fact that so far, I knew only two of the guests: my dad and Jessica. As I trudged downstairs, I heard a familiar song coming from Jess's iPod. Weaving through the crowd, I made my way over to her iPod, and bend down to read the impossibly small print.

All the Small Things by Jasper Whitlock.

Oh, duh. No wonder this song was familiar. The radio had been playing this song about six times a day for the last week since its release. Normally, I get really bored and irritated by a sing if I hear it more than once a day, but this song refused to get old to me. The tune had been going through my head all week and I was surprised to find I didn't mind having this song stuck in my head. It was somehow comforting. Next to the song title, I could just make out the album cover. On it was a guy and he looked really cute, but you'd need a magnifying glass to even begin to see it.

"Do you like this song?"

Startled, I turned and saw Jess behind me. "I guess," I said, shrugging.

Jess looked at me for a couple of seconds, deliberating. Then, she grabbed my hand and dragged me up the stairs. She ran over to my computer and typed in his name in Google images. What sprung up was not what I had expected at all. I had expected some dude with make up and a sort of Gothic, tragic look. I mean seriously, how many hot guys are named Jasper. I didn't even think you named a person Jasper. But, what I saw was not what I had expected at all. He was very tall, certainly more than six feet, I could tell right away. He had dirty blond hair that fell in haphazard waves around the most intense, piercingly blue eyes I had ever seen. It sounds totally stupid, but it looked like this pixel copy of Jasper was trying to stare into my soul. Through his shirt, I could tell that he was well muscled. He wasn't huge and buff, but he was toned and muscular with a flat stomach and I'll bet my computer and pathetic college fund he had a six-pack.

"Well," Jess demanded. "Do you like him?"

"I guess. I mean, he's handsome." I shrugged indifferently because, realistically, how much can you tell about a person from a bunch of pictures and album shots. Besides, it was his songs that spoke to me.

'Oh, don't kid yourself Bella, you totally think he's hot,' said my conscious annoyingly in my head. I had only heard a few of his songs, but they captivated me and drew me in. But, I would never admit that to Jess. I still couldn't believe that I had never looked him up on Google before. Jess's voice pulled my attention away from the computer screen.

"So, do you like him enough to see him in concert, say in a couple weeks?"

"What?" I said, thoroughly confused, tearing my eyes away from Jasper's image to stare at my friend who stood in the middle of my bedroom. Jess reached into her pocket and pulled out an envelope.

"They're for you, me and Angela. My parents got them for me for graduation. I just thought you'd want to go with me since you seem to like him." Jessica explained.

My excitement rose to a ridiculous level as I ripped open the envelope. What I saw left me truly speechless. There were three tickets and three beautiful, shiny backstage passes on lanyards. One for me, one for Angela, and one for Jess. I had never considered Jess a true friend, but this was probably the nicest thing she had ever done for me. She had picked me and Ang out of all her other friends to go with her to this concert and I was humbled and, honestly, close to tears. I wasn't all that excited about going to a smelly concert hall with hundreds of screaming girls, but the thought that Jessica would do something like this for me was touching. I embraced her in a tight, real hug. "Thanks Jess," I whispered into her hair.

"You're welcome," she said quietly.

The rest of the evening flew by and I even danced with a couple boys. They were drunk and it was very funny to watch them fling themselves around the dance floor.

But, by two a.m., everyone finally filed out the door and Charlie and I were left with clean up. It took us a total of two hours; not bad, considering three dozen teenagers with alcohol and music were running around our house for six hours.

In the end, Charlie and I sat at the dining room table, munching on left-over chips.

"Congrats again kiddo," he said from across the table.

"Thanks Dad," I said and grinned at him.

We sat in comfortable silence for a few more minutes until I was literally falling asleep on the table. We both said good night and I trudged up to my room. The Internet browser with Jasper's photos was still up and I regarded it warily. Since my mom had died, I had some trust issues, I guess you could say. I had gone home during the summer between my junior and senior years and she and I were driving home from the movie store. It was my second day in Jacksonville and I couldn't wait to get home and curl up on the couch with my mom and Phil to watch a movie. But, when a dog ran in front of the car, of course she swerved to avoid hitting it. My mother was left dead and I was left with a six inch angry scar on my left calf. Strangely, I didn't blame the dog and I still love dogs to this day. But that scar always reminds me of what I will live without forever. I am without a mother, but I consider myself lucky that I had her for as long as I did. She was truly the nicest, sweetest, most caring person I had ever met.

I glared at Pixel Jasper as if it was his fault. Oh, what the hell might as well do some digging. I plopped myself down in my chair and looked up Jasper Whitlock on Google. It came up with his biography and his music and who he was dating. I started to read his biography and found out that he was twenty, just two years older than me. He had been born in Forks. Wow, all the famous people I had heard of had been born in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago, places like that. Jasper also had an older sister named Rose and a dog named Chewy. As I slogged through the boring stuff, I came across an interesting piece of information. After Jasper had moved to Texas when he was eight, he had become interested in horses and his family had owned a ranch. He had really gotten into it and had even competed. Well, we shared more than one thing now.

It makes famous people seem more real if you learn about their childhood. I pondered this new information about Jasper and shut off my computer. I grabbed my pajamas and went into the bathroom, taking a shower and brushing my teeth. As I slipped under my blanket, I could still see Jasper's face in my mind. I rolled my eyes at myself and buried my face in my pillow, sighing.


A/N: So that's chapter 2! What do you think? Let me know. PLEASE! Thanks!