Here you go! The replies are at the bottom, btw. Uh… hope you guys like this chapter. (=

Scars

Once I got to lunch I didn't have much time to look for Bella. In fact, shortly after I walked through the doors I saw a few girls walking toward me, but they stopped and I felt rough hands on my shoulders. "Hey, Alice," Jasper whispered in my ear. I resisted the urge to flinch back, knowing it would only anger him. "I already got your food."

"Thanks," I forced out, allowing him to guide me to "our table". No one messed with Jasper, and I understood why. He was a straight A student, captain of the football and wrestling team, and he was handsome. Well, he was nice on the outside. The outside, though, was all they saw.

We sat and I started to eat. Not long into lunch he spoke to me.

"So… have you met the new girl?"

I swallowed, knowing this couldn't end well. Part of me hoped that maybe Bella wouldn't find me. I knew Jasper wouldn't like her. "Yes, I have. She's really nice. Cool, too."

He scoffed. "Her eyes freak me out. I can never tell if she's really looking at me."

Cue facepalm. Jasper was a smart guy, and he goes and says something like that. Dumb. A**.

"Well, she is blind…"

I heard a chuckle behind me. "You wouldn't be talken bout me, now would ya?" Bella drawled slightly behind me. I turned to her, smiling.

"Bella! Hey! You wanna sit down?" Please sit. Don't leave me alone with him. Please…

"Well, that is what I came here for." Her smile was a big one and her eyes even managed to find me… sorta. She found the seat with her hand and sat, setting her cane down against the chair. "I heard another voice. May I ask who it is?"

Jasper reached across me and held out his hand to Bella. "I'm Jasper." His voice was tight, controlled. Bella seemed to notice this, but stuck out her hand anyway, missing his completely. I gently took her wrist and placed her hand in his, giggling a little. "Thanks." She said to me, and then turned to Jasper.

"I'm Bella. If you haven't already figured it out, I'm blind. That's why my eyes are… 'creepy'." She paused, feeling his palm. Her eyes darkened and her face became grim. "5'11, strong, hard worker… very aggressive."

Jasper snatched his hand back as if he had been burned. "How… how could you possibly know that? You can't me."

Bella rolled her eyes. "No s***, Sherlock." She chuckled while Jasper looked outraged. "I'm just awesome, that's all."

"She can also tell a lot from you're facial features. She said she would show me." I bit my lip.

"May I go first?" Jasper asked. Bella gave a small sigh.

"Sure." Jasper moved to her other side. She touched his forehead, trailing her fingers down his face slowly. "Smart… jumps ahead in thoughts… 'just do it' attitude… easy to concentrate… you don't like people who are different… athlete… easily angered… not talkative… pessimist… very alpha male… fighter." Her hands dropped, laying in her lap as she turned away from him.

"Wow…" I breathed, amazed. She hit the nail on the head. I felt hope. She knew the real Jasper now. Jasper blinked a few times, opening his mouth, but Bella was already talking to me.

"Your turn?" she smiled.

"Yeah." She nodded and found the top of my forehead. Her touch was feather-light and sent tingles all throughout my body. I closed my eyes.

"High intelligence… progressive thinker…" her eyes widened when her fingers found the edge of my scar. She traced it, from the middle of my forehead to where it ended above my left eyebrow. Her eyes darkened and flicked to Jasper before taking a deep breath and continuing. "Compassionate… 'Just do it' attitude… likes balance…" her fingers paused at my right cheek bone, over another scar. "Even tempered… artist…" she trailed her fingers over my lips. I bit the inside of my cheek. "Likes to talk… optimistic… feminine." Her fingers lingered on my jaw a moment before falling. I opened my eyes to see that she looked sad. "Alice," she whispered. "Can I talk to you outside?" Her eyes flicked to Jasper again. "Alone?"

I glanced at Jasper, who nodded, and said a soft "yes," and followed her out of the room. We sat at one of the picnic benches with our backs facing the building. Bella bowed her head, gripping her cane tightly. She than lifted it, face grim.

"Is Jasper… is he your boyfriend?"

"…" I bowed my head. "Yes."

She touched my cheek lightly, and then wiped away a few tears that had escaped. "You're afraid of him?"

"Yes," I whispered.

She gently touched the scar on my forehead. "He did this?" I nodded, knowing she could feel it. Her fingers found the scar on my cheekbone. Unlike the one on my forehead, this one was more jagged and far more ugly. "And this?"

"Yes."

She touched the one that ran over my lips. I nodded, knowing what she would ask. She frowned deeply and once again swept away the tears, and then pulled me to her, hugging me. As if she had read my mind she said, "It's not your fault. He had no right to hurt you." This opened the floodgates and I cried more, letting the emotions loose. I found myself clinging to her shirt and she only held me tighter. Eventually the tears did stop, but I still clung to her. I didn't really know why. Maybe it was the comfort. Perhaps it was her smell. She did smell good. Like… vanilla sugar… or maybe it was how gentle, yet strong she felt. Those are weird thoughts to have about someone you just met, aren't they? I guess…

When the bell rang, Bella waited for me to pull away. Before I could wipe the remaining tears away, she did. "Don't let him get you down. I'll help you through this."

"Thank you," I whispered. I glanced over her shoulder to see Jasper was almost to us. Her lips tightened.

"Hey."

"Yeah?"

She smiled. "You're beautiful. Don't forget it, kay?"

I smiled. No one but my mother had called me beautiful. "Okay."

Jasper was right behind her now and she said "Hey, Jasper." He stumbled. Whoa… I didn't… how did she know he was here?

He straightened up. "Hello, Bella."

"You don't have to pretend to like me. Or be polite. I know you don't and I hate fake people," she stated simply, standing.

He growled a little and turned to me. "Come on, Alice. I'll walk you to class. You're already late."

"What class do you have?" Bella asked me softly.

"She has Music."

Bella clenched and unclenched her jaw. "She can speak for herself. Anyway, I'll walk with her. Besides, I have that class and I think you have something else."

Oh, my god, Bella! You're my hero!

They eyed each other… or rather, Jasper eyed Bella. It looked as if they were having a staring contest until Jasper gave in. "Fine," Jasper stated, walking over to me. He kissed me roughly, but pulled away when I didn't respond. "Later, darling." Then he left.

Bella walked next to me, her cane tapping away. "I don't like him. He's feeding on your fear." She scrunched up her nose. "Reminds me of a leech."

I sighed. "Well… you're the only one that sees it."

"Ironic. It took a blind woman to see through his lies."

"Yeah."

-xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo-

Within three weeks Bella and I became fast (and close) friends. As our bond became stronger, Jasper became more and more angry. Bella seemed to sense the tension, his anger, and my increasing fear. She had saved me from many a date. When Jasper asked me out, she would end up coming to my house. She didn't mind, and my mother loved her.

It was Friday and when I saw Bella rushing up to me I worried. I was amazed that she could so easily weave through the students and find me. She was wearing dark gray jeans and a black wife beater. It fit her form and showed off her arms, which I noticed were well muscled, as was her abdomen.

She stopped in front of me, smiling. "Hey, Ali," she said, using her nickname for me. I really gotta ask her how she always knew it was me.

"Hey, Bella. What's up?"

She leaned her shoulder against the wall next to me. "Are you doing anything this weekend?"

"No," I laughed. "But I have a feeling I'm about to."

Her grin widened. "Wanna come over to my house? We can watch movies and stuff."

Gotta love her use of words. Lol. "Your mom wont mind?"

Bella bowed her head, gripping her bicep with her hand. "I don't have a mom. I… I live alone."

"Oh," I said, taking her hand in mine and giving it a squeeze. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't know," she whispered, squeezing my hand back.

"I would like to come, though. Should I bring anything?"

Her smile returned and her eyes sparkled. "Naw. Just yourself and some clothes. I'll even cook for you." She winked and I giggled.

"You can cook?"

"But, of course! I don't just make de frozen dinners and eata take out foode," she said in an impressive Italian accent.

"Well, that's tr-"

"Alice." I flinched. Hesitantly, I turned, letting go of Bella's hand to face Jasper. "You wanna talk?"

No! I don't want to talk. I want you to leave me alone!

"Actually, she was talking to me." Bella said, not turning from me.

"Well, I can talk to her whenever I want." He puffed out his chest.

Bella turned to face him, standing tall. "Maybe she doesn't want to talk to you." My eyes flicked from one to the other.

"She's my girlfriend." Jasper.

"She's my friend." Bella.

"She likes me more then you." Jasper. Not true!

"Not from where I'm standing." Bella.

"What do you know? You're blind." Jasper.

"Not so blind that I don't see through your lies. You're a crappy boyfriend." Bella.

Jasper's face contorted in a snarl. He brought his fist back and let loose before I could do anything. I watched in slow motion as his fist plummeted toward her face. But… it never connected. At the last moment Bella had brought up her hand and caught his fist effortlessly. She squeezed and he yelped in pain.

"Wow. That was low. Trying to punch a blind girl?" She shook her head slowly back and forth, squeezing a little more. This brought Jasper to his knees.

"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again." She squeezed a little more with every word, then let him go. She sighed and turned to me.

"Wow…?"

She bit her lip and I followed her down the hall. "Just… it's complicated."

"Oh." I shrugged and said "That was pretty amazing."

She smiled. "Not scary?"

"No. You looked pretty mad, though."

"Yeah, well, not only has he hurt you, but he tried to punch me. He didn't know I would block it and threw a punch anyway. I hate men like that."

I nodded and sighed.

-xoxoxoxoxoxoxo-

I heard loud rock music as I stumbled up to Bella's door. I rang the doorbell and hung on to the railing for support, listening to the lyrics of the song playing.

You're not the only one
Refusing to go down
You're not the only one
So get up

Let's start a riot, a riot
Let's start a riot
Let's start a riot, a riot
Let's start a riot

The door opened to reveal a sweaty Bella. "Lo?" She said.

"Hey, Bells."

"Ali!" She smiled, but paused. "Do… do I smell blood?"

S***, she already knows. "Yeah." I touched my lip, hissing.

"Oh, my… come in. I'll get your bag."

"He took it."

She growled and let me hobble inside. I noticed she didn't have her cane. "Where's your cane?"

"I don't need it around the house. I know where everything is. Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

I nodded and stumbled a little. She must have heard it because she walked over to my side and looped her arm around my waist with my arm around her shoulders. She got me to the bathroom and began opening cabinets, running her fingers over the brail on the bottles.

"Here we are." She kneeled in front of me and began cleaning my face, gently running a damp washcloth over the cuts first. I hissed when she hit a bruise and she became even gentler.

"Why did he do this?" she asked.

"I don't know. I was walking over here and he stopped me, accusing me of… a lot of things and started hitting me. I'm sorry. This has caused you so much trouble."

She turned her face to me. "No. I already told you I would always be there. I'm going to help you though this."

It was silent save the music as she bandaged me up.

"Ali?"

"Yeah?"

"How does your mother not know about this? She's so kind and caring… I don't see how she doesn't see it."

"I'm a klutz, so I tell her I fell or something and she believes me."

She frowned.

"I want to break up with him." I stated as she stood. "And I was wondering… would you be there? With me, I mean?" she stopped and turned, putting the bottles on the counter.

"Yes. I'll be there, Ali." She smiled, searching for my hand and finding it. "He won't hurt you anymore, okay? I'll be sure of it."

I smiled and hugged her, burying my face in her neck. "Thank you."

Her strong arms wrapped around me. "Anytime."

-xoxo-

Eh? Whatcha think? I made Jazz the bad guy (don't shoot me all you Jasper lovers!) and Bella is starting to look pretty kick ass. So… yeah. Here are your replies, guys.

bleach number 1 fan: lol, thanks. Uh… you never know. You just have to see. *evil grin*

trang-a-lang: O.o why was your heart stuttering? Lol, thank you. It's taken a long time to get this far. *smile*

Viewer: cool! Thanks.

pazu1: *grin*

Bellice Fan: thank you!

Lynettecullen: *chuckle* hope this was up to your expectations.

mojo-jojo: Great Spirits, I love your screen name! lol, thanks.

So… yeah. This was a better response then I thought I would get. I love you all! And please tell me what you think about this chapter.