Disclaimer: Me? Own Twilight? I don't even own the money I have! Don't ask.
A/M: Yay! I remember why Twilight's such a great place to write stories in…EVERYONE reads it thus you get a bajillion reviews! Ick, I know it's just a lot of exposition but the action will start next chapter.
Take A Chance On Me: Chapter Two
Journey Through Our Anecdotic Review
The bell rang releasing students from their classes. Jasper exited his 8th period physics class and walked down the hallway in high spirits.
Thursday afternoon was Jasper's favorite part of the week. Instead of going home early, he would go and talk to Emma Delancy, his guidance counselor.
He walked down to the office in a grand mood, despite his peripheral glance at the rain dripping from the sky lightly. It was always raining in the little town of Forks, Washington. He wasn't very fond of it. When you've lived in places like San Diego and New York – both large cities – coming to little, rainy Forks, Washington was a bit of a culture shock. Not that Jasper had a very good memory of San Diego and New York.
He neared the guidance office and walked to Emma's office. When he walked up to it he nearly walked into the closed door. Emma's door was never closed on Thursday afternoons. He stared at the wood, dumbfounded. A closed door meant she was already talking to someone.
Mrs. Cope, Emma's secretary, called out to him, "Jasper!" she said, Jasper turned to acknowledge her. "Emma told me to give you this!" She held up a folded piece of paper.
A note. All she left for him was a note?
He dragged himself like a zombie to Mrs. Cope's desk. She handed him the note and smiled. He offered something resembling a smile in return and took the note.
As he left the office, Jasper Whitlock didn't know what to feel. Dejection, rejection, anger, sadness. They all seemed to fit perfectly.
Jasper Whitlock was proud of his simpleminded qualities. He never over-thought – and he rarely thought at all, he normally just did things despite the possible consequences. He was skilled at blocking out emotions, he was quick to forgive and never let anything get under his skin.
Emma Delancy, however, had always been the woman Jasper had never hid from. He had always been able to let his emotions run wild and get the better of him in her presence she was just that kind of person. Jasper knew she knew how much she meant to him, so why – how – was she being so blasé towards him in the past week. First on Tuesday, dismissing him like they hardly knew each other and now today.
Jasper walked through the gym towards the closest door out of the building. When he reached it, he pocketed the note and walked out into the drizzle towards his car. He opened the door to the average, every-day car and sat in it. On the seat next to him the stage crew packet still waited to be read.
Rain tap-danced on the windshield of the cold car and Jasper watched it, inhaling and exhaling therapeutically.
Finally, when he had gotten his emotions in control, he produced the note from Emma and read it silently to himself.
Jasper,
Sorry I had to cancel, a student came to me and it was an emergency.
For Saturday: Meet Ms. Cullen, Alice Brandon and Edward Masen at the gym by 9 AM. You will proceed with them from there to Port Angeles High School where the play will take place. Ms. Cullen asked me to remind you to have the permission slip signed when you get there.
I really am sorry,
Emma
Forks, Washington is small and rainy and boring. Simply nothing exciting happens. What emotional wreck could a student have been in that she had to cancel her weekly appointment with me? Jasper thought. As he turned the ignition in his car he realized he wasn't being fair. If he had a breakdown of some sorts on Monday during 6th period he wouldn't want to be denied counseling simply because someone else had that period blocked off for scheduling issues.
He stopped at the stoplight and waited for the green light. He tapped his fingers on the wheel and silently wondered what was for dinner and if he had any weed left for tonight. He didn't have anything special planned so he decided he'd get rid of his pot seeing as recreational smoking was out for a month at least.
He pulled into the driveway and closed his eyes for a moment. The rain was still doing its elegant dance on the car and the pavement around him.
He opened his eyes and sighed. He reached over to the seat next to him and grabbed his backpack and the informational packet.
He entered the silent house, everyone was still at work or school, and trotted up the stairs to his room. When he reached the second floor he stepped over various toys that had been left lying about. Even a soccer ball got in his way. He decided he'd clean up before anyone got home.
Jasper walked to what seemed to be an average door and opened it, the staircase behind it led up to the third floor where his bedroom – along with a bathroom – was.
The idea of an attic bedroom had always been a romanticized thought that had captivated Jasper and when he had moved into this house he had begged for the room on the third floor. Since then, he had gone through various stages in this room and found he had grown up in this room more than anywhere else.
Best of all, he had been able to personalize it. He had stayed long enough that he felt like it was really his room and not the guest room where Jasper sleeps. This was one of the many reasons he connected to the family as well as he did. The room had never really been used it was mainly used for storage of baby supplies which later needed to be doubled anyways so they gave the room up. They bought him his own bed, desk and dresser and allowed him to make the room his.
It was his favorite place in Forks. In anywhere. It was his favorite place in general.
Jasper placed his bag next to the door still holding the packet separately. He made his way over to his desk and checked the middle drawer on the left-hand side. Satisfied with what he found he closed it again and sat down at the desk and began to plow through the packet.
He didn't really process any information about the show other than they were doing the musical Little Women and Jasper would be occupied on the weekends from 10 to 6 on Saturdays and 10 to 3 on Sundays for the next two or three months.
He was terrified.
However, despite this terrifying and horrifying news, he signed the packet agreeing to the terms etc. and left it open on his desk so that he wouldn't forget it. He looked at the time, it was 2:30, the other students at Forks High would be getting out soon and Jasper had to go and pick "sister" up.
He plodded down the stairs to get rid of some of the mess in the hall. He threw the many transformers pieces into Sam and Eric's room and picked up the soccer ball that had mysteriously made its way upstairs.
As he passed through the kitchen, soccer ball in hand, he looked at the phone on the beautiful blue wall. The message light was blinking softly. Jasper decided to leave it since there was no way that any of the messages could be for him. He considered taking an apple from the fruit bowl on the darker blue cabinet but refrained remember he was going to be driving in 5 minutes anyways.
He went outside again, not bothering with one of the many umbrellas in the stand next to the door and walked over to the garage, which was separate from the house.
Jasper liked living in one of the more expensive houses in town, what he didn't like was that having a third floor and a detached garage signified one was wealthier than their neighbor. It was so appalling to him after having lived in bigger houses at the age of 6 and 9 houses that where across the country from each other, two different cities that both had a wealthy population, the wealthy population owning houses with 3 to 6 bathrooms and 8 bedrooms, a finished basement and attic and all the amenities.
Forks was definitely a culture shock.
He threw the soccer ball in the garage and headed over to his car once again. He backed out and drove to the school to pick her up.
When he reached the school, he pulled up near the front and sat and waited to be joined. He looked out his window at a silver Volvo that had three people standing around it. It was the same trio from the art room. The girl with black hair sat on the hood of the car delicately so she wouldn't leave any marks on the hood.
The other two, Edward and the girl with brown hair, leaned against the car. They seemed to be discussing something very quietly and secretly. The girl on the hood didn't appear to feel left out she just sat there watching people. It almost looked like she was waiting for someone.
The door to the passenger seat and the back seat opened, Jasper turned around, "I don't give rides!" He scolded.
"She's coming over, Jasper, Jeeze-Louise!" Angela said sitting next to me and buckling up. The girl – Nessie Masen, Edward's 14 year-old sister – looked out the window at her brother.
"Look at them! Just look at them! It's pathetic, really!" Nessie shook her head and changed the topic. "Can you believe that Odyssey quiz? I don't think we even read book 5 yet!"
From there, the two girls jabbered to each other about school and the fight that had broken out on Tuesday. It was still a "hot topic" apparently.
When we pulled into the driveway, the girls nearly dove out of the car and sprinted into the house
Jasper followed them slowly. He quietly ascended the stairs to his room ignoring the pop music coming from Angela's room.
Angela Webber was not really Jasper's sister. In the same vain, Sam and Eric Webber were not Jasper's little brother's either. In addition, Melanie and Thomas Webber were not Jasper's parents biological or otherwise.
Jasper Whitlock was a foster care child. He had lived in three foster care homes in his life and was found to be the perfect, ideal foster child. However, when it came time to adopting people had their doubts about the future. The Webbers had cared for him since he was 11 and the idea of adoption had never been raised. Melanie and Thomas already had three kids to put through college and Jasper could get all sorts of scholarships due to his lack of biological parents. He just needed a place to live and go to school.
The family hadn't talked much about what would happen on April 17th when Jasper turned 18 but they hoped they would keep him until he went to college. He couldn't imagine transferring schools in the final quarter of his senior year. That would just be too awkward for words.
Finding that there was nothing better to do, Jasper pulled out his homework and started to work on it. He decided he'd tackle the hard things first so he took his physics from the bookshelf and began taking thorough notes on chapter seven.
When he was done with physics he moved quickly to statistics not bothering to stop and get that apple he was still yearning for. He knew that once he got up he'd loose all sense of concentration; he couldn't afford that when his whole weekend had been murdered by community service.
About half way through his statistics homework Melanie arrived home with Sam and Eric who got the soccer ball out from the garage and kicked it around in the muddy backyard.
Jasper heard Melanie greeting Angela and Nessie on the second floor and she asked them about dinner. Next, she went up to talk to him.
Melanie knocked on the doorframe and peered inside his room. Jasper swiveled around in the chair to face her. "Hey Melanie," Jasper said, greeting her.
"Hi, Jasper." She replied. "How's it going?
He shrugged, "Okay, I guess."
Melanie frowned slightly. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"Emma cancelled today." Jasper's disappointment rang clear in his voice.
Melanie took a few steps inside the room and walked over to Jasper. "Oh honey, I'm sorry."
Jasper loved Melanie more than his two previous foster mothers; she always treated him like he was one of them, like he belonged. Laura, his first foster mother, had insisted he call her Laura not "Mom" or "Mommy" insisting that it "looked bad". Georgia hadn't been much better treating him like some charity case, towing him around to every place that might care and introducing him as "My foster son, Jasper". Melanie let Jasper call her whatever he wanted to ranging from "Maman" to "Mels" and she introduced him as "Jasper" no more information needed. He felt like he was theirs. Like they really did like him and he was really wanted.
Jasper shrugged, "Eh," he said. "It's okay."
"Well, do you want anything special for dinner? The everyone else says pizza but I can make you something different if you want." Melanie offered
Jasper shrugged again, "Pizza's fine." He said. Melanie nodded looking a little unsure. "Seriously, Mel, it's good."
"Okay." She said and began her descent to the bathroom downstairs where she'd take a shower and then change into non-professional clothing.
As Melanie started to walk out the door and downstairs, Jasper turned back to the desk and the stage crew packet caught his eye once again. "Hey, Mel?" He called to her. She came back up the steps and appeared at his doorway again. "Uh, Emma told me I need to do community service, she – I chose stage crew but I need a guardian to sign it…" he trailed off.
"Sign what, Jasper?"
"Oh!" Jasper said. The packet had become something that always seemed to be staring him down, despite the fact it was some paper and ink. It had been in his mind since Tuesday even though he had made sure to lock it in his car and put his backpack on top of it. "Uh, it's a permission slip and information packet."
She smiled, "Let me read the packet first." She entered the room once again and took the packet from Jasper's hand. "I'll call for delivery in a little bit." She said leaving the room once again.
"I can go get it if you want!" Jasper called down. He knew it would earn him points, and he did like to drive more than nearly anything else.
"Alright!" Melanie replied.
By the time Jasper had finished his statistics homework, his standard history homework, and was halfway through his advanced history homework it was time to get the pizza Melanie had called for 10 minutes ago.
Jasper pulled up to what the citizens of the town of Forks referred to as "The Pizzeria" as they attempted to add a little spice to the local pizza parlor.
When he entered he was surprised to see who was working there. As he gradually made his way up to the counter he saw Mike What's-his-face loading a pizza into the oven. Jasper thought this profession to suit him just fine seeing as he couldn't do anything else – including drive. Working at the counter, however, was the girl with brown hair from the art room on Tuesday.
"Hi, what can I do for you?" She asked.
She was pretty enough but an obvious virgin in both her body and mind, she obviously didn't know how pretty she was but it worked for her. She made a good first impression but she was not Jasper's type whatsoever.
"I'm here to pick up a pizza for Webber." He declared.
The girl turned around to the table in between the oven and the counter and grabbed one of the closer boxes checking the name on the side. She slid it on the counter and smiled, "That'll be 19 dollars and 72 cents." She said.
As Jasper dug the money out of his wallet he thought of ways he could ask her name without sounding like he was interested in her. He handed her the twenty and picked up the pizza. "Just put the change in the tip jar." He nodded in the direction of the mason jar set up on the counter without a lid. She warily slipped the 28 cents into the tip jar. "Thanks…uh…"
"Oh. Bella. I'm Bella." She said looking a little flustered.
Jasper nodded. "Bella, then. Thank you, Bella."
When Jasper got home with the pizza everyone sat at the kitchen table eating happily. Nessie and Angela retold the story of the unfair Odyssey quiz once again to Melanie and Thomas while Sam and Eric constructed a leaning tower of pepperonis. The two adults listened to the girls' story and offered advice and scolded the twins for playing with their food. No one said anything to Jasper though.
So, when he was done he quietly slipped out of the kitchen – placing his plate in the dishwasher – and took the stairs two at a time to his "tower in the sky".
He finished up his Advanced History assignment and retired his homework for the night. He still had French and English to work on but he could perfect he future tense –re verbs before school and lunch was meant for catching up on English homework.
As he swiveled back in his chair he reached for the middle drawer on the left side of the desk. He hesitated and retracted his hand. Who knows? He thought to himself. I might need it later more than I need it now.
Instead, he climbed up onto the window seat drugless and stared out at the faintest trace of a moon that could barely be seen beneath the cloud cover.
Just after he had moved into the attic room, a social worker had come to do her one-month check-in and was appalled that he had requested to live in the attic of all places. Melanie had tried to explain that it was finished and not masochistic in any sense. He had been sitting on this very window seat when she burst in to find a poster already hanging on the wall. It had shocked her to say the least to see how at home he was already.
Jasper had never had a problem with social workers and he was always very patient and answered all the questions like a good boy. However, when the social worker asked him why he wanted to be up here he could only shrug.
"Why wouldn't I want to be up here? It's a nice room."
On big and important exams they have "accepted answers" apparently the whole shrugging of the shoulders and inability to explain his desire was not an accepted answer.
"You don't have to sleep up here, you know," she had said. "No one can hurt you here." Jasper hadn't liked that idea at all. It had been the least of his concerns when picking out this room; he couldn't believe she'd just drag his father into the matter of choosing a bedroom.
"It wasn't a psychological decision," Jasper explained slowly so that she would get it the first time around. He usually liked social workers because they had to be strong for themselves and for others, they had to be very dedicated but this social worker just seemed to be in it for the PhD and the money. "In the movies, the attic room is the most coveted. It's really cool." He gazed around the room as if to prove a point. "Since I was 5 I've been smothered by social workers and potential mothers, I really like Melanie and I don't want to get in her way sometimes, and other times I just wanna be alone – like any other normal teenager – and other than that? It's really cool!"
The social worker had shaken her head as if not to believe what Jasper said was true.
While the social worker talked to Melanie, Jasper had decided to move from the bedroom to the porch swing outside as he watched the rain - the sheer amount of it simply baffled the young boy who had hardly known anything but sunshine.
The social worker was thanked and bid adieu. As she walked down to the steps to her car, Jasper stood up and walked to the edge of the stairs. "Excuse me!" He called, the social worker turned around anxiously looking hopeful for some insight. "Just because my dad did some bad things, doesn't mean that my life revolves around him. I hardly remember him and my mom. Believe it or not, I'm a normal almost-teenager. I don't have suicidal thoughts and I don't have nightmares about that night. I want the attic room because it's the coolest and it can be mine because it hasn't been anyone else's before not because I feel like a burden or like my father will somehow magically attack me in the night."
He was speaking clearly and loudly, he had been planning this while staring at the rain, the rain had nearly given him the answers he needed. For a final finesse, he added, "Analyze that."
The 17 year-old Jasper Whitlock pressed his forehead against the cold glass of the window and sighed. He did need something to do.
A/M: Okay. So I know it's very boring so far but don't worry, it will get better! I'm just strategically laying out the important expositional pieces.