Bella spent some time wondering what she should do. She wanted to ask about her friend, but Rosalie could be a little intimidating. But if she didn't know, she would spend all weekend worried and Edward would notice and tell her it was nothing and... She should really ask.

So she went to her, to that idol of sunray and perfection that was Rosalie Hale, and gently touched her shoulder to get her attention. Rosalie turned around and when she saw it was her she raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want?"

Hell, she was even more scary up close that in the distance. And didn't seem to like Bella much. But she'd made it here and now she had to ask. Be brave, Bella.

"Hi... eh, I just wanted to know why Jasper isn't coming this week? Does he have the flu or something?" That's it, she'd gotten it all out. Well done.

Rosalie's expression softened a bit when Bella mentioned Jasper's name. It was almost unnoticeable, but it was there. Still, she mantained her superior demeanor - Bella figured it was her default way of being.

"He hasn't been feeling good. He'll probably be back by Monday, though."

She hadn't told Bella what actually was wrong with him but she didn't have the guts to press it. The bad part was that it made her feel it was serious. Poor Jasper - he'd always been sweet with her, even let her copy after she'd been hanging too long with the Cullens and forgotten to do schoolwork. She wanted to be there for the guy, too. Being sick sucked. And then something occured to her.

"I could come by to visit, if you want. I make a mean chicken soup."

"No." Rosalie said inmediately. "Our... father doesn't allow visits - he's very strict. Sorry. But it was nice of you to offer, Bella. I'll tell him, I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

No visits? Bella felt even worse for her friend. Sick and with only cold Rosalie and a super strict father for company all week.

"Yes, tell him. And tell him that I need him back, that they put me with Mike Newton this week he wasn't here and Mike's much slower in getting the answers... Jasper has spoilt me. Tell him to get well soon."

"I will."

Bella let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. She'd done it. She'd talked to Rosalie and hadn't been mouthed off or anything. And she said Jasper would probably be back on Monday. That was good.

"Bella" Rosalie's voice called, when Bella was already returning to her seat. Oh, boy. What had she done now? She turned around and faced the still serious Rosalie.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for asking." the blonde said. "There aren't many people who appreciate my brother."

Bella breathed, again. It was something good.

"No problem. He's cool, if you get through all the silence and shyness."

"I guess that's right." Rosalie smiled, and Bella thought it was the first time since they arrived when the blonde had a sincere smile.

Then she went home and met Edward, and Rosalie and Jasper's weird little things seemed nothing compared to the Cullens. There was something really weird about them, about the whole family. They were always missing when it was sunny, even if they had made plans before. Which was weird. What were the odds of five people having extreme photophobia? Pretty slim. And if they were photophobic, why didn't they say so? Edward's dad was a doctor, after all, he probably knew everything about it.

And they never went out to eat either, she never saw any of them eating, or drinking. Not even a sad little from Starbucks. How was Alice such a continued force of nature if she never ate? Were they some type of weird vegan club who couldn't show their eating habits to outsiders. And there were other weird things about them, too. Like Edward bending the van or being way too fast. And Emmett worked out and had muscles, but jeez. That amount of physical strength was downright excessive. And come think of it, they never seemed to go to the bathroom much. Gods, what kind of people were they? Robots in disguise?

The next day, saturday, Bella was getting ready to meet Jacob and his friends. His dad was glad that she wasn't all the time with the Cullens and she was glad to see her old friend. She was packing when she got a call from an unknown number. She would have never guessed who it was in a million years.

"Hello, Bella? It's Rosalie. Emmett gave me your number."

"H- hi?" Not the most intelligent answer, but Bella was just shocked. Rosalie was seeking her out? Why?

"Listen, we're alone at home for the day, so if you still want to visit Jasper you can come today. "

Bella considered it for a bit. He'd want to see Jake, but see sensed this could be the only chance she'd get to see Jasper's house and was curious. Besides, she could see Jacob anytime, when another of her friends wasn't sick.

"Ok, I'll make some nice soup and go over there."

"I'll text you the address. But Bella, one more thing. Don't tell too many people you're coming. If it gets back to him that you've been here we could be in a lot of trouble."

Get in trouble because a sick boy had a friend over? What kind of family was that?

"Ok, I guess. See you later."

Rosalie hung up and Bella started cooking. She was curious at what Jasper and Rosalie's house was like. She wondered if their rooms were as different as they were, or as fancy as Edward's. Probably not. The Cullen were more wealthy than it looked like (that house on the woods! Those cars!) and Rosalie and Jasper didn't wear elegant clothes, or a lot of clothes. Their house probably resembled more hers than the Cullen's.

When Bella arrived at the address she'd been texted, Rosalie was waiting for her on the front door, nervously looking on both directions, seeing if someone had noticed the visit coming. The house was relatively small and isolated, which was good, becuase it meant there were no neighbors to gossip. Rosalie took her inside without a single hello.

The house was indeed small, and the walls were quite bare. Bella noticed that there wasn't single picture of Jasper and/or Rosalie in the hall or living room. Not a single indication that they actually lived there. Odd. It had been three months already, and everything else looked like a normal house. The only decorative items were hunting gear and prizes - all related to hunting too. Where were Jasper and Rosalie's things?

The two girls stopped in front of a white wooden door, where Rosalie told Bella to wait while she checked if Jasper was awake. Rosalie closed the door, but Bella could still hear the conversation on the other side. She figured that because they had no visitors, they didn't know how thin the walls actually were. Well, she'd been asked to wait there, so...

"Hey, your friend Bella came to see you, she's outside." Rosalie started. Obviously Jasper was awake.

"What?" Jasper sounded weak, but outraged.

"I know, I know..."

"Why would you let her in?"

"She wanted to see you!"

"If he finds out we'd had people over, Rose..."

"He won't!" Rosalie all but screamed.

"How did she even know our address?"

"I called her and told her."

"Rose!"

"Can't I do something nice for you for once?" There was a pause. Silence.

"This isn't part of the deal, and you know it." Said Jasper's voice, low but firm.

"Well, he hasn't hasn't been fulfilling his part of theal, now, has he?"

What deal? How could it be so bad that Bella was there? She felt a bit guilty because she was causing all that trouble, even if she hadn't known it was that bad. Hell, she'd been invited! There was another tense silence and then Rosalie spoke again, softer. Actually, it was the softest voice Bella had heard her use.

"Come on, she's already here...Do it for me?"

"...All right."

And so Rosalie came out again and Bella pretended not to have heard anything. It was a personal conversation and she should have put on headphones or something. But what's doneis done.

"Sorry you had to wait. You can come in now."

Bella quickly realised that the room she was being led to belonged not only to Jasper, but to both siblings. There were two clearly differentiated parts, and two beds. Weird. She'd seen enough bedrooms for them to have separate rooms, despite the house being small.

Jasper was sitting on the bed of the left, wearing a baggy shirt and zippered hoodie and sweatpants, and drew a small smile when Bella came in. He looked horrible. He was paler than usual and there was a dark bruise on his cheekbone, he had a split lip, and was cradling his left arm. But above all, he looked tired and yes, sick.

"I brought you some soup and crackers." Bella said and left them on his nightstand. She awkwardly sat on the chair in front of the bed, thinking of something to break the silence.

"You look like crap." It wasn't the best opening line, but it was something.

"I've been better. How was class this week? Anything interesting?"

And just like that, Bella started talking about Mike's incompetence in history, her many issues with math and the many mounting weirdnesses of Edward and his siblings. (But she tried to say good things about Alice, just in case there was something to be explored there) She felt at ease, comfortable. He was a great listener. But between anecdotes, Bella saw that when Jasper moved he winced, and realised that he wasn't just sick - he was injured. And then she thought of the jocks of school and how difficult it could be to be the new weird kid.

"Hey, is anyone giving you a hard time at school? Because I may not be able to do much, but I can talk to Emmett, ask him to scare off the bullies."

"It's not that." Jasper said. Avoiding the subject, as usual. Bella wasn't convinced.

"But you're hurt."

"I'm clumsy."

No, he wasn't. Bella had been clumsy all the years of her life and knew how it was, perfectly. Tripping with the stairs. Not knowing where your limbs ended, running into every doorframe imaginable. And Jasper was none of that. In fact, if there was something that the Hale twins shared (besides the blonde hair), it was grace. They moved with precision and elegance, almost like ballet dancers. No, Jasper, wasn't clumsy - he was being defensive. Hiding.

There was something else there, something big going on with Rosalie too and Bella was going to find out what it was. But she didn't know them enough to keep asking about it.

"Well, I should be heading out. But you take care, eh? I want to see you on Monday." Bella smiled.

"Thank you for the soup, Bella. It was very kind of you."

"What are friends for?"

And then, after some hesitation, he handed her a bit of paper.

"My number. In case you find something else wrong with the Cullen's that you need to share."

Bella smiled.

"You are so going to regret it. I'm going to text you at all hours of the day."

Jasper looks exhausted, but grateful. Still pale as hell, cooped up against the wall behind his bed. There's something very wrong with this picture.

"Bye, Bella."

"Bye."

On her way out, Bella talked a bit with Rosalie who seemed really happier than before, although she reminded Bella not to talk about her visit. Bella remembered that it had been Emmett who gave Rosalie her phone number, and asked if she was friends with her boyfriend's brother.

"Something like that. I'm playing hard to get."

Bella went home and started listing all the strange things that she'd seen. The lack of pictures or presence of the twins in all the house, except their room. The fact that they couldn't have anyone over. How Rosalie kept looking in every direction, as if afraid of being caught. Their conversation. Jasper claiming he was clumsy.

"Bye. Get better soon."

That very night, Bella did some research. She figured that Jasper wouldn't be very active on social media, but Rosalie had to be, to maintain that illusion of normalcy they had all bought. So, she asked Emmett, who was directed her ot Rosalie's twitter and instagram. Maybe there Bella could find a clue, something that would help understand the mystery of the Hale twins.

The twitter was as expected. Her username was BlondeGoddessRose and a lot of the tweets were things like "Yes, I'm a bitch. Better that than being a slave." or "If you can't handle the truth, then you can't handle me." Some surprising activism against sexual violence and violence against women, some song lyrics ("Survivor", "Beautiful" and so on) and then something specially interesting.

The previous november there had only been one tweet, that read: "I should have never accepted that deal. Never, never. #I'msorry" The deal, again. They had mentioned something about a deal when they thought Bella wasn't listening. And something about a he. The next tweet was much more cheerful and when asked why she was so happy, she replied "my brother got out of the hospital today :) :)" So Jasper had been hurt, badly, because of something that had to do with that deal. Interesting.

The Instagram was mostly selfies and outfit and make-up discussion, but there was a lack of family mentions in the page. No parents, no cousins, not even on christmas. The only member of the family that appeared was Jasper, in one picture when he got out of the hospital just captioned #soluckytohaveyouback #favoritenerd and in antoher one where they were smiling at the camera. That one had the subtitle "happy brithday to the most important person in my life - also to my brother. (Just kidding, I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for him. For a better year for both of us)". In the comment section, someone made of fun of Jasper's scars, and Rosalie wrote three venomous paragraphs defending her brother and degrading the commenter.

At 1 am, and after ignoring several calls from Edward, Bella reached some conclusions:

The facts were these: someone was hurting Jasper, there had been some deal (maybe to protect Rosalie and that was why she had no scars?), Rosalie was broken up about not protecting Jasper enough - in short, the Hales' home life was really scary.

Bella lay on her bed thinking about what to do. Tell her dad? What if she made matter worse? Tell the Cullens? Maybe Carlisle could help.

One thing was clear - she had to do something. She had to save them.

A/N: Long chapter! Hope you liked! Thank you to those who reviewed and please, keep telling me what you thought! Sorry for any english mistakes. All feedback very appreciated.

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