A/N: Thank you to Jessie-Colleen-Cullen for reviewing the last chapter, if I hadn't of gotten that review, I doubt I would have updated for a while.

This does start with Alice's POV, but it goes into Jasper's POV pretty quickly.

A quick note: I don't have tourettes, or anything, but Jasper does have a lot of swearing in his section, especially the 'f' word. I apologise to anyone who doesn't like that… but there's obviously a reason behind that.

I'd like to thank Project Team Beta for helping me out. They are really good. You should contact them if you need help. I'd also like to thank Laura for initially going through this chapter for me.

Disclaimer: Meyer isn't my surname, Twilight isn't my story…but Jasper is my boyfriend…in my dreams.


Chapter 3 - Half an Hour Too Long

16th September 2008

Alice POV

Jasper didn't turn up to school today. It was only his second day here, and he was already skipping classes. I didn't ask anyone about Jasper in front of Robbie. Even though he said he didn't mind, I didn't want to push it.

I pulled Emmett to the side just after lunch and tried to sound as if I was just casually asking a question. "Hey, Emmett, do you know where Jasper is?"

He shrugged, telling me he didn't know and walked back to Rose, who was waiting for him before class.

I gave up after my first attempt. Emmett was the only person who had really made an attempt to get to know Jasper. If he didn't know, then there wasn't anyone else I could ask.

Robbie didn't drive me home after school, as I had to go to the local library to pick up some books. He had offered to come with me, but I knew he'd be bored after the first few minutes, so I walked to the library alone. It was close to school anyway, so it didn't take very long. I got out my library card, and walked straight to the familiar section full of novels that I'd reread so many times. I noticed my favourite saga of books, they were vampire novels, and I must have read them at least ten times each by now.

I was browsing through the latest books that had arrived when I walked right into a young girl. I hadn't been looking where I was going, and she had run right into me. Her size told me that she was probably around five or six years old. She was tiny, with long honey blonde hair. I knelt down to her level and checked to see if I'd hurt her.

"Are you alright? I'm sorry, I didn't even see you," I said as I looked at her. A quick evaluation told me that she didn't seem hurt, which I was glad about.

"I'm okay, thank you," she replied, nodding her head. There was something familiar about her accent that I couldn't quite place. But before either of us could say anything more, someone called out for her.

"Emily? I told you not to-" He stopped mid sentence as we caught each other's eye. Jasper smiled at me weakly and strolled towards us, taking the girl's hand, who I now knew to be called Emily.

"Hey, Alice."

"Hi, where were you today?" I asked, suddenly feeling genuinely concerned over his absence. He looked down at the girl and sent her away before answering my question.

"I had to stay at home. Just some family stuff, you know."

I could tell instantly that he was keeping something from me. I didn't want to pry, even though for some reason I was drawn to him. I wanted to help him. But I couldn't do that without him letting me in first, and by the looks of things, he wasn't about to do that any time soon. I tried to ignore the fact I was disappointed by this realisation.

"I understand," was all that I could say.

He nodded and went off to find Emily again. I wasn't focused enough to carry on searching for books. I grabbed the ones that I had found and checked them out, then made my way home. I didn't bother telling Robbie that I had seen Jasper out of school.

The next day, rumours were going around about Jasper. The bitch, Lauren Mallory, was spreading shit that he had already left after one day. Apparently, he hated Forks so much he couldn't bear to be here another minute.

I, for one, knew that was absolute crap. I knew for a fact that he hadn't left. He'd told me himself that he was just having family problems. But I never told anyone, not even Bella.

The following day, he still didn't show up. I couldn't understand why, but I began to worry.


15th September 2008

Jasper POV

I would miss Texas, even after everything, I'd still miss it. I didn't understand why we had to move so far away. Granted, I wanted to get away from everything, but to move so far away? I couldn't understand it at all. Mom knew what was here for me; she knew what I was leaving behind. But all she would say was, "We have to, Jasper, I'm sorry."

Except, sorry never really did cut it. However, I had to take it because soon enough, we were leaving the heart of Texas and flying North to some wet and windy town called Forks. I never wanted to leave Texas altogether, but when did I ever get what I wanted?

My little sister, Emily, was sitting beside me, chatting away constantly, as she always did. I couldn't expect anything more from a five year old. She was made to sit for a couple of hours on a plane with nothing but me and the window to keep her entertained.

The house we were moving into was small, and looked completely different from our house back in Houston. I didn't like it much; it was too cold. But as I looked up at the house before me, I knew I would be calling this place home for who knew how long.

School was even worse. It was already two weeks into the first semester, and everyone had their own friends. Hell, I'd heard about towns like these, each generation of the family went to the same school.

I walked through the gates of the high school just as the rain began to pour. I made it inside and shook my jacket from the droplets of water. People were staring, of course. I was the new attraction around here. I was the shiny new toy. With any luck, they wouldn't look close enough to notice just how fucked up I was.

First, I had to go into the reception to collect some papers. The old woman behind the desk looked at me strangely the moment she heard my accent. It made me wonder if everyone was going to be as fucking alien to a Texan accent as she was. When I was allowed to leave, I was glad to be shot of her.

As I walked, I looked down at my class schedule and saw that I had Calculus. I hated Calculus with a wild passion. History was my game.

By the time I'd found the right room, it was already five minutes into the class. The teacher, who I found out, was named Mr Varner, sent me to sit at the back with a big looking kid with black hair and fucking cheeky as shit expression on his face.

"Emmett is the name," he said as soon as I sat down.

I looked at him, nodding quickly. "Jasper."

Like the woman at reception, an odd expression flashed across his face when he heard my voice. Before a moment later, he righted himself. I exhaled irately, hoping, belatedly, that he didn't pick up on it.

"Are you any good at Calculus?"

I shook my head. "I fucking hate Calculus."

For some reason, the guy actually looked shocked that I'd cussed. But that didn't put him off, and for the rest of the lesson, he rather annoyingly didn't quit with the chatter.

He talked about his girlfriend, Rosalie, the most. He described her to the point, telling me that I'd recognise her as soon as I saw her. He seemed very proud that he'd snagged her.

I didn't bother to comment on it.

At long last, the class came to an end, and I quickly said goodbye to him, not even bothering to ask him to point me in the direction of the English classrooms. Luckily, I followed the bustle, and found myself in the English department.

Unlike with my previous lesson, I didn't walk in last. People were still entering the classroom when I got there, which meant I was right on time. The teacher introduced herself to me as Mrs Meyer. She didn't tell me where to sit, which made me like her more than the other teacher I'd experienced.

I found an empty table at the back, which gave me a full view of the classroom. Thankfully, I didn't have to introduce myself to the whole class, which saved me from any weird as fuck looks from those around me. I studied the people in the room, wondering if any of them had been in my Calculus class.

That was when I saw her.

She was tiny, with long black hair that fell down her back. Her small facial features reminded me of a pixie, though she accentuated her figure perfectly. I continued to look at her, even when the door opened and she looked over at the latest student to walk in.

It was only when he sat down next to her did I make the connection. He was her boyfriend. When I fixed my gaze onto him, I realised he was the stereotypical jock you saw in the movies. Of course, I should have expected that already.

He leaned down and kissed her, and straight away, I knew I should have looked away. But before I had the chance, she somehow managed to catch my eye, and suddenly she was looking right back at me. Her grey eyes watched me, her brow furrowing in some kind of confusion.

I looked away then, knowing already it was too fucking late. She'd caught me look at them, caught me staring while they kissed. I felt a cursed flush form on my cheeks as I thought about the consequences of my actions. I certainly didn't want her to think I was a weird peeping tom.

Thankfully the teacher called the class to attention, and got us to read a fantasy story about vampires. She said the books were her favourite. I eyed her suspiciously; teachers were never like this back in Texas. In Texas, we studied books from authors like Jane Austen and Shakespeare, not modern books about vampires. It made me think that maybe the people of Forks were as strange as its name.

All during the class, I didn't dare look back in the direction of the pixie girl and her jock boyfriend. Even at the end, I rushed from the room just so I didn't have to accidently bump into them.

It worked right up until lunchtime, when I had to sit right next to her.

I had planned to go in the cafeteria, grab a tray full of food, eat it as quickly as possible then leave and just get to grips with the site map before my last lesson – History – began.

But that whole plan when to shit when I heard Emmett shouting at me from across the room, telling me to come and sit with him and his friends. Even from my distance, I could already see the one girl I'd been trying to avoid sitting at the table, with a few others.

I cussed under my breath when I noticed everyone's eyes on me. I knew couldn't stand there, so I moved slowly towards Emmett's table. With each step, I wanted to turn around and get the fuck out of there. I could already see the five faces around the table shooting cautious glances towards Emmett.

This was a really bad idea.

I got a foot from the table when Emmett began to introduce me to each of them. His girlfriend, Rosalie, really was as stunning as he'd described. Not my type, but still, I knew beauty when I saw it. But it was the pixie – Alice – who really caught my eye, yet again.

I looked away from her quickly as soon as our eyes met. I was sure she was remembering our little encounter in English. There was something in the way she diverted her eyes at the same that gave it away. After that, I just wanted to sit down, eat my meal and get out of there even more than I had earlier.

However, nobody moved, and I found myself standing there like a complete idiot as they awkwardly glanced at each other. Well, isn't this just great, I thought to myself bitterly. None of them wanted to sit with the new guy.

But then Alice moved, making a small space at the end of the bench for me to sit in. It was fucking tiny, and I wasn't a small guy. I would be squashed up against her. I would be as if she'd invited me to sit on her lap.

I was right, of course, and as soon as I sat down, the scent of her perfume hit me. It was like honey and almonds, mixed with a sweet aroma or something else. Strangely, I found that I actually liked it, and that was never a good sign.

I can't be dealing with shit like this, I muttered internally as I quickly started to eat my lunch as a distraction.

Emmett and his girlfriend were the first to get up. I watched them place their tray on the side and walk out the cafeteria. I'd only been sitting at the table because of Emmett, and he'd gone not even ten minutes after I'd sat down. What the fuck was that all about?

I stared down at the patterns on the tray and thought about how quickly I could get up and leave without making it obvious. However, I was interrupted mid thought as I noticed Alice turning towards me from the corner of my eye.

"So, Jasper, what class do you have next?"

Even her voice sounded like something from a fucking pixie. For a moment, I frowned in confusion, completely forgetting what the class was called.

"I think I have American History…with Mr Williams," I finally replied, still not one hundred percent sure I was right.

She laughed, literally laughed right at me. I wasn't amused, not in the slightest, and waited rather impatiently for her to share the damn joke.

"It's actually Miss Williams. I wouldn't call her Mr Williams; you'd be whacked with detention so fast you wouldn't know what's hit you until it was too late."

Of course, Miss, not Mr.

"So, you've had her, then?"

I grinned as I emphasised the word. I caught myself pretty quickly, letting the grin fall away as rapidly as it formed. I hadn't smiled, let alone grinned in a while. It actually hurt my cheeks a little, but that wasn't what made me stop. It was the fact she'd actually managed to elicit something like that from me.

She smiled back at me, and in conjunction with my previous thought, I wondered why the hell she was actually making the effort to talk to me. No one else bothered, or if they did, they wore that weird expression, as if they'd never heard someone from Texas before.

"Actually, I still have her. I've got American History next, as well."

I tried to hide the sudden grimace that tried to force its way onto my face. She was in my next class? God, things just kept getting better and better.

"That's great," I lied, pushing away my sarcastic thoughts. "Maybe we could go toge-"

I stopped mid sentence as her boyfriend, Robbie, wrapped his around her shoulder, pulling on it ever so slightly so that she leant towards him. His hand had knocked into my shoulder as he'd done so, and I gritted my teeth, telling myself he hadn't done it intentionally.

But as I looked up and caught his eye, I knew that wasn't the case at all. He was glaring at me over Alice's shoulder. I met it with a glare of my own. Two could play at that fucking game. But first, I had to work out what the hell I'd actually done to him. I hadn't spoken a damn word to him since sitting down.

It was then, as my gaze flickered to Alice, that I realised his reason. He didn't like me talking to his girlfriend.

It only took Alice a second to catch up on the situation. She turned to look at him, as if she was about to say something. But as she did so, he leant forward and kissed her roughly on the lips.

I looked away this time, my jaw tight. Fucking jerk.

I sensed the moment she pulled away from him, and at her next words, I tried to hold back the smirk.

"Stop it, Robbie."

I felt his arm being retracted then, but wisely, on his part, he didn't hit my arm again. If he had, I wouldn't have been quiet about it. Forget that Alice was between us; that wouldn't have stopped me.

But that thought was pushed to the back of my mind as Alice turned back to me, tapping me on my shoulder. I looked down at her, knowing she wouldn't miss the twisted smirk that was still on my face.

"I would love to walk with you to American History." Then, after a moment of silence, she continued. "Ignore him, Jasper. I think he's on the time of the month or something."

I didn't both to laugh because she didn't, either. In fact, she sounded pretty pissed off. I knew that I could have laughed, but I just wasn't in the mood to really wind that jerk up. Though, if he tried anything more, I wasn't going to let it slip again.

However, as the rest of the lunch progressed, Robbie didn't bother to turn around to look at Alice, let alone glare at me. That only told me one thing – he had a serious problem.

The tall guy and the brunette were the next to leave. They both went to put their trays on the side. As I looked up at the clock, I could tell that it was almost time to go, so I gathered my things together and left Alice with her jerk boyfriend.

But as I turned around, I saw him walking off towards the exit without even breaking stride. I glanced over to where Alice was, and straight away I noticed that she was crying.

I walked as fast as I could towards her without making it look like I had just ran straight to her.

"Alice? What's happened?" I demanded, even though I knew exactly what it was. He had ignored her, deciding instead to storm off in a mood.

I swear to God I'll beat the shit out of him if he made her cry again. I couldn't even work out why I suddenly felt protective of her. It wasn't like me at all. But…maybe it was because she reminded me of…no, I couldn't think of her, not now.

"He…nothing," she began, but caught herself as if she decided against what she was about to say. "I'm just being stupid. Come on, let's get to class."

I knew she wasn't just being stupid. He'd brushed her off, left her there to cry. It was hardly how a boyfriend should act. If he was in the right mind, he would be savouring his time with her, not wasting it like a fucking jerk that he was.

In that moment, I had the urge to comfort her myself, and I barely even knew the girl.

She didn't speak to me as we walked towards our classroom. I thought, at first, that we would get lose, as she didn't seem to concentrate at all. But, sure enough, we found ourselves outside the correct room.

I wasn't sure why I did it, but I went to sit down next to her. I quickly unpacked my things and began writing the date and title, noticing how Alice hadn't even got her things out yet. I wanted to tell her to snap out of it, that he wasn't worth it, but I knew I wasn't in any position to tell her that kind of shit at all, so I kept my mouth shut.

The teacher set up some work to do, which I didn't find hard at all, as I really enjoyed History. Besides, I'd already studied this when I was in Texas, so it wasn't hard to work out the answers. So, instead, I unwilling allowed my concentration to slip. It was then that I noticed a gold charm bracelet around her wrist. As she wrote her own answers, I couldn't help but subtly check out each of the charms.

"I like your bracelet."

What the fuck was that? I like her bracelet? Well, great, now she probably thought I was gay. She seemed oblivious to my mental screaming fit as she looked down at her bracelet, twisting it around her wrist.

"Did you get it for your birthday or something?" I continued when she didn't say anything.

"Well, actually, quite a few birthdays. It's from Robbie, he gives me a charm for each birthday," she told me in a slight awed voice. God. Of course he had gotten it for her, I should have known. But that wasn't what I thought of the most, no, it was the fact they must have known each other their whole lives. How fucking ironic.

"Wow, there must be like ten charms on there," I murmured, trying to keep the disdained intonation out my voice.

"Thirteen, actually. He gave me the empty bracelet on my fourth birthday, then after that, he started with the charms. Technically, it was his mother's idea at first, but it's still special to me," she said, with a look on her face that told me she was thinking back to that time.

Of course. They were childhood friends. It was like pouring salt into an open wound and rubbing it in. But I couldn't let Alice see what I was really feeling. So I did what I was always good at, and hid it well.

"That's such a nice thing to do, especially if you have someone special in your life," I told her, hoping it didn't sound too forced. Thankfully, she seemed to buy my remark quite easily.

"What about you, then? Got anyone special?"

Oh, again with the rubbing of salt in my wounds. She looked on eagerly, trying to find something new about me. I remained silent for a minute, wondering whether I would even bother to answer. I knew that a part of me just wanted to ignore her completely. But with Alice, somehow, I just couldn't.

"I did…Maria. I've known her since before I can remember," I recited, trying to sound nonchalant. I could tell already that I hadn't completely pulled it off.

"I'm sorry. It must be hard to be without her now," she told me sympathetically, being spot on without even realising it. I looked down at my books them, willing my eyes not to betray me now.

In that moment, I wished with everything I had that I could just go back to Maria in Houston.

"Like you wouldn't believe…" I whispered, not even sure whether she'd heard me. I didn't care, either way, if she'd heard me or not. The wound inside had been reopened. This was exactly why I never talked about Maria with those who didn't know her; it was just too damn painful knowing that we were so far apart.

I was grateful when the teacher silenced the whole class. I was able, then, to keep my eyes fixed on the book. It gave me a good enough excuse to not look at her again. If I did, I was certain she'd try and bring the topic up once again, and I really didn't want that at all.

When the class finally came to a close, we walked out together. She seemed to have totally forgotten the conversation we had had in the last hour, and I was incredibly thankful for that. She said goodbye to me at the bus stop, and I got onto the bus, finding one of the remaining empty seats to sit in.

It didn't take long to get to the road I now lived on, and I was soon walking up the uneven paving towards the front door. Emily should have been in by now, and hopefully Mom would have some kind of meal on. Even after eating the meal at lunchtime, I was pretty hungry now.

But, as I pushed the door open, I found Emily sitting alone in the main room, curled up on the chair.

"Sweetie, where's Mom?" I asked, worriedly. She would never usually leave Emily alone like this…so where had she gone?

Emily shrugged her shoulders slowly. I went into the kitchen then, and spotted a load of bread on the side. Mom had been shopping, at least. I quickly made up two sandwiches and took one into the other room for my sister.

As soon as I gave her the plate, she began eating, and in no time at all the plate was cleared. It was then I wondered if she'd even eaten anything all day. That thought alone worried me even more, and I shook my head, going for my cell phone.

I dialled Mom's number, but typically, I received no answer.

The hours stretched on, with still no show from our mother. I began to really worry as I dialled her number again and again. I made us both some more sandwiches and hoped that by tomorrow, we'd have something better in.

I tucked Emily into bed at seven, and went to sit in my room. I waited up 'til eleven, when finally the front door opened. I stormed downstairs to find Mom locking the door behind her.

"Where the hell have you been?" I demanded, trying to keep the level of my voice to a minimum.

"What do you mean where have I been? You know I was out looking for a job!" she shot back, using a voice that hinted I'd asked her something absurd.

I laughed once, it was short and humorless. "What, at a bar? Didn't take long for you to find that, did it?"

She looked at me incredulously, and I just shook my head in disgust. "They were hiring, Jasper, and they gave me a drink. I could hardly turn it down."

I turned away from her. She smelled like she'd had more than just one. "That's bullshit, and you know it. Everyone has a fucking choice to turn it down if they wanted to."

"Don't use that language with me, Jasper," she commanded, ignoring what I'd actually said to her. If she was going to ignore me, then I was going to ignore what she'd just said, too.

"What about Emily, Mom? She was on her own, and starving!" I spat at her. My voice was rising, and if I wasn't careful, Emily would wake up.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry about that. I wouldn't have done it, but I didn't have the choice. Anyway, I left just after three thirty. You said you'd be in by four. Half an hour, Jasper," she said as if half an hour was nothing.

"It was half an hour too long. What the hell am I supposed to do tomorrow? I can hardly leave her alone all day!" I remarked tersely, hoping that I was getting my point across.

"She's starting school next week. It's only a few more days," she commented, making it sound as if everything was perfectly alright. Sure, it was only a few days, but the thing was, I didn't have a few days. I needed to be at school.

I shook my head angrily and stormed from the room. I marched upstairs to my own room. But as I passed Emily's door, I noticed that it was slightly open. Shit. We'd woken her up again. When I walked in, I found her sitting hunched up on her bed, her legs tightly tucked in against her chest.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry that we woke you. You need your sleep. Come on, get under the covers," I whispered to her. She blinked away the tears in her eyes and got back under the covers. She always cried when Mom and I argued, which at the moment, seemed to be a regular occurrence.

I kissed her quickly on the forehead, making sure she was settled before shutting her door and going into my own room. I slumped down on the bed, exhausted, and closed my eyes, willing sleep to find me.


A/N: Let me know what you thought.

Anyone want to guess why Jasper seems to swear a lot?