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Speech has been used from Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer.
Chapter Four – Alice
I skimmed ahead into the future. Not a long way, just enough to see if Jasper made it through the day. At the moment he seemed like he would. But I had to make sure.
Edward, I said in my head. Edward did not turn, but kept his eyes carefully fixed on the wall. How is he holding up? I asked.
Edward frowned a little. I became alarmed, and knew it would not escape Jasper's attention. Is there any danger?
I glanced sideways at Jasper, and continued to search into the future for any cause of Edward's frown. He turned his head slightly to the left and a few seconds later to the right. He was shaking his head, privately. I relaxed, but my mind continued to whir. I hated Jasper suffering, and I knew he was suffering now. We had not hunted for two weeks, which was a struggle for the rest of us but unbearable for Jasper. His golden head was bowed, his hands balled into tight fists. I shifted my chair closer to him, longing to comfort him. I tried to calm myself, wanting him to absorb my cool emotions so he would not be more stressed than he already was. We should not allow him to wait for so long between hunts. I knew I would need to go hunting with him tonight, possibly for all of the night. Jasper had lower limits than the rest of us. He could not withstand the thirst for as long without a great inner fight.
A sandy haired girl came to stand next to our table. Her scent wafted over us. It made the venom rise in my throat, but I could control it. Jasper, however, could not. I saw him, in my vision, sliding his chair back and bending down to that girl, slicing through her neck with his sharp teeth. Edward glared at Jasper, and kicked his chair violently. The vision evaporated. Jasper's face fell. He wanted to endure the thirst, but he could not always do it.
"Sorry," he said, apologetically.
"You weren't going to do anything," I said, leaning towards him slightly, offering him my comfort. "I could see that." Edward grimaced slightly, and I frowned warningly at him
"It helps if you think of them as people," I continued. "Her name is Whitney. She has a baby sister she adores. Her mother invited Esme to that garden party, do you remember?"
His forehead creased in anger. "I know who she is," he bit out in frustration.
My face fell. I had pushed him too far. I always push him too far when he is hungry. I knew he didn't mean to snap at me, but it still hurt. I bent my head to examine my uneaten apple and soda. I blocked my thoughts from my brother. I did not want anyone to know how much I regretted saying that to Jasper, or how much his rage hurt me. After a few minutes, I could not last any longer. I slid my chair back, quickly, and stood up, striding out of the cafeteria.
I walked around to the benches at the front of the school. Edward's Volvo was parked to my left. How I wished I could get in and drive home. Or better still, run away. But what was stopping me. There was no-one around, they were all inside in the warmth, escaping the cold January day. I trotted over to the forest, and set off running. The forest wasn't that big, but I could still run a long way. I followed it until it ended, and then spun around, running back. The run cleared my head, blowing away all the guilt and upset my conversation with Jasper had caused. Sitting back on the bench I had only vacated approximately five minutes ago, I filled my head with thoughts of Jasper.
I remembered the day I had met Jasper in a forest in Virginia. He was tall and blond, and suffering. I spoke to him, told him how I had seen him in a vision and knew where we were headed. I fell in love with him then, and I have not been apart from him since. Jasper was strong, I knew that, but his willpower was not. He needed to work on that. He had been a vampire for a long time, and for the first decades of his new life, he lived in amongst other vampires who did not follow our 'vegetarian' diet. I think if he had started life on a diet of animal's blood, he would have found it easier now to resist the temptation of human blood.
I skimmed ahead again, fleetingly following my siblings' futures. Nothing of interest happened in Rosalie's or Emmett's. But something caught my mind's eye. Something occurred between Edward and the new student, Isabella Swan. Something important, and something dangerous. She seemed in my vision to be afraid, and Edward seemed to be enraged. But I could not see further than that. I discarded it from my mind, concentrating my focus on Jasper. He was holding up as far as I could see, but he could make new decisions that would change that. I knew Emmett would keep him safe, and if anything drastic happened, I would see it. I had to rely on that.
As the bell rang, I set off for my next lesson. The strange vision of Edward and Isabella flickered on the edges of my consciousness. I could not explain it, nor could I explain the feeling of anxiety that washed over me as I examined the vision again. Something was going to happen today, but for once, I did not know what.