Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: When it comes to descriptions, I'm sticking with the Eclipse (movie) version of Jasper. I'm almost ashamed to admit how many times I've watched the scene where he teaches them to fight...
Part 4
It was a little weird that she hadn't met him earlier. Jessica still made the effort to point out the missing member during that first meeting, though she hadn't explained his absence. Instead, a strangely smug (though she hadn't been quite able to place the emotion at the time) Alice took it upon herself to inform Bella that he was away running an errand that day. And the next. And the next. It pretty much continued for the remainder of the summer vacation, with Alice unnecessarily sticking her head in to tell her whenever Bella casually mentioned it to Emmett, until she eventually stopped asking.
All she knows is by the end of the first week she was sure of two things: that this Jasper person must really like running errands and that Alice made her feel very... unsettled. Edward and Rosalie hadn't hesitated in being openly derisive towards her (though Rosalie did scale it back a bit eventually, largely because of Emmett, and merely stuck to glaring at her) but Alice was... well it wasn't exactly sure what Alice was.
What was clear was that her and Jessica were BFF's (and even had the matching necklaces to prove it) and that should have been enough for her decide to hate her on principal alone, just like Edward had. But instead, for the first few days, she went out of her way to be friends with her. But her approach wasn't sweet or endearing like Emmett or Esme's was, instead it was borderline aggressive, and revolved completely around some attempt to make over her clothes or her looks. When Bella appeared to be resisting instead of embracing, she doubled her efforts, surprising Bella one day at the house with a whole new, what she called 'welcome to Forks,' wardrobe. A wardrobe that consisted of various shades of pink and orange. Bella had politely refused all of it. It hadn't gone over well. Emmett finally had to step in and tell Alice to chill when tears began to form in Bella's eyes after fifteen straight minutes of berating.
Alice, realizing she had failed in her strange effort to create a 'Bella Barbie,' finally caved under Emmett's stern stare and huffed off, not bothering with an apology. She eventually had the final word later that night when Bella was unlocking her truck to go home,
Suddenly appearing behind her (where did she come from? Bella thought mystified) she leaned in close enough for their noses to almost touch, a wide joker-like grin stretched her lips. "No one really wants you here anyways," she had whispered in an eerily cheerful tone, before turning back towards the house. "Toodles."
It took three days before Emmett could convince her to come to the house again.
She pretty much avoided Alice after that, and the creepy grins she kept sending her way, by sticking close to Emmett or Esme. Thankfully, school started a few days later and Bella found herself sidetracked by adjusting to a new school and her mission to figure out exactly what the Cullen's were.
Four days later, the same day she would pull that tattered copy of DRACULA from her bookshelf, Emmett had caught her staring at them. He'd been cool about it, thank god, not pointing it out and instead had waited till a few minutes after the bell had rung, signalling that lunch was over. He had waved Rosalie off with a, "I'll catch up with you in a minute, babe," before swaggering over to a faintly blushing Bella.
"I know I'm good looking, but this staring thing has got to stop. You're gonna make my girl jealous." He joked with a cheeky grin.
Nervous about being caught, Bella attempted to shrug it off. "Sorry. It's just everyone else in this cafeteria stares at you, crowd mentality and all." She bit her lip, even that excuse had sounded pathetic to her ears.
He favored her with a long look, and Bella wondered if he was going to call her out on it.
"True." He offered instead. "It is one of the drawbacks of being a stud." A dimpled smile stretched his lips. "Still up for the game marathon tomorrow?"
"I dunno, Em. First week of school and I already have a huge assignment and I just..."
"Jasper's home."
She stopped speaking and stared. "Sorry?"
"Jasper, the illustrious final member of our infamous brood. The one you've been wanting to meet for weeks? Ring any bells, Bells?" He laughed at his own joke.
"Oh, he's back from visiting his family?" Bella wondered if that came out sounding as sarcastic as she thought it did. She didn't know why she was so suspicious about the whole thing, but for four weeks straight it had been, errands this, or visiting that. She thinks there might have even been mention of a cruise in there once. Seriously, a teenager on a cruise of all things by himself? Yeah, sure.
"Yep. He's gonna stop in tomorrow sometime to pick up his schedule, but he won't be starting officially til Monday. I figured you want the chance to meet him before that. So, games?
"Sure," Bella agreed, trying to keep the eagerness out of her voice. Why was she so strangely excited? It was just some guy. Some guy that was apparently involved with Alice, which, considering the type of person she was, didn't speak too favorably of his character.
"I'll be there with bells on." She promised with a quirk of her lips. It stretched into a large smile when Emmett let out a huge belly laugh.
"I have taught you well, young padawan." A second warning bell sounded and his smile dropped. "Shit, Rose'll kill me if I get detention for being late to class again. Gotta go. See ya tomorrow." He jogged off.
Any humor, or excitement that remained over that conversation was officially gone by that evening.
-oo-
So, vampires.
Bella watched as the number changed on her dashboard clock. Despite being over almost an hour early for school, she was now officially twenty minutes late for class. Every time her hand reached for the handle, she'd remember that she had second period with Emmett and she'd just... stop. After the tenth time, she gave up completely and stared ahead. How was she to act around him again? Was she really expected to just go in there and joke about Mr. Andrews bad toupee like nothing was wrong?
Yes, yes you are.
Because for him, nothing was wrong. He didn't know that she knew and she didn't want him to know that she knew.
She blinked.
I am insane.
Yes, this was going to be a bad day. Between the ramblings of her mind, and the strange tugging sensation in her chest, it was safe to say if was already off to a pretty terrible start.
She took a few deep breaths, using the moment to gather up whatever amounts of meager courage she possessed and wrapping it firmly around herself. Settling back into the mentality that she had had earlier in her driveway, to ignore it for now, she grabbed her book bag off her seat and marched firmly towards the school.
I CAN do this, she told herself.
Entering the school, she turned in the direction of the office to pick up a late pass. Her pace slowed slightly when the clenching in her chest, strangely located around her heart, got worse. Her gaze lowered as her hand rose to grab at the fabric at her chest and she feared for a brief moment she was having a heart attack.
What the...
Two things happened at once, she slammed into a very hard body that sent her sprawling to the ground and the pain in her chest subsided.
Brushing the hair out of her flushed faced, Bella cautiously raised her head, her vision a little blurry from the knock she had received. Almost as if someone had pressed the slow motion button on the remote of life, her eyes moved from the black, square-toed boots, up the fitted (obviously very expensive) dark wash jeans and over the dark grey thermal the stretched over a (very nice and very masculine) broad chest. She had managed to get as far as his neck, before the figure crouched down to her level.
"I'm so sorry, are you alright?" A honeyed, Texan accent caressed her ears.
"I'm fi-." Her vision finally cleared and she saw his face.
Oh.
He was...
Perfect.
Longish, golden-blond waves fell almost to the chin of a face, whose chiseled feature made it look like it was carved of the finest alabaster. Her eyes fell to watch his dusty rose lips as they frowned, before sinfully wrapping around the syllables of words that were unintelligible to Bella's ears.
When she finally met his concerned, yet familiar topaz eyes, she knew without a doubt this was Jasper.
She reached for the hand he was offering, a jolt running through her body when she touched his skin and she felt as if something literally snapped into place. Something she didn't know was missing before.
Home, her mind whispered.
The brief look of shock in his beautiful golden eyes made her wonder if he felt it too. The way he continued to hold her hand, even after he had helped her stand, had the hope that he had spreading through her chest. Silent, they stood there, their eyes remaining locked, even after the shrill sound of the bell pealed through the still hallway.
"What's your name, darlin'?" He finally asked.
Bella closed her eyes as the dulcet tones sent a warm shiver through her body. "Bella," she breathed.
"Bella," he repeated. Her name had never sounded so beautiful. "I'm..."
"Jasper!" A voice shriller then the bell that had rung seconds ago shrieked.
Their eyes were finally forced to break eye contact when a petite, dark-haired body threw themselves in his arms and attached her lips to his.
There were no words to describe the agony Bella felt in that moment.
Pulling back from the kiss with a loud smack, she gave him a quick once over. "Why aren't you wearing the clothes I bought you, Jazzy? I set them out on the bed for you this morning."
Bella watched as a quick grimace flashed over his face, so quick, that had she not been staring at him still, she wouldn't have noticed.
"I-"
Alice waved him off. "I guess it doesn't matter. You can always change when you get home." Turning towards Bella, she adopted an exaggerated look of surprise.
"Oh hey, Bella, I didn't see you there. I see you've met my hus-boyfriend, Jasper." Her bubblegum pink lips, hidden from Jasper by the slight angle of her head, flashed a victorious smirk.
She was going to say husband. He's her husband. Swallowing the lump in her throat. Bella nodded. "I- I have."
"Well I'm sure he'd love to stay and chat, but I'm sure he's got to be going." She turned to Jasper, frowning slightly when she saw he was still staring at Bella. "Did you get your schedule all worked out, Jazzy?" She noticed the slip of paper in his hand. "Can I see it?" she asked, reaching for it.
Jasper stared down at the paper, like he'd forgotten he was even holding it. He handed it to her. "Yeah, everything's fine."
"Oh," Alice squealed. "We have second, third and forth together! This is going to be such a great year."
"Yeah," he agreed, meeting Bella's eyes again.
Alice tugged forcefully at his arm. "C'mon, I'll walk you out to your car, Jazzy. The bell's gonna ring in a few seconds and I don't want to be late for class."
He nodded, bending down to grab the textbook that had miraculously managed not to get kicked away by the passing crowd. Handing it to Bella, their fingers touched again briefly, sending another pleasant hum through her body. "It was nice to meet you, Bella," he said softly, Alice already tugging him in the opposite direction.
"You too," she whispered back, cradling the book to her chest. Her eyes followed his form all the way down the hallway, meeting his one final time when he threw her a last look over his shoulder before walking out the door.
Bella stood in the empty hallway, for seconds, minutes, hours, she didn't know. What she did know, was in that short moment her life had changed irrevocably.
She just didn't know if it was for the better.
-oo-
The pain that flared in her chest at the mere thought of that day, of... him... snapped Bella out of the dream-like state she was in. She realized, dimly, that it was something that would be repeated a lot in the future. Watching him walk away from her.
Looking into the bathroom mirror, she saw that she had completely zoned out in the middle of putting on her sleep shirt and it was now bunched awkwardly on her shoulders. She finished pulling it down and returned her gaze to the mirror. She looked horrible. She looked...
Like a vampire, she realized with a touch of grim humor. How appropriate. She was paler than usual, offset by the bruise colored skin under her eyes from a lack of sleep. She had lost weight as well, obvious in the sharp angles of her cheekbones and the press of her ribs against the skin over her stomach.
Nana's ring doesn't fit as snug as it used to either, she noted absentmindedly, staring down at it as she slipped it on her ring finger. Her vision blurred and a tear trailed down her cheek and splashed off the small heart-shaped emerald.
I wish you were here, Nana, she thought with a harsh sob. I need you so much now.
She certainly couldn't talk to her father about... whatever this was. He had made a comment earlier in the week about her looking like she hadn't slept in a while, and that had been the extent of his concern, before Jessica had distracted him with the latest town gossip. In his defense, Bella had gotten better at hiding her appearance after that. Her usual style, sweaters and jeans (with a new addition of a belt with a couple extra notches haphazardly punched in) made it easier to hide her shrinking frame.
Her mother was out of the question as well, being conveniently incommunicado for the last two weeks. Besides, she had never been particularly adept at talking about... well, girl things with her anyways. No, she had went to her Nana for that.
Girl things? Bella sneered, twining her long, damp hair into a sloppy braid. Is that what this is?
Jill was a no also. She'd made it very clear, even after almost three months of being here, that she still only barely tolerated Bella's presence. And Jessica was laughable. Besides, even if she had wanted to talk to her (which she really, really didn't) she was currently out of town for the weekend, on an impromptu trip with Edward, to somewhere she couldn't recall. She'd distanced herself from all of the Cullen's as well when, whatever this was, had started. Not that she felt particularly close enough to any of them to share.
No, she realized dimly, I don't have anyone.
With one final look in the mirror, Bella turned away with a sigh of resigned disgust. She had spent too many hours already just looking into the standing one in her room wondering what was wrong with her. Wondering why he seemed to find her company, why he found her, so... repulsive.
No, no, no more, she begged as tears gathered in her eyes again. She rubbed at them harshly, shuffling towards her bedroom. It was only a few minutes shy of eight, but she was so tired. All she wanted to do was sleep.
She crawled beneath the covers, pulling them up over her head and curling in a fetal position. An hour later, her pillow soaked by the tears she had failed to hold in, her exhausted mind finally took pity on her and allowed her to drift off in a deep, dreamless sleep.
A sleep so deep she didn't notice when her ring starting glowing.
-oo-
At the same time, across town at the Cullen's residence, Alice had settled into, what she called 'down-time'. She might not be able to technically sleep, but she at least liked to pretend she still did. After all, a girl needed her beauty rest.
She had actually gotten quite skilled at shutting her body and mind down into a trance-like state, so much so that she had practically conditioned her body to instinctively do it. So every night around the same time, she'd slip into a different frilly nightgown (pure silk of course) and shoo Jasper out of the room (she hated sharing the bed with someone who didn't fully appreciate her designer sheets and chose to complain about the color instead. She didn't care, pink was fabulous!) The other members of her family thought it was a bit silly, but they indulged her, just like they did everything else in her life.
Her eyes drifted closed as a smug smile played on her lips. Life was practically perfect.
She was unaware that, thanks to Azial's spell, for the first time in eighty years, she would be sleeping for real that night.
-oo-
The distracted Cullen's, an impulsive night hunt for the males, and a rom-com in the living room downstairs for the females, didn't notice the kaleidoscope of colors that pulsed out from underneath Alice's closed door. It was a mesmerizing display, the muted colors shifting with every pulse. Pink. Pulse. Maroon. Pulse. Silver. Pulse. There was a still pause before the silver was slowly streaked through with a beautiful teal tint that eventually encompassed it completely.
A muffled laugh drifted up from the stairway as the color faded completely and the hallway went dark.
-oo-
From her position perched on the branch outside Bella's window, Azial watched as the glow from the ring saturated Bella's entire body, slowly shifting from it's original pink into a bright, blueish-green color. The glow pulsed, then flashed a pale silver, before a muddy maroon began to seep into it and spread out around her sleeping frame. The color faded as it slowly sunk into the sleeping figure's body. The tingle of magick, too subtle to disturb the other sleeping members of the house subsided, and the room once again became dark and still.
"It's done," Azial whispered.
A/N2: So... have any guess as to what Azial's plan was yet? I always figured I was being ridiculously obvious with the play on words title... Love to hear your thoughts!