Alright, I'm hoping to get a couple chapters done this weekend, but I make no promises. I have a crazy month coming up!

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Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, any of the characters in Twilight, or anything related to the books and/or movies. If I did, I would be way too busy- doing dirty things with the Cullen boys- to sit down at my laptop and write this story. The scenes, characters, and general plot ideas that I did borrow from Stephenie Meyer have been revamped to fit my story.

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Emmett's Undoing

Chapter Seven: The Empath's View of High School

Jasper POV

I liked Bella. She seemed to be a good contrast for Emmett. My family thought that everything was going well with their first meeting, but I knew better. While Emmett was doing fine, Bella seemed to be having some problems. I hadn't been thinking about it much because I didn't want Edward to pick up on it and tell Emmett. No need to make him worry for no reason.

When Bella had seen Emmett standing in the hallway without his shirt on, her first reaction was lust. I wasn't surprised. She is a teenager after all. Nervousness came second to the lust. I think that our Bella has never seen a naked boy before. I wonder how much experience she does have in the dating department. I had overheard conversations about how her mother had left her father when she was a child, because she was too afraid of living in Forks forever and not realizing her dreams.

What dreams did she have to live out?! From what I had overheard- unintentionally, might I add- she was a stay-at-home mother married to a wannabe baseball star. Granted, that was better than having to live off blood for an eternity. To each their fucking own. But I digress.

Lust, check. Nervousness, check. Out of place. She was feeling very out of place all day long. Whether it be with Emmett, with our entire family, or just walking the halls. This girl had serious self-esteem issues. I was amazed that she was able to keep a brave front up while speaking with Emmett. Or any of us for that matter. We were pretty intimidating; most people didn't bother to try to get to know us. Not that we would let them anyway. The last thing I needed was some human hanging around, smelling delicious, making me want to drain the blood from their body.

I was going to have to get better, though. Apparently Bella was going to be a large part of our lives from now on. I don't have anything against her. I just don't want to slip up and disappoint my family. Emmett would also never let me hear the end of it. He was already crazy about this girl. It was strange to feel anything but boredom and humor from him.

On the positive side, I didn't feel any fear from her. She truly was unique. Our appearances and attitudes usually frightened those around us. Throughout the day and throughout the emotions that she was experiencing, it was the only one that was absent. I was thankful for this. If this girl was going to be dating Emmett, she would need to have a strong stomach. Emmett could be a handful to say the least. He was very active, very extreme in every way.

I was currently sitting at my desk, staring at Bella as she stood in front of the classroom. Mrs. Gomez liked to torture new students, the bitch. She had tried to get under my skin when we moved here, but I obviously did not take that lying down. Bella was a different story, though. She was fidgeting with her hands and shuffling her feet as she told the class about herself in Spanish. She actually knew the language pretty well.

She finished and started to walk back to the seat next to me. We were in the back row; it had been my decision. I didn't like to be noticed and gawked at by others. As she walking down the small aisle, her foot got caught on a stray backpack strap and she stumbled. Luckily for her, I have lightning quick vampire reflexes. I was able to catch her without even rising from my seat. I stopped her from falling, her head only a foot from the ground.

"Bella Bella Bella, I thought you were falling for my brother," I teased. I couldn't resist. "I'm already taken," I whispered too low for anyone else to hear.

She blushed a deep crimson color, and I immediately regretted my words. All the blood rushing to her face was too painful to bear. I could taste the venom pooling in my mouth as her scent floated to my nostrils. My grip tightened on her as I helped her stand again. Once my hands were free from her, I gripped the edges of the desk I was sitting in, trying to concentrate on anything but her scent.

Thankfully Mrs. Gomez decided to start class so Bella turned her attention to the front of the room again. She slowly calmed down, her embarrassment fading over the duration of our last class for the day. Mrs. Gomez told us that we would be working on three larger projects during the year and that we were to work in partners. She randomly pulled our names from a sombrero she had in her classroom. How original.

Of course, I ended up with Bella. Thank God. I didn't want to work with anyone else in this class. Like I said before, I'm not really keen on hanging out with humans. It looked like Alice had been right all along, not surprisingly. Bella would be spending an awful lot of time with our family from now on. We discussed what we would be learning this year, looked at a dumbass slide show of Mrs. Gomez's recent trip to Mexico to visit some of her family, and were left with the last fifteen minute to do as we pleased.

I immediately turned my desk to face Bella, not wanting to speak with anyone else. Normally I would just sit quietly and sketch in my notebook. But I had promised Alice that I would try to get to know Bella and make her feel more comfortable around our family. I would help Bella with her comfort, but who was going to help me with mine?! It was all I could to not reach over and bite into her porcelain skin.

"So what do you think?" I asked.

"About what?" she asked, looking in me with those big, innocent, brown eyes. They just made you want to spill all your darkest secrets to her. Emmett was so fucked.

"About everything. Forks, school, Emmett…" I chuckled under my breath when I saw her face flush again. This was becoming way too fun.

"I'll get used to Forks again. It's been awhile since I've had to suffer this extreme weather, you know. The school seems okay, I guess. It's just like any other high school. Lots of hormone-crazed teenagers who want to gossip about the new girl. I'll deal," she answered with a shrug of her shoulders.

"And Emmett?" I prodded.

"What do you want to know about your brother?" she asked back.

"Do you like him?" I regretted the question as soon as I heard myself speak it. I was acting like a damn middle schooler.

"Where the hell have you been all day, Jasper?" she teased. I chuckled at that. "I like what I know so far, but that's not a lot. Emmett has a lot of different layers. I've only seen a couple."

"I have never heard anyone speak more accurately about him," I said lowly. "Most people write him off as a dumb jock or a prankster."

"Oh, I'm sure he can be a prankster at times, but just in the few conversations I've had with him I know that he's intelligent and insightful. I can't wait to get to know him better," she answered honestly.

"He feels the same way about you, Bella," I told her. I smiled when I immediately felt her emotions ease. She was beginning to lose some of her inferiority complex. Good.

The bell rang and we each rose from our seats. We let the other students walk out of the room before us, not wanting to die in the stampede. I could hold my own, but I doubted that Bella could.

"Do you need to stop at your locker? Everyone else will be waiting for us in the parking lot?" I asked her.

"No, I have everything I need in my backpack, Jasper," she answered back. She was feeling exhausted now. I couldn't blame her. It had been a busy week for her, and I'm sure that with all of these new emotions coming into play today that it was finally catching up with her. We walked out of the building and into the parking lot. A few kids nodded good-byes to Bella as she left.

I chuckled when I caught sight of my surrogate family. Alice and Edward were arguing over a song that was currently popular. Alice thought it was good; Edward said that it was mediocre at best. Rose was debating with Emmett on why he should allow her to drive the Jeep home; he was not buying into it.

"Bella, my dear!" Emmett yelled over to us. "Thank God you've come to save me from Rosalie's annoyingness!" Rosalie slapped Emmett on the back of the head, causing Bella to giggle as we made our way over to them. She walked into Emmett's arms, snuggling against him. "I missed you," he whispered into her hair.

I was definitely seeing a whole new side of Emmett. He was feeling content and excited but not the hormonal kind of excited. He was genuinely happy to be near Bella again.

"So what's on the agenda for tonight, darlings?" Rosalie asked, jumping down from where she was standing in the passenger seat of Emmett's Jeep. She reminded me of a cat.

"I don't know, but I definitely think we should do something to welcome Bella to Forks," Alice suggested.

"Actually, I'm really tired," Bella said apologetically. "I was planning on just going home and going to bed early."

"Of course, Bella. You have to be exhausted," Edward reassured her. He was standing next to Rosalie now, poking her in the side, causing her to giggle. "You've only been here a couple days; you're still adjusting."

"Well, how about we do something this weekend instead?" Alice asked, hopeful. She was eager to get to know Bella more and to convince her to let her buy her a new wardrobe. I didn't think she was going to have much luck, though. Bella seemed content in her band tee shirt.

"Sounds good," the human said with a yawn.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" Emmett asked, tucking his hand underneath her chin and pulling her face to look up to him.

"I have my truck here, baby," she said in her sleep-ridden voice. "I can't leave it here." She didn't feel her usual bout of embarrassment, so I don't think she even realized that she'd just called Emmett 'baby' in front of all of us.

"I'll drive your truck home; we can hang out for awhile," Emmett said.

"Okay," the short brunette agreed with a smirk and a shrug of her shoulders.

"Does that mean I get to drive the Jeep?!" Rosalie asked with excitement dripping from her voice. Oh God, help us all.