Alice's POV – Age Fourteen

It was exactly one week after Jasper had moved. The word was starting to spread around school that he and the Hales had gone to Houston. Seeing my walking down the hallway alone and grim half the time didn't help much with stopping the simple story of his moving from turning into something about him having to move to an entirely different state just to tell me that he didn't like me like that. God, I hated middle school

The bad part was that, with Jasper gone, I had to defend myself against Maria and her sisters. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I was some sissy girl that needed her big brother to protect her, and I definitely was glad that I was going to be able to give Maria a piece of my mind without Jasper calming me just by putting a hand on my shoulder and snapping me out of it. It was just that it was always the Alice and Jasper show—and now it was just me, just Alice.

I looked up from the floor and saw Maria walking forward, hips swaying so unnaturally and so much that she almost pushed two seventh graders into the lockers with her fat ass. Ha, ha. Maria's a fat ass.

Her sisters, as always, flanked her. When she saw me she automatically sneered and I prepared to stand my ground.

"Thanks for driving my boyfriend away, Alice," she said. "Who knew he'd have to move to Kansas for you to get the message. Unless, you still don't get the message, in which case I feel really bad for you."

"Newsflash, sweetie," I said in my usual sweet, perky voice. "Houston's in Texas, not Kansas."

She grimaced and turned to Lucy. "Look at that, little Alice is so much a nerd that she feels the need to correct me about something as insignificant as that."

I giggled. "That the best you can do, hun?" I asked. "Because if it is, then your best sucks."

I started walking past her, but something she said made me stop.

"Jasper was right," she said. "You are ugly and annoying."

I turned around. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," she said. "Before he left, at Seth's pool party, we were talking. I asked how you two were doing, and he said you were ugly and annoying."

I grimaced and fought against the little voice inside me saying that she might be telling the truth. Maria didn't tell the truth… right?

"And he also said," Nettie started, "Oh, wait, no. Maria, you said it was too terrible for her to know, right?"

Maria's eyes saddened. It was too convincing. Sadness like that couldn't be faked unless you were a really good actress, which Maria wasn't. She hadn't even been good enough to play the only one-appearance, one-line role in the school play: girl with bucket.

"That's what I said, Nettie," Maria said. "I wouldn't wish those words to be heard by anyone, even someone like her."

"What?" I asked tentatively. Several possibilities swirled through my head, but I pushed them aside and waited for the actual answer.

"Oh, Alice, I don't think you want to know," Lucy said.

A passing girl, Jessica, actually, paused. "She's right, you know. I heard Jasper say it. Is the one you're talking about the one about the… P-I-G?" she asked Maria. As if I couldn't spell.

Maria nodded.

"Oh," Jess gasped. "That's bad. You don't want to hear it, Alice, unless you really want to ruin your friendship."

"Tell me," I said simply. "I won't get mad."

The four girls looked at each other before turning back to me. It was Maria who spoke.

"On top of saying that you were ugly and annoying, he said you had unrealistic fantasies and that your sketches were hideous. He said you should go live in the mud with a dozen pigs, since they were the only things that might accept you."

Jasper had read that somewhere—I remembered. He told me about it. Maria couldn't have possibly known that. And Jessica… Jessica didn't lie. I wouldn't exactly count her as one of my friends, but she was one of the girls I could go to for any true gossip. Tears sprung to my eyes.

"I—I have to go," I said, turning away before any tears could spill over. The bell rang, but I wasn't in the mood for class. I checked my watch. Eight o' clock. Texas time was Washington time minus one hour… good. I still had time to catch him before school, if I was lucky.

I ran down the hall, not bothering with the common courtesy of saying "excuse me" when trying to walk through people. There was a pay phone next to the girls' bathroom. They'd installed it after the shoot out that had happened last year—talk about scary—in case anyone needed to make a call during an emergency, or something like that. Kids used it for personal calls all the time, and it happened so often that even the principal didn't care anymore.

I dug in my pocket for four quarters—it was two for a call around here, four for long distance—and put them into the machine then dialed Jasper's new home number that I already had memorized. He answered on the first ring.

"Hello?" he said, yawning. "Who is this?"

"Jazz," I sighed, my voice cracking. That seemed to wake him up.

"Alice," he gasped. "Are you alright? Where are you? What happened?"

"I'm at school," I said, answering his simplest question. Even though I was unbelievably mad at him for saying those things about me, his voice was still music to my ears.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No, Jasper, I'm not okay," I said, swallowing my tears. "I just wanted to let you know that I don't want anything to do with you anymore." I was pretty much sobbing into the phone by that point. "How could you say that about me? Why, Jazz? Do you really hate me that much?"

"Alice, I—"

"You know what? Forget it. I can't talk to you right now."

I dropped the phone, not even bothering to put it up properly. The halls were empty now, except for a frenzied Bella who I ran into.

"Alice," she said. "Where have you been? Mr. Delrio told me to come looking for you. Wait—what happened?"

"It's Jasper," I said, wiping my tears.

"Is he hurt?" she gasped. "Is Rose okay? And Aunty Claudia and Uncle Richard? What happened?"

I told her everything, and she kept her hands on my shoulders the entire time. I wanted to reach up and take them away—the gesture reminded me too much of him—but I didn't have the strength to. By the time I was done, she'd pulled me into a hug.

"Alice, are you insane?" she asked. "Listening to Maria, of all the damn people! What is up with you? Are you on some kind of medication Mom forgot to tell me about?" She pressed a hand to my head. "Sick, maybe?"

I swatted her hand away. "This isn't a joke, Bella!" I said. "Jasper… he didn't even like me! All the time, I saw him like the brother I never had! And he saw me like the annoying girl that tagged along everywhere."

"Alice, listen to me. That is so not true!" Bella said. "Jasper loved you—he still loves you! Do you really think he'd throw away all these years of friendship?"

I wiped away more tears. "No," I sniffled. "I guess not."

"Listen, you go on to class. There's something I have to do," she insisted.

"But, Bella—"

"What?" she snapped.

"I don't want to go to class," I said. "I have a major headache, I'm not thinking straight. I feel like I'm going to pass out."

The truth was, I was feeling extremely faint. My head was swirling and being jack-hammered by an invisible source. I was seeing stars—literally.

"Oh, crap," Bella muttered. "Crap, crap, crap. Um, okay, here." She put one arm around my shoulder and supported my weight, which was extremely easy, even for her.

"I'll take you to the nurse," she said. "Then I'll go call him."

"What?" I asked. "Bella, no. Besides, you probably already missed him."

She grimaced. "Whatever. You need to get your ass onto some kind of bed so you can lie down. Alice, you're literally green. Damn; that's a real shitty color on you." Whoa; I'd never heard Bella curse so much. Maybe I was hallucinating. As I'd said, I wasn't thinking straight.

She took me to the nurse's office, which was empty, and helped me lie down on the cot in the corner. She sat in a chair until a nurse came in.

"Goodness!" she exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Alice isn't feeling too well," Bella said, stating the obvious. From the way I tossed my head over the side of the cot and started dry heaving into the trashcan, it was pretty clear that I wasn't feeling well.

"Honey, do you want me to call your mother?" the nurse asked me.

"No thank you," I said, coughing and lying back down. "I'll be fine. Just need to rest."

The nurse pursed her lips, and nodded. I closed my eyes and soon I heard her leave the room.

I didn't know what to believe. Jasper had been my best friend my entire life, but didn't his saying that stuff sort of cancel that out? But what if Maria was lying, and manipulating Jessica into lying, too? That definitely wouldn't be a first.

It didn't take long for me to fall asleep, and it didn't feel like it took me long to wake up, either, even though it had been six hours since Bella had to come get me after school.

"Feeling better?" she asked, sitting on the cot. I propped myself up and shook my head.

"Not really," I said. "Headache hasn't gone away. I think it's gotten worse, actually."

"Want me to call Mom so she can come pick us up?" Bella asked, comfortingly rubbing my leg. "The school called her and she told me that if you weren't feeling okay, that she could come home and pick us up."

"No, no, I'm fine," I assured her with a smile, standing up and fighting against my inner nausea to try and maintain my usual poise.

"Alright," Bella said. "I got your backpack out of your locker, and I picked up your homework. Emmett and Edward said to feel better. They were going to come over after school, but I said that you might feel better quicker with a quiet house."

I smiled and took my backpack from her, straining against the jumble of feelings still brewing inside me. "Thanks, Bells. But you didn't have to do that! I love having those two over. Emmett's fun, and Edward makes you so happy! By the way, do you have any clue when you're going to start dating him? I know the perfect place for you two to go!"

Bella groaned and stuck her fingers in her ears as we walked out of the school. I spoke loud enough, though, that I knew she heard me. Doing so was a nice distraction from the scene this morning. I still didn't know what I was going to do about it, though.

We got home, wet from the falling rain. Bella announced she was going to take a shower before calling the guys and saying they could come. I nodded, and grabbed a towel from the bathroom before she got in there to dry off the worst of the water on my hair. Then, having nothing else to do, sat down at the computer and turned it on. By habit, I went to my email. Two messages. I clicked the first one—it was from Jessica.

I didn't really want to hear from her, but I read it anyway. It was short, so it was over quickly.

Alice,

I lied, okay? I'm sorry. She made me. Said she'd make my life hell if I didn't.

-Jess

I didn't have to wonder for more than a second who the 'she' was. Maria. Oh, God, I blew up for no reason. Jasper probably hated me…

I clicked the next message, from Jasper. I clenched my eyes tightly, before opening them, and expecting the worst.

Alice,

Bella called. She told me everything. Alice, you can't believe everything you hear. And from Maria! I don't blame you—she can be convincing, especially if she has someone outside her and her sisters backing her up. Alice, I hope you believe me, and not her. I love you, okay? I'm miserable without you. Nothing will change that.

-Jasper

Tears sprung to my eyes, but they weren't from sadness at all. I through my head back and laughed, mostly at my stupidity. I didn't notice Bella behind me, hair wet from her quick shower, until she patted my back.

"You're welcome," she said, smiling.

I smiled at her and threw my arms around her neck, squealing with happiness.

"Thank you, Bella," I said, kissing both of her cheeks. "I owe you one."

"Welcome," she said, wiping her cheeks playfully. "I'm gonna go call the guys."

"I'll email Jasper back," I said with a nod. She went off to the kitchen, and I sat back down and pressed the 'reply' button.

Jazz,

I'm sorry. I shouldn't have believed her. Love you, too, big bro.

-Alice.

He replied almost immediately, which surprised me since he should've just gotten home from his new school.

Alice,

Brother. Yeah. Right. Talk to you soon.

-Jazz

I wasn't sure what the first part was supposed to mean, but I decided that as long as he still loved me, and he forgave me for being an idiot, it was all good.

I turned off the computer and went to my room. I threw myself on my bed, face up, and stared at the ceiling.

I laughed again and kept laughing until the doorbell rang.

"Alice!" Bella called. "The guys are here!"

I skipped down the stairs, happy that such a terrible day was having a great close. The only thing that could make it better was Jasper coming back.

But since that might not happen very soon, I decided to live in the moment, and make the most of what was to come.