A/N: Chapter 8!
You wouldn't believe how fun it was to write Englishsper. Seriously, it's so fun. Jasper's English, I'm English, we should make babies…I mean…I found it easier. If there are any phrases you don't understand, just ask me, and I'll help you out. Though I think most phrases are pretty easy to follow.
Disclaimer: I don't own Jasper, I just made him English.
Chapter 8 - From the First Glance
June 1st 2009
Jasper POV
I looked around cautiously, anticipating Maria to jump out from behind the corner at any moment. She had the tendency to do just that whenever I would visit Mum. I swear the girl stalked me, or had cameras in the garage, so that she would know when I turned up. I was hoping that today, because it wasn't a planned trip, she wouldn't find me and stop for a chat. Said chats were always exceptionally hard to get out of. She just kept talking, and talking, and not to mention the shameless flirting she sent my way.
Don't get me wrong; I loved receiving attention from the opposite sex just as much as the next guy. But, Maria…she was something else altogether.
I was just walking around the corner towards the corridor that led to Mum's office, when I walked straight into someone. I reached out, feeling like a dick, and held onto her before she fell to the floor. Only then did I realise who it was I'd walked into.
Alice.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see…" she began, but the moment our eyes met, her voice just trailed away from her.
I smiled at that. Call me arrogant, but I was certain I was the reason behind her voice trailing away as it had. "You should really watch where you're going, Alice."
A massive smile formed on her face as I finished, and I couldn't help but notice how much her face lit up when she smiled like that.
"I guess I should. Sorry, my mind was a bit preoccupied. I'll remember that the next time I'm around people," she said, babbling ever so slightly. She was kind of cute when she did that, and I wanted to hear her doing it again, for sure.
"So, why are you here on a Monday?" she asked, breaking me from my musings. "Do you come here often?"
Much like earlier, with her smile, I grinned as she enquired why I was here. She didn't have to speak to me. In fact, after she'd finished talking earlier, she could easily have walked away from me. Although, I was certain I'd have said something to call her back, and knowing me, it would have been the first thing off the top of my head. I would have inevitably made a complete fool of myself.
"I'm actually visiting my mum; my lessons were cancelled today. Also, I haven't seen her in like a fortnight, and to answer your other question, no, I'm not here often. However, I try to be, even if it is merely just to admire the view."
I smirked at her, turning the charm onto full notch. I briefly wondered whether she realised that I was referring to her. I couldn't help but stare as I watched her pouty lips part as if in surprise. However, she seemed to recover, as a sexy, confident smirk played across her lips. To say that smirk alone wasn't a turn on, would be a lie, and a big one, at that.
"Admire the view, huh?" she murmured rather seductively, whether intentionally or not, that was how I interpreted it. "Seen anything you like?"
Oh, she knows I'm talking about her, alright, I thought to myself as I allowed my eyes to do all the talking for me.
"The view's looking pretty good from where I'm standing," I whispered. She was stunned, or at least, I think she was. Just seeing her standing in front of me was enough to make me want to lean down and kiss her. In between the time we last saw each other and now, she'd been on my mind. More often that not, I'd wake up each morning from a dream she stared in. It was driving me insane, and now that she was here in front of me, it was almost too much to handle.
As my thoughts drifted on, I heard some voices.
"Crap," I muttered under my breath as I looked around. "Maria."
Why did she always have to be nearby? I questioned in my mind. I wish she would just piss off for one visit.
I had to get out of here, and fast, but as I looked back at Alice, I knew that I didn't want to leave her yet. So I did something really fucking daft. I took her hand in mine and pulled her away from Maria's voice. I was glad she couldn't see my face, or more correctly, the grin that was plastered across it. Her hand was so small, but it fit into mine perfectly.
The second I saw the alcove in the wall, I knew I was going to hide there. It was like Mission Impossible, or something, and I was so very tempted to start humming the theme tune.
After I pulled her into the alcove, I poked my head out into the corridor, scanning the area for any signs of my stalker. I made a comment, asking whether she thought Maria saw us, and the responding giggle I got from her made me forget Maria altogether. I watched her, probably a little too intently, as she continued to display her obvious amusement.
Her nose scrunched up slightly, and her teeth nipped at her bottom lip. If I had a camera, I would have taken a photo, as my memory would never do justice to this perfection.
"If she saw us, she would have followed us here," she finally said, her expression straightening out as she spoke, much to my dismay.
"I'm glad she didn't follow us," I murmured, clearly not filtering any of my current thoughts. From the look she gave me, I knew she was sensing the change in my tone because I sure as hell did. If Maria had followed us, then Alice and I would not have been standing in this tiny little alcove. In fact, we were so close, that I could feel her body heat.
"So," I continued when she didn't say anything in response to my previous comment. "Are you going to the end of year prom?"
Please say that she is, I thought to myself, wanting nothing more than to see her in a dress, and dancing in my arms. Yes, dancing in my arms. That was all I could see now when I thought about the upcoming prom.
"What?" she asked, sounding completely baffled at my question.
"Are you going to the prom?" I asked again, hoping that she would answer this time. I wanted an answer out of her, and I didn't want to make it obvious by asking her a third time. It would only come across as desperate.
"You have prom here?" she finally asked, making me laugh. That was so typically American of her to assume that we didn't do things the same way they did across the other side of the world.
"Yes, Alice, we have prom here, too," I murmured teasingly. I expected her to smile, but when she grimaced, my stomach dropped slightly. I really hadn't meant it to offend her. Nice one, Jasper.
I was about to apologise, when she eagerly asked, "Will you be going?"
I fought back the smirk that wanted to break free across my face, as I said, "You didn't answer your question."
"Neither did you," she shot back, her eyes challenging me to carry on.
Instead, I grinned at her, letting her have the last word on that part of the conversation. "Of course I'm going, but, I would like to see you there, too."
I inwardly slapped myself as I realised my slip up. It seemed like I couldn't keep my thought in when I was around Alice, it was as if I wanted to let her know what I was thinking. In this case, I wanted to make it damn obvious I would like to see her at the prom.
A beautiful, yet slightly shy smile spread across her face, and I knew she was going to tell me something I wanted to hear. I held my breath, nonetheless, and the moment she told me we would be seeing each other there, I exhaled, feeling my heart rate increase with excitement.
"Good," I whispered, staring down at her full, pouty lips. I was leaning towards her before I could process the action in my mind. I quickly licked my lips – a kneejerk reaction – and inhaled. She smelt sweet, and for some reason, it reminded me of summer.
As I leant closer, I desperately wanted to bring my lips to her, craving to see if she tasted just as sweet. My mind drifted, and I thought about the way her lips would feel against my own, demanding, unyielding. I could imagine myself pushing her up against the wall, as we moaned into each other's mouths, our tongues played together in harmony.
"I'll be the one in the suit," I whispered, my lips brushing against her skin as I spoke. "I'll see you there, Baby Doll."
I pulled back, storing the image of her standing there, eyes closed, ready to kiss me, in my mind, and turned away. Just thinking about what would have happened, convinced me that it couldn't happen there. I was feeling more turned on now than what I had in a long time, and if even one part of the scenario I played in my head actually happened, I knew, without a doubt, I wouldn't have been able to stop.
As I walked away, I was feeling pretty darn good, and confident, about how I'd ended it. A large part of me wanted to kiss her, claim her, but now I'd shown her that I was more than interested, and, undoubtedly, we both knew something was going to go down between us at the prom.
However, I got about two steps around the corner when I started to feel like a complete and utter prat. The confident side of me was clearly going to remain short lived.
"I'll see you there, Baby Doll, what the fuck was that?" I muttered to myself. "What a fucking tit."
I was still cursing and beating myself up about it as I got to Mum's office. I took a deep breath and shook my head, trying to get Alice out of my mind, even though that was nigh impossible to do in my current frame of mind.
After I had sufficiently calmed down, I knocked on the door. I heard Mum telling me to come in, and I pushed the door open.
"Jasper!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw me. She got up, walked over and pulled me into a tight embrace. "It's so good to see you!"
Then as she pulled away, she added as an afterthought, "You're not bunking school, are you? I don't want you skipping classes just to come and see me."
I laughed, shaking my head. "Be reasonable, Mum, do you really think I'd be here if I was wagging it?"
My eyebrow was raised as I finished, just challenging her to try and find a comeback. She smiled, before signalling for me to sit down across from her. "You have a point there."
Once we were settled, I realised she actually looked really stressed out. "Is everything okay?" I asked, concerned.
She smiled grimly and pulled a face that said yes and no. "It's just school stuff, that's all."
"Is it anything that would interest me?" I doubted that it would, school stuff rarely did. But she liked to talk about it, sometimes, if it wasn't anything too confidential, so I'd listen to her vent, if I had to.
"Actually, I think it would," she said, taking me by surprise. "There's a student here who is doing everything she can to get expelled."
I frowned. There was no logic in what she had just said. "Why would she want to do that? Surely her parents are paying a lot for her to be here?"
She sighed, obviously exasperated over the whole situation. "Her father enrolled her here without her consent. She's from America."
"Alice?" Her name was passed my lips before I could stop myself.
"You know her?"
When I realised my mistake, I started to backtrack. "I've seen her around, and heard her name being mentioned a couple of time, that's all." Oh, and I nearly kissed her a couple of minutes ago.
She gave me a look that she said didn't know whether to believe me or not, but I continued before she could say anything. I couldn't keep the smile off my face as I spoke.
"So, what has she been doing, then?"
"The question should be: what hasn't she been doing," she said, rubbing her temple with her finger and thumb.
I gave her a long stare, trying to fight the smirk that wanted so badly to be on my face. Tell me, Mum, how are you expecting me to interpret that comment, really?
"What exactly did she do?" I asked, trying again. I was intrigued to find out what she'd done; if she was trying to get expelled, it must have been something pretty bad.
"Her latest conquest was to post indecent pictures that included the faces of two of our teachers around the school," she replied, then pursed her lips disapprovingly when I started laughing.
"That was her? Oh my God, that is-"
She silenced me with a stern look, and I sobered up immediately. It clearly didn't amuse her like it did me.
"It's not funny, Jasper, think about what it's like for the teachers involved," she said, and I grimaced, 'cause she did have a point. Even so, I still couldn't completely remove the smirk from my face.
One of the lads at school had a sister here, she'd text him, telling him about pictures her friends had found. The word had spread pretty quickly, and a lot of people thought it was a legendary prank to pull.
To find out that Alice had been the one behind it attracted me to her even more. "What else did she do?" I continued, suddenly desperate to get something more out of her.
"Why the sudden interest?" she asked sceptically.
I shrugged, feigning a noncommittal stance. "I just want to know what she'd done to get you so rattled." I just want to know Alice better.
It was partly true, because she rarely lost her rag with anyone. But it wasn't the main reason, and I know that she knew that, too.
"She stole the key that I use to activate the bell, and then placed it into the pocket of our year representative."
My admiration for Alice seemed to triple in size the moment Maria was brought into the equation. "To be fair, both are pretty annoying."
Her eyes widened in shock to see that I was siding with Alice. "Oh, come on, Mum, don't give me that look," I continued, smiling to try and win her over again. "You do set that bell to go off real early, and there is one in every room."
She thought it over for a moment, and then sighed. "Okay, I can understand what you're saying, to a point. But, what exactly do you have against Maria? She seems like a lovely girl to me."
I scoffed at her response. "You think Maria's a lovely girl? Stuff that idea, Mum. She's borderline stalker!"
"Don't be absurd."
"I'm not! Every time I visit you, it feels like I'm visiting her, as well. It's as if she keeps tabs on me, or something."
"I think you're going over the top now," she muttered, shaking her head. "I bet you haven't seen her today, have you?"
I opened my mouth, then stopped and closed it once again. Technically, I hadn't actually seen her today. "I heard her voice, actually. But I legged it before she could see me."
I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face as I thought about what I did afterwards, consequently making me think of Alice again.
"I don't know why you're so opposed to her, Jasper," she continued. "I think it would be quite fitting, really. Just think about it, the head teacher's son and the year representative being an item – outside of school, of course. You know the rules."
My expression turned into something that displayed how appalled I was as I quickly shook my head, deliberately ignoring her latter comment. With Alice, the rules meant jack to me. If the situation arose, the fact fraternizing was forbidden wouldn't stop me in the slightest.
"No, Mum, just no. If I was going to go out with anyone in this school, she isn't the girl I'd pick, trust me."
She raised her eyebrows, intrigued, and gave me her motherly grin. "Got your eye on someone, have you?"
Alice's face flashed across my vision, and I had to fight back the urge to blurt out her name, like I had earlier. Luckily, I held it back, knowing the consequences of that would have been dire.
"What, no!" I said, spluttering slightly. Always playing it cool, I thought to myself sarcastically.
"Sometimes you forget how much I know you," she murmured, smiling at me. "I can tell when you're lying. There's definitely someone. Come on, spill."
In that moment, she wasn't being my mother. Instead, she was taking on the role of my older sister, teasing me over a possible crush. There were only a few situations where I felt like this, and I relished them. I guess that was one of the perks of being adopted, and having a young adoptive parent. If they wanted to, then they could carry out more than one role, even if I called her 'mum' the majority of the time.
I smiled to myself at the thought. She didn't question my smile, or make me answer her, as at the same moment, someone knocked on the door. She called out for them to come in, and I turned around, looking to see who it was. The fact that a part of me, a very large part of me, in fact, wanted it to be Alice walking through that door was irrelevant.
Oh, you have got to be shitting me right now, was all I could think as Maria walked in. Her eyes seemed to light up the moment she saw me, and for a brief moment, I wanted to see Alice's eyes light up the same way. But I shook my head minutely; now was not the time to think about Alice.
I turned back to Mum and looked at her with wide eyes. I could tell she was trying to hide the smile on her face as she addressed Maria, who up until that moment, had been staring at me continuously.
"I'll see you later," I blurted out as I stood up. Not you, Maria, I added to myself as she smiled at my remark. Mum tittered to herself, before straightening out her expression into her professional one.
"Come back and see me before you leave," she said, and I could tell she was itching to hug me again, but with Maria in the room, she couldn't. I merely nodded, and left the room before Maria could make up an excuse and follow me out.
I exhaled as soon as I was outside, and quickly made a beeline for the exit. But as I got further away from the office, Maria drifted out of my thoughts, and Alice replaced her, yet again. I started to wonder where she was now, and whether she was thinking about me, as I was thinking about her.
As I stepped outside, I inhaled and started walking out towards the playing field. But, as I did so, I heard someone shout out, trying to get someone's attention. Being the only one in the area, I turned in their direction. I felt my heart rate increase as I saw Alice and a blonde haired girl sitting on the grassy bank.
I smiled widely, knowing that they had called out to me, which meant that Alice must have been talking about me. Alice was talking about me. Alice had been thinking about me. The fact that realisation made me insanely happy, was actually kind of scary.
"Hello, ladies," I said, putting on the charm. I nodded at them both, honestly trying to look in the direction of the blonde, just not being able to take my eyes off Alice.
The blonde stood up, and I heard her voice, but I didn't register her words, at all. All I knew was that she wanted me to stay here with Alice, and I agreed readily. I took a seat next to Alice, turning to look at her once again. Fuck, I wouldn't mind taking a tumble in the hay with her, I thought to myself, letting my eyes quickly travel down her petite body. She'd fit perfectly on my lap, riding my… Alice's voice broke through my sexual thoughts.
"Twice in one day, Mr Whitlock, anyone would think you were stalking me," she said, with a sexy smirk on her face.
I laughed, whilst realising how much I liked the sound of my name on her lips. Now, if she was moaning it… I smirked. "I think you'll find it was you that walked into me, earlier."
"How could I forget?" she said, looking my in the eye. I know I won't be able to forget you. "Especially after what happened right before you walked away. You do realise that was wholly unfair of you to do that, right?"
The confident side of me was back again as the smirk grew, turning more lopsided. So I had made the right move after all.
"I would like to say that I regret," I murmured, staring at her lips. "But, I don't. However, there is one thing I regret."
The second I finished, she started leaning towards me. I had to physically keep my hands at my sides to stop them from reaching out, grabbing her waist, and crushing our bodies together.
"What?" Her voice was barely there, breathless. "What do you regret?"
I couldn't stop myself from leaning closer to her. Her lips were parted ever-so-slightly, and I licked my own lips as I thought about sucking her bottom lip into my mouth. I stopped myself from thinking about other places those lips of hers could be placed, knowing that thought alone would visibly turn me on.
"I regret that I didn't get to kiss you," I murmured huskily, staring deep into her eyes as they seemed to glaze over momentarily.
"You want to kiss me?"
I didn't answer her, not at first. She didn't even need an answer to that question. I think the way I was staring at her told her what she wanted to know.
"Baby Doll, I wanted you the moment I saw you in that skimpy little pyjama piece you were wearing," I drawled, leaning even closer. She was speechless, and we were so close now that I could feel the small puffs of her breathing against my skin.
In her moment of silence, I thought back to that first day that I saw Alice. It had been late in the evening, and I was bored out of my brains. So I decided to go for a stroll through the school. I hadn't expected to see this petite girl walking through the corridors, wearing something that could barely be classed as bed wear. I recognised her as the one causing the commotion at dinnertime.
My attraction to her had been instant, and so I followed her, wanting to gain her attention. I remember thinking to myself that she was very lithe and graceful, almost as if she was dancing instead of walking. I had wanted her the moment I saw her; and that was why I'd turned off the lights. God knows why, but I wanted to talk to her, and if I called out to her, she'd have known that was following her.
Let's just say I wasn't disappointed. She sounded feisty, just how I liked it. But, when I went to switch the lights back on, it had taken longer than expected, and by the time I got back to the corridor, she had gone.
When I felt her getting closer, it brought me back to the present. It was obvious what was going to happen, we were going to kiss, and I wasn't going to stop it from happening this time. I don't think I would be able to stop it this time, not after the thoughts I'd been having about her. I needed to quench the undying desire I had for Alice before it grew any stronger.
My senses were filled with her sweet aroma, and I inhaled shamelessly, storing the scent into my memory, for later, when I would be back at school, and needed something to associate her with.
I closed my eyes, just as I tilted my head to the side, ready to receive her lips on mine. Then suddenly, she made contact, but it wasn't her lips, at all. No, the lust induced haze in my mind wasn't thick enough to stop me from realising that.
My eyes shot open, and I realised it was two of her slender fingers pressing against me, instead. The sensation I received from the touch of her skin on mine went straight to my groin, and I nearly let out an impromptu groan.
Screw this, I thought, going to hungrily bring my lips to hers. However, before I could even move, she pulled her fingers away, whispering, "Now it's your turn," into my ear.
She completely pulled away from me and stood up. I watched her, powerless to do anything to stop her. She turned from me and started walking away, only once looking back at me over her shoulder.
She disappeared around the corner, and only then did I look away. The tables had flipped one-eighty, and once again, she had put the ball back in my court. I was the one to make the next move, and without a doubt, by the time prom was over, I would have made my move, and it will have been a move that neither of us were going to forget.
A/N: Like I said, this was fun to write. I hope you liked it.
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