Author's Note: Thanks for reading this far into the story, and thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, especially the repeat reviewers. Thanks especially to music begins with em, mineymai, AmberSunshine, swimmer07 (Hope you did well on your finals!), purpleytk, ZoellaDeVil, Edwardlover0511, pluto-nfl, Edward-is-sexier-than-Mike (your username makes me laugh), yellhuzzah (you didn't sound like a you-know-what! It's okay, I agree), Rochelle Allison, and andrea-af91.

This chapter is dedicated to Mickster for warming my heart.


Edward

I wasn't asleep. I hadn't been for a long time. Instead, I was feigning gentle slumber and sneaking tentative glances from under my eyelashes at the girl that had somehow become my watcher. She was quiet, but I noticed that the strangest play of emotions seemed to cascade across her pale face, which was now tinged pink along her cheeks and the bridge of her nose from being out in the sun all day. I'd have to tell Alice to suggest to Bella that she wear some of the sunscreen my crazy sister had packed. It was a shame to mar such a beautiful ivory façade.

Every once in a while she would give a wistful sigh, slumping down a little as if she was sad. Other times, an endearingly soft smile would pull at the corners of her supple lips. I wanted so badly to know what she was thinking, to know what made her smile so secretively, as if she was thinking about something private and intimate. It was times like these I wished that I could read minds.

With everyone else, I was very good at reading them. I didn't even need to be able to read their minds to know what they were thinking, but Bella was a mystery. She never did or said what I was expecting. This manner in which she kept me on my toes felt precarious yet thrilling. She was a mystery waiting to be unraveled.

Too bad I had alienated her at every opportunity. I chided myself now, as I listened to her insisting to Alice that she stay with me while they go and bathe. I felt like a total jerk. How could I have been so mean to this girl? It seemed absurd that I had accused her of using my sister. I saw now that the idea of her using anyone, much less Alice, was simply not possible- the girl was selfless. And she wasn't difficult, she was just… unexpected.

The booming voice of Emmett preceded his presence. I wasn't sure whether to be grateful to him for giving Bella a break, or annoyed because it meant I would no longer be able to be near her, wondering after her thoughts, enjoying the soft cleanness of her profile, or the way her mahogany hair looked like backlit amber in the hot rays of the summer sun.

"How long you been pretending to be asleep?" asked Emmett, plopping down onto the sand beside me. I opened my eyes and grimaced at him, looking around to see if the three girls were around, but they were already a safe distance away. Leave it to my brother to be surprisingly astute. He did, after all, know me better than almost anyone.

"A while." I admitted sheepishly, not making eye contact. Sometimes I got the feeling that Emmett was far wiser than he put off, but then he'd do something idiotic or childish and the notion would be blown.

"Why?" he asked, looking baffled.

I shook my head. "You wouldn't understand."

Emmett punched me in the shoulder, an indignant look on his face. Maybe I would have taken him seriously, but his curly brown hair was sticking up at all angles and was ruining the effect.

"Little boy, respect your elders." he commanded thunderously, but there was a grin on his tan face.

"My elders?" I asked skeptically, looking him up and down. "How much older than me are you? Five years?"

"That is five years more of life experience. Wars have been won in less time."

Childishly, I rolled my eyes. "Fine, I'll tell you, but you better not make fun of me, Emmett."

"Me? Make fun of you? Never!"

This I didn't believe for a moment. I sighed, running a hand through my hair, and sat up a little straighter. I winced, my leg throbbing in pain. I was doing everything I could to bear the pain and not make it seem so bad. I didn't want to worry the others when there was nothing they could do.

"Me and Bella aren't exactly getting along." I said. Emmett raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I know." he laughed. "That's not exactly a news flash, bro. You two have been at each other's throats like an old married couple."

"An old married couple?" I asked dubiously. "I think you've got the saying wrong. Old married couples are comfortable with each other, not constantly arguing."

Emmett looked at me like I was mentally deficient. "What time period are you living in, Edward? This isn't the 50's, and this ain't Leave it to Beaver."

I looked at him in disbelief. "Whatever," I sighed, and he laughed. "But the point is, I don't want to be arguing with her all the time."

Emmett sobered, frowning. "Then apologize." he said logically. "And stop being a prick."

"Hey!" I interjected. He shrugged.

"It's true."

I mulled this over sullenly. He was right, although I didn't want to admit it. To apologize was to admit that I was the one who was in the wrong, and my pride wouldn't easily allow that. I was so used to always being right, and now this Isabella Swan had to come into my life with her chocolate eyes and her suitcase full of silky lingerie and her infuriating mysteriousness and turned my world on its head.

Gah. Women.

Like they say: Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

"What's going on with you and Rosalie?" I asked, suddenly remembering the odd behavior they had been exhibiting lately. It felt nice to shift the focus away from myself.

"Blondie?" he asked, then shrugged. "Nothin'."

I sighed raggedly, irritated. "Don't give me that. I told you about Bella!" I protested, burned by the injustice of it all. It wasn't fair for him to wheedle my secrets out of me and then clam up about what was going on with him

Again, Emmett merely shrugged, overly blasé. "It's true. Nothing has happened."

There was a grin on his face as he said this that didn't make sense to me. "And you're going to change that?" I guessed, raising my eyebrows.

Another shrug. "We're on a deserted island. I've got nothing but time."

How could he be so cool about all this? I envied his casual approach to relationships. I sometimes wished I was less serious, more like Emmett. Nothing phased him; everything slid right off like rain on a tin roof. He was the epitome of relaxed confidence.

"Blondie's something, though." he said, putting his hands behind his head and leaning against the trunk of a palm tree. His eyes closed, a content look settling over his features. "She's a little firecracker. What a temper! And god, what a body!"

I laughed. Same old Emmett, I thought. Location didn't seem to affect him much at all. I looked at him from the corner of my eye.

"Do you think mom and dad know our yacht sank yet?" I asked. He frowned and looked at me, the corners of his eyes crinkling in a rare exhibit of seriousness.

"I have no idea. If not now, they will soon when we don't come back in a few days. I'm sure they'll send people out looking for us. Knowing Esme, she'll send troops."

I stared out at the ocean. The sun was beginning to set and the horizon was a wash of peachy orange. The sun reflected off the blue-green water, and it was a beautiful sight. A comfortable silence stretched between us.

"What if they think we died?" I asked.

Emmett merely shrugged.

Jasper

I was surprised when Bella found me contemplating the lean-to's that Alice and I had constructed. I had spent the day by myself, wandering the island listlessly. I had not been able to do a full circuit of it, which led me to believe that the tropical oasis in the middle of the ocean was fairly large. Why hadn't it been charted? I had not seen a single piece of evidence that might have meant the island had inhabitants. There was none of the regular human litter, no artificial clearings of trees… nothing. I had done my inspection in solitude, and that was fine with me. I was a solitary person by nature; introverted, pensive. I also needed time to digest all that had happened and was sure to happen soon.

It amazed me that considering the predicament we were in, the thing I was the most concerned about was Alice. Normally I considered myself level headed. I could see reason- I was realistic. But where she was involved, I found that my defenses were torn to shreds and that everything I thought I knew no longer applied. She was the exception to every rule.

I wished that I could be more concerned with us being rescued. I knew, logically, that was the bigger problem. It would have been a relief to only have to worry about survival. On top of that, I had just encountered the only girl to ever make my pulse race. Worse yet, we didn't seem to understand each other at all. She mistook my tongue-tied, nervous silence and natural soft-spoken demeanor for dislike, or even worse, indifference. How could anyone feel indifferently about Alice?I had no confidant to turn to. As Alice's brother, Edward was no longer an option. The only other male, Emmett, who seemed nice enough though I hardly knew him, was also her brother. That left Bella and Rosalie. I instantly ticked Rosalie off the list in my mind- that wasn't an option. There was Bella, but I knew she was also Alice's confidant. It was unfair to ask her to help me, and I was sure she was taking her best friend's side. I couldn't blame her. On this island, I felt like enemy number one. Everyone, particularly the girls, was high strung, and I had managed to make a royal mess of things. How did I of all people manage to add fuel to the fire? I'd never been involved in a drama in my life.

"Jasper," called Bella, walking over to me. I set down the palm frond I had been trying to fix to the side of one of the shelters. I had my doubts as to how weather-resistant they were, and I didn't want the test to be them toppling over in the first rain storm.

"Hello Bella." I said quietly, a guilty note to my voice I didn't bother to disguise. By now I was sure she knew the whole story. She gave me a sympathetic smile, and I appreciated her kindness, although I didn't feel like I deserved it. I liked the aura that Bella gave off- she had an unusually kind quality that made her seem easy to talk to. I had a feeling that if this current situation could be put aside, I might have a future friend in Bella.

"Where have you been all day?" she asked me. "No one's seen you since this morning."

An odd, guilty look crossed her face, and the words 'not since you upset Alice' hung unspoken in the hot, humid air. I noticed that she had changed clothes, and she looked fresh scrubbed. She had on a pair of shorts and a tshirt, the short sleeves scrunched up to her shoulders. Her hair, which had been down before, was now in a braid down her back. Her natural beauty was well suited to the tropical climate of the island, but no matter how pretty and nice she was, I found that I felt nothing like the way I felt around Alice.

"Sorry, I hope I didn't worry anyone." I murmured softly, kicking my toe into the sand. She frowned and then shook her head.

"It's not that, Jasper." she replied weakly, and I got the impression that she wanted to say something else. She waited expectantly and I remembered that I hadn't answered her question yet.

"I took a better look around the island. I thought I should probably give Alice some space after… well, after what I did."

Bella cracked a smile, but I hardly thought the situation was funny. She dropped down gracelessly into the sand, looking up at me, and then gestured for me to sit across from her. Slowly I lowered myself down so that I sat opposite from her, a few feet between us.

"Jasper, Jasper, Jasper," she sighed. "The last thing Alice wants right now is space. In fact, I think there is rarely a time she wants space. She's social- she, unlike you, doesn't like to be left alone. In fact, I have a feeling she'd rather be… How do I say this?" she pondered.

She paused, chewing on her lip, trying, apparently, to be diplomatic. She was walking a fine line by helping me. If Alice found out, she would probably not be pleased. Bella needed to put everything in a positive light, lest she seem disloyal. Finally she shrugged, palms aloft.

"Alice would rather be chased, Jasper." she told me. "She wants to be chased by you."

I could feel surprise flickering over my face and I tried to carefully compose my features, but I knew I was a moment too late. "Chased?" I asked, having to clear my throat to get the words to come out.

Bella smiled apologetically. "She thinks that you don't like her at all."

"That's not true though!" I protested, and this was probably the strongest statement I had made in a while. Bella looked taken aback for a second but then nodded her approval.

"I know that. But she doesn't know that. You and Alice are operating on two different wave lengths right now. She's tuned to FM and you're an AM station."

I frowned at her analogy, then nodded mutely. "I've made a mess of things." I said quietly, looking down at the sand. Bella picked herself up off the ground.

"Don't worry. She'll forgive you." she assured me, much more positively than I felt. And Bella left me to my thoughts.

Alice

The others were eating their dinner and enjoying the sunset. Bella had disappeared for a while, but now she was back. We were all grateful to Bella for her fish trap. The protein was much needed sustenance after a diet of almost all sugary sweet fruit. We divided the three fish and ate greedily, but Jasper's portion remained untouched. He never showed up and I started to worry, though I refused to admit it to anyone.

Emmett went and refilled the water case and we all drank deeply from it, then a conversation about our predicament started up. They all discussed their fears and worries, their experiences on the island and what the next step was. There was an unusually amicable mood. For once Edward and Bella weren't bickering, and I could tell that Rose was secretly eating up the flirtatious, playful attention that Emmett was lavishing on her.

Finally, the joviality got to be too much for me. It was just reminding me that I was the only one not on good terms with everyone. Well, no, that wasn't strictly true. But I felt singled out and alone.

"I'm going to go sit by the rocks." I told the group, standing up. The fire we all sat around was now a beacon of light in the darkness. The sun had disappeared and the sky was purple-black. The stars hadn't come out yet, but there was still enough light from the horizon that I could see my path.

They bid me goodbye and told me to be careful, and before I was even gone they had resumed their conversations. I hurried away, a feeling of despair sinking over me. I crossed the beach and settled on the same flat rock as before, but didn't dip my toes in the water this time- it was getting to be a little chilly now that the sun had set.

I drew my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them, staring out at the black waves. How had this all happened? I couldn't believe that I of all people was out here alone. I normally was so social; I got along so easily with people. I was a true social butterfly. But my nerves were frayed. I was scared we were going to be stuck on this island forever, I was scared we would die here. I missed my parents, and I missed my posh, comfortable life. I wouldn't admit this to anyone, but I really wanted to go shopping. Before when I got stressed out, a little retail therapy fixed everything. That stress was nothing compared to the stress I felt now, and there wasn't even a Gap on this god forsaken island!

I looked disconsolately at the cute little summer dress I was wearing that I had picked out especially for the trip. Now it was going to get ruined, and it's cuteness would be wasted. It didn't matter what I looked like here. No one here cared if I had on pedal pushers with wedges and an adorable tank top or if I was wearing a grass skirt and coconut bra.

I sighed, lowering my face onto my knees, and closed my eyes tightly. A cool wind blew past and I shivered in my thin cotton dress, but I wasn't ready to go back yet, even though a crackling fire beckoned. I was completely lost in my thoughts, oblivious to the outside world.

A warm hand brushed against the bare skin of my shoulder. Just the fingertips, and ever-so-softly, but it drew me from my reverie. A tingle ran down my spine and I lifted my head.

"Alice," said a soothing, tentative voice from behind me. I felt my heart skip a beat, and my breath caught in my throat. "Can I talk to you?"


Please Review!

Also, if anyone is curious about what the characters are wearing, I'm going to be putting up links to pics on my profile. Alice is such a shop-a-holic, and what they're wearing is so important to her I've decided to include that. I'll try to have some pics up today (5-11-09)