Jasper's Outtake of Chapter 8

I had gotten quite annoyed with Alice lately; she always liked to hide things away from me. I saw no point with arguing with her because I knew that I would have to argue with Edward also. The two of them together were a nightmare, for one to have a 'third eye' and for the other to read minds, well it only made things worse for me. They always did this to me.

They thought that I enjoyed surprises; they thought that I would be happy when I found out that Bella was human. I wasn't. Why should I be happy when it came to the fact that Bella was human, especially since they had hid this kind of information away from me till the last second?

I knew that something had happened, my senses had spiked when I was in one of my countless classes. I acted as though I listened to the teacher but I didn't, then again none of my siblings ever listened to their teachers either.

We were mostly just glancing around, thinking of different things that we were going to do after school was over—if Esme would call for a family meeting. She always did it at least once a week now that Bella had come into our lives.

When school was over I headed towards the parking lot, my eyes flickering over the campus. I had been analyzing everyone around me, patiently waiting for the moment that I would see my Bella coming around the corner.

I had barely lingered by Rosalie's convertible when I was hit with the intoxicating scent of my mate. I fought the urge to close my eyes and take deep breaths of the blood. My mouth still watered intensely but every time that I felt the need to lunge forward and attach my teeth to her neck I thought of what Carlisle had told me I should think of: I thought of her family, of what Chief Swan would do if he had found his daughter's corpse.

Rosalie and Emmett were leaning against Rosalie's convertible. Rosalie let her attention focus entirely on her mate and boyfriend (husband), while Emmett was looking over at Alice and Bella in the corner of his eye to make sure that they would be fine.

He was always like that with the females in the family, he had always been extremely protective of Rosalie (that was a given though), and then it would be Esme. Alice would be last though, he knew without a doubt that Alice had been by herself for the longest time so she was smart enough to be away from the coven.

When they reached us, Bella slowly made my way towards me. Alice plopped down onto the hood of the Volvo, despite the fact that Edward was rolling his eyes at her. She seemed content with sitting Indian styled on the hood of the car, one that her boyfriend (husband) and adoptive brother loved.

Bella stopped in front of me and kept her eyes towards the ground, despite the fact that I knew I could drown in those beautiful eyes of hers like she could with mine. "Um…J-Jasper, c-can I t-talk to you, a-alone?"

I noticed that Emmett had wiggled his eyebrows at Bella as though he was thinking of something suggestive, so it was obvious that I would be shooting an irritating glare at my brother. Bella wasn't looking at me, since she was still looking at the ground. If she had noticed then she would have probably thought that Emmett was being his dumb self like usual.

"Of course, Bella, let's walk a little away."

My hand was next to Bella's, my eyes zeroed on the difference in our skin tone. She took my hand (which had surprised me, I thought that I would be the one that would take her hand first), comfort washed throughout my senses at the fact that my coolness seemed to keep her grounded.

She eagerly took it and I looked down at our connected hands once more (I still couldn't believe that I hadn't made her want to run away while screaming off her head—calling me a monster), before we started to make our way off to the side where Bella and I was certain that my siblings couldn't interrupt us.

"Yes, Bella, what did you want to talk about?" I probed to her; I made sure that I was patient with her. She found it was something that she adored (again the ability to sense people's emotions and be able to manipulate them helped me when it came to knowing how she felt about me), and she had started to come to love.

Love…oh, she found herself loving things about me without truly knowing me.

I almost wanted to stop her, and ask her why she would ever imagine herself loving me. I wasn't worthy of her love, I was certain that once she found out the truth she would think that I would be forcing her to love me on top of finding out that I was actually a vampire.

She loved how I listened to her in the very short moments that we were together, and how I made her feel comfort…I was certain that before long she would fall off the deep end and submerge herself in love when it came to me. I only knew this because of the strength of the love that she was harboring for me.

It would be so effortless. Yet, I wondered what it was that had stopped me from jumping all the way into the depths below. It must have been the fact that she didn't know what was going on; the way that she looked at me as though she somewhat knew there was something that was inhuman about me and my family.

Her emotions flickered in her mind, as though someone was looking through a film reel and was trying to find the perfect photograph that was meant to represent how she felt about the moment. There was weariness and confusion; those were the two most present emotions that she had.

"Bella, are you all right?"

She blinked away the thoughts and gave a sheepish smile at me, "oh, yes. Sorry, I was lost in thought…I was going to ask you if you were all right with the thought of going to the dance with me."

I didn't have time to respond to her, for Bella began to speak again, "I mean I don't know if you even like dances to begin with. I haven't had the best experiences with dances in the past, just look at me. I was nothing more than a joke at the dances, nothing more than a freak…a pity case."

Her breath got caught in my throat when I reached my free hand up and ran my fingers through her hair (it was so soft, a beautiful brown hue). Her eyes widened as she peered up at me, a soft wind came and gently blew at my curls along with her pieces of hair.

She couldn't help but close her eyes and reach her own free hand up to put over my hand. We kept our hands against her face and we just absorbed ourselves into the feeling of my hand against her cheekbone.

"You're not a freak or a pity case, Bella. I would love to go to the dance with you," I whispered to her, making her heart flutter in her chest at the softness that I spoke to her with.

It was obvious that she never had a boy ever be like this to her and she fought the urge to have tears drip down her cheekbones in happiness at the fact that I had accepted.

I sensed this because I chuckled and wrapped my arms around her before I pulled her against me. She continued to fight the urge, and after a moment she pulled away from me. I could hear snorting behind me, along with the sound of someone making a whipping noise, allowing me (and Bella) to know that it was probably Emmett.

Seconds later we could hear the sound of whimpering and Emmett mumbling about how Rose was being mean.

"Okay, well um, see you," she managed to say before she scurried away from me and slipped into the backseats of the Volvo. Alice slipped off of the hood and skipped into the driver's seat while Edward got into the passenger seat. They shut their doors and soon it was just me, Rosalie, and Emmett.

"Well that was nauseating," Rosalie spoke up, making me turn my head to see that my 'twin' was looking at us with disgust. I knew that it was false disgust; she was always in the gray area with emotions. She didn't like to get attached to many things or too many people due to the fact that we had to move around a lot (thanks to the fact that we couldn't age).

"Your connection to each other is nauseating, in my opinion," I responded to her, rolling my eyes as she glared at me hotly before Emmett chuckled, "It's not my fault that I still got it."

My face blanched at the suggestive blurt that Emmett let out, while Rosalie was glaring at him this time. She growled under her breath, one that was a warning but was there nonetheless. Emmett always tried to push all of our nerves, especially when it came to Rosalie.

I dismissed him as Rosalie started to grumble at him, and slipped into the backseats of the convertible. I shut the back passenger door closed behind me while Rosalie and Emmett got into the front seats of the convertible.

Emmett reached out and took Rosalie's hand in his, he rubbed his thumb against the side of her wrist and she smiled softly in the review mirror before she drove out of the school parking lot.

Cars went past us, mere specks in the distance, once we were far away from the school. We headed towards our house, knowing that we could truly be ourselves when we were on the outskirts of Forks. Rosalie could go as fast as she pleased, which could be a nightmare considering the fact that Rosalie was the fastest driver in the family (Alice was a close second).

If I had not known her for a little more than a century I would have had unsettlement wash throughout me like a wad of laundry that was being knocked around in a washing machine. Instead I sighed and leant my head back so that I could look up at the roof of the convertible.

As I thought about the strange tinge that took over me hours ago, I couldn't help but speak, "thank you, Rose, for helping Bella earlier today. I know that you said that you'd keep your distance from her, but still."

Rosalie sighed as she looked outside her window and tapped her nicely done fingers against the leather steering wheel before she looked back at me, "You're my brother, Jasper. I have my reasons, as you know, about this whole situation but I don't want to be a stone cold bitch."

It was a known fact that in the old schools that we had gone to throughout the decades Rosalie was nothing more than a stone cold bitch. She never looked at anyone long enough when it came to people that weren't her family, and when people tried to speak to her she ignored them.

We didn't speak anymore on the way back to the house. There was no reason to do so; there was no point to do so. We didn't have anything that we had wanted to talk about. I had already thanked Rosalie for making sure that Bella was all right, after she had another meltdown outside of her class because of Mr. Varner harassing her.

When we reached the three story elegant white house with a large porch attached to the front, along with an array of flowered pots placed in perfect angles, and hanging flower pots on the porch with beautiful baby blue flowers we were officially at our current home.

There was a softness that surrounded the area, how it seemed as though it was in its own little meadow haven with the huge trees that surrounded the property but never went too into the front yard.

Rosalie pulled up the curved driveway and parked in the huge garage before she turned off the convertible. I slipped out with my backpack still slung against one of my shoulders, my eyes taking in the area around me without having to have them adjust to the different setting of the lights.

Esme's Volvo SUV was still parked off to the side, a present memory of her dedication to making sure that Bella would be all right. She was ready whenever she would be needed to drive Bella to and from places, so far it had been only two times.

Entering the kitchen that was through the garage/kitchen door, I made my way through the stunning and beautiful kitchen that had yet to be used, and headed towards the staircase so that I could go upstairs.

I honestly just wanted to be in my bedroom so that I could still soak in the memory of Bella asking me to the dance. I both wanted her to ask me but also didn't.

I knew that if I were a mere human I would have without a doubt not had any weariness, but as a vampire it was ever present.

I had barely entered the open floor planned living room to see Esme coming downstairs. She had on a soft cotton quarter length pale blue blouse, flower printed skirt and a pair of brown sandals. Her trademark family necklace with all the stones representing each family member still hung around her neck.

"Hello, Jasper how was school today?" Esme probed as she motioned for us to sit down on one of the designer sofas that were in the living room. They weren't that comfortable to begin with, just for show, since vampires didn't really need furniture to begin with.

We couldn't sleep, we could only ingest blood, and there was no food that would satisfy us. It would be like we were eating cardboard. There would be no nutrition and we would remain thirsty until we could have our hunger for blood satisfied.

For some vampires that was human blood. It reflected in their eyes easier, the vivid crimson hue that was chilling, haunting to some. For others, like me and my family, we drank animal blood so our eyes were often golden. It was something that we had always done, since that was what Carlisle had done for the many centuries he had been a vampire.

I sat down next to Esme; she turned so that she was focused completely on me. Her brown curls that settled on her shoulder blades had tinges of red throughout them, and her golden irises held nothing more than patience and compassion.

She held the uppermost of love to me, though there was a special kind of motherly love Esme held when it came to her first vampire son (one who was with Carlisle before her), Edward.

"Bella had a rough class; Mr. Varner put her on the spot to answer an equation. He set her up so that he could make fun of her. Rose took her to the nurse," I told her, Esme listened intently before she nodded her head. She brought her hand up and ran her fingers through my hair in a motherly fashion.

"I'm proud of you, Jasper. I'm proud of your sister too; we both know how difficult this is for Rose. She won't admit it but we know that she cannot stand change. I know that you thanked her for helping out, didn't you?" Esme arched one of her eyebrows up, pursing her lips as she waited for my response.

"Yes, Mom, I thanked her," I remarked, almost rolling my eyes at her. She rolled her eyes at me and wrapped her arm around me before pulling me close to her. She placed her chin on top of my head. I could tell that she was focusing on something in her mind, pure concentration and focus was wrapped around her tight.

We sat there like that for a few moments. It was nice having Esme, to have her as my mother. I couldn't remember much about my own mother, considering the fact that I had wanted to join the war so badly. I was too focused on getting out there and fighting alongside the other Confederate soldiers to really care about doing anything remotely different than preparing for the moment I'd join.

It bothered me for the longest time, I wondered if I had made a mistake when it came to deciding to join the military. I wondered if things would have been different if I had just stayed home and worked on the ranch with my parents. My father was a hardworking man; he was an all around good farmer.

There was nothing at home that I could have complained about. I was like any other young man out there in Texas during the Civil War. I wanted something bigger, I wanted to explore and I wanted to prove myself to the world. If that meant signing up to be in the military to fulfill a childhood dream of mine, then I would do so without a second doubt in my mind.

I soon felt the joyfulness that soaked into the room the moment that Emmett came into the house. Rosalie was behind him; her emotion was her being content. She had her Emmett and she could be away from the school so everything was all right for the time being, until someone would open their mouth and irritate her.

"Group hug!" Emmett roared in excitement as he rushed towards me and Esme. Esme's eyes went large, "oh no you don't, Emmett Cullen!" Emmett of course ignored this and lunged forward so that he could wrap his arms around me and Esme, squeezing us tight against him.

Esme squealed in happiness, having found that she was content with this development. Rosalie tried to escape but she was soon caught by Emmett, he yanked her to him and held her as close as could be to him. She pouted as he laid kisses on her face, her eyes narrowing at him.

I finally managed to get away from my closely packed family members, and went to go to the stairs. Emmett groaned, "Oh, come on, Jazz! It's time to celebrate, have some fun! You can only be a bachelor for so long! Even I got strapped down by this pretty little lady over here!"

I almost snorted at the comment that Emmett made about Rosalie, calling her a lady would only go to her head. Being a daughter of a father with a 'bag of dough' in the early nineteen thirties meant that everyone called the girls 'pretty little ladies', Rosalie did not fall outside of this category either.

I felt my body tense for a second as I felt one string of loath come from Rosalie. I didn't say anything and it was apparent that Emmett calling her that hadn't made her loath him. Rosalie had never felt an inch of hate or loathing towards her mate, despite the fact that he got on her nerves a lot.

I never asked Rose about her past, I never asked her to explain anything to me. I knew that it was her business and hers alone. All I knew was that she was from a rich family, and that something horrible must have happened on the night that she had been almost killed.

The way that she held herself, she was admirable but I knew that she could never truly get over what had happened. I knew somewhere in my mind that she must have been sexually attacked and whenever she would hear something that would remind her of 'him' or 'them' she would have a tiny piece of her that would bubble up from the deepest parts of herself that wanted them dead, again.

I only felt that she might have been raped because of the fact that I was surrounded by rape victims while I had this ability. It was with events that happened like this that I just wished I could take away their pain and hatred and every toxic emotion from their bodies forever but I couldn't do that.

"Jasper, are you all right?"

I blinked a few times, coming back to the present, before I gave a slight nod that let them know that I was indeed all right. "I'm fine; just have a lot on my mind at the moment. I'll be upstairs."

Only, it seemed as though going upstairs was going to never happen because I was soon greeted with Edward and Alice coming through the front door of the house. Alice was skipping, as though she was a mere pixie that was wisping through some enchanted woods. Edward just walked like a normal sullen teenager, only Alice could truly encourage him to be better…okay well Esme and Carlisle naturally were ones that could make him actually act better and not so sullenly other than Alice.

"Bella is going dress shopping with me and Rose tomorrow!" Alice sang as she brought her hands up and clapped them together. Rosalie kept her arms folded together as she peered at her sister, "I didn't sign up for this. I already have a dress picked out for the dance, anyway."

Alice rolled her eyes and gave a dismissal motion of her hand towards her sister, "trust me, you're just saying that. I already know what you want to wear and it will be at the third dress store we go into tomorrow in Port Angeles."

Rosalie sighed and let her shoulders slump, she did love shopping. No one loved shopping as much as Alice loved shopping. She often went to different furniture places with Esme or shop online to find interesting decorative pieces for houses that Esme was currently working on.

Edward…

Edward snapped his head away from looking at his wife and towards me. His eyes let me know that he was listening to me.

Please tell me that you're going to tell Alice not to go too crazy. Bella is a very fragile person, I think we don't need anymore reminders.

Edward nodded his head, barely a nod, but noticeable by me. I had a feeling that Esme had noted it too but she must have just pushed it to the side. Everyone did this with Edward, sometimes the best private conversation one could have with him was through thoughts alone.

The first thing that I did when I got to my bedroom was fall onto my bed with a groan and reach for the television remote to bring up a random channel on the television that was installed into my room two years ago, when we had first moved here. I needed to clear my head from all that had happened today, especially if I thought too much on the dance.

Twilight doesn't belong to me