Disclaimer: I do not own twilight or any of its characters.
(A/N I really wanted to do this story from Jasper's point of view... I feel as though he provides a really interesting sub-plot. Please bare in mind that the following chapters don't match up identially to Bella's... eg. bellas chapter one and two takes the same amount of time as jaspers chapter one etc... but i can ensure absolute continuity. Enjoy... :) xxx)
Chapter 1... again...
Forks. One of the few places where we could act human. Well, as human as we could be. It had been ninety one years since my senior year at this high school and eighty three years since we left Forks to start again somewhere else. I looked up at the pouring rain and the ever cloudy sky and was thankful for it. We had lived in many places, but Forks was by far the safest. The near constant cover from the sun meant that we hardly missed any days of school; which was good for keeping up our pretence, but not so much for our general amusement. But being at school meant that we could stay for longer, pretending to be... normal.
We were all standing under umbrellas – even though it wasn't necessary. I looked across the parking lot to Bella, my favourite little sister who was too looking up at the rain, letting it fall on her face. She looked across the car park and then over her shoulder at us. Usually such a happy girl, but the past few days she's been nervous and scared. This is the first time we've been back here – apart from Charlie's funeral fifty years ago. But even then, we were here for no longer than two hours. Maybe that's what she was thinking about. I know how she is feeling, but not the reasons behind it. I looked at Edward and could feel the worry emanating off of him.
"She'll be o.k. Edward," I said softly. "She's stronger than you think."
"People are looking..." Rosalie mouthed, focusing on Edward. But he was rooted to the ground, torn between bringing her over, or taking her home.
"I'll go get her then." Emmett said. Of course, it did look suspicious. He strolled over to her casually, playing the caring big brother. He waved his hand in front of her face. "Bella." He said. No reply. "Bella!" He repeated, shaking her arm. "People are looking."
She looked so sad, so lost, so... unsure. I sent her waves of confidence. She wrapped Emmett's arm around her shoulders. It almost looked as though she was leaning on him for support, as though she couldn't even move.
"Sheesh Bells, you were the one that was worried about getting noticed and there you are standing in the middle of the parking lot getting soaked by rain. Not exactly normal behaviour, little sis." He teased.
Emmett was practically pulling Bella back to us. "Sorry, this is just really... weird for me" She said.
Emmett laughed in reply, "Weird? Compare whatever it is your feeling to coming into this exact school and having your brother freak out on you because he wants to kill this girl, but is also madly in love with her... Now that's weird!"
I cringed at his words. I had tried so hard to repress the events that led to my family moving away from Forks, and leaving Bella behind. The day when I too had wanted to kill the fragile, human Bella. I never thought I would have been forgiven for my actions on that day. But thankfully, this family's strength is in its love and forgiveness. I love my brothers and sisters, and my adoptive parents... My family. Yes, it was Carlisle who made us into a family but in my opinion it was Esme who kept us together. She truly loves every single one of us. When you can feel someone radiating that much love and understand that love in every sense of the word, then you can't help but feel it too. But I've always felt on the periphery of this family. Here only because I am with Alice. Alice. My dear, dear Alice, who has not slipped up once during the one-hundred and forty years of being a part of this family. I wish I had her strength. I'm fed up, fed up of being the weak one. I always was, and always will be the weak one. But there have been times where I have sensed my family feeling proud of me. Times where I felt needed. Times where I felt like a member of this family. Times like today.
"Jasper, you want to take it from here?" Edward asked me.
I smiled to myself and could feel his confidence in me. Even though I always posed as Edward's older brother, in reality he was a mentor to me in so many ways. I hadn't even realised that we had walked to the front entrance, too caught up in my own thoughts. I opened the door to the office and smiled politely to the receptionist. "Hello, we're the Whitlocks." I said.
