The school was buzzing with activity when I got there. It wasn't that anything was happening, but the girls were starting to come out and ask boys to the Spring Dance. I kept my head low as the girls stood in small circles in the quad talking about who they were taking. I rolled my eyes to myself and went about my usual day.

Today, I was looking forward to English. Jasper had more than proved himself safe around me. But I ended up not having to wait until then for something to happen. On my way to PE I was walking toward the locker room when the collar of my shirt caught on something, choking me to a halt.

I turned. Edward had a fist full of my shirt in his hand.

"You're ditching gym today," he said coldly. My heart dropped. He still looked as angry as he had last night. A smaller figure stepped out from behind him. I saw Alice smile brightly at me.

"Hello Cammy," she sang like we were friends who ate lunch together everyday. Then I realized that she was supernaturally familiar with me, and I was with her.

"Hey Alice," I squeaked shyly. She had slightly reassured my panic, but still I could not completely ignore the intimidation that vampires naturally held. Edward let go of my shirt and steered me toward the other direction. No one saw us, to my surprise. I had been late, and the only people in the halls were other late comers. Somehow Edward and Alice knew where all the empty halls were, and led straight to the vacant canopy covered bleachers of the swampy football field.

They moved fluidly up the steps in front of me. I felt so ungraceful behind them, stomping loudly where their footfalls had been light as a cat's.

"Er...What are we doing?" I finally asked as we all sat down on the cold, moist metal benches. Alice smiled pleasantly at me as she took the space beside me. Edward preferred to pace in front of us. The black haired, pixie girl gave me a smug look.

"Conspiracy theories," she said. I looked at her confused, but Edward was looking down at the ground calculating.

"I think I have figured out this misunderstanding," he said. He looked up, just as smug as Alice. His eyes fell on me. "Your book might have been right up until now, but surely it must be a fantasy. I think Bella will think that I'm in love with her. I have the ability to convince her, of course, that will help me lead her away if I ever decide to do away with her."

My blood ran cold as he said this. I hoped my fear didn't show on my face. Alice, however, rolled her eyes and gave me a look. I acknowledged it, but was still too hesitant to react.

"Edward. You're not going to kill her. You already had your chance with the van," Alice said. Edward stopped and looked down at his expensive shoes.

"I couldn't have let her die there. If her blood would have spilled I would have gone into a frenzy! And I bet Jasper would have joined me," Edward roared throwing his hands up in frustration. Alice looked up, giving him a harsh glare. Edward sighed. "I'm sorry. What I meant was, I was only thinking of our family."

His gaze turned to me. I kept my mouth shut. I wasn't about to bring up the fact that he was lying more to himself, than Alice and I. He looked out at the horizon, shifting his thinking and recalculating his flawed conclusion. He seemed to be answering Alice's thoughts.

"You're right. I couldn't kill Bella," Edward said to Alice. "I've been handling biology very well. I will not let her ruin my self control. I will not let her ruin everything Carlisle made for us." He turned to me.

"Cammy. What has she been paying attention to until now? Has she only been thinking about our my family?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered. It wasn't exactly a secret I had to protect. Everyone in the cafeteria has probably caught Bella ogling the Cullens at least once.

"Very well then. Who is she asking to the dance?" he asked. I took a moment, deliberating how to answer that. Alice cut in for me.

"I told you. She already made the decision that she doesn't want to go," Alice said sounding a little frustrated.

"Why not?" he asked. Alice turned to me. I kept my expression a blank unreadable slate. Edward groaned. "Cammy," he warned.

"I can't tell you everything," I explained. "I can barely tell you anything."

"The only reason she doesn't want to go is because no one has asked her yet. When she sees the boys falling at her feet she'll have to change her mind," Edward determined. He looked to me, "Right?" I kept my mouth shut and gave a shrug.

His eyes narrowed, giving me the same look he gave Bella when her back was turned and he was trying to read her thoughts. I looked away from his eyes uncomfortably.

"That is very frustrating," he said. His jaw was clenched. He was obviously trying not to grit his teeth.

"You're frustrating yourself, Edward. If you would just stop fighting this so hard it would be much easier," Alice said. Edward snorted and placed his hands in his pockets. He became thoughtful as he stared at nothing. His eyes were still calculating.

Then he sat down next to Alice. They both became immeasurably quiet for a few minutes. It seemed normal for them, but I was feeling awkward, wondering if I should excuse myself.

"It is comforting," Edward said shattering the silence. Alice never looked away from the muddy football field, but I turned to give him my attention. Edward angled his head toward me slightly, though he didn't meet my gaze. "Having a quiet place. When I'm in biology, I can focus on her thoughts and hear none of the trivial thoughts of the other students. If I focus on that emptiness, its finally quiet. I can hear no other voices, unless I break my concentration on her mind. It's like a sanctuary. It's like... being human again."

Alice smiled a little.

"Shut up," Edward snapped at Alice. Edward stood up and left with swiftness no human could hope to achieve. Alice leaned forward slowly to gather her things as her brother lightly walked down the stairs to his next class. She smiled at me.

"You know Edward. He always has to be right," Alice said. I smiled a little bit. Alice giggled a musical sound. "Bella is going to change that. A lot." In a flash she was on her feet. She swung her backpack over her shoulder. Her smile faded in the slightest. She stared at me, the same vulnerability in her eyes that Jasper had last night.

"You know how my seeing works," she said, her voice delicate. "I can only see decisions being made and their outcomes. Edward deliberates killing Bella every once in a while, though its becoming less and less. Their futures shift quite often." She became quiet. Her eyes fell on me as I fumbled to get my things together.

I gave her a comforting smile.

"Don't worry," I told Alice. "Everything is going according to story." Alice's face lit up immediately, with refreshed optimism.

"Thank you," she said. Then she paused before heading down the stairs. "Oh. Do you have a crow bar?" I flinched, surprised.

"Um... Why?" Alice shrugged.

"Just wondering," she said.

"No. I don't think so," I said. Alice frowned and then shrugged again before skipping down the stairs. When she was out of sight, I turned my puzzled look onto the grey clouds.

Crow bar?


When I got to English, I met Jasper's gaze with no problem at all. It was a startling discovery to not want to run out the door screaming every time I saw his face. My confidence was suddenly doubled, and I somewhere beneath the part of me that knew this was a serious situation, was a Twilight fan who was giddy to know the real life vampires.

I rushed to my desk as the late bell rang and sat beside Jasper. He gave me the slightest nod of acknowledgement, I smiled in return. Ms. Engerran instructed us to finish our collaboration on character analysis.

Jasper already had the paper out, written in elegant writing. It was almost calligraphy it was so perfect.

"I could have helped, you know," I whispered. "I've The Scarlet Letter."

"Nonetheless, its done. It would be more helpful to me if you focused on other books," he said. I half smiled at that. I guess it was nice to finally be appreciated for the hard work I was doing, still it kind of felt like cheating for him to do my homework. He passed me the paper. I read it over, of course it was flawless, and better thought out than what I was going to write out.

I but my name on the corner of the paper beside his.

"I talked to Edward and Alice," I said, in the murmuring of the class no one else seemed to be paying attention. Jasper cocked a brow.

"Oh?" he inquired.

"He tried to convince me that my book is wrong again," I said. Jasper snorted.

"He also tried to convince me that I was reading his feelings wrong, and that Alice's vision was wrong," he said. I smiled down at the table top and shook my head. Poor Edward. Luckily, according to the story, this was his last day of denial. Mike, Tyler, and Eric's advances will convince him, probably through jealousy judging the look on his face yesterday.

"Has Edward always been like that?" I asked Jasper.

"Like what?"

"I don't know..." I said with a shrug. I tried to think of the right word for it. There was only one word I could think of. "Crotchety?"

Jasper suddenly barked out a laugh so loud that he had to cover his mouth. The sharp sound made me jump, and the rest of class turn around to face him. His stoic expression returned so quickly, that people had to second guess what the sound was. As soon as they turned back around Jasper smiled.

"Emmett would be very fond of you," he said. I grinned to myself at the compliment, then was suddenly saddened by the fact that I couldn't be friends with Emmett. The rest of his family couldn't know about me. I sighed to myself. Maybe someday, when the books were over.

"Edward is older, and he has never had anyone outside of the family at all. He's not unlike others who haven't found a significant other. His loneliness has no end," Jasper said so quietly that I had to lean in to hear him. "So, yes, he's easily irritated. He likes to think himself so controlled that he doesn't need anyone that way."

I nodded. He was quiet for a long moment.

"So what about Bella?" Jasper asked casually. "What can I expect from my future sister? I know, she'll be terrified of us in the beginning, but how will she be like after she's changed." I smiled a little, then apologetically. What he didn't know was that Bella had an uncanny ease around vampires that I certainly didn't have. Except for this curious comfort about Jasper, which was relatively new.

"Don't you think some things are better left to be found out naturally?" I asked him. Jasper frowned. This probably didn't make much sense to someone who was mated to psychic. He stared at me. "That is nothing you need to worry about." He was immediately moving onto the next question.

"What about..." Jasper stopped short. There was a look of indecision on his face. He thought for a moment, then turned further away.

"What about what?" I asked. I was finally starting to feel comfortable around a vampire. I didn't want to ruin the trust that was building between us. Jasper angled his head toward me. His swallowed quickly.

"What about my..." Jasper hesitated. He tried to speak again. His topaz eyes were a few shades darker. I suppressed a shudder. "She is human, and... You must know our restraint isn't perfect." I understood. He was referring to his own lack of restraint. My memory flickered to Bella's birthday party that hadn't happened yet. Now, looking into Jasper's eyes I had a new pity for him.

Then I remembered how he and Alice drove Bella all the way to Phoenix. He could stand that. Couldn't he? What if he couldn't?

"How bad is it?" I asked him. Jasper looked at me warily. "How hard is it for you to restrain yourself?" Jasper sighed.

"I should have figured you knew," he said looking down. Ms. Engerran stood up and started to call the class to order. Jasper hurried himself. He leaned toward me. "The others won't leave me alone when I'm out of the house. I'm not trustworthy. I'm lucky they even leave me alone in this class. Rose and Emmett are in all my other classes."

"So if you were alone, in a small space...?" I asked him. Could he be stuck in a car, in a hotel room with Bella unable to feed at this point? What if this was where I was supposed to intervene. Jasper shook his head to my question. A thought occurred to me.

"What if you had practice being alone with a human?" I asked him. Jasper looked at me. His eyes were questioning me curiously.

"Edward has been getting desensitized to Bella's scent because he goes to class everyday. If he can resist a singer, then you can resist a regular person," I said careful to keep my voice low as the teacher was starting to call on people to read their character analysis.

"You mean you want me to practice not killing people with you?" Jasper asked incredulously raising his brows.

"Yes," I said matter of factly.

"I could kill you," he said. His eyes were carefully serious, but he'd saved me in the backyard with Paul. He held Edward back when he was enraged with me. I couldn't think of him as a killer when he was always the hero when things got dangerous for me.

I shook my head.

"I don't think you will," I told Jasper. Jasper's face twisted in indecision again. He sighed.

"No," he said. "I don't think it will be a good idea."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because you don't understand how hard that is," he said with a laugh. He looked like he was going to add something to that when Ms. Engerran called on us. We had to stop talking as eyes turned to us. Jasper gave me a pointed look that repeated his answer to my offer. I tried not to look disappointed as Jasper stood up and started to read his character analysis.