Chapter 10 ~ Star gazing

~Jasper POV~

13th March, 12.45AM

"Jasper?" A sweet tinkling voice was calling. It was far away, and I probably wouldn't have heard it if I didn't have super-vampire-hearing. "Jazz, you out here?"

Of course I recognized her pixie-like voice, and the nickname that no one else would get away with calling me. Yeah, I knew it was her, and I could feel the desperation coming from her – desperation to find me – but I didn't reply. I didn't shout back to her. I didn't want her to find me. Not like this. Not now.

"Jasper!" She was closer now. "Jasper, is that you?"

Damn. I wouldn't look up. I wouldn't talk. I wouldn't do anything that would give away what I had just done. What Maria had made me do.

"Omigod Jazz!" She said, rushing over to me, "I was so worried!"

"Worried?" I asked, despite my decision not to speak, "How did you know there was something to be worried about? How did you even know I was out?"

"Oh…um…" Alice fumbled. "I…"

It must have been some vampiric sense she wouldn't tell me about. Why didn't she just tell me? She thought I was human. I didn't understand how she couldn't see who I was…what I was. Everything about me seemed to scream VAMPIRE. The moment I had seen her, I had known what she was. The fact that she hadn't done the same…it annoyed me.

"Go on, tell me." I said

"I just…I had a feeling." She finished lamely, and I snorted.

"Yeah right." I said

"What's up with you?" She asked defensively, "Why are you being like this?"

"I'm not being like anything!" I snapped. Her eyes softened.

"Jazz…" A wave of sympathy rolled off of her. Sympathy. Ha. Boy did I know a lot about that. "Want to tell me what's wrong?"

What's wrong? How about I just turned an innocent human into a monster? How about I felt everything they experienced as I did so; the fear, the sadness, the pain, all of it? How about I had completely lost control – or more had my control taken from me by Maria? How about-

"Jasper you can tell me! You can tell me anything." She said, holding my hand in hers.

"Why should I? You don't tell me anything." I said. I was referring to her being a vampire, but she didn't take it that way.

"At lunch yesterday? Oh Jazz, you're not still upset about that?" She asked, "It was just stupid family stuff, I told you!"

"Whatever." I said, standing up. She didn't want to tell me the truth, I wouldn't tell her either.

"Jasper, wait!" She called out, chasing after me.

"Why?" I asked, spinning around to face her.

"Don't you think we should talk about this?" She asked

"What's there to talk about?" I asked, turning away again. She caught my arm and I stopped, but didn't turn round to face her.

"I don't want to fight." She said quietly, "Please? You're my best friend."

My eyes slowly met hers and I sighed. Her sparkling golden eyes were wide and she looked as if she would be crying if she could. Her usually smiling mouth was turned down, and her voice wasn't it's usual high-pitched bell-like tinkling sound. So much emotion was radiating off of her; Sadness, regret, anger, pain. I hated that I had caused those emotions.

"I'm sorry." I said

"No Jazz, I'm sorry." She said, "I shouldn't have barged in here expecting you to tell me everything when I don't do the same to you. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to. I came to help you and all I did was make you mad. I'm really sorry."

She threw her arms around me with great force and I almost had to stagger backwards. I hugged her back and sighed softly. "Don't feel bad Alice, it's not like that. I just…can't tell you this, that's all."

"I understand completely." She said, pulling away, her face serious. "But, that doesn't mean I can't cheer you up! Come on!"

She started pulling me down the road, and I rolled my eyes but followed her. She took me to the meadow I'd shown her four days ago. Four days? Is that all? It seemed like ages ago. I seemed like I'd known Alice for years, when really we only met ten days ago…

Alice lay down in the middle of the meadow, near to where we had been before, when we 'watched the clouds'. I looked at her warily but lay down beside her anyway. We lay in silence for a minute, before Alice whispered, "Isn't it beautiful?"

"What?" I asked

"The sky." She said. I hadn't been looking at it – I'd been staring at her. I turned away now and saw that the jet-black sky was covered in twinkling stars. It reminded me that it was after midnight.

"It's late, Alice." I said, but she didn't seem to hear me.

"You see that group of stars?" She asked, pointing to a specific cluster.

"Uh-huh." I said

"That's bear claw." She told me, "And that constellation over there is bunny ears."

I turned to look at her half shocked, half amused, "Alice, you know you're just making up constellations, right?"

"So?" She asked with a shrug, "That's what they look like. And they're much more interesting than some guys belt."

"Orion's belt." I said with a laugh, "Which is over there."

I pointed to the correct constellation and Alice followed my finger, turning her head to look at the stars. She frowned, "Mine are way cooler. Look, right next to your boring one, there's a mermaid."

I shook my head at her and laughed again, "What's a mermaid doing all the way up there?"

"She's…" Alice searched the sky, before pointing to another group of stars, "Chasing that dolphin."

"You're mad, Alice." I told her

"Thankyou." She said, and I laughed again. I had to admit, she'd cheered me up. She'd not only taken away my depression, but made me feel happier than I had been in ages.

"Alice, I-" I began, but I was interrupted by her cell phone, blaring out the latest Rita Ora song.

"Sorry." She said, fishing it out of her pocket. "It's my brother, I had better answer it."

"Go ahead." I said. She smiled and answered the call.

"Hey Ed, what's up?" She spoke into the phone

"Where the hell are you Alice?" Came the loud voice down the phone – that I could hear, thanks to my super-hearing.

"I'm out." She said

"Where? With who?" The voice asked

"Just out, and no one." She said. I was kind of glad she hadn't said she was with me, thought I wasn't sure why I felt the need to hide from her brother. Something to do with the way he always glared at me when we passed each other in the school corridors, probably.

"Come home, Alice. It's not safe." The voice instructed

"Per-lease!" Alice said, rolling her eyes, "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Edward."

"Alice!" He said

"Fine whatever, I'll come home. Go back to sleep, you don't need to wait up." She said. My mood fell at the news that she was leaving, but when she hung up the phone she smiled at me, "I don't suppose he'll notice if I'm a few minutes late, will he?"

~Alice POV~

13th March, 2.45PM

He did notice. And he felt the need to shout, which woke up the rest of the family. Apparently, he'd woken up and sensed that I was gone. I don't know why he cared so much. Stupid older brother.

I'd been having a good time with Jasper, and I'd had to leave. Still, I was with Jasper again now, sat in Chemistry. It had been my least favorite subject, until Jasper came along and sat down right beside me. Now, the only subjects I disliked were the ones I didn't have with him.

"What did you get for question three?" He asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Hu? Oh um…" I looked down at my blank piece of paper – none of the answers appeared in front of me. "I…er…it's…"

"Alice, I'm teasing." He said, "I know you haven't done any work."

"Oh." I said, blinking at him. He took my sheet, filled out the answers and put it back in front of me, before I had time to react. His neat, elegant script flowed over my paper and I looked at it for a second.

"Are you okay Alice?" He asked, frowning.

"Hu? Oh I'm fine." I said, "Just tired."

Jasper's frown deepened, "Hope I didn't keep you up too late last night."

Oh, damn. My excuse had made him feel bad. "Oh no, it's not because of that! I er…I was running errands all morning, they tired me out."

Jasper nodded, "If you're sure you're okay."

"Uh-huh!" I said, smiling, "How about you?"

"I'm good." He told me

"Have you two finished?" Mr Hopkins asked, suddenly beside us. I was instantly mega-grateful to Jasper for doing my work – Mr Hopkins wasn't kind to people who lagged behind in his lessons.

"Yep, we're all done." I said confidently. He scooped up my sheet and examined it. He frowned.

"You got 100%." He said

"That's good right? Why did you say it like it was a bad thing?" I asked

"You've topped your average by 58%." He said. I felt like blushing. My average chemistry grades were below half. That was bad. And here was Jasper, getting 100%.

"Jasper's been helping me study." I lied

"Helping or doing it for you?" Mr Hopkins said, eyebrows raised.

"I'm offended that you even ask." I told him defiantly, "Have I ever cheated in your class?"

No, but I had cheated in other classes – foreseeing the answers to the test after they were given back to us, and copying them down from my vision. Mr Hopkins studied me for a few seconds before putting the paper back on my desk, "I guess he's a good influence on you."

I smiled at Mr Hopkins until he turned away and walked back to the front, when I let out a huge sigh of relief and slumped down in my chair. "Oh my God."

"You're quite an actress." Jasper teased

"Thankyou so much for doing that work for me." I said, then I turned to look at him, "100%?!"

"Should I have made it look more believable?" He teased, and I whacked him playfully on the arm.

"Seriously though, when did you become such a Chemistry nerd?" I asked. Jasper rolled his eyes.

"I'm not a Chemistry nerd." He said, "I just know a lot of stuff."

"Sure." I said

"So, Miss Jasper's-been-helping-me-study," He said, changing the subject, "What do you want to do tonight?"

"You choose." I said

He looked thoughtful for a minute, and then said, "Okay, I know exactly what we're doing."

.

~Alice POV~

27th March, 5.20PM

"Jazz, no fair!" I whined as Jasper held the shopping bags high above his head, a good few feet higher than I could reach.

Two weeks had passed, and Jasper and me had grown closer and closer. So close, that I had decided it was safe for him to come shopping with me. It may have been too soon.

"Tell me how much it cost!" Jasper said, holding the bags higher – I hadn't thought that was possible.

"No!" I said, jumping up and making a grab for the bags. I could have reached them, if I wasn't restricted to human-abilities. As it were, I couldn't use my vampire strengths in front of Jasper, so I had to make do jumping around like an idiot as he held the bags out of my reach.

"Come on Ali…you know you want to tell me…" He said, lowering the bags to tempt me, before putting them out of my reach again before I could grab them.

"You're so mean." I said, sticking my tongue out at him

"Tell me the price, and you can have them back!" He said.

I sighed, and gave in. "$350."

Jasper gave a low whistle, "$350 on a scarf?"

He lowered the bags and I took them back, giving him a defiant look as I did so, "Yes. It's a very nice scarf."

"What happened to your $50 spending limit?" Jasper asked. I bit my lip.

"Esme knew I was going shopping, she knew this would happen and she didn't object." I pointed out, "Her mistake, not mine."

Jasper rolled his eyes, "Of course."

I pushed him gently and he pretended to stumble back. The push would only have made him sway slightly, and yet he was acting as if he'd been shot, groaning and clinging onto the wall to stop himself falling over.

"You're such an idiot." I told him as I walked right past him. He fell into step beside me.

"But that's what makes me so adorably likable." He challenged. I snorted.

"Sure, you tell yourself that." I said.

He poked me, "Why are you so mean?"

"Me?" I asked, "What about you?"

"What about me?" He asked. I rolled my eyes, but couldn't keep the smile from my lips. I'd known Jasper for just over 3 weeks, and it already felt like we'd been best friends for years. I could be myself around him, not the quiet, shy person I used to be around people who weren't family. I could tell him everything.

Well, not quite everything. He still didn't know about the whole blood-sucking-undead-demon-monster-vampire thing. Yeah, I hadn't quite plucked up the courage to tell him. It wasn't really a thing that came up in conversation. And besides, I wasn't sure if I could ever tell him. The vulturi were pretty strict when it came to revealing our world to humans, and telling Jasper the truth might just get me killed. That totally sucked.

"What are you doing tonight?" Jasper asked. I bit my lip. We were going on another search. In the last two weeks there had been four more disappearances. The police were searching the area with no luck, and had begun searching the towns outside of Forks. They had no idea what to look for.

"I'm busy, sorry." I said. I wanted to hang out with Jasper, but this was more important. We still weren't sure what was happening, and we were no closer to stopping it either.

"Oh, that's cool." Jasper said

"Tomorrow, maybe?" I asked

"Yeah, sounds good." Jasper said. I smiled at him, then I noticed Edward walking towards me and withheld a grown.

"Hey Alice." He said, "Jasper."

"Hey Ed, what's up?" I asked

"We've gotta get going." He said, "We've got that thing to do."

I nodded, and turned to Jasper, "I'll see you tomorrow, yeah? Call me."

I watched as Jasper walked away.

"Will you two just go out already?" Edward asked

"What?" I asked, shooting round to face him

"Come, on, I've seen the way you look at each other!" He said, "It's obvious you like each other."

"What are you talking about?" I asked

"The way you look at him…it's like he's your favorite person in the world," Edward said, "And the way he looks at you…it's like you're the only person in the world."

"Ed…that's the most…ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" I said, "Jasper is my friend. My best friend. Nothing more." Edward raised his eyebrows at me, "What?"

He shrugged, a knowing smile on his face, "Come on, we've gotta go."

27th March, 11.35PM

It was raining. I hated the rain. Exclusively.

I brushed aside a piece of hair that was plastered to my forehead and carried on. Carlisle had suggested putting off the search because of the rain, but I had refused. Of course at the time, it was only a light shower, and not the torrential downpour I was now faced with as I forced my wet feet to walk down the sidewalk.

I'd taken the south of town this time. Esme and Carlisle had taken over the town center, thinking that this was the most likely place to find any clues, and that it was probably safest if the pair of them went instead of me. Nevertheless, I was still searching the south side of town, regardless of the small likelihood that I would find anything.

Think Alice. I instructed myself. If I was trying to find some innocent young human to turn, where would I go?

I looked around. There wasn't anyone about. It was a Tuesday night, wouldn't most people be at home…in the dry?

Young people, they wanted young people. So, where was there likely to be a lot of young people at night? A night club perhaps? I mentally brought up a map of Forks in my head. I hadn't been here for all that long, but I had gotten to know the place pretty well in the year and a half that I had lived here.

I was currently on 14th street, and if I remembered correctly, there was a club just a couple of blocks over. I began walking, pulling my coat tighter around me to shield myself from the rain. It didn't really work.

When I got to the club, there were indeed young people everywhere. Tuesday night was half price tequila shots night. My eyes flitted over the crowds. If a vampire wanted to strike, he sure had a lot of people to choose from. But he wouldn't strike here, out in the open. He'd follow someone as they walked home, alone and drunk. Now all I had to figure out is who he would follow home.

"Darcy!" Somebody squealed nearby, "I can't believe you just did that!"

A tall girl stumbled out from behind her, blonde hair tumbling down her shoulders. She was wearing a tight red mini dress, killer red high heels, and clutching a sparkly red bag. Her make-up, which had obviously been carefully applied before she went out for the night, was starting to smudge, and she was beginning to form black circles around her eyes. And she was very, very, drunk.

"I'm going home." She tried to say, though it came out as more "I'm gonfin hum."

"I'll call a cab." The squealer said

"No." She said, glaring at the squealer, "I'm walking."

"Darcy Hathaway, let me tell you something-" The squealer began

"No, lemme tell you something." She said, staggering towards the squealer, "I'm walking."

The squealer, who was probably also drunk, shrugged. "Okay. See ya tomorrow Darcy."

The squealer went back into the club, and the other girl started stumbling down the street. She was drunk, alone, and dressed head to toe in the color of blood. Darcy Hathaway, you've got no idea what you've got yourself into.


Heyy,

So i took aaages to update, sorry :( But i have written out the whole of the next chapter too, so i'll update that soon (And you're going to want to read it, trust me!)

Sorry for skipping ahead in the story too, but it was going to drag on for too long otherwise!

Anyway, with all the sorry's over...what did you think? Hope you liked it! Pleeeeeeeeease review, favourite, follow, ecetera ecetera it really does inspire me to know that people are reading this and that they like it! Thanks for everyone who already has reviewed/favourited/followed, love you all :) Special thanks to Jalice2254 for your continued reviews, help, and ideas and to Nesca for all your wonderful ideas! Keep reading and reviewing! :D

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