Lessons Unexpected—Chapter 12

A/N: Many of you asked why I was nervous about the last chapter, well, it was because I wasn't sure if I'd get a lot of "Noooo! Bella belongs with Edward!" or if you would tell me that it was too soon for them to be all smoochy-smoochy. That being said, I'm really pleased with the response, so thank you guys!

About reviews: I fucking LOVE them. You guys make me laugh SO hard! Unfortunately, life has gotten SUPER busy and I just don't have the time to respond to each of them personally. That being said, I still want to give you guys teasers SOOOO I shall link you at the bottom of the page to my blog entry which will contain a teaser. You don't have to have an account to see the teaser, don't worry. Sound good? Awesome.

On with the show!

And I discovered that my castle's stand upon pillars of song, pillars of sand – "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay

"I have to say, you look a million times better as a blonde again," Bella said, looking up at Jasper from where she lay with her head in his lap and a book on her stomach. Jasper had been watching TV while she sprawled on the couch with one of the romance novels that Rosalie supposedly loved.

He looked down at her and quirked an eyebrow, "Are you saying that I was ugly before?"

"Hideous," Bella said, seriously.

"Well, aren't you a right bitch?" the corner of his mouth twitched.

"A woman with an opinion isn't a bitch," she said, holding up her index finger, "but I think the fact that you let me wash your hair thirteen times and then brush it out for an hour does make you a little gay."

"A man with a respect for hygiene isn't gay," Jasper mocked her by holding up his own finger and looking self important, "and you practically had to put me into a headlock anyway!"

"Like you couldn't get out of that," Bella said, waving her hand dismissively. She picked up her book from her stomach where she had placed it to mark her page.

"Why are you reading that? I was under the impression that you didn't like them," he asked.

"I don't feel like reading the manual for the vacuum and these are the only other things in the house that I haven't read," she said, picking it back up. The cover was of a scantily clad, doe eyed woman with a pirate ship in the background. When Bella had first laid eyes on it she had snorted derisively but after she had flown through the limited number of books Jasper had brought from her house she put her pride on a shelf. Right next to her sanity.

Bella couldn't help but wonder if she had lost her sanity along with her humanity because she couldn't explain why she had kissed Jasper the other night, or why she wanted to do it again. Or why she was lying with her head in his lap while he played with her hair, for that matter.

She hadn't been lying when she said that she had forgiven him, she had. Had he been in the wrong? Yes. Had she also been in the wrong? Of course. They had both been running on ugly emotions, feeling betrayed and lashing out with the aim to hurt. It had been an explosive combination. Did she wish things had turned out differently, that she had been allowed to keep her humanity? Most definitely. But wishing wouldn't get her anywhere, she had learned that lesson a long time ago. So she had decided to let go of the anger. It had been dissolving gradually as their friendship slowly grew and if anyone asked her she wouldn't be able to really pin down the moment when she had stopped hating Jasper for what he had done to her. All she knew was that when he asked for her forgiveness she was able to give it freely.

But kissing? What had she been thinking?

Was it her newborn tendencies? As much as she didn't want to admit it to herself, it really didn't feel like it. She didn't suddenly get a burst of affection for Jasper, or arousal—with the exception of that day in the woods—it was all pretty consistent, especially now that they were no longer actively trying to piss each other off.

There was a distinct difference between friendship and 'something more' but they had bounded over that line and now she didn't know what to do. How could she have a relationship with Jasper when he hunted human beings? She knew that she couldn't live with that lifestyle but could she ask him to change himself for her? Not only was it unfair to him but what if he refused? What if he liked the taste of human blood more than the possibility of a relationship with her? For all her brave words and thick skinned bravado, Bella didn't think she could stand another rejection like that. She just didn't deal well with it, which was why she never went on any "Date Number Two's" when Chrissy had set her up.

The thought of Chrissy made her sigh. What was she doing right now? How was she coping? Did she pass that psychology midterm? Or had she deferred it? Would they have let her? Did that whole 'my roommate died, can I have an A?' clause really exist? If it did, Bella hoped that both Danny and Chrissy exploited it, even if it made them feel bad. Hell, at least they could benefit in some way from her 'death'. Her morbid thoughts made her miss her friends even more. She knew that Chrissy would have been right in her face, refusing to let her be depressed. She would have told her jokes, really bad ones, until she made Bella laugh or at least crack a smile. Danny was the softer of the two of them. He would have slipped in behind her and hugged her with his everything, letting her feel the comfort of a male embrace. It didn't matter that the feelings between them had always been platonic; sometimes it had just been nice to be held by masculine arms and press her face into a hard chest that smelled like boy, not flowers.

The first time Danny had crawled into her bed and held her all night had been on the anniversary of her mother's death. She had stayed home from classes all day, barricading herself in her bedroom, and declining invitations to go to for dinner. Danny had finally convinced her then roommate to let him in and, without words, had simply crawled into bed beside her and held her all night. He never told her that it would be alright, that it was okay, or any of the useless things people tend to say when confronted with grief. He just held her. It had been the first time someone had slept next to her and held her since Edward and she had enjoyed the feeling of a warm body against hers more than she thought she would.

She hated that her thoughts still turned to Edward, even now, here. He was another reason why she could never have a relationship with Jasper. The Cullens would eventually come back into the picture, she knew that, but she didn't want to have any more ties to them than she already did. Jasper had a lot of ties to them, decade's worth of ties. It would be better for her to just cut herself loose from anything and everything even remotely related to the Cullens as soon as she could.

OOOOOOOOOO

Bella was sitting atop of the house, her regular haunt, when she heard the first sound of life. There was a car driving down the rural road that went past the house and if the sound of the tires skidding against the gravel were any indication, the driver was in a hurry. She wondered where the heck they could be headed to since there was very little in the way of civilization out here. The nearest house to them was miles away, which was one of the reasons why Jasper had chosen this place; there had never been any visitors out that way. In fact, if the residents of the neighbouring property ever left their home, Bella would be shocked. This was the first time she had ever heard a car on the road.

She didn't give it much more thought until she heard the car take another turn at a high speed. The car's axel protested such treatment, the metal groaning, as the wheels skidded in the gravel. There was only one such turn on that road. And it was the road that led to this house.

Panicking, Bella launched herself off the roof at the same time that she saw Jasper dart out of house, looking up for her. She landed beside him with a graceful pounce, something she would have never been able to pull off when she was human, even if she hadn't been jumping off a roof at the time. If she had anything to be thankful for when she became a vampire, it was the fact that she no longer tripped over thin air.

"What should I do?" she asked, feeling slightly panicky. If that was a human they were all in trouble...especially the human.

"Get back up on the roof and don't breathe, whatever you do. You'll be outside so it should be easier but don't even look at whoever it is. Sometimes, just the sight of a human is enough to push a newborn over," Jasper said, his voice was all commanding authority.

"But what if—"

"Bella, we don't have time for 'what if's', please just trust me?" Jasper said, cupping her elbows and pulling her toward his body, "I know you're worried about killing a human but I promise you, I will not let that happen."

"Okay," she said, she pulled away from him enough to rake one hand through her hair, a nervous gesture she had picked up from him, "Okay. I'll be fine. Right. Okay."

Without another word she turned and ran for the pine tree that gave her access to the roof. Like a monkey she launched herself at the tree and quickly climbed up its trunk until she could push off of it and land softly on the roof. Jasper waited until she was lying flat on her belly on the slope of the roof that would conceal her from the approaching car. The only way anyone would see her was if they came to the back yard and looked up.

Listening carefully, Bella heard Jasper head back into the house, close the patio door behind him and quickly cross the main floor to where the front door was. Simultaneously the unknown car raced down the long driveway that led to the house. Apparently there was a good reason for the Cullens having a long driveway back in Forks, Bella thought to herself, as it had given her adequate time to prepare herself as much as she could. Unfortunately, she couldn't be trusted to run off into the woods on her own. If she came across a human, even as unlikely as that was, there would be no Jasper to stop her from feeding on them.

Bella heard the car come to a sliding halt on the gravel. Faster than Bella thought was possibly for human beings, she heard car doors open and slam. At that exact same moment she heard Jasper curse, his southern accent coming out in a rather loud "gawwd daimmit". What's he so upset about?

Suddenly the door swung open so hard that it slammed against the wall and two pairs of feet entered the house. Bella had just realized, with a short lived sense of relief, that the visitors did not have heartbeats when she heard a voice that would have stopped her heart had it been beating.

"Jasper!"

Bella's entire body froze, she didn't even blink.

Edward Cullen was in the house below her.

Her human memories didn't do his voice justice. What she had once described as velvety smooth was really liquid pleasure. She closed her eyes softly as the sound, and the memories, washed over her; she felt an uncomfortable tightness settle in her chest.

"Have you no respect for doors, Edward?" Jasper said, his steps were slow and measured, as if he were sauntering.

"Jasper, dear, we need your help," Bella recognized Esme's soft voice.

"I already told Emmett that I—"

Suddenly there were two more sets of footsteps and another voice that cut Jasper off.

"I had a vision of Bella here, with you Jasper. Care to explain that?"

Bella nearly gasped. Not only was Edward in the house, but now Alice was too. Why had she waited outside? Who else was there? Was it Tanya? She couldn't risk moving to look, they would hear her and she wasn't ready to betray her presence yet.

"Alice," Jasper ground out, it sounded as if he were gritting his teeth.

"Answer the question!" Edward sounded furious, though Bella had no idea why he was even there. Why should he care?

"Edward, stop it," Esme's said sharply, "We're not here to accuse. We're here to stop Bella from being turned into a vampire if we can."

"Dude, I know you said that you didn't want to get involved but Alice had a vision of Bella here with you, so we came here to see if you were here," Bella nearly jumped in surprise, for some reason she hadn't expected the fourth vampire to be Emmett. She recognized the deep boom of his voice and she felt a lump rise in her throat. God, she had missed him. She hadn't realized how much until she heard his deep booming voice. His betrayal had hurt almost as much as Edward and Alice's.

"Funny, what are you doing here Jasper?" Edward's voice held an obvious note of accusation.

Jasper clearly heard it too because he sounded defensive when he responded, "What's a matter Edward? Am I no longer allowed to use the Cullen homes? Excuse me, I didn't know I was encroaching on any territory. I'll go pack my things."

"Are you going to pack up for whoever is staying with you as well?" Edward demanded.

"Who is here, Jasper?" Esme asked, "They're familiar." Bella heard a few obvious sniffs when it clicked.

Oh god, they can smell me, she was horrified at the thought, what if they put two and two together and come looking for me?

"Just some female company," Jasper said, his voice thick with innuendo. Bella wanted to slam her face against the roof repeatedly but settled for cursing Jasper and his stupidity in her head. They would freak out if they found out that it was Bella's scent they could taste on the air, adding the possibility of her having sex with Jasper into that mix just seemed like a really bad idea, even if there was no real reason for them to object. Not that she cared about their opinion, especially not Edwards, she reminded herself.

Emmett snorted and muttered something that Bella couldn't catch but had Esme making sounds of disapproval.

"Who?" Edward demanded again.

"Stop trying to pick through my brain, Edward," Jasper growled.

"Stop hiding from me, then!"

"What I do with my time, and who I do it with is none of your business!" Jasper shot back.

"It's my business when it involves Bella!"

Bella did gasp that time but it seemed that no one below noticed as they were so involved in their argument. But Bella had felt a knife of painful familiarity rip through her as she heard Edward say her name for the first time in years.

"Who says it involves Bella?" Jasper countered.

"She was here in Alice's vision!" Edward yelled, "Right in this room! Sitting on that couch with her head in your lap with your hand in her hair! I'd say that damn well..."

Bella was hanging on tender hooks and she knew that if she still had a heart beat it would be pumping furiously, roaring in her ears, as she listened to Edward trail off.

"My...god..." he whispered.

"What?" three voices asked, Emmett, Esme and Alice.

"It was here... it was today! GOD DAMMIT, IT WAS TODAY!" Edward roared. Bella heard a rush of rapid footsteps and then a thud. What the hell was going on? She was torn with wanting to see what was happening and not wanting them to know she was here.

"Edward, what are you—" Esme began.

"Don't you ever charge me li—" Jasper was saying

But Edward roared above both of them.

"IT WAS TODAY!" he screamed, "IN HER VISION HE WAS WEARING THE SAME THING!"

Alice and Esme gasped. Emmett was uncharacteristically silent.

"Do you deny it?" Edward spat.

"No," Jasper growled, his voice low and dangerous.

"Where is she?"

"None of your business. She doesn't want to be—" Jasper's voice broke off as Bella heard glass smashing. Esme yelled "STOP IT!" but it did nothing to stem the flow of growling, thudding and breaking furniture. Bella gritted her teeth and pushed herself up.

Alice gasped and Bella sighed. She would have bet all of her life's savings that Alice had just seen Bella's decision. She heard the violent movements cease as Edward let out a gasp. Cat's outta the bag now, she thought as she dropped off the roof and landed gracefully in front of the patio door.

She was proud of herself as she reached for the patio door and slid it open without her hand shaking at all. Taking a firm step inside, she faced the room and the four pairs of stunned golden eyes.

"I'm right here."

A/N: Please don't virtually stone me for leaving it there. I know it's shorter than normal but I just HAD to stop it there! Er... I love you guys? *smiles innocently*

Copy and paste the link into your browser, remove the spaces and replace the (dot) with a dot and presto teaser!

http: /alexisdanaan (dot) tumblr (dot) com /post/1341492622/teaser-ch-13-of-lessons-unexpected